First hike of 26 B.C.

Wednesday, January Eleventh 26 B.C.

I've been trying to find a nice day both Ce and I had off so we could be outside but every time our schedules synched up the damn weather would tell us to go inside and watch an episode of Dexter, Breaking Bad, or How I Met Your Mother. After a few failed attempts and several episodes of HIMYM a beautiful sunny day surprised us and we both had the afternoon free!

The Massanutten Ridge Trail is pretty rocky but fairly easy to manage. Ce prefers loop hikes so she doesn't have to see the same things twice but this hike was a 'there and back' hike. from our parking spot it was a little over two and a half miles to the end-point.

The end of the hike is at the peak of Massanutten mountain, close to the top of the 'Diamond Jim' and 'Paradise' ski trails. Right past the cell phone towers and a little farther up some rocks there is a suicide dock, it is just like a normal dock you would see on a lake but this one hangs over the edge of the mountain and is intended for those who want to end their lives in the noble fashion of plummeting down the side of a mountain to their certain death.

"Awesome hiking poles Ben" - Anonymous

Instead of jumping like we had planned, we decided to take the service road from the cell phone towers down to the villages of Massanutten. The road wouldn't take us back to the parking lot so while we were up at the cell phone towers I called my mom who lives nearby to meet us when we got to the bottom of the mountain. 

Interesting note: While my phone has a max of four bars when in service, standing next to the Verizon cell phone tower while making the call gave me an extra fifth bar that was bigger and orange instead of blue like all the others.

Closer to the bottom of the service road we found a slip and slide that had frozen. Ce decided it would suit her better to stand at the bottom and record me going down.

View this shit larger YOUTUBE (opens in a new window)

I used RunKeeper on my phone to track our progress, you can see the activity report here.

<3en

update 1: Turns out the suicide dock was actually put there as a hang gliding dock, same difference if you ask me.

update 2: The extra orange service signal bar turned out to be a cheeto.

26 B.C.

I hope everyone had a good holiday; a merry Christmas, a happy Gregorian new year, and a happy new year. Of course January fifth brought in the new year, 26 B.C. and I was lucky enough to celebrate it with my family.

Clean shaven face before the company christmas party

I miss my beard. Cutting it off seemed like such a good idea at the time but clean shaven Ben is just not as confident as homeless, deserted island Ben. So good news: I'm growing it back!









Christmas morning I was at my moms house with Ce, Erin and Mike where we opened presents and ate apple pancakes. I got a new tent, a Marmot Limelight. Ce and I are planning to hike for six days in May and as excited as I am about it, the thought of figuring out what to bring, how to pack, what to do about food and water has been festering in the back of my mind. I have camped for a week before but that was always at a site with a car. The longest hiking trip I have been on was just one night and that was easy enough but six days is a different game all together. Doug has more experience backpacking and has expressed some interest in coming so that would be great.

On Gregorian New Years eve, Ce and I triple dated with Erin and Mike, and Scott and Ginny at Kyoto Japanese Steak House. After dinner we went to Mikes parents house to play games and ring in the new Gregorian year.

On January Fifth, New Years day, I had to work early but was able to get off in time to go to lunch with Ce, Erin, Mike, and Dad at A Bowl of Good. We were on the hunt for the best ginger brew I have ever had Maine Root Ginger Brew. ABoG is the only place I have ever seen it and they were sold out! bummer.

Later that night my wonderful mother took us out for Ethiopian. Such good food and so fun to eat.

<3en

In memoriam

Saturday, December the third

After over a year together, it was finally time to say goodbye.




View larger on youtube.

PostCrossing 2

Friday, November the Eighteenth

 I have received many more postcards since the last post and have sent many more as well. I am really enjoying this project. There are two store in Harrisonburg that sell local postcards for only 25 cents each so I have taken full advantage of that and stocked up on plenty. I also finally went and got a sheet of 98 cent stamps.

Turning my own photographs into postcards has also been a fun activity. Here are a few of the postcards that I have made with the original photo.

Photo from Destin, Florida

This postcard from holland is from an art teacher named Joke who has no kids but does have two cats.

Kahealani from Hawaii sent this card. She was born and raised on the big island. She said most hawaiians vacation to "The ninth island... Vegas"

Sirpa from finland ended her note with: "I don't speak English. Sory" She did tell me that she works in a cafe and likes to work with her hands. the weather there is getting less sunny "Day's here is gray but still is degrees of +7 c.

Daiva from Lithuania told me he doesn't like writing and would not write me a novel but he does like to read.

Anita from Alexandria Virginia just took a trip to Puerto Rico where she picked up this postcard and sent it to me when she got back. She had a great time while hiking in the rainforest and swimming in the caribbean.

Sherwin convinced me that I need to visit the Philippines. Puerto Galera has crystal clear seas surrounded by lush mountains. Numerous pocket pristine beaches make this spot a top travel destination. 

Postcrossing

Monday, November seventh, 2011

I found this neat project online called Postcrossing where you can send and receive postcards from all over the world. It has been pretty entertaining so far. The closest postcard I have sent is to North Carolina and the farthest I have sent is Guangdong China. I have also sent cards out to Russia, Ukraine, Finland, Netherlands and many other places. After you send one and the person receives it your name starts to appear on peoples lists and they start to send you postcards. So far I have received four:

This first one I got was from a girl who's grandfather used to bring her to the westpoint campus when she was younger.

This card is from romania and the sender took the picture himself of a monastery built in 1532 

This card from Buffalo NY is from a lady who has passed through Virginia several times on the way to Myrtle beach.

Lin, from Taiwan, sent me this card. Lin is a high school teacher and thinks some of her students are cute but does not think they study very hard.

It costs 98 cents to send a postcard internationally and I went out today and bought a sheet of twenty 98 cent stamps. Yesterday I bought more postcards because I was running out. I also found a way to make my own postcards and print them from the Costco Photo Center.

Warrior Dash

Saturday, the fifteenth of October 

I had my first race in October. Some buddies and I participated in the Warrior Dash. It was a cool mud run and I had a really good time. unfortunately something got screwed up with the liquor license because they were unable to serve beer. We had a hotel room for two nights with the intention of drinking after the race but because there was nothing stopping us from driving home we did just that. Everyone that raced the Virginia Warrior Dash gets to register for free for another event since they fucked up the alcohol permits.

starting at 0900 roughly 400 people started every half hour for the 5k obstacle mud run. Two friends of mine had the same wave as I did and Flanders and I ran it together. I was able to take my waterproof camera with me so I could snap some shots while I ran. We had other friends in other waves so we stayed until the end. Tom got 2nd place overall and first for our age group and because the first place overall person did not stick around Tom got the prize!

There was also a beard competition and I, of course, was in it. Only three people including myself were called up to the stage and the crowd only consisted of -50 people. The winner was based on crowd response and I got 2nd. I told Ce that this will motivate me to continue growing my beard until the next event. She was not happy with that decision.

Netflix -> Qwikster FTL

Monday the Nineteenth of September

9.19.2011


An email was sent out this morning to Netflix users and this post was published on the Netflix Blog yesterday. The CEO apologized for not communicating the price change in separating the streaming from DVD rentals efficiently. When the news about the split first happened there was outrage from the Netflix community and they felt like they were getting pissed on. With the new change that just came out it feels like we are not only getting pissed on but getting slapped in the face by a red, envelope-shaped dick.

I started using Netflix getting one DVD out at a time with unlimited online instant streaming. I enjoyed having both of these options available to me and what I liked about the service Netflix provided is probably what everyone else liked too. With the streaming I could watch what I wanted, when I wanted, be in the middle of numerous movies and always be able to resume right where I left off when I decided I wanted to finish the movie. The only drawback to instant streaming was I needed to watch it through a supported internet device. This isn't a problem at my house, my TV has a blu-ray player that is connected and I can watch all the streaming videos Netflix has to offer. What Netflix does have to offer via Instant Streaming is limited though. There are many great movies on there but all of them and more are offered using the direct mail DVD option Netflix also offers.

The DVD option is great because the selection is large, they ship fast, and there is no hurry to send it back. If I want to watch a movie with someone the DVD option is great because I can take it with me to watch it with others. With the DVD option I can not stop in the middle of a movie, watch a different movie, and then finish the original DVD at a later date without sending and receiving the DVD's back and forth and continuously updating my DVD queue.

What was great about having these two options available to me was that if there was a movie I wanted to watch I could search for it on the Netflix website and add it to my instant queue to watch whenever I felt like sitting down in front of my TV or if it was not available on instant, I could add it to my DVD queue and have it available when it arrived at my house. This was great for specific movies that I wanted to see or just for browsing the extensive list of movies Netflix has to offer.

I was with Netflix through a few changes in price, usually going up a dollar every so often. I even stuck around after the decided that they would no longer offer a package that included both streaming and DVD rentals which nearly doubled what I was already paying. Now they are taking away the ability to search the streaming videos and the DVD rentals jointly. Netflix will now be strictly streaming and the DVD rental part will be a separate company called Qwikster. Both the websites for Qwikster and Netflix will look very similar to how Netflix.com looks now except that neither will be integrated with the other. There will be two different websites with two different queues with two different charges.

If I am browsing, looking for a movie I might like to eventually watch I guess I should start with Qwikster because they have the larger selection, once I found one I should hop on over to Netflix to see if it is available for instant viewing, because if it is, I am not going to waste the few days it would take to mail on something that I can watch when I want to instantly when I can get a non-streaming movie mailed to me instead. If the movie is not on Netflix I will have to go back over to Qwikster and add it to my queue. If that movie was on Netflix though I would then go back to Qwikster and start that process again!

That red envelope you are presenting me no longer appeals to me Netflix. The frustration to pick out a movie is not worth my time. Without the integration of streaming and DVD rentals I will have to say goodbye.