Berkeley Springs Photos

I've setup a webshots.com site for the Columbia Ski Club and I've posted photos from the July 2008 Berkeley Springs trip.


Berkely Springs, WV - July 2008

Play Date with Little Richard

No, not that Little Richard! I mean this one. Isn't he cute? Richard is the work in progress of 2 nice people, Ted and Jeannie. On July 5th, I had the privilege of being 5-day-old Richard's first play date. As Ted and Jeannie reported in their blog, the day before, Richard had his first cookout and dining out. I don't think he picked up the tab. Anyway, we had a good time on his first walk in his high-tech stroller. I'm pretty sure Richard slept through the whole walk; I guess he'll just have to read his parent's blog to remember it. Ted was a real natural when it came to feeding the little guy; Richard was totally peaced out cradled in Ted's arm. Jeannie spared me the diaper changing experience. And of course her maternal instincts came into play during the stroll.

So where's the head scratcher in this post, you ask? Why in the world does this stroller have a substantial PDF user's guide with more than 40 pages of supposedly self-describing drawings, yet the captions (in all PC multi languages) appear completely separate from the illustrations? Sure, in a printed manual this might work if you keep your place in both spots at once, but how can you do this with a PDF? Net result was this stroller was a real challenge to assemble. JHU and NASA should be proud of the Leoutsakos parents.

Cape May Photos - June 2008

Well, I finally broke down and registered for a free photo publishing web site called webshots.com. My main motivation was to publish photos I'd taken on a Cape May (NJ) trip with the Columbia Ski Club ("We do more than ski"). Pretty easy to use interface, especially when you figure out that you can upload a whole folder at once by multiply selecting all the files when you browse to the folder. The free account is limited to 1,000 photos but that's enough for many of us (except maybe Sue ;-)

Life Before Cell Phones?

Does anyone remember what our daily lives were like prior to the advent of cell phones? Way back when people could only reach you when you were home or at work (or thru email)? Back when you could go grocery shopping without hearing some loud mouthed idiot talking practically in your ear as they just happen to be contemplating the items on the shelf next to you, or standing behind you in the checkout line? Or carrying on some private conversation while standing in other store lines so loudly that you cannot hear or be heard by the sales clerk? Or when people generally used two hands and a mostly full brain to drive a car before they came to consider signaling and paying attention as optional while they are on their cell? How about riding a bicycle? The other day, I saw a teenager riding a bike on a busy road (175) at rush hour while talking on his cell phone. Do you think he was paying attention to the cars that were whizzing by him?

Don't get me wrong. I carry a cell phone and occasionally use it in public settings and when driving. But when I do, I try to be mindful of the people around me and I pay attention to my environment. I don't want to become a statistic. Do you?