Tag: fun

Night Skies

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

Perhaps you know that this weekend is the peak of the Perseid Meteor Showers. Last night I... didn't really sleep. Just took a series of naps. I spent about an hour out on the back deck starring at the sky, and trying to catch a few streaks of light.

The funny thing is, being so close to the city the light pollution blots out most of the visible stars from your sight. However, with a long exposure, the camera can see a lot of what you can't. In the image above, I captured one meteor streaking across the sky. I didn't see it when it happened, it was too faint.

The other ironic part of this was most of the visible meteors I did see were to the north, right in the glow of the city, where I wasn't shooting.

In this one, right in the center of the frame you can see a streak that changed brightness. This was a satellite that I was tracking as it drifted across the sky. As these satellites travel, their brightness changes depending on the angle you see them at and how they are reflecting light.

As dawn approached I moved my focus point closer to the horizon to catch Venus rising. You can see how much the brightness of sky changes in the frame captured across just about 30 minutes of time from the last image to this one. In the upper right corner of the frame, a small meteor passed from the south to the north. I saw this one when it happened; it was bright enough against the early illumination of the Eastern horizon.

I looked at this picture more closely as I was posting this and noticed a dimmer streak just below the more obvious one. So I may have caught two in one shot.

I am disappointed I didn't see or capture any brilliant fire balls or larger meteors, but tonight is another night. If our moonless sky stays this clear, I might have a chance to catch more.

How Many Days of Food Porn?

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

I swear it was days upon days of food porn the past two weeks. Let's see some examples?

Eggs Benedict? That's a home made hollandaise, yo.

Over-stuffed shrimp quesadillas, with home made guacamole, yo!

Ridiculously over-stuffed shrimp quesadillas.

Eggplant parm with hot peppers, gnocchi, garlic bread and a salad with home made Caesar dressing!

See a pattern here?

We're damn good in the kitchen....

Champions

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

My soccer team won our division championship tonight with a 2-1 win against a very, very tough team.

I'm so proud of these kids.

We were not at all the most talented team, but as the season progressed they embraced the lessons I was teaching:

1. Focus on the fundamentals.
2. Play within yourself.
3. Keep everything to the outside until you can strike.
4. Have fun and be a good sport.
5. Being a good sport doesn't mean allowing them to push you around - stand your ground, play with pride and give it your best effort, always.
6. Team first. No one can do it all on their own. Trust your team mates, always.

They did just that, every game down the stretch of the season and finished their last 8 games, including the playoffs 6-0-2, after starting 5-5 with some pretty discouraging losses.

This was the end of an exciting season for them. I'm happy we were able to make this happen.

In two weeks we'll have our season wrap-up and pizza party. After that, most of these kids I will probably never coach again. That's just the way it goes.

But I hope they take the excitement of this season, and the lessons they embraced, and never, ever stop playing, growing and learning.

Highlight of my Month

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

Originally written January 24, 2009:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

J: What time do you want us in bed?

Me: Well, it's Saturday night. Not like you have school tomorrow.

J: Yeah, but it's already past nine o'clock...

Me: So? You can't stay up late and have fun once in a while? I think you can. What's wrong with that?

E: You're like.. the best dad. Ever.

Me: *melts*

That kid knows how to get his way.

Super Hero Dilemmas

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

Morning conversations in the car...

E: Dad, ok. So, you're a Superhero but your powers are limited. So would you rather.... be able to fly, but you can only do it from two-feet off the ground, or would you rather be able to run with lightning speed, but only for 100-feet at a time?

P: Hmm... I'd rather be able to fly. Even two-feet off the ground, it seems like it would be more useful.

E: True.

P: Besides, all that rapid starting and stopping with the running can't possibly be good for your knees.

E: HAHA!

P: Flying two-feet off the ground would be fun. It would be like luge racing everywhere!

J: Ok, would you rather have X-Ray vision but never be able to turn it off... or....

E: Hmm....

J: Hmm....

P: ...or, you can fly, but have no control over the direction you go.

J: HAHA!

E: HAHA! I wanted to go California, why am I in Paris?!

Ahhh.. we have fun.

Kayaking in the Buff

Posted on by Paul In The Buff

Yelp took the events to a new level last week, literally. A kayak tour up the Buffalo river and a tour of Silo City, where heady entrepreneurs are creating a rock climbing gym out of the abandoned man-made mountains of concrete and steel in what used to be the Great Lakes' busiest agriculture product distribution centers.

These monoliths of a time and economy long past still stand. Honestly, they're built more solidly than most fortresses - it would probably require more to take them down than do something with them standing.

And this is what someone is doing with one of them: the world's most unique exercise facility. The tallest rock climbing walls anywhere in the world. Rappelling, training, kayaking - all part of the revitalization of a waterfront once squandered.