http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/ en-us 2008-07-11T00:07+00:00 http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1215736373.shtml ... sealionii 2008-07-11T00:07+00:00 http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1214970951.shtml So, we all dove on the other side, except I didn't dive. No mask, no snorkel, glasses...um. Not a winner. So I stayed by the float and bobbed a bit while... sealionii 2008-07-02T03:07+00:00
The lads didn't have as much success as they would like and we were hoping to find a place with a bit less kelp, so we pulled up stakes and drove a couple of miles down the coast to another spot we had seen and put out again. This went rather more smoothly, but either there weren't enough rocks or there was too much kelp, and we didn't have any luck at all. After a few hours (much longer than we had thought, actually) we got out and drove back. It's a nice drive, really, but we were stressed cuz we thought the dive shop would close at 6 and we would have to come back early in the morning to return the items. Fortunately, it closes at 8, so we made it in plenty of time. I got a really weird sunburn from the wetsuit--my right shoulder is all red, and the rest of my arm is its normal tone(s), so it's kinda a reverse farmer tan.

So, a day of adventure; and now I have an abalone shell, and a story, which I have just told you.

THE END]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1214864528.shtml So, on Saturday I took a break from science and what-not and went with some friends to do some abalone diving. In case you are wondering, what on earth is an... sealionii 2008-06-30T22:06+00:00
wikipedia is our friend

The pictures there aren't really very good, but it will give you some idea. They are sea snails with non-whorled shells-something like half a clamshell atop a good-size marine snail. The shells are very handsome indeed once the rather hideous-looking creature inside of them has been removed. I was really more excited about getting a shell than catching an abalone, which, as events turned out, was all to the good.

We went so as to be in position to abalonicate at low tide--1 PM or thereabouts--and got into the water at about 11. The organizer generously loaned me a wetsuit and booties, but even so buying the fishing license, the abalone license (a separate deal), renting the mask and snorkel, the fines, the weight belt, and the float (an inner tube covered in a mesh net for us to store things in while out on the water) set me back a pretty penny. So. Expensive.

And also fairly dangerous, as weekend activities go. Not like, say, scuba diving, or hang gliding, or motocross; but still. After clambering about a bit on the rocks in our first chosen locale we decided to strike out into the deep--but my fins were missing an attachment piece and so I wasn't wearing them. Between that and the fact that it's been rather too long since I went swimming the organizer (wearing fins and managing the float) outpaced me pretty quickly, and I was making no headway against the waves. If I had had more confidence in the snorkel and mask I would probably have come through all right, but I was still close enough to the rocks that I was afraid of a cross current swamping my snorkel (I have no idea if that would really be at all likely, but I was totally unwilling to find out) so I endeavored to turn back.

Let's just say that swimming toward large rocks while in the grip of four or five foot waves is a risky enterprise, since one goes from being "too far!" to "much, much too close!" to the rocks in a matter of seconds, and since you have your back to the waves it's never clear when exactly this is going to happen. I got back, glommed onto the first available rock, was pulled off by the retreating tide, and went forward again (not really voluntarily), managing to get past the first rock and giving myself something to brace against. At that point I was pretty much out of danger, but it took me two or three more waves to work my way to a truly secure position.

After spending twenty minutes or so to collect myself I went back around the big group of rocks which we were using as our "home base" in search of my fellows, and eventually we found each other again.

AND NOW, A DIGRESSION: We were on a point with a lot of tide pools and all kinds of kool tide-pool animals. I saw several crabs and hermit crabs, many starfish, many mussels, many anemones, a few tide-pool type fish...this was one of my favorite things about the expedition.

Anyway. Having reunited, we dove on the other side of "home base", which featured a much easier approach but a lot more kelp (good, cuz the abalone eat it, bad, cuz it's nasty nasty stuff to swim in and worse to dive in--very entangling). I discovered that at some point in my mad scramble my mask and snorkel had been lost and were now, presumably, in the custody of one Davey Jones. I didn't much care. I was alive.

It did, however, prevent me from diving (together with the fact that I was wearing glasses...yep, abalone diving while wearing glasses. (!) The glasses were never in any real danger of being lost--the wetsuit kept them clapped close to my head.)

PART TWO: IN WHICH NOTHING EXCITING HAPPENS to follow]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1213197816.shtml So, I have been taking my hours away from work early in the morning so as to be able to watch soccer. (Don't worry, Mom, I'm strictly limiting myself to one... sealionii 2008-06-11T15:06+00:00
Up today: Portugal vs. the Czech Republic! A match with a lot of potential for excitement, to be sure. We bring you to the 20th minute, goals from Deco for Portugal and Sionko for the Czech Republic. It's been a really free-flowing game, very unlike the one between Switzerland and the Czech on Saturday, which the Czechs won (undeservedly, although finishing is 9/10s of scoring goals).

Both this teams have a reputation for dirty play and diving (especially the Portuguese), so that will be something to watch. Everyone's been behaving themselves so far, though.

24'--Decent shot over the bar from Deco.
25'--Another good shot, this time from Ronaldo, who might just be the world's best player and is getting more enthusiasm from the announcers than he probably deserves because of it.
26'--Baros and Pepe collide and slap each other in the head...perhaps that dirty play beginning to manifest itself.
29'--Dang. Portugal needs better organization on these corners--it came to Sionko on the back post and they were lucky the Czechs didn't do more with it.
30'--Yellow card for Bosingwa--wow, not sure I would've called that. He did have the studs up, though.

It's kinda funny--Czechs are all red, Portugal all white, and in the last game I saw the Czechs were all white and the Swiss all red, so it's a little confusing.

32'--Game is getting a little choppy; neither team is showing great control of the ball.

34'--Grigera (sp?) passes it to nobody and kills a Czech attack--and gets something like karmic payback by blocking a pass with his face on the other end, Czech on the attack.

35'--Baros (Cz) makes a great run and then gets too fancy--you have to shoot at some point, my friend.

36'--Deco gives it a little too much and it's back to the Czechs.

They use the word "mazy" in soccer--"a mazy run"--for an elaborate, befuddling display of dribbling going up the field. Kinda interesting as an example of sports-talk.

39'--Portugal have apparently had 62% of possession, which seems a little odd; certainly they haven't been dominating play to that extent. It's not as if the Czechs are just absorbing the pressure and counterattacking--they've been going forward quite a bit.
40'--Corner to Portugal...
41'--and another corner. Carvalho has a chance but his first touch isn't soft enough.
42'--Sionko totally whiffs on a pass (you don't see that often--swing the leg and miss everything) and Ronaldo promptly takes a dangerous shot, Cech (Cz goalkeeper) is there and all is for naught.
43'--Baros goes down again...
44'--And now the field is strewn with bodies. Ronaldo imitating a glass-jawed boxer, then two players (Deco and someone) going down for better reason at the center line--the Czech guy stepped on the ball and then clipped Deco with his heel (!).
45'--Ferreira changes his shirt. Why? Who knows?
45+1'--One last hurrah--Ronaldo takes a free kick from about 25 yards out, not too much trouble for Cech.

And that's halftime!

55'--Not too exciting to start the second half...
59'--Now some excitement! A strong spell of attack from Portugal, but Cech is equal to the occasion.
59'--and Ricardo takes his life in his hands--one does NOT want to see the goalkeeper dribbling around opposing players.
60'--But the Portuguese are piling on the pressure here...weak shot from Ronaldo though.
62'--Corner for the Czechs--rather weak...h'm. Trouble in the box, the referees rushes in to admonish the responsible parties, and we'll re-kick...
63--WOW. Again, Portugal looks very bad on a corner and CzechR almost bundle it in...
64'--GOAL! On the counterattack! Ronaldo takes the cross from Deco and skims it in past the diving Cech, taking it in a field of red shirts and driving it home. Well done!
66'--Petit (Por) concedes a free kick in a dangerous spot--Portugal have looked lousy on set plays-and do again, but no harm done and Portugal on the counterattack...
67'--Portugal corner kick, a nice build-up but, well, the whole Portuguese team was offside.

70'--Eek! Another very dangerous cross from the Czechs, and it's good work by Ferreira to get it out of there.

73'--Jan Koller (Cz) in--obviously the Czechs are going to give everything they have for that last goal to draw even.

76'--Free kick in a dangerous spot for Portugal...straight into the wall. A little back and forth, and then a free kick at the center line for the Czechs--and Baros interferes with a pass that would have been better left to Sionko and puts it out. Goal kick, and opportunity lost.

81'--Another decent chance for the Czechs but the shot is over the bar--probably should have controlled that and passed, he had three men in the box...

83'--Sionko again with a dangerous header! And Ricardo does well to put it over the bar for a corner. Back and forth at the edge of the box, but now Ricardo has the ball and forward it goes.

85'--And back again...and forward...Czechs may have to resign themselves to the long ball.

86'--Especially if they keep passing it to the Portuguese when they try a build-up.

88'--Corner to Portugal--no? Well, goal kick then, but it looked like a corner...

89'--And another free kick for the Czechs--dangerous, but Richard punches it away and then Sionko and [someone] tangle in the box, and Portugal gets the free kick.

90'--Sionko over the bar!

90+1--Whoops! A gaping hole at the back for the Czech as the free kick was taking quickly, and Ronaldo feeds it to Quaresma for the goal. (And more enthushing over Ronaldo from the announcers...people really do pass the ball sometimes, it's not that remarkable, guys.)

90+2--Match! And Portugal deserves the win, although their aerial defense leaves a LOT to be desired.]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1206164182.shtml So, it turns out it is not the easiest of all the things in the world to get the pictures to appear on the blogs. Obviously it is possible (see previous)... sealionii 2008-03-22T05:03+00:00
So we may be sticking with text only for a while, until/unless I am seized by a fit of energy for Photoshop or the public demands it.

So, it's on you, public.

Yesterday I bought my first Tom Waits album. Tom Waits takes a little getting used to, but some of these songs are really beautiful ("Come On Up To The House" and "Hold On" in particular.)

"Come On Up To The House" has a really weird music video, btw. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GugzLSbOQE

I'm not totally sure it's the real Tom Waits-commissioned music video, but I think it is.]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1201059043.shtml Monday we were in Edinburgh, after a long and really fairly hideous train ride. I don't have any pictures of the train ride, and it's just as well, because, well, fairly... sealionii 2008-01-23T03:01+00:00
Well, maybe they changed the seats. Or maybe it was that they didn't TURN OFF THE HIDEOUS YELLOW-ORANGE OVERHEAD LIGHTS. (Why not do this? Why not? Of all the many things I saw in the British Isles, this might have been the strangest.) Or maybe it was the fact that first the car temperature was arctic, and then it was sweltering, and it never seemed to find a happy medium. I went out at one point into the diner car, which is supposed to be for first-class passengers, I suppose, and was much cooler than where we were sitting (or sprawling, or lying, or hunching up in the fetal position, depending on what seemed like it might provide a little comfort at the moment). The attendant was asleep, so I hung out there for a little while.

On returning to the seat car I discovered it was still too hot to sleep, so I tried to go back to the diner care, only to be rebuffed by the attendant! "First class passengers only," he said, and would not be moved, despite the fact that it was THREE IN THE MORNING, and the car was empty. Surely class no longer exists at three in the morning? I was tempted to comment on the class sensitivity of English culture, but the guy was Pakistani (at least, he was from the Indian subcontinent and spoke with an accent--I guess he could've been Indian) and I figured, he probably gets way too much class warfare in his daily life, why make it worse? So I retreated into the double-boiler--I mean,the seat car--and made the best of it. Between the OPC, the HLP, and the ME we got about eight hours of sleep that night.

Long story short: it was a miserable experience.

...What? Edinburgh? Yeah, we got there in the end. I'll tell you about it in the next post.]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1200526550.shtml Our first day in London! It was a very pleasant, sunny day, and we went out in search of Adventure. And this is what we found:... sealionii 2008-01-16T23:01+00:00
First, that the London Underground is a wonderful thing. Second, that it is horribly expensive. But hey, it was a vacation! Here we are. Yes, I am "reading" Orwell (the book's upside down...) and giving the peace sign. No, this is not intended to have symbolic meaning, although it might have symbolic meaning anyway.



We found some gentlemen in red military-esque gear. I don't know why they were dressed that way--if it was some special anniversary or what-have-you. Striking, though, isn't it?



We went to the National Gallery, which fronts on Trafalgar Square. Here's a picture of Lord Nelson from the back (he has his back to the Gallery; I don't remember what he's facing, although it appears to be Parliament. Quite rightly, he is reluctant to turn his back on a large group of elected officials.).

]]> http://sealionii.powerblogs.com/posts/1200452567.shtml we will make those baby steps backwards, such that when you enter at the top of the page you will have to the bottom and scroll upward to encounter events in... sealionii 2008-01-16T03:01+00:00 backwards, such that when you enter at the top of the page you will have to the bottom and scroll upward to encounter events in their correct chronological order. How very avant-garde. Like "Memento", but without tattoos.



That's me, nom de net sealionii (of course). That other guy we'll call the HLP, for reasons that are maybe really not all that funny when you consider that all of this begins in San Francisco.



This is Axl Wade and Our Photographic Correspondent (OPC for short). She's the one who actually took the pictures, and she's the HLP's little sister.

OK, so that's us. Now, where are we?]]>