Photographer, Dilettante

Circuit City Begins Liquidation

2009-01-18T08:23:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I happened to be shopping next door to a Circuit City and when I came out at around 9:45, I saw a line. I guess people wanted to see what sort of sales there would be on the first day of Circuit City's liquidation. I didn't think that they'd have any drastic reductions yet, since they are planning to complete liquadation somewhere in March, but who can resist standing in a line?!

Even though nearly every item had a special sticker on it, the "sale" prices were still a bit too high for me - still well above what I could get the stuff on Amazon for. For some reason, Circuit City only had one cash register open, and there didn't seem to be more than 4-5 members of staff on the floor, even though there had to have been 100-125 people standing in that line with me, and lots more people streaming in after that. Meh.

Finding Duplicates in Excel

2009-01-08T18:42:00.013-05:00

Here's an easy way to find duplicate entries in excel using excel's OR function. This method is pretty much obsolete in Excel 2007 and above since it has a built-in duplicate finder/eraser, but for earlier versions, such as Excel 2003, this is still a useful trick.

Let's say you have a list of customer numbers and names and need to find duplicated entries. This sample list is unrealistically short, so imagine a list like this with hundreds of entries.

Using excel's OR function, we can check to see if the entry above or below a particular row contains the same number. To facilitate the calculation, create a new column in front of the data you wish to check.

Then enter the calculation into cell A2: =OR(B2=B1, B2=B3)

The logic behind this calculation will return a TRUE response if EITHER of the conditions are met. It looks to see if either the cell above (B1) or below (B3) cell B2 is a duplicate. Copy this formula down.

Remember that in order for this formula to work, the list of customer numbers will need to be sorted first, so that duplicate entries show up adjacent to each other. You can apply an auto-filter or just data/sort the list.

In this case, sort by customer number.

After the list is sorted, column A will show TRUE for the entries which are duplicated. To group the TRUE entries and find them more easily, you can further sort the list by column A, or apply an auto-filter to the sheet, or you can apply conditional formatting to column A to highlight TRUE entries in color.

Review of Skydiving at Skydive Orange! with pictures

2008-09-23T21:42:00.014-04:00

A video of my, and 4 of my friends', tandem skydiving adventure! I remixed our individual tapes into one video.

So we decided to go skydiving/parachuting! The closest (or rather, best known) drop zone to Washington, D.C. is Skydive Orange, located in Orange County, Virginia. From Fairfax / Northern Virginia, it's about a 1.75 hour drive. We reserved noon as our time to arrive so I expected to take the class and that we'd jump by 2 PM, tops. We arrived at noon, signed our lives away on their legal waivers, took a short 10 MINUTE class on how we would jump tandem, and then waited until 7:30 PM to jump!

/RANT

That was not a typo. We did not jump for seven and a half hours after our arrival. And this place is out in the sticks so there was nothing to do there. Literally. There were some wheeled carts laying around, so we rolled around the pavement like idiots for seven-odd hours, while the other people waiting sat and laughed at our antics.

It was especially aggravating because several people who came with, or after us, went and jumped before us. They were also tandem jumpers, so I didn't understand why we were put so far back in the schedule. We repeatedly asked the front desk when we might jump, or if we could just get an idea of our jump window so we could drive around and maybe get some food, but we were just told curtly each time that we would know when to jump when we saw our names on the whiteboard. Keep in mind that the jump was a healthy $255 - I'm not expecting the world, but just a little consideration of our situation would have been appreciated.

In any case, we ended up jumping just around sunset. It was gorgeous and nearly made me forget the wait of the previous seven hours. However, my pictures, which cost $125, all came out black. If we had gone earlier, when there was sunlight, my pictures would have come out much better. Actually, my friends got great pictures - it was just that my photographer messed up some settings on his camera so they just all came out bad. So the pictures I have posted here are either taken from my friends, who had decent photographers, or heavily edited versions of my severely-underexposed pictures. My skydving video, however, came out pretty nice.

To be fair, I wrote an email to Skydive Orange with a complaint about the wait and the uselessness of my photo package, and a request of at least a partial refund on the pictures, and they wrote back apologizing for the long wait, and offered a refund on my photos.

/The Jump

But the jump was so fantastic! Here are my observations on how it felt to go skydiving, and some pictures of us skydiving.

We went up in a twin-engine plane, and halfway up, the instructor strapped me into his harness, as he was the one wearing the parachute. In the plane we were squeezed in with 21 other people like sardines. There were some solo jumpers who sat up front and they jumped at around 8,000 feet - watching them jump and perform flips in the air made all of us even more excited about our own upcoming jumps.

We went up to 13,500 feet (about 2.5 miles in the air) when one of the instructors opened the bay door. I was the first one on the bench so my instructor stood up and started inching me toward the open door, and when I reached it, he began a count:

1. leaned me out slightly
2. leaned back in
3. vaulted out

It's was not a slow three-second count; all three counts occured within a single second!

I've been told, and have read on other websites about skydiving experiences, when asked "how does it feel to go skydiving?", that it would feel like a cushion of air when I first left the plane. Not quite! The sensation was that of falling at full speed, like a rock, and it was just the craziest feeling because the idea of jumping out of a speeding plane is so counter-intuitive. When you jump, you're falling fast, and you know it! The sensation was like nothing I could have imagined.

They also told us that in the first few seconds out of the plane we would need to take deep breaths, but it was really hard to breathe. The air was cold and was just rushing by, and in those first few seconds, I honestly felt as though I had forgotten how to breathe, and that my heart had stopped beating. The feeling was so exhilarating, of being completely disconnected from the world, of having nothing to hold on to, and nothing to hold on to me.

I wanted to scream at first, but I couldn't at first - nobody did! At least not until 15 seconds or so into the jump when I finally started taking "normal" breaths, and finally realized what was happening! Then I just let it all out and started screaming at the top of my lungs, only I couldn't even hear myself over the rushing wind around me.

Just under a minute went by when the chute opened up. I've read that you don't actually move up when this happens, but in any case, I felt like I was being pulled up by like god or something, or maybe the feeling of a rock that has just fallen from the sky and has smashed into a pool of water.

We then floated for about 4 minutes. The instructor pulled on his parachute a few times, making us speed from side to side. Again, being suspended in the air just gliding down, experiencing the sunset from a mile in the sky was just indescribable. It was serene and I felt so at peace with everything.

The landing was surprisingly soft. We were still moving very fast as we approached the ground, and we started moving much more horizontally than before. The grass continued zipping past us, and finally the instructor landed - tandem skydivers stick their feet out forward at this point, so I ended up landing by sitting on the grass. It was all very gentle and not at all what I had imagined.

Although I'm a little bit leery about going to Skydive Orange again, I would definitely go skydiving again. If the price weren't so high, I'd proabably go do it every weekend. It was just so liberating to be disconnected from the world, even if only for 5 minutes.

Total Cost: $255 (tandem jump) + $125 (picture/video package) = $380.00 for 5 minutes of total liberation

Pictures of Great Falls, McLean

2008-07-25T22:56:00.002-04:00

Great Falls is just a few minutes drive from Falls Church, VA and offers some pretty sweet sights.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonovyas/ for the full set of pictures.

Shenandoah River Panorama

2008-07-05T23:22:00.006-04:00

Click to see the full-size pan of the river.

A set of pictures stitched together. From a public launch point along the Shenandoah River in Charles Town, West Virginia.

DC's Folklife Festival 2008

2008-06-29T22:40:00.004-04:00

I went to DC this weekend to check out Amnesty International's Guantanamo exhibit. I didn't know that the Smithsonian folklife festival was going on as well, but it ended up being the more interesting of the two activities of the day.

Anyways, the AI exhibit had very few visitors and a lot of AI staffers. I hesitated because I'm always apprehensive about such situations (where the organizers of an event significantly outnumber visitors), but I decided to take a look at the cell since I had made the trip. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it was underwhelming. The exhibit was just a re-created jail cell with a staffer explaining the plight of those held at Guantanamo.

This year's folk life festival centered on Texas, NASA, and Bhutan. An eclectic mix to be sure; Bhutan ended up being the only part of interest to me. The NASA exhibit seemed to be more geared toward kids, and the Texas exhibit was boring.

Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon

I started of by listening to a lecture on traditional Bhutanese archery. A few members of the royal family were on hand to demonstrate:

The lecturer waxed poetic about the finer points of archery, and how he believed bow-making to be one of the more skilled arts in the world. I listened for a while before moving on to the cuisine exhibit. There a crowd was listening to a mother/son pair discuss the food culture of Bhutan.

Chili and cheese, the national dish of Bhutan. Apparently, a New York food critic, Ruth Reichl, had declared that Bhutanese cuisine was the worst in the entire world. The son, a former monk, explained that Bhutan had many regions, and thus, many different regional cuisines, so it wasn't fair to lump all the regions together. But they wanted to show this one dish in particular because it was the one universal dish that was eaten across the country. Note that those are actually red hot chili peppers - the dish doesn't contain meat, as one might think based on the name. When asked if eating chili peppers would be very spicy, the mother replied that the cheese and spinach made the extreme spiciness bearable!

So the son began to speak again, and explained that meat was eaten very sparingly in Bhutan. It's a predominantly Buddhist country, and if meat is eaten at all, it would only come from an animal that died of natural causes - animals are not generally raised as food and slaughtered in Bhutan.

Congressman Brian Baird (flanked by the Bhutanese ambassador to the US and a member of the Bhutanese cabinet) was on hand to sample the dish -"it's like a red bell pepper, but with a thicker skin", and declared that Ruth Reichl was wrong in her assessment of Bhutanese cuisine. He even seemed to be right at home eating the rice (red rice is a prestige food) and chili with his hands - the preferred way of eating in Bhutan. I'd have tried it myself but the price tag of $9 for four chili peppers and a lump of simulation Bhutanese cheese (made from brie and cream cheese) seemed a bit exorbitant :p.

Water Drops Redux

2008-06-20T00:03:00.003-04:00

Another attempt to capture a water drop with my camera. I think the results are much better than my previous attempt: http://bobbypd.blogspot.com/2008/06/project-365-day-5-water.html.

Canon Digital Rebel XTi. 100mm Macro, 1/2500 second at f/2.8 . ISO 1600.

$4.03 Gas

2008-06-19T16:06:00.004-04:00

So I've hit a milestone. Today was the first time I've ever paid for gas over $4.00. A dubious honor, to be sure! Apparently $4.03 gas was so cheap that there was a long line of cars waiting for it. 1970s much?

Forest Fire

2008-06-16T09:37:00.005-04:00

I ran into a small fire yesterday. It started as a burning pile of leaves, but soon spread to the trees above and the brush around the leaves. It looked like some girls were doing something in the parking lot, and then suddenly ran - maybe they were smoking and their cigarette butts ignited the leaves.

Project 365 - Day 5: Water

2008-06-08T23:19:00.004-04:00

It's a bit clichéd, but I wanted to try it anyways. It was surprisingly difficult to freeze the motion of the falling water; I had to snap over a hundred shots just to get a handful of pictures where the drops were even still in the frame. I'll try this shot again next week to see if I can improve.

Canon Digital Rebel XTi. ISO 1600, 1/500 second at f/5.6. EF 70-300mm lens at 300mm.

Project 365 - Day 4: Underground

2008-06-07T15:48:00.006-04:00

I went into DC today. I probably shouldn't have because the temperature was 95 degrees with 100% humidity, but oh well; what's art without suffering, eh? I went around to the the various memorials that I've never visited before: Lincoln, World War 2, and the Vietnam Wall, among others - and I was plastered with sweat after the walk.

1/25 second at f/4.0. 17-85mm lens at 17mm. ISO 1600.

This is a picture of an underground metro station - the Smithsonian stop. People always remark on the beauty of the vaulted ceilings, and I agree. Though the subway system in DC is no match for the one in New York City, it's much better looking. I was actually surprised at how many other people were also out fighting the heat. Click on any of the pictures to go to my complete flickr album for today's foray.

Project 365 - Day 3: Macro Flowers

2008-06-06T17:55:00.004-04:00

I tried using my macro lens again today. I even used my tripod, but this was the best shot I could get - the tripod I have is pretty crappy and really isn't meant for use with a SLR. I probably should have stopped down the lens a bit more because the upper edge of the flower is still a bit out of focus.

Picture taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. ISO 200; 1/400 second at f/9.0. Canon EF 100mm Macro lens.

Also, 48 hours after the tornado, we've finally got power again. Dominion Power took their sweet time...

Project 365: Day 2 - Trees

2008-06-05T19:36:00.002-04:00

So this was the other house in my neighborhood to have a tree fall due to the tornado. Unfortunately, this neighbor was not as lucky as the one in the previous post.

Naturally, I was not the only one on the scene with a camera.

Taken with a Powershot SD500. ISO unknown; 1/636 seconds at f/2.8.

Project 365: Day 1 - The Aftermath

2008-06-05T14:18:00.014-04:00

I was going to start my "Project 365" yesterday, the thing where you post a new picture every single day for a year, but the tornado and subsequent power outage put that on hiatus.

Idea from: http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

A tornado, in northern Virginia! It's been 24 hours and there is still no power on my street, probably because there are several trees lying on the road on top of the wires.

Taken with a digital Rebel XTi. ISO400; 1/160 seconds at F/7.1. Canon EF-S 17-85mm lens at 85mm.

There were two fallen trees that I found out about. One next door to us, which, thankfully, only took down the neighbor's fence (and power lines). Then there was another down the street, which was apparently sucked up out of the ground and then thrown onto this one dude's house...naturally, as is always the case when misfortune befalls another, there were plenty of curious neighbors armed with cameras swarming the scene.

In any case, the lack of power made for a boring (and hungry) night. My dad didn't want anyone leaving the house, and our stove was crippled by the lack of electricity, so we ate buns and sandwiches for dinner. Savage!

2008 Honda Accord Coupe LX-S, Pictures, part 2

2008-06-02T23:33:00.015-04:00

A few pictures from the interior of the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe. A continuation from the first part of the Review, found at: http://bobbypd.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-of-2008-honda-accord-coupe-lx.html.

Unlike the Civic (which used mostly LEDS), the Accord uses actual dials on its instrumentation panel.

You've heard it before probably, but the Accord has a lot of buttons on the center instrument panel. After a while it grows on you, but I still take a while before finding the exact button I'm looking for - not fun when I'm driving!

The space in front of the clock is a perfect place to stick a GPS unit on (you can see the cradle for my Garmin 360 in this picture). The CD player has room for 6-cds. The steering wheel has buttons for radio/CD station, volume control, and cruise control.

The space in the back is quite limited in the Honda Accord Coupe. The rear windows are also small and really hard to see out of while driving. This is the Ivory-colored cloth interior.

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Things to Do in Las Vegas, A Guide with Pictures

2008-06-01T23:07:00.020-04:00

A series of posts about possible things to do - other than gambling or partaking in the nightlife - in Las Vegas. With pictures.

My brother accrued enough comp points to room and feed me at a hotel (Bally's, on the Strip, no less!) so I decided to fly out to Vegas to sightsee and to see the family. The comp didn't cover airfare, so I booked a ticket with JetBlue thru Expedia; I got the ticket less than a week in advance, so it was a little pricey, but the hotel room was only reservable for a particular week, so there wasn't much I could do. It was a direct flight and every seat had a TV so I guess I can't complain. Well, the flight attendants did talk pretty loudly while everyone tried to sleep, and they were red-eye flights, but eh.

The Fountains at Bellagio

Bally's was nice enough. My room had a queen size bed, a little wet-bar, a sitting area, and of course, a bathroom. The one thing it was missing was a wireless internet connection - there were plenty of wifi signals bouncing around, but all of them required payment. I asked about the business center, but I scoffed at the price of $5 for 5 minutes of internet usage. Since I needed directions to the various sights I had hoped to see, I gave up and paid $12.95 for the wired, in-room, internet connection for 24 hours.
Vegas in Three Days - Links
Las Vegas - Day One: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
Las Vegas - Day Two: Glass Skywalk at Grand Canyon West
Las Vegas - Day Three: Red Rock Canyon
Flickr Album - Las Vegas Shenanigans
Besides the above attractions, there were lots of things to do and see in the city itself. It was interesting enough to walk through the various themed casinos (to try my hand at the tables!), and along the streets to see the various casino frontages. I thought the hot, dry air was refreshing, but make sure to bring/buy lotion and eye drops!

The Fremont Street Experience. As opposed to The Strip, Downtown is pretty kitschy, and the casinos kinda dark and depressing, but might as well go for the experience eh?

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Las Vegas - Day Three: Red Rock Canyon Pictures

2008-06-01T12:53:00.015-04:00

Red Rock Canyon was an easy 20-minute drive out of Las Vegas. We just took Route 159 West straight down; it's got a lot of traffic lights while you're still in the city itself, but it's the most direct route. Getting in is $5 per car.

As always, click the image to see it full-size.

Not surprisingly, the canyon is named for red rocks.

Red Rock has a bunch of hiking trails (list available here) dotted along the canyon range. To get to the various parking points, visitors drive along the one-way 14-mile scenic trail (shared by joggers and bikers) - maps are provided at the visitors center.

Places for rock scrambling are plentiful along the various trails.

The first stop we came to, Calico 1, along the scenic loop seemed to have the most visitors looking for photo-ops. There was a rather steep hill leading to some rocks which about a quarter of the people scrambled up. Shoes with better traction would probably be a good idea here (as in any other canyon). After getting our pictures, we descended the rocks and walked back up to the parking area...to be honest, after that, my friend and I were already winded, so we probably shouldn't have run up that rock with such gusto!

The entire scenic route was well-paved, but there were certain hiking trails accessible only through dirt roads. We decided to go on Keystone Thrust, which entailed a short 5-minute drive up a bumpy dirt road. After parking, we first took the .15 mile walk to see a spring, and, man, after walking back up to the parking area, we were just completely drained (yeah, I need to start going to the gym more often!). I really wanted to see the Keystone, described as the most significant geological formation of the park, but...

We decided that soaking up the scenery from the car along the road was just as good. At particularly nice spots, we just parked the car and got out to take pictures. Traffic along the road is light and as it is a one-way road, there is plenty of room for faster cars to pass. Red Rock's Scenic Road is basically free and just a short drive out of Las Vegas proper, so it's definitely something to consider on a trip to Las Vegas.

see also:
Flickr Album - Las Vegas Shenanigans
Las Vegas - A Guide
Las Vegas - Day One: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
Las Vegas - Day Two: Glass Skywalk at Grand Canyon West
Las Vegas - Day Three: Red Rock Canyon

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New York to Tax Online Purchases

2008-06-01T12:15:00.003-04:00

New York is so outrageous with its taxes. Starting today, they are going to start charging taxes on purchases made at online retailers - until today, they only charged taxes on online purchases from retailers who had a real physical presence (brick and mortar) in the state. Both Amazon.com and Overstock.com are suing the state and hoping for an injunction on this new law:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/30/technology/yang_amazon.fortune/index.htm

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956576-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Las Vegas - Day Two: the Glass Skywalk at Grand Canyon West

2008-05-30T22:32:00.035-04:00

A review with pictures. In short, it was huge rip-off. At every single stage of the trip to the Hualapai glass skywalk (and thus, Grand Canyon West), the operators charged the most eye-popping, exorbitant fees that tested the very limits of shamelessness. If you go, prepare to feel violated!

The trip began with a drive down US-93 (passing the Hoover Dam) for 70 miles from Las Vegas. Then Pierce Ferry Road for 30 miles, and then finally onto the mostly-unpaved Diamond Bar Road for the remainder, 20 or so miles. The directions were easy enough, but we nearly missed both turns because the roads were not really marked until we reached the very intersection we had to turn in to.

As always, click the image to see it full-size.

I hope you like driving through dust clouds.

This dirt "road" spanned 14 miles. It's raked, but it's still just gravel and sand, and is quite bumpy. There are winding, very sharp turns, and two-way traffic. Thankfully, there wasn't much traffic, but at points, tour buses zoomed passed us and at one particularly sharp downhill turn, a speeding bus nearly smashed into us, despite the fact that we had pre-emptively pulled into the ditch on the side. When following cars, as in the above picture, we were enveloped in a thick dust cloud and had lots of little rocks striking our car (I'm glad we got a rental!). In some spots, the gravel was a little looser than usual, which made for moments when my sister-in-law lost control of the rear wheels - a 4x4 would have been good for this drive. This path lasted about 40 minutes.

Joshua Tree Forest on the way.

However, the rest of the drive was scenic, and the 2.5 hours from Vegas passed quickly.

When we got to the visitor's center/helipad/landing strip, we paid $20 to park our car. We also had to pay $29.95 per person (25% off for kids) for the 5 minute bus ride (the driver also expected gratuities!) to the first point of the canyon. This was the spot with the Glass Skywalk, which cost another $29.95 per person (children ages 4 and up have to pay full price) to enter. We had to place all our bags - and cameras - in lockers.

The Skywalk is not really that impressive.

Cameras are prohibited on the Glass Skywalk, ostensibly to prevent damage to the glass floor. This was obviously BS because the skywalk is advertised to be able to withstand the weight of 71 Million Pounds; to demonstrate the strength of the glass to skeptical visitors, one of the attendants jumped up and down on the glass! If you think that I'm merely whining, consider this: would you really be allowed to walk on a structure that would be damaged from the tiny force of a .5 pound camera falling 2-3 feet? Would you want to walk on such a weak thing? I suspect the real reason that cameras are forbidden is so they can sell their own pictures, for the bargain price of $30 for one single print, or $99 for six prints and the pictures on a flash drive. Alas, we gave in and bought one print.

The glass skywalk itself was unremarkable. After slipping on a pair of disposable shoe slippers, we walked onto the glass. It was a weekday afternoon, so there were only about two dozen visitors, and generally, people fell into one of two categories: those who walked on the clear glass (it's clear, but even at one year old, the glass is already slightly scuffed), and those who clung onto the railing and walked along the sides. I was unimpressed by the view, which was not any better than the view from the edge of the cliffs. As for the glass floor, it was also unimpressive. The skywalk itself cast a shadow on the canyon, and in any case, there was nothing particularly interesting to see below the glass - no, the experience didn't make me feel like I was "walking where the eagles soar". The skywalk is also a lot smaller and narrower than you might imagine - I could walk from one end to the other in about 15 seconds at a normal pace. It is also advertised as being able to hold 120 visitors at once - this is extraordinarily unrealistic; the 24 visitors on the bridge with me were already causing some trouble in moving around the bridge. What's more, the attendants trying to take group pictures frequently asked people to stop or to move out of the view of the camera - so I really don't know how 120 people could be on the bridge at once.

After getting off the glass skywalk, my sister-in-law really wanted pictures (besides the few that the "pros" took for us), so she suggested that she and the kids might get back on the glass while I stepped outside to take some pictures. One of the cashiers told us that would not be possible unless we were going to pay for those pictures...so we just plonked down $30 for one of the ones they took: my sister-in-law figured that since she had already paid so much that she might as well pay some more for the memory.

Walk where the eagles soar...

So really, the Hualapai glass skywalk is mostly a tourist trap and the tagline of "walk the sky" is a fluffy marketing gimmick.

We took the next bus to the second point on the canyon, Guano Point, where the views were much better. Seriously, don't waste your money on the glass skywalk, just skip it, and take the bus right to Guano Point - it doesn't cost extra and the view is gorgeous. Well, you still have to pay for parking and that outrageous bus ride, but I guess after the skywalk, I couldn't complain for someone that wasn't extra. It really is lovely, and the experience of standing atop the mound at Guano Point was, as a fellow visitor uttered, majestic.

Save your money; go directly to Guano Point.

see also:
Flickr Album - Las Vegas Shenanigans
Las Vegas - A Guide
Las Vegas - Day One: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
Las Vegas - Day Two: Glass Skywalk at Grand Canyon West
Las Vegas - Day Three: Red Rock Canyon

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Las Vegas - Day One: Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, with Pictures

2008-05-30T22:31:00.011-04:00

The Hoover Dam is only about 30 miles down US-93 from Las Vegas, so I thought I'd make a half-day trip out of it. The drive was very scenic: it was a sunny day, the sky was bright and blue and the mountains were dramatic.

As always, click the image to see it full-size.

Heading down US-93 to Hoover Dam.

On the way there we passed by Lake Mead, the man-made lake created as a result of the dam. The water was also very blue, and several other cars stopped along the side of the road to take a look and snap some photos. There were also about a dozen people swimming in the lake. I didn't have my trunks, but I'm not sure if I would have wanted to get into the water in any case because there wasn't really any sand, and the "beach" was filled with sharp little rocks. The view was still gorgeous, however. The warm, dry lake breeze was also surprisingly refreshing.

I'd live here. Lake Mead in the background.

The desert and mountain range behind the beach.

Lake Mead.

There were a good number of people at the dam even though it was a Tuesday. Parking was still plentiful (cost: $5 a car on the parking deck, Nevada Side; free if you can find a spot in the small lot on the Arizona side) and the crowds weren't so thick as to get in the way. The dam and the structures around it are built in the art deco style - including the toilets. I overheard one woman remarking how lovely the bathroom was to her husband.

The power plant intake towers. The white lines along the water line indicate a drought.

I couldn't get a great shot of the dam itself since we didn't go on the tour, which is the only way to get into the visitor center observation tower. Still, the scenery from just walking along the dam, and the easy drive from Las Vegas made this visit very worthwhile. We came to the dam from the strip right after a late breakfast, and made it back to the city in time for lunch.

Update/ Actually, Hoover Dam is directly in the path to the Grand Canyon (my entry on that HERE), so you could even fit both in on the same day. If you head out to the dam early in the morning, you'd still have the entire afternoon for the canyon (not to mention a nice break on the long drive!)

see also:
Flickr Album - Las Vegas Shenanigans
Las Vegas - A Guide
Las Vegas - Day One: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
Las Vegas - Day Two: Glass Skywalk at Grand Canyon West
Las Vegas - Day Three: Red Rock Canyon

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A Review of the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe LX, with Pictures

2008-05-25T13:58:00.039-04:00

This is a review of the 2008 Honda Accord LX-S Coupe, 4-Cylinder, Automatic Transmission (Eighth Generation). I bought this car just over a month ago and have put about 1000 miles on it to date. For comparison purposes: I am 6'1" and about 200 lbs. My previous car was a 2007 Honda Civic Coupe, a review of which is here.

more images at part 2 of this review: http://bobbypd.blogspot.com/2008/06/2008-honda-accord-coupe-lx-s-pictures.html

In the time I've had the car, I've filled up 5 times, averaging 21 MPG as my actual real MPG, with about 75% city driving. I use the recommended 87 octane regular unleaded, usually from Sunoco and Exxon. (For comparison, the average MPG of my old Civic was 26 MPG). My lowest MPG has been 17.8 (the first fill-up, mostly city miles) and my highest 24.3 (with 100% highway driving that particular fill-up), giving me a somewhat disappointing MPG. This is definitely not the 21/31 MPG that Honda has advertised - I understand that no car gets its advertised mileage, but still...I wasn't expecting my mileage to be right at their lowest estimate. The 2008 Honda Accord gas tank has a capacity of 18.5 gallons.

phrawr. click to see full-size image.

Everyone I drive by stops and gawks, and I get lots of compliments, so there is no denying that this coupe is a real winner in the looks department (especially this belize blue pearl color) - but you don't need me to tell you - this thing is sexy! I definitely prefer the look of the coupe to the sedan, but that's up to you, though personally, I feel that the 2008 Accord sedan is a real step backward in the looks department from previous generations - it really looks like a Hyundai. So I'm really glad that Honda made the 2008 Accord coupe look radically different from its four-door sibling.

Driving

I feel confident passing cars at highway speeds, and the 4-cylinder, 190-horsepower engine is more than enough for everyday driving. Normal highway speeds keep the engine in the low-2000 RPM range. I sometimes feel like I should have gotten the v6, BUT really, with gas at around $3.80, I'm glad I didn't. And really, the performance of the I4 engine is more than ample for city driving or highway cruising.

The coupe is hard to see around, however. I cannot see down the hood of my car, nor can I see my trunk that well. And really, there's a lot of junk in the trunk, so I'm always concerned about hitting something when backing up. Seeing around the sides of the car is also a challenge, since the curtain airbags take up a lot of space along the sides, reducing the rear side windows to tiny triangles – just barely of any use, and because the sides are quite high.

I'm a tall person and this car fits me perfectly (this was an issue with my Civic). A friend who drives a large SUV said that he somehow feels that my car is more spacious feeling than his - at least in the front seats. The back seats are ok, but headroom is significantly reduced due to the dramatically raked roof, and the legroom is very minimal. I’d suggest only children and/or shorter people should sit back there for long rides. Specs from Honda, Two Door, 2008 Honda Accord Coupe LX:

Interior Measurements
Headroom (in., front/rear): 39.1 / 35.9
Legroom (in., front/rear): 42.2 / 33.1
Shoulder Room (in., front/rear): 58.4 / 54.5
Hiproom (in., front/rear): 56.4 / 46.3
Exterior Measurements
Wheelbase (in.): 107.9
Length (in.): 190.9
Height (in.): 56.4
Width (in.): 72.8
Track (in., front/rear): 62.2 / 62.2
Curb Weight (lbs., MT/AT): 3221 / 3283

Other Stuff:

Fresh from a wash and wax. Phrawr!

This is the 2008 Honda Accord, LX model, so there is no moonroof. This is something I sometimes wish I got, but thinking back to my Civic, I was a little bit concerned about the headroom that it would take up - I'm much happier with so much headroom. The seats are firm, but comfortable, and controlled manually. The LX model comes with 2 power outlets, and an aux jack for iPods, etc, with a 160-watt audio system. The audio system is noticeably weaker than the 270-watt system I had in my Civic, but it's fine. FM reception can be a little bit spotty at times, and I'm not sure why because I didn't have this issue in my Civic; however, most of the time it gets good reception.

Both the driver and passenger have lighted-vanity mirrors, and powered windows and rear-view mirrors. The trunk space is sufficient to "fit in at least two dead bodies", according to the dealer. It really is spacious; however, the rear seats do not fold flat so don't expect to use the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe to haul cargo. The rear seats do fold down, but leave about a 30 degree angle, not flat, and the pass through between the trunk and rear seats is only a square in the middle, maybe large enough for skis, or maybe lumber, to be accommodated.

2008 Honda Accord Coupe, Automatic Transmission, 4-Cyl

Pros: Beautiful, beautiful car; peppy acceleration
Cons: Rather low mileage
The Bottom Line: Good performance, sexy styling, cool extras. Some visibility issues, but nothing you can't get used to.

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Plasq's "Comic Life"

2008-05-21T20:21:00.005-04:00

A quick attempt at making a comic strip with Plasq's Comic Life program. The first time I tried this program at Best Buy, I was hooked and really wanted to get a Mac. Really. Thankfully, Plasq makes a version for Windows too. It's a bit of a system hog, though.

Comparison of Various Mango Juice Brands

2008-05-08T11:57:00.056-04:00

The first in a series of posts reviewing, of all things, Mango juice/Mango drinks. A result of both too much free time, and a surprisingly well-stocked international foods section at nearby grocery stores. Enjoy!

*****

Tropical Grove by Allen's
"Mango Flavored Juice Drink"

Product of Canada

Each Serving:
Cost - $0.25
Size - 8fl oz / Calories - 120 / Fat - 0g / Sodium - 5g / Sugars - 28g

Composition:
15% Juice. Water, Liquid Invert Sugar, Concentrated (Orange, Apple, Grape, Pear, Mango) Juice. Less than 0.5% of Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Yellows #5 & #6.

Taste & Texture:
A thin, orange-yellow colored liquid. It tastes more like a (bad tasting) fruit punch dominated more by pears and grapes than mangoes; even though it's not listed in the ingredients, it also tastes like artificial peach. I can't actually taste any mango, which is not surprising given that of the various fruit concentrates going into this drink, mango is listed last. It's cloyingly sweet and leaves a sour aftertaste. Cheap, but tastes terrible. F. Pass.

*****

Mira
"Mango Premium Tropical Nectar"

Product of Egypt

Each Serving:
Cost - $0.57
Size - 8fl oz / Calories - 130 / Fat - 0g / Sodium - 40mg / Sugars - 31g

Composition:
23% Juice. Water, Mango Puree, Sugar, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Calcium Chloride, Natural Colors (Annatto).

Taste & Texture:
A thick yellow-orange liquid. Actually tastes like mango, and is nice and sweet. There is a hint of something bitter or "industrial" tasting (for lack of a better word) in this drink. It's not unpleasant, but it's just noticeable after the initial sweet flavor. The drink finishes cleanly with no lingering aftertaste. Kinda pricey, but it's alright. C+. Try.

*****

Jumex
"Mango Nectar from Concentrate"

Product of Mexico

Each Serving:
Cost - $0.38
Size - 8fl oz / Calories - 140 / Fat - 0g / Sodium - 40mg / Sugars - 32g

Composition:
30% Juice. Water, Mango Puree from Concentrate, Sugar and/or HFCS, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Beta Carotene.

Taste & Texture:
A thick yellow-orange liquid. Tastes sort of like mango, but no cigar. It's not sweet enough; actually, it's a little on the sour side - like underripe mangoes were used. Leaves a slight sour taste in the mouth. C-. Pass.

*****

Goya
"Mango Nectar"

Product of Canada

Each Serving:
Cost - $0.48
Size - 8fl oz / Calories - 140 / Fat - 0g / Sodium - 5mg / Sugars - 35 g

Composition:
23% Juice. Water, Mango Puree, Liquid Invert Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Ascorbic Acid.

Taste & Texture:
A thick-ish yellow-orange liquid. Of this group of four drinks, tastes the most like mango. It also has a nice mango-ey aroma to it. Nice and sweet, and it has just a right amount of tanginess to it. B+. Buy.

*****

Flag icons from jacorre.com.

Mother's Garden

2008-04-19T21:35:00.010-04:00

Orange tulips from my mom's garden.

Clicking on the above picture will lead to my flickr album for this set.

2008 Honda Accord Coupe

2008-03-29T20:47:00.013-04:00

2008 Honda Accord Coupe LX-S. Belize Blue.

Sweet!

My review of the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe is available at: http://bobbypd.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-of-2008-honda-accord-coupe-lx.html