Michael,

This Monday, Mar 12 at 2:00 pm, Boulder North Gym, everyone is invited to watch the slaughter of the century. Joe Ajello will be pounding me into the walls of a racquetball court. In the old days, 1965-1970 at CU, Joe used to spot me 20 points in handball (21-point game) and beat me every single time. So, if Joe’s handball skills translate into racquetball, this game should test my treachery and trickiness to the ultimate.

Tune in on Tuesday, and I’ll tell you (possibly from the hospital) if I scored any points against Joe.

–rakkity

Tuesday

Hi Patrick,

Yesterday I had my first racquetball games since January. Joe Ajello & I played. He used to be a champion handball player, then switched to racquetball in the 80’s, but this was the first time he’s played since 1985. He’s a lefty, so I served to his backhand on the right side, but his backhand is really good. Then I tried serving to his forehand on the left, and he wasn’t as good with his forehand. He tried to kil the ball a lot and missed, so I beat him in 2 games. My z shots, learned from Dominic, helped a lot. After the 1st 2 games we had only 10 minutes left in our hour, so we played to 9, and he beat me 9-5. But no one was coming to play after us, and he suggested we continue to 15. I managed to catch up to him and beat him 15-10. We were both exhausted afterwards.

Looking forward to our games at Maryland. Do you have any particular times that would be good? Most any afternoon from Mon the 26th to the 29th would be fine.

Love, Dad

Mike, here’s a movie of the moon crossing the face of the sun as viewed a few million miles outside Earth’s orbit by one of the Stereo satellites.
Thought you’d enjoy it.

–rakkity

Mike,

I’ve been enjoying the snow here in all its myriad forms, so much that I’ve been neglecting my duty to the blog. It’s so much more difficult to write something “bloggable” about good times. Sad, distressing, disastrous events make much better copy. But I have to say something about how fine and wonderful the snow is here. It’s 90% air! Take a look at these closeups I shot of some snow that fell a couple of days ago on our garden.

When you multiply this a thousand fold, you get piles of crystals with mostly air around them. No wonder the skiing is so much fun. And no wonder the snow disappears so fast. It just blows away to Kansas in the winds. There has been more than 50 inches of snow here since winter started, and right now all the roads are clear. I even saw a crocus blooming today.

But lest everyone move out here enmasse, I should point out that spring snows here are not like this. The snow is wet and slushy. My memory from the 60’s is not so clear on this, but that’s what the Boulder Daily Camera says. I’ll let you know.

rakkity

PS: I’ve found a racquetball partner! We’ll see what transpires. Maybe I’ll break my right shoulder this time, and we can get some more X-rays on the blog? (Just some dark humor loved by the blogmeister.)

Dear Michael,

As we departed our Topeka motel with fearless driver Patrick manning the truck, we all realized that today would be the last day of our journey into the golden west. We’d been watching the weather channel each night, and now examined the grasslands closely for the promised signs of snow. On and on we drove through the endless prairies , livened only by the occasional oil well drilling into the earth with its proboscus driving into the flesh of the earth like a giant mosquito. Aha! Near Abilene (birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to the informative billboards) we started to see patches of snow on the northward slopes around the road. The snow gradually became more extensive, until about 100 mi from the Colorado border the snow was continuous, covering the corn stubble in the farms to either side. We stopped at a Starbucks surrounded by oddly situated pseudo palms in the snow.

The wind gusted enough to make the truck steering a little dicey. At one point we slowed to a crawl seeing cars strewed in random directions on the road. There had been ground blizzards, and ice on the road made a couple of cars spin out of control, one in the median strip gully, and the other in the ditch to the right. Luckily for them, some kind soul in a pickup was using a chain to drag cars back onto the road. By the time we left Kansas at the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” sign the road was clear, but the wind continued to gust.

Unknown to us, roads into Boulder were beginning to be closed due to high winds. At about the time we hit the Denver-Boulder turnpike, I 25 was closed between Denver and Fort Collins due to ground blizzards. Colo. 119 between Golden and Boulder was closed, as was the Longmont-Boulder “diagonal” highway. Blissfully ignorant of this, we tooled into Boulder onto the Foothills Parkway, turned East on Valmont road, and a few minutes later we were parking the car at Edison and Galileo streets opposite our Darwin Ct home. We’d been hearing about the 48 in of snow Boulder had had over the past 3 weeks. It was too dark to see, but maybe in the morning we’d see some big drifts.

Using the keys that our friend Fred Thrall had been keeping for us, we hauled in our foam pads, blankets and sleeping bags, and hit the hay. That night the banshees woke us up with their howls. Through the skylights over our bed we could see the bare limbs of trees swinging around, but no wind damage was done in our neighborhood. The wind speed got up to 115 mph , so it was a true “Chinook” (a down-slope over 90 mph). The next day dawned clear and warm, a perfect day for unloading the truck (that doesn’t look like 48 in of snow!) . Elsewhere in the Boulder area, some home and cars had been damaged by flying debris, but we saw no obvious damage ourselves. Patrick drove up to Lake Eldora ski area for a few hours of well-earned snow boarding. Our skier friends, Chuck & Esther, said that Eldora probably has the best snow in Colorado right now. Considering the poor snow in the East and in Europe, it may be the best snow in the world!

By early afternoon, with the help of Boulder friends and a couple of hired kids, we filled the house with boxes. In the coming weeks it would be like Christmas every day, with hundreds of boxes containing only dimly guessed stuff which we can open at our leisure, being surprised over and over again.

rakkity & the Mrs

We won’t get a phone until 8 am, Jan 15 (303 449 2125). DSL will be available from 5 pm (we hope).

Gallery

rakkity’s first snow pics:

Michael,

It’s Saturday evening and we’ve made it to Topeka now, just one state away from Colorado. No sign of snow here! Balmy, almost shirt-sleeve, sunny weather here in eastern Kansas. But we expect that to change as we rise onto the high plains. I think we have about 450 mi to go, so we should arrive in Boulder before dark, unless the winds blow us back into Kansas.

Our friend Chuck in Boulder says the predictions are that there will be high winds tomorrow, but the next storm is not supposed to arrive for a few days. There has been 48 inches of snow in Boulderville since Dec 20, but I suspect that most of it has melted or blown away by now. We’ve got an array of warmies–coats, windbreakers, mittens, caps, long johns–all ready for use when we get onto the high plains tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that we will actually be in winter after experiencing August for the last few weeks.

We use our walkie-talkies constantly to agree between the car & truck when to stop, where to turn, and make random comments. The walkie-talkie should definitely not be under-rated. Lots of times along our trip, we’ve had no cell phone coverage, and the w-t is so easy to turn on, we can jabber on and off about the scenery in short clips as we go. Once when Katie called me and Patrick in the truck, we were even able to patch Beth in through the w-t. Katie is currently in Savannah, and will drive to Atlanta tomorrow. I hope her timing to head west to Boulder won’t lead her into the next storm coming down from the NW.

We got a great view of the St Louis arch as we crossed the Mississippi into Missouri today. The thousands of shiny panels reflected the sun, the clear blue sky and the river like a giant parabolic crystal. We were tempted to stop, but as Beth says, we have to “keep up monentum”.

I haven’t had the nerve to check into our truck today. Last time I did(yesterday), the whole caboodle seems to have shifted rearward a little. I’m afraid if I open the back door now, the boxes and furniture will be pressing hard against the door and I’ll never be able to close it again. Better to wait until we’re at 4871 Darwin Ct, where the stuff can fall out onto the snow covered ground and we can shovel it into the house.

We gained an hour today when crossing from Indiana into Illinois, so we’ve had an extra long day, and I’ve got to hit the hay for another long day tomorrow. Wish us luck on the weather!

–rakkity & co

(I’d already painted a “WHERE’S RAKKITY SIGN?” and was about to post it)

Michael,

We had no idea what had happened to your father–until today when we went on line here in Indiana. We wish him the best of luck in his recovery.

We’d like to drop down to Evansville, but we’re falling behind schedule in our 4-ton truck. We’re only a couple hundred miles north of Evansville right now, but the weather channel tells us that there are raging blizzards ahead. Hard to believe, with the balmy, partly sunny weather here in Indiana. At the eastern side of Kansas, the rain showers are supposed to start changing to snow showers, and on the western side it changes to a full-blown snow storm. (And all I’ve got is sneakers. Our boots are buried under a couple tons of junk in the truck.)

Thursday was a mighty exhausting day. We got the Penske truck, drove it home for 3 burly guys to start packing it. They packed all the heavy stuff until 3 pm, then left us to pack light stuff for 4 more hours. Luckily Patrick could help after 4 pm. We finally got under way, with P. driving. at 7 pm. Drove about 100 mi to Hagerstown, MD, found a motel, and slept the sleep of the righteous.

The next day we motored through Pennsylvania, going only 45 mph up the slopes of the Appalachians. No snow anywhere. All the ski areas are closed. Meanwhile Katie is driving through the south. She is in Charleston, SC right now, dodging tornadoes, sight-seeing, and calling us every day on her cell.

Beth and I have walkie-talkies, so when she drops out of sight driving my car, while P. and I handle the truck, I give her a, “Hey good buddy, got a 10-4 for us? Over and out, rodger dodger.” Patrick’s a great driver, except in parking lots. Last night at a diesel stop, he took out a concrete pylon, leaving it in shards on the ground. No damage to the truck, amazingly enough. We have complete insurance coverage, but we’ve learned to make wide, wide turns.

We’ll contact you again in Kansas. We hope to get to Salina by nightfall.

Again, best wishes and hope for complete recovery for your Dad.

–rakkity, the Mrs, and P.

Mike,

Last night Dominic and I had what may be (but maybe not) our last games. Dom started off by wiggling his right wrist under my face, saying, “My wrist isn’t quite back to normal. I can’t really bend this hand back as much as I used to.” That being said, we went on to split 4 very close games. No one got less than 11 points out of 15. Dom showed no sign of weakness.

Right at the end of the 4th, there was a knock on the door and there was Dom’s boss, Bob, and his son Jason. They wanted to play team racquetball, we said sure, and we warmed up a little. Jason was prone to smashing the ball as hard as he could, without finesse, but his reaction time was amazingly short. (Not surprising, him being half the ages of his doddering partners.) Bob, however, hit the ball carefully, favoring control over speed. He’s a veteran of league racquetball, and is a very tough player.

Not being used to the close quarters (after all, a court is a small place for 4 guys swinging racquets), one of my back swings swept off Bob’s googles, and another one tapped his nose lightly. No damage done, luckily, but instead of hovering behind me, he backed a little further away. Once when the ball was coming toward me with him in the way, I bumped into his left side, and swung my arm around his right side to hit the ball. He said, “Hinder!” and we had to replay that volley.

Lots of errant balls smashed into backsides, and there were many near collisions of moving bodies, and lots of “hinders”. Dom and I won the first game handily, and afterwards we stood around resting. Dominic looked at his “previously-used” right hand, and showed us his very red pinkie finger. He said, “I’m going to have to sit this game out and let my hand rest.”

So Bob, Jason and I played cut-throat. Bob really got into gear in this game, and beat Jason and me soundly (15-8-6). At the end, Dominic came back to the court, flexing his damaged hand. With a rueful grimace, he said that he wasn’t going to be able to play at all. The hand wasn’t feeling any better. So we said our goodbyes, and arranged for maybe, possibly, hopefully, one more game this coming Saturday. I shook Bob’s and Jason’s hands, and wished them a merry Christmas, and they wished me a wonderful life in Colorado.

Now it’s up to the gods to decide whether to heal Dom’s hand or not. Two days is a relatively short time for a bad finger to improve, so I’m thinking we may have played our last game.

–rakkity

Mike,

Last night Dominic and I had what may be (but maybe not) our last games. Dom started off by wiggling his right wrist under my face, saying, “My wrist isn’t quite back to normal. I can’t really bend this hand back as much as I used to.” That being said, we went on to split 4 very close games. No one got less than 11 points out of 15. Dom showed no sign of weakness.

Right at the end of the 4th, there was a knock on the door and there was Dom’s boss, Bob, and his son Jason. They wanted to play team racquetball, we said sure, and we warmed up a little. Jason was prone to smashing the ball as hard as he could, without finesse, but his reaction time was amazingly short. (Not surprising, him being half the ages of his doddering partners.) Bob, however, hit the ball carefully, favoring control over speed. He’s a veteran of league racquetball, and is a very tough player.

Not being used to the close quarters (after all, a court is a small place for 4 guys swinging racquets), one of my back swings swept off Bob’s googles, and another one tapped his nose lightly. No damage done, luckily, but instead of hovering behind me, he backed a little further away. Once when the ball was coming toward me with him in the way, I bumped into his left side, and swung my arm around his right side to hit the ball. He said, “Hinder!” and we had to replay that volley.

Lots of errant balls smashed into backsides, and there were many near collisions of moving bodies, and lots of “hinders”. Dom and I won the first game handily, and afterwards we stood around resting. Dominic looked at his “previously-used” right hand, and showed us his very red pinkie finger. He said, “I’m going to have to sit this game out and let my hand rest.”

So Bob, Jason and I played cut-throat. Bob really got into gear in this game, and beat Jason and me soundly (15-8-6). At the end, Dominic came back to the court, flexing his damaged hand. With a rueful grimace, he said that he wasn’t going to be able to play at all. The hand wasn’t feeling any better. So we said our goodbyes, and arranged for maybe, possibly, hopefully, one more game this coming Saturday. I shook Bob’s and Jason’s hands, and wished them a merry Christmas, and they wished me a wonderful life in Colorado.

Now it’s up to the gods to decide whether to heal Dom’s hand or not. Two days is a relatively short time for a bad finger to improve, so I’m thinking we may have played our last game.

–rakkity

Mike,

Don’t put this on your blog calendar please, but it looks like the last racquetball game between Patrick & me (and also the first since breaking my shoulder ligaments) will occur on Jan 3, 2007. That’s the first day the UMd gym re-opens and the last day before we pack up the Penske truck, so we are locked firmly into that date.

The last one or two rakkity-dominator games will be this week. I’m reminding the Dom right now, as he returns from a trip.

Stay tuned.

–rakkity

—————————–

On another subject: Now that I have X11 on my mini, I have also installed xv and the gimp. And they work! So I don’t feel quite so crippled now, and finally, the Mac OS is living up to my expectations. The next test will be to see if I can get a gui interface going between the UMd linux machines and my mini. With a slow connection, it won’t be useful, but if it works at all, it bodes well for Colorado, where I will have a fast connection, come hell or high water!

Ed

My painting of the kitchen was going along swimmingly, and the walls that were finished looked good, if I do say so myself. We had just had new Silestone counters, oak cabinets, lights, and a new window put in, and except for the unpainted walls, everything was fresh and bright. Each workday morning I would get up a half hour early and paint about 50 square feet. I had been doing this for a week, and cleaning up completely afterwards before Beth rose. Then one morning at breakfast, Beth suddenly noticed. “That wall looks better than the other one”, she remarked over her coffee, “Have you been painting?” I admitted the sneaky deed, and pointed out the one wall and part of the ceiling that I needed to do. 

The next morning, I got up early as usual, and went down to the kitchen. Not planning to surprise Beth anymore, I had left the half-full gallon of paint on the counter, where it sat with its lid on, resting on a couple of sheets of newspaper. I spread some newspapers out on the floor and counters under the part of the ceiling I was going to paint that morning. Rather than stir up the paint, I decided to turn the can upside down and let it mix by itself while I toasted a bagel. I flipped over the can, and had just barely leaned over towards the toaster oven, when I realized the paint can’s lid wasn’t seated in the can. Paint was gushing out from under the can onto the newspaper, and waves of paint were now streaming towards the bare parts of the counter, aiming for the floor. Our new, precious oak floor! I envisioned creamy latex paint all over the oak, flowing in under the stove and the refrigerator, where it would take days to clean it out.

“Beth will kill me”, I thought. as I grabbed for the now almost empty can and managed to set it upright, while staunching the flows with newspapers from other parts of the counter.

Beth chose that moment to pad blearily into the kitchen. I shouted, “Newspaper! More newspaper!”. Like Florence Nightingale throwing a tourniquet on a war casualty, Beth jumped into the fray. Working together we absorbed the half gallon of spreading paint with bunches of newspaper, flopping them into the kitchen trash can. It took about a half hour to clean up the counter, but, thanks to a week’s worth of the Washington Post, we had managed to confine the flow to a few horizontal square feet, and somehow none of of the half gallon dripped on the floor. 

And Beth didn’t kill me. In fact she was very nice about the whole thing, and didn’t make me grovel or hire a competent painter.

–rakkity

Mike, for your triple monitor: Apollo 17 Panorama

(Mike took the challenge and captured this image from his triple monitor set-up.)

And the guy who made that gigapixel picture wasn’t first. (As he sort of admitted by qualifying his picture as the first earth-based one.) You can download any of several hundred 23,000 x 23,000 pixel images (1.2 gigapixel) fromhere