Hiding in plain site

During June I went to Curacao to go Scuba diving. (I guess for Miss Red Pen I should spell it S.C.U.B.A.) I came back with about 4 hours of video recordings which I trimmed to about 40 minutes, made a DVD and then gave a copy to each of the trip participants.

So, I stayed at the Sunset Waters resort and went diving with Sunset Divers. On one of my dives at the "house reef" I found a Peacock Flounder. The good news is I thought to turn on the camera, the bad news is I had prepped the camera for depths beyond 30 feet and this was in about 15 feet of water. Watch closely near the end of the video to see how the peacock flounder changes color to hide from predators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd1dJcHinEo

Preparing a camera for beyond 30 feet of depth involves putting a red lens on the front of the camera. Since this lens is external to the camera I have to get all the bubbles off it, clear the smears etc. Then you get a red tinted picture until you get to about 30 feet, then the pictures look normal because at 30 feet the color red has been filtered out by the water, and put back in by the lens.

The camera I use isn't made anymore (Moore's law and that 18 month thing). The link below will give you a fairly good idea what my rig looks like, just think tape instead of disc.
http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/sony_dvd101.html

They are putting a new fire alarm system in the building, so for the past hour the whoop whoop, flash flash of the alarm continues to go while the fire marshals try to look in all the rooms and see if we will notice an alarm. Luckily I have permission to bring my IPOD into the facility. The earplugs are in, and the volume is up.

So what am I listening too: Podcast - Car Talk
Songs, etc - BOCA (Best Of College Acapella), Carole King, ABBA, Sarah McLachlan, Lyle Lovett, Janie Frickie, Harry Nilsson, Emo Philips, Carbon Leaf, Imogen Heap, Dire Straits, Blue October, Starship, and more. Maybe next time I'll list the song names. Current Comedian of note -Tim Wilson.

Places to go scuba diving

My next scuba diving trip. I'm traveling with George Mason University on Blackbeard's cruises. Cruise is misnomer. This is a boat that is designed to hold two dozen divers and a crew of five. This is hardcore camping at sea so you can scuba dive. I've been on this boat before, I just haven't been to this location. I'm excited.

Truth in Advertising

Philosophy

My dad was a great philosopher. He doesn't remember how great he was, I guess that's my job. One of my first lessons in philosophy involved a washing machine. Many of my lessons involved fixing and building things for other folks. After all, in the Midwest my parents needed additional income to support four boys and one girl, all about 1 year apart in age. That's a fair amount of food. But I digress. I'm helping dad fix a washing machine and he sends me to find some tool of mass destruction. Probably a left-handed monkey wrench (Dad had a sense of humor). Anyway after an enternity of searching - time was measured the number of times dad said, "Haven't you found that damn thing yet!", I found the tool and proudly carried it to my dad, laying on the floor, dripping in sweat and waste water. I then proclaimed, "It was in the last place I looked!", and dad responded, "I'm glad you stopped looking when you found it". The philosophy lesson here is that you should stop looking when you find things. That could be a significant other, lunch, a magazine, etc. Know when to stop looking

Truth in advertising

I came across the following bargain as I was looking for my next scuba diving trip:

"scuba diving trip aboard the Utila Aggressor July 26 - Aug 2, 2008. $1700 Retail value $2195 Air Fare NOT included; additional $370 plus tips due on board at end of charter. "

The trip normally costs $2195. This special says it only costs $1700, but you have to pay an additional $370 at the end of the trip- for what?. So the cost is really $2070. Why don't they say that?

The airlines are doing the same thing with their baggage fees. The airline ticket might be $500, but then you have to add $25 for your first bag and $50 for the second. They don't want to add the cost to the ticket because the internet pricing systems will see the tickets costs $575 instead of $500.

Catalyst for Change

I had an Uncle who passed away 31/2 years ago. It was termed a "hunting accident" but really he just fell off the tailgate of a pickup as he and his friends were riding to a different pheasant hunting location. He didn't leave a will. He did leave behinds friends and family.
The whole event was a catalyst for change, some good and some bad, but I'm convinced that is how life is mapped out. Unfortunately, just like a rainy campout we always remember the really bad times, but, we have such a struggle to remember the really good times. Put Blue Hill Nebraska in both columns. Put cold beer (for an underage kid) at the end of a wheat harvesting day in both columns.

TDF - Tour De France

I like the TDF. Luckily, I have the benefit of some professionals who have helped me understand the teams, tactics, and just as important - the history. Since Lance retired, it is hard to get local coverage on the day's events -thank goodness for the web. http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

This years tour has changed - there is no Team Time Trial (TTT). When US Postal aka: Discovery would compete it the TTT, I always stayed up to watch the replay at night.

New to Blogging

Signed up, signed in, lets see what happens next.