Worlebird's Worleblog

Jingle All the Way

2012-01-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, I got together with a few guys from work and performed some songs for the IS Division holiday party at work. It was a lot of fun, and I think it sounded pretty good. Check it out:

Land of the Giants

2011-08-22T22:13:00.000-06:00

So we just got back from our trip to the coast to see the giant coastal redwoods of northern California. It was a long trip (maybe a couple of days too long - we were all pretty tired at the end), but it was fun and a great experience for all of us.

Day 1 - We drove from Boise to Portland. This is mostly a pretty boring drive, but just outside of Portland we stopped at Multnomah Falls, which is very pretty.

Day 2 - We stayed overnight in Portland so that we would have a chance to visit the OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. If you ever get a chance to take your kids there, do it. This is such a fun place!

After visiting the OMSI, we drove to Newport, which is a beautiful little city on the coast. We stayed in the Elizabeth Street Inn, and our room had a great view right on to the beach.

Day 3 - In Newport is the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which is a really fantastic place to visit. The girls love sea life, and there is a lot of it on display here!

After our visit to the aquarium, we spent the afternoon on the beach. It was a beautiful day, and the girls had lots of fun. It never gets really warm in Newport, but it was quite nice and comfortable. The water was too cold for me, but the girls didn't seem to mind!

Day 4 - We drove down the coast to Crescent City, California. This was our home base as we visited the redwood forests.

Day 5 - Our first visit was to a privately owned area of redwood forest called "Trees of Mystery". This was pretty fun - the highlight was a ride in a gondola several hundred feet up a mountain to look down on the redwood canopy.

Standing next to Paul Bunyan at Trees of Mystery

After we came back from Trees of Mystery, we visited a little privately owned aquarium in Crescent City called Ocean World. It's small, but it had a really fun show. We really enjoyed it!

Holding a mutant four-legged sea star

We heard a lot of noise down by the docks, and went to check it out. A whole pack of sea lions had taken over the end of one of the boat docks, and we were able to get quite close to them and take pictures.

Day 6 - We drove down to Humbolt State Park to see the redwood forest there. There is a scenic byway called The Avenue of the Giants which we took for several miles. It was really really pretty. I kept being reminded of Endor from Return of the Jedi, which I understand was actually filmed in some of the forests around Crescent City!

These trees are really amazingly huge

The girls really liked to climb up on the huge stumps and downed trees

Standing by Founder's Tree

Did I mention how huge these trees are?

I wasn't the only one taking pictures, but I had to be sneaky to get pictures of Christine taking pictures.

Drive through tree!

Stopped on the way back to the motel to get this picture of the sunset on a rocky beach

Day 7 - We spent some time on Crescent City's beach - much colder and very foggy, but still nice.

Looking for sea life in the tide pools. Lots of hermit crabs, sea stars, and anemones, and a few big purple crabs.

Day 8 - We headed home by way of Crater Lake. It's really high up, and really beautiful. Watch out for the edge, though!

Astro-nuts

2011-05-25T17:52:00.000-06:00

So, I've never put any of my astro photos online before, since I don't really feel like any of them are particularly good yet. I hope that I can take some better ones eventually, but I guess I should put up what I have so far, just to share them.

For starters, here is a collection of my best Solar System shots:

The Moon - through a blue filter, hence the color

Mercury - This one is pretty crummy; poor focus, no detail. Mercury is incredibly hard to photograph, both because of its size, and because it is so close to the Sun that you always have to shoot close to the horizon. Still, you can see the crescent shape of the current phase.

Venus - This one turned out pretty nice. This was actually through a blue filter to cut down on some of the prism-like effects of shooting something this small and bright. I then digitally adjusted the color back to natural tones. I'd like to try this again some time with my infrared filter. Infrared light is not affected by the Earth's atmosphere as much as visible light is. When we get to the Saturn picture, you can see what I mean.

Mars - I like this one pretty well - some nice suggestions of surface detail come out in this one. I've seen much better online, but this is my best so far. This was taken before I got my infrared filter, which I mentioned on the Venus picture, so one of these days I'd like to try this one again with that filter.

Jupiter - The detail is fuzzy on this one, but there are some very cool things going on in this picture. The most familiar one is the Great Red Spot, in the lower left of the disc, looking bright orange in this picture. What you might not catch at first, however, is Jupiter's moon Io. A little up from the center of the image is a dark spot - that's Io's shadow on the surface of Jupiter's clouds. If you go a little to the right, following the same reddish band that the shadow falls in, you can see a lighter spot - that's Io itself, moving across the face of Jupiter. This was neat to see live, as I could actually sit and watch it move across Jupiter over the course of about a half an hour or so.

Saturn - This is my best Saturn shot, and possibly my best planet shot period. This was done using my infrared filter for the luminance channel, and then imposing that on the color shot. You can see Cassini's division in the rings, and the difference in shades of various bands in the atmosphere. I think the only problem with this shot is that the color channels and the luminance channel were not exactly aligned, so that the left edge of the planet becomes completely gray. Still, it looks pretty nice.

Uranus - This doesn't look like much, and I really only include it for completeness. Like a big game hunter, I was looking for trophies when I shot Uranus. It's incredibly hard to get a good image of something so far away, and this is the best I have of this one. It's not much to look at, but it's nice to be able to include it, just to be able to say I got it. Now, all I need is Neptune, and I'll have a full set!

Comet Holmes - Not a planet, but definitely a Solar System object. This comet was a bit unusual in that it didn't develop a distinct long tail, but rather grew this massive coma. At one point, that dust cloud coma grew bigger than the planet Jupiter! While its lack of a real tail made it less attractive than other comets, its sheer size made it easier to photograph.

And, to round things out, some of my deep space shots:

M8 - The Lagoon Nebula - One of the first images I did with my digital SLR. The focus isn't very good on this one, and I suspect that some of the redness isn't actually nebula, but rather digital noise. Still, it's not bad looking.

M13 - The Hercules Cluster - Again, the biggest problem with this picture is probably the focus. That's something I really need to work on. Also, I would like to get more exposure on this object - I probably didn't shoot for long enough to really get a good representation of the variance in star brightness in this cluster. That's my other thing that I really need to work on. Patience.

M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - Focus and more exposure time, again. Still, this one looks really quite nice. I particularly like the coloring I got here. This one probably looks better if you shrink it down a little, or step back from the screen a little, so the focus problem isn't so obvious. One of my favorite objects to look at - I definitely plan to shoot this one again sometime.

M42 - The Orion Nebula - Hands down, my favorite deep sky object to observe or shoot. This suffers from the same problems as my others, though perhaps not quite so much. Focus and exposure time. The focus isn't as bad on this one as on some of my others, but I really could use a ton more exposure time.

M45 - The Pleiades Cluster - Another favorite. The focus on this one is much better than most of the previous images, but my impatience is a problem here as well - I could really use more exposure time to bring out the blue nebulosity that floats around these stars, The distinct cross "star" patterns were added later, digitally, because I like the way they look. My telescope is a Cassegrain, so it doesn't produce these star spikes naturally. Those are caused by the wires that hold the secondary mirror in a standard reflector. Still, on this cluster, I like that look, so I added them after the fact.

All right, so there you have it. A selection of my best astro shots so far. I hope to get some better ones in the future. I just need to go out and do it again.

California Girls

2011-04-03T22:43:00.001-06:00

So, we went to San Diego this past week for Spring Break. It was fun, but we were so tired by the end, we were really ready to be home. Here are some highlight pictures from our trip.

Day 1 - We flew into San Diego early Sunday evening. Unfortunately, the car rental process took so long that it was late evening by the time we got some dinner and settled into our hotel room. This was doubly frustrating because I reserved the car rental online over a month earlier - we were in the rental place for over an hour. Bad show, Avis. Actually, based on my experience the last time I rented a car in San Diego (a couple of years ago for a business trip), this is typical for rental places in San Diego. Pickup is poorly run, long, and inefficient, though drop off is smooth and easy. Interestingly, this is something the Germans did much better. I didn't spend more than ten minutes in the rental place during either of my Germany trips.

Anyway, we stayed in a cool hotel called The Catamaran. On the back side of the hotel it opens right onto the beach on Mission Bay, and on the front side, it's just 500 ft to Pacific Beach.

The Catamaran Hotel from the Mission Bay side

The girls in the lobby of the hotel

Day 2 - On Monday, we spent most of the day in the San Diego Zoo. Wow, it is quite a huge place! After spending all day at the zoo, we spent a little time on the Mission Bay beach at our hotel.

The girls get up close and personal with a peacock

Day 3 - Tuesday was our day at Sea World. We spent the whole day there, but didn't quite get to see everything. That's not so much because there is too much to see in one day, but more because you have to line up early to get a good seat at the shows. Also, the highlight of the day was the girls' participation in the "Dolphin Interaction Program", where they got to get into wetsuits and spend time in the water with dolphins. It was expensive, but they will never forget that experience. We also saw the very funny Sea Lions Live show, and of course, the Shamu show.

Holding starfish in the tide pool

Laughing at Biff, the stagehand at Sea Lions Live

Seymour, of Sea Lions Live

Getting splashed up close by a dolphin

Petting a wet tummy

Dolphin kisses

Going to get splashed!

All wet now!

Feeding time

Shamu and friends

Day 4 - On Wednesday we decided to go back to Sea World to catch the last remaining things we had missed the day before. Our passes were good for five days, though we had to pay for parking again. The main thing we missed on Tuesday was the dolphin show, called "Blue Horizon". I say dolphin show, but it had choreography, parrots, pilot whales, cranes, and vultures too. It was actually more impressive than the Shamu show, which was a little tame in comparison. I think that must be because of the accident they had a couple of years ago with one of their whales. Anyway, we also saw the polar exhibits, including polar bears, penguins, and beluga whales. Also, Ashlee got to ride the Journey to Atlantis roller coaster, which made her day. She's a brave kid! That afternoon was spent visiting the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier permanently docked in San Diego harbor. The girls enjoyed that more than I hoped, especially Ashlee. We rounded out the evening with a little time on Pacific Beach, across from our hotel.

The dolphins of "Blue Horizon"

A pilot whale in "Blue Horizon"

A beluga whale

Those doorways in the USS Midway are small!

Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

On the flight deck of the Midway

Playing in the surf on Pacific Beach

...and in the sand

Day 5 - Thursday we drove out to Point Loma and visited the lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument. Then we visited Children's Beach in La Jolla, where the harbor seals congregate, and the tide pools at Shell Beach. Finally, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing at La Jolla Shores beach, which is really nice, and has flecks of fool's gold in the sand.

The view from Point Loma

Checking out hermit crabs in the tide pools

All the girls in the ocean at La Jolla Shores

Christine's sand castle at La Jolla Shores

Day 6 - Friday, we packed up and headed out, driving to see Old Town San Diego before returning our car and heading to the airport. We kind of wished we'd had more time to spend at the Old Town, as it ended up being much cooler than we expected. The girls (all three of them!) liked the country candy store the best, though the mining shop with all the crystals, fossils, and semi-precious stones was a close runner up.

Well, like I said, we had a lot of fun, but we were glad to be home.

The Magic Flute

2011-02-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

Christine is in band this year in school, and she is learning to play the flute.
This evening was her first concert, and I got some good pictures.
She did great, as did all the other kids. This is a band of all 6th graders, most of whom have never played an instrument until this school year. I was really impressed at their progress in just 5 months.

Playing her flute

The band

A little embarrassed at the applause?

Nah - Confident, talented, AND pretty

Halloweenies!

2010-11-01T01:26:00.000-06:00

Some pics from Halloween!
Christie was a Spider Queen, Ashlee was a Pink Pirate, Teri was a Red Ribbon Week Poster, and I was Tony Stark from Iron Man.

We went to several Halloween activities both this past weekend and a week or so ago. We went to a corn maze, a safety carnival at the fire station, a carnival at a local high school, and a trunk-or-treat at the local LDS church. I think the girls had tons of fun!

I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map, I'm the Map...

2010-10-18T01:16:00.000-06:00

I thought I would post a link to Google Maps here in case you might be interested. This is a Google Map that I have created which shows my travels in Europe. Each day gets its own color - as you can see, I was all over the place! That was a very busy trip - I was always going somewhere. This map might help put some of my pictures into context.

So, here it is. Enjoy!
My Europe Trip - Google Maps

Madman Across the Water

2010-10-15T18:35:00.115-06:00

So I got back from my trip to Germany last week, and I'm finally getting some pictures uploaded here. We had a kind of perfect storm with computer problems during my trip - while I was gone, our little server that serves up the internet to our home network died, leaving Teri disconnected from the world. I helped her get my main computer working as the server, but that computer has been having hard drive problems for a while - I had already ordered a replacement. So, very soon after I got home, that computer died as well. So, I've been spending a lot of free time over the past week getting things fixed and recovered. I'm not finished yet, but I am done enough to get pictures uploaded.

I took a lot of pictures, and have tried to whittle them down to a manageable overview of my trip. I was in Europe for nearly three weeks, and during that time visited Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, and a lot of places in Germany. (Ok, to be fair, I really didn't "visit" Luxembourg and Switzerland, I just drove through a bit of them.) It was a great trip, but I was really ready to be back home when it was over.

So, without further ado, allow me to present National Lampoon's... er... Sean's European Vacation!

I flew in to Frankfurt, and then drove down the Rhine river on my first day. I had thought about taking a boat, but really driving ended up being a good choice for this trip. The Rhine valley was absolutely beautiful.

The ruins of Burg Ehrenfels, in Bingen am Rhine

Legend and poetry tells about a siren-like woman who lured shipmen to their doom at a huge outcropping along the Rhine called the Lorelei.

The Lorelei

Burg Eltz near Koblenz

Köln (known in English as Cologne) was once a northern colony of the Roman Empire.

Roman ruins being excavated in downtown Köln

Remains of a Roman gate in Köln

The Roman Praetorium in Köln - now a church

The Köln Cathedral

Roman artifacts in the Römisch-Germanisches Museum in Köln

I would totally trade my Mustang for this sweet ride.

A Ferrari I saw parked in Köln

I visited a cool medieval castle called Burg Pyrmont, which today boasts a very nice restaurant.

Burg Pyrmont, west of Koblenz

Trier is probably the oldest city in Germany - it was the northernmost capital/seat of government of Rome nearly 2000 years ago.

The Kaiserthermin ruins - the Roman Imperial Bathhouse in Trier

The Roman amphitheater in Trier

In the amphitheater - a gladiator's point of view

Porta Nigra, the Black Gate, a nearly 2000 year old city gate in Trier

Paris was very cool, but crazy for driving and kind of grimy. My hotel room in Paris was very small, and the elevator was the tiniest I have ever seen. If I was wearing my backpack, I couldn't turn around in it. My shoulders were actually squeezed by the walls.

Me in the elevator

Notre Dame de Paris

La Tour Saint-Jacques

The Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower at night

The Eiffel Tower sparkling at night

The Eiffel Tower by day

The Hotel des Invalides

The fountain and obelisk on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees

Because of the Phantom of the Opera, I had to make a visit to the Paris Opera House, the setting for that story.

The Paris Opera House

Don't sit in Box 5, or that chandelier is coming down.

Inside the Paris Opera House

Waiting in line to get into the Louvre museum

The Venus de Milo

The Mona Lisa

Heidelberg was really nice. By complete coincidence, the weekend I was there, Heidelberg was having a big fall festival called Heidelberg Herbst. I particularly liked the area they had set aside for a medieval fair.

A cool building in Heidelberg

The old bridge in Heidelberg

Schloß Heidelberg

Looking down on Heidelberg

Performers at the Medieval Fair during Heidelberg Herbst

The armorer at Heidelberg Herbst

Medieval dresses at Heidelberg Herbst

Burg Hohenzollern is really cool. I like the tall pointy spires and towers - this and Neuschwanstein really are what I think of when I think of a fairy tale castle.

Burg Hohenzollern near Hechingen

Burg Hohenzollern

On the way down from Burg Hohenzollern, the clouds parted, and I saw this cool rainbow over a town called Stetten.

A pot of gold in Stetten?

I stayed in a cool little town called Nördlingen. This is a medieval town with its city wall still completely intact.

Nördlingen from the air (not my picture)

On the city wall in Nördlingen

Berlin is a huge city that has a rather different character from many other cities in Germany. The Berlin Wall is gone, but it left its marks on the city, even 20 years later.
The Trabant, or Trabi, was the most readily available car in East Germany. The little cars have two stroke engines and sound like vacuum cleaners. Today, a company has bought up a bunch of them, painted them brightly, and rents them out to tour Berlin in a "Trabi Safari".

A Trabi on the Trabi Safari in Berlin

The Brandenburg Gate

There was a time when stormtroopers would have been a common sight in Berlin, but I don't think they were the same kind I saw.

A stormtrooper in Berlin

The Stormtrooper and I

The Bundestag in Berlin

The large Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

An interesting remnant of the split between East and West Berlin is the crosswalks. You can tell when you go from what used to be West Berlin into what used to be East Berlin by the cross walk lights.

A crosswalk light in former East Berlin

A crosswalk light in former West Berlin

The white crosses memorial was created over the years as a memorial to those who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall. It's not a very permanent monument - I kind of think it ought to be.

The White Crosses Memorial

You can walk the whole path of the Berlin Wall - it is marked by a different set of paving stones along its entire route around former West Berlin.

The former path of the Berlin Wall, looking toward the Brandenburg Gate - East Berlin on the left, West Berlin in the right

Checkpoint Charlie is the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin. It has been rebuilt as a tourist attraction

Checkpoint Charlie

"You are leaving the American Sector"

Russian influences in former East Berlin

The East Side Gallery is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been left intact for about a mile along the river Spree.

The Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery

The Berlin Cathedral

Passing by a Mercedes showroom, I saw this awesome car, and had to take some pictures. It's one of a run of only 700, and it costs about $1.25 million according to the sign next to it, converting from Euros.

The Mercedes SLR in a showroom in Berlin

And finally I arrived in München, in time for the last couple of days of Oktoberfest.

Danielle in a dirndl

Andy and Daniella on the roller coaster

More roller coaster

Even more roller coaster

Danielle and Daniella (and is that Tymber peeking out there?) on the ferris wheel

Andy in his new hat

A busy beer tent at Oktoberfest

I had to get some pictures of waitresses and waiters carrying large numbers of beer mugs - or maß.

One waitress, six maß

Six or seven maß at once

Eleven or twelve maß at once!

Looking down the main lane at Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest at night

A cool scale model of downtown München

These two guys were playing music by rubbing the rims of wine glasses (the guy on the right was doing the same to long glass tubes for the bass notes). It sounded very cool and ethereal.

Singing wine glasses in München

The Hofgarten in München

I visited Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for "The Sound of Music", both the musical and the real people on whom it was based.

Festung Hohensalzburg

The Salzburg Cathedral

Inside the Salzburg Cathedral

Statue of Mozart in Salzburg

Entrance to Stift Nonnberg (Maria Von Trapp's former abbey)

"You are sixteen going on seventeen..."

Lindau is a beautiful resort town in southern Bayern on the banks of the Bodensee, a large lake that includes the borders of three different countries. From Lindau, you can stand in Germany, and look over into both Austria and Switzerland. Much of the town of Lindau is on a small island connected to the shore by two bridges.

The old lighthouse in Lindau

The lighthouse and lion statue in Lindau

The lighthouse in Lindau

It was so close, I decided I would add Liechtenstein to my list of countries visited. It is a tiny country nestled in the Alps, and is as beautiful as it is small.

Driving through the Austrian Alps

Liechtenstein

Schloß Vaduz in Liechtenstein

I went for an overnight trip to Verona Italy. I chose Verona because it was close enough to be a fairly easy trip, but deep enough into Italy to get a feel for real Italian culture and history. (Much of northern Italy is known as Südtirol, and has culture and history very closely tied with southern Germany. They even speak German there, and all the towns have two names - a German one and an Italian one.)

The cool old looking key to my room in Verona

This Roman arena was built almost 2000 years ago, and is still in use. Originally games, races, and gladiator fights were held there, today it hosts operas, concerts, and plays.

Outside the amphitheater in Verona

Inside the amphitheater in Verona

Verona is the setting of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. While Juliet is a fictional character, for over a hundred years a medieval house has served as the Casa di Giulietta, or the House of Juliet.

The entrance to Juliette's house

Casa di Giulietta - Juliet's house in Verona

The statue of Juliet is very polished in the area of the left breast - people like to grope her for some reason.

The statue of Juliet

Ettal is a small town in the southern Bayern, and is the home of a well known monastery.

The monastery in Ettal

Inside the monastery chapel

Ettal is near Oberammergau, a very picturesque town famous for its woodcarving and cuckoo clocks.

In Oberammergau

Augsburg is a city west of München, with a tall clock tower called the Perlach Turm and a room in the upper part of the Rathaus known as the Golden Hall. As you walk up the many (many, MANY) stairs to the top of the Perlach Turm, they have a lot of before and after pictures, showing Augsburg in 1944, after an allied bombing run, compared to the restored city today. It's quite amazing to see the destruction that took place, and the work that was put into the restoration.

The Perlach Turm in Augsburg

Looking out over Augsburg

The Goldener Saal - the Golden Hall in Augsburg

The Goldener Saal is on the upper floor of the Augsburg Rathaus

Well, that's certainly not all the pictures I took, but I have to stop somewhere. Hope you enjoy them!

Pwnies!

2010-09-01T23:50:00.000-06:00

This is about a month late by now, but at least I'm finally getting it up.
I have been telling the girls we'd go horseback riding one of these days, and so we finally did a few weeks ago. We took a guided trail ride in the Sawtooth mountains. The girls had so much fun, it was great. It was a nice area - maybe if we ever decide to do a camping weekend, we'll go back to the same place.

The Roar of the Lion

2010-06-07T00:39:00.000-06:00

So, this is something I brought back from Germany.

Onkel Hans gave this to me, as something of a legacy to pass on as the oldest of the Worle kids. It is a book, entitled "Rugitus Leonis, Geistliches Löwen-Brüllen." The first part of the title is in Latin, and means "Lion's Roar", while the second part is in German, and means "Spiritual Lion's Roar." I'm guessing the title is a reference to Proverbs 20:2, which says "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul," or in the Latin Vulgate Bible, "sicut rugitus leonis ita terror regis qui provocat eum peccat in animam suam." The book is a collection of sermons by P. F. Leone Wolff, according to the title page "Sonntags Predigen durch ein ganzes Jahr," or "Sunday Preaching through a whole year".

The incredible thing about this book is the printing date, noted on the bottom of the title page as "M. DCCII.", or 1702. This book is over 300 years old! Onkel Hans doesn't know much about the book's history, except that it had been handed down for an unknown number of generations on Oma's side of the family. When they acquired it, or how, is unknown. There is also a personal dedication of some kind written on the opposite of the frontispiece, which I cannot decipher - nor can Dad or Onkel Hans, at this point. I have taken a picture, and enhanced it by increasing the contrast and sharpening the image. Hopefully, with some work, we can figure it out.

All we can make out so far is a date, on the third line: "14 Juni 1814," though even that could be wrong - it could be "Juli", or maybe another month - at the end it looks like a "y" with an umlaut, but I don't know what that would mean.

Anyway, it's something pretty cool that I thought I would share with you here.

Captain Forever

2010-06-01T12:47:00.000-06:00

This is the coolest free online game I've seen in a long time! It's called "Captain Forever", and it's a really fun little 2D space shooter game. You get a little ship, which you can upgrade by attaching modules to it. You destroy other ships, and take their parts to upgrade your ship. It sounds a little weird, but it's awesome! Check it out: http://www.captainforever.com/

Places and Things in Germany

2010-05-30T18:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, in the last post, I posted pictures of us in Germany, now here are some of the things we saw while we were there.

The view from our hotel

The Sendlinger Tor into downtown München

The Neues Rathaus

The Glokenspiel and the Mariensäule

The Altes Rathaus

We had lunch at the Hofbräuhaus

The Residenz Museum

The Opera Theater

Schloss Nymphenburg

BMW Headquarters

BMW Headquarters, from 200 meters up the Olympiaturm

At the Viktualienmarkt, this guy performs as a "living statue"

The Theresienwiese, site of the annual Oktoberfest

Hohenschwangau

It was very foggy and rainy when we visited Neuschwanstein

Schloss Linderhof

We went to Nürnberg specifically because the zoo had dolphins.
The girls LOVE dolphins

The Sebalduskirche in Nürnberg

Dachau, the Nazis' first concentration camp

"Arbeit Macht Frei," the darkly ironic motto emblazoned on the gates of many concentration camps

The Theatinerkirche in München

Family Pictures from Germany!

2010-05-30T16:15:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm finally getting to it! Here are some pictures from Germany - these are going to be pictures of us, next I'll make another post of things and places we saw.

Onkel Hans

Opa

Horse Carriage to Hohenschwangau

Watching Dolphins in Nürnberg

Petting Goats in Nürnberg

The Girls Using Their Own Cameras

Four Generation Picture

The Viktualienmarkt in München

Dinner at the Viktualienmarkt

Ashlee in the Museum of Egyptian Art

Sprichst du Deutsch?

2010-05-05T01:09:00.001-06:00

So, it's just one more week until we leave for Germany, and for the last couple of months I've been trying to brush up on my German. It's been quite a while since I last spoke any German, and it wasn't all that good when I did speak it. Being the computer geek that I am, the first thing I thought to do was to find some podcasts to help me out.

I love listening to podcasts - I have a good handful that I listen to on a regular basis. There are so many great ones out there. I was sure that there must be some podcasts out there for learning languages. My podcatching application of choice is iTunes, which maintains a pretty good listing of podcasts right in the iTunes online store, so I decided to check that out. I found a bunch, and have listened to at least some episodes from all of them. As you might guess, not all of these podcasts are created equally - some are much better than others. So, I present to you my Review of Podcasts for Learning German.

Clip2go English - German

This podcast was a real disappointment. Looking at the website, it looks like this may actually be a "teaser" sample podcast, intended to get you interested in the services of the website. It doesn't look like a bad product, but the podcast stinks.

Basically, what you get in each episode is a single word in English, followed by the word in German. The words chosen are really random, and do not at all comprise what I would call a useful vocabulary. You get some good ones, like "glauben", and then you get some weird ones, like "Selbstmord". Seriously, how often does "suicide" come up in basic conversation, especially when you're just learning the language? Additionally, no effort is made to tell you about conjugation of the verbs, plural versions of the nouns, or any other information beyond just the word itself.

The last nail in the coffin (and this is what makes me think this must be a sample "teaser" podcast) is that this podcast is no longer updated. You can download all of the "episodes" that already exist (there are about 50 of them), but there are never any new ones.

Final judgment: 1/5
Best for: Increasing an existing vocabulary
Link: http://www.cliptip.de/rss/ipod_en_de.xml

Das Treffende Wort

I rather like this podcast, produced by the Language department at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It's set up as a fake radio show, with two hosts, Käthe and Manfred. They discuss various things, and play off of each other - all completely scripted, however. The "radio show" is completely in German (though it is fairly basic German), and is usually followed by a short overview in English, discussing the language or cultural point made in the show. Because it's almost completely in German, this is probably best for someone who already has some familiarity with the language, and wants to brush up.

The one downside to this podcast is that they only produced 5 episodes, and it is no longer updated. I suspect, based on some of the content, that this was done as a college project of some kind. It's really too bad that it hasn't been continued, because I really liked the format. In my opinion, the 5 available episodes are worth downloading anyway. The same site has another podcast, called "Perspektiven", with a similar format, and geared toward beginning German speakers, but this is also not updated, and only has 3 total episodes. I won't list it separately, but you might also get something out of that one.

Final judgment: 3/5 (would be higher if there were more episodes)
Best for: Brushing up on existing basic German skills
Link: http://german.lss.wisc.edu/podcast/feed.xml

Deutsch - Warum Nicht? Series 1 - 4

In iTunes, "Deutsch - Warum Nicht" shows up as 4 separate podcasts, one for each "series" (or "season", as we would say in American English). This show was put together by Radio Deutsche Welle, and though it is rather old (it sounds like it was produced as a radio program in the mid 90s) it's quite good.

The program follows several characters through a continuing story, entirely in German, with occasional interjections from the English speaking narrator, who helps explain what is going on, and points out particularly difficult new words. When the current portion of the story is complete, the narrator takes over and explains a major grammar or vocabulary point brought up in the lesson, as well as occasionally a cultural or historical discussion. After this, the entire scene is played out again, this time with minimal interruption from the narrator, giving you a chance to review what you've learned.

The course moves from basic to more advanced language concepts as you move from season 1 to season 4, but I still think this podcast is most useful to someone with some existing minimal experience in German.

Again, this is a podcast that is not continually updated - the 4 seasons are all that exists. However, each season contains between 20 and 25 episodes, each one nearly 15 minutes long. It's definitely worth downloading.

Final judgment: 4/5 (just misses 5/5 because it is not continually updated)
Best for: Advancing existing basic German skills
Link: http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_dwn1_en (Season 1)
http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_dwn2_en (Season 2)
http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_dwn3_en (Season 3)
http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_dwn4_en (Season 4)

German GrammarPod

Wow. This one was really tough to decide on a rating for. This podcast is just what it's name suggests - a podcast about German grammar. Each episode, our host, Laura, does a monologue/lesson about some specific part of German grammar.

The information is great, and useful, but MAN is it dry. I would find this podcast more useful if she gave more examples of actual usage, and spoke more German. As it is, she mostly talks ABOUT German. I do find that understanding how the grammar of a language works can help me when learning it, but this tends to get really monotonous. On the plus side, while she doesn't put out episodes very frequently, it is still "live", being updated on a fairly regular basis.

Final judgment: 3/5
Best for: German learners of all levels
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/germangrammarpod

Learn German - GermanPod101.com

I should save my rating for the end, where I post my "Final judgment", but I have to rave about this one right up front. This podcast from from Innovative Language Learning is fantastic. No question - this is simply my favorite German Learning podcast I have listed here.

Our hosts are Judith and Chuck - she's a native German, and he's an American - and together they do a fantastic job of teaching German to listeners of multiple skill levels. The only problem I have with the podcast at all actually just has to do with a little annoyance I have with Chuck - the guy has SUCH an American accent when speaking German. I cringe whenever I hear him say "Ish" instead of "Ich". He just can't get those German "ch" sounds out right. Ah, well. Judith makes up for it with impeccable pronunciation and excellent enunciation.

In order to accommodate different skill levels, different episodes are set up differently. First, there are the episodes labeled "Newbie", "Absolute Beginner", "Beginner", and "Intermediate". Each of these follows the same pattern: Chuck and Judith do a dialog in German, then they repeat the dialog more slowly, then repeat it again, this time translating after each line. Next, they discuss the vocabulary and grammar points of the dialog, along with occasional commentary on German culture. Finally, the original dialog is repeated.

Next, there are episodes labeled "Audio Blog - Sarahs Welt". These feature a monologue by another of the GermanPod101 team, Sarah. Each monologue is on a different subject regarding life in Germany, and is completely in German. As such, this is intended for the advanced German learner. These monologues are followed by a brief vocabulary review, in which several key words from the monologue are translated.

Finally, there are episodes labeled "Video". These feature video clips accompanied by text and a voice describing them in German. After a handful of clips, the viewer is quizzed on them, repeating the clips with the phrase delayed 5 seconds, to see if you can remember them.

Best of all, this podcast updates regularly and frequently - usually as often as 5 new episodes per week! In summary, I HIGHLY recommend GermanPod101 for anyone learning German.

Final judgment: 5/5
Best for: German learners of all levels
Link: http://www.germanpod101.com/wp-feed-audio-video.php

German - SurvivalPhrases

Another podcast from Innovative Language Learning, this is useful for someone unfamiliar with German who needs to learn a handful of critical phrases before going to a German speaking country. Judith from GermanPod101 tutors the listener in a handful of basic German phrases - greetings, counting, etc. However, this one is not nearly as good as GermanPod101, because it is really just a "teaser" sample podcast. You get the first 15 episodes of a 60 episode course, and they encourage you to go online and pay for the whole thing. So, it goes without saying that this is another one that is not ever updated.

I'd say this is useful, if only to solidify some of the most important phrases you will need, but if you really want to learn German, pass on this one and go for one of the meatier podcasts I have listed.

Final judgment: 3/5
Best for: Newbies to German who just want to memorize a few phrases
Link: http://survivalphrases.com/german/feed/

Learn German for Free with German-Podcast.de

Stephan does this podcast roughly once a month. It consists of a monologue in which Stephan goes over a lesson in German. Early episodes feature simpler grammar, and later episodes have Stephan just talking about various topics in German.

In general, the concept is good - it can be very useful when learning a language just to have a chance to hear it spoken, and this fits that bill. However, Stephan tends to speak quickly and quietly, he doesn't enunciate very crisply, and his recording equipment sounds like it's a bit on the cheap end, making this a little hard to follow for a novice German learner. Additionally, he tends to switch between German and English a little hap-hazardly, and his (German) accent is rather heavy, making even his English a little hard to catch at times.

Ultimately, a good concept that fails a little in execution. Still, unlike some other podcasts listed here, at least he updates pretty regularly.

Final judgment: 3/5
Best for: German learners of all levels
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/German-podcast

Learn German Vocabulary

I wasn't much impressed with this podcast from LanguageAddicts.com. Basically, this podcast presents a vocabulary list once a month following some unified theme. They put out three episodes simultaneously, called "Familiarise", "Recognise", and "Memorise" (note the "s" in each word instead of a "z" - I never could understand British spelling).

The Familiarise episode goes through the word list, saying each word in English, then in German, then slowly in German, German again, and then English again. Recognise goes through exactly the same list, saying the German word first, then the English word. Memorise goes through the same list once more, first in English, then German.

The idea, I suppose, is that you should use the podcast to quiz yourself, but honestly, all this repetition of the same material seems like a big waste of bandwidth to me. A user could easily do all this repetition themselves using their audio player. Add to this that all you get is out-of-context vocabulary lists, with no grammar training, or examples of how to actually use the terms in a sentence, and I really was left wanting. Still, at least it seems to be updated regularly (once per month).

Final judgment: 2/5
Best for: German learners of all levels
Link: http://www.languageaddicts.com/podcasts/german/german.rss

Learn German with GermanLingQ

This podcast, which seems to be pushing another online language learning site, it nevertheless more useful than some previous "teaser" podcasts I've listed. However, I should warn you ahead of time that though they have episodes in a couple of different learning levels, you should probably be somewhat comfortable with German before trying this one.

Most episodes consist of a group discussion by native German speakers on some subject or other, completely in German with no translation hints. This is great for having the experience of hearing naturally spoken German, which can be invaluable in advancing existing skills, but can be intimidating or even incomprehensible for the beginner.

Finally, while it seems that this podcast was updated frequently up to the summer of 2009, updates have been much longer in coming more recently. The second-to-last update was in July of '09, and after that there was a gap until this February. no new episodes have been released since then, so this may be a dead podcast. Still, if you would like to try it and have the existing language skills to make it useful, there are 11 episodes still available.

Final judgment: 3/5
Best for: German advanced German learners
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Germanlingq

Mission Europe - Mission Berlin

Blah. This is another podcast from Radio Deutsche Welle, who produced the "Warum Nicht?" series that I enjoyed so much. This one, however, falls quite a bit short of that earlier effort.

The concept seems really interesting - the story is set up as a "virtual reality" adventure, in which the main character is a secret agent trying to save Berlin from time-traveling terrorists. She speaks almost no German, and so part of her struggle to save the day is simply to understand everyone talking to her. Some secret agent, who can't even speak the language. Well, she wakes up with amnesia, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyway, as I said, it's an interesting concept - it certainly makes for more interesting dialogs than most of my German textbooks ever had. (I still remember "Kennst du Ingo? Ingo ist mein Freund." That's Chapter 1 from my 9th grade German textbook.) However, it really didn't work for me. It got really annoying listening to this character stumbling around saying "what? I don't understand! Ich bin nicht von hier," all the time. Suddenly, she'll have some kind of miracle flash of inspiration and realize what some phrase means, as though having someone yell it at you enough times will cause your brain to magically translate it for you. And other words, which have obvious common roots to English words, she struggles with just as much.

Anyway, try it if it sounds interesting to you - it didn't work for me. Like the other podcast from Deutsche Welle, this isn't updated at all, it's a discreet course of 26 episodes.

Final judgment: 2/5
Best for: New German learners
Link: http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_missionberlin_en

My Daily Phrase German

In general, I've been pretty critical of the "memorize some key phrases" style podcasts here, but this one is actually rather good, considering. To be sure, this really isn't "learning German", as when you finish listening, you will really just have a small arsenal of critical phrases at your disposal, but this podcast actually quite a good job at that goal.

This is a 100 lesson series, so it is no longer updated. However, you can download the entire course and listen to it at your own pace. I like podcasts that are continually updated, so this loses some points there, but otherwise it's really pretty good at what it tries to do.

Ignoring these two complaints (which really have to do with the goal of the podcast, not with the execution), the only criticism I can level at it is the host. She's really great, and speaks clearly and everything, but she's very Scottish, which I found somewhat distracting. Her accent is quite strong when speaking English, and of course she also speaks German with a Scottish accent, which is interesting to hear. Still, it didn't actually form a barrier to understanding, so once I got used to her voice it wasn't a problem. So, if you're looking for a "learn some critical phrases" podcast, I would recommend this one.

Final judgment: 3/5 (would get 4/5 if it were continuously updated)
Best for: Newbies to German who just want to memorize a few phrases
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mydailyphrasegerman

One Minute German

This is another "learn some critical phrases" podcast, put out by the same people who did "My Daily Phrase German". I'll keep this short, because there isn't much to say about this one. The only improvement made here is that the host is a native German speaker. Aside from that, "My Daily Phrase German" beats this one in all aspects. Like that other podcast, "One Minute German" is not an updating podcast, but a set series of lessons - except where are "Daily Phrase" had 100, this one only has 10. I guess if you want a quickie rundown of the most basic German phrases you might want to use, this works, but in almost every way, "Daily Phrase" is a better choice.

Final judgment: 2/5
Best for: Newbies to German who just want to memorize a few phrases
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/oneminutegerman

Rundblick - Beginners' German

This is really trying to teach beginners German - it really is. Unfortunately, it seems to be missing something. It seems like it may actually be the audio companion to a more traditional textbook course in German - which would explain that feeling that you're missing something.

There are some good dialogs here, and pronunciation examples, but they don't actually translate much or explain any grammar, making all of the content feel out of context, somehow.

Also, this is yet another podcast that is no longer updated. Download it for some additional basic German to listen to, but that's about it.

Final judgment: 2/5
Best for: Early German learners who want to hear some extra dialogues
Link: http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Feed/itunes.open.ac.uk.1619910234.01619910239

Slow German

You may remember that I said that German-Podcast.de was a good concept that just wasn't executed well? Well here's "Slow German" to show you how to do it right!

This is really a fantastic podcast. Unlike most of the other podcasts here, Slow German does not attempt to be a German language course of any kind - rather, the whole point is to provide a regular exposure to spoken German so that those with existing experience can improve their skills.

Each episode, our host Annik does a 5 to 10 minute monologue about some subject, followed by a review of emails she has received from listeners. A simple idea, very much like German-Podcast.de, but executed so much better. Annik speaks clearly, slowly (but not too slowly), is careful to enunciate, and always has well planned and scripted material. You may have to stop and look up words, but you should have no problem missing something because you couldn't make out what she was saying.

If you already know some German, and want to improve by listening to a native speaker speaking naturally but clearly, this is the podcast for you. About the only criticism I can give is that she is a bit inconsistent about producing episodes - the last one came out in January. Hopefully, this isn't a dead podcast.

Final judgment: 4/5
Best for: Intermediate German learners
Link: http://feeds.schlaflosinmuenchen.com/slowsim.xml

Wieso Nicht - Learning German

A third offering from Deutsche Welle, "Wieso Nicht" follows the pattern they have set for fixed lesson podcasts - so this doesn't update. The podcast is entirely in German, and plays out different scenes in everyday situations (with some occasional interjection by an onlooker who sort of serves as your host, also all in German).

As far as a podcast that is all in German, and is really geared for speakers with existing skills to improve by listening to more spoken German, I would recommend "Slow German" over this offering.

Final judgment: 3/5
Best for: Intermediate German learners
Link: http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/DKpodcast_wiesonicht_en

Hanging out with Jonathan Coulton

2010-02-28T23:06:00.002-07:00

So, I drove to Portland this weekend to see Jonathan Coulton in concert. It was a very tiring, but fun weekend. I found a parking spot for the venue pretty early, and so I had some time to kill. I noticed this little German restaurant, which I think was called the Edelweiss Cafe. Well, you know I couldn't see a place like that and not give it a try. It was an hour 'til the doors opened, so I figured I had time.
So, I go in there and they get me a table, and who should I be sitting across from but the Code Monkey himself, Jonathan Coulton! He was there with Molly, Storm (of Paul & Storm), and somebody else (I had just missed Paul, apparently). I waited quietly until their conversation died down (they were waiting for their check), and then asked if I could take Jonathan's picture. They did one better, and Storm handed me his mug and took a picture of me and Jonathan, looking like we were hanging out and having a drink together.

I tried not to be too fan-boyish, and we had a nice conversation for five or ten minutes, mostly focused on how long I had driven to get there, and how he should consider coming to Boise. The service in the cafe was really slow, so I got out just a few minutes before the doors opened for the concert, and the line was really long by that time, but it was totally worth it for that little bit of serendipity. It didn't really matter, anyway - since I was alone, it was easy to find a seat right up near the front.

Christmas and Everything After

2009-12-30T22:37:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures from just before Christmas and then Christmas morning. The girls were "rocking around the Christmas tree". Then, a couple of pictures of the girls on Christmas morning.

Then, today, we got some more snow, and the girls went out and built a snowman. Then, for reasons known only to kids, they decided to destroy the snowman. Ah, well, at least they had fun doing it!

House Plans

2009-12-12T16:19:00.001-07:00

Oh, I forgot to mention that someone actually came to see our house today. We have totally gotten lax about keeping the place ready to show, and so we had to scramble to get it all cleaned up before they showed up. This is the first time anyone has actually come to see the house, and I don't really know how it went, since we had to leave. Anyway, it was crazy and exciting.

Also, I realized that many of you have not seen my house plans yet. I showed Mom and Dad at Thanksgiving, but nobody else was around. I've been working on these for a while now - I'm designing the house we want to build once we sell this one. Hopefully, we can actually afford my design. *chuckle*

Have a look:

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's been snowing here since last night. It snowed early this week as well, and most of that snow stuck, which is a bit unusual here. So now, it's a marshmallow world, and the girls have been out playing in it for nearly 3 hours now. I'm surprised they haven't frozen their little digits off yet. (edit: Just as I was typing this, they came in whimpering 'cause they were cold. *chuckle* Well, they had fun anyway.)
Have a look:

Have some time to waste?

2009-12-12T15:01:00.002-07:00

This little game is SO much fun! And it's really clever, too. It's called "Continuity", and it takes the simple platform maze-run style game, and gives it an interesting twist.

Instead of just a two-dimensional maze that your little stick figure runs through, you are presented with a maze made up of multiple connecting "tiles". You can slide these tiles around, like the little slider-puzzles you sometimes find in kid's meals and dollar stores. You have to switch back and forth from the close up view, where you control the little stick figure, to the zoomed out view, where you slide the tiles around. Not only do you have to make it through the maze to the red door, but you have to rearrange the maze as you go.

Sounds complicated, but it's not. It can be, however, fiendishly difficult to figure out just exactly how to arrange those tiles to get your little guy where you want him.

So much fun, such a simple idea, and it really makes you think in ways you don't often have to do. Click here to play Continuity.

Gingerbread houses

2009-12-10T22:38:00.001-07:00

Well, graham cracker houses, anyway. Here are the girls at their grandma's the day after Thanksgiving building graham cracker "gingerbread" houses.
Ashlee looks like she's really concentrating on hers. Construction is serious work.

The 2009 Geminids

2009-12-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

I know it's cold, but you might want to stay out late this weekend. The peak of the Geminid meteor shower will be the night of December 13, early morning December 14. It's supposed to be overcast and snowing here this weekend, so I'll probably miss out. Too bad, too, because there won't be any moon to interfere (we're nearly to new moon), and astronomers estimate it should be a good show.
Check out Astronomy.com for more info.

It's about time, I guess

2009-12-08T23:28:00.001-07:00

I've had this blog for 2 years now, I guess it's about time I did something with it. So, I put up a background. I didn't take the picture of M31 I'm using in the background - I can't remember now who took that one. One of these days, I'll have one of my own that looks that nice, but until then, I don't think anyone will mind if I use this one.
I'll try to post here on occasion with pictures, thoughts, stuff I'm doing, whatever. I guess we'll see.