Christmas angling

Would have written sooner, but the wi-fi at home has been acting up.

Returned Monday night from a great weekend up in the mountains. We stayed right on the side of the Metolius, and thanks to the local shop, which stepped in with a forgotten piece of equipment, was able to drown a couple flies and catch a couple shrubs.

Once again, the concept of flyfishing proved itself. About an hour into my second outing, little flies started to drift by me and for the first time ever, I noted surface action--right where I was hoping it would be. One fish took my fly twice (stupid, stupid fish), but I failed to set the hook (stupid, stupid fisherman). A much larger fish about fifty feet upriver didn't seem interested. But I did see it as it rolled over taking real insects--I'm pretty sure it was a rainbow (or a redband, as it appears we're supposed to be calling the wild ones now).

The local hatchery showed an up-close view of what I've been failing to catch elsewhere. The Metolius itself has been managed as a wild fishery since 1995. Local hotel schwag still seems to think there are hatchery fish and haven't caught on to the strict catch-and-release regs that are in place. L finally had to ask the people at the store, who confirmed the wild-fish-only state of the river.

We also got to hike up to some snow on Christmas day. It was truly a peaceful and restful weekend. And now I'm fully back to the grind.

Photo fun

I actually processed film over the weekend. Two rolls of 120 that were exposed two years ago during a trip to the coast. Oh, ok, that's an exaggeration: it was 18 months. Good memories of the trip and good memories of Sunday afternoons in the darkroom. (And the negatives look pretty good too.)

Hung out with the Photozone folks on Saturday night. Thankfully there were few discussions of gear. We even sang carols.

And I'm getting the hang of the aerial photos--but that's another blog.

Still Stylesheet Slop

Well, it seems that as soon as the content on the right becomes longer than the content on the left, it gets bumped down to the bottom of the screen.

Don't make me use tables!

I'll get there.

Wrapping presents continues to be torture: even though L sat down with me last night and did it with me. I instantly became tired, bored, and distracted. She humored me though: thanks honey.

Lemming post

I'm sure everyone else in the library world is talking about it, so I may as well link to the Google-sized scanning project announced this morning.

The NYT article mentions that publishers have learned to love librarians' buying power. With this new program, does it mean that librarians at only five institutions will now have all the power? I mean, if everything from these five libraries is discoverable online, does anyone else really need to buy the books?

This is, of course, an obvious fallacy. Five copies couldn't endlessly circulate through ILL offices throughout the country. (Besides, I don't think NYPL lends to its own patrons, let along ILLs.) I think there are more interesting points to ponder:

• Will the libraries involved start selling access to their huge full-text holdings?


• Notice how all of the institutions are private? (I know Michigan is public, but at $4000 / semester for in-state students, how public is it?)


• Will Google?


• There is some discussion of copyright issues (you'll only be able to see a few pages of the text for works still in copyright), but will you be able to get full-text on the campusses?

I'm sure there are other things to ponder, but I've got to get to work.

Eligible to vote?

I feel I am now a full-fledged citizen of Eugene. I just bought on of Frog's jokebooks.

I felt bad because I was talking to him and he spilled hot coffee all over himself. So was it a mercy sale? No: while he went into the bike shop to wipe himself off, I got into reading a little thing he snipped off the net. It was pretty funny, and I had nothing to read with my lunch.

Not worth $3 tho.

New blog: the tiny sidebar blog.

OK, so I stole the name from boingboing--but they stopped doing it, so I can steal the name, right?

Only there's no guest editor there--it's just me. As I start moving over to my new job, I thought I'd make some comments, as well as keep track of the GIS and map things I'm finding along the way.

Mozilla users: the stylesheet for the tinyblog is still a little wonky--I discovered just now it renders a bit better in IE. But brave heart: part of it render better in Mozilla.

I'm also curious if anyone will pick up on the RSS feed of the tinyblog. it doesn't really have a proper page, but the feed is buried around here somewhere. Feedsters?

Now: on with the show.

More photo wackiness: closer to home

Had dinner with friends last weekend a couple weeks ago, and lo and behold: they've been visited by Homeland Security because of taking pictures. I relayed the story of the Ballard Locks, and re-iterated that it is NOT illegal to take photographs.

So friends, the next time you are our shooting, you might want to carry this flyer.

The story made me revisit the guy in Ballard who got shook (shaken?) down over the summer. He continues to keep us posted on all matters. Including these:

A polite exchange with DHS.

A heavy handed encounter with what sounds like the Uniformed Secret Service.

The whole thing makes me want to go outside and take some pictures.

Youths and the net

Someone please remind me to read the next 4 installments of this.

Not a whole lot new there, but it is well written.

Well, now that that's over...

I can look forward to this. I'll have to get me some of those blue-winged olives before going over the pass for Christmas.

Handed in my paper this morning. Meeting with the brass to form a transition plan this afternoon. I have a transition plan of my own: I'm going to attempt to make a tiny-blog that will display right next to this one so that I can make quick notes about the upcoming new job.

I have to admit that the last ten weeks are a bit of a blur. But at the end of it I've got a clean basement, a working darkoom, and a new job. A very productive quarter.