http://thenobot.org Zack Steinkamp's photos, videos, and writings. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 04:00:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I went for a big hike today. I've been up Mission Peak a bunch of times, and I've always been curious about the the transmission antennas on the peaks to the south. In looking at the map, I knew that the peaks had names -- Mt. Allison and ... http://thenobot.org/2010/03/21/peak-trifecta/ Pop and I went up Mission Peak on a beautiful January morning. We took the "normal" path up the Hidden Valley trail then cut across Hidden Valley on the Grove Trail to Horse Heaven Trail to get to the peak. That's definitely the best way up and down. http://www.ebparks.org/files/Mission_Peak_map.pdf We took Horse ... http://thenobot.org/2010/02/02/mission-peak/ I firmly believe people are well intentioned.  We really want to be good and do the right thing.  One thing that helps to guide us through life are our beliefs:  Who is in charge?  What does this all mean?  Why are we here? It is a faith in our own answers ... http://thenobot.org/2010/01/20/is-god-a-democracy/ Divide By Six This one is simple, but I'm surprised that not enough people know it.  My tip secret to divide the bill total by six. Others use shortcuts like "twice tax", but that works out to over 18% now.  Still a decent baseline to round up or down from.  Another shortcut ... http://thenobot.org/2010/01/20/tip-tips/ Photos available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenobot/sets/72157622954200256/ http://thenobot.org/2009/12/07/25-hours-of-thunderhill/ 0035-CRW_1580, originally uploaded by thenobot. Some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend 2009. http://thenobot.org/2009/11/30/thanksgiving-photos/ Kite at Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, originally uploaded by thenobot. No kites allowed! http://thenobot.org/2009/11/30/kite-at-don-edwards-wildlife-refuge/ Normal: Silly: Lyrics: Going for a walk Going over the corn field Come to a cave Stretch out your hand Touch a wet nose Oh it's a bear! Open the door, Home at last... http://thenobot.org/2009/06/06/oh-its-a-bear/ My folks used to live in the Santa Cruz mountains -- where it's nice and dark. They had a hot tub outside. When I'd visit, a dip in the tub at night was usually a nice thing. A couple of times, I'd luck out and spot a ... http://thenobot.org/2009/04/20/satspotting/ I started a job a few weeks ago where we're using Ruby on Rails. I had never used it before, and am starting to learn why it has been able to grow as quickly as it has -- it's just damn cool in a lot of ways. One technique we ... http://thenobot.org/2009/04/16/transparent-access-to-a-serialized-column-in-activerecord/