Berkeley doesn't have air conditioning. I'm told that in the past it wasn't a problem, but it has been getting warmer in recent years. During the summer, my office got up to 90 degrees on some days (my window faces west). Yesterday afternoon, my office was 82 degrees and the classroom I had to teach in for 2 hours was even hotter. Let's just say that it's hard to keep up your energy level under such circumstances. It's only supposed to get up to 76 today, but my office is already 75, and it's only 11am. I'll keep you posted as the temperature rises:
11:06am: 75.0 degrees
12:01pm: 76.1 degrees
1:04pm: 77.2 degrees
3:21pm: 77.7 degrees
5:19pm: 80.4 degrees
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Yosemite Trip Part 3: The Squirrel
After Ed and I made it to the top of Half Dome, we lounged around for an hour and took a little nap. Ed heard some scratching next to him - he looked over and saw a squirrel dragging away the bag of trail mix that was in his fanny pack:
We shoo'd him away, but he kept coming back. We caught this part of his act on video:
Squirrel Thief
A few minutes after this, we heard a guy in another group yell to his friend "Hey! That squirrel just stole your banana!"
We shoo'd him away, but he kept coming back. We caught this part of his act on video:
Squirrel Thief
A few minutes after this, we heard a guy in another group yell to his friend "Hey! That squirrel just stole your banana!"
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Yosemite Trip Part 2: The Hike
Last week Ed and I went to Yosemite to hike up Half Dome. It was a perfect day - clear but not too hot. We got on the trail at 8:07am and got back to our car around 6:30pm. We walked a total of 15 miles and climbed up 5000 vertical feet. It was hard, but not quite as bad as I was anticipating (I was expecting it to be pretty brutal). The first few miles were pretty steep and there were spectacular views along the trail. We took the first picture of Nevada Falls below from the John Muir trail on the way down and in the second one you can see the falls through the trees from the Mist Trail, which we took on the way up.
After four hours of hiking, we got to the dome part of Half Dome. The final part of the ascent looks like this:
You have to hold onto the cables to climb up. You can see the little line of people going up in the picture (it wasn't as scary as it looks in this picture, but it was really hard). (I didn't take the picture above. It came from Kenton Lee's Hiking Page.)
From the top, you could stand in one place and see a 270 degree view of Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area. The valley floor is 5,000 feet down.
This 30-second video pans 180 degrees across the view from the top: Half Dome View (I just learned how to upload videos to YouTube.)
After lounging around on top for an hour, we headed back down. Negotiating the cables on the way down turned out to be pretty easy - you could just hold onto them to steady yourself and sort of run down sideways from post to post (we were wearing heavy gloves). There were a few people trying to hold onto the cables and walk down backwards - very slowly - because they were afraid to face forward and look down. It was pretty steep, but I didn't really get the feeling that I was in danger of falling .
The hike down was much more pleasant than the hike up and we made it back to the car before dark and without any major mishaps. If you haven't been to Yosemite and you ever get the chance, you should definitely go. There is lots to do besides hiking and the views really are spectacular.
After four hours of hiking, we got to the dome part of Half Dome. The final part of the ascent looks like this:
You have to hold onto the cables to climb up. You can see the little line of people going up in the picture (it wasn't as scary as it looks in this picture, but it was really hard). (I didn't take the picture above. It came from Kenton Lee's Hiking Page.)
From the top, you could stand in one place and see a 270 degree view of Yosemite Valley and the surrounding area. The valley floor is 5,000 feet down.
This 30-second video pans 180 degrees across the view from the top: Half Dome View (I just learned how to upload videos to YouTube.)
After lounging around on top for an hour, we headed back down. Negotiating the cables on the way down turned out to be pretty easy - you could just hold onto them to steady yourself and sort of run down sideways from post to post (we were wearing heavy gloves). There were a few people trying to hold onto the cables and walk down backwards - very slowly - because they were afraid to face forward and look down. It was pretty steep, but I didn't really get the feeling that I was in danger of falling .
The hike down was much more pleasant than the hike up and we made it back to the car before dark and without any major mishaps. If you haven't been to Yosemite and you ever get the chance, you should definitely go. There is lots to do besides hiking and the views really are spectacular.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
A Day at the Races
A horse racing track - Golden Gate Fields - sits a mile from our house. We walked over to check it out and watch some races today. Ed couldn't resist the urge to bet a few dollars, so we studied the odds as they developed before each race and bet the favorite to place or show (to be in the top two or three finishers in the race). We made money on every race - usually small amounts, since we were engaging in a fairly low-risk/low-return betting strategy - and came out $17.75 ahead after five races. After subtracting the $4/person entrace fee and the $8.25 we spent on 2 hot dogs and an extra-expensive Root Beer, we came out $1.50 ahead.
There weren't very many people there, so we were able to go right up to the rails and look down at the horses while they were doing their pre-race warm-up. You can also see the jockeys waiting to hop on:
Here are the horses just after coming out of the gate. We bet on #4 (with the yellow number in the center of the pack) and he won the race:
Some of the races were on the dirt track in the foreground of the picture and some were on the turf, like the race above. In the background, you can see Albany hill with the thick trees on the left (we live just on the other side of the hill) and the Berkeley hills further in the background. The odds and payoffs are on the scoreboard thing behind the horses.
During the second race that we saw, one of the horses crashed into the railing and went down. He was laying on his side and wasn't moving. There were lots of people around the horse and poor Ed was convinced that they were busy putting it out of its misery as we watched. But after a few minutes, it jumped up and trotted off the track like it was fine. The jockey had a mild concusion, but he was fine too.
Here are the first and second place horses at the finish line in the last race we saw:
We bet #5 to place and #2 to show - but we only won $.75 on our $10 bet because there were only 5 horses in the race and these two were the heavy favorites. The jockey in the orange jersey is Russell Baze. As of Sept. 4, he had won more than 9,430 races and also happens to be a Mormon who comes to our ward sometimes. Only one other jockey has won more races, with 9,530 career wins, and Russell will probably surpass him soon (we saw him get one more win today).
There weren't very many people there, so we were able to go right up to the rails and look down at the horses while they were doing their pre-race warm-up. You can also see the jockeys waiting to hop on:
Here are the horses just after coming out of the gate. We bet on #4 (with the yellow number in the center of the pack) and he won the race:
Some of the races were on the dirt track in the foreground of the picture and some were on the turf, like the race above. In the background, you can see Albany hill with the thick trees on the left (we live just on the other side of the hill) and the Berkeley hills further in the background. The odds and payoffs are on the scoreboard thing behind the horses.
During the second race that we saw, one of the horses crashed into the railing and went down. He was laying on his side and wasn't moving. There were lots of people around the horse and poor Ed was convinced that they were busy putting it out of its misery as we watched. But after a few minutes, it jumped up and trotted off the track like it was fine. The jockey had a mild concusion, but he was fine too.
Here are the first and second place horses at the finish line in the last race we saw:
We bet #5 to place and #2 to show - but we only won $.75 on our $10 bet because there were only 5 horses in the race and these two were the heavy favorites. The jockey in the orange jersey is Russell Baze. As of Sept. 4, he had won more than 9,430 races and also happens to be a Mormon who comes to our ward sometimes. Only one other jockey has won more races, with 9,530 career wins, and Russell will probably surpass him soon (we saw him get one more win today).
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Yosemite Trip Part I: Dispersed Camping
We've been planning to go up to Yosemite and hike half-dome for the last month or so. It takes 4 hours to drive there and 10-12 hours to do the hike, so we were trying to figure out logistics - we're too old and lazy to drive for 8 hours and hike for 12 hours without sleep, so I put Ed in charge of finding us lodging.
When I asked him what the plan was the day before our trip, he announced that we would be doing 'dispersed camping'. In the Stanislaus Forest, you are allowed to camp anywhere - if you pull over to the side of the road, walk into the forest, and pitch your tent somewhere, this is called dispersed camping.
I reminded him that we don't have a tent. Also, that I don't want to do my business on a bush in the middle of the night. So he found a couple of campgrounds just outside of Yosemite that looked like they would work. When we got there, however, they were all closed for the season (contrary to what the Forest website indicated.) It was late and we were really tired and Ed was refusing to go back to the nearest little town and pay $100 for a crummy hotel (at that point, I would have been happy to pay $100 for a roof and a toilet) - so we drove down a little dirt road, parked our car, and headed into the forest to find a spot.
We found a little clearing, blew up our air mattress, and slept under the stars. There was a full moon, so we had good visibility - which helped to allay my fear that a bear or murderer was lurking nearby. Just to be safe, I slept with mace under my pillow.
It ended up being really great. It was a warm night, the moon was shining, and the air smelled clean and foresty. Here I am, snug as a bug in the woods:
When I asked him what the plan was the day before our trip, he announced that we would be doing 'dispersed camping'. In the Stanislaus Forest, you are allowed to camp anywhere - if you pull over to the side of the road, walk into the forest, and pitch your tent somewhere, this is called dispersed camping.
I reminded him that we don't have a tent. Also, that I don't want to do my business on a bush in the middle of the night. So he found a couple of campgrounds just outside of Yosemite that looked like they would work. When we got there, however, they were all closed for the season (contrary to what the Forest website indicated.) It was late and we were really tired and Ed was refusing to go back to the nearest little town and pay $100 for a crummy hotel (at that point, I would have been happy to pay $100 for a roof and a toilet) - so we drove down a little dirt road, parked our car, and headed into the forest to find a spot.
We found a little clearing, blew up our air mattress, and slept under the stars. There was a full moon, so we had good visibility - which helped to allay my fear that a bear or murderer was lurking nearby. Just to be safe, I slept with mace under my pillow.
It ended up being really great. It was a warm night, the moon was shining, and the air smelled clean and foresty. Here I am, snug as a bug in the woods:
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