US orienteering;navigation Champs - Day 2
Sunday's courses started from the same location at the group camp, but went south and west on the Cat's Agenda map instead. This was a simple one-day A-meet,
and without a "championship" course at stake, I ran up to the Blue course to get more time in the terrain. Charlie had set the courses, and when I turned over
the map at the start, I saw there was a little less penalty for navigation mistakes - not a lot less, but there were certainly more good
catching features.
Day 2 Blue course. Click to enlarge.
You all know what happens if you click the link.
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On a White Sandy Beach
Posted Wed, October 28, 2009 - 10:29 PM
travel, hawaii
We were playing in the sun
We were having so much fun
On a white, sandy beach of Hawai‘i
—
Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole (iTunes link)
It's less than two weeks until I get on a nonstop, 8½ hour flight from Minneapolis to Honolulu. I've spent a little time working out an itinerary -
nothing too complicated to prevent us from relaxing and enjoying things, but enough to get in some unique experiences.
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US orienteering;navigation Champs - Day 1
Last weekend was the 2009 US Orienteering Champs, hosted only a few hours away by our friends in the Badger Club. All the events were held on a relatively
new set of maps (one just finished this summer) in the Northern Kettle Moraine area with evocative names like Cat's Meow, Cat's Agenda, and Hep Cat. The map
below speaks for itself!
Day 1 Red course - 2009 US Champs. Click to enlarge.
Mostly open, white woods and a tremendous amount of contour detail made it some of the most challenging terrain I've ever run on. Read on to find out how
I did...
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Pikes Peak Video
Here's a video of last month's trip up the Barr Trail on the east side of Pikes Peak.
Click on the still frame to play.
Why I Like Grand Marais
Posted Fri, October 16, 2009 - 11:25 PM
photography, minnesota
One of my favorite destinations on the North Shore is the town of Grand Marais. As well as being the gateway to the Gunflint Trail, it's filled with
great shops, restaurants, and galleries, and hosts a very progressive community of painters, sculptors, and other artists.
And true to reputation, Grand Marais has also been good to me for photography.
Watching the sunset.
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Money, Money, Money
Posted Fri, October 16, 2009 - 9:25 PM
travel, sanfrancisco
So as everyone no doubt knows, I was in San Francisco this week for the annual Oracle conference. I posted on Monday night,
which ended up being a rare free day, but since then it's been a nonstop display of frankly, money. Not to say it isn't a little exciting to be here, though.
To make it sound super c00l, I can say that I spent four nights in a great city, saw Aerosmith, Roger Daltrey, Devotchka, and the Pogues in concert, survived an earthquake and a typhoon,
and came awful close to the president, the vice president, and the governor of California. Not too bad!
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Cable Car Quickie
Posted Tue, October 13, 2009 - 10:58 AM
travel, sanfrancisco
One day down so far. I went to the opening keynote address in the big auditorium at Moscone, and then had four breakout sessions in the late morning
and afternoon. After things wrapped up, we reconvened at the hotel and rode the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner.
On the Powell-Mason line. My co-workers Pete, Scott, and Jonathan.
Off to San Francisco!
This afternoon I'm off to the airport to get on a plane for San Francisco for four days of
Oracle Open World, courtesy of my employer. Sure, it's a
technical conference sponsored by a (very) large software vendor who's just gone on a buying spree in the past few years. So there's sure to be a lot of
interesting sessions, lots of people to talk to, a great venue (Moscone Center) in downtown San Francisco, and a chance to feel the pulse of the industry's
direction - plus just a dash of hype and bullshit, and voila! I'm a professional!
Last time I went out of town for work was several years ago, in October - I went to Denver for a weeklong training session on BEA Systems' application server.
They put me up at at the Denver Tech Center in the southeastern area of the city, and it was a very nice time, even though the only good running
area was near Cherry Creek Reservoir. Three of the four days I was there, the weather jumped up into the 70s. Mind you, at that time of year, it could also
have been snowing. The classes only went to 4 PM each day, sometimes earlier. One of the four days we adjourned at 2 PM! So I took the opportunity to drive
my rental car (which was on my own dime, by the way) up to Loveland Pass and hiked east up to the summit of
Mount Sniktau in beautiful warm clear, mountain
air as the sun lowered to the horizon. Going in, I hadn't expected the chance to enjoy the locale, but I was glad to get it.
This is going to be an
interesting combination.
I'm guessing this conference will be pretty much the same. It's a good time of year for the Bay Area, and the scheduled sessions are over by 5 PM. They do have various mixers
and cocktail parties and whatnot scheduled in the early evening, and I'll no doubt attend one or two of them. I'm going with three other people - my boss
(the other Pete) and Jonathan and Scott from the marketing division, so it should be a little more sociable than if they were sending me alone. But, I think,
there'll plenty of chances for taking advantage of what the city has to offer once the sun goes down. Our hotel is a couple of blocks from the event
center, and both right in the middle of everything.
The main after-hours event I've looking forward to is a concert at the
Warfield Theater on Tuesday night - Jonathan and I both got tickets to
see Devotchka and the Pogues (who, thankfully, are playing with the iconic toothless Irish drunk Shane McGowan.) I'll let you figure out which is
which in the photo. Either way, it's going to be one hell of a show.
Then I'll be back on Thursday night, only to turn around and head up to Camp Ripley for the
Minnegoat weekend. Such a busy schedule. Sigh... poor me.
What More Can I Say?
I have orienteering friends who talk a lot of trash. (Thankfully, it's usually not to me.)
While under the influence of several Summit IPAs, a
recent round of jousting
about this year's Possum Trot race
gave me a moment of inspiration that was well satisfied by a few Google image searches and a hour or so in Photoshop. The resulting hilarity
forces me to repost it here for all to enjoy.
If you don't get it... you won't get it.
Gloria In Excelsis Deo
When I
signed the register at the top of Quandary Peak,
I noticed a Latin phrase printed on the sheet - along with Colorado Mountain Club
and the names and comments of innumerable people. It stuck out because of the anachronism: the words
Gloria In Excelsis Deo, also known as the "Greater Doxology".
Now mind you, I'm the type of person who prefers the In Excelsis part, or perhaps a "Gloria In Excelsis Naturae". Nevertheless, the Gloria and
other such nonsense has had some use in inspiring beautiful music throughout the ages - and this is an effect I'm not willing to gainsay.
The following "Gloria" was composed by Antonio Vivaldi and performed by the King's College Choir (audio extraction from
Youtube posts by margotlorena.)
- Gloria in excelsis Deo (2:33)
- Et in terra pax (6:09)
- Laudamus te (2:19)
- Gratias agimus (0:29)
- Propter magnam gloriam (1:01)
- Domine Deus (4:20)
- Domine fili unigenite (2:26)
- Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (5:23)
- Qui tollis (1:05)
- Qui sedes ad dexteram (2:09)
- Quoniam tu solus sanctus (0:51)
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