Motorbike ride

Yesterday, Tyler and I went for a motorbike ride to check out the Swan Creek since that is the river we're considering floating this weekend. We went down Hwy 125 through Chadwick and the first place we stopped was Garrison, MO where 125 crosses the Swan, then we got out the Gazeteer (if you don't have a Gazeteer, GET ONE!) and found a back road to connect over to AA Hwy and then to H. I go through this whole story just to tell you that when we got to H Hwy we went by a house that looked JUST LIKE Justin and Kasie Fisher's house (I saw the picture on her blog). So we turned around and I went up and knocked on the door to see, much to my delight it was and not some hillbilly with a shotgun. Although Kasie does have a pellet gun by the door! That's really the only interesting part of the story, other than I was freezing by the time we got back to Springfield because it was only 42 degrees. It sure felt good to take a ride on the motorbike though!

My brand new toy!

So I splurged the other day and bought a backcountry water filter. It's the Katadyn Vario. I haven't used it yet, but I'm sure a review is in the works in the next couple weeks. Here's some pics for you to oogle at. As you will no doubt notice, it screws directly onto your trusy nalgene bottle so you don't have to fiddle with another hose (unless you want to). Here are some of the other highlights: double action pump handle, 2 stage filter system including a ceramic disk and glass fiber filter with activated charcoal to remove weird tastes, 2 pumping modes (high volume, or longer life), 500 gallon filter life (under ideal conditions).

Packaged Media vs. Digital Downloads

Now that the Blu Ray/HDDVD war is over, the Blu Ray people are probably wanting me to rush out and buy that set top box I've been eyeing. But wait a minute...I'm a cheapskate...those things are $400 bucks and I don't really see myself spending $30 each on the discs (I got suckered it to buying a few $30 dollar DVD's when they were hot). I'm also a bit cynical and I have to believe there is something out there that will eventually overtake Blu-Ray. Oh wait, there is...it's called Digital Downloads! I know some of you out there are probably saying yea right, there's no way digital copies will ever outsell hard copies of movies, but I beg to differ. Just look at the music industry, Album sales dropped 9.5% in 2007 and digital sales surged 45% according to an article on the NY Times website. Do we really thing the same won't happen for movies? Apple just revamped the Apple TV to include movie rentals directly from your TV, meaning you don't have to download them to your computer first, you just click on your remote and you watch the movie without ever leaving your recliner. Several other companies are doing the same types of things. Netflix has all ready instituted a download service in an attempt to get a share of the downloaded media market. Amazon is supposedly starting up it's own service called "Amazon Unbox" for movie purchases and rentals.

So now what do I do, purchase a Digital Download set top box, just use my MacBook to play back movies to my TV, or just pony up the cash for a Blu-Ray player that is going to go obsolete in a few years anyway? Let's just all remember that I'm a cheapskate that fully believes someone should make the perfect piece of hardware at an unbelievably cheap price for me to use for years to come without going completely out of date...am I living in disillusion?? probably! If someone would make a set top box that had a Blu-Ray drive in it so I could play Blu-Ray movies if I wanted to, AND a digital download feature that would download movies over the internet I would probably consider it. But I said the same thing about set top boxes that played Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs, and those turned out to be $800 bucks! Ooh, I have another idea...maybe we should put the government in control of deciding the whole mess! Maybe I need to just be content with my trusty standard definition DVD's. That government part was heavily sarcastic just in case nobody caught that.

The real reason I write this is so that you all understand the options out there and you don't go out and spend your hard earned money on something that may be obsolete in a few years. I'm not saying not to, I'm just saying buyer beware. Please feel free to post any comments you have about the whole situation.

Microfilm

I know what you're thinking, this is an adventure blog, so why is he writing about microfilm? Well, let me explain, I was at the library today doing some research on the City Flag for a video at work when I ran across the front page of the newspaper the day I was born. Maybe that doesn't constitute an adventure, but it's kind of cool anyway.

Everyone always told me that it snowed on my birthday (April 14, 1980), but somehow it just didn't seem real. So it was interesting to see the front page describe an irregular snow in mid-April. I scanned the article so everyone could see it too. Also, notice the very top...Cards Falter. You don't know how happy it makes me to read that!