
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3969016418_bb83ff851d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Burgos Cathedral Angle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3969016418_f78b9b245d_t.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Angle"/>
</a>

I really like cathedrals. They are a testament to what humans can do with good planning, hard work, creativity, patience, and good funding. I am left in awe by the meticulous detail of carving stone after stone after stone with the exact same shape, so that, when stacked together, they form perfect beautiful lines from floor to canopied ceiling. So I have a pillar fetish, so what?

Below are some photos I took during our recent visit to the [Burgos Cathedral](/2009/09/21/burgos-cathedral/) that didn't quite fit in with [the main post](/2009/09/21/burgos-cathedral/). <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968248945_2d5d60fae3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Angle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968248945_72001c2b8e_b.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Angle"/>
</a>

 I also dig vanishing point photography.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968239335_bc960d07ab_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Angle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968239335_5b285de3ed.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Angle"/>
</a>

 If I'd had a tripod, I could have done more depth of field control. Oh well.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968253561_97bdfe3aa6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Angle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3968253561_bfb01a2d8c_b.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Angle"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3969016418_bb83ff851d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Angle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-holy-angles-of-burgos/3969016418_f78b9b245d_b.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Angle"/>
</a>

 This last one is my favorite.


Holy Angles of Burgos


![thumb](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-30-kung-fu-baby/1.jpg)Ever since she kicked me in the kidneys from inside her mother's uterus, I've had [my suspicions](/2009/03/09/first-crib-ornament/) that Nora may, in fact, be a ninja. The video you are about to see is only one piece in a growing mountain of evidence I'm building towards proving my ninja theory. When I'm trying to dress her, sometimes she moves so fast that Jackie Chan would be left blinking in amazement. Imagine trying to get these legs into a pair of trousers!  Here she demonstrates two moves, The Bicycle and The Flying Squirrel.


Kung Fu Baby


![thumb](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-29-noras-first-veggies/2.jpg)Last Friday, the day after her [six month birthday](/2009/09/24/six-months-old/), we took Nora to the pediatrician, who gave us permission to start giving her vegetable puree, fruits, and even meat! Rather than grill her up a good t-bone steak, we've decided to start with the vegetables, so Marga made her a leek, carrot, and potato puree, while I set up the tripod to capture the event on video.  It immediately became obvious that we need to buy a high chair ASAP so that the flailing veggie monster doesn't have to sit on our laps. Also, do they make little baby straitjackets? Those arms are nothing but trouble. She tends to grab at the food end of the spoon, which not only defeats the whole purpose of the spoon user interface, but also makes it really hard to pry away from her, once she has a hold of the end that is easiest to hold on to. If the spoon with the puree is the airplane, and Nora's mouth is the hangar, then her hands are scrambled fighter jets sent to destroy the plane before it can get into the hangar.

It's clear that we have much to learn. The dialog in Spanish goes something like, "Should I stop feeding her yet?" "I dunno, I've never done this!" "Me neither!" Ah, parental cluelessness...isn't it adorable?


Nora's First Veggies


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963180128_717daf98e9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Piensa en Verde">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963180128_628452a51b_t.jpg" alt="Piensa en Verde"/>
</a>

The marketing slogan for the _Heineken_ in Spain is "_Piensa en verde_". This translates to "Think about green", since the word "_en_", which normally means "in" or "on" is how you say to think "about" something, in Spanish. It's just another one of those weird quirks that confuses language learners going in both directions.

My brain, however, always reads the _Heineken_ slogan as "Think _in_ green", which is not necessarily an incorrect translation. I like how it sounds better. It really wouldn't make a bad slogan for them in English. It captures momentum from the "Go green!" environmental movement without actually promising any environmental efforts and works well to help you pick out the color of the product packaging when you see it. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3962370377_7b29e425a1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="This isn't what it looks like!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3962370377_17d565f5a4_b.jpg" alt="This isn't what it looks like!"/>
</a>

 "Um...Dad, this isn't what it looks like!"

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963166198_3617fec7b7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Whoa, it's, like, shiny!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963166198_af73035ae1_b.jpg" alt="Whoa, it's, like, shiny!"/>
</a>

 "Ooh! Shiny!"

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963156224_35739821be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Downin' some brew!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-28-thinking-in-green/3963156224_91a4e63af5_b.jpg" alt="Downin' some brew!"/>
</a>

 "I can taste the hops!"

Any beer consumed during the making of these photographs was consumed by the photographer, not the subject.


Thinking in Green


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-26-zapateros-daughters/3952906067_6a04cd36ee_t.jpg" alt="thumb" class="post-thumb"/>Dear President Barack Obama,

I am writing to you on behalf of a friend of mine, Andrés, who works at the local grocery store and who helped get you elected by witnessing [my absentee ballot](/2008/03/27/absentee-primary-ballot/) when I voted for you. After the recent political scandal involving photos of President Zapatero's daughters with you, he felt such shame and embarrassment that he asked me to write to you on behalf of himself and all Spaniards to apologize and to inform you that all Spaniards are not as rude and disrespectful as Zapatero's daughters...well maybe all the teenagers. While Spain enjoys a similar freedom of the press (I think you can still be fined for publishing material insulting the royal family) as the First Amendment grants Americans, Zapatero has specifically asked all media outlets to refrain from publishing any photographs of his daughters, who are currently 13 and 16. If you can believe it, without any official laws on the books \[_UPDATE: This is incorrect. There **is** a law in Spain that protects all minors from having their photos published._\], the Spanish media actually **_respects the wishes of the president_** and does not publish their images anywhere. I know, what's that about, right? Hence the mild vortex of scandal when the White House released a photo of his daughters (perfectly within your rights, of course) _and the Spanish media published it_, with his daughters' faces pixelated to protect their identities. Zapatero mistakenly stirred up a kerfuffle about it, thus lending importance to the photo. He has now released a statement saying that he understands why the Spanish media published the photos and has explicitly thanked the media outlets that had the respect to not publish it.

This spawned an obvious response of "Hey, buddy! If you're gonna use our tax euros to fly your girls over to meet the most famous person in the world (that's you, sir), and they publish an official picture of the encounter, you'd better believe we're gonna publish the photos!

It just goes to show that just because you can lead a country, run a government, and command an army, doesn't mean you can get your teenage daughters to dress in a way that they don't look like blood-sucking vampires. You and Michelle should keep that in mind.

So anyway, on behalf of Spain and Andrés, "Sorry about that!"

Sincerely, Erik Rasmussen Patriotic Expatriate

[![Zapatero's Daughters](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-26-zapateros-daughters/3952906067_6a04cd36ee.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34598401@N07/3952906067/)

**_Si te ha gustado este poste, por favor haz click en el botón de Digg arriba. Gracias!

If you enjoyed this post, please click on the Digg button above. Thanks!_**


Zapatero's Daughters


Ever since [recently](/2009/09/08/xml-renderer-in-clojure/) being lured by the [siren song of Lisp](/2007/07/06/lisp-enlightenment-and-emacs-frustration/), I've been having some seriously bizarre dreams. Lisp, for me, is _paralyzingly flexible_. It allows for so many programming styles that when I sit down to start using it to tackle a problem, I have no idea where to begin. It's like sitting down at a restaurant and having a menu with 500 items on it. It's paralyzing. [Choice makes humans miserable](/2006/12/22/the-secret-to-happiness/). What is particularly annoying is that, when I'm dreaming at night, _I can see it!_ I can see how the entire application fits together beautifully and elegantly in Clojure (a new flavor of Lisp), with immutable data structures that enable super-efficient non-blocking concurrency. And it's gorgeous! But with consciousness comes the cold reality where _there's no such thing as a perfect computer program_. Or at least not one that does anything useful.

It's been a week or two now since I've looked at Lisp, but the "enlightenment dreams" haven't stopped. Last night, for instance, I was certain that I had a solution to perfectly and elegantly fix ...wait for it... _the entire economy of Spain_. I had it all worked out. Something-or-other would generate job growth, which would stimulate spending, which would generate more jobs, etc. in a perfect heavenly cycle of growth. And I don't even know what "leverage" means, but last night I was convinced I saw the answer to The Big Picture. I think it involved everyone taking a pay cut on Fridays or some silliness. Of course consciousness once again brought acknowledgment of total ignorance.

It's like I have a little miniature version of those nutcases that know a little algebra and claim that can prove that General Relativity is wrong living inside my subconscious. I hate those guys!

Holding the entirety of a complex system in your brain is tiring, too! I wake up exhausted.

I wonder what important problem will won't really be solved tonight. I'll accept requests. Cold fusion? Anti-gravity? Time travel?


Enlightenment Dreams


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-25-metric-money/162257320_21c8abaf69_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Fourteen Thousand Euros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-25-metric-money/162257320_21c8abaf69_t.jpg" alt="Fourteen Thousand Euros"/>
</a>

This is an idea that's been rattling around my brain for some time. It involves how we talk about large sums of money. The past year has seen banking system and government bailout news stories that often reference millions and billions and trillions of dollars. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that has trouble grasping the difference between large quantities when they are thrown out quickly by a news reporter. The famous web comic, [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/), as it often does, hit the nail right on the head some time ago.  [![1000 Times](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-25-metric-money/1000_times.png)](http://xkcd.com/558/)

On the other hand, I have absolutely no trouble understanding the difference between a byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte. I've learned that those roughly correspond to one letter, a page of text, a minute of MP3, a feature length movie file, and my enormous (at the moment!) storage hard drive. Which of these sentences, upon a quick read, is easier to understand in terms of the quantities involved?

> The government gave our bank $23 billion, so I took a $15 million bonus!

...or...

> My new iPod holds 23 GB of music, and I'm already using 15 MB!

For me, at least, the difference in the level of comprehension of these sentences is enormous!

## Proposal: Use metric prefixes for money

While most Americans have little idea of what a kilogram is, thanks to the ubiquity of computers and MP3 players, most now have some grasp of the [SI prefix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix) structure as it would be needed for this proposal to work. Normal people would measure their salaries in kilodollars (k$), lottery prizes would be in megadollars (M$), and bank bailouts would be in gigadollars (G$).

Let's give it a try:

> The total [US federal budget](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget) is 3 T$. Of that, 612 G$ goes to social security, and 613 G$ goes to defense. [NASA gets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Budget) 17 G$, with each shuttle launch [costing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program#Budget) 60 M$.

Or in the current system:

> The total [US federal budget](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget) is $3 trillion. Of that, $612 billion goes to social security, and $613 billion goes to defense. [NASA gets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Budget) $17 billion, with each shuttle launch costing $60 million.

If this proposal is accepted, I wouldn't dream of taking more than a single solitary [yotta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotta-)dollar for my idea.


Metric Money


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950807452_f6d62e18bc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="I'm half a year old! (crop)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950807452_9f47a5f686_t.jpg" alt="I'm half a year old! (crop)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")Well, Nora, it's hard to believe, but we're actually on the complete opposite side of the sun from where we were when you were born. It's been a long 470 gigameter semicircular journey, kiddo. As clichéd as it is to say so, you're changing every day and each day you are slightly more interesting and fun to be around than the last. Your current record for sitting upright unaided is about 20 seconds. You've recently learned an adorable little trick.  When I feed you at night, I sit in the nursing chair we bought at IKEA and you lie on my lap, with your head nestled in my left elbow. I give you the bottle with my right hand (I've never fed you with my left, ever) and you slurp it down. Eventually you lose interest and start to blow rather than suck, so I remove the bottle (because there will be no playing with food in _this_ house, young lady!) and wipe up whatever you've just spit out onto your chin. The other night, however, when I took the bottle out of your mouth and set it on the table to the right of the chair, you contracted your abdominal muscles and _sat up on your own_ to look at the bottle sitting on the table. I burst into teary-eyed laughter that woke up your mother. You've totally got the association between the bottle and the sweet goodness it contains.

For every month birthday you've had so far, I've made hamburgers. I hope to continue this tradition for your first year, with the exception of your 9-month birthday on Christmas Eve. Last weekend, your Aunt Belén announced that she would be attending your six-month birthday. She came to your first month birthday...[_unlike you_](/2009/04/24/one-month-old/). Your grandmother, Marce, just had an operation on her foot that has her off work for a couple weeks, so she announced that she'd be coming too. Then your great-grandfather said he'd come too, and at that point, your retired grandfather, Juan, pretty much had to join them. So at noon today they all arrived. As is the custom now, they barely even glanced at me on their mad dash towards you. When your mother arrived home from work at 13:00, I had the food ready, and we dined on some delicious (if I may say so myself) burgers and fries which were snarfed down before I could take a photo of them. Then came the cake and candles and photos and song. The _Feliz Cumple-medio-año_ song scared you a bit I think. But you generally loved all the attention and were fascinated by the flame on the candle. For every photo below, there were about four of you staring at the candle, transfixed.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949906261_e13c541d45_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="I'm half a year old!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949906261_f581ca6cc4.jpg" alt="I'm half a year old!"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950700930_91e03a65aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Aunt Belén">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950700930_cdcfc24964.jpg" alt="With Aunt Belén"/>
</a>

 With your Aunt Belén

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950710664_6a0f365319_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Marga, Belén and Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950710664_c3014299b5.jpg" alt="Marga, Belén and Nora"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949951929_26144be229_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="It's a birthday party!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949951929_2e3dcafd36.jpg" alt="It's a birthday party!"/>
</a>

 All the attendees of your party. Marce, Juan, your handsome sideburned old man, Abuelo, Belén, Marga, and the birthday girl herself.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950979750_64e82585ef_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Great-Grandpa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950979750_1650665af7.jpg" alt="Great-Grandpa"/>
</a>

 Great-Grandpa!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950749418_358a3aa8d9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="That fire is captivating!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950749418_39497bd489.jpg" alt="That fire is captivating!"/>
</a>

 Fire...So...Pretty! Can't...Look...Away...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950794592_f9deb54676_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Spanish Grandparents">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3950794592_7c26ddcff1.jpg" alt="Spanish Grandparents"/>
</a>

 Proud grandparents.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949994367_87d2f57913_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Mommy and Daddy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-24-six-months-old/3949994367_af3208af15.jpg" alt="With Mommy and Daddy"/>
</a>

 Happy birthday, Sweetie!

We've done pretty well so far, the three of us. I'm optimistic that we can make it to a full year.


Six Months Old


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947372890_a3217149c3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Mr. Ice Cream Cone">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947372890_f785912fc4_t.jpg" alt="Mr. Ice Cream Cone"/>
</a>

Since becoming a member of a Flickr group called [Scary Beings Eating Themselves](http://www.flickr.com/groups/autophagy/), I'm always on the lookout for such a photographic subject. Well, last Saturday in Burgos, we had a little run-in/altercation with one such scary being. Below I present the photographic evidence.  Here's the little cannibal now...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947372890_a3217149c3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Mr. Ice Cream Cone">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947372890_f785912fc4.jpg" alt="Mr. Ice Cream Cone"/>
</a>

 Looks harmless enough to others, right?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3946595007_489032ec69_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The girls and Mr. Ice Cream Cone">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3946595007_20ffa41b82.jpg" alt="The girls and Mr. Ice Cream Cone"/>
</a>

 So Marga and Nora posed with him.

But then someone had the idea to put Nora up on his arm.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3946599725_f461814d21_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Don't feed her to him!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3946599725_8ac675d2c9.jpg" alt="Don't feed her to him!"/>
</a>

 This was too close for my comfort and I called an end to the photography session and sent in the troops to lick him to death.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947368854_683833c272_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Accosting Mr. Ice Cream Cone">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-23-autophagic-ice-cream-cone/3947368854_9dc11e53fa.jpg" alt="Accosting Mr. Ice Cream Cone"/>
</a>

 I swear that's how it happened!


Autophagic Ice Cream Cone


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-blind-man/3944515951_d550d13f4a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Blind Man - Frame Break">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-blind-man/3944515951_889d65cffe_t.jpg" alt="Blind Man - Frame Break"/>
</a>

While [in Burgos](/2009/09/21/burgos-cathedral/) this past weekend, I watched this old man make his way across this open square. Normally, in my experience, canes for the visually impaired make little clicking sounds on the ground as they are swung back and forth feeling the landscape. But this one had a big rubber stopper on the end. Initially it make me think that it was really a cane for support, but he never put any weight on it, and swung it around in front of him. When he got closer, I took his photograph.  It was simply begging for some post-processing photoshoppery, so I've selectively desaturated the background and made his cane break out of a frame. I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not supposed to be a metaphor for blindness in any way.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-blind-man/3944515951_d550d13f4a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Blind Man - Frame Break">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-blind-man/3944515951_889d65cffe.jpg" alt="Blind Man - Frame Break"/>
</a>

 I encourage you to [view it large](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3944515951/sizes/l/), view the [desaturated-only version](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3944510935/), or the [original photograph](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3945287842/).


Blind Man


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944311188_20c77cc984_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Cousins Holding Hands">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944311188_45ae9031d6_t.jpg" alt="Cousins Holding Hands"/>
</a>

On Sunday, we were in Mondragon to meet Nora's cousin Chloé for the first time. Chloé is the same relationship depth to Nora as [Cousin Rodrigo](/2009/09/21/meeting-cousin-rodrigo/). Chloé is Nora's mother's mother's brother's son's daughter. Marga and Chloé's father, Andoni, are first cousins. We went to [Chloé's parents' wedding](/2008/09/08/andoni-and-laures-wedding/) just over a year ago. Chloé's mother is French, so she will be growing up in a bilingual household like Nora.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944225304_92099ca3b9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Andoni">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944225304_fa712d0e83.jpg" alt="Nora and Andoni"/>
</a>

 Nora with Andoni. Naturally, Nora seems _enormous_ to Andoni.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943460175_18e3c0a68f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Great-Grandpa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943460175_904b402504.jpg" alt="Great-Grandpa"/>
</a>

 Both girls on their great-grandfather's lap. Nora keeps Chloé at arms length. Move your mouse over the photo to see Chloé's reaction.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943482633_b535099dfb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Grandmothers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943482633_83dee8f6b5.jpg" alt="Grandmothers"/>
</a>

 Happy grandmothers Manoli and Marce exchange granddaughters...only temporarily.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943490319_8571bda85a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cousins Andoni and Marga and their children">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943490319_8f209bfef8.jpg" alt="Cousins Andoni and Marga and their children"/>
</a>

 Cousins Andoni and Marga with their daughters.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944276366_b6517599f2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The immigrants are reproducing!!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944276366_4f7614c717.jpg" alt="The immigrants are reproducing!!"/>
</a>

 Oh no! The immigrants are reproducing!!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943500735_a06e68e51d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Aunt Belén">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943500735_157fe7db34.jpg" alt="Aunt Belén"/>
</a>

 Can you tell where the television in the bar is? It's hard to interact with Nora if there's a television in the room.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943503539_aec0078e4d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Aunt Belén">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943503539_2b192aced1.jpg" alt="Aunt Belén"/>
</a>

 There we go! Aunt Belén with her nieces.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943510555_12f2bf002f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Is that thing still behind me??">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943510555_dcaf8d0940.jpg" alt="Is that thing still behind me??"/>
</a>

 "Is that thing still behind me?? Is it still doing that bow-and-arrow thing?"

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944302406_0e2543f3c2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Aunt Marga">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944302406_a1ee9a9033.jpg" alt="Aunt Marga"/>
</a>

 Aunt Marga gets in on the action.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944311188_20c77cc984_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cousins Holding Hands">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944311188_45ae9031d6.jpg" alt="Cousins Holding Hands"/>
</a>

 Cousins holding hands.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943541163_18ae2fccc1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Eating Cousin Chloé">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3943541163_1614b656db.jpg" alt="Eating Cousin Chloé"/>
</a>

 Nom nom nom! What did you _think_ Nora would do with her cousin's hand?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944329022_961767780f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Eating Cousin Chloé">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-22-meeting-cousin-chloe/3944329022_0af35908d9.jpg" alt="Eating Cousin Chloé"/>
</a>

 Tastes a little French.

It will be fun to watch these two grow up together.


Meeting Cousin Chloé


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941538388_0e1301006f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Burgos Cathedral">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941538388_1034fa395f_t.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral"/>
</a>

On Saturday afternoon, we took a stroll around the center of Burgos and visited the Burgos Cathedral. To get there, we had to walk a little along the Arlanzón River that runs through the center of Burgos. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful walk. I now invite you to walk along with us with this slightly picture-heavy post.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940516597_898047e62d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos River Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940516597_2e80497687.jpg" alt="Burgos River Panorama"/>
</a>

 A panorama from the edge of the river.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941300966_9ac7864f01_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Spire">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941300966_d29bb9bd5c.jpg" alt="Burgos Spire"/>
</a>

 The spire from some building. Not the cathedral.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941314010_f9400ea363_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fly Fishing in Burgos">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941314010_4cc5dd4323.jpg" alt="Fly Fishing in Burgos"/>
</a>

 Who says you can't fly fish in the middle of a city?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941335076_e50dcbfe77_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Square Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941335076_bd7e4a0b1a.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Square Panorama"/>
</a>

 A panorama of the cathedral square. After stitching there was quite a bit of fisheye distortion that I've tried to correct as best I could.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940565031_cd48160202_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce Bride">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940565031_1903799559.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce Bride"/>
</a>

 A Rolls Royce and the bride it brought, as she enters the cathedral to walk down the aisle into matrimony.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940595173_48a9e2e5c9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral Sky">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940595173_fded7f9481.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral Sky"/>
</a>

 Menacing, isn't it? That's what cathedrals are designed to be.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941363422_0662053162_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce Bride Burgos Cathedral Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941363422_618620d7a1_b.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce Bride Burgos Cathedral Panorama"/>
</a>

 A vertical panorama containing both of the previous two images. Check out the Stars of David, with an apostle at each of the clock positions. It's not an accident that smallest number that divides evenly by the first four positive integers was chosen for both of those.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941385084_3c3d6367aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941385084_0517252bd4.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce"/>
</a>

 Nice ride!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941390838_df6d8aeeb0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce Hood Ornament">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941390838_7fd065cc09.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce Hood Ornament"/>
</a>

 Angel hood ornament.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940614411_c544c42588_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce Hood Ornament">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940614411_23b9a46022_b.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce Hood Ornament"/>
</a>

 I should get one of these for my car!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941403730_d35f1ff433_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rolls Royce Dashboard">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941403730_7453d7ffa6.jpg" alt="Rolls Royce Dashboard"/>
</a>

 No built in GPS??

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941415242_d32358a3f7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Papamosca">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941415242_a2dca2111a.jpg" alt="Papamosca"/>
</a>

 This horrible figurine looking down at the entrance inside the cathedral is called [_Papamoscas_](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papamoscas_%28Burgos%29). It's very, _very_ [IWUS](http://www.flickr.com/groups/iwus/). Some middle-aged American women were gazing up at it taking photographs, and one of them said, "I'm pretty sure that's the devil himself!" Trying to be as unhelpful as possible, as usual, I leaned over to them and said, "No, that's the joker from a deck of cards." They totally believed me. The [wikipedia page](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papamoscas_%28Burgos%29), unfortunately, doesn't answer any "What?" or "Why?" or "WTF?" questions, only "When?" It just says that there has been a figure there since at least the 16th century, and that the old one was replaced with the current one in the 18th century.

Oh, and did I mention that it opens its mouth with each bell strike on the hour? Thus, catching flies and earning its name, _Papamoscas_, which means "Fly Daddy". I was expecting more of a nutcracker kind of mouth opening, but instead it was very subtle. We waited out twenty minutes (as you could have deduced) to see it in action. I've looped two photos to show the movement in this movie:

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941425426_827632a4d3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Chapel">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941425426_562c951112.jpg" alt="Chapel"/>
</a>

 One of the side chapels in the cathedral. The wedding was going on in another one like this.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940653133_c4d05a8117_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jesse and his Posse">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940653133_1ff493d901.jpg" alt="Jesse and his Posse"/>
</a>

 Jesse and his posse.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941455412_15c1f70031_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Little Belén">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941455412_ce3b497f1e_b.jpg" alt="Little Belén"/>
</a>

 Somehow Belén got shrunken down to the size of a mouse.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941477594_4c78f12ac4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Weird Gargoyle Pillar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941477594_5a3e70833a.jpg" alt="Weird Gargoyle Pillar"/>
</a>

 What were these sculptors thinking?? Who are they trying to scare?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940711331_bf0a833eb4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fountain with Sky">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940711331_e10f8e9922.jpg" alt="Fountain with Sky"/>
</a>

 These little guys are riding on the head of spitting dragons.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940725565_b58e626bb9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Grab your ankles, Miss!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940725565_bd09d56522.jpg" alt="Grab your ankles, Miss!"/>
</a>

 My Wii Fit doesn't have this particular yoga pose.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940738109_6392f5732f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Visiting Burgos Cathedral">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3940738109_9e3dd486c8.jpg" alt="Visiting Burgos Cathedral"/>
</a>

 Nora, Marga, Juan, Marce, and Belén.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941523552_ed4216f55c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Meson del Cid">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941523552_7004c3be44.jpg" alt="Meson del Cid"/>
</a>

 Meson del Cid restaurant.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941558606_f472076b5d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Souvenir Shop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941558606_0e5f0497af.jpg" alt="Souvenir Shop"/>
</a>

 This place was a souvenir shop.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941582874_4a27992daa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Wedding Rice">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941582874_df922c010a.jpg" alt="Wedding Rice"/>
</a>

 Ah, wedding rice... I think my wedding suit still has some in the pockets.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941538388_0e1301006f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Burgos Cathedral">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-burgos-cathedral/3941538388_1034fa395f.jpg" alt="Burgos Cathedral"/>
</a>

 And there you have it! A big photographic Burgos Cathedral adventure! Thanks for traveling with me.


Burgos Cathedral


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940831930_e4edee477a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Rodrigo: Small head, Big hands">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940831930_cbdbc78296_t.jpg" alt="Rodrigo: Small head, Big hands"/>
</a>

On Saturday, we drove two hours to the city of Burgos to meet Nora's youngest cousin, Rodrigo, for his two week birthday and baptism. Rodrigo is related to Nora because – concentrate here! – he is Nora's mother's father's sister's daughter's son. His grandmother and Nora's grandfather are siblings. I had never been to Burgos, and I was interested in seeing its [famous cathedral](/2009/09/21/burgos-cathedral/). With two cars and two conflicting GPS guides, we somehow managed to park near Rodrigo's neighborhood.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940043193_a6d04f36d7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora meets Valle de Gracia">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940043193_4af92e7afc.jpg" alt="Nora meets Valle de Gracia"/>
</a>

 Nora also got to meet her cousin Valle de Gracia for the first time. She's 2.5 years old and is Rodrigo's first cousin.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940827160_36ff833e01_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cousins Rodrigo and Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940827160_2f55382652.jpg" alt="Cousins Rodrigo and Nora"/>
</a>

 Nora with Rodrigo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940831930_e4edee477a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rodrigo: Small head, Big hands">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940831930_cbdbc78296.jpg" alt="Rodrigo: Small head, Big hands"/>
</a>

 Rodrigo's got a tiny little head and huge hands. It's cliché to say so, but I'd forgotten already how tiny babies are at birth!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940057905_7a4b81822e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Belén holds Rodrigo">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940057905_d1d6248e4a.jpg" alt="Belén holds Rodrigo"/>
</a>

 Belén with Rodrigo, Nora with Uncle íngel.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940063413_86241883eb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Manolo and Valle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940063413_9b3d0c6460.jpg" alt="Manolo and Valle"/>
</a>

 Valle de Gracia with her father, Manolo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940847468_e34c27799f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Uncle íngel with kids">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940847468_d695874b0f.jpg" alt="Uncle íngel with kids"/>
</a>

 Uncle íngel with Nora and his granddaughter, Valle.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940853928_4292e7aaa9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rodrigo's Baptism">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940853928_28c5203308.jpg" alt="Rodrigo's Baptism"/>
</a>

 The baptism begins. The ceremony was short and to the point, just like I like them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940085189_648da2f448_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gothic Arches">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940085189_cec2415051.jpg" alt="Gothic Arches"/>
</a>

 Cool imperfect gothic arches in the little neighborhood church.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940869234_39142bf840_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rodrigo's Baptism">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940869234_ff4fa03f6f.jpg" alt="Rodrigo's Baptism"/>
</a>

 Rodrigo is with his Aunt Ana here. On her sides are Rodrigo's parents, Mariangeles and Rodrigo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940874464_36ac596c22_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rodrigo's Baptism">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940874464_6fba3f6c35.jpg" alt="Rodrigo's Baptism"/>
</a>

 The big bird bath of sin absolution.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940099727_d03c954350_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora with her mother">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940099727_95d836f7c0.jpg" alt="Nora with her mother"/>
</a>

 Nora with her mother. She's normally not this terrified to be with her mother, I swear.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940105785_bc0e1374b5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Contemplating Religion (or pooping)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940105785_3037014bd8.jpg" alt="Contemplating Religion (or pooping)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr") Nora contemplating religion...or perhaps pooping.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940890680_769df9a05d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rodrigo's Baptism">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-21-meeting-cousin-rodrigo/3940890680_301ce2b950.jpg" alt="Rodrigo's Baptism"/>
</a>

 The attendees from our side of the family. I can't wait to see how many faces iPhoto finds in this picture.

Between lunch and the baptism, we got to go visit the Burgos Cathedral, which I will blog about in [a post all its own](/2009/09/21/burgos-cathedral/).


Meeting Cousin Rodrigo


![thumb](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-18-midnight-songbird/1.jpg)Two nights ago, we put Nora to bed at her normal 9:00 PM bedtime, and she slept like a baby for about an hour. At that point, she began singing at the top of her lungs. Since Marga wanted to go to bed, she brought Nora downstairs and gave the little songbird to me to watch after. The songs continued for 2.5 hours.

I got a couple requests after a recent post to share some audio of what the [Monkey Alarm](/2009/09/06/monkey-alarm/) sounds like. Well, this is more or less it. Also making an internet debut in this video is a little metronome-like swing that a coworker of Marga's lent us since it's no longer any good to her two-year-old. Nora absolutely _loves_ it!

At 12:30 AM, I couldn't take it any longer and I took her upstairs, put her in her crib and went to bed myself. We both fell right asleep. The next night (last night, as I write this), we both set records for sound sleeping, both sleeping ten hours straight.


Midnight Songbird


The video they can't stop showing on the Spanish news cycle today, besides the one where Obama thanks a member of the Spanish royal family for being in attendance when she was not (what's Spanish for _faux pas_?), is of a restaurant in Jávea, Alicante, where a tornado came by and took the roof off while customers were eating inside. Clearly Spain doesn't have the kind of tornadoes that the US does, because no one was sucked out and thrown miles away, but it's pretty darn scary enough as it is. 

I wonder how many people claimed that the money for their meal was already on the table when the twister hit.


Tornado Takes Roof Off Spanish Restaurant


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3927809963_a6b753a9c9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Four Noras on the Sofa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3927809963_de78f74583_t.jpg" alt="Four Noras on the Sofa"/>
</a>

A little while ago, I had an idea for a cool photography project to visualize Nora's growth, one that hopefully won't involve [peeing on electronics](/2009/04/06/clever-baby-photography-idea-or-who-peed-on-the-scanner/). My idea is to take a photo of Nora at six months old on one side of our sofa, and then take another picture of her at one year with her slightly to the right of her previous position. Ditto for 18 months and 2 years. Then, I can photoshop them all together to have four versions of Nora sitting together on the sofa! Cool, huh?  I immediately recognized that the difficulty is going to be in camera positioning. With any long-period timelapse, you absolutely must have a strategy ([like a fence post](http://eirikso.com/2008/12/27/one-year-worth-of-images-give-some-amazing-videos/)) for getting the camera in the same position after an extended period of time has passed. The best idea I could come up with was something like a loop of string around the sofa legs and tripod legs, but I don't really like that idea.

In preparation for the six-month-old photo, I've done some tests to see how feasible this project will be even if I'm unable to perfectly line up the camera every six months. The results aren't bad at all. I think we're a go for this project.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3927809963_a6b753a9c9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Four Noras on the Sofa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3927809963_de78f74583.jpg" alt="Four Noras on the Sofa"/>
</a>

 This one was done without moving the tripod at all. The lighting and stitches are perfect. [Worth viewing large](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3927809963/sizes/l/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3928594960_2212a60baf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Four Noras on the Sofa">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-17-four-noras/3928594960_c0ae739f1d.jpg" alt="Four Noras on the Sofa"/>
</a>

 This one was done handheld yesterday with a slightly less interested Nora. I just tried to generally frame the couch, sometimes standing a meter away from where I took the previous shot. Its imperfections are pretty obvious, but the overall effect still works well.

[Here are the fathers](/2009/01/21/my-peeps/) of these four girls, of course.


Four Noras


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924896261_dc0098317a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Phallic Butterfly Toy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924896261_9081943d8e_t.jpg" alt="Phallic Butterfly Toy"/>
</a>

As my daughter approaches her 6-month birthday, she has just recently gotten her head around the concept of Self vs. Not Self. As in, she can tell what objects in her field of vision are part of her own body and what are not. So obviously she has no idea that humans come in two sexes, and that other humans have body parts that she lacks, and certainly no clue about how the sexes interact to reproduce. My complaint, therefore, is not on her behalf, but on the behalf of the adults around her that have to watch her grasping this big squeaky toy that bares no small resemblance to the human male sexual organ.  I understand that toys for infants need to be graspable by small hands. Her [sock-puppet-like toy](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3791024957/) we affectionately call Mr. Cat is a good example. His limbs are long and slender, for easy grabbing.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3925688386_8c2d670980_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Phallic Butterfly Toy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3925688386_99da76d6db_b.jpg" alt="Phallic Butterfly Toy"/>
</a>

 It's supposed to be some kind of insect, perhaps a butterfly, but the proportions are all wrong. Very, very wrong. The truth is that any small change, like making the wings bigger, or making the head smaller or larger, would reduce the "OMG, that's a penis!" effect this toy evokes. But no, they got it just right.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924901183_1334a61e73_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Phallic Butterfly Toy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924901183_8779ca020b.jpg" alt="Phallic Butterfly Toy"/>
</a>

 Of course it doesn't help that this toy is made for children at the age when everything they touch gets put into their mouth. C'mon, toy manufacturers!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3925684140_203832d1a4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Phallic Butterfly Toy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3925684140_75e5693f5f.jpg" alt="Phallic Butterfly Toy"/>
</a>

 Did I mention that it squeaks like a clown nose when squeezed? Ugh...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924896261_dc0098317a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Phallic Butterfly Toy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-dear-toy-company-part-1/3924896261_9081943d8e_b.jpg" alt="Phallic Butterfly Toy"/>
</a>

 This butterfly is happy to see you!

I've labeled this post "Part 1" because I can only assume that I will have future toys to complain about.


Dear Toy Company - Part 1


It annoys the crap out of me that my computer completely grinds to a halt when I try to simultaneously:

- Import photos from my camera
- Stitch together a panorama of photos in Photoshop
- Bittorent an episode of The Daily Show Ubuntu disk image
- View the screen of my coworker on another continent
- Maintain a VOIP call with said coworker
- Upload photos to Flickr
- Run a local Apache server to update a Wordpress plugin
- Sync my iPhone
- Have 25 tabs open in Firefox
- Check 136 RSS subscriptions
- Check six email accounts
- Update a Twitter client
- Chat with another coworker
- Run a java IDE
- Compile a 1000+ class java project
- Run two local web applications with said 1000+ class java project accessing a local database server
- Write a blog entry complaining about the slowness

Time for a terabyte of RAM and a solid state drive RAID array, I think...

...or maybe just a reboot.


Grinding to a hal....


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3924952937_642d52f33e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Purple and Green Pajamas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3924952937_62365f31f9_t.jpg" alt="Purple and Green Pajamas"/>
</a>

When these pajamas arrived from [Bulgaria](http://isoglossia.com/) back in April, they seemed so strange. All the pajamas and clothes we'd received for Nora until that point were pretty, soft pastels and small newborn-sized. The strong dark purple and green in these enormous pajamas seemed so...not for babies. Not to mention that all the pajamas we had had feet built in, and these were cut off at the ankle. When we stored the seemingly huge pajamas for _way in the future_, we didn't even notice that the way they are fastened differs as well, with the snaps going all the way down just one leg. Weird.  But doggone it if summer didn't roll around and these pajamas were a wonderful welcome change from the weak, boring pastel colors and the open feet a nice transition from long, footed pajamas to short summer pajamas.

The first two photos were taken in July.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3924952937_642d52f33e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Purple and Green Pajamas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3924952937_62365f31f9.jpg" alt="Purple and Green Pajamas"/>
</a>

 O hai!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925733382_1d3d7fc483_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Purple and Green Pajamas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925733382_7c97433ae1_b.jpg" alt="Purple and Green Pajamas"/>
</a>

 The socks are separate.

The next photo was taken in September, when pajamas with the feet built in would no longer fit her, these still do.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925750298_dcdf322491_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sleeping In Your Crib - You're Doing It Wrong!!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925750298_5e492bbc26.jpg" alt="Sleeping In Your Crib - You're Doing It Wrong!!"/>
</a>

 Sleeping in your crib: You're doing it wrong!

And quite possibly the coolest part of these pajamas? Check this out:

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925071785_4e3009a6ae_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Made especially for you by happy people">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-16-purple-and-green-jammies/3925071785_a9d2590770.jpg" alt="Made especially for you by happy people"/>
</a>

 "Made especially for you by happy people!" I wonder what the factory worker that sews that slogan into the clothes thinks about it.

So I just wanted to give a shout-out and a thank you to [sgazzetti](http://isoglossia.com/) and his family for this unusual garment that at first seemed so bizarre and has come in so handy.


Purple and Green 'Jammies


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917942837_101d4f7869_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917942837_64665e30b4_t.jpg" alt="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza"/>
</a>

A few months ago I acquired the DVD box set of every episode of Seinfeld, all nine seasons. Since then, I've been making my way through them one hilarious 22-minute episode at a time. It's always funny to see actors in guest spots on old television shows that later went on to become more famous. Imagine my surprise when I got to the first episode of season six, [_The Mango_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mango), and see that George's girlfriend is played by 27-year-old Lisa Edelstein, who now plays [Dr. Lisa Cuddy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Cuddy) on my current favorite television show, _House_. 

### Still Images

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917942837_101d4f7869_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917942837_64665e30b4.jpg" alt="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3918729112_ef43a1132d_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3918729112_71be7afec7.jpg" alt="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917947923_81d1406e45_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-14-dr-cuddy-slept-with-george-costanza/3917947923_1e2a4db2a6.jpg" alt="Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza"/>
</a>

### Video

I found these videos on YouTube, too.

The next two videos must be from [The Masseuse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masseuse_(Seinfeld)), which I haven't made it to yet.


Dr. Cuddy slept with George Costanza


I bet that, while most people remember details of the day they met their future spouse, most don't remember [the actual date](/2007/09/11/september-11th/). The only reason that I remember the date is that I was keeping a journal of my time in Denmark at the time. Each week I emailed my journal for the week in MS Word format to my father, who published it on the internet. It really was a web journal, or a web log, or a blog..._in 1999!_ I still have the entire document for my trip. I've been considering replaying it, day by day in a modern blog, a task I really should have done this year, being exactly ten years later, but perhaps I will do it next year starting in June. Below is my entry for September 11, 1999.

> Saturday was very restful. It took me three hours to do my laundry on Saturday. First of all, all the students are back, so the laundry room was full. I could only get one washer, and I had three loads, so I had to do them one at a time. Plus, I happened to be using the only washer that there is a reservation sheet for (probably why it was available), so I got a few lectures from Danish students about how they had that washer reserved, and that they had the right to take out my clothes, but there was always another washer available at each time, so they let me stay in that one. Another Dane taught me how to use the centrifuge (R2D2-looking) machines. You take your wet clothes and put them in this thing and they get whirled around for about five minutes, and _then_ you put them in the drier. The secret is that the centrifuge machines are free to use, and afterwards, what would have taken you an hour to dry in the drier takes only twenty minutes! Tada! Pretty useful, huh?
> 
> That evening, I went into town to meet Lily at the designated meeting place (the Burger King on Stroget). It was going to be just her and me, but then she told me that a German friend of hers was coming. When I got there, I found a German girl and _three Spanish people_ with Lily. A forth Spaniard came a few minutes later. Lily explained that she had just met these people on Friday at lunch and had invited them out too. They are all new in Copenhagen and studying or researching at DTU. The German girl, Nina, has been here for four months and is leaving soon. There was one Spanish girl, named Marga (short of â€œMargaritaâ€), one loco Spanish guy named Luis (_very_ wild and crazy guy), and two other Spanish guys, one of whom is named Carlos (though I\\'m not sure which one). We went to _The Dubliner_ where we drank and danced for a little while. Then we were going to find a disco or café or something (I know those aren\\'t related), but too many of us decided that it was time for bed, so we caught a night bus (it was already pretty late) home. I like the Spaniards okay. Luis could use some drugs to calm him down a bit, but the others were quite nice. Nina left _The Dubliner_ early because she had to be somewhere early on Sunday, and afterwards, all the Spanish guys just couldn\\'t stop talking about her and squeezed every bit of Nina info out of Lily. It was hilarious! It\\'s like they\\'ve never seen a blonde woman before! Unfortunately for them, Nina has a boyfriend...
> 
> <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-11-saturday-september-11-1999/3909736504_4508a6a89f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Lily and Luis">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-11-saturday-september-11-1999/3909736504_785b8a46bd.jpg" alt="Lily and Luis"/>
</a>

 Lily and Luis.

Hey, at least I caught her name, right?


Saturday, September 11, 1999


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3908002934_f93bb6e890_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Quentin?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3908002934_af20191193_t.jpg" alt="Quentin?"/>
</a>

Doing some hard drive housekeeping today, I was going through my pictures folder and found some old photos from over a year ago when I was first playing with the built-in effects in the [Photo Booth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_Booth) application that comes with Mac OS X. Most of them are goofy, including these, but I was reminded a lot of Quentin Tarantino. Which do you think looks most like Mr. Tarantino?  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3907331726_733b47b741_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3907331726_1d17c76e81.jpg" alt="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3906553085_08d89a3ab5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3906553085_53c0271bca.jpg" alt="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3907331478_448961699e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/3907331478_c88fc4f04f.jpg" alt="Photo Booth effects make me look like Quentin Tarantino"/>
</a>

[![Quentin](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-photo-booth-turned-me-into-quentin-tarantino/2546988348_e26f78536d.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivyodell/2546988348/)


Photo Booth turned me into Quentin Tarantino


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3906465999_cea6288469_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Open Mouth (video frame)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3906465999_3571550f43_t.jpg" alt="Open Mouth (video frame)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")First of all, I apologize, dear reader, for going _five entire posts_ without giving any new information, photos, or videos about Nora. She's doing just fine. A couple weeks ago, however, she experienced her first disease. Well, an infection; that qualifies as a disease, right? She started getting little white spots on her tongue and lips. This happened to coincide with her [five-month](/2009/08/24/five-months-old/) vaccination visit to the doctor. The pediatrician took one look at her and said, "Yep, it's a fungus." The doctor told us that it could be caused by poor sterilization of the bottle nipple or _too much_ sterilization of the bottle nipple. Huh? Call me a scientist, but I personally suspect that it's related to the fact that _she puts anything and everything she can get her little hands on into her mouth_. After seeing all the crap she's put in there, the pomp and circumstance of bottle sterilization seems a little ridiculous. Within only two days of applying an oral fungicide, it cleared right up. There was much rejoicing.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3907137056_19c3165438_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fungal Infection">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3907137056_78016e749d.jpg" alt="Fungal Infection"/>
</a>

 "What? I only kissed that boy because he looked like such a _fun–gi_!" \[ba-dum-tsss!\]

The other day during our walk that took us by [the zombies](/2009/09/08/zombie-eighties-party/), we also walked by a horse in a small pasture. He was bucking and throwing up dirt and generally being restless. When we got there, he walked over to see us, and I realized how low the wall between us was for him. Cautious because of his odd mood, I reached up to pet his mane, but he wouldn't really let me touch him. He was, however, very intrigued with the miniature human we had in the stroller. Very carefully, we moved the stroller close to the wall, so he could see Nora better. He gave her a very tender nuzzle as she stretched her leg out to touch his soft nose. It was a very sweet moment.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3892899227_3e2094d684_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Horse Kiss">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-sitting-up-and-falling-down/3892899227_a3496556a3.jpg" alt="Horse Kiss"/>
</a>

 "Why the long face?" \[ba-dum-tsss!\]

Her new favorite game involves being pulled up to a sitting position, which she is completely unable to maintain by herself, which makes her giggle in anticipation of the scary fall back down. I've been trying to stress the importance of holding the sitting position, but she doesn't seem to care much. She's not taking her failure as a sitter very seriously at all.


Sitting Up and Falling Down


Today we had two important firsts in Nora's life. One good and one bad. Let's look at them in the order that they occurred.

Nora's been putting anything and everything she can into her mouth lately. When she grabs your hand or, if you get close enough, your nose, she's going to close her fingers around it and pull it towards her mouth. Several times I've been holding her and thinking about something else and found that she was biting down with her firm gums on my finger...hard! We've been monitoring several white teeth just under the surface of her gums for over a month now.

## Milestone 1

Just today, when her Aunt Belén was visiting, her aunt discovered that a tooth had broken through into the daylight. It's not much yet, but we were ecstatic at the news.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-two-milestones/3906940589_5ea3a39b97_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="First tooth makes its appearance">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-two-milestones/3906940589_00e4bb3cbc.jpg" alt="First tooth makes its appearance"/>
</a>

 It's _really_ hard to examine her lower gums because as soon as you touch her lips or even her chin, out comes Mr. Tongue to investigate the action. This photograph was not easy to take.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-two-milestones/3907719560_dd049a1c01_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="First tooth makes its appearance (close-up)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-10-two-milestones/3907719560_20d8b1cd3a.jpg" alt="First tooth makes its appearance (close-up)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr") Close-up. See the little white protrusion? You can feel it better than you can see it.

## Milestone 2

This evening, when Marga went upstairs to take a shower, she left Nora lying on the bed in my office. All offices should have beds. I put her as close to the wall (far from the edge) as I could and swiveled around to write an email. About a minute later, I heard a heart-wrenching _THUMP!_

It took me about 0.4 seconds to spin around and scoop her up off the rug (at least it wasn't the hardwood floor!) and into my arms, where she promptly started crying in absolute terror. A quick examination revealed that any sustained damage was entirely emotional, and some forensic analysis of the way she had been on the bed and the way I found her on the floor told me that her legs and diaper-padded rear end had taken all the force of the 50 cm (19") fall. It was feeding time anyway, and within one absolutely horrible minute, she was silently sucking on her bottle. By the time she finished it, she was happy and cooing again, despite her parents' somber faces.

My logical mind tells me that an accidents like this are inevitable and just part of what it is to be a parent, and I know that I'm lucky that it was so harmless. But that doesn't stop me from feeling like the worst parent ever when I replay those minutes in my mind.

Love is a roller coaster.


Two Milestones


![clojure logo](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-08-xml-renderer-in-clojure/clojure-icon.gif)I've spent the past few days playing around with [Clojure](http://clojure.org/). Clojure is an implementation of Lisp, the [most powerful programming language](/2007/07/06/lisp-enlightenment-and-emacs-frustration/), that compiles to byte code that runs on the Java Virtual Machine. I won't go into just how awesome that is, but there are many technical reasons why this platform decision is equivalent to standing on the shoulders of giants.

Clojure comes with a built-in library for parsing XML files into Clojure data structures, but, for the life of me, I could absolutely not find any implementations that went the other way, to render XML from the Clojure structure that the default parser creates. So I wrote one...in 25 lines of code. _Update: I did find a function in the clojure contrib [lazy-xml.clj](http://github.com/richhickey/clojure-contrib/blob/master/src/clojure/contrib/lazy_xml.clj) that will emit XML nodes to a stream, but it's (gasp!) not remotely functional._

`(def *always-open* #{:div :script :textarea})  
(defn render-attributes [attributes]   (when attributes     (apply str       (for [[key value] attributes]         (str \space (name key) "=\"" value \")))))  
(defn render [node]     (if (string? node)       (.trim node)       (let [tag (:tag node)             children (:content node)             has-children? (not-empty children)             open? (or has-children? (contains? *always-open* tag))             open-tag (str \< (name tag)                         (render-attributes (:attrs node))                         (if open? \> "/>"))             close-tag (when open? (str "</" (name tag) \>))]         (str           open-tag           (apply str (when has-children?                        (for [child children]                          (render child))))           close-tag))))` There is a little extra HTML-specific logic in there to not close <script> or <div> or <textarea> tags, as some web browsers can't handle those cases.

So if you have an HTML file that looks like this... `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <html>  <head>   <title>Testing Title</title>   <style type="text/css">    .some-class { font-weight: bold; }   </style>   <script type="text/javascript" src="myjs.js"></script>  </head>  <body>   <p id="message" class="some-class">    This is a totally awesome test!   </p>  </body> </html>` And you run the following command at the REPL... `(println (render (clojure.xml/parse "index.html")))` ...you should get this back: `<html><head><title>Testing Title</title><style type="text/css">.some-class { font-weight: bold; }</style><script type="text/javascript" src="myjs.js"></script></head><body><p id="message" class="some-class">This is a totally awesome test!</p></body></html>` While valid XML, it'd be nice to have it prettily formatted. To do this, we must add a little complexity to keep track of depth and indentation.

`(def *always-open* #{:div :script})  
(defn render-attributes [attributes]   (when attributes     (apply str       (for [[key value] attributes]         (str \space (name key) "=\"" value \")))))  
(defn render   ([node] (render node 0 false))   ([node pretty?] (render node 0 pretty?))   ([node depth pretty?]    (let [indent (when pretty? (apply str (repeat depth "  ")))]      (if (string? node)        (str indent (.trim node) (when pretty? "\n"))        (let [tag (:tag node)          children (:content node)          has-children? (not-empty children)          always-open? (contains? *always-open* tag)          open? (or has-children? (contains? *always-open* tag))          open-tag (str indent \< (name tag)                     (render-attributes (:attrs node))                     (if open? \> "/>"))          close-tag (when open?                      (str (when (not always-open?) indent)                        "</" (name tag) \>))]        (str          open-tag          (when (and pretty? (not always-open?)) "\n")          (apply str (when has-children?                  (for [child children]                    (render child (inc depth) pretty?))))          close-tag          (when (and pretty? (> depth 0)) "\n")))))))` This has bumped us up to 34 lines of code with proper formatting. Now if we call: `(println (render (clojure.xml/parse "index.html")))` We still get the same unformatted html back because it defaults to non-pretty formatting. But if we request pretty formatting... `(println (render (clojure.xml/parse "index.html") true))` We get back this: `<html>   <head>     <title>       Testing Title     </title>     <style type="text/css">       .some-class { font-weight: bold; text-align:inherit; }     </style>     <script type="text/javascript" src="myjs.js"></script>   </head>   <body>     <p id="message" class="some-class">       This is a totally awesome test!     </p>   </body> </html>` Perfect!

What's amazing is that, after a few days of working with Clojure, and [a very small background in Lisp](/2007/07/06/lisp-enlightenment-and-emacs-frustration/), this code is perfectly readable. I could not figure out a way to go through the tree with Clojure's tail recursion idiom, so I had to use stack recursion. For most XML files, stack recursion is going to be just fine.

I am still not convinced that Clojure deserves a place in any of my business applications, but it definitely has the best shot of any Lisp dialect I've seen, mainly because of its trivial [interoperation with Java](http://clojure.org/java_interop).

If any Clojure ninjas out there would like to suggest improvements to my algorithm, I'm all ears.


XML Renderer in Clojure


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-08-your-own-handwriting-as-a-font/3900351638_4847ca63a9_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Blog post thumbnail">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-08-your-own-handwriting-as-a-font/3900351638_4847ca63a9_o.png" alt="Blog post thumbnail"/>
</a>

This is one of the cooler internet services I've seen in a while. Check out [fontcapture.com](http://www.fontcapture.com/) and turn your own handwriting into a font you can use on your computer. It's been a long, long time since I have written anything longer than a shopping list by hand. Those muscles are completely atrophied. This handwriting font trick isn't much more than a gimmick, I don't think, but it's fun to do if you have a printer, a scanner, a pen, and five minutes.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-08-your-own-handwriting-as-a-font/3900316054_d57d03410c_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Erik's Handwriting Font">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-08-your-own-handwriting-as-a-font/3900316054_dd9244d51a.jpg" alt="Erik's Handwriting Font"/>
</a>


Your own handwriting as a font!


On Sunday, my wife, daughter, and I took a leisurely walk up to [Colindres de Arriba](/2009/07/30/another-walk-to-colindres-de-arriba/). At one point the street is lined with a tall concrete wall. As we walked by the open gate, we glanced in for the second it took us to pass the gate. Several steps later, our brains had processed what we'd seen: a group of young people with HUGE ash-colored eighties hair, each wearing zombie make-up, just sort of milling around, as young people at parties and zombies tend to do. The music that was playing? What else? Michael Jackson's _Thriller_. When we walked by the second time on our return trip, there were quite a few more cars parked outside the gate, and while we didn't see any zombies, I did see a professional grade video tripod, which confirmed Marga's hypothesis that they were doing some sort of remake of the [most famous music video ever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8).

Zombie Eighties Party: the best kind of zombie party, and the best kind of eighties party.


Zombie Eighties Party


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895302639_f012783de4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895302639_2768ff7e05_t.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")The point of high dynamic range (HDR) imaging is to, via post-processing, more accurately capture the wide range of colors and tones that the human eye sees as it saccades around the scene. Current camera photon sensing technology is just not as good as the human eye at capturing a wide range of light levels. The typical procedure involves taking three or more photographs of the same subject, with minimal camera movement, at various exposure levels, e.g. one where the shadows are underexposed, one where the highlights are overexposed, and another middle range. Then, using a computer program, the images are aligned and the detail from the shadows in one exposure is combined with the details of the highlights of another exposure, thus giving you detail across a wide range of light levels.  Shortly before going on my summer vacation to Extremadura, in southern Spain, I learned about a auto-exposure-bracketing feature of my camera that lets me click the shutter button three times rapidly (while doing my best to not move the camera) and have it give me three photographs with a low, middle, and high exposure setting. I have finally gotten around to doing the post-processing of these sets of images, and I present them to you below.

### Not HDR

These first two images are _not HDR_. They are one single shot with some post-processing to bring out the shadow details. By comparing these images with the ones below them, you should be able to see the limitations of post-processing a single image compared to the HDR technique of combining multiple photographs.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895313739_e282059bdc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (not HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895313739_079e5be371.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (not HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896119346_76188dd513_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (not HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896119346_0cbe219e76.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (not HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

### HDR

The following images were made by digitally combining three separate shots using the HDR tools in Photoshop CS4.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895302639_f012783de4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895302639_2768ff7e05.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895323835_82ee8fec2d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3895323835_1407707ef6.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896124772_7bcf73096a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896124772_443cfed1fa.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896127140_379ce94198_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-extremadura-sunsets-hdr/3896127140_b390991bcb.jpg" alt="Extremadura Sunset (HDR)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr") And the sun has finally set.


Extremadura Sunsets (HDR)


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895482597_d0301cd853_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Sunset">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895482597_a6f6b9d9e6_t.jpg" alt="Sunset"/>
</a>

During our evening walks in the Extremadura summer heat, I enjoyed taking my camera along and capturing the beauty of the sunsets across the huge horizon-to-horizon sky. Here are a few pictures that didn't make the cut for my [previous HDR post](/2009/09/07/extremadura-sunsets-hdr/).

One of the cool thing about taking an entire fortnight of vacation and spending much of it outside in the evenings for an astronomy enthusiast is that you get to see one complete half of the moon cycle, from new moon to full moon. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895465235_3edb956fcb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crepuscular!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895465235_db723c1f0f.jpg" alt="Crepuscular!"/>
</a>

 This is my favorite photo in this post. With the wide angle, you can see all the colors of the rainbow, from red to purple. And yes, there is a tiny hint of green in there.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896255394_a0de1b0a78_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crepuscular Sunset">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896255394_b9bd4677c7_b.jpg" alt="Crepuscular Sunset"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895480467_16d67c7111_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crepuscular Rays">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895480467_4ce69c453d.jpg" alt="Crepuscular Rays"/>
</a>

 All of these first three photos show the atmospheric phenomenon known as crepuscular rays, lines of shadow rising up from the clouds.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895482597_d0301cd853_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sunset">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895482597_a6f6b9d9e6.jpg" alt="Sunset"/>
</a>

 Sunsets just aren't the same without clouds. I suppose cloudless ones are pretty in their own way, though. It reminds me of [this photo I took of a beer bottle](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/630067754/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895484389_c07a81fe06_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Setting Sun Through Trees">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3895484389_3259bbb580.jpg" alt="Setting Sun Through Trees"/>
</a>

 Some days we had walked too far and the sunset was obstructed by trees.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896278846_d477a956ea_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Thumbs Up Sun">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896278846_a5b8995ced.jpg" alt="Thumbs Up Sun"/>
</a>

 My thumb and the setting sun, pretty similar in angular size. This is what we photographers call a "thumbnail" image.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896282890_8af6867af6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sunset Trees">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896282890_2dc440082c.jpg" alt="Sunset Trees"/>
</a>

 The red evening sky silhouettes some trees.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896283688_ab630cab68_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Looming Moon">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-07-more-extremadura-sunsets/3896283688_acc0117ab9.jpg" alt="Looming Moon"/>
</a>

 [On the night](http://twitter.com/erikras/statuses/3151250710) that I knew the moon was full, I spent a lot of time staring at the horizon opposite the sunset, waiting for the Moon to make her appearance. That she came up over this little house was just a bonus.


More Extremadura Sunsets


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-06-monkey-alarm/3891333707_989735e5e2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Miss Monkey Business">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-06-monkey-alarm/3891333707_7b7b6191db_t.jpg" alt="Miss Monkey Business"/>
</a>

We continue to refer to our daughter affectionately as "the monkey". The reason being that, until she learns how to walk or talk, caring for her isn't all that dissimilar to caring for any young primate who has learned to user her opposable thumb to grab and tug on everything in sight.  Recently a new behavior has emerged in which she sings in the morning. Every morning at about 8:30, she'll wake up in her crib and begin singing/screeching vowel sounds, delighted at her ability to vibrate her vocal chords and produce audio stimulus. As we still have the crib in our bedroom, this means that we have a little primate alarm clock and at least one of us must get up when it goes off.

Last night we bathed her a little early and she fell asleep immediately afterwards. The result is that the monkey alarm went off at 7:00 this morning instead of 8:30, roughly twelve hours after her bath (with two feedings during the night). And today it was my turn to get up and bring her downstairs where she is still singing.

The monkey alarm doesn't have a snooze button.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-06-monkey-alarm/3891333707_989735e5e2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Miss Monkey Business">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-06-monkey-alarm/3891333707_7b7b6191db.jpg" alt="Miss Monkey Business"/>
</a>


Monkey Alarm


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880896095_c887a984e4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Stuffed Peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880896095_54d32ace59_t.jpg" alt="Stuffed Peppers"/>
</a>

Recently someone told us of an outside-the-box way of preparing a Spanish [_tortilla de patatas_](/2007/12/09/bocadillo-de-tortilla-de-patata/). Rather than cutting up peppers and cooking them inside the tortilla, what if you put the tortilla _inside the peppers_? An inverted Spanish tortilla!

When a friend of ours who has a little vegetable farm gave us a bag of enormous gorgeous green peppers, we knew we had to try this recipe.

### Ingredients

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881594536_ceff4057e8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tortilla de Patatas Ingredients">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881594536_44a7c544b7.jpg" alt="Tortilla de Patatas Ingredients"/>
</a>

 Potatoes, eggs, peppers, and optional onion. I used half of the onion, all the potatoes you see here, all the eggs, and it ended up being enough to fill seven peppers.

### Procedure

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881603170_c6cdb65182_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sliced Potatoes">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881603170_8196db59c2.jpg" alt="Sliced Potatoes"/>
</a>

 Slice the potatoes thinly. We have an adapter to our blender that lets me slice potatoes perfectly evenly like this. Without such a device, the process just takes a little more time and care to do with a knife.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881612438_0653733f73_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Diced Onion">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881612438_dc2cc08461.jpg" alt="Diced Onion"/>
</a>

 Dice the onion.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881623070_15df859771_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Frying Potatoes and Onions">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881623070_5de1efa8e6.jpg" alt="Frying Potatoes and Onions"/>
</a>

 Fry the potatoes and onions together in very hot oil until the potatoes turn golden brown.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881633134_fc40c36c28_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fried Potatoes and Eggs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881633134_8c4c226317.jpg" alt="Fried Potatoes and Eggs"/>
</a>

 Remove the potatoes from the oil (I use a colander with a bowl underneath to collect the oil) and add all the eggs. Getting the right egg-to-potato ratio can be tricky.

I made too much potatoes and eggs for the dinner with my wife, but this stuff keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880848789_c805045dec_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cutting open a pepper">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880848789_8bffcba65d.jpg" alt="Cutting open a pepper"/>
</a>

 Remove the stems and seeds from the pepper, while leaving the body intact.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881642038_ca7d9dfeb5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hollow Pepper">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881642038_bb9ed89634.jpg" alt="Hollow Pepper"/>
</a>

 It should look like this. Now simply spoon in the potato and egg mix.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881655968_f82780942f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Frying stuffed peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881655968_9f52b337a6.jpg" alt="Frying stuffed peppers"/>
</a>

 And fry them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880867101_af19ac5e92_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Frying stuffed peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880867101_311f5d14a5.jpg" alt="Frying stuffed peppers"/>
</a>

 Flipped over after underside is cooked. Peppers take a good long time to cook, so 20-30 minutes is not an unreasonable amount of time for them to be in the oil. Just don't let them get completely black.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880878181_c71f900dab_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Stuffed Peppers Served">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880878181_605a843b0b.jpg" alt="Stuffed Peppers Served"/>
</a>

 Serve with wine, of course.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881685186_31d213ebfd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pepper Cross-section">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3881685186_19d5c1046b.jpg" alt="Pepper Cross-section"/>
</a>

 Yummy!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880896095_c887a984e4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Stuffed Peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880896095_54d32ace59.jpg" alt="Stuffed Peppers"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880905535_3294cc6715_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Eating Stuffed Peppers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-04-inverted-spanish-tortilla-recipe/3880905535_fb161055f9.jpg" alt="Eating Stuffed Peppers"/>
</a>

 Before you know it, they'll disappear!

### Conclusion

In the end, the conclusion that my wife and I drew about this recipe was that the taste isn't any better than just a regular tortilla with the peppers cooked inside it, and this is considerably more work (twice the frying time). It is, however, a clever gimmick to do for dinner parties. It's novel, which will please your guests, but it's not worth the effort if you're just making dinner for yourself.


Inverted Spanish Tortilla Recipe


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881431528_48c27d8552_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Flintstones Car Floats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881431528_1804e871b2_t.jpg" alt="Flintstones Car Floats"/>
</a>

Every year in the harbor of Colindres, they hold a _Carrera de Artefactos Navegables_, which translates to "Sailable Artifacts Race". Basically they race handmade contraptions that float, very often involving plastic barrels normally used in the salting process of the town's anchovy industry. Rowing is a big sport in northern Spain, dating back hundreds of years when fishermen rowed out to see to hunt whales. This race puts sort of a comical twist on the sport.

We saw the event the first year that we lived here, missed two years, and then went again this year. I'm always blown away by the creativity and detail of the designs, which are only meant to float and impress for about an hour. Prizes are awarded for creativity and originality as well as speed around the course, with various different categories, depending on the number of occupants the craft can hold. Below are some photos I took of the participants in 2009, and a high definition video that should give you an idea of the fun of watching the event. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880600661_1677b389b5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Heineken Rowers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880600661_0b5f71a6f2.jpg" alt="Heineken Rowers"/>
</a>

 This team just has some legless Heineken bar chairs nailed to some styrofoam.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881400116_e707446efb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Heinekin Rowers">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881400116_3f5ddeb951.jpg" alt="Heinekin Rowers"/>
</a>

 These guys look good posing for pictures on solid land. As you'll see in the video, things didn't go so well once they hit the water.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881402664_7a72d4707f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Local Police">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881402664_2ed3292aaf.jpg" alt="Local Police"/>
</a>

 A comically boxy police car.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880608607_b3aef3e91f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Egyptian Dragon Thing">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880608607_6ed69ebc54.jpg" alt="Egyptian Dragon Thing"/>
</a>

 Some sort of Egyptian (or Roman?) sea monster with throne.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880611377_e2b54c5528_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hot Air Balloon">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880611377_e74c7b2844.jpg" alt="Hot Air Balloon"/>
</a>

 A misshapen paper mache hot air balloon.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881410270_5f7bf0ccef_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Uglified Shrek">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881410270_8817909ca3.jpg" alt="Uglified Shrek"/>
</a>

 Looks like Shrek got hit with an ugly stick.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881412922_c1fb6c244b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flintstones Car">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881412922_9503048700.jpg" alt="Flintstones Car"/>
</a>

 This Flintstones car was my favorite design.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880623835_bee32cf4ee_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flintstones Dashboard">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880623835_8c91520327.jpg" alt="Flintstones Dashboard"/>
</a>

 I love the detail of the dashboard. It's a Mercedes, apparently.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881423410_db576f90fb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fred Flintstone">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881423410_5e50b2cfa9.jpg" alt="Fred Flintstone"/>
</a>

 Fred prepares for the race.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880621349_57fe1f7af8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tank">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880621349_1fd14189dc.jpg" alt="Tank"/>
</a>

 A floating tank.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881415778_93748df0c7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Red Baron">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881415778_dcd65cf882.jpg" alt="Red Baron"/>
</a>

 A biplane (Red Baron?) complete with machine gun turret.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881431528_48c27d8552_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flintstones Car Floats">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881431528_1804e871b2.jpg" alt="Flintstones Car Floats"/>
</a>

 The Flintstones out on the water.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880633149_86308ec254_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bathtub Rowing">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880633149_58409043ff.jpg" alt="Bathtub Rowing"/>
</a>

 A bathtub with shower curtain sail.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881427264_aac43c0ce1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Plaza de Toros (Bullring)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881427264_e606d7d21b.jpg" alt="Plaza de Toros (Bullring)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr") My second favorite was this bullring, complete with its occupants dressed as bullfighters, except one, who was wearing a bull suit.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880640265_4aae1f9451_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Egyptian King">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880640265_a0fa6d065b.jpg" alt="Egyptian King"/>
</a>

 The Egypto-Roman king and his court of bikini-clad subjects.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881432898_62356262cb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Floating Police Car">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3881432898_7533e26f7a.jpg" alt="Floating Police Car"/>
</a>

 The police car never did finish the race because the wind got a hold of it and blew it to the other side of the harbor. There was nothing the two rowers inside could do.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880637309_995a93bd53_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fred Brings The Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880637309_8dc0ff4cfc_b.jpg" alt="Fred Brings The Beer"/>
</a>

 Fred swam to shore on an important mission: to get beer.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880638529_3dd9332cb6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fred Flintstone Floats Drinking Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-artefactos-navegables-2009/3880638529_a290ee54b7.jpg" alt="Fred Flintstone Floats Drinking Beer"/>
</a>

 Fred Flintstone downs a cold brewski.

The video is a little long, but I still find it entertaining. I think that next year I'm going to try a single wide angle timelapse shot of the event. That could be cool.

I never cease to be amazed at the quantity of planned activities that my small town manages to organize every year. People really put a lot of hard work into these events, and they brighten the lives of all the residents. Bravo, Colindres!


Artefactos Navegables 2009


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878549168_eb517814bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878549168_106341e03a_t.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

On Saturday, we went out to lunch and then for a coffee and liqueur before going to see the [_artefactos navegables_ race](/2009/09/02/artefactos-navegables-2009/) down at the harbor. I didn't bring my camera out to the restaurant, so I had to walk home to get my new video camera and meet up with them at the café for coffee. I took the following photos with my HD video camera. The quality is superb.  You have to admit that they make a pretty cute mother and daughter...but then I may be biased.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877688555_467c6f84f0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877688555_d812df9082.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877695019_36393ed39f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877695019_beeaa8856a.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877699771_99340f07b6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877699771_39c578194d.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877707219_d0fe70d636_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877707219_cff9960392_b.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877718359_812ed5d7d1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877718359_e0a0cc0534_b.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878531084_b239454371_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878531084_b92ee9d954.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877746749_3af4f3ff15_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877746749_02aafcb4a8.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878549168_eb517814bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878549168_106341e03a.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877769265_65f5273334_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877769265_d5ed95a038.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

 Ooooh, what's _that_??

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878574276_48b3d8b9cf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Electric Bicycle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878574276_c607e5df45.jpg" alt="Electric Bicycle"/>
</a>

 An electric bike! Cool!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878581766_283f950e34_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3878581766_ae5a610506.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

 Mommy, I'm not a hat!!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877796377_49fea9c516_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877796377_2fea8910af.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877806785_09221124a6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877806785_a76ba0f09c.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

 Hey, gimme some of that patxaran liqueur!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877815093_156d26fe7e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Coffee with Mommy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-02-coffee-with-mommy/3877815093_2f58238218.jpg" alt="Coffee with Mommy"/>
</a>

 A little closer...

My next post will be about the [_artefactos navegables_ race](/2009/09/02/artefactos-navegables-2009/).


Coffee with Mommy


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878241316_c31b7eb9de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Vegetation on a foreign planet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878241316_0384a566dd_t.jpg" alt="Vegetation on a foreign planet"/>
</a>

Come with me on a journey across the galaxy to the small forested planet of Citronia. In the spirit of the early Apollo missions, we won't actually be landing on the surface, just some orbital reconnaissance. This planet certainly has some nice beaches...  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878241316_c31b7eb9de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Vegetation on a foreign planet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878241316_0384a566dd.jpg" alt="Vegetation on a foreign planet"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3877473159_644ff977de_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Land">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3877473159_65604c88e2.jpg" alt="Land"/>
</a>

 A forested region.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878291424_10162c0831_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The coastline">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878291424_4714f23a6c.jpg" alt="The coastline"/>
</a>

 Coastline.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3877587873_6bc0d2b94b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beach?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3877587873_f160dc2b09.jpg" alt="Beach?"/>
</a>

 Sandy beaches.

### Making Of

I think that "Moldy Orange" would be a good name for a blog. The colors compliment themselves nicely. I took these photos with my close-up magnification lenses, maxing out with a +10, +10, +2, +4 combination. It'd be really cool if I could have set up a timelapse to watch it spread. I need to repair or replace my broken intervalometer so I can go back to timelapse video making.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878394460_cf9d966428_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2009-09-01-journey-to-citronia/3878394460_33b83b9be3.jpg" alt=""/>
</a>

Apparently "Citronia" is the name of an apartment complex in California. Go figure.


34 posts from September, 2009