Staircase II

This weekend was the third annual First Floor Spring Campout. It was at Staircase again, which is a beautiful location with no fees (yet) and few people. Many people got there during the week, but I didn’t get there until Friday evening. When I got there, everyone was out hiking, so I killed time by riding my bike, chatting with the neighbors and sipping beer. It was shaping into a nice evening when some boy scouts from down the way ran into camp asking if there was a lady with shoulder lenght black hair in our party, because she just passed out in the road by their camp. Well, there were possibly too, and the hike they were on was quite was quite strenuous, so yes, we did possibly have someone who fit that description in our party.

It turned out to be someone else, but we helped the lady back to her camp. She’d been in an car accident recently, and had a serious concusion at the time. She was driving to meet her friends at Staircase for the weekend. We invited her down to our camp and she drank PBR with us until we started heading for bed. While we were walking her back to her camp, she commented on a sudden change in her condition, and pitched forward. Once we rolled her onto her back, she started siezing. We ended up taking her to the nearest ER some 45 miles away because she refused to ride in an ambulence, and when the Dr. released her after a CAT scan, we drove her back to her camp spot. We finally got to bed around 7am.

Made for an eventful weekend. I hope she doesn’t hate us now for making her pay for a CAT scan, but we didn’t really like the condition she was in, and had doubts about her ability to drive to the other side of the Peninsula where she was supposed to meet her friends in the first place and such. All in all, it was an enjoyable trip, but not as care-free as one would hope.

Flicker

We’ve got a Flicker in the neighborhood who has been rattling away on light posts for a couple weeks. Its quite an alarming sound. This morning while I was on the can, he landed on our roof at the bathroom fan vent, gave a quick announcement of his arrival, and went to work on the vent hood. It sounded like someone was shooting a machine gun on our roof. It was so cool, and it really amplified coming down the vent. I told him to be quiet because Michelle was sleeping, but he didn’t listen.

Point, Andy

Michelle’s iBook wouldn’t charge. In fact, we couldn’t even get the AC adapter to plug in. The conductor fins inside the plug were crushed, and it was easier to replace it than try and bend everything back. Thanks to a tip from some IRC dudes, we found the part was named a DC Board. I ordered the part from The Computer Store, and it only cost $34! Although the Store recommended against my putting the part in, we didn’t want to spend the $160 it would cost for them to replace it.

Fortunately I had the Service Manual, and I’ve had plenty of experience with my sister’s iBook (Rev A clamshell). The repair took about 2 hours total, and it works again. I agree with The Computer Store, its not a repair I’d recommend anyone try ;)

Teddy Says

PATRIOTISM means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth–whether about the President or about any one else–save in the rare cases where this would make known to the enemy information of military value which would otherwise be unknown to him.

The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, volume XIX, The Great Adventure

Unrest

Thoreau didn’t pay his taxes. Gandhi fasted until the violence ended. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of, and wielded the sword that heals. 20,000+ flood downtown Portland asking for peace.

The greatest leaders affect change without deciding who must die. To deny the natural urge for violent action is something we should strive for. I pray that its is something that we as humans are capable of.

Twins, Online Exams

Advice from an online instructor: Don’t let twins take your online course at the same time.

Its kind of funny though, on several quizzes, the twin who took the test second got the better score, and somehow finished the exam much much more quickly. coincidence?