Coco the Obedient One...Sort of....

Anyone who know Auburn and Ace, knows how well trained Ace is. Coco, on the other hand, not so much. Don't get me wrong. She is a great dog. We don't have any trouble with her. It's just comical to us to see her version of dog obedience after being around Auburn and Ace.



Here she is walking with Aric. I love this picture of the two of them. She seems fully engrossed into listening to him. She seems to be saying, I am your dog. You are my boy.

You are Master. I am dog. Lie down....no problem!

I'll just stay here. With you. Until you let me know when I can get up. Or until.....

something else distracts me and I forget all about you....

Living the life in Florida with our adorable free range Merle-like dog!

Cascading Creek

Cascading Creek, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Another creek shot from last weekend in Las Trampas.

Right now California is being pounded by yet another strong rainstorm, and this one has dropped a few inches of rain in places. As the storm heads inland tomorrow, it will leave behind showery weather for what appears to be the remainder of the week.

All the while, the rain has caused the wildflowers to start growing and budding with high intensity, as evidenced by the poppies coming up all over the hillsides. On a recent hike, you could see that the poppies had flower buds...yes!

RootsTech :: Day Two

It was another busy and mind-boggling day at RootsTech. I didn't do much socializing since I attended presentations all day long!



As with yesterday, the keynote address was impressive with a nearly full room of attentive genealogists. Given by an enthusiastic and very dynamic speaker - Josh Coates – the topic was “Exabytes, Social Clouds, and Other Monstrosities.”



I've never tried Voice Recognition Software but after listening to Luana Darby in “Can You Hear Me Now? Voice Recognition Software and Genealogy” I may just have to give it a try! Someday. (I'm not sure my little netbook is capable of effectively using the software.) I have a lot of obituaries, deeds, wills, and estate files that need transcribing and it seems it may be easier to read/dictate them into the computer rather than trying to type up the documents myself! The obits could probably be done by scanning then doing OCR on them but that always seems to require some cleaning up of the text. It seems that Voice Recognition Software has come a long way in the last 10 years or so. The software still requires “training” to your voice and your manner of speaking but she says the accuracy is quite good.



Jill Ball did a great job directing the panel in “Genealogy 2.0: International Panelists Discuss Their Use of Social Media to Connect With Cousins, Collaborate on Projects, Discuss Issues, Market and Promote Genealogy Services and Perform Acts of Genealogical Kindness.” Jill, Amy Coffin, and Audrey Collins offered up examples and opinions on the various topics listed in the title of the presentation.



I seem to be attending sessions on topics where I have limited knowledge. Kinexxions is on blogger but I went to the presentation on Understanding WordPress by Amy Johnson Crow. Each platform has it's pros and cons and since I've got five years worth of posts on blogger, I don't think I'll be switching it over to WordPress. However, I would certainly consider using WordPress for a new blog – if I ever decide to start another one!



My last presentation for today was “Google's Toolbar and Genealogy” by David Barney. I learned so much during this presentation that my head was spinning! If you get a chance, I highly recommend watching this one when it becomes available on FamilySearch. It should be available soon along with the keynote addresses and other sessions.



I didn't take any photos today other than the one below...





Elyse Doerflinger and Michele Goodrum were “caught” doing what many other genealogists did after the sessions were over for the day! Michele is holding a wand scanner that she had been using to scan pages of a book – she says it works great once you get the hang of working with it.



As you can see, the place was pretty busy. I decided not to attempt any research since I'll be staying in Salt Lake City for a while after the conference is over. I also opted to not stay for the viewing of “Who Do You Think You Are?” though I did watch the show from the comfort of my motel room!

Dolphin Fun

I just realized while catching up on reading blogs, that I never came back and posted the dolphin pictures. I guess with all of my new computer fun and a visit from Aric, it completely left my mind to blog. The completely leaving my mind seems to be happening more and more lately but that's a story for another day. Back to the dolphins. When we got to the pier, I could hear there was some hype over something in the water. You can never tell just what that might mean with the ocean. So it was a happy surprise to see that it was dolphins that were visiting.



This is one of those times that I'm so glad I am the weirdo that brings her big camera to the beach with her. While everyone else was using their phones to get pictures, I got some decent shots with a real camera.



It was interesting to watch dolphins here vs somewhere like Sea World. They were just doing their thing being dolphins instead of doing tricks to get treats. Pretty cool. The only downside is they didn't surface much so we couldn't see them that well. Again, they were just being dolphins and weren't worried about us in the least so that is understandable. Then someone went to wash their fish at the fish cleaning station and the water trickled down below.



The dolphins seemed to love this and they fought to get underneath the water from that point on. This is where the real life dolphin show became a blast for us humans that happened to be there.



It turned this into one of my best beach days ever.



We stood there for a very long time. I snapped hundreds of pictures. I murmured things like this is so cool, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is awesome! over and over. I told Nathan later that it was right up there with whale watching because we were so close to them. He smiled at me in that way he does sometimes like he is amused at my simple mindedness.




That's ok. He didn't read Island of the Blue Dolphins 433 times as a child like I did. And he laughed non-stop at a movie recently that I am pretty sure was made for ten year old boys. So we're even!




It was way awesome. Just ask the dolphins!

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

You may remember this post about a configuration of parts on a framebuilder's drawing board. In the"Remarks" section, I invited guesses about what it was, and Justine was the one who got it: custom-made rear dropouts for a mixte frame.

Here they are in their transition from "caterpillar" to "butterfly".

Another mysterious shot of the frame in progress.

And another... Gee, I have a feeling that somebody who loves lugs would really appreciate a frame like this.

Hooray for the beautiful work of framebuilders - in this case the fabulous Royal H Cycles of Somerville, Massachusetts.

Budapest, the second time around

This week has been so slow for me. I have been weighed down by a cold, and still am (yet I worked all week), and my wireless internet at home has been acting up!

So I am really looking forward to this weekend where I can unwind. Do nothing, blog, and maybe go out for a long relaxing nature walk.

Back to blogging programming – I wanted to share a few fotos I took in Budapest recently when I was there for a quick visit a few weeks ago.

A random foto of a horse carriage with tourists in the Buda Castle District and on the right is a building with clearly Turkish influence, remnants of the Ottoman occupation in Hungary.

I had the opportunity to visit the Buda side, which I wasn’t able to during my last visit early this year. Buda is very pretty, green, hush, aristocratic, and boasts a brilliant cultural Hungarian heritage. It has splendid nature parks and houses many magnificent old structures such as the Buda Castle for example in the popular Castle District where many visitors come to visit. Moreover, the whole place will bring you back in time.

My favorite bridge in Budapest, the Chain Bridge with lions guarding it, and is probably the most beautiful of all bridges in Hungary.

I caught a glimpse of the Fisherman’s Bastion, and from a distance, the interesting structure really caught my eye, she intrigued me as she has this oriental twist wrapped around her. You see, I have this weakness for striking architectures. It was very tempting to get out of the bus, wander around, and stay for a while, but too bad, time was not on my hands this time. Sigh.

St. Stephen (Istvan) Basicilica taken from a corner street in Andrassy Avenue. On the right is typically Budapest, many building entrances have these grand Art Nouveau style sculptures.

The striking Hungarian Parliament - with some Turkish influence in its design, taken from the Buda side of the Danube embankment.

Hungary was under the Ottoman occupation for a long time, thus many of the old buildings still standing in the city have this Turkish flair in them. It is an East meets West confluence of design and architecture which is really impressive.

If I had another day in Budapest, I would definitely spend it in the Castle District and make sure I get to visit the Fisherman’s Bastion!

From the Citadella built by the Austrians, one can enjoy the beautiful panorama of Budapest day and night. On the foto is Buda on the left and Pest on the right.

Buda is also hilly and one can have great views of the whole city, especially up in Citadella in Gellert Hill. From there a fabulous panorama of Buda and Pest, the Elizabeth and Liberty Bridges, and the great Danube River straddling across several countries in Europe. I must say that this is the best vantage point of the city that offers the best views. I managed to get out here and spend some time enjoying the sights.


More Art Nouveau style in the streets of Budapest - this is a door in the center of Pest. On the right I think is the Andrassy Avenue leading to Hosok Tere, the Heroes Square, now a world heritage of UNESCO.

More fotos of Budapest can be found here - Budapest, Hungary

Vaci Utca, the shopping and fashion district of Budapest. It is always busy here.

Another place I discovered is Vaci – the shopping and fashion district of Budapest. The cab driver gave me another chic place to shop – the name of the street escapes me but we briefly passed by this place and I was quite taken by the area I have to admit, posh and exclusive, unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time. I cannot have both, so I asked the driver to send me to Vaci Utca instead.

I didn’t really get to shop which was fine. I was more interested in people watching while having a dry Martini in my hand.

Here are more fotos of Vaci, and from the cafe where I sat. It was 22C when I was there.

That evening, I strolled out of Vaci towards the Danube embankment filled with outdoor cafes and restaurants. I was really attracted to this part of the city, maybe because twilight was beckoning. I could see candles being lit on top of well-dressed tables, they flicker against the light night. The street musicians are out and playing, and the lively atmosphere of people chatting and laughing while having their fill fills the air. Well, in this part of Europe, it seems Hungarians eat dinner pretty early, just like the Dutch.

The lighted Buda Castle from the Pest side of the Danube embankment.

Across the Danube embankment I could see the spectacularly-lit Buda Castle, also a UNESCO world heritage. She is so beautiful, noble and imperial – what a great backdrop to have and enjoy whilst having a long dinner with great company or even just by myself – I wouldn’t mind really.

Alas, it was almost 9PM on my watch and it was time for me to go back to Herifegy and take the plane to Athens, Greece.

Half of The Birds and The Bees

You can catch the birds over here and here!