A ‘dash’ through Baylands

None of our usual Baylands companions, neither cormorant nor egret nor blue heron were around today, so I had to make do with this snap of the ‘pole forest’ and a couple of joggers.
I did manage two new personal bests: I walked the 1.8 mile loop in an hour and 10 minutes (10 minutes faster [...]

The good and bad about transparency

We recently wrote about our latest health news, which prompted a minor flood of concerned email from friends and colleagues, though I wasn’t quite sure why. One comment was that it ‘didn’t sound like Chris.’
I’ll repeat that the news was very good for a person with glioma. The tumor is stable, indeed a faint shadow [...]

New mascot

So, we decided that Pixar’s Wall-E was our new mascot. Figuring that Wall-E and his maker, Buy’nLarge, Inc. would be online and receptive to orders, we quickly negotiated for our very own Wall-E, who is now happily roaming the house, looking for junk to pick up.
I really like Wall-E’s work ethic: whatever happens (which, in [...]

The iPhone 3G, and how to take it apart

Aaron Vronko has not only already got ahold of an iPhone 3G, but he’s taken it apart and published a HOWTO guide. You’re a braver man than I, Aaron…

Kindle, a very satisfactory device

So, here’s my Kindle on the breakfast-nook table this morning. Despite the fact that we are long-time subscribers to the print NY Times (and SF Chronicle) I do most of my newspaper reading these days on the Kindle, and this after only 3 weeks since its arrival on Father’s day.
I like it, and it’s dropped [...]

A half-mile with Linda

Sweet spouse Linda was kind enough to walk with me this morning, despite my very slow pace. Trainer Heidi Engel has been encouraging me to walk longer distances without my cane, and this was my longest jaunt - a half mile.
I’ve been walking without my cane in the house and at the gym, but I’ve [...]

A walk through Arastradero

A deer and her fawn greeted me as I made my way along a dirt path through Palo Alto’s Arastradero Preserve this morning. I was much anticipating this, only my third visit to the Preserve since cancer struck. The park’s flora is now in full, gold-and-green summer dress.
I was eager to try out my new [...]

A Sunday morning sketch

This bright morning finds me at the kitchen table with a plate of eggs scrambled with a freshly diced tomato, a pan-grilled chicken apple sausage from Biancini’s market, a mug of freshly-brewed Peet’s coffee, a cocktail of ten pills (Lyrica, Keppra, Altace, fish oil, vitamin D3, a ’senior’ multivitamin and Alleve), a glass of water [...]

More on Martian ice ‘mystery blob’

Here’s a lightened, cropped version of the lower image in the post below, showing no Sol-20 type clumps in the shadow, but clearly showing the ‘mystery blob.’
Re-reading a couple of MPL press releases makes me believe that additional digging was done in the trench pictured on Sol 19, resulting in the images of Sols 20 [...]

Ice on Mars: first look

Ice clumps on Mars? The recent announcement, first spotted on the MPL Twitter blog reports that the small grayish clumps visible in the lower left of the trench in the photo marked Sol 20 above, have disappeared by Sol 24, a discovery that is consistent with water ice sublimating into the thin, very dry Martian [...]

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