I’ve been hiking and camping for a long time, and never, not once, did I think “you know, what I really need out here in this beautiful, natural setting is… a propane powered deep fryer.”
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 15, 2007
From the latest REI catalog
Posted in Hiking
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 15, 2007
I feel oddly insulted
Say what?
Apparently three cities have greater road rage than Los Angeles: Miami, New York and Boston.
That just doesn’t seem right. After all, we here in LA are tops in so may other nasty areas (such as pollution), it just doesn’t seem right that we should rank at number four in road rage. I mean, if you’re going to live in Hell, you want be in the Number 1 Hell, right?
I’m so miffed I might just have to cut off a few cars on the way home, just to increase our rankings. I’ll be sure to make liberal use of various hand gestures as well.
More here.
On the plus side, I can proudly say that I’ve lived in no less than three of the top ten cities on the list, so at least I can say I’ve been doing my part over the years.
Posted in Life In LA, Random Thoughts
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 14, 2007
HIKE: Rocky Oaks Park
Rocky Oaks is one of those little chunks of parkland that the National Park Service has picked up over the years that remains unattached to any larger park. Less than 200 acres in size, it’s certainly not the place to go to for a long distance hike. It does, however, make a fine place for a leisurely afternoon wandering, or setting out a camp chair under an old oak and reading a book.
For a quick hike, start at the parking lot and follow the trail northeast towards the ampitheater, under the canopy of some stately oaks. Swinging left, curve out of the shade towards an open rise. When you reach it, you’ll find yourself on top of an old earthen dam. Behind this dam is an old cattle pond, which I’ve seen both very full in wet years and completely dry during periods of no rain, or late summer.
Crossing the dam, make a left and curve around the ridge. In about 700 feet or so, you’ll run into the Rocky Oaks trail; make a right here and ascend along the hillside. A short spur trail on the left will take you to an overlook which gives you a good view down the valley.
Continuing on the Rocky Oaks trail you’ll eventually hit it’s intersection with the Pond Trail (and also Kanan Road). Heading back south, you can take any one of a number of trails back to your starting point: the Pond Trail circles back around the pond, the Glade Trail through more oak canopy and open grassland. If you’re there on a quiet morning, be sure to keep an eye out for deer.
During wet years, one of my favorite things to do is walk out to the pond with a camp chair, bringing a picnic lunch and a stack of reading, and spend a few hours. Most of the time my company through most of the day is limited to ducks in the pond and raptors circling overhead.
Note: Rocky Oaks sits very close to two fairly busy roads. You’re rarely out of sight (or earshot) of the traffic. It shouldn’t dissuade you from visiting this lovely little park, but if you’re looking for complete silence, this is not the place.
Total Distance: ~1.8 (Pond Trail + Loop Trail + Glade Trail)
Website: http://www.nps.gov/samo/
http://www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/upload/rocky.pdf
Directions: From Highway 101, exit Kanan Rd. south. Drive south until you reach the intersection with Mulholland Highway and turn right. Park entrance is about 200 feet from intersection on the right side of the road.
From Highway 1: Turn right onto Kanan Dume Road heading north. Drive north to the intersection with Mulholland Highway and turn left. Park entrance is about 200 feet from intersection on the right side of the road.
Posted in Hiking
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 13, 2007
Movie Night
I’ve never been a big horror picture fan (except those groovy “Evil Dead” flicks), but when “Shaun of the Dead” came out a few years ago, I rented it and had a great time. It worked primarily because you didn’t have to be a horror fan to enjoy the film: as long as you understood the basics about zombies (undead people, like to eat flesh, kinda dim-witted) you could enjoy the film.
Having enjoyed the makers’ previous effort so much, I went out to see “Hot Fuzz” this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Again, the filmmakers (Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg) really show their love of the cop-movie genre, but manage to make a film that stands on its own.
“Hot Fuzz” starts with the basic cop-movie cliche: Pegg’s Nicholas Angel, being far too perfect a cop in London and therefore making his fellow cops look bad, is promoted and reassigned to a small country town; it’s your basic fish out of water story. Once there, he uncovers a larger crime plot in the innocent little burg.
Along the way, “Hot Fuzz” manages to touch on other flavors of the cop-genre film: buddy comedy, conspiracy plot, serial killer, etc., all leading up to a third act that is so amazingly, brilliantly, fantastically over the top I almost fell out of my seat laughing.
As with “Shaun of the Dead”, the real advantage of the film is that you don’t have to be totally versed in the genre. Unlike most recent American parody films (I’m lookin at you, “Scary Movie 3”), which are rooted deeply in sarcasm and utter dependence on the audience knowing the source material, “Hot Fuzz” loves it’s own genre. Love “Bad Boys II”? You’ll find this film funny. Never saw it (as I haven’t)? You’ll still find the film funny.
I don’t go out to see movies in theaters much anymore, since most of the time I walk out feeling like I wasted ten bucks. “Hot Fuzz” is not one of those films. If it’s still near you, go see it, or put it in your Netflix queue. Highly recommended.
Posted in Movies
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 12, 2007
Oh, you must be joking
If there’s one thing that we’ve all learned from the somewhat absurd movie rating system over the years, it’s that women’s breasts are bad. Exploding bodies, gratuitous violence and language that would make a sailor blush are all, of course, a-ok.
Nowthe MPAA has decided to include smoking in it’s factoring of ratings. In fact, there are groups out there that wants any movie that has someone smoking in it to be rated “R”, unless there is a decisive “smoking is bad for you” message included.
Now, I grew up in the Joe Camel era. Smoking was in movies then as well: I clearly remember Lois Lane lighting up in the original Superman. Of course, I also remember Superman giving her a stiff warning about cancer & x-ray-visioning her lungs to check, so I suppose that one’s okay.
But Cruella de Ville did smoke in 101 Dalmations, so I suppose we better slap an “R” on that. Good God, it was right on the poster! What were my parents thinking, showing me such debauchery?
Yet, despite it all (Joe Camel, Lois Lane, Cruella de Ville and smoking in restraunts (remember “non smoking sections”? what a joke)), I somehow managed to never start smoking. And while I’m not denying that media can influence children, maybe that fact had something to do with my non-smoking parents, you know, parenting me. Go figure.
So remember: violence & foul language okay, smoking & boobies bad. Don’t show them in movies. Don’t let them corrupt the children’s minds. If you see someone smoking on the street, find the nearest child and cover their eyes to preserve their innocence. Eventually, someone’s going to pass a law that forces nursing babies to be blindfolded so they can’t actually see their mother’s breasts.
Just you watch.
Posted in Movies, Random Thoughts
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 10, 2007
You’d think a day off…
…would be a good thing. Especially one that is, essentially, forced on you.
But you’d be wrong.
At about 3:00 last night, I was woken up by… something. I don’t know what. Maybe a noise, I really don’t remember. What I do know is that I opened my eyes to see two bright flashes, like lightening, outside my window.
And I knew immediately that the power was out. All the little things that make noise in a house, like the refrigerator, the things that make up that background noise we all instinctively tune out, disappeared, replaced by silence.
“Eh,” I sleepily figured, “maybe they’ll have it back up by morning.” So, I set the alarm on my watch as a backup, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
By morning, of course, nothing was fixed.
My neighbor walked down the block to where the men were working and chatted them up. Evidently, the whole top of the pole had, well, broken off somehow. Taking out the transformer and all of the lines under it. It would, of course, take the whole day to fix. He then hopped in a cab to go to work, which is only a few blocks away.
Unfortunately, the garage behind my place has no entrance. There’s no way to open the garage door from the outside without electricity as my landlord never installed the remote door release.
In short, my car was stuck in the garage. No one at work lives near me. A taxi would cost $50 each way. And public transportation… you did remember I live in LA, right?
So I was stuck at home for the day.
You’d think this would be a good thing, to be “forced” to take a day off of work. But without any real plans for the day, and no electricity to play on the computer or bomb out on a movie, I was kind of stuck.
Plus, I didn’t want to open the refrigerator door, since (of course) I’d just been to the grocery store the previous weekend and didn’t want all those nice groceries to rot away. So no cooking, either.
At least, I figured, I could go out in the backyard with a book, enjoy the sunshine, relax. Nope, for the first time this week: overcast, windy and chilly.
Figures.
So I spent most of the morning cleaning. Mainly my desk, which was a bit wobbly from the mound of paperwork I’d been ignoring on it. I’m not kidding, one more paperclip on top and it would have given way, quite possibly creating a large impact crater and killing everyone in the surrounding 10 blocks in the process.
In which case I’d never get my damn power back on.
In the afternoon, I walked the five blocks downtown to get lunch, and after an indecisive 10 minutes, decided to go a few more blocks to the sandwich shop.
Unfortunately, my route past the high school was blocked. By a film crew. They day was just getting better and better.
I have no idea what they were shooting, all I know is that there were dozens of high-schoolers lined up in front of the school… and the grim reaper standing in the middle of the street.
Hmmm.
Now, even I know that a lowly pedestrian can’t stop the juggernaut that is a film shoot, but dammit, I wanted my sandwich. It was starting to be an obsession. So I started to walk the ten block detour around the shoot.
And promptly ran into a construction crew blocking the street.
By now, of course, the sandwich was beyond obsession, it was a matter of pride. So, I detoured again, an additional four blocks, finally ending up at the sandwich shop after 40 minutes of extra walking.
At least I earned the sandwich.
I got my sandwich. I sat at the park at the top of the hill eating it, with the wind cutting through me like a knife through butter.
Then, I went back home and did more cleaning. And figured this is technology’s revenge for my last post about being a Luddite.
Sometime around 5:00, my power came back on.
I can’t believe I’m saying this: I’m actually looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I’m sure, of course, it will be sunny and beautiful, because that’s how life works.
But at least my desk is clean.
Posted in Life In LA, Work
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 7, 2007
Categorizing your “techiness”
I’ve mentioned before my history with computers. It’s certainly nothing illustrious. It’s not like I was around to help kick off the Arpanet or anything, but I did start at a fairly young age, as these things go.
In some ways though, I’m a bit of a technological Luddite. Sure, I work with them all day, even make a living off of them, but I’m not obsessed with computers. I don’t own a blackberry. My cell phone isn’t bluetooth enabled. Unlike the other system admins that I talk to, my life isn’t surrounded by computers and technology.
I mean, hell, I’d rather be out hiking.
As it turns out, though, I’m not alone. Follow the link to read the article in full detail, but the basic gist of it is this: the Pew Internet & American Life Project came up with a list of categories regarding internet/communication use, from tech-obsessed nerds to those without cell phones or computer access. Somewhere in these 10 categories each of us fit (well, as closely as any of us can fit into a mere 10 categories).
Myself, I think I land squarely in the “Lackluster Veterans” category (though I’m not keen on the use of the word “lackluster”), with perhaps a dash of “connected but hassled” thrown in for flavor. “Lackluster Veterans” is a surprisingly good percentage of the population, as is “connected but hassled”, so at least I know I’m not alone. I use computers to make a living, but they don’t particularly excite me anymore. At work, I no longer thirst for the challenge of a problem to solve; I just want the damn thing to work so people will stop yelling at me.
Actually, that may have more to do with my particular office culture, but I digress.
What I’d really like to know is how many of my fellow computer career folk fall into the same category, rather than just the general population that the Pew Project studied. Are there other’s out there like me: a little burnt but, hey, it’s a good living so keep plugging away at it? Or am I doomed to spend my life surrounded by 20-something kids who can’t wait to shove their latest credit card debt computer gadget under my nose?
I suppose I’ll be over here with the veterans, yelling at the kids to get off my internet lawn, thank you very much.
This is one of those rare posts on which I would really like those of you who stop by occasionally to comment: where on the list do you find yourself?
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 6, 2007
Giving into temptation
Until the wind kicked up this afternoon and upset my allergies, today was one of those beautiful, sunny, blue-sky’d LA days. One of the few before June Gloom kicks in, and the sun is obscured by a depressing gray fog for, well, all of bloody June. Anybody who thinks it’s sunny all the time in LA hasn’t ever been here in June.
I had so many, many things I could have done with this beautiful day. There were hikes & bike rides & social events on the message boards. It was a good day to go for a solo hike, or go walking down to the beach, or hop in the truck and head out for a drive.
So, I stayed home, just like last night. I’m such a loser.
Well, not really. It was the first full day I’ve been at home in weeks. Between trips out of town, camping in Joshua Tree, and working yesterday (again), I really just needed a day to decompress.
And clean! Laundry! Vacuuming! Hey, look at that, I’ve got carpet! It’s tan! I’d started be unsure of what my floor covering was. I read through weeks worth of LA Weekly’s, dumped piles of junk mail that had been stacking up into recycling, went for a walk to return yesterday’s DVD. Productive, but in a lazy way.
And I ended the day giving into temptation. You see, over the last week or so, a couple of people (and the guilty know who they are) had been dropping the thought of hamburgers into our conversations.
Well, I thought, I haven’t hauled out the BBQ in far too long, I think today’s the day.
I don’t BBQ nearly enough. Especially given that I live in Southern California, where you can BBQ all year ’round. Although, admittedly, I’d probably BBQ all year even if I lived in Barrow. Yep, out there getting frostbite while flipping burgers, there I’d be.
So, I went all out: Trader Joe’s steak patty, two slices of cheese, BBQ sauce, some lettuce (you know, so it’s, uh, healthy). Hell, I even threw a couple of slices of crisp bacon on it, just to push it over the edge to completely ostentatious.
Oh, I’ll regret it when I get to they gym tomorrow and find I’ve gained 5 pounds. Totally worth it.
Posted in Life In LA, Random Thoughts, Stuff I Like
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 6, 2007
Movie Night
“Children of Men” is one of those films that is both shocking and sneaks up on you at the same time. Fair warning: it is violent, realistically so, and may just depress the hell out of you, but it does make you think, so by all means rent it.
At it’s core, “Children of Men” is science fiction, but even if you don’t like sci-fi, don’t avoid this film for simply that reason. The concept is deceptively simple: it’s the year 2027, women are infertile, and humanity is in the process of slowly dying out.
What’s shocking, in addition to the violence, is that this isn’t the future of Blade Runner, and it sure as hell isn’t Star Trek. No, this future is familiar, gritty, real. It’s a recognizable environment, it doesn’t scream “it’s the future!”. Instead, the differences are slight, such as animated billboards on the sides of buses; it’s not something that exists now, but none of us would be particularly surprised if we saw it tomorrow.
This helps the film’s philosophy to sneak up on you: since you recognize the world as being a darker, but familiar, version of our own, you’re swept into the story and into the possibility of this bleak future coming to pass. Especially when you see scenes of the reaction of the government to illegal immigrants, or fleeting glimpses of signs reading “homeland security” that pass through frame.
In addition to the fantastically subtle production design, the cinematography also deserves praise. Long takes, often handheld, lend the film a mini-dv documentary feel. It all blends into a film that will have a stronger effect on you that you may originally think.
Ultimately the film is a philosophical one, presenting a dark possible future, and the reaction of humankind to it (and I can’t say it’s a positive one). The extras on the DVD are interesting as well, though the one with comments by various philosophers can be a downer: 25 minutes of “the world is going to hell in a handbasket” due to overpopulation, the global economy, global warming, etc., followed by 2 minutes of “well, don’t give up hope!” Uh, yeah…
Posted in Movies
Posted by: GeekHiker | May 3, 2007
Scariest Date Ever
“A Date With Your Family” was something that I saw during my film classes in college. It was hilarious, but it was in 16mm, and I never had a chance to dupe it to video and keep a copy. Of course, at the time, the internet was just in its nascent days, but as the net grew, I would randomly search for it every so often, just on a whim.
Up until now, the search had been fruitless.
Well, thank goodness for YouTube. And MST3K.
It’s one of the best “this is how your family should be” PSA’s I’ve ever seen. It’s so detached from reality, it makes “Leave it to Beaver” look like an accurate documentary of life in the 1950’s.
My favorite line? “These boys greet their Dad as though they are genuinely glad to see him.” Good to see that faking it with the family is one of those traits that’s been passed down over the years, eh?
Enjoy. And happy Friday.
Posted in Stuff I Like
Categories
- Australia
- Backpacking
- Blogroll
- Books
- California
- Camping
- Computers
- Dating
- Exercise
- Family
- Friday Sillyness
- Friendship
- General Geekery
- Hawai'i
- Hiking
- Life
- Life In LA
- Los Angeles
- Medical Craziness
- Movies
- New Zealand
- Not Blogs But Cool
- Photography
- Random Thoughts
- Rants
- San Francisco
- Secret Spot
- Stuff I Like
- Television
- The Journal
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- Vancouver 2010 Olympics
- Women
- Work
- Writing
The GeekHiker 