Change?

Should I convert this to a porn blog in order to boost traffic and/or interest?

Reformat

A geek post . . .

I have been intending to reformat my desktop for about a year. It just gets harder and harder, though, because I bought the system in 2004. So the system restore brings me back to 2004 and I spend a weekend updating it. But it became necessary.

I had restarted the computer and was informed that some system file was missing or corrupt. It was quite a dark feeling for about two hours because I had not backed up my pictures, music, and such for a few months. With my (scratched) system restore DVD, though, I managed to get in and get a prompt. The fixboot command looked good and that must have worked, because I was able to get in upon restart to backup all my crap.

Did I mention that my DVD was not only scratched, but the DVD drive is about to die? It makes really loud noises and seems to go slower than it should (can't watch movies on it anymore). Despite this obvious difficulty, I popped in the system restore DVD and reformatted the muther. Slow and noisy, it managed to reinstall everything. Literally about 100 Windows Updates later, I'm up and running better than ever. Or at least as good as in 2004.

While doing all this, I kept thinking about a long term solution. There has to be something better than my 2004 PC, right? After all, I'm on video card 2.5 (replaced the fan on the first one, then the first one went out . . .and now this one's fan is about to need replacement). The only CD/DVD drive is shot. The hard drive is hanging in there, but does a lot of work and could go out any day (I use the computer as a DVR to record tv shows and watch them later). Time for a new computer! Except I couldn't find anything better. But that will be the subject of a future post.

Avawatz Climb

I've decided that desert peaks are more interesting than your standard mountain peak with trees. The views are just better and they tend to be less crowded (or downright abandoned). Of course, you have to get these during the winter months when the temperatures are down -- although winter mornings can be downright cold. Another downside of climbing in the winter is that the days get short -- you need an early start unless you want to be on the mountain when it is dark (which I would actually like to do someday -- the view at night must be even more spectacular).

Most recently, I climbed the high point in the Avawatz Mountains in Southern California's high desert. The range is just to the south and east of Death Valley and to the north and west of the Fort Irwin military base. I followed the climb as outlined here. It took about four hours up. I parked sooner than I should have. But the advice about parking before you get to the communications tower is good. You'll end up in the canyon below because the road is washed out if you go too far. Or you'll have to go back down the hill along the ridge in reverse -- a tough task in itself.

I did almost burn down the whole damn range when I started a little fire that morning before the hike up. A spark or something got some dry grass and it was out of control. Burned about a 10-foot area when it was all done, and I sacrificed nearly all of my water.


I also found a cool abandoned mine site on the way back down. It was better preserved than most, and had a pit mine into the ground that was covered by a few boards. I had this fantasy of coming back with a five gallon can of gasoline, dropping it down there, and then throwing a Molotov cocktail down there. Whoosh! Then throwing a bunch of other crap down there to burn. But after having already nearly burned the whole range down, that is probably not a good idea.

The first picture is from the summit looking toward Fort Irwin. The second picture is looking toward Death Valley. Neither do the view justice, particularly because I had a crappy camera and not my good one. But the day was clear with very little wind or haze and a high temperature of about 60 degrees. Perfect.

The third picture is of the mine site (see the little pan still there and the boards covering the pit). The fourth picture is down the pit.

Barker Ranch

I spent yesterday up at Barker Ranch in the very southwest of Death Valley. Barker Ranch is where old Charles Manson and his "family" hid out and were eventually found. It is pretty damn remote in that you have to drive forever to get there. However, due to the sheer mass of humanity in southern California, there were still plenty of people around. We shared our visit with some ATV riders who went inside the cabin to smoke some pot in homage to Mr. Manson. The first photo is of a side building ("the guest house") and the view down Goler Wash (I suppose the family used to sit up here to see if anybody was coming), the second photo is of the main cabin itself.

The remainder of the pictures are not of Barker Ranch but of other interesting finds up Goler Wash. It is normally a pretty tough 4x4 road from what I understand, but it has recently been graded. So we had an easy time. The water was running up the wash, though, and I bet by this summer it will be a pretty tough go again. Anyhow, plenty of mines, abandoned cabins, and assorted debris.

I managed to make an adventure out of the day by insisting on taking a detour to the north border of the east section of China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station. The map insisted there was a road, but it was just a river bed that got worse and worse. Then it started to get dark. Then one of my passengers threw up (the second time that day). Gave up and turned around just shy of the border. Just as well -- I didn't really need to be the accidental target of a sidewinder missile after all.

Earlier in the day, I stopped by a local brewery and picked up a case of my current favorite beer and a case of another selection for the spring.

More Big Empty

Desert Finds

Now that it is winter in the desert, it is finally time to be outdoors and explore. The snakes are in hibernation, and the air is cool. Only bad thing is that the days are short and there seems to be more wind during the winter and spring months.

In our wanderings recently, we've found some strange things in the middle of nowhere. First, you see the flag on the top of a hill. You can see the flag from a road nearby, but there is not a building within 10 miles of this hill and I cannot figure out what it is doing there. Second, is a nice little man. He was truly in the middle of nowhere. Not even a paved road within 20 miles, and we had hiked about a mile from a fairly tough 4x4 road to get there (the woman had to get out and push once when we were on the road). You may not be able to tell in the attached picture, but there was a dried up snake skin wrapped around his neck. That was a little gross.

Things seem to be well preserved out in the desert. You'll often see old cars, appliances, mattresses and tires -- stuff that people can't just give to the trash guy. So they dump it out in the desert. Although I generally prefer my spaces empty, with as little sign of humanity as possible, it is nice to have the occasional surprise such as the flag and man.

Christmas Podcast

Perhaps as highly anticipated as Oprah's Favorite Things, it is with great pleasure that I present the second annual Unwilted Christmas Podcast.

Google Docs

For the next week, I plan on exclusively using Google Docs for all my word processing needs -- even those at work. My initial impression was that it has a lot of potential. I like the ability to add tags to my documents. But maybe I'm still old school -- I also wanted to be able to put them in different directories (there may be a way -- I didn't see it). Another initial impression is that I wish the work screen were bigger. Finally, I love the fact that I can directly save as a pdf file. I could always do that with Open Office -- but now I can do that on the fly anywhere there is a net connection.

On a different note, I toyed with getting a Sony Mylo but decided to wait. A little short on cash right now, and I'd like to see what people think after having used it for more time. I sounds fun, though.

Bright Eyes

Time for another podcast. This one featuring Bright Eyes. The last song features the main characters from one of the best novels ever written.

Humvee

About to get run over by a Humvee.

And So It Goes

Happy Days Are Here Again. Sort of. Really, I just feel like Binky in this Matt Groening cartoon from 14 years ago. All I can offer after this election is a pathetic wave of the flag and a "yay."

Nixon Now

I love the authentic 1970s feel of this ad. The fact that it is for Nixon makes it even better.

Hot New Look and Nostalgia

Yet another hot new look for unwilted. I wanted to upgrade to the blogger beta, which required the change and more traditional look.

While playing with the blog, I've been streaming today's A Prairie Home Companion and it is in Pullman, Washington back in the Palouse. Nostalgia. Two things come to mind. First we need a Western Garrison Keillor. Garrison's talk about the wheat and rolling hills and sunsets make me want to hop in the damn car and drive 1500 miles to be there again. Second, the Palouse is probably the ideal place in this country. Although this won't happen, just for a minute I did think about throwing everything away and taking the family up to some town like Dayton (Washington -- NOT Ohio). Buy a cheap house and make do.

Barenaked Autumn

I guess Barenaked Ladies have a new album. Saw them on Conan O'Brien last night (not a show I normally watch, but I noticed they were on so I recorded it). I think the song is just okay. They rely on being catchy and quirky, and I guess not every song can be that way. What is left is just blah pop. I'm sure they still put on a hell of a fun show, though, and I'm going to try to catch them on this tour if they play a smaller venue near me.

My Life is Back

The computer is up and running again, and I feel like my life is back. It is like being broke for a month and then all of a sudden getting some money. A great feeling. It is about time for a reformat, however, so I may do that over the long weekend. And I've already decided on an early Christmas present -- one of the new, cheap MacBooks and a home wireless network to go with it. It took me a while to get on the whole laptop / wifi thing, but I'm all about it now.