One more picture

I took this at a park near Philly.

Another Clip

I think this will be my last post with pictures or videos for a while. I'll give all your computers a little break. This is a clip of Andy talking a bit about us then his first attempt a rolling in his new kayak. Not a perfect roll, but he's still getting used to his new boat. The next part is me after I'd rolled a couple times successfully.
As you can see I figured out how to put the link directly into the post. I think I'll go back and put the last clip into that post as well.

Two more pictures

Two pictures of Andy's new kayak. You can see the difference in size.

Here we are in a self portrait trying to look cool : )


This is a full view of both kayaks...Obviously. Andy got a really nice set up with the kayak. You can see the wooden paddle (I'm jealous). The blue life vest is actually Chris's but the size recommendations are a little off. It opens up big enough to fit Andy.

Eskimo Roll

Here is a link to the first eskimo rolls Andy and I ever successfully completed. Granted the technique is absolutely horrendous, but you gotta start some where right? We both achieved this on our 6th attempt (pretty good if you ask me ; ) ). Tomorrow I'll link a short clip of us after we'd done a few and with a little more elegance : ) I'll also put a few pictures up of Andy's new kayak. We got him one that's bigger than mine because he was feeling a bit trapped while upside down. A very uncomfortable feeling. He was also rubbing his knees raw on the thigh braces while wet exiting, almost drawing blood a few times. The new one would probably fit you Ian... It's called the "Big EZ'. Mine (the one in the video) is the EZ. Hope you all enjoy. I also have quite a few clips of unsuccessful rolls. They're actually quite funny. If any one would like to see them I can link them as well.

For all you Mac users, "Clutter" a very cool iTunes App.

Here is a screen shot of my desktop. Click for larger version.

Below is a quote from osxhints.com (great site) explaining what all the album covers are.

" What does clutter do? Theoretically, it's designed to let you 'clutter' your desktop with a bunch of virtual albums. Once launched, Clutter displays a small window showing the current iTunes track information, some forward/pause/rewind buttons, and the album cover for the current song. But the album art information doesn't come from iTunes, it comes from Amazon, assuming you're connected to the internet. As each album is found, a local copy of the artwork JPEG is stored on your hard drive, so future lookups are local, not internet based..
Once you have a cover, the way you clutter your desktop is pure Macintosh -- just drag the cover artwork out of the Clutter window and drop it where you wish. This creates a virtual album that can be control-clicked on, allowing easy management of songs on albums. Over time, you begin to accumulate favorite albums scattered across your desktop, hence the name Clutter. But having cluttered your desk, you'll find it really easy to find that favorite song you wanted to hear without having to visit iTunes to do so. When you're tired of an album on your desktop, just click once and hit delete. "

There is a link the the product site on the right.

A couple pictures of Andy

Here are a couple pictures of Andy. Hopefully I will get a video clip of his very first eskimp roll up here next weekend. But, for now I thought these were kinda fun.







There you go. You can kinda get a feeling for the size of the boat. I'll be back up in NH this weekend so we'll be pros by Sunday :)

A few pictures

I have finally found enough time to sit down and add a little something to this blog. I thought I would put a few pictures of my family up here. I've recently taken up photography so any input people have on the photos is great.

This I a picture I took of Judah Graves and Caedmon... I thought it was cute.




This was Christmas Eve. Andy and I decided to go offroading. We spent a couple of hours Christmas Day getting it out of the 4 foot pit of mud. Along with the help of Ian we eventually got it out... great fun!!



I took this picture last year. It's directly across the Delaware River from where I work at the Coast Guard base in Philly




this is my new kayak (yeah...another hobby that could be detrimental to my health ) Andy and I spent a few days last week on Lilly Lake behind my parents new house trying to teach ourselves to Eskimo roll. Let me tell you it's harder than it might seem. Andy did it once on the second day, but couldn't do it again. I never got myself out of the water still inside the kayak. I think a few more hours and we'll get it. I can't wait to try again, it's addicting.

I'll be back a little more often now I think.