Joer's Place

Hanging out in Seattle with Aunka...

2008-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

During visit with Erika in Seattle we decided to do some "tourist" things. Checked out the Farmers Market and took a ferry ride across Puget Sound.

Use standard family password if prompted. Length is about 7 minutes...

Hanging out in Seattle with Aunka - June 2008 from Joe Rykowski on Vimeo.

Seattle Childrens Museum - June 2008

2008-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Wendy took Kaylee to the Seattle Childrens Museum. It was a Monday and I was working remote so could not go. The next day we headed for Yellowstone Park.

Length is about 7 minutes, and use the standard family password if prompted...

Seattle Childrens Museum - June 2008 from Joe Rykowski on Vimeo.

Trip to Woodland Park Zoo - June 2008

2008-08-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here's family video clip posted on Vimeo (use standard family password if prompted)...
It's about 7 minutes in length.

Trip to Woodland Park Zoo - June 2008 from Joe Rykowski on Vimeo.

Dizzy in Oregon

2008-08-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Weeeee!

Dizzy from pamela on Vimeo.

2008-04-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Muddy mud

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FWD:

2008-03-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

At portland zoo

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2008-03-22T15:48:00.001-07:00

Coloring eggs

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Kaylee's last day of swimming class...

2008-03-22T13:35:00.001-07:00

"See my 'sir tiff kit' Daddy?"

Wendy took Kaylee to last day of swimming class today. This was Kaylee's second set of classes as a "Blowfish". Been going swimming since she was 6 months old. She loves the water!

I posted a bunch of photos from her last day of class today. They got to go down the big water slide and just play around doing whatever on their last day.

Check out the photos here... Swimming Photos 3/22/2008

Working remote as Systems Analyst III

2008-03-21T11:03:00.001-07:00

Looking out the window from my home office... the streets sure clear out during the day...

Random Thoughts...

It's so nice being able to work remote two days out of the week. A benefit of being in IT.

Last week, I had my annual review! Promoted!... Now a Systems Analyst III. What's that mean exactly? Nothing really. I keep doing what I do, but they pay me at different pay scale (my job title before was "Database Developer").

It's all pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

From Kaylee's perspective... "Daddy sits at the 'puter and presses buttons." And yup, that pretty much sums it up I guess. *smirk*

At the dentist...

2008-03-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

She acted like a pro! A brave girl...

2008-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

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Kaylee Show clip: Sledding in Iowa (12/23/2007)

2008-02-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

(use the standard family password to view video. don't know password? email me.)

Christmas 2007 - Sledding In Iowa from Joe Rykowski on Vimeo.

Editing video

2008-02-16T21:50:00.001-08:00

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Won "Post of the week" at YourMTB.com with that video - SWEET!

2007-07-09T14:56:00.001-07:00

Here's the announcement...

HydraPak Post of the Week

And here's what I won...

Cool!

Black Rock "Fire out of Monkey Mountain" video

2007-07-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

A video clip I edited couple weeks ago and put up on YouTube, was featured last week on YourMTB.com

Here's the clip...

http://www.yourmtb.com/video/black_rock_monkey_mountain

It's got footage I shot in May "down in the town" of Falls City while at an Art Festival... had set up an info booth in community center with maps, pictures, and stuff about Black Rock Mountain Bike Area... And during lunch break, walked around with Kaylee in pack and shot some video. The Black Rock footage is mostly from middle of June - starting with Dino leading a train of riders down upper Banzai Downhill, Troy doing HALO drop, Dan Shell flowing the drop, jump, berm on Grannies foot... and various other shots.

Had the concept for this video in mind before even shooting anything. It's usually the footage that gives me idea for how to edit, but this is first time what I wanted to put together dictated what I shot.

Oh yeah, and if you listen when the local rider is coming down the stairs and as he flys out of frame, you can hear Kaylee say "Weeeee!". *chuckle* I end the video with that sound clip too.

Cuz she sums up the whole downhill/freeride scene at Black Rock with that.... "Weeeee!"

Apple iPhone - hysteria...

2007-06-27T12:15:00.001-07:00

Funny video about it (and cool demo of it's features)...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VcRfAaIb2Ro

And no, I do NOT want one! You'll see why at the end of the video. Besides just like the iPod... there will be MUCH cooler versions coming out in several years.

Yeah, anyways...

2007-06-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

You still waiting for an update from me? hmmm... Well, I'm alive. There, that's an update!

Seriously, we've moved up to Hillsboro, and I'm trying to refocus energy on stuff that matters... re-prioritize you might say, and also step away from stuff that has been eating up vast amounts of time. Sorry, BRMBA folks, but Black Rock is being downgraded from top of the stack to... someplace at the back of the line. Sad, I know.

Here's the new list!

#1 Family
#2 Work
#3 "Everything else"

That's the gist anyway.

"Everything else" includes:

Video editing (just got new 3CCD HD 1080i video camera and Vegas 7!)

In the Zone Photography

Westside Trail Federation

BRMBA

Not necessarily in that order, but we'll see...

ANNNYWAYS...

2007-05-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Heh.

Stay tuned for an update!

No, really. There's actually much that's happened since August 2006. Some of it I even want to remember. Some of it took time to creatively have reality altered around... But such is life!

ABHCWW AKC Herding trial in Arlington, WA

2006-08-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

In the Zone Photography (Wendy and I) handled the event photography services for the All-Breeds Herding Club of Western Washington (ABHCWW) at their trial at On the Lamb Farm in Arlington, WA. It was a slow weekend Friday - Sunday (not many sales because they didn't have a lot of entries for the event), but still a lot of fun.

Took over 1,500 photos. I took more pictures of each dog run just because I figured there were fewer entries and Wendy could keep up with editing still. Normally I try to just take about 10 - 20 per run, but this time I probably averaged around 30 or so.

We stayed with Erika in Seattle. It was good to know Kaylee was being taken care of back in Seattle - and got to hang out with Pamela too! (she came out to Seattle to visit Erika and also spend time with Kaylee - since she heard we'd be up for this photo shoot).

Some day Kaylee will be able to help us at these photo shoots... we do need a "runner" to take the filled compactflash cards back to the tent for processing. Right now I just do that between runs (herding goes much slower than agility so it's easy). I'd bet if we really wanted to, we could make this a full time gig -- traveling the country and doing just herding trials. But that's just crazy talk.

McKenzie River Trail (Oregon): 26-mile single-track mountain bike ride

2006-08-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

Had a GREAT ride on this epic trail along the McKenzie River. It's couple hours from Salem. Have ridden it before, but it's been a few years. Between me and couple of other people that had ridden it before we guided the rest of the group without getting too lost along the way.

It's a 26 mile trail, and we did about 20 miles of it. There's about 1,000 feet of climbing and 2,000 feet of decent (over the entire course). I think the hardest climb was maybe a mile long for 400 foot gain (so not too hard).

Here's GPS profile of our actual McKenzie River Trail route (I captured with my Garmin GPS MAP60CSx and uploaded to MotionBased.com - they even layer in weather data for the time you are riding). Cool new site someone just pointed out to me earlier - great for training!

Felt great to just ride for the pure fun of it. Listened to iPod the whole way - Modest Mouse mostly. I was dead tired by the end of it, but can't wait to get out and ride again soon. Wonder how this bike with handle on the Black Rock trails? This bike will be great for "Super D challenge" event that hopefully someone organizes for 2007 - a Super D is combination of downhill and cross-country style "race".

Trailhead for McKenzie River trail... (that's my new all-mountain bike for doing long cross-country type rides like this one)

Here's the group from Salem I rode with.. (front to back: Todd, Felix, April, Travis, and Rich) This was taken on the bridge at south end of Clear Lake...

Sahalie Falls along the route...

This is what the trail looks like when you're flying along at 20+ miles an hour along the single-track... (actually this was just a blurry picture, but that's what it reminds me of).

Bikes loaded up for shuttle back to van at the trailhead and then home... (mine is the second one from the left)...

Picture gallery of ride.

Kaylee's first bike ride!

2006-08-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

See, THIS was why I needed a general "all-mountain" mountain bike!

Rode the bike paths at Minto-Brown Island Park...

Kaylee in her bike seat...

Having a drink of water after the ride...

More pictures and a video of Kaylee's first ride.

New mountain bike for general trail riding... (Santa Cruz Superlight)

2006-08-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bought a new mountain bike yesterday! It was sort of spur of the moment, but not. I've been missing the good ol' trail bike I had in my Trek that Wendy bought for me in 1998 for my birthday. When I tried it out again though earlier in the season, I found that after riding a "big bike" with full-suspension that a "hard tail" just wasn't gonna do.

So, been keeping an eye out at local shop for a decent trail bike (not for flying off cliffs or jumping road gaps, etc) that wasn't gonna break the bank.

There was a white Santa Cruz Superlight at Santiam Bicycle that I really liked, but didn't really like the color (didn't want a bike that matched the color of my truck, that'd be too "something"...) Anyway, one of the guys at the shop said "hey, I think we have a blue one in the back"... and when we went back there and he opened up the box, it was actually this orange frame I saw and I KNEW that was "my bike"!

They built it up the next day (Saturday), just in time for a group ride down McKenzie River trail (26 mile single-track)...

FOR SALE: 2002 Honda Shadow Spirit VTX750

2006-08-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it... put my motorcycle up for sale... Been putting it off as long as possible, but finances dictate. Only way to pay for the canopy, bed liner, and Thule rack for truck.

Asking $4,500 for it. We'll see what happens. Put it up for sale on craigslist.org in Salem for sale section.

If I don't get any takers, then I'll put it in the Portland for sale section.

"Someday" will get another motorcycle...

4 alarm fire at McMahan's Furniture store in Salem, OR...

2006-08-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Got to work this morning and noticed billowing smoke coming from near front of building. Parked in the parking structure and walked down the alley to see what was up...

The furniture store across the street was on fire (picture above is what the scene looked like when standing right in front of our office)! When I first got to work, they had not even started spraying it with water yet.. They broke open the store front windows, then started nailing it with water. One big pumper truck blew out windows on the opposite side of the building even with so much water! Saw flames once in awhile as a couch or bed would go up in flames.

They sprayed it for a few hours and closed 3 or 4 blocks around. It's smoky in our office now. They had to chop down some of the trees in front of the build because they started on fire and blackened leaves where blowing down the street.

Kind of an exciting morning.

Here's some video and photos published by Statesman Journal...

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/assets/mov/J037236810.MOV

More pictures

Visited Mount Saint Helens area...

2006-08-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

It was more of a recon trip since we'd never been to area before (been here for years and keep saying we're going to visit but never do), and it was spur of the moment too so we didn't reserve a camping spot or anything. Just a quick day trip to see the sights. We were disappointed they do not allow dogs on any of the trails or at the visitor centers - apparently it's still a "delicate ecosystem" and "people are afraid of dogs - even the most well-behaved ones" (that's what it said on a kiosk sign anyway). Geesh. Whiners! The dogs didn't enjoy the trip at all. We drove for more than 8 hours and they were in the truck for majority of time. Had expected to be able to take them for hike from Johnson Observation Center down to Spirit Lake, but Mount Saint Helens is dog "unfriendly" so we just drove home (basically).

We left late in morning, so the sun was high and bright when we got there so photo ops were poor - didn't even bother to even try to get landscape shots. Mostly just snapshots.

Did some geocaching though... There was one at the "Red Zone" (where they blocked access to area in 1980 before it blew) and another at the edge of the blast zone.

Here's the pics (not many): http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/1743945

Oh, and you'll see Kaylee's first tooth in that set! I'm sure "she will blog about it".. so check her blog too!

Cool mapping project at work...

2006-08-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

So in the past several days, I've been working on this really cool project at work (yeah, weird eh - getting paid to do something fun!)...

Anyway, we're looking into the feasibility of providing a GIS tool for Sales and Dispatch to use. We'd be "geocoding" our customer data (turing addresses into Lat/Long coordinates) and showing on a map - sales person could query "show nearest existing customers assigned to me near this location" or "show me leads in Portland, OR who have not been called in the past 30 days"...

Here's a screenshot of a quick proof-of-concept tool I put together using Microsoft Virtual Earth API (literally took 3 hours - and that counts figuring out the API calls) :

(click for a larger view)

Also looking into Google Maps API and some other possible solutions.

Dinner on Willamette Queen Riverboat

2006-08-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary, Wendy and I had a nice dinner on the Willamette
Queen riverboat (leaves from Salem and travels up the river a ways and
they serve a gourmet dinner, etc). And yup, we took Kaylee along
with us... we had a great spot on the boat where we could let her play
on the floor next to our table while we ate and stuff.

Learned some new history of Salem from the captain - he's always got tidbits of river lore to share with the passengers. Anyway, I guess there was a civil war battle on the island across the river - where a bunch of soldiers from the South gathered for a march to report back south, but a bunch of soldiers from the North decided to just deal with them right then and there. 12 were killed, lots captured, and more had to swim across the river back towards Salem to flee for their lives. That's the only North vs South Civil war skirmish that took place in the Northwest.

Here's some pictures from our cruise on the Willamette Queen, and you need the family password to view these private photos (as always).

Gallery: Dinner on Willamette Queen Riverboat

Also have a short video clip (no audio)...

Video: http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/998565/3/85486142/Large

Black Rock trails feature of front page Statesman Journal article

2006-07-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Two articles appeared in todays edition of the Statesman Journal. Front page news! Awesome coverage of the trails and the impact it's having on local community.

"Take a ride on the wild side " (article includes quotes from Jay Hoots and the mayors of both Whistler, B.C. and Moab, UT.)

"Black Rock changes the face of its surroundings "

Both articles were by TIMOTHY ALEX AKIMOFF takimoff@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6750

The reporter quoted me in the second article about the economic impacts of having a popular trail system in place. Mispelled my name to, but that's ok.

BRMBA's first ever shuttle day fundraiser at Black Rock trails

2006-07-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

The first shuttle day went down without any issues. Everything seemed to flow fairly good - people got in many runs before leaving exhausted - there were just enough left to do a "sweep" of the trails to make sure nobody was stuck out on the trails.

We have another shuttle day event scheduled for August 26th, and it may be even bigger and better!

Here's a general overview of the event...

Had over 50 riders sign-in and pay for a shuttle trip (most bought all day passes for $15)

Lots of riders showed up from all over for the day of shuttle riding at Black Rock. Sure was the best way to beat the heat of the day! The single-track is still just as sweet and the wall ride just as big - even if you didn't push all the way to the top on your own power.

Had several trucks/trailers taking riders and gear to the top of Mt. Brown. Most riders who came for the shuttle day where new to the trails - many stuck to Banzai Downhill - but a few adventurous souls and dozens of regulars hit the more challenging trails (Granny's Kitchen, Sunday Stroll, and Sickter Gnar).

We had a crew of volunteers running the shuttles, managing the sign-in table, and general event stuff - Troy Munsell, Rich Bontrager, Dan Shell, Chris Eggen, Chris Lozano, Dino Venti, Ryan Powell... hats off to all for all the work! Santiam Bicycle also set up a repair booth - to fix any mechanical issues riders might have had. As for myself (Joe Rykowski), I was doing my best to try and capture photos of the event and riders on the trails. A gallery of about 170 photos taken during the event are available for viewing/sharing at http://inthezonephotography.com - enjoy!

Thanks to TracE Smith for hooking us up with some great BBQ! His mobile BBQ and kitchen was an amazing thing to see in operation at Basic Training - and the smoked gourmet burgers and fry's definately hit the spot.

Note: We made sure there were plenty of fire extinguishers on hand near the BBQ, there were lots of "No Smoking" signs posted, and every shuttle truck had water/extinguisher/shovel. We have EVERY BIT of respect for the forest and forest managers - when you've put in thousands of man-hours building a trail system, it's just natural you have a greater ownership feeling towards it - so, taking fire regulations seriously is part of that respect.

Want to see more photos taken during the event? See http://inthezonephotography.com Photo Gallery.

sexoffenders.oregon.gov GIS website...

2006-07-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

So here's a shocking sight... at http://sexoffenders.oregon.gov :

Typed in home address and got map showing our house (in green) and there's a literal ring of predator sex offenders living within 1 mile of us!

Surprising? No, not really. The world is a pretty sucky place. Shocking? Yes. Especially, when you see it graphically respresented in such a way - a stick pin where you live, and red stick pins ALL AROUND YOU.

Anyway - this is a cool use of GIS (a geospatial information system). You'll see more of these sort of "mash ups" of location based data against mapping sources in the future. It's a really valuable tool (makes it crystal clear when things are up on a map).

Banzai Downhill trail at Black Rock

2006-07-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a helmetcam run thru of the Banzai Downhill trail at Black Rock taken couple months ago.

This is the easy route down Mt Brown and is built for speed. Berms and rollable jumps (slow to roll over or go fast to fly...)

That's Wade Waddell out front... I'm following him with helmetcam.

Thinking about hosting "Super D" (combo cross-country and downhill) events that will use this section.

2006 Fourth of July in Montana

2006-07-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Had a great time in Montana visiting family and friends. One of the best 4th of July's that I can remember... 'course, what may have added to the fun and everything was the fact it was Kaylee's "first 4th"...

Went to the parade in Laurel.

...Kaylee (and Wendy) caught some beads and candy!

...Waved a flag.

Here's video...(click icon to play)

...Played in the wading pool in Pamela and Gene's backyard.

...Took in the church carnival (Mom's church) up in the Heights.

...Kaylee had her face painted.

Took in the fireworks display at Thompson Park in Laurel. We actually sat in front of the highschool where Wendy and I both graduated! The lights stayed on there - so we could keep an eye on Kaylee easier. She wore earplugs so the loud booms wouldn't scare her. The big whole sky lighting up was more than she could comprehend though - it blew her mind to see! We turned her away when it was just too much for her... and she went to sleep about 5 minutes into the show... and slept through the whole thing (even the biggest grand finale we'd ever seen).

Our camera ran out of batteries - otherwise above would have been picture from finale.

But here's a short video clip from the show (when Kaylee was sleeping)... (click the icon to play):

Rykowski family portrait...

2006-07-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

Took a family picture in parents' backyard...

Oogity! Boogity!

2006-07-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is "oogity boogity" in Joliet, MT. Stands outside a cool art gallery. Snowboarders and skiers say "oogity boogity" as they pass it for good luck...

Camping in Montana...

2006-07-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Went to Montana to visit family for the 4th of July. Went camping at M-K above Red Lodge (below Beartooth Pass). Was Kaylee's first camping trip! She loved it...

Wendy and Kaylee stayed in my Mom and Dad's trailer and I stayed in our tent.

Went for a hike to Greenough Lake from camp one day.

Wendy and I drove my Dad's Polaris ATV up to the end of the canyon and hiked up the trail a ways.

Got a short mountain bike ride in too.

2006 trailmap for Black Rock completed...

2006-06-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, we wrapped up design of the new trailmap for Black Rock. This was a project I've been working on (off and on) since March for BRMBA.

Involved several trips down the trails with GPS to capture the tracks...

Then, using Adobe Photoshop to overlay the GPS tracks on a topomap.

Worked with a graphic design artist to add the "professional" look/feel - and got ongoing feedback from the trail managers and some of the users throughout the project.

All of the current (and some of the proposed) trails are shown on the map along with major features (such as dirt jumps and wooden drops/stunts).

The final result? A waterproof, professional-looking, printed tri-fold map for sale (for $7 donation) at local bike shop and grocery store in Falls City:

(actual printed version is crisp and clear - this is sample only...)

There's also larger 11" x 17" printed versions of the map which are hanging in several bike shops around town as well as in the window of the grocery store in Falls City.

Trip to Willamette Pass for downhill mountain biking...

2006-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Went to Willamette Pass (about 2 hours south of Salem) with group of friends...

Top of gondola at Willamette Pass - READY TO RIDE! Travis, Sean (behind Travis), TracE, Rich, April, and Todd (foreground)

We took a van and hauled the bikes using Rich's trailer...

I brought my Nikon D70, but only took pictures during one of the runs (down the Sport Course). Most of the time, spent riding the trails...

It sure gives ya plenty of riding time when you can take the gandola to the top! Was great practise at downhill skills. Really important to "not ride the bike, but ride the trail"! It's all about becoming one with the bike, and flowing down the technical downhill trails... looking beyond where you are and just doing what needs to be done! So fun...

Can't wait to get up to Whistler next week for some more downhill lift-assisted fun!

Going to the 2006 IMBA Summit and World Mountain Bike Conference in Whistler, B.C. from June 19 - 25th. Going to be spending some time riding as well!

"New" car. "New" truck.

2006-06-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time to replace Wendy's aging '98 Chevrolet Cavalier with something more reliable. So, over the weekend we went car/truck shopping. Why truck shopping? 'cuz the plan was to "downsize" my '04 GMC Sierra 2500 to something smaller (payment, physical, and engine size) - so we'd have room in budget for car payment.

Stumbled across an awesome deal on an '04 VW Jetta with just 14,000 miles on it! Fit all the criteria we were looking for - even had some extra bells and whistles (like a moonroof)...

So we bought that, and next day went truck shopping...

Got an '04 Dodge Dakota with 32,000 miles (that's 6,000 miles less than my truck had)... Bad thing is, I now need to get bedliner again (LineX) and a canopy for it. We also had to trade-in Wendy's 1996 Honda Rebel as part of downpayment to make the monthly payment low enough for our budget.

At least now we're done with car/truck shopping again for a long while. I hate car shopping. Just want something that runs and works for what we need (hauling dogs, bikes, Kaylee, and all our "gear" - photo or camping, etc)...

Think we did good. Got what we wanted, but with % rates kinda high ended up with longer term than we really wanted. Oh well, when rates come down, we'll refinance. *shrug*

Entered portrait of Kaylee in Adoptive Families Annual photo contest...

2006-05-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today I entered this portrait of Kaylee (6 months) into the "Adoptive Families First Annual Photo Contest" sponsored by Sears Portrait Studio. If it's a winning photo (and how couldn't it be? *chuckle*) then it'd appear in the November/December 2006 issue of Adoptive Families Magazine.

These are the prizes...

Grand prize winners chosen from two categories--candid and formal portrait--will win digital camera suites, deluxe photography packages from Sears Portrait Studios, and other prizes.

Runners-up in the various age groups--baby (birth to 11 months), toddler (1 to 2 years), pre-schooler (3 to 5 years), or school-age (5 and up)--will receive portrait packages from Sears Portrait Studios.

EVENT PHOTO SHOOT: Gig Harbor, WA herding trial

2006-05-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Wendy and I spent Memorial weekend (Sat-Sun-Mon) up in Washington near Seattle doing photography gig for In the Zone Photography. We were booked as event photographer for this herding trial way back last summer after we did a great job covering the All-Breed Herding Club of Western Washington (ABHCWW) trial up in Arlington, WA. They also re-booked us for that trial again too (up in Arlington)!

We stayed with Erika up in Seattle, and drove to Gig Harbor (about an hour away) each morning of herding trial. Erika watched Kaylee for us at her place. We sure missed her - but it was good to know she was having "fun with aunty Erika" and we got to spend some time with her in the evenings.

Weather was awesome. It was overcast the entire weekend (which I actually like because it gives uniform lighting conditions from any angle) - stayed nice and cool, but didn't rain. We totally lucked out for shooting conditions and got lots and lots of great pics.

My "Photographer Picks" from the event are in this gallery...
"Photographer's Picks" from ABHCWW in Gig Harbor, WA (May 27-29)

Took about 1,800 photos total! They herded both ducks and sheep at this event. Sold some full run photo CD's and 8x10, 5x7, and lots of 4x6's at event, plus many people are eager to check out the online gallery and order more pics and gift items (this was first time we brought some demo photo items to show at event - coffee mugs, puzzles, mouse pads, keychains, etc).

Was a great weekend, but working 12 hours a day is definately draining!

Reach the Beach 2006

2006-05-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Erika came down from Seattle, and we rode our bikes from Salem to Pacific City (77 miles). This is the 5th year in a row we have participated in this event organized by American Lung Assoc. of Oregon. We raised $365 in donations this year!

The route took us past farms, vineyards, fields, rivers and thru small towns. Super support all along the route (with rest stops/first aid/mechanics every 15 miles or so). About 1,800 riders with more than 100 volunteers supporting the ride.

One of Wendy's friends watched Kaylee at our house while we were on this ride. Was first time Wendy was away from Kaylee for more than a couple hours. Not sure if that was more difficult than the ride itself!

Our "theme" phrases (thoughts or sayings we seemed to think or say the entire day) this year were:

"I'm SO gonna die!" - Wendy

"Totally..." - Erika

"I could be riding at Black Rock right now." - Joe

To recap previous year's themes:

2005
"Frick and Frack!"

2004
"No more in oh-four!" (meaning, no more issues - since the prior two years Erika had bike problems)

2003
?? (we got rained and hailed on though - but can't remember what our theme or phrases were - they may have been the same as the prior year...)

2002
"There's no shame in walking." - Wendy
"It's not a race." - Joe
"Somebody has to be last." - Erika

Reach the Beach 2006 photo gallery - password protected

Test

2006-05-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this photo:
http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/923496/161/69642432/Medium

2006-04-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Been working on create a new trail map for Black Rock for past several weeks. Got an early B-day present back in March (a Garmin GPS MAP60CSx) that does a great job of capturing tracks - even under deep cover. Took one morning to ride all of the trails and drive the roads also. Almost ready to wrap the map into an Adobe Illustrator document and have printed for distribution at the local bike shops. Also put the digital map up on Black Rock website and made clickable image map out of it - so now people can click trail features and see pictures taken at that spot. Wasn't my idea - been done before - for North Shore trails (up near Vancouver, B.C.).

2006-04-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

We met with Nejla up in Portland last Sunday afternoon at the Washington Square Mall and had Kaylee's picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Never thought I'd be taking my daughter to the mall for pictures with Santa or the Easter Bunny... but so far we're 2 for 2! What can ya do? Mom AND birthmom both had the same idea... so I'm kinda out voted here. *chuckle* (actually, now that I've seen the pics it's pretty cool - she's SO darn cute!)

Trip to Seattle (March)...

2006-03-26T21:27:00.000-08:00

We went to Seattle this weekend to visit Erika (and I helped the Backcountry Bicycle Trail Club work on I-5 Colonnade trail - will post more about that later)...

Haven't done the "tourist" thing in Seattle for awhile, so we visited the space needle...

(looking down from outside observation deck of space needle)

And checked out the Farmer's Market...

There's more pictures in family gallery here (family password required):

Seattle, WA trip March 2006

Santiam Bicycle's 3rd annual Blackrock fundraiser...

2006-02-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

The event went down without a hitch. It flowed and stuck the landing... I think the shop guys are getting better at MC'ing. The theatre was PACKED with local riders from all over (Salem-area, Portland, and Eugene).

Rich (the Blackrock Freeride Association president) and Troy (Santiam Bicycle shop owner) did a super job of giving props to those who deserved it (all the trail builders, the ODF manager, the local shop support, TracE - the gourmet cook that always makes lunch on trail work days, and yes, even me, the BFA webmaster)... there's lots of people who are core to making Blackrock what it is, but EVERYONE there that night was part of it - contributing to the ongoing success and sustaining the trails!

Got to see the ROAM preview twice. The projectionist didn't realize the DVD automatically looped, so it played through a second time before he realized. *chuckle* Actually, nobody really minded. In fact, I watch that trailer everyday just to remember I'm part of something bigger than myself (the sport of downhill and freeride mountain biking - it's a lifestyle now).

There were several cool things about the event:
1) there was so much stuff donated from vendors - it was awesome to see how much support Blackrock trails is getting
2) Santiam raised over $6,000 (nearly DOUBLE the amount from last year) for the Blackrock trails
3) got to see the independent local video that Ryan put together (I threw in some footage I didn't use for my vid last year - of Basic Training area getting built and stuff) I was even in some of the shots (I excluded myself from the video last year, so it was nice to get some of my riding in there).
4) Jay Hoots and Fionn Griffiths of the Norco factory team came down from B.C. for the event (surprise!) - Jay even did the raffle drawing.

Had Jay autograph a poster for Kaylee. Yes, someday she'll be riding... Maybe will have a web site like Fionn's: http://www.fionngriffiths.com/.

Afterwards, Troy invited everyone to the Santiam shop for a swap meet. I traded a Saint shifter that I'd won for a Nokian Gazzaloddi Tire (which I desperately needed cuz the tread on my rear tire is all used up). But more importantly, we had a chance to talk with Jay about the downhill/freeride movement up in B.C. - and some of the issues they're dealing with with local municipalities with B.C. province). Some of the issues we're going to be facing some day in Oregon (politics! yuck).

Oh, here's what the "loot pile" (all donated from vendors) consisted of:

And one of the Grand prizes (valued at over $2,000):

Worst Day of the Year Ride 2006...

2006-02-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

Wendy and Erika rode their bikes in the "Worst Day of the Year Ride" last weekend (on Sunday) along with 1,500 other riders. It was an 18 mile ride in Portland. Started and ended at the Lucky Lab Pub. This is the 3rd year in a row they've done this ride out of the 5 years it's been organized (I did it last couple of years, but have since focused on mountain biking and not road riding). It's an annual fundraising event for Community Cycling Center.

While waiting for them to finish their ride, I hung out with Kaylee and Nejla (Kaylee's birth mom) at the Lucky Lab. Was good to chat with Nejla and for Kaylee to spend some time with her as well.

Here are photos from the day (family password required):

Worst Day of the Year Ride 2006

Blackrock - Granny's Kitchen ROAD GAP...

2006-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

I finally did it!

Cleared the road gap and actually landed it. Felt really good to get over this hurdle after couple of spectacular failures (in past 6 months, have attempted it twice: first attempt was just a drop to road but I bounced and flipped over the bars and crashed down the tranny, and on the second attempt the tree next to the jump "got me" and I ended up in a heap with my bike on top of me...)

This time I followed behind Troy - Santiam Bicycle shop owner and builder of Granny's Kitchen trail - and it helped a lot to have someone to follow. Gauged speed better. Let me focus on something other than just the jump long gap and that voice I have to keep tricking that always screams "AAAAH! We're gonna die!!!" *chuckle*

Did the jump 4 times that day. Even threw couple of bar turns for "style points". Feel really confident on that jump now. Can't wait to get out there and do it some more!

There are 4 pictures posted to gallery here:
Road Gap jump at Blackrock

Less than 2 weeks to the Blackrock Mountain Bike Park fundraiser...!

2006-02-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

Santiam Bicycle is once again organizing the Blackrock fundraiser. This is the 3rd annual event which is being hosted at Northern Lights Theatre Pub on February 22nd at 6pm in Salem. Last year my "Local Progression Riders Video" was shown (it was about an hour long), and this year another local rider video will be shown in addition to The Collective (a 16mm mountain bike film). This is one of my favorite mountain biking videos! I also contacted the director/producer and scored a copy of the DVD for the raffle AND got them to send a "sneak peek" trailer of their upcoming ROAM video (to be released April '06).

There's a TON of other sponsors of this event. It's the biggest fundraising event of the year for local freeride mountain biking trails... Last year, they raised over $3,000 for the trails (to buy signs, nails, tools and other materials for building and on-going maintenance). THIS year I hope they surpass that! There's more than a few projects on the "To Do" list that require fundage to make them happen (not to mention we're looking at filing for 501(c)(3) status - sure would be nice to take a tax deduction every time I drove out there to work on the trails)!

Here's a list of the sponsors of the 2006 Blackrock trails fundraiser...

(click image for full size view)

You can always learn more about Blackrock through the Blackrock Freeride Association website at http://blackrockfreeride.org.

Kaylee's first trip to the Salem Riverfront Carousel... with birth mom!

2006-02-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

We met Kaylee's birth mom, Nejla (pronounced NEZH-lä), for the first time away from the Catholic Charities office today. Was really cool to do something "family" with her. After having lunch, we went to the Riverfront Carousel and park. Took lots of pictures (of course!)

Regardless of your opinion (which is valid *grin*), we think it's very important for Nejla to feel part of our family. She's Kaylee's birth mom, Wendy is Kaylee's mom. Nothing strange about it. Get over it. Open adoption is way refreshing and positive thing for all involved. Kaylee will have an extended family, and the more people who "love on her" (as my mom says) the better I think!

There's more pictures in family gallery here (family password required):

Kaylee with Wendy and Nejla at Riverfront Carousel

New Downhill/freeride bike built... ('05 Norco Shore)

2006-01-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

While the fam was away up in Seattle, I kept busy with projects in the evenings... One of them was to build out a new downhill/freeride bike to replace my "aging" '04 Kona Stinky (which I'm selling for $900 to a local or $1,000 to anyone else - see my ad on pinkbike.com). I'd bought a used '05 Norco Shore frame/shock last week from Thom at Santiam Bicycle, and then a full-suspension '03 Norco Team Shore bike from another local rider... Swapped most of the stuff over with help from friends at the shop, ran out of time so had the master "bike surgeon" Ben at Santiam take care of finishing it up for me on Saturday. He even did a bit of fabrication to get a chain guide to fit on there.

So, now I have an '05 Norco Shore with a FOX DHX 5 rear/Marzocchi 888 front shock. It's an 8" travel full-suspension beast that's gonna let me progress further - hit some bigger stuff ("safely") at Blackrock (Falls City), Post Canyon (Hood River), and Whistler (BC). It's gonna be an AWESOME year! My main goal for 2006 is to fly the Granny's Kitchen road gap (which I attempted twice on my Kona but wrecked badly both times) and make it up to Whistler twice.

Here's more pics of my new bike...

(drive train view) Blackspire C4 bash guard...

(front view) Marzocchi 888 front shock... (8 inches of travel baby!)

Trip to Seattle...

2006-01-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Wendy and Kaylee were up in Seattle this week visiting "Autie Erika". I rode up on the train Friday night to spend the weekend. Above is picture taken on the Edmonds ferry - we searched for a geocache on the other side (didn't take long to find it - hopped right back on the next ferry coming back... had to run to catch it after the whistle blew but we made it!)

Earlier in the week they visited Pike's Place Market, Pacific Science Center, the aquarium, and saw an I-MAX movie (Kaylee slept thru the movie).

Seattle Trip - January 2006 (password protected) (use the family password)

There's also some (public) pictures in the "Family and Friends" folder from the Seattle trip...

Seattle Trip - January 2006 (public)

ALSO have a short video clip...!

"Kaylee's first ride on a ferry"

Enjoy!

Looking at a butterfly...

2006-01-27T13:21:00.000-08:00

Looking at a butterfly at Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

Kaylee "driving"...

2006-01-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Wendy and Kaylee are visiting Erika in Seattle this week. Above it a picture of Kaylee "driving" that Wendy took with her cell phone.

House sure was empty and quiet last night when I came home from work. (even with 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a bird!)

The "Kaylee Show"! Laughing...

2006-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's been amazing to watch Kaylee's mind "boot up". There's an unbelievable amount of learning that takes place in even the first couple months! Just a couple days ago we were amazed by Kaylee's LAUGH... she has giggled and coo'd and stuff before, but this was full belly laugh out loud reaction to Wendy tickling her feet...

Got some short video clips up... MPEG-1...

"Kaylee Laughing part 1"

"Kaylee Laughing part 2"

(Wendy was laughing so hard herself that she cried!)

Building a new freeride/downhill bike...

2006-01-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Buying some used parts to build up a new (bigger/better) freeride bike. It'll be more of a downhill bike (gonna have 8 3/4" of travel for rear-shock and 8" of travel on the front fork).

Going to sell my Kona Stinky to pay for most of the new bike.

Bought the '05 Norco Shore frame and Fox rear-shock yesterday (saved almost $1,000 off what cost would have been new)! Here it is moments after getting it home...

And here's detail of the FOX DHX 5 shock...

I plan to build it myself from parts from an '03 Norco bike I'll be buying this weekend. Wendy will be in Seattle (with Kaylee) most of next week - visiting her sister, so I figure I'll have some time in the evenings to devote to this project.

Can't wait to get it finished and try it out at Blackrock!

New logo for In the Zone Photography...

2006-01-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Finally finished the new logo for In the Zone Photography. Put together some business cards for Wendy and I that include the logo, and also updated the banner on the home page at http://inthezonephotography.com.

Here's what the business card looks like:

Going to get a batch printed up at a local print shop here in Salem. Also thinking of doing a more professional banner for our tent/booth.

We're starting to line up bookings for the coming season of dog agility and herding trials. We're already booked for 4 events as the official photographer. Also keeping an eye on the different Downhill and Cross Country mountain biking events (there aren't any local Freeriding events).

Christmas/New Year trip to Montana...

2006-01-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Montana for Christmas and New Year's. Everyone got to see Kaylee. Even made it over to Glendive (did a quick road trip and came back same day). Stopped in Great Falls for a couple of days before heading back to Oregon.

There's pictures in the Family and Friends gallery here:
http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/923496/6/49249029

And a few Christmas videos here:
http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/998565/1/49958825

T'was the Night Before Implementation

2005-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

T'was the Night Before Implementation, and all through the house
not a program was working, not even a browse.
The programmers hung by their cubes in despair,
with hopes that a miracle soon would be there.
The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of enhancements danced in their heads.
When out of the elevator arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.

And what to my wandering eyes should appear
but a super programmer (with a six pack of beer).
His resume glowed with experience so rare,
he turned out great code with a magician's flair.

More rapid than engines, his programs they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
"On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete!
On Batch Job! On Closing! On Functions Complete!"

His eyes were glazed over, fingers nimble and lean,
from weekends and nights spent in front of a screen.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know that I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
turning specs into code, then turned with a jerk,
and laying his finger upon the "enter" key,
the system came up and worked perfectly.

The updates updated, the deletes they deleted,
the inquires inquired and the closings completed.
He tested each program and tested each call,
with nary an abend, all had gone well.

The system was finished, the tests were concluded,
And the users last changes were even included.
Then the user exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt,
"Its just what I asked for, BUT ITS NOT WHAT I WANT!"

Blackrock trail work day...

2005-12-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

There was another official Blackrock trail work day on December 10th. I helped the crew cut out a large downed log (actually just dropped it to the trail) and built an A-frame jump/bridge over the top of it. The log we dropped had been there quite a while - people had to duck under it as they road down Bonzai Downhill, and it'd been slowly sinking (so was becoming a hazard).

Here's gallery of photos of work progress.

It took several hours to haul the rungs down, find adequate "runners" (the supports for rungs), and then drop the log and build the A-frame.

Here's the finished feature:

Makes for a fun jump if you are hitting it fast!

PHOTO EVENT: Pringle Creek Cyclocross race (Salem, OR)

2005-12-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

On Saturday (12/3), In the Zone Photography provided event photography services for a local bike race event here in Salem (for the Pringle Creek Cyclocross race sponsored by Santiam Bicycle).

Between me and the additional photographer we contracted, we took over 2,500 photos! Just finished post-processing today, and currently uploading over 2 Gig of data to our gallery.

Here's a picture of me working at the event...

Was a lot of fun shooting at a local event. Had trouble with power to begin with, but after discovering it was the extension cord - was nice to be able to call Wendy (who was staying home with Kaylee) to have her bring a new one.

This was good exposure for us. Hopefully, since we did a good job covering this event (got lots of excellent photos), word will spread and we'll be invited to other local bike race events (or, at least, it'll be easy to demonstrate we have the expertise to get the job done when we contact an organizer about possibly providing services for their event..)

2006 Blackrock Freeriding calendars...

2005-11-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

For past couple of years I have been thinking of doing a freeriding calendar for the folks that ride at Blackrock (Falls City, Oregon). Since I have about a dozen decent pictures I took in 2005 with my Nikon D70 (11 of the 12 photos are mine), I finally got around to putting a calendar together (local bike shops like Santiam Bicycle in Salem, Oregon and Full Cycles in Corvallis, Oregon will offer them for sale)...

(click for full image)

Overview of shots featured:

Jan - GK wall ride under construction

Feb - Thom Weeks (on wall ride)

Mar - Troy Munsell (on wall ride)

Apr - GK ladder

May - Hip jump (close) with ladder drop in background

Jun - Ben McDaniel GK road gap (photo attribute to Hollis Brake)

Jul - Jameson Watts (BT road drop)

Aug - close up of wooden rungs

Sep - Rich Bontrager (jumping BT big jump)

Oct - dirt burm with tire tracks

Nov - Wade Waddell (jumping BT big jump)

Dec - Nick (jumping BT big jump)

Here's thumbnails of photos that I'm featuring in the calendar...

(click for full image)

Kaylee's first trip to "doggie island"...

2005-11-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

It was a nice fall day, so we loaded the dogs up in the truck and packed Kaylee's stuff up... and went to Minto-Brown Island Park (where the dogs can run). We call it "doggie island".

Took some pictures of Kaylee and Wendy at the park playing with Korshka. They're loaded in the "First Month" folder (family password protected) and some are also loaded to the public Kaylee friends/family gallery.

VIDEO: Kaylee - first day home from hospital...

2005-11-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Put together a short video clip of Kaylee (about a minute long). This was from video taken just minutes after getting home from the hospital on Saturday (October 29th).

I uploaded the video to our photo gallery. It's about 11 Megs - but is a streaming video (so begins to play as it downloads - if you've got broadband you should be able to watch it "real time").

Here's the URL directly to the video - VIDEO: Kaylee - first day home

Kaylee was born today!!!!

2005-10-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

born 5:05am
7 lbs 10 oz.
54 cm (21.1 inches).

Took pictures at the hospital (less than 10 hours old)...
You can see them at
http://itzphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/919630 (use the family password)

You can check out Wendy's blog too.

Baby registry...

2005-10-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Wendy and I went out for dinner last night to
celebrate (with baby due any day now and all), and
then dropped in at the Baby Depot and made a registry.
We've got most of the major things (over 2 years,
just kinda accumulated stuff - simply because we
didn't know when we might be chosen)...

Here's how to look at our list of what's left that we
"need"...

http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/Registry/Home.process

1. Click "Find a Registry"
2. Type in Last name: Rykowski
3. Choose State: Oregon

Click Find button. Bam! There we are!

We're having a baby!

2005-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have been chosen by a birthmother today! It's been a long 2 year wait as adoptive family, but now our waiting is over! (for those that aren't in the loop on this... my wife and I have been in the adoption process for 2 years... most of that time just waiting and hoping to be chosen as adoptive parents).

When's the due date? THIS FRIDAY!

Boy or Girl? Baby GIRL! (just as we'd hoped for)

Any names picked out? We like "Kaylee"...

When will the baby be placed with us? When she is born... could be anytime now. (may even be at the hospital during delivery - just depends - still arranging those details)

Are we ready to be parents? Absolutely positively! (those with children are now probably chuckling and shaking their heads...)

Pumpkin Patch - EZ Orchards Farm (Salem, OR)...

2005-10-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

On the way home from church today, we stopped in at EZ Orchards Farm to check out their pumpkin patch and annual Harvest Festival. They had a corn maze, live bluegrass band, and other activities.

Picked out a good pumpkin to carve for a Jack O' Lantern for Halloween.

Took some pictures while we were there too...

EZ Orchard Farm - Pumpkin Patch (20 photos)

My "Top Pics" from Auburn, WA agility trial...

2005-10-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

Just completed uploading all of the photos from the Auburn agility trial (took a week to completely organize and upload!). There were 220 dogs, and I took over 3,300 photos! Out of all of those photos there's about 100 that I'd consider "good" and about 10 out of those 100 that are "great". Two of them are really, really great (I'll let you decide which ones!)

I've put my favorite 10 pics (out of over 3,000!) in a gallery at In the Zone Photography.

Take a look...
Joe's "Top Pics" from PSLRA agility trial (Oct 8/9)

Auburn, WA agility event...

2005-10-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

In the Zone Photography provided event photo service at Puget Sound Labrador Retrievers Association's AKC agility event at Argus Ranch Facility.

There were over 400 runs on two different rings. They ran Standard and Jumps With Weaves for Expert, Novice, and Open classes. A couple of the dogs earned their MACH title (Master Agility Champion) - a major accomplishment for dog and handler... For more information about the sport of dog Agility see this Wikipedia article.

We drove up to Seattle on Friday night (dodging several accidents happening seconds in front of us thru Tacoma, WA)... and stayed with Erika. We commuted down to Auburn both Saturday and Sunday. Spent all day both days shooting photos, and Wendy tried desperately to keep up with showing participants their pictures and making prints. There was never a time that someone wasn't at our tent buying pictures! Had an awesome time. Was definately worth the trip. It's always a big hit to provide on-site printing of pictures. One person bought pictures for her dog that she'd just finished running 15 minutes prior (dump, preview, and print - within an hour!) Everyone raved about the great quality of the shots - the weather was just right - overcast, but not too dark.

Check out the gallery at http://inthezonephotography.biz for some pics. Still uploading! Over 4,000 pictures.. going to take several days.

Erika and Wendy Ride the "Peach of a Century" Salem Bicycle Club ride...

2005-10-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Erika and Wendy rode the third and final century ride organized by Salem Bicycle Club this season. They earned the much coveted "road animal award" for completing all three rides (Monster Cookie, Watermelon, and now the Peach of a Century).

As expected, the day turned out to be overcast and rainy.

Photos from Peach of a Century Ride (October 2005) (family album - password required)

Took a road trip to Whistler Mountain Bike Park up in British Columbia...!

2005-09-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Finally made it up to Whistler, B.C. for some epic downhill mountain biking (that's my Kona Stinky in the picture above) on Saturday (September 24th) and Sunday (September 25th). Today I'm recovering (did more riding in a single day than a month of riding at Blackrock!)...

Chair lift-access up thousands of feet for singletrack and freeride nirvana is the only way to go! Wish we had this mountain bike park in our backyard (at least closer to home). It's 450 miles from Salem to Whistler. I drove up there Friday night with two other local riders. We left around 3pm and got to Squamish at midnight, then drove the rest of the way Saturday morning... lifts started at 10am and we rode 'til they closed at 4:30pm! Then, we grabbed some carbos at a resturant in Whistler Village (lazagna and spagetti), crashed at deluxe room at a hotel in the village, and did it again the next day!

No major injuries to report (although I "crashed" once or twice and got to know a couple of trees closely). Learned that I enjoy technical downhill singletrack the best.. or, maybe it's just that I suck at getting lots of air on jumps. We did most runs down A-Line which has lots of dirt jumps and burms. But the trip all the way to the top of Blackcombe mountain on the Garbonzo lift and then the ride down No Joke was the most fun... Gnarly roots and rocks, and twisted trails through narrow singletrack threading down through the trees... muscling the bike around... Great time!

We saw Richie Schley (a pro rider) on No Joke. He threw a behind the back no-hander off a short drop. Made it look easy, like it was nothing. Flowed down into the trees with a pack of other riders like wolves gliding into the mist.

Focused just on riding on Saturday, but took time to shoot some pics on Sunday. I put up 44 pictures on In the Zone Photography gallery. There's one of me doing a drop at a practise area, and that's the exact set of drops that inspired the Basic Training area at Blackrock. Got couple of decent shots of Rich and Todd, but didn't take a whole lot of time to shoot pictures (so didn't get lots to choose from)... hope they like 'em.

Enjoy!

Whistler Trip 2005 photos

Look over there, a rabbit hole...

2005-09-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Rosetta Project - the largest collection of illustrated antique children's books on line... Children's Books Online: Stories, poems, rhymes, chapters and illustrations.

You can either read the books online, or download the entire book to view/read locally.

The illustrations are neat to look at, here's an example of the cover from Alice in Wonderland:

Here's the "super index" of all the books in their online library http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/super-index.htm

They're also interested in volunteers.. both to scan antique books into their collection and also to translate books into other languages...

"The Rosetta Project is committed to having all our works translated into as many languages as possible -- even "dead" languages such as Latin, or "international languages" such as Esperanto or Yiddish."

"If humankind spoke it once, speaks it now, or plans on speaking it in the future, we're interesting in having that language represented in this collection. No Fooling!"

Quote of the moment...

2005-09-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes clouds look just like clouds."

Internet fraud, cyber-terrorism... have a nice day!

2005-09-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

So, I've grown up with the Internet and now kind of feel like someone who has lived in a friendly neighborhood forever - blind to the druglords and gangs that now rove the streets... "You aren't safe here anymore." is the thought that's sinking in.

The Net has become an unfriendly, unsafe place. Internet fraud and cyber terrorism are real. Perhaps it's nothing new, but it's worse now - only because there's so many people who blindly disregard the dangers (I count myself among them). There's people who have had time to learn how to exploit the technologies involved and organizations which realize the value in infecting the systems from within. Yes, there are the "script kiddies" who think it's cool to write unintelligent hacks with frameworks that make it easy for anyone to unleash a new virus or worm. But at the other end of the spectrum are very real countries, governments, and organizations which have "Cyber Warfare" divisions. The U.S. government even dables - it's part of national security, afterall. It's a different sort of arms race, and most people shrug it off... Because it's not a very tangible threat.

What can you do besides wear a tinfoil hat when you surf?

1. Keep your OS up-to-date and patched with the latest security patches released from your OS vendor.

2. Use Firefox (http://getfirefox.com) as your browser (because Internet Explorer is too easily exploited and is just bloat-code anyway!)

3. Use a virus scanner and keep it's database up-to-date with latest definitions

4. Install and run an Ad-aware and Spyware filter (some of these also work as popup blockers too!) PC Magazine: Antispyware Oh yeah, and some Spyware "removers" are actually spyware themselves (trojan horses - they may remove malware, but they install their own flavor... neat, huh?)

5. If you have broadband connection, use a physical firewall (don't just plug your machine into the network!), and turn your system off when you aren't using it (or have it use power-save mode and make sure it turns off your wireless/network connection when in that mode).

6. Think! Someone else is (thinking)... and they want to a) steal your identity, b) use your machine as a resource to launch denial of service and other attacks anonymously, c) destroy your data (for fun?), d) make you think... (oh, wait...) *shrug*

Have a nice day!

VIDEO: Basic Training one-year later...(Blackrock / Falls City, OR)

2005-09-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, I shot some video at the Basic Training area at Blackrock trails (near Falls City, OR). Was a little rusty shooting video - haven't really done much with it in, oh, can't even remember. Took about an hour to edit the 3 minutes of video I shot. wish I could just take pictures, shoot video, and edit all day long (oh, and build trails and ride!) - that'd be a sweet job...!

The reason I was shooting video is because I wanted to capture the stuff we've got built at Basic Training in one year's time, and the builders enjoying the fruits of their work!

The video is about 4 minutes long (I put in some still shots too). The broadband version is large at 70MB, but worth the download time! The dialup version isn't worth watching - but hey, that's better than nothing.

I posted links to the video in Trail Construction messageboard at the Blackrock Freeride web site.

Music is "Good Times Are Killing Me" by Modest Mouse. Riders are Jameson, Wade, Rich, and one quick shot of me (when Wade and I drop the 5' and new drop at the same time and pass each other at the Step up). There's also a slideshot of pictures I've taken at BT in the past few months.

Enjoy!

Quote of the moment...

2005-09-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." - Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

Jumping at Blackrock...

2005-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Didn't feel like riding (must be getting burned out or something?), but wanted to go to Blackrock anyway - so I rode my motorcycle out there late Labor Day morning and brought my camera along too. There's always people hanging out at Basic Training on weekends and holidays, so I figured I'd run into riders I knew. After hiking up from trailhead, found the normal crew was working on tweeking the skinny section. Later (by noon), at least 20 people or so had dropped in to check out Basic Training and do some riding.

Above is picture of Phil (he also rode in the Mt Hood downhill race) clearing the entire wooden section of "the Simulator" jump (landing all the way down on the dirt - it's easily 30 foot gap to dirt!). Focus didn't turn out with this one, but I liked the composition of the shot - so used Photoshop to turn it into an "oil painting" (if you look at large version it's easier to see that effect).

Hike to top of Table Rock...

2005-09-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

It's sort of a Labor Day weekend tradition that we hike at Table Rock. This year we made it all the way to the top - about a 5 hour hike (round trip)! It's over 4,500 feet. You can see way across the Willamette Valley to the Coastal Range, and you can see the major peaks - Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor, etc. even up to Mt. Saint Helens in Washington. On a really clear day, they say you can see Mt. Shasta all the way down in California from up here - but I dunno - it's rarely clear enough to even glimpse Saint Helens.

We took the dogs with us, and they enjoyed the hike as much as we did. The weather was perfect - not too hot, and not windy at the top.

Took a bunch of pictures. Posted to a Table Rock family album. Contact me if you need the password.

More trip photos - Augusta - Johnson's cabin...

2005-09-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Put more photos from our trip to Montana back in July up. See "Augusta - Johnson's cabin" for 40 pics (you'll be prompted for password - since this is family folder).

Played around with apeture and shutter speed at Double Falls (to make the water "flow") and also of pictures of everyone around the campfire (to make the flames "flow").

Took a hike with Wendy and her dad up to "the meadows" and got some hike photos (notice the yellow spider on the yellow petal of flower - hint: it's on the upper one, click for larger image). Saw an antelope on the drive out, and there's a picture of that too. Oh yeah, and fun with cutting down trees (I KNEW that tree wasn't going to hit my truck...)

Sure was a fun time back in Montana! Glad we've got these pictures to remind us of the trip.

Pictures from West Rosebud camping trip (from July)...

2005-09-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Finally dumped and edited the photos taken while camping at West Rosebud with parents back in Montana in July. Above is panoramic of West Rosebud lake (the one above Emerald Lake). There's 59 pictures in that gallery. It's private for family only. Contact me if you need the password.

Had a lot of fun driving my dad's ATV up from the campground to the upper lake. And, there was a nice boulder near the camp that needed to be dropped off of (freeride)... Wish we had had more time to camp longer - just never enough time to squeeze everything into a week!

Click here for the West Rosebud photos (you'll be prompted for password if your browser hasn't cached the password from before)!

Enjoy!

Eschelon Telecom rings the NASDAQ stock marketing closing bell...

2005-08-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the executives from Eschelon rang the closing bell at the NASDAQ stock market!

Click here for pictures. In the hi-res picture, I can see my "bosses boss" standing behind someone off to the left.

Kinda cool the Eschelon logo was up on the big jumbotron monitor on Wall street.

Arlington, WA herding competition...

2005-08-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

In the Zone Photography was the official event photographer on-site at the All-Breeds Herding Club of Western Washington's AKC licensed herding trial. It was hosted at "On the Lamb Farm" in Arlington, Washington (north of Seattle) from August 26th thru 28th.

For our first solo event, we did surprisingly well. Not that I had any doubts... But everything went relatively smoothly (minor hiccups but that's to be expected since we're new at this). Nothing that prevented us from providing professional photography services to the participants. We must have done something right because they booked us for two events next year!!

We took over 1,400 photos over the 3-day event. Sold a bunch of photo CD's (always a good sign you're taking lots of outstanding photos since they don't just get a print or two) and dozens of 4x6's. Also we gave half a dozen photos to the AKC representative that was attending the event and preparing an article for the AKC website. Overall, it was well worth our time and effort! And it sure was nice being able to crash at Erika's back in Seattle - instead of paying for a hotel (an extra expense that would have eaten into our profits).

All of the photos have been loaded to folders at our photo gallery - so everyone can review their photos some more - even though most participants took a look at the show (at our tent where Wendy was busily scrubbing and cropping the photos as I brought them in after each event thoughout the day).

New gallery...

2005-08-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

click for larger
Moved pictures to new online photo gallery (smugmug.com). The family photos are available in there too, but hidden from public view and password required. If you would like to see the family pics, then get a hold of me for the "super secret" URL.

Oh, I used Photoshop to stitch together a panoramic of Wendy's graduation from WOU (shown above). It's in the new gallery.

The new gallery allows people to easily order prints. Many, many different sizes available (many hard to find), and you can crop the photo however you'd like. There's also mouse pads, coffee mugs, T-shirts, etc.

Check out the new photo gallery at http://inthezonephotography.biz.

(end marketing mode)

Photos from Willamette Agility Group event (Brownsville, OR)...

2005-08-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Lucky Critters has the photos up from the event Wendy and I helped at back on August 13th/14th. This event was a lot of fun to shoot for, but was a bit overwhelming at first until we settled into a good workflow.

Between me and the photographer for Lucky Critters, we shot almost 8,000 pictures. After weeding out the out-of-focus ones and others that weren't that great, there's still 5,000 photos...

See Lucky Critters gallery (no, you don't have to look at all 5,000 of 'em... well, you could, but that'd be crazy!)

Here's some nice examples:

Tunnel

Tire

Sunset on the Pacific Coast...

2005-08-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Went to the coast late in the afternoon... just to hang out, do some reading... that sort of thing. It was fairly windy, so we found a good spot sheltered by some tall grass.

Decided to stick around for the sunset, and took some pictures. Above is one of them.

Downhill mountain bike race at Mt. Hood...

2005-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Went camping over the weekend, and ended up checking out a downhill mountain bike race at Mt. Hood on Sunday. There were supposed to be some locals riding in the Sport class, but they dropped out in protest (apparently at the prior event the Skibowl booked a corporate event over the top of the mountain bike race - $$ talks basically - and so it was clear the race series was low priority to the resort).

I got some good practise taking pictures of the Pro riders.

Wendy and I met up with a local rider who I knew from Blackrock trails, and he showed us some good spots to take pictures. We hiked up the mountain with Korshka and Lacey - glad we didn't have to leave them in the truck all afternoon.

You can see more of the race photos at In the Zone Photography gallery.

Camping at Mt. Hood...

2005-08-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Mt. Hood
click pic for larger
We went camping at Lost Creek. Actually, that campsite was full, so we ended up back the road a ways at a nearby campground.

Hiked up a trail the local ranger station recommended for good view of Mt. Hood. We ended up hiking part of the Pacific Crest trail by mistake (made a wrong turn at a crossroad of paths in the woods). Was still a great hike, and we just doubled-back and got on the right trail... the "wow" trail. As we emerged from the trees, we were overlooking a valley of Mt. Hood and the mountain was right there - HUGE!

Set up at a good spot, and took pictures.

Think we'll come back in the future and hike up to Lost Lake. That's also a really good place to get pictures of Mt. Hood (along with the lake), but wasn't enough time this trip.

Coldplay concert...

2005-08-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

It's 1:04am, and we just got back from a Coldplay concert up in Washington. It was about an hour from Salem (2 hours with rush hour traffic, 1 hour to get back). Awesome concert! They put on a cool show. Deep thinking band. We've got just about all their CD's, and it was an experience to see them live!

We stood on the grass up on "the lawn". They had giant screens so we got even better view than people sitting closer (who couldn't see the screens). It was almost a full moon, and as the concert started it was low in the sky and by the end it was directly over center stage. Seeing an outdoor concert in ampitheatre in the summer is the only way to go!

Coldplay official website

Lyrics by Coldplay...

2005-08-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

Some (of many!) favorite songs by Coldplay...

From Rush of Bloood...

Amsterdam

Come on, oh my star is fading
And I swerve out of control
And if I, if I'd only waited
I'd not be stuck here in this hole

Come here, of my star is fading
And I swerve out of control
And I swear I waited and waited
I've got to get out of this hole

But time is on your side
It's on your side
Now I'm pushing you down
And all around
It's no cause for concern

Come on, oh my star is fading
And I see no chance of release
I know I'm dead on the surface
But I'm screaming underneath

And time is on your side
It's on your side now
Not pushing you down
And all around
Oh, it's no cause for concern

Stuck on the end of this ball and chain
And I'm on my way back down again
Stood on the edge; tied to a noose
Sick to the stomach
Say what you mean but it won't change a thing
I'm sick of the secrets
Stood on the edge; tied to the noose
And you came along and you cut me loose

From X&Y...

Square One

You're in control is there anywhere you want to go
You're in control is there anything you want to know
The future's for discovering
The space in which we're travelling

From the top of the first page
To the end of the last day
From the start in your own way
You just want
Somebody listening to what you say
It doesn't matter who you are

Under the surface trying to break through
Deciphering the codes in you
I need a compass draw me a map
I'm on the top I can't get back

The first line of the first page
To the end in the last place you were looking
From the start in your own way
You just want
Somebody listening to what you say
It doesn't matter who you are
It doesn't matter who you are

Politik

Look at earth from outer space
Everyone has found a place
Give me time and give me space
Give me real; don't give me fake

Give me strength reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Give me time; give us a kiss
Tell me your politik

And open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
Open up your eyes

Give me one cause one is best
In confusion confidence
Give me peace of mind and trust
Don't forgot the rest of us

Give me strength reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds that heal and cracks that fix
Tell me your politik

And open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
Just open up your eyes

Oh give me love over, love over, love over this
Oh give me love over, love over, love over this

GarageBand.com and PureVolume.com - Independent music...

2005-08-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sick of what they feed you on the radio? Tired of what mainstream America thinks is cool?

Slide into http://garageband.com or http://purevolume.com and discover your own taste in music. These are bands who aren't fettered by corporate demands. They haven't sold their soul for a record deal - they're playing music for their own love of music and for their fans. Find a local band, and go check 'em out at a local venue.

Just to get you started here's City Charts (top independent bands as ranked on GarageBand.com)...

Portland: http://www.garageband.com/charts/city/portland.html

Seattle: http://www.garageband.com/charts/city/seattle.html

Or, just choose a genre at either site (URL above) and stream All...

I used PureVolume.com to find local bands to feature in the Local Progression Riders Video that was produced back in February.

Freelance at Agility competition (Brownsville, OR)...

2005-08-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

In the Zone Photography partnered with Lucky Critters to provide event photography services at a Willamette Agility Group (WAG) Agility competition over the weekend of August 13th (both Saturday and Sunday).

After setting up tent and booth, Wendy and I started out early Saturday morning a bit shell shocked. There were HUNDREDS of dogs in the competition and they were running them non-stop. I'd fill a compactflash card with a 200-300 photos and sprint back to the tent to hand it off and then, while I sprinted back for the ring, I'd snap a fresh card in place and format while getting back into position with good angle. My legs are sore today.

They had several different types of competitions including Steeplechase, Rally, and Snooker. I was shooting the pro ring, and the handlers and dogs were unbelievable! It was amazing to see.

My fingers went numb on Saturday (repeatitive strain) - they're still numb today - a 5 pound lens starts to feel heavy by mid-afternoon when it's close to 100 degrees. We came back on Sunday morning, and did it all again. But we had a good workflow by that time. I'd write down the ending file number of dog that just ran on run sheet, snap a "marker" photo of handler and dog before they started their run... so when I handed off the full compactflash card to Wendy back at the tent, she'd be able to split them up into folders easily. There was literally no time to remove cap from pen - it wasted seconds, so I left the cap off... I was always hoping the handler would call out the dogs name so I knew for certain I was writting down the file number for the right dog.. They tended to juggle the run order at the last minute, so I had to scramble to get in sync with the updated run sheet sometimes.

Between the two rings and two photographers, we shot around 6,000 photos. 8 - 10 MB each shot. We sold a decent number at the event, but not as many as expected. It was disappointing that a lot of people didn't even come to the tent to review their photos - there were some really good ones. But agility people come to compete, win ribbons and get a title for their dog...

Lucky Critters is still post-processing the pictures, and they'll hopefully have them up on their web server later this week. I'll make some picks for my portfolio and post a link to them here.

There were some really incredible shots. Tunnels, jumps, tires, A-frame, weave poles... crisp action shots of dogs flying thru the air with paws up, SOARING, head turned in mid-air looking for their handlers cue for next command... kicking up turf as they carved an arc out of the landing-- streaking towards the next obstacle... smiling!

Local newspaper features my photos in article about freeriding...

2005-08-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

There's an article in todays Appeal Tribune (Silverton, OR) newspaper about the freeride mountain bike trails in the area. In the Zone Photography supplied the report with several photos featured in the article, and they also mentioned the Local Progression video I made last year to help raise funds for trail maintenance.

check it out! "Freeride Nirvana Flys to Silverton" (article by ANGELINA MORGAN with the Appeal Tribune)

Summer Nights concert in Seattle on Lake Union...

2005-08-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

We were in Seattle again this weekend for another Summer Nights concert on Lake Union. We saw Aimee Mann It was again a perfect night for concert. This time we sat right up close (3rd row).

What's awesome is that we could just walk from Erika's apartment on East Lake down to the concert venue on Lake Union, and then back afterwards...

Wendy is spending the week there, but I have to work so drove home the next day.

When we drove to Seattle on Saturday the Blue Angels where flying a demo for an air show, and we saw them flying the diamond formation and they came right over I-5. Was cool to get a glimpse of them flying 400 miles an hour over Seattle in perfect formation and roaring by overhead!

Tonight on Dicovery HD, there was a documentary called "Blue Angels: A Year in the Life". Was cool to learn more about the U.S. Navy demo flight team.

New photography website...

2005-08-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

We've created a new website for "In the Zone Photography" that features a gallery. It'll include pictures from events we book.

Also, instead of hosting family pictures and stuff on a separate server, I decided it'd just make sense to throw all the photos into one gallery. BUT the "family" photos (pictures we want to share with family) will be hidden from public view (you'll need to know the login username/password) - just ask Wendy or I and we'll let ya know what it is!

The snapshot from the site shown above shows the new Family folder because that's sample of someone logged into the Gallery at http://inthezonephotography.biz - that folder isn't there if it's just the public visiting the gallery.

Eschelon Telecom, Inc (NASDAQ: ESCH), the company I work for, went public today...

2005-08-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the press release...

Eschelon Telecom, Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering

Minneapolis, MN – August 4, 2005 Eschelon Telecom, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESCH) -- Eschelon Telecom, Inc. announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,357,143 shares of its common stock at $14.00 per share. The securities are being offered in connection with a distribution by the company. The company and certain stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 803,571 shares. A portion of the proceeds will be used to redeem a portion of the company’s outstanding 8 3/8% senior second secured notes due 2010. The company’s common stock has been approved for quotation on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “ESCH” and is scheduled to commence trading today. The offering is expected to close on August 9, 2005.

Lehman Brothers Inc. and Jefferies & Company, Inc. are serving as joint book-running managers of the offering. UBS Securities LLC is acting as a joint lead manager.

A copy of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from: Lehman Brothers Inc., c/o ADP Financial Services, Integrated Distribution Services, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717 or by calling (631) 254-7106, or Jefferies & Company, Inc., Attn.: Equity Capital Markets at 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022 or by calling (212) 284-2342.

A registration statement relating to this offering has been filed and been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any state.

About Eschelon Telecom, Inc.
Eschelon Telecom, Inc. is a facilities-based competitive communications services provider of voice and data services and business telephone systems in 19 markets in the western United States. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the company offers small and medium-sized businesses a comprehensive line of telecommunications and Internet products. Eschelon currently employs approximately 1,130 telecommunications/Internet professionals, serves over 50,000 business customers and has approximately 380,000 access lines in service throughout its markets in Minnesota, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada and California.

- more -

Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements are based on Eschelon Telecom’s current intent, belief and expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements because of the company’s history of losses, ability to maintain relationships with RBOCs, substantial indebtedness, intense competition, dependence on key management, changes in government regulations, and other risks that may be described in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today’s date. Eschelon Telecom undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.

Contacts:
Media: Jenna Soule, Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications. 612-436-6426
Investors: Geoff Boyd, Chief Financial Officer, 612-436-6486

Sweet Home herding photos (from July 23rd/24th)...

2005-07-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

The photos of the show Lucky Critters did down in Sweet Home, Oregon are up on the web now (drill into Saturday and Sunday folders to see additional sections and the photos for each dog). I shot all of the photos of the duck and cattle herding. 40 dogs. Long day! Lots of fun! Got to shoot with my own gear this time too...(already had my Nikon D70 and invested in a long 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens so now I have a capable camera/lens combo for doing sports photography like this).

Wendy also did some "job shadowing" at this show. She learned a bit about digital workflow (dumping the photos from Compact Flash, doing initial scrubbing, and cropping) as well as "selling" event photos to customers.

We're fortunate that Lucky Critters (Chris and Chalace) is willing to show us the ropes, and since they're moving out of the area soon - we'll be filling in for them on all future scheduled shows they've done! Whoo hoo! - awesome way to get our photo biz (In the Zone Photography) jump started.

Starting a photography business!...

2005-07-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

Wendy and I are starting a photography business. It's going to be called "In the Zone Photography". We'll be specializing in event photography (sporting events, dog shows, and basically any event where the participants would be interested in purchasing photos of their performance).

We're just working through the early development phase now. Lining up resources and strategizing about marketing, etc.

JUST registered a new domain and created a "coming soon" site at http://inthezonephotography.biz/.

It'll be a hobby business for us. Just helping earn cash to pay for itself and extra traveling money (trip to Hawaii or Europe?).

Unidentified body...

2005-07-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today they discovered a body in the ditch next to my office.

Chilling, ain't it? I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet, and my boss asked if I'd noticed all the "hub-bub" going on outside my office window...

When I turned around to look, there was a yellow police "do not cross" tape around a big group of trees down in the ditch next to the parking lot. Two police officers where inspecting the area, and one went down to the ditch and took some pictures of, apparently, the body down under some bushes.

By the end of the morning, there were two fire trucks, several city vehicles, two mortuary vans, a police car, and lots and lots of police, detectives with dark glasses, and other officials wearing blue latex gloves huddled into groups and peering at the decomposing body down in the ditch. They'd go down to look in groups of 3 to 5. The local news camera crew was set up and rolling video. And there was a stretcher with a black body bag, and a blue tarp laying in an empty parking space.

It was surreal.

People from the office gathered outside the building to watch them, and there were people looking out the windows from inside the building too. Some took pictures. We were all waiting for the same thing... The body.

It had been laying down beside the creek/ditch for weeks apparently. They couldn't tell if it had been a man or a woman. The smell was awful - from the way everyone covered their noses when they brought the body up. Someone said that someone had smelled something last week and had thought maybe something had died down there...

One of the mortuary vans was black and the man was dress in black. The second mortuary van that arrived was white and there were two women with white blouses. They talked to the other mortuary worker for a bit, then the firemen loaded the body wrapped in the blue tarp on the stretcher into their van. Then they drove off with the rear windows of the van popped open.

The police took down the "do not cross" tape. The fire trucks left. They forgot a bundle of fence that apparently they'd used for something...

There was a story on the news that night about an unidentified body discovered by penitentiary workers earlier that morning on Fairview Industrial Drive in a ditch. And a clip of the detectives huddled and talking.

Surreal. Like a bad dream, or something I clicked through on the TV.

I'm glad they took the body away in the white van and not the black van, but I don't know why.

Blackrock Granny's Kitchen Wall Ride...

2005-07-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

Had an opportunity to ride with a group from Santiam Bicycle today. Took the day off to go shoot photos of them riding. This is one pic I took of the "wall ride" on Granny's Kitchen trail at Blackrock. Thom is riding, and Troy is standing there for effect... These guys both work at Santiam Bicycle in Salem, and are the trail managers for Granny's (just like me, Wade, and Rich are the managers of Basic Training trail/area). It took them several months to build the frame, split the rungs, and complete this wall ride stunt. It's a monument to what freeriding is all about at Blackrock! Progression...