My random blog (formerly Mt Rainier Ascent)

Packin' up and movin' out

2005-10-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've moved blogs. I'm now at http://blog.omnux.com. Enjoy.

Planning Your Visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

2005-10-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

Planning Your Visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Yesterday I went to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield. It was really nice. Took me a little while to find the place. The driving instructions weren't as clear as I would have liked. But, with the help of the GPS I managed to find it.. (Come to find out, from I-72, it's really easy.. When I-72 ends at Springfield, just go straight.. Turn north on 7th street.. Go a block or two and you are at the parking garage).

Got to the parking garage at 3:28pm. Left at 6:26pm. 50 cents per half hour for parking. So, I stayed about 3 hours at the museum.

Spoilers follow. If you plan on going, I'd recommend not reading the following. Experience it yourself. That's part of the journey.

The museum had a special exhibit on John Wilkes Booth and the actual assassination, which I went to first. It discussed all of the conspiracy folk and what happened leading up to the day of the assassination, the actual assassination itself, and the followup (how the conspirators were caught, basically).. They had the actual carriage that Lincoln and wife took to Ford's Theater on the evening of April 14th, as well as the bed where they took Lincoln following the shooting (where he died at 7:22am on the 15th) Pretty neat.

Then I went to a 3d presentation discussing the lincoln library and what they have there. Something like 12 miles of stacks.. Millions of books and pieces of stuff (various memorabilia)..

Next were the pre-presidential years.. Talked about his childhood, first exposures to slavery.. (If you go, note the colors of the lights on the first slavery display.. The slave is bathed in pure white light.. The auctioneer is lit from below in red light.. very demonic looking.. He might have even had a slightly pointy nose). Next was when Lincoln started getting interested in politics and how he moved up through the ranks.

Had a cute piece of "what it would have been like if Tim Russert were around to talk about the 1860 election." That section ended with Lincoln getting elected in 1860.

Next, I went to another show on 'Lincoln's Eyes'. It was also pretty neat. The shows at the museum are technologically advanced. I won't give anything away beyond that. But, this show discussed what you could see in a person's eyes, and provided another history lesson on lincoln.

Next were the Whitehouse years. It started with a display of the women's dresses and quickly moved into the political satire of the day. Many, many cartoon caricatures of Lincoln doing stupid things. They didn't seem to like Lincoln, no matter what he did. I was really reminded of the current position that Bush is in. Both were in a war situation, etc. etc. The exhibit went on to show the whitehouse kitchen, the emancipation proclamation, and the war effort. There was a really cool display showing the north and the south on a map. It was called "the war in 4 minutes" or something like that. There was a date display at the bottom that slowly moved through the early 1860s. The map showed the area that the south controlled over time, and you could watch the area expand and shrink as the battles occurred (which were also shown). In the corner was a casualty count, so that you monitor the deaths that the north and the south incurred over time. Very very cool and very well done. Very sobering. Soon after that was an entire room devoted to the battle at Gettysburg. Very somber. Sends a chill down your spine. 52,000 dead between July 1 and July 3, 1863. Wow.

From there, they clean up the remaining details. Lincoln got reelected, Lee surrendered, and Lincoln decided to go to the theater. John Wilkes was considered by all to be the top romantic actor of the day. He was supposedly very handsome, and well respected. He just didn't like the thought of abolition. A mockup of the theater was provided, and you could see the wax figure of Lincoln sitting there, with JWB getting ready to charge in and shoot him. When I was in DC 17 years ago, I saw a play at the Ford theater, and had seats up in the balcony. I was seated one seat from the end, right next to where Lincoln's roped-off booth was at. The seat location where I sat was actually shown in this mockup that they had. Again, a very solomn thing.

After the death, they touched on Lincoln's trip back to Illinois and they had a very large room showing where he lay in State here in Illinois.

All things considered, a very nice place. I would recommend it to anyone. They have a very high concentration of tech stuff there. Projectors all over the place. Neat way to spend a few hours.

Starved Rock

2005-10-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

While I'm slow and inefficient when it comes to posting new pictures from the camera.. My coworker is much faster. He has put up some pictures from this past weekend's trip to Starved Rock.

http://robert.omnux.com/starvedrock

AirVenture 2005

2005-08-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

The Picture Review :: AirVenture 2005

I finally managed to get my pictures from Airventure 2005 online. Took me a while, but better late than never..

GPS Navigation

2005-06-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

A page that I'm working on to catalog my findings on which GPS to get for an automobile.

GPS Navigation

Tortoise At The Cup

2005-06-17T11:56:00.000-05:00

So, I went to Jarling's Custard Cup last night with some friends, and had the Tortoise snowstorm. A snowstorm is basically like a Dairy Queen blizzard, except it is made with Jarling's custard. Good stuff.

Anyway, the Tortoise, as I learned last night, is butterscotch, fudge, and almonds. It was quite tasty, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

2005-05-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

BBC NEWS | World | Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

Just read the story. I report. You decide.

Coroner's Jury Duty

2005-05-19T19:24:00.000-05:00

Today I had to sit for
Coroner's Jury Duty.

UPS is the DOWNS

2005-05-10T23:12:00.000-05:00

So, I'll have a UPS rant now. I wanted to rant, and this blog thingie seemed like the place to do it.

I ordered a new lens for my camera, so that i can make beautiful art for my picture website. I ordered the lens from Amazon over the weekend, and the UPS webpage had it being delivered today. So, I anxiously watched the web and noticed that, at 12:09, they attempted delivery. Since it required a signature, they didn't leave it, and said that they would come back again tomorrow.

So, I figured I'd call up the local UPS place and see if I could get it tonight. So, I called them up and told them that I had had a package delivery attempt and that I was wondering if I could get it held at the UPS place and go pick it up this evening. Their response, "Sure". I asked what time they closed, and she said, "Well, we're closed right now, but we open up again at 4:30, and stay open till 6:30. Then, from 7-7:30 you can pick up 'held' packages. But, you have to call the 1-800 number to get the package held."

So, that seemed fine. I called the 1-800 number, and had them hold the package at the UPS place for delivery. The 1-800 person said that it would be ready for pickup tomorrow (ding ding ding! warning bells should have been going off). Since the local gal said that I could get it tonight, I wasn't too worried (ding ding ding.. Always be worried!)

I work near the center of town. UPS is on the northeast corner of town. My house is in the southwest direction from work. So, I decided to not go to my house first. I stayed at work later than normal, and then went to Taco Bell to eat supper. I would normally have eaten at home, but that was a way to burn some of the time until 7pm. I left the Taco Bell around 6:45 and drove to the UPS place.

Got there at 6:52. Needless to say, the doors were locked. So, I went back to the truck and waited some more. At 7, when the doors opened, I went in, and, to make a long story shorter, they didn't have the package.

Come to find out, you must specify "SAME DAY PICKUP" when you call to have the package held, or else it won't be available. Granted, no one had told me this, but, as is the case with cell phone contracts, I'm just supposed to automatically know all of their rules and regulations.

So, I get to go back up to the northeast corner of town tomorrow to pick up the package.

The thing that ticks me off about UPS is that it seems like EVERY SINGLE TIME I have a package delivered, if they don't leave it at the house, I can count on learning a new lesson... the hard way. Fedex is great with their packages. They seem to actually want to help you get your package. The local UPS people seem to make it their job to tick you off at every step of the game. It's as though they know they have you, and there isn't a thing you can do about it, so you just have to live with it. The people at the depot seem very smug when you go in to see them, and there's no chance that they will do one iota of additional work to make the customer happy.

Having said all that, the stdisclaimer.h file states the following:

// I'm sure not all of the local UPS employees
// are bad. I'm confident that not all UPS
// employees are bad.. Heck, my brother works
// at a UPS facility. But, my experiences
// have been less than pleasant. But, what
// am I gonna do? They've got me, and they know it.

Terrific website

2005-05-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

I love this website.

http://www.bazoomer.com

If you don't get it.. well.. sorry..

Great site. Man, I wish i'd been around to think of this back when it would have really worked.

Wasp Sting

2005-05-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

I blog because I can

http://flatfeect.com/footWaspSting.html

money money money

2005-05-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

get money for searching the web. Use google like you already do.. just make money at it.

Netbux

Good chance it won't happen

2005-04-27T12:47:00.000-05:00

Looking like the Rainier ascent might not happen this year. My comrade will likely be too busy or unavailable come fall. We'll see.

I guess I could always go by myself. But, that doesn't sound nearly as fun.

The Picture Review

2005-04-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

The Picture Review

picture site.

Oregon Mountaineering Accidents (OMA)

2005-03-17T09:09:00.000-06:00

Oregon Mountaineering Accidents (OMA)

these guys don't seem super appreciative of RMI. Don't know what the background is. At any rate, it's good to read over the things and see what went wrong. Might give some insight into a condition that you don't want to find yourself in later.

Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad, Elbe, Washington USA

2005-03-16T17:49:00.000-06:00

Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad, Elbe, Washington USA

railway through "the foothills of mt. rainier"

more motivation

2005-03-16T09:19:00.000-06:00

Gordon called again last night.

Reiterated that it would be a good thing to do.

I had mentioned a couple of nights ago the fact that these types of things are things that are easier now than they ever will be in the future. It will be easier for our bodies to do it this year than next, etc. I think about this a lot with my desire to go see Mt Everest. It's going to be easier for my body to do it now than at any point in the future. I'm not saying that I'm in better shape now than I ever will be in the future, but my body is younger now than it will be at any point in the future (duh!), and that makes a difference.

There are many different ways to break down the cost.

The seminar is $1,200. Plane tickets to seattle would be around $300. If you rented all of your equipment, it would be close to $600. Travel from seattle to mt. rainier: ?, hotel for the night(s) before and after: ?

Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. - Mountaineering Seminars

2005-03-16T09:13:00.000-06:00

Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. - Mountaineering Seminars

the climbing school that we'd probably take if we went. The Camp Muir Seminar.. $1,195 for five days.

The most interesting time is september 12-16. that would give me time to get in shape, if I push myself. I really need to do that.

Mt. Rainier Climb July 4, 1998, to July 8, 1998

2005-03-16T09:11:00.000-06:00

Mt. Rainier Climb July 4, 1998, to July 8, 1998

this is a slick page where a guy has a story about his ascent, and various pictures. Well worth the read.

the seed

2005-03-16T09:05:00.000-06:00

so Gordon and myself were talking a couple of nights ago, and a special was on the National Geographic channel about mountain climbing. Gordon was watching it.

They had a couple that were doing a mount everest ascent, and we started talking about climbing it. A quick websearch later, and we had some links