Range time with the 22/45

Not too difficult aiming through the video. Might have to try it with the .45 next.

The past 4 months

Wow it's been a while. Longest hiatus since I started this back in 2010. This wasn't intentional, just kept getting put on the back burner. A lot has happened since the last post.

I've visited New Bern and my wonderful girlfriend, and her work place. We played with her dog, and made some waffles. These are her waffles, mine was just loaded with butter.

A few weekends later, joined her family in Myrtle Beach. Got some saltwater taffy, walked around barefoot landing and Broadway at the beach, and took it easy. Even got the camera turned on me! Actually, I only took one of the pictures below...which is it?

The next trip was down to New Bern. There was an air show! Got to see the Blue Angels, some Harriers, and some V-22's. Took a lot of pictures here, and have a photo book on the way (next week!). 

Then, I went to Germany for a week (for work unfortunately, and not with the person I really want to go with). Got to walk around some, at least...and have some dunkel weissen (dark wheat beer)!

Despite a near last minute change of plans, plans came to fruition, and my favorite person met me at the airport when I got back to the states. Took it easy, watched some F1, and went to Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. Couldn't think of a better way to recover from jet lag. Ice cream samples too!

Then was June 5th, or 3/4ths, as it was known by a couple people this year. Unfortunately I didn't have company for celebration, but did get to see Venus pass in front of the sun. Made a home made solar filter for my telephoto lens so I wouldn't go blind. Here was the result. Puts things in perspective, and really drives the vastness of the universe home...all by watching a little black dot move in front of the sun. Look, sun spots too!

Formula 1 in Montreal! A great vacation. Couldn't have been better. Well maybe if Senna or Alonso won the race, but we weren't so lucky. Between the race and the evenings, we took 1191 pictures! This trip could have several posts to itself, but here are a few pictures.

Good times the past four months. Clearly some themes...travel and my awesome girlfriend. More to come! Looking forward to 5/6ths and a week of vacation around the 4th of July.

Introversion

Every now and then, a TED talk comes around that I really enjoy. A few in particular come to mind by Hans Rosling, Brian Cox, and Jill Tarter. They explain things in a great way, and while I may have understood their subjects before, they present them in a way that's new; fresh. Then there are ones that are new; ones that I can relate to; ones that help me understand something better, and in this case, help me describe myself. I am an introvert, I am quiet, and I am contemplative.

Susan Cain is an introvert. She describes her life of trying to fit in in a world of extroverts. It is interesting to hear about her experiences, and see how they relate to my own. She goes on to describe historical figures that were introverts. Abraham Lincoln, Steve Wozniak, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Darwin, the list goes on. I like hearing about the importance of solitude; how it can be a crucial ingredient to creativity, and how it allows some people to thrive. I like everything about this talk, it is nice to hear me described so accurately...and it doesn't sound abnormal, bizarre, or weird. As she suggests at the end of her talk, maybe this blog has been me opening up my suitcase. Now...I might have found a new book to read.

What's that on your nose?

The 2012 F1 season is rapidly approaching. The cars have been unveiled, and testing has begun. These cars look strange. There is a new rule this year that specifies that the nose of the car must be lower. This is said to improve safety by keeping the nose from entering another drivers cockpit in the event of a side impact. With this new rule change, as expected, there are some intersting design differences between the cars. Looks like there are two schools of thought; stepped or non-stepped. Stepped, where there is a strange looking step in the nose of the car is the most common. Very few teams 1 or 2 have a non-stepped design.

Well, what's the difference? Why would one be better than the other? Marussia, formerly Virgin, has been quoted as saying there is no difference. I suspect they are mistaken. It all comes back to downforce vs. drag. Downforce good, drag bad. Unfortunately, many things that increase downforce, also increase drag. With the step in the front of the car, I predict many teams are seeing some level of front-end downforce increase, with some level of drag increase. It will be interesting to see how these designs evolve thoughout the season.

The most interesting design is on the Mercedes. It is very streamlined. It looks much more organic than any other car this year.

Looking forward to the first race of the year where we'll see the pecking order. Testing times are deceptive, generally; and this year, hopefully. Ferrari only topped the times one day this year, so far. Although they were top of the charts often last year, we all know how that turned out.

Now, how can I post a picture here and not get Bernie knocking on my door?

Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images     

Date: February 23, 2012

Perfection

...It's the goal. Why would the goal be anything less? A: Because sometimes it takes way to long. I tend to be a perfectionist. One reason I haven't posted much here. I spend too much time trying to make posts perfect, that I just don't write anything at all. I'm hoping to change that now, so I write more here, but as I type this, I realize I am scrutinizing the wording, punctuation, everything. That should have been a semi-colon, a comma, or a period? Was that a run on sentence? These are the things I waste too much time on. That's right, that sentence ended with a preposition. I'm not rephrasing it. Ok. Here's to imperfect, more frequent posts. ::sips glass of wine from a box:: That's right. Classy.