Veritas Vincit

Seattle Ferry

2007-03-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was in Seattle for work last week and the weather was awesome, so I took the long way home one day. Here are a few photos I want to share with you...

Isla Utila (Honduras)

2006-12-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

Well I took a trip to far away place where the language is pirate english/spanish, the food is fish, and the drink is rumonaide (i.e., rum + lemonaide). The following is a photo essay of the journey...

The island. The only village is in the south-east bay. The town was very small and stretched around a bay protected by a reef.

Awaiting the ferry from mainland Honduras (La Ceiba) to Isla Utila.
Upon arrival I'm shown to my room on the dock at a local dive shop ($3 per night). Here's a view from the doorway as you walk out of my room.

My buddy was working in the scuba equipment room.

View (towards land) of my room from the upper dock.
It rained on and off very occasionally, but the warm weather made the rain relaxing, especially at night.
A daily routine quickly developed: preparing my scuba gear, getting on a boat, and heading out to the reefs and wrecks. I eventually obtained PADI advanced diver certification after a deep dive (105 feet), night dive, performance boyancy test, underwater navigation, and a night dive. There were not two people in my particular dive classes from the same country: American, Finish, Danish, English, Norwegian, and Canadian--pretty cool.

The dive shops and main part of town ran along one road that paralleled the bay. Here are some pictures along the road...
A view of the bay through a house.

View of the lagoon and swamp behind the houses facing inland from the bay.
Forms of land transporation, including a "taxi" (pickup truck with distinguishing TAXI sticker on window and egg crates in the back for seating), a very capable golf cart, and good old fashioned double or triple bicycling. Unfortunately, I missed a picture of dirt bikes, which were the most predominent.

Some flora and fauna... Blurry beef cattle.
BWAHHH!!! Street crab.

Life on da dock...
Life in da swamp...
This canal goes through a mangrove swamp in the center of island, and leads to uninhabited beaches and reefs on the other side of the island.

Life on da beach...

Fun times with new friends...

Nightimes were flavored with powerfully vivid moonlit clouds, good food, good drink, and interesting people from all around the world. You may need to click on some of these to see the detail--I tried to expose the pictures as much as possible with my digital.

Tranquilla Bar with friends to the left.

A friend and my Turkish scuba instructor out at the bar.
What do you get when you put Swedes, Norwegians, a Dutch, a Canadian, an Alaskan, an American, and a candle in a cave during a rain storm?
I'm Norwegian! I swear!

That's a good look...I think.

Heading home on the ferry... (Why? Good question.)

Last glimpse...
A storm is brewing on the coast of mainland Honduras.
Pilots tried to start the plane but it shut down. Water was dripping all over into the passenger area through carcks in the roof (hmmm...). 2 inches of water on the runway--note the drainage grates are completely under water. Long trip home, but lived to tell the tale. There is a land were people speak pirate, rums flows freely, and the beaches are empty, except for a few international wayfarers.

over the hills and far away

2006-07-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Had a weekend of camping, fishing, hiking, swimming, playing, wheeling, eating, and drinking--not necessarily in that order. Caught some nice fish; had some good times; played/listened to some good music. Had a great weekend, and saw fireworks before and after the trip--not bad. Here are some visual highlights courtesy of a resident photographer with my camera and myself. I guess if I'm in the picture you can assume that I didn't take it.

We started on our way to camp with three trucks. One got two flats, and we ditched it on the trail. The second made it 98% of the way there and couldn't overcome the last 3-foot tall rock obstacle. The third made it all the way with all of our gear in the back. We walked the last leg behind the champion vehicle. Here are a few pictures that Kevin took on the way up to camp.

Snake Lake, our home for a few days, was bountiful with fish. One of our travel companions managed to develop a new technique of underwater fishing (with the beer hand above water for obvious technical reasons). Every now and then, when required, the fisherman would rise up like a leviathon for a gulp of beer before submerging to continue seeking his underwater prey. It really was a weird thing to observe.

Kevin took these pictures as the sun went down. I was out there on the sand bar for awhile as well, and it was really cool to watch Chris fish in the twilight.
Fish were caught and eatin by all. Ole number seven went around the fire a few times. Only every hour or so (translation: minute or so, for those who weren't present).

A fireside music session was initiated shortly after a midnight hike to the lake overlook where we found ourselves lying on the ground staring at a plethora of stars--some of which were new to us. The music began simple with myself on guitar, a buddy on harmonica, and another on hand drums. But before long everyone was participating--knowingly or not. Some sang; some hit things; some swayed; some smiled; some chirped; some crackled. Sounds occured simultaneously that defined a moment. Kevin captured the moment visually with these pictures.

Over all, the trip was awesome! Someone in a hippie cafe (i.e., vegan cafe with beautiful, fairy tattoed, starry eyed women behind the counter) asked me this question when she brought me my food yesterday: "Why do you live your life? One word please." I pass the question to you. If you don't have an answer, or are not happy with your answer, I recommend getting out into the wild for awhile. Just random thoughts. Thanks for checking my site out.

Here are a few outgoing pics of los hombres de la montana (Kevin took all of these with my camera)...

Gold Lake trip

2006-06-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

I took a trip up to the Lakes Basin in the high Sierra Nevada this weekend for four days. Day 1 we canoed in to the back-side of Gold Lake. Day 2 we 4-wheeled in with the canoe attached to the roof, and found another lake on a hike (Little Gold Lake--ingenious, I know). Here are a few pictures for anyone who may be interested.

Canoe trip in to camp on back-side of Gold Lake

Made camp by dusk

Geese
Sunrise viewed from my sleeping bag
4x4 trail to the backside (NorCal potholes, so a little blurry)

On defining weird, good, and evil

2006-06-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

The setting: a rustic peaceful place in the redwoods not too far from a liquor convenience store. The night begins with a greetings from an old friend--a pundit sometimes fishmonger who knows many great things. Darkness rolls into the tranquil scene like fog over the mountain tops, and the night air becomes heavy. Hark, the strange and wierd have arrived. Behold the oddity that is the undead, the villain, and the super heroes.
In an odd manner, accustomed to these parts, the heroes and undead partake in the ritual drink in relatively close quarters. Super-G--known for his deadly accuracy with food intake, throughput, and ejection--is keeping a watchful eye on the undead creature. There is little conflict upon initiation of the ritual, but all know what lies ahead--the undead are restless...
As the undead's ticks turn to twitches, the dark knight floats in from a distant treetop. Batman is pleased to see other heroes and villains in the abode, but the undeads prescence brings the night closer to Batman's heart. Perhaps the dark knight alone is aware of the battle that will ensue. The X-man's wits are clouded by the deadly mix of the undead's joviality with the ritual beverage. Slowly the undead's demeanor spirals into a frenzy.
This early in the eve the undead are known to move very slowly (i.e., slow zombie complex pre-10pm). This allows Batman to easily ward off the undead's first attack. A "Ka-Blammo!" blow to the sternum, and the replenishment of the undead's beverage is all that is required to momentarily quell the undead's hunger. However, the thing will need to consume at least 50 lbs of manflesh or be beheaded before the night draws to a close...
Batman tries to sneak attack it, but the night is upon the group and the thing is moving quicker now. 10pm has come and gone and quick zombie syndrome has set in. The super heroes must unite with the villains to defeat the undead. Thus, The Grid--known for his shocking ability to scramble brain cells of Super Heroes--is called upon, and all battles between good and evil are set aside for the common purpose of defeating the Undead!

As the ritual drink supply deminishes the undead's attacks become less restrained and more purposeful (unusual for zombies; this may be a new breed). The battle commences...
Ka-POW!!! The undead takes a right from Batman! But in suprise move the creature tries to fool his prey by seeking compassion for the "pain" he "feels" resulting the blows it has sustained. (This breed of zombie seems to be more learned than past creatures.) This trick does not fool the heroes and villains. The truth is known that the undead deserve no compassion. The battle rages on.
The zombie narrowly escapes redeath by performing the zombie two-step and partaking in the ritual drink during the alotted Hero versus zombie 15-minute fight timeout and recoup period (Zombie combat rule #2539.21). It's dance is inviting, but it is only mind games.During the intermission wierdness prevails, and strange scenes unfold. The night has cloaked the heroes' and villains' judgement and things are recorded that should have never been released unto this world. Sorry Super-G...your powers faultered in the darkest hour of the undead. The creature must be destroyed for this attrocity! Also, during the intermission the villain and the zombie find time for some one-on-one chats about past village plundering experiences, eating babies, endangered lion hunting expeditions with Bush jr. in Africa, and the meaning of life from a Christian Scientist's perpective. It really is a very enduring moment between the rivals.

Unfortunately, all good/bad things must end, so the break was called to a close due to the zombie overwhelming urge for manflesh. A kind hearted citizen, whom was the prey that the zombie was seeking, had the cunning idea to challenge the creature to a game of foosball, to the death! A bold move for a common human; the heroes and villains were impressed.
Unfortunately, the human underestimated the creature's growing speed. The zombie's movements become more rapid than human reaction time. The battle for the human's life become severe!
In a bold move, The Grid atacks the Zombie from the rear with a trademark pelvic thrust! The zombie takes the thrust, and never loses sight of the games end goal: MANFLESH!!! Despite The Grid's efforts, the human's abilities are no match to the quick zombie's hunger. The innevitable fate of the group is played out... The end of this story is too sad to tell. If you see a blurred streak in the corner of your eye, please don't even try to reach for cricket bat. Just think of the happiest moment of your life, and ignore the piercing pain in your neck as the smell of manflesh is your last. Good night.

a mountain boy knows food when he sees it

2006-04-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

coors meet pete. the picture really captures the love in kevin's eyes--it was hard to see petey fall in love so quickly. they just grow up so fast...

by jesus! what the hell is coming out of kevin's pants!?! i know he went to thailand, but for gods sake what the hell is feeding on his insides?? and why the hell is that omnicient hand force feeding the thing?!? by god, this is grub country!!!

mmm, grub. one ounce of pure protein enjoyment, just don't forget to tear the head off...

nic kept the ball on the table till an impressive 2am finale of pool. the camera man's finale of jegarmeister and hot tub resulted in this "action photo", which caught the room moving (may have been an earthquake?) in a manner that tricks the viewer into thinking the photographer is swaying.

more from the bonfire

2006-04-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

i guess someone used my camera (there was a pic of me???), and tricked out the group photo--who ever it was, thanks it looks rad. nic was awake at 1am, not bad, but i think he got his overall too close to the fire...

Mountain Folk Bonfire

2006-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

santa cruz mountain folk doin what they do best: cuttin, burnin, jokin, drinkin, fixin, and racin brakeless cars down the hill to the creek (and back?). friends, grubs, stale gas, hot tubs, and drink led to burning dirt and smiles all around.

down from Bald Mountain

2006-03-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

"The grapes on a score of rolling hills are red with autumn flame. Across Sonoma Mountain wisps of sea fog are stealing. The afternoon sun smoulders in the drowsy sky. I have everything to make me glad I am alive. I am filled with dreams and mysteries. I am all sun and air and sparkle. I am vitalized, organic." -Jack London

to the top of Bald Mountain

2006-03-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

"As rough smack of resin was in the air, and a crystal mountain purity. It came pouring over these green slopes by the oceanful. The woods sang aloud, and gave largely of their healthful breath. Gladness seemed to inhabit these upper zones, and we had let indifference behind us in the valley.... There are days in a life when thus to climb out of the lowlands seems like scaling heaven." -Robert Louis Stevenson

Anti-WAR Protest 3-18-06

2006-03-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 17th marked the third year since Bush jr. officially started his war in Iraq. That friday the path to years of death, destruction, and violence started with a 48 hour ultimatum from Bush to Saddam Hussein. This friday the wrath continues. At this time, more than 30,000 PEOPLE have perished due to the American military presense in Iraq (including 2,300 Americans, which is a totally narrow minded statistic). The following are pictures of the recent anti-war protest I attended--people are angry...

Desert trip

2006-02-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

My friend Thomas took these pictures.

Truckee - Jan 2006

2006-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

2006-02-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

point reyes - Jan 2006

2006-02-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

2006-02-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

eureka dunes - Feb 2006
1. snow pass to desert
2. out of the snow
3. view of the dunes
4. hike up
5. i have the top of the mountain, and it is good

to the top!