Finally posted the summer feast photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtheyforgot/sets/72157601656131590.

Back in Seattle finally. I had a great trip to Germany but the ride home wasn't so great. All it takes is a couple little magnifications in flight delays for everything to go wrong. All times in PST:

• 9PM Thursday - Wake up, quick shower.
• 10PM Thursday (7AM Dresden) - Train from Dresden to Berlin
• 1AM Friday (11AM Berlin) - Flight from Berlin to London.
  Flight is delayed over 1 hour.
• 5AM Friday (1PM London) - Flight from London to Vancouver.
  The flight from Seattle to London was sold out so I decided to fly through Vancouver instead. Since the flight from Berlin was so late my bags didn't make the connection. This flight was over 45 minutes delayed.
• 3:30 PM Friday - Arrive in Vancouver.
  We're an hour late due to headwinds. Vancouver is a tricky airport. To get your bags to America you have to clear customs, collect your bag, and re-check it. Since I don't know my bag is still in London I wait to collect my bag. After half an hour I go to the baggage desk and they politely explain that my bag is still in London. They also explain that I'm going to miss my connection to Seattle and rebook me on the 9PM flight to Seattle.
• 9 PM Friday - Depart for Seattle.
  After over 5 hours in the Vancouver airport I get on a flight to Seattle and arrive home at 11PM
• Sunday - Bag Still Missing.
  I get an email message from Bryan Waite, who lives in Yakima, explaining that my bag has arrived at his house.

At a certain point it's just funny, not tragic.

In last year's Swiftsure race we got hit rounding race rocks. While surfing around on the web I found this video which shows the collision at about 3:50 into the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL6HBTSATM0

Ouch!

Morning in Port Townsend on our way to Victoria.

Sent from Windows Mobile 5.0

Damn.

Spring sailing is finally here! I uploaded some pictures on Flickr that show the difference a week can make. In the first set everyone is bundled up in the cold. The second set is from last weekend when Jamie and I went out. Note that Jamie is sailing in shorts and a t-shirt. We got in just before a huge storm broke.

Yesterday I was going to go sailing with Gen. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. Gen arrived at 2PM and we were going to put the cruising sails on the boat, making the shorthanded sailing a bit easier. Just as we started pulling off the racing main it started raining. Within 15 minutes we had the sail down and the rain was really coming down. No sailing this weekend.

I read a rather startling article in last weeks Science News. Here is the first half. The rest is available on the Science News web site. 

Waistline Worry: Common chemicals might boost obesity

Aimee Cunningham

A family of chemicals implicated in testosterone declines may also be contributing to recent spikes in obesity and diabetes, according to a new study.

Phthalates show up in a wide range of manufactured items, from cosmetics to vinyl flooring to medical devices and drug coatings. With people's extensive exposure to phthalates, the chemicals' breakdown products, or metabolites, appear in the urine of more than 75 percent of the U.S. population.

Previous research had shown that phthalates decrease testosterone concentrations and harm reproductive development in male animals (SN: 4/3/99, p. 213: http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/4_3_99/fob3.htm). Effects have also been found in people. Exposure to phthalates in the womb has been linked to genital changes in male infants (SN: 6/4/05, p. 355: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050604/fob1.asp), while a study in adult men found an association between the chemicals and sperm abnormalities (SN: 5/31/03, p. 339: http://www.sciencenews.org/20030531/fob1.asp).

In men, low testosterone can lead to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance—conditions that are precursors of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, notes Richard W. Stahlhut, a research physician at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) School of Medicine and Dentistry. "If phthalates are affecting sperm counts and testosterone levels, then you would expect these guys would get abdominal obesity and insulin resistance," he says.

[...]

The researchers found that the men with abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, or both were more likely than the other men to have high concentrations of phthalate metabolites in their urine. The team reports its results online and in an upcoming Environmental Health Perspectives.

New Year's Eve was a perfect day for a little sailing on Lake Union. Kevin came over to help figure out the problem with the bilge pump float switch on Penelope. After determining that the switch had failed we decided to sail. It was a clear, beautiful afternoon. Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtheyforgot.

I've been off of work long enough that I'm itching to get back. Oi.

Oh, I'm not big on resolutions but here are two things I want to be better at this year:

1. Run 10 miles a week.
2. Saturday sailboat races on Puget Sound.

I used to easily knock off 10 miles a week in the past but after a couple injuries and some general laziness I've gotten off track. As for the Saturday races, this should be easier to do, just requires getting up EARLY on Saturday mornings to get the boat through the locks. Also requires springing for a set of racing sails.

Happy New Year!

Yesterday Avi, Genevieve, Kristen, Leo, Nori, and Zephyr came over for Winter Feast. Click here for the pictures.

I used to post pictures here on MSN Spaces but I can't figure out how to post photos without them getting all weird and pixilated. Flickr, sadly, does much better.

During the windstorm a couple weeks ago my neighbor’s tree snapped about two-thirds of the way up and broke the power lines. When the power went out I thought it was just temporary. After all, I live in the city and we never have long power outages. Never…

I get up the next morning and it is 58 degrees in the house. Hmmm… Clearly the power isn’t back up. It’s a Friday morning, my last day of work before taking the rest of the year off. I shower (there’s still hot water in the hot water heater) and get ready to head to work. Cathy, one of the women on my team, calls to say that she’s been to Microsoft and there is no power. Work is canceled. Okay, that’s fine with me. Avi, Genevieve, and I decide to meet at Le Pichet for lunch. As I’m leaving I see the fallen tree:

And here is the downed power line:

I point out the fallen tree and downed lines to Dave, a neighbor. He agrees to call the power company and tell them not to turn on the power without correcting the downed lines. After all, it could start a fire. There are downed power lines everywhere in the Seattle area; there’s little chance we’ll have power anytime soon.

I pack everything up to go and sleep on my boat. The boat is great because it’s designed to be unplugged. When I come back on Sunday afternoon I see this:

Turns out the power company turned on the power three hours after Dave spoke with them and they agreed not to turn on the power. Apparently the flames from the downed power line were five feet high. In some spots the electricity burned through the concrete leaving dime sized holes:

The noise was so loud you could hear it a block away. There were three explosions. The first was when the power came on. Apparently the second was when one of the dancing wires hit the telephone box, blowing out the phones for my whole block. The third was the transformer down the street blowing. The fire department is just a few blocks away and they were on the scene almost immediately. They cordoned off the block and a police officer sat outside for several hours waiting for the power company to show up.

So, we have no power and now the phones are out.

The power company got the power back on Sunday afternoon and by Saturday we had phone service again. I use DSL and so without phone service I’m also without Internet access. I was totally surprised by how dependent I’ve become on the Internet, email, and IM. Totally sucked. It’s been a rough week but I’m beginning to remember what we did before the Internet...

I typically hate these kinds of tests but I saw one on Ariel's blog and decided to take it. Besides, I'm home today having thrown my back out and my desk chair is the most comfortable place to sit.

OkCupid! The OkCupid Test

The Gentleman Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLMm) Steady & mature. You are The Gentleman. For anyone looking for an even-keeled, considerate lover, you're their man. You're sophisticated. You know what you want both in a relationship and outside of it. You have a substantial romantic side, and you're experienced enough sexually to handle yourself in that arena, too. Your future relationships will be long-lasting; you're classic "marrying material," a prize in the eyes of many. It's possible that behind it all, you're a bit of a male slut. Your best friends know that in relationships you're fundamentally sex-driven. You're a safe, reliable guy, who does get laid. In a lot of ways, you're like a well-worn, comfortable pair of socks. Did you ever jack off into one of those? All the time. Your ideal mate is NOT a nut-job. She is giving and loving, like you, but also experienced. Avoid the The Battleaxe at all fucking costs. CONSIDER: The Maid of Honor, someone just like you. Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

Tonight I'm back near Friday Harbor. After tying to the mooring buoy I cranked up the heat and took a hot shower on the boat. So great. And a shave too. Feels great to be clean. I think it was the Romans that considered themselves superior because view were cleaner than others. They also fed their foes to lions. Oh dear.

No stars tonight. Instead, clouds: probably going to rain tonight.

Sent from Windows Mobile 5.0

Last night was my first night in the San Juans and I stayed at Turn Island, just outside Friday Harbor. I arrived later than I had hoped and found an open mooring buoy. Good thing, too: the winds gusted at 20 knots that night and it was a rough ride. I had dreams about coming untied and crashing into the shore.

Today I sailed to Sucia Island. There was a small craft advisory with high winds. It was a wild ride and I had to reef the main sail solo in 20 knots. Totally nuts.

Tonight I arrived at Sucia. Near of was another guy with a C&C sailboat. Turns out it's Fred Butler, the guy who bought my last boat. Wacky! I drank plenty with Fred and his companions. He's done some amazing work on my old boat. Lovely to see her looking so good.

Sent from Windows Mobile 5.0

Port Ludlow

Sent from Windows Mobile 5.0

It wasn’t the whole opera, but Mr Hulse’s friends got a pianist and five opera singers in full costume, some of whom climbed in and out of the windows of the elegant 18th-century Burgh House in north London to provide a slim-line version of Rossini’s tale of love and intrigue. The evening was “enormous fun and a great success,” he says. Apparently, even the non-opera-loving guests enjoyed themselves thoroughly.