October 15, 2007
Pretty quiet since my last update. Summer seemed shorter than usual. In local baseball the Mariners improved to 88 wins. A more robust starting pitching staff next year and they should contend for the playoffs. The Seahawks are bumbling along in a weak NFC West as usual. Barring a barrage of injuries (some important ones have occurred), they should make the playoffs. They don't appear to be an elite team, however. Shaun Alexander has not been himself since he signed his big contract before the 2006 season. They needed to reward him for his contributions. However, a long term deal for to a 28 year old running back in the NFL is not all that prudent. We love our season ticket seats and are totally committed to the Seahawks.
Jon is still commuting 42 miles one way to work, Tanner is a senior now, Susan is thinking a lot about Photography these days. Audrey is keeping busy with her Bible Study group and Aunt Ruth in Boston is the happiest - Grandson Connor, the Patriots, and the Red Sox being the reason. However, I may be the happiest of all - I have not had to make a trip anywhere since 2004! We are planning a cruise around the British Islands in June 2008, however. I have 8 months to psych myself up for it. In the meantime I keep busy with my database of over 76,000 pictures. It is like collecting stamps, always looking for more. I will soon start on a project to scan in slides taken 45 years ago by the Supervisor of the Space Needle construction project. I will create a DVD video based on these slides for the current owner of these pictures. In the last three years I have created DVD videos of trips to India and western Europe by friends, WWII pictures taken by Vic Moore, and a history of our Condo development for our Condo's tenth anniversary party. I am starting to think about how to find more historic projects in Seattle to add to the collection.
I won my first eBay auction the other day for a 20+ year old Minolta 70-210 F4 lens (affectionately known as the legendary beer can lens) that doesn't look like it has been ever used. I have tested it against my other lenses (see below) and it is outstanding. The flower and pepper pictures below were taken with that lens. I have added a DVD player to our Home Theater that will play both formats fighting it out in the HD DVD world. High definition DVDs are incredible. With this player, now I don't care who wins the format war.
Below you will see a football picture taken with my 200-500 lens. When Seahawk security saw me in the stands with this lens they made me stop taking pictures - some sort of protection for the copyrighted NFL image or some such nonsense. I can find no such policy at the NFL and a ragtag of such policies at individual stadiums. Of the 32 teams, 18 have no restrictions at all. I would guess that this is some new NFL policy that will creep into most stadiums over time. My new beer can lens is 5.96 inches long - just under the Seahawks stated policy restricting lens 6 inches or longer. My 200-500 is 10 inches extending to 14.
Finally, as part of my never ending technology updates, I am in the process of installing a 40 inch Samsung HDTV with TIVO in our bedroom. The upgrade was triggered by the fact that DirecTv has added new satellite capacity and now has over 70 HDTV channels - going to a hundred by year end. We now have six satellite receivers, four of which are TIVO capable, and three are HDTV capable.
Audrey has become an expert in the world of Apple iPod technology.
As you can see, Audrey and I lead a quiet, technological, wonderful, perfect retirement life.
More pictures with the legendary Minolta 70-210 F4 Beer can Lens.
I wore a tie for the 3rd time in ten years
for our condo tenth(!!) anniversary party. Visit from Cousin Cheryl - at Space Needle.
Panorama from the Space Needle.
Blue Angels passing our Condo (200-500 lens makes a difference) Audrey and new Pike Place Market friend.
Our off key Mexican troubadour in the Market. The 200-500 mm lens again.
Audrey & Cheryl in Elliot Bay (200-500 Lens). Lake Union "Houseboats" (remember Sleepless in Seattle?)
One of the most graceful sights in the world:
Ichiro rounding second on the way to a triple. Ichiro focused on the ball.
WWII Pictures courtesy of C. Victor Moore who traveled with Patton's 3rd army from France to Berlin.
