Strap on your horn and go

Strap on your horn and go Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "focusaurus" journal:

March 14th, 2009
07:38 pm [Link]	This blog has moved! I've always been a bit hesitant about the trade-off of convenience of letting a third party like livejournal host and manage this blog and all its data versus wanting to retain some control over that data. Well, I've heard that in the tough economy livejournal has laid off most of its tech staff and rumors are that the site may start to crumble soon. So with that in mind plus my own preference to own and control the data, I have migrated this blog to my own site. All the posts and all the comments have been fully migrated and are still there. Hats off to the folks at wordpress that seem to have a decent livejournal importer. It did screw up the embedded videos and livejournal usernames, but I fixed those up. So, from now on all new posts will be on the new site. I'll disable comments on this site if possible. The new address is http://www.peterlyons.com/persblog. You can add it to your RSS reader with this URL: http://www.peterlyons.com/persblog/feed/. AND secondly, I have also started a new professional blog that my techie friends may want to check out. Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Alanis Morissette
March 1st, 2009
01:15 pm [Link]	Steamboat 2009 On Tuesday the Banff Mountain Film Festival was here in Boulder and they showed about six short documentaries. Lots of great shots of climbing, skiing, and snowboarding. My favorite was a documentary about three BASE jumpers who travel to central China to BASE jump into the Heavenly Pit. Thursday after work I packed up The Blue Machine and drove 3.5 hours to Steamboat Springs. Like last year, I stopped somewhere along I-40 deep into the remote mountains to star gaze. The night was calm and clear and the sky just looks so awesome when you can actually see thousands of stars and the dusty trails in the galaxy. Friday morning it was snowing, windy, and cold. I was at the Steamboat Springs Gondola before it was open and got to make some nice fresh tracks. However, it was just brutally cold so I eventually had to go inside to warm up every other run. So the morning was cold and mid day was a bit icy because it was warm on Wednesday so the layer underneath the powder was rock hard ice. However, I did manage to find a few runs with good snow at the end of the day. I met up with a group of other Boulderites who had rented a condo for the weekend so I stayed with them Friday night. We had a nice meal and enjoyed hanging out. Saturday it was sunny, clear, calm, and delightful. We all skied/boarded together all day. It was nice to have such a big group (nine all together) and for them all to be expert skiers. We did a few hike-to runs, lots of trees, and a few journeys out of bounds. It was a blast. Sadly, I forgot my new snow pants at home, which prompted my companions to sing "He's a Jeans Skier" to the tune of "Dream Weaver" and inquire why I wasn't wearing an NFL jacket. There are more photos here and a video here. Today I'm looking forward to some much-needed yoga and saxophone and then next week work is going to get busy for a while. Current Location: Steamboat Springs, CO Current Mood: happy Current Music: Dub Pistols Tags: ski
February 16th, 2009
08:13 pm [Link]	Vasquez Ridge lies behind me. Bloody, unconscious - vanquished. Here's my new weapons! After some fun rock climbing yesterday, today I awoke at ten to six and headed up to Winter Park to try the new skis, new snow pants, skiing without a pack, and listening to music while skiing alone. The new skis took some getting used to as they are a bit longer and more rigid than the last pair, but by the end of the (long) day, I felt reasonably comfortable on them. Overall I have to say this was probably my best day skiing alone so far, and I did a lot of that last season. Hmm, actually, maybe the big powder day at Park City last year is still the reigning champion. Anyway, the drive was good, no problems with parking or crowds, and I DJed a good set. Started off with Zoe Keating (one cellist with overdub loops. Very interesting), then on to Wynton Marsalis Jump and Jazz, which is great, then Nice Inch Nails The Fragile, and the new Death Cab for Cutie album on the drive home. I skied Vasquez Ridge mercilessly all morning. I took a cell phone photo of what I consider to be the funniest ski run name I've seen: Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: Zoe Keating, Wynton Marsalis, Nine Inch Nails
February 7th, 2009
07:59 pm [Link]	More settling in So it was with a great sense of fondness and gratitude that I parted ways with The Green Machine this week. I sold it and the bike rack to a guy across town, so I drove the car with the bike on the rack to his place, completed the sale, pumped up my tires using his bike pump (tires have needed air since September), and rode eight miles back home. It's strange but completing this chore has given me a sense of completeness to the trip I wasn't expecting, and this weekend I'm full of motivation on a raft of new projects. Speaking of new projects, in a surprising but not entirely unexpected turn of events, the project I have been working on at work since September was abruptly canceled this week. So once again I watch months worth of code drift out to sea, never to see the light of day. So this generated a lot of upheaval. My team was split up and put onto two other projects effective immediately but what I work on longer term seems still up in the air. I caught a lucky break last week. I took my skis in for a tuning and it turns out my bindings were recalled by Atomic due to a tendency to crack. So I get some new bingings and supposedly these ones won't crack on the slopes. I've been up to the mountains a few more times and am planning this season's trip to Steamboat Springs maybe toward the end of the month. In other activity news, I joined 24 hour fitness here and plan to continue my exercise routine. I've actually managed to lose about twelve pounds since October. Rock climbing is also going pretty well and I'm making steady progress in skill and endurance. It's quite satisfying to be totally stumped by a rock climbing route on the first attempt and to complete it cleanly on the third. Current Mood: productive Current Music: Primus: Antipop
January 24th, 2009
08:49 pm [Link]	Dos Equis with Charley I've only tried about a dozen beers so far and honestly I'm still not that interested. However, I had a Dos Equis tonight and it was quite delicious. It's dangerous how much I like Mexican food these days. I actually tried to get some Thai but I couldn't find one place and the other place seems permanently closed. Anyway, I'm sitting here stuff full of ski fuel for tomorrow and am quite contented. At the restaurant I started reading John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley in Search of America". You know, between my Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins, they have probably read 50,000 books, yet not one of them recommended this book to me before my trip. As a matter of fact, I don't know how this ended up on my amazon wishlist, but here I am anyway. After the first paragraph I was hooked. Jamie Sue, you must read this immediately. Here's a line from Part One: The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost. He gets bonus points for the Oxford Comma. My beloved Green Machine is now up for sale on craigslist and has been through one test drive already. Winter Park got 11 inches of snow last night. I'll be there tomorrow to enjoy it. Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Music: Chuck Mangione: Feels So Good
January 21st, 2009
08:39 pm [Link]	Weak Areas: None noted Woo hoo! I now have a "Brainbench Master Certification in Python 2.4"! Next up, renewing my Sun Certified Java Programmer status. Current Mood: happy Current Music: None. Concentrating.
January 19th, 2009
01:42 pm [Link]	Gym rat I've become a bit of a gym rat this month. I've been lifting weights and jogging three miles at least every other day. It's getting to be fun and gives me a chance to load up my mp3 player with lots of hardcore heavy metal/punk type stuff and some techno. Last weekend I saw some pretty funny short comedy films in Denver at the Festivus Film Festival. I also just want to state that I am putting forth that Six Feet Under Season Two Episode One "In the Game" is the pinnacle of the black comdey genre. We had a great day skiing at Copper Mountain Saturday. It was quite warm, clear sunny skies, and no wind. Still plenty of good snow, though. I must say having the rear bumper of the rogue to sit on while you don your ski boots is far superior to trying this from a sedan. That's mostly it. I'm starting to flip through the book "1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die", which I bought for myself while Christmas shopping and my mother also ended up getting as a gift for me. It's nice to go check out their suggestions on Rhapsody. ...oh yeah...and it's 66 degrees and gorgeous out right now. Time to run outside! Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Cannonball Adderley
January 1st, 2009
03:47 pm [Link]	Snow and Fire I started the ski season yesterday at Copper Mountain. Tried to go out Tuesday morning but it was extremely windy in Boulder so I decided to wait a day. Wednesday on the mountain it was warm, clear, calm, and sunny. Very pleasant first trip. No fresh snow, but plenty of cover. Last night for NYE I went to the grand opening party for the Phoenix Asylum artist co-op here in Boulder. They had the place, which is normally a shop for metal working, wood working, etc, in nice shape for a party with lights, DJ, VJ, bar, etc. They had some good fire spinners as well. Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Death Cab for Cutie
December 21st, 2008
11:49 am [Link]	Attack of the birds Winter has arrived in Colorado. We've had three or four snowfalls and some frigid temperaturs. I was shivering last Sunday night and cursing the thermostat when I glanced at the weather report: -12F! I guess that's why the thermostat wasn't able to keep up. In other news I had some avian adventures in the house. Somehow two medium sized birds managed to get into the chimney and all the way down into the fireplace. Trapped behind the glass doors and flapping around on the gas logs, they made a good amount of ruckus. I assembled various makeshift devices to try to get them into a big box and then transport them to the back porch and let them go. The glass doors open with a single hinge and sliders in such a way that is is not possible to open them without giving the birds a chance to escape and go flying around the house. In one of the early attempts, one black bird did get past me and fly into the living room. Luckily he made just one hop and then immediately went out the open back door. That left one big woodpecker in the fireplace. Realizing my chances of getting him outside were pretty slim, I called the maintenance guy. He came the next day and decided the bird was big enough that we should call an animal control company. So with that extra delay I slipped a piece of whole grain bread into the fireplace to offer him some sustainence until the company could come Saturday morning (I had discovered them in there Wednesday evening). Luckily though, the company was able to come earlier than planned and a young guy just put on a pair of gloves, grabbed the bird, and walked it outside. I was anticipating some elaborate net to cover the entire fireplace. Anyway, he said he thought the piece of bread may have made the difference, so I was glad to have done that. I'm currently in the air flying from Denver to Philadelphia for a nice week with the family. I haven't seen my parents since June. I can't remember a prior time going six months without seeing them at all. I'm also excited to see my sister who is five months pregnant. Current Location: Airplane between Denver and Philadelphia Current Music: Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
December 5th, 2008
06:09 pm [Link]	Ozics, Crystal Method, Likeness to Lily So we had a yummy Thanskgiving at the Pizzis with lots of eating and playing of games. Last week I did a ton of climbing with Becky on Friday and Saturday. We were planning to climb outdoors Saturday but it ended up being cold and snowy so we climbing for three and a half hours indoors anyway. Becky has been climbing a lot in the past six weeks, so at this point she is noticably better than me, but I'm working on catching up. I'm setting my lower boundary to 5.9+. Last Friday I went to the Fox Theatre for a show by the Ozric Tentacles. I had never heard of them, but their stuff is surprisingly good to code to. Lots of amusing aging hippies at the show as well. I went back on Tuesday for The Crystal Method, a pair of dance/electronica big beat DJs. It was by far the closest to a rave I have been. The young college kids were out in force with their glow sticks and big sun glasses. Some good people watching. One kid jumped on stage, stage dove (I guess technically that part was a success) but the crowd surfing the usually immediately follows a good stage dive was a failure. He crashed to the floor and pissed off some folks on the way down. One kid punched him right in the jaw as soon as he got up and knocked him right back down. I was also situated in a spot on the elevated platform about three steps above the floor right in front of the stage and got to witness little white pills (presumably ecstacy) being sold directly below me. The purchasers of said pills then later on took turns shaking glow sticks around in elaborate trippy patterns in front of each others' faces. Yesterday we had our first legitimate snow here in town. For some reason, they seem to just not plow here in Boulder. I guess if it dumps like a foot and the weather calls for clouds for a week, they sound out the plows, but otherwise they assume the Sun will melt it in a day or two. So anyway, I'm glad to have all wheel drive and a heavier car and not be fishtailing all over the place. Oh yes! One last thing. The new Likeness to Lily album, Fairwell, Recruit is finally out! I highly recommend this band and this album. I went to about a dozen of their live shows in 2006/2007 as they were creating the songs on this album. I'm giddy to finally have recordings after hearing so many live shows. (And I totally scored First Post on downloading the mp3s). Current Location: Boulder, CO Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Likeness to Lily

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