Age of Computers

Its easy to see that the Age of Computers is well entrenched in our lives. Everyone from kids to seniors are using them today. Some jobs rely on computers more than others, especially engineering. What I find interesting is that even though I have been around and using computers for the last 20 years, there are times when I find that I must still break open my "art kit" to get something accomplished.

My art kit contains a bunch of colored markers, india ink, paint brushes (for the ink), quill pens, mechanical pencils, lead holders, and drawing templates. Although I am well-versed in the use of 3D modeling software and graphics programs, sometimes what gets the job done is a nice hand rendering of an object. I think that's cool.

Coon Hollow Camping

I went camping at Coon Hollow during the long Labor Day weekend, between September 1st-3rd of 2006. It was very hot, between 107-119 throughout the day.

We brought along a shade tent that was 17x17 feet. It lasted for a day or so, until a thunderstorm rolled through the camp site on the 2nd evening. The winds picked-up and after about 30mins, the tent just folded over itself. The tent poles were no match for the winds.

The winds were blowing dust and sand everywhere. We all started laughing at the size of the rain drops (big ol' fat rain), and at how hard they were hitting us. When ever you opened your mouth to laugh or talk it would be filled with dust, or as we refered to it, Desert Sweets.

Well, enjoy all the photos. If you want to see a few extra, check out my Flickr page at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysticmango/

Chilao Campgrounds

July 29, 2006 Chilao

I went camping once again, this time with Tom Finley, a coworker of mine. It was just the two of us, and it was a fairly quiet experience. We did throw the football around for a short time, untill my shoulder started to hurt. I haven't thrown one in about 17yrs.

There wasn't a major bug problem, and the weather was nice, but it did get a bit overcast later in the afternoon. There were some low-flying clouds that passed through the campsite, and they totally obscured the mountains on the otherside of the valley. Check out the photo down a few spots.

The spot we had was nice and large. It was designated as a double spot, meaning there was room for two groups, but since the campgrounds are first-come, first-serve, we snagged it. Besides, there was only one fire ring, so I don't see how two groups could have camped at the same time, unless the fire ring was shared.

We did notice a few "gorilla campers" as I like to refer to them. These are basically people that are too cheap to spring for the $12 camping fee. It's a real shame too, as these funds go towards upkeep of the roads, piped-in water, bathrooms, trash, etc. I also don't understand why people would want to set-up camp when it is dark, only to break-down camp at the crack of dawn and leave before they are caught.

Come on people, it's only $12! You probably spend that or more during the week on your fancy Starbucks coffee and high and mighty lunch salads. Commune with nature, all it costs is a bit of your time and twelve freaking dollars.

July 22, 2006 Chilao

I this weekend I took my younger son Clark. He's 3 and a half years old. We went camping at Chilao in the Angeles National Forest, but at a different location, more in the flat plains. I didn't want him falling off some mountian. I'm sure you can understand that.

We arrived early in the day, around 8am. He had a blast running around and exploring. We would go on short hikes, and he ran most of the time. Clark did find a few "broken" animals as he refers to them. He relates anything dead as being "broken". Must be due to me throwing away all the toys that he breaks. He knows if something is broken, then it goes in the trash and is never seen again.

The first time he used this term was during The Lion King, where Mufasa saves Simba from the stampeding wildebeest. Mufasa is laying there, not moving, and Simba approaches, trying to wake his father up. Clark was staring at the tv and says, "Uh-oh, lion broken." He said it so matter of factly, that it took me by surprise. I did confirm that yes, in fact the lion was broken. I found it rather interesting to see such eloquent use of the word.

Clark managed to find a "broken" lizard and kangaroo mouse, both victims of passing cars during the middle of the night. I had to laugh at the lizard coment, it was ground into the pavement. "Yes Clark, that lizard is broken real bad."

About mid-day an old friend Larry Kiliszewski showed-up with his 3yr old, Taylor. I broke out a small inflatable pool and filled it with water (thanks to that $12 camping fee) from a nearby faucet. The two kids played in that on-and-off the rest of the day. We did some light hiking, maybe 100yds at a time. We even played around with a big yellow ball, and drew pictures in the sand with a stick.

Around 5pm Larry decided to take Taylor home, as Larry wasn't prepared to spend the night camping. He made mental notes of what to bring next time, and we are planning to go camping in the near future. Hopefully the weather holds out for another month or so, as I think it would be nice to go camping when it is a little cooler for the kids. We saw the two of them off, then I took Clark for another hike.

For the entire day I had been trying to tire-out Clark, and our last hike was the straw that broke the camel's back. On the way back Clark was begging me to carry him, and I obliged. I picked him up, and after taking only 5 or so steps I heard snoring coming from Clark. He must have been so exhausted, he fell asleep almost instantly. I returned to camp, and put him in the tent. I let him sleep for a couple of hours, waited till dark and started-up the fire. For dinner I cooked hot dogs, and woke him up. He ate and went right back to sleep.

During the night it became very cloudy and windy, and it started to drizzle. I say drizzle, but Californians would call it "rain". Coming from Florida, if you can only see across the street or about 30yds, then THAT's rain. In California, if a drop hits your windshield more than once an hour, they call this rain. Quick, send out the news crews in their rain gear and slickers! It's Storm Watch 2006!

We woke up the next morning and took a last hike around the campgrounds then packed everything up. I had to get him home by 9am so Cindy could take him to Sunday School. As soon as he was in the car he fell alseep again, and didn't wake-up until we got home (about 1 hour). When he came home from school around 3pm, he fell asleep again and slept till 7pm. He must have been really exhausted from the camping trip. I can't wait to take him again.

He was definately having a good time, and I'm glad that he likes the great outdoors.

Buckhorn Campground: Take 2

I liked camping at Buckhorn last weekend so much, I decided to bring my older kids along the following weekend. We arrived a bit late, so we didn't get to select one of the better sites, but at least we got there early enough to get a camping spot. We were in site 33 (last weekend was #7), which is just behind where people have to pay their camping fees. It is close to faucet water and the toilets... it's also near the dumpsters. We could hear the lids being slammed the entire weekend. Site 33 is pretty much right at a busy intersection, and were were fairly close to the road that leads to a trailhead. It wasn't the best spot, but a spot none the less.

After we set-up camp and took a short rest, we decided to try to climb up a few hills to survey our surroundings and note the locations of available firewood. This was the first time my kids have gone camping in a long time, and they weren't realy equiped for the task of hiking. Both had some smooth-bottomed Vans shoes on, and they didn't provide much traction. Nakoma was lucky in that we wear the same shoe size, and also lucky that I had an extra pair of hiking boots in my Xterra. Gabrielle had to make due with what she had. Neither one had a hat either, but again I just so happened to have two extra.

Gabby had a small slip coming down one face of a hill, those pine needles can be pretty slick. Luckily she didn't injure herself. After that short hike, we went back to our camp and took another rest. As we were sitting in camp, I noticed that both kids had these blank expressions on their faces. At first I wasn't sure if they were enjoying themselves, but both Nakoma and Gabrielle said they were having fun just being out in the woods. I'm glad they were having fun doing nothing, because that is exactly what I had planned on.

After the rest, we decided to hike in the other direction, and within short order, we came upon a small pool of mountain water that had sections of a large tree floating in it. The kids went down into the pool and stood on the wood. I can't say they were logs because they weren't. They were horizontal slices out of a tree about 3ft in diameter, perhaps 18-24 inches thick. Depending on your weight, you could float on them. If you were heavier, the wood would sink, but the pool was only two-feet deep or so, and the wood would bottom out. Your shoes would get a bit wet and that would be that.

Let me rephrase that... your shoes get wet unless you are Nakoma. Then you get your whole body wet and someone elses shoes wet (mine). He was jumping from one peice of wood to another, when he lost his balance and fell into the pool. He was soaked from head to toe. I was video taping them on the wood, but missed filming him getting soaked. I think that's a Murphy's Law when it comes to filming.

We mostly ate store-bought sub sandwhiches, and snacked on granola bars. Gabby is a vegitarian, so she had to live off of non-meat Lunchables and grilled cheese sandwhiches over the fire. She said the grilled cheese sandwhiches were good, but I doubt that (even though I was the chef). Nakoma and I did get a chance to grill a few polish sausages over the fire, and they did taste good, even though we didn't have any condiments like ketchup, catsup, mustard, or mayonaise. Don't ask about the mayonaise, I had never heard of using that on hot dogs before. My son claims it tastes great. I'll take his word for it. We also roasted a few marsh mellows, but after 2 or 3 of them I'm done.

The following day we broke-down the camp and headed down the mountain. On the way we stopped at another campeground called Chilao. It looks to be a very interesting place. All-in-all, it was a fun but short weekend. It was a whole lot better than just sitting around my apartment, or going to the movies. I think next time they come over we may just have to go camping again, perhaps to Chilao.

Camping at Buckhorn Campground

Buckhorn Campground is about 1 hour east of Pasadena and La Canada on the Angeles Crest Highway (State Route 2). It has 35 camping spots, suitable for tent camping or no hook-up RV camping. The fee is only $12 a night, and well worth it. Elevation is about 6,500ft, well above the smog line of Los Angeles, yeilding clear skies and moderate weather.

We pulled into the campsite around 10:30am on Saturday, and managed to secure site #7. It was close to a small creek, and had a picnic table and fire ring. There were also two enclosed toilets about 80yds away and water faucet about 20yds away. We had the location to ourselves untill about 1pm, when a couple and their son arrived. They took the spot about 75yds from us. Around 5pm a mother and her 4 daughters arrived in a small RV. They took the spot about 30yds from us, up the hill. That's when things began to get loud.

The girls were between the ages of 8-14 years old, and for some reason did not know how to talk, they only knew how to yell. Of course, they probably learned this from their mother, as she constantly yelled at them for one thing or another. She yelled to set the table for dinner and breakfast, yelled at them to stay close, yelled at them to pray before meals. She did a lot of yelling. Luckily for us, they hiked the following day, and made our Sunday there very enjoyable.

Fire wood was easy to get, as there were fallen limbs and trees within short hiking distance. There was also an abundance of pine cones on the ground, and these turned out to burn rather well given their pine sap contents. We also found a large chunk of a tree trunk, about 20-inches in diameter and about 30-inches tall. It was just small enough to fit it in the fire ring... standing up. By the end of the night though, it was laying on it's side, and it burned all night, and the rest of the following day. All in all, it was a great site, one which I will return to very soon with my older kids.

One problem we did encounter were the mosquitoes. I guess the creek wasn't running that strongly, and the standing water in some spots were perfect breeding grounds for the little blood suckers. We didn't bring any repellant, as this was not our first spot for camping. We had planned to go up to 8,200ft to a place called Guffy Campground, but the road leading there was closed. On our way down the mountain we decided to stop at Buckhorn, and it turned out to be a great second choice.

Click on any picture to enlarge it.

Colson Canyon 2006

I went camping June 23-25, 2006. It was a great time. We left right after work on Friday, drove the 3hrs to get to the camp site as early as possible since the spots are first come-first serve. We didn't have to do that as we were the only people there. Colson Canyon only has 5 camping sites, some with tables and most without, but all had fire rings. It's always cool to have a fire when you are camping.

The temperature was perfect, about 85f during the day and down to about 65f at night. Our elevation was right at 2,000ft. We really got lucky with the weather, as I heard it was a scorcher where I live. The news kept talking about high humidity and high temperatures, both equal uncomfortable conditions.

We were the only folks at the camp site, which I found rather amazing. I expected a lot of people since it was the first weekend after school let out. I had visions of the place being over-run by the Boy Scouts or something. I'm glad that wasn't the case. We did hear a see a few people on ATV's and motocycles drive by, but the were on the road that passes the campsite. No one ventured into the camp proper.

So we arrived at 10:30pm, and my friend Greg and I set-up camp. The spot we selected had a fire ring and picnic table, protected by the sun by two massive oak trees. I believe that are Royal Oaks, but not 100% sure. We thought we were going to have an ant problem, as we saw a few large black ants. It turned out that the ants were the least of our troubles.

In the group shot, from left to right: Greg, Nate, Matt and myself. There were a few more people there, Guy and Nina, but I didn't manage to get a photos of them. They didn't spend the night, but did hang out for a few hours.

Below are some of the more interesting photos.

L o n g W o r d s

One word you have heard of, nine more that you will probably never ever need to see or know for the rest of your life.

1. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - a nonsense word meaning fantastic.
2. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust.'
3. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism - a familial disorder in which the skeletal and developmental abnormalities of pseudohypoparathyroidism are present without the biochemical abnormalities common to hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism.
4. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - a village in Wales.
5. Antidisestablishmentarianism - opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England.
6. Floccinaucinihilipilification - an act or instance of judging something to be worthless or trivial.
7. Honorificabilitudinitatibus - the state of being able to achieve honors.
8. Formaldehydetetramethylamidofluorimum- a chemical.
9. Hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies -surgical creation of a connection between the gall bladder and a hepatic duct and between the intestine and the gall bladder.
10. Znadseepsodemineraalwatersteenstralen - Dutch word meaning, "to 'take a hike.'

Natural History Museum

I took all my kids to the Natural History Musem in Los Angeles. It's about 7.5 miles from my apartment. It's been about 6 years since the last time I was there. We also visited the California Science Center since we were in that part of town (they are next door to each other).

They have a good collection of stuff there, and it's fairly famous. One of the nice things is there are a lot of hands-on activities for kids. I think that's a big plus to get them interested in science and the natural world.


Clark can say that his artwork is "on display" at the museum. They had a small art alcove with colored pencils and paper. The person overseeing everything asked if Clark wanted his artwork (ok, my artwork, his scribbles) pined ont eh wall, and he said yes.

Clark was pretty terrified of all the large dinosaur models and skeletons. He never turned his back on a single one, so I don't have any photos of that. I can relate though. When I was about 6 my parents to me to Gatorland Zoo, and my father made me sit on a concrete alligator. I was soo scared that it would come alive and bite my hands off. Though Clark might have been scared at the museum, he was very excited that morning to go.

All in all it was a great day, even though I didn't take a lot of pictures of Garbielle or Nakoma. It was also hard to get any photos of Clark. And yes, that is a small on Nakoma's face. I can see it. That's a whale skeleton behind him in that photo.