Lee's Blog

Category: Pics

  • Travel – Mono Lake

    In 2001 I had to go to Reno, Nevada for a conference on Pro/ENGINEER computer aided design software.  So, I tried to make the best of it, and I added extra time on both weekends for personal travel.  I got to see Reno, Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Virginia City, Devil’s Postpile, Yosemite National Park and Mono Lake.  That’s a lotta stuff to fit into two weekends!  But somehow I managed it, and for the most part had a great time traveling.

    I had read about Mono Lake many years ago in a National Geographic article.  It described how the lake was isolated in a desert valley, and how Los Angeles was taking the freshwater from the local streams and piping it away.  The result is that the lake is gradually drying up.

    The unusual thing about Mono Lake is that it has hot springs that pump water in from the surrounding water table.  Some of this water dissolves the minerals, and deposits them when it enters the lake.  This creates chimneys of tufa, which have become exposed as the water level has dropped.  The landscape is eerie, spooky and alien-looking.  Seems almost like a Tim Burton fantasyland.

    It is bizarre and fascinating to walk among these formations.  Now that they are exposed to the wind and rain (and tourists!), they are gradually eroding away.  I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see them.  And now I am sharing some of my pictures of this surreal landscape.  Hope you enjoy.

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  • Roy’s 90th Birthday

    So on Saturday August 26th, Roy celebrated his 90th birthday.  Thanks to the Niertit family for hosting…

    It was good to get out and see everyone.  I don’t get out that way very often now that I don’t drive to Indiana.  Usually, on my short trips, everyone is off doing their own things – work, school, etc.  But on a big occasion like this, EVERYONE was there, including people I’ve only seen on family trees – plus people I’ve never even heard of!

    I had hoped to enjoy some nice fresh ripe New York peaches on my trip, but for some reason, this has been a bad season for them.  So between the bad crop and the business trip, no peaches to bring back for family or for work…  Oh well.  Maybe next year.

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  • At the Sox vs Jays game on Friday night

    Thanks to Sam and the Lallys… Got to go to the Sox game against the Blue Jays on Friday night.  One of two wins in a season quickly crumbling away…

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  • Charles visits from Afghanistan

    We were all happy to welcome Charles home from Afghanistan for a couple weeks this month.  He is now back overseas, servicing helicopters.

    Laura and Charles (and Annemarie)

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  • Travel – Rochester NY & Jacksonville FL

    Ah, I love to travel.  To see cool places, see old friends and family, meet new people, eat good food.

    Ah, I hate to travel.  Stuck in traffic, bad weather, cancelled flights, cheap airport food…

    So this past weekend I drove to Rochester NY to visit family (more to follow later), and then flew to Jacksonville FL for business.

    One thing that I love about flying is to be able to enjoy a new perspective on things.  You can see clouds from above, fleets of tiny little yellow school buses…  It is fun for a map geek like me to try to identify locations below from memory.  Unfortunately, I traveled mostly at night and through cloudy skies, so I only managed to ID Philadelphia PA, Savannah GA and JFK Airport.  But on the plus side, the distant thunderstorms were pretty fireworks to see, kinda like paper lanterns winking on and off.  And I had a great view of the crescent moon rising.

    Clouds over the east coast:

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  • This week on the bike & New York Times article on nutrition

    Okay, this week I managed to go biking three times.  On Sunday I went up and down the Charles River [links one, two, three] (and ruined a tire and tube on innumerable tree roots, potholes, sewer grates, and skidding to avoid a car running a red light).  Thursday I rode leisurely with the guys from work, and on Wednesday I rode with the guys from Landry’s bike shop.  Their so-called intermediate group somehow joined their fast group, and they dropped me like a rock even though I was averaging over 18 mph at the time.  I had to take a shortcut to catch up with them…

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  • Photoshopped pics from work in Indianapolis

    In 2001 I doctored up an image lampooning my boss for his Diet Coke habit… 

    This is the office that my boss Scott R. was using in January of 2000.  Scott would fly in from St. Louis almost every week, and we’d stop at the convenience store so he could fill up on Diet Coke.  It was something of a joke in the office – “Just how thirsty is Scott?’

    So after he left one week, I took his three big cups and placed them in different locations, took multiple pictures, and superimposed them into one image.

     

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  • Tufts Commencement with Lance Armstrong

    I haven’t been back to Tufts in several years, but when I heard that they were having Lance Armstrong speak at the Commencement address, I just had to go.

    Now I’ve done a moderate amount of biking over the years, at least 14,000 miles that I’ve kept track of.
    – I’ve ridden thousands of miles on the unforgiving streets of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston – the most bike un-friendly city in America
    – I’ve ridden the roads of Indiana, like in “Breaking Away”
    – I’ve laughed as I passed exotic sports cars stuck in Chicago traffic
    – I’ve ridden with the elk and bison in Wyoming
    – I’ve gotten yelled at by the Secret Service for locking my bike to the fence at the Denver Mint
    – I’ve cruised along the boardwalk in Santa Monica
    – I’ve ridden with the multitudes in Japan
    – And, I’ve crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and tackled the hills of San Francisco, tires squealing in protest against the bricks of Lombard Street – and gone ballistic off the flats of the hills, like Steve McQueen in “Bullitt”

    But none of that compares to what Armstrong and the other guys do in the Tour de France.  They ride over 2,000 miles in one month, with some stages of over 100 miles in the rugged Alps!  It is just an heroic feat, orders of magnitude greater than anything I’ve ever done on a bike.  It is just mind-blowing what they accomplish.  And he won SEVEN times.  Wow!  So, anyway, I had to go see him at my alma mater.  He was entertaining, amusing, humble and still inspiring.  One of my photos is below.  You can check out more online at:

    Tufts University


  • Boston pics

    Here is a selection of views from my bike ride up and down the Charles River after checking out the über-geek MIT electronics flea market on April 16

    Springtime in Boston

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  • Houghton’s Pond sunset pics

    I like to go out and enjoy a nice hike, especially when the weather is just clearing after a storm.  Once in a while you luck out and get to enjoy the sun shining through the clouds at the end of the day, and it can make for some really nice scenes.These pics are from April Fools’ Day:

     

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