Short one

Well, I haven't had a chance to post in a while so i'm taking a couple minutes this evening to update. As you can see on the right, I've added a few links. The top one, SLAX, is a pocket linux operating system (OS). All you Windows users out there that don't have the guts to switch to Mac but don't really enjoy Windows I highly recommend this OS. You can run it on your Windows machine directly from a CD. I would get an old PC myself just to run this OS. If anybody has one laying around that they don't want anymore I'd be happy to take it off your hands : )

The second link is to an exellent sound/music editor. If you do any editing of music (Ian) I recommend checking it out. It's full of very impressive features and FX/processors. It's also very expandable. There are many many FX you can install yourself. My laptop has no input and I've never been able plug my guitar into it directly. The answer I found to this was the Griffin imic. It is a USB external sound card, very high quality. I bought it on Amazon for $30.00. A steal for the capability and quality. I actually run a microphone and my guitar through my Boss digital recording studio then through the imic. I do all my editing in Audacity. Hopefully I'll be able to put a clip up here soon so you can hear the quality of this little30 dollar wonder.

The third and last link is to a program called MacSword. This is a Mac OSX bible study "aid" i guess you could call it. You can chose to download many different versions and translations of the Bible (including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and many others) There are also commentaries such as Matthew Henry's consice commentary, Luther's , Lightfoot's, Spurgeon's, Weslsy's ...and more. An abundance of lexicons, books and devotionals. Check it out.

enjoy.

Andy's Adventures in Rolling!!!

I received this e-mail from Andy about an hour ago. It's kinda long...But a good read. I sent him instructions for rolling a kayak without a paddle, read on.

"So I read the hand roll essays and thought it sounded easy as pie. So I
went out with all the confidence in the wide world. Unfortunately high
amounts of confidence doesn't mean you can do a perfect hip snap. In my
case all that confidence really didn't help in the least. In fact I think
I led with my head every time! What an idiot! It's such an opposite
feeling. Well needless to say all that confidence sank to the bottom of
lily pond, I should know I was down there with it most of the time.
frustrated but not defeated I went home. I consoled myself with memories
of you and I looking like fools thrusting our heads out of the water to
save ourselves from certain death. That terrible habit was broken in
time, and I was sure this hand roll could also be mastered. I took about
a week brake (working really is a bummer) in which I was able to gather
my thoughts and think more realistically about this front to back hand
roll. I decided to make some hand paddles which I remembered reading
about. I laminated some cardboard and taped finger slots so that the
paddle would stay on my hand. They ended up to be about ten inches by 15
inches. Finally the big day came (today). Mom came with me to lily pond
on this most un-warm day. Clouds can't deter Murray boys that's for
certain. Shivering in my Superman kayak I though hard, striving to bring
myself to the place that I have often dreamed of : the successful hand
roll. "I must concentrate. HEAD DOWN YOU DOLT! KEEP YOUR STUPID HEAD
DOWN!!" in I went. Hands clad with card board. Arching up to the surface
as far as I could manage, pushing my hands level with the water, rotating
them so that I had maximum resistance. "head down, head down, head down.
NOW! Hip Snap-Head Down! . . . What? What is this I feel around me? Could
it be? Yes, yes it is! It's air. I am sitting upright in the water! I
have done a successful hand roll (with training wheels)." Oh let me tell
you, it felt good. So I did a few more, each time the laminated cardboard
looked a little worse. I threw the ugliest one to shore slowly weaning my
self from the paddles. It was just as easy with one. Finally when the
hand paddle had become unusable, I knew the time had come. It was just me
and the water. These old hips where ready to snap like they've never
snapped before. I slipped into the water arched and stretched for the
surface. Positioned my hands and. . . HIP SNAP! Before I knew what
happened I was sitting upright in the water! Just me and my hands. I
couldn't believe it. I sat amazed. I think I used less energy doing this
front to back hand roll than I have ever been able to used with a paddle.
I successfully completed four hand rolls on my dominate side. I know
don't mention it. Oh go on, no really it's nothing, stop. No really stop
it. Well after I got done thinking I was something else, I took the
plunge on the weak side. ya, not so pretty. Things are so awkward over
there. It should be called the "dang this is awkward" side. After one
unsuccessful flail, I desperately made the transition to my dominate
side. Frustrated after three ugly head bobs I had to wet exit. Calmness
is not my strong point I guess. I tried again on my dominate side after I
emptied the boat only to have to wet exit again. I guess I'm not so good
as I originally thought. But heck, it took us a lot longer to get the
roll with a paddle, so I am supremely confident that I will meet the hand
roll again and come away the better man."

Last post today

Thursday night Andy got the urge to paint his "new to him" kayak. He wasn't really impressed with the black and purple color scheme Wavesport had provided so he took matters into his own hands. As you can see the results are impressive.

He's definitely got an eye for design.

We have a feeling the that paint job probably won't last too long. We used "Krylon Fusion" paint. It's supposed to be no prep...I don't think so. Any spot that didn't get sanded the paint just peeled right up, aaarrgghh! But at least it will look cool for a few days.


That's all I've got for now.

Caedmon in the park and in the kayak

I took this at the park a month or so ago. Man is he a cute kid.

This is a video (June 31) of Caedmon kayaking with us in Lily Pond. He loves it. He would stay out there all day if we let him. You can see Andy in the background playing around a little. By the end of the day Andy and I had achieved the eskimo roll and were pretty confident with it, so we decided to try doing it on the opposite side of the kayak...very awkward to say the least. I got it once and Andy got it a few times. We're gonna try rolling without a paddle next. That should be a blast!!