view of boston

view of boston
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view NNE in the vicinity of Rattlesnake Hill along the Skyline Trail. That's Boston off to the right.

skylne trail

skylne trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

For a change, I did a hike at Blue Hills Reservation today. It was cooler than yesterday, and I only spent about 2 hours on the trails.

Walden

Walden
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

From the DeCordova I hiked over to Walden. The round trip hike took about three hours.

The weather was abnormally warm, so I hiked in my shirtsleeves. That was nice. However, the rain had made the leaves slick and I hiked more slowly than usual. Despite the caution, I did wind up landing on my butt just once.

Towards the end of the hike I got a weird stabbing cramp at the top of my right foot. It went away and came back again. What's that about??

Two Big Black Hearts

Two Big Black Hearts
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Here's another look at Jim Dine's Two Big Black Hearts, creepy as ever. Chakaia Booker's "No More Milk and Cookies" and "The Conversationalist" are in the background. I kinda like those.

Butterfly Effect

Butterfly Effect
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I did another hike starting from the DeCordova today. Had to go take another look at Butterfly Effect. I like the look of the concrete as it starts to dry out.

voted!

Whoo! I got to the polls twenty minutes after they opened. There was a wait of about 30 minutes, not so bad. Very exciting!

Now I really feel like I have to go find a Starbucks to get my free cup of coffee...

view from Midstate

view from Midstate
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This was taken near Crow Hill Ledges, yesterday.

The sky was nice and clear, but it was a bit too chilly and windy for my liking.

seasonal shrine

seasonal shrine
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked for 3 h 10 min along the Midstate Trail, yesterday. I did a section along Crow Hill Ledges to Redemption Rock. The trail was unusually busy. I passed 4 or 5 small groups of people.

I stopped to visit the shrine on the way. Someone has left a couple of pumpkins at the site, giving it a festive look.

Joseph Wheelwright Listening Stone

Joseph Wheelwright Listening Stone
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Listening Stone is not one of my favorites, but yesterday I found it weirdly mesmerizing. The bright red autumn colors are in stark contrast to the stone, which makes this view more interesting to me.

Rick Brown moving Butterfly Effect

Rick Brown moving Butterfly Effect
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went for a hike yesterday in Lincoln Woods, starting at the DeCordova. I was very lucky to catch the artist Rick Brown rearranging his sculpture "Butterfly Effect"! At least, I think that's Rick Brown doing the rearranging. Since he was busy I didn't want to interrupt the process by asking him to be sure.

Tank sixty-four

Total miles: 23736. Trip miles: 332.2. Gallons: 6.827. Price per gallon: $2.559.

Screen mileage: 52.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 48.7 mpg.

Mostly highway miles over vacation.

The car got an oil change yesterday, just before the fill-up.

Halloween cupcakes

Halloween cupcakes
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I also went to a church fair yesterday, and scored these Halloween cupcakes. They must have been homemade... they were delicious!

DeCordova Museum

Two Big Black Hearts
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Yesterday, I did a short hike through Lincoln Woods. I took the trail that passes to one side of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. I like these "Two Big Black Hearts" by Jim Dine, even though they are kind of creepy.

another view from Gilbert Lookout

another view from Gilbert Lookout
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I think this was looking SE, but I could be all wrong!

view from Gilbert Lookout

view from Gilbert Lookout
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Gilbert Lookout

DSCN3098
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The climb to Gilbert Lookout is pretty steep near the peak, and it's not well marked, but it's well worth the effort. The view is glorious. Plus there's this very cool marker. I would recommend against trying the climb in wet weather, however.

Bromley

Bromley
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view from the top of Bromley, where you meet up with the Appalachian Trail. There's a tower you can climb to get a great view, and a ski lift up here, too.

fall foliage in Vermont

fall foliage
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This photo was taken along the Lye Brook Trail.

Vermont vacation

foliage
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I managed to get in a fall vacation to Vermont a few weeks ago. The weather was nearly perfect, and the foliage was just about at peak.

Walk to work for 30 days over the next year

I live about two miles from work, so the walk is not difficult, but it is time consuming. When walking, my daily commute time goes from 20 minutes to one hour. However, walking is a good stress reliever. In contrast, driving increases stress levels.

It has been difficult convincing myself to add an additional 40 minutes of commute time to my day, when I have little enough time already. However, I can afford to do this once in a while – 30 days over the next year certainly seems possible.

Today was Day 1. I did the route faster than expected, at a pace of about 4 mph.

See more progress on: walk to work more often

Tank sixty-three

Total miles: 23404. Trip miles: 310.2. Gallons: 6.259. Price per gallon: $2.999.

Screen mileage: 52.6 mpg. Tank mileage: 49.5 mpg.

Highway miles, on vacation.

A review of "The Handmaid's Tale"

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

I wanted to like The Handmaid’s Tale. Unfortunately, I found it ferociously boring. I suspect that Atwood was trying to relay the incredible boredom that comes with oppression, but she did it too well.

The protagonist is extremely weak, so much so that I didn’t care about her, or become absorbed in her story. Stuff just happens to her. In fact the only thing she initiates involves a silly and unbelievable “love story” which is tacked on near the end. I suppose the love story may be an ironic commentary; presumably the protagonist has some form of Stockholm syndrome.

I suppose some might argue that she was strong, because she was a survivor. That might be my perspective if this were a real, living person. But this is fiction, and I want more from my fictional characters than what was given here.

I’ve been trying to read more about this book, to discover if there’s any underlying meaning or symbolism that I’m missing… so far, zilch. It is what it is.

See more about The Handmaid's Tale

Tank sixty-two

Total miles: 23094. Trip miles: 446.9. Gallons: 8.535. Price per gallon: $3.479.

Screen mileage: 54.7 mpg. Tank mileage: 52.4 mpg.

Mostly highway miles, again.

scary foam

scary foam
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

While tramping around Lincoln woods, I noticed that a number of trees had a little pile of foam down at the bottom of their trunks. The lump of foam in this photo was about the size of my fist. I noticed some foam seemed to be running down the tree bark, in a thin layer, as well. It literally looks like soap foam. You might speculate that someone went through the woods tossing soap on the trees, after all, people do the craziest things... However, here are my top ideas for what produced the foam:

1) It's something produced by the tree itself, possibly in defense against an insect.
2) It's produced by a tree frog.
3) It's produced by some insect.
4) It's produced by alien invaders, and we'll all soon be assimilated. Or get our brains eaten.

In any case, this requires further investigation! BTW, I did not poke, prod, or otherwise disturb the foam. I know that if I did so, the alien would leap out of the foam and eat through my abdomen in a heartbeat.

[Close, but no cigar. Turns out the most likely candidate is slime flux, also known as wetwood.]

Lincoln woods

Lincoln woods
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Yesterday was a big driving day. I spent 7 hours in the car in order to attend a family get-together. The get-together was fun. The driving - not so much.

As if the universe were colluding against me, it rained pretty much all day long today. I am not averse to hiking in the rain, but I felt worn out from yesterday's drive. So I only did about 1.5 hours in Lincoln Woods. This is a nice view of the trail running off into the mist, near the DeCordova Museum.

Tank sixty-one

Total miles: 22647. Trip miles: 465.8. Gallons: 7.996. Price per gallon: $3.499.

Screen mileage: 57.8 mpg. Tank mileage: 58.3 mpg.

Mostly highway miles.

A review of "Walden"

Walden

by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau’s Walden is a classic, no doubt about it, and worth reading twice. The best chapters are the first and last, “Economy” and the “Conclusion”, in which he exhorts us to spend as much time as we can doing what we want, and not what others expect of us. If life is too costly, just stop spending money and go live in the woods, he says. And that’s what he did.

However, he did cheat a little in doing this himself. He went to live on a friend’s land. Back in the 1800’s, how many poor people had friends who would let them squat on their property? How many people today could do this? I think it’s easier said than done.

Further, he completely ignores the fact that many people have health issues which are quite costly to treat. He himself suffered from tuberculosis, and died at the early age of 44. Would he have lived longer if he had had more money to spend on treatment? Perhaps money was not an issue for him, since a successful treatment for tuberculosis had not been developed in his lifetime. But it was for many others with treatable diseases, and continues to be today.

These are the main flaws that I see in Thoreau’s arguments to live simply – they are unrealistic in some respects. I give the book four stars because of these problems, and also because it’s overly lengthy and could have used a strong editorial hand in trimming some of the last chapters, which got rather boring. Despite all that, I still find his views very appealing. And now that I live close to Walden Pond, the book is made richer than it was for me originally, because I can “put a face to the name” of local features like Lincoln Woods and Flint’s Pond, and towns like Fitchburg.

See more about Walden

A story about "Walden"

Walden

by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau on the energy crisis (p.270):

It is remarkable what a value is still put upon wood even in this age and in this new country, a value more permanent and universal than that of gold…. In this town the price of wood rises almost steadily, and the only question is, how much higher it is to be this year than it was the last.

I’m still slogging through Walden; the last few chapters strike me as downright dull!

See more about Walden

snake

snake
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I was lucky to notice this small snake along the trail. It kept very still, and I might have easily missed it. It was very small, taking up no more space than my outspread hand.

I have not been able to identify it. My best guess is that it is a juvenile something. Possibly a juvenile northern water snake or a juvenile black racer.

milkweed

milkweed
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I did about 11 miles on the Midstate Trail today, covering the region from Sampson's Pebble to Paxton Road roundtrip in about 4 hours, for a pace of about 2.7 mph.

I don't much like this section of trail because the trails are wide and converge with trails that seem intended for motorized vehicles. Today, however, I didn't run into that kind of traffic. And there are some nice views. The area around Browning Pond is beautiful.

I saw this milkweed plant closer to Paxton Road.

duck herding

duck herding
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

For me, the high point of the Garlic and Arts festival was the duck herding demo. One of the little runner ducks in this photo wound up missing some tail feathers when the collie became overenthusiastic. Poor duckie!

pulled pork

pulled pork
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is some of the good food that I sampled at the Garlic and Arts festival. Delicious pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, garlic baked beans, and homemade rootbeer. Incredibly good!

capoeira

capoeira
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

There were some fun demos at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts festival. I like watching capoeira dancers, and these people were pretty good! (Seeing them reminded me that I've made no progress towards my goal of doing a headstand - even a handstand would be something!)

red russian garlic

red russian garlic
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went to the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts festival, today. I had no idea there were so many kinds of garlic...

the circuit board

click photo to enlarge 
This is a very blurry photo of the circut board. Counting from the left, there are four circular copper-colored dots. The on/off switch is, I believe, the little rectangular doohickey to the right of the fourth dot. It may be connected to the fourth dot in some way.

Having gotten this far, it was discouraging to abandon the cause, but that's what I did. With nothing obvious to try, I just left the monitor in a corner, and went out to get a new one.

On the one hand, I was loathe to buy a new Dell monitor because of my bad experience with this one. However, I do really like the look of the Dell monitors. And I hoped that if I bought a Dell, I'd be able to afix it to the Dell swivel stand that came with my old one. I really like the swivel stand.

I found a relatively cheap Dell (about $220) at Best Buy. It's a widescreen 19-inch flatscreen monitor, and so far it is satisfactory.

I do not like widescreen monitors, and would have bought a regular monitor, but I couldn't find any other kind at Best Buy! I find widescreens are only an advantage when viewing tv shows or movies online, and for any other computer use they are disadvantageous, since you get less vertical real estate for viewing email, web pages, text files, and general coding purposes. Oh well, I can deal with it.

Meanwhile, I have to figure out what to do with my old monitor. I hate to junk it, since it's relatively new. In fact, it may have been still under warantee, but I couldn't find my papers for it (this is what happens when you move). I tried to find an authorized Dell repair shop in my area, but so far I can't even figure out how to find any authorized Dell repair shop. So my monitor is in limbo.

Do I really need to say the legal stuff again? Perhaps. Kids, if you try this at home, it's your own responsibility. If anything like mayhem, death, or broken fingernails result, it is not my fault!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

the buttons

click photo to enlarge 
Once the screws were removed, I could finally free the plastic lip from the monitor casing. Here you see the buttons. All of the buttons look the same, except for the on/off button. The on/off button is empty; the others have a small slightly raised bar down the middle.

At this point, I was stymied, unfortunately. It appears to me that the difference between the on/off and the other buttons is deliberate. It doesn't look like anything broke off the on/off button; there is nothing clearly missing.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

detaching the circuit board

click photo to enlarge 
Finally, I reached the area of the lip just around the row of control buttons, with the on/off button nearest the corner. Here I found that it was impossible to fully remove the lip.

As shown in this photo, the buttons are covered by a small circuit board, and the circuit board is connected to the monitor with a small ribbon. At this stage in the disassembly, I did my best not to disturb the ribbon, but it was difficult because the ribbon was the only thing connecting the lip to the monitor body.

I was stuck. The circuit board was fastened to the lip with a set of 5 teeny tiny Phillips (crosshead) screws, and I didn't have a set of teeny tiny screwdrivers. So I gave up for the evening.

The following evening, I stopped off at RadioShack. RadioShack used to be much more geek friendly, but I think they may have decided there's a broader market in the general public, and that it would make sense to devote more shelf space to standard appliances like cell phones and televisions. At least, this place didn't have the huge variety of technical tools that I was hoping to find. (I looked for a real spudger, but couldn't find one. Where does one get a spudger?) However, they did have several sets of teeny tiny screwdrivers. I bought a nifty set of six miniature Phillips-head screwdrivers, ranging from 1.4 mm to 3.5 mm, and hoped one would do the trick.

As you can see, one was just right - the 2.0 mm size did the trick. Removing the screws was surprisingly easy. I'm pretty bad with removing screws and have a habit of stripping them, but had no such problem here.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

popping the fasteners with a spudger

click photo to enlarge 
Here you can see that I'm halfway done with removing the lip of the monitor. Popping the fasteners got much easier once I moved around the first corner.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

removing the lip

click photo to enlarge 
Here's another blurry photo, as I make my way around the lip with my letter opener.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

attacking the front

click photo to enlarge 
I searched the internet for information about getting into a Dell flatscreen monitor, but there was precious little info. I finally found a page at Fixya that described how it can be done. Delli Llama wrote:

...After UNPLUGGING the monitor and removing the stand and the 4 obvious screws in the back, turn the monitor onto its back and placing your palms against one side of the monitor, and using your FINGER TIPS, gently pull back the plastic lip away from the LCD screen. Move along the lip, doing this a little bit at a time...

This gave me the idea of attacking from the front.

I tried just using my fingertips as suggested, but you must have fingertips of steel for that to work. Eventually I resorted to my letter opener, which serves as a makeshift spudger.

This somewhat blurry photo illustrates where to insert the spudger. I was surprised that it worked, since the seal looked incredibly tight.

Oh and obviously, the monitor was unplugged while doing this. I am not so stupid as to attempt disassembling electronic equipment while it is plugged in. In fact this monitor had been unplugged for a couple of days. I recall that CRT monitors should be left unplugged for some time before attempting to work on them, and I'm not sure if the same caution applies for these new flatscreen things.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

disassembling a Dell 1907FPc flatscreen monitor

click photo to enlarge 
I've heard you should never ever use your monitor's on/off button, because they fail easily. However, I never got around to setting up a powerstrip for the monitor, and I don't like seeing the little glowing button wasting energy. So I've turned monitor on and off day in and day out for over two years now.

Last Saturday, when I hit that button, nothing happened. Hitting the button didn't feel right (no nice clicking feeling), so I thought it might be a simple task to rig something up to fix the button, if that were the problem.

However, getting into the monitor was no easy task. Looking at the thing, it was hard to decide where to begin - everything was sealed together so tightly. I decided to start with the back, since there were four obvious screws there. I removed them, but was then stymied since there seemed to be no further angle of attack.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Tank sixty

Total miles: 22181. Trip miles: 384.2. Gallons: 7.860. Price per gallon: $3.499.

Screen mileage: 57.8 mpg. Tank mileage: 48.9 mpg.

Worst difference in these two mileages that I've seen in a while!

Sampson's Pebble

Sampson's Pebble
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a large glacial erratic. My backpack to the right gives some sense of scale.

newts

newts
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I've come across a lot of newts along the Midstate Trail this year, presumably due to all the precipitation we've had. These two were hanging out together, until I tried to photograph them using my cell phone camera (hence the blur), at which point they raced away as fast as they could (which was not fast at all).

The rain yesterday produced some flooding along the trail. I could manage in most cases, but there was one spot where a stream had flooded the trail and I decided it was safest to remove my hiking boots and cross barefoot. This was actually quite fun!

midpoint

midpoint
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

My trek today took me past the midpoint of the Midstate Trail. I've done over half the trail this summer, but I don't expect to finish it this year.

Long Pond

Long Pond
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked the Midstate Trail from Hwy 122 to Sampson's Pebble and back today. That's 9.36 miles in 3.5 h for a pace of 2.7 mph! Soon after passing the shelter and pipe spring, you come to this peaceful view of Long Pond.

This would be a very nice trail section if it weren't for the numerous dirt roads intersecting the trail. It puts you too close to motorized traffic, which I dislike. I crossed paths with an ATV and a dirt bike rider. I planned on a longer hike, but I finally turned back because the dirt bike rider was constantly riding up and down the area where I was hiking, making my hike turn into an unpleasant experience.

view of lime rock

Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked a section of the Mohawk Trail on Labor Day (last Monday). I started at Ford Hill Rd and went to Rt 7, a total of 7.1 miles in 3 h 50 min, for a somewhat pathetic pace of 1.9 mph.

Most of the hike was pretty mild, but going up to the summit of Lookout Point was a little brutal since I didn't bring enough water. There's a nice view at the top. That's Lime Rock race track in the distance. I could hear the roar of the racing cars in the distance.

This section of the Mohawk has some very beautiful views, including a pretty waterfall at Dean Ravine. Unfortunately, I forgot my digital camera and only had my cell phone to take photos!

Today, I went hiking as well, but only for about two hours. I didn't bring my camera since rain was predicted. It was a gloomy, dark day, and it did start to rain a bit after I had been out for about an hour. Fortunately I didn't get completely soaked.

politics as usual

Jon Stewart nails it again - this is hilarious!

Tank fifty-nine

Total miles: 21797. Trip miles: 356.3. Gallons: 5.559. Price per gallon: $3.799.

Screen mileage: 56.4 mpg. Tank mileage: 64.1 mpg.

Lots of driving this Labor Day weekend. That tank mileage is insane. It always seems to come out higher when the tank is less empty - strange!

Tank fifty-eight

Total miles: 21440. Trip miles: 440.3. Gallons: 7.969. Price per gallon: $3.699.

Screen mileage: 56.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 55.3 mpg.

I tanked up after a long weekend spent driving to a friend who lives about 150 miles away; mostly highway miles.

Tank fifty-seven

Total miles: 21000. Trip miles: 258.8. Gallons: 4.912. Price per gallon: $3.759.

Screen mileage: 59.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 52.7 mpg.

I tanked up early in preparation for a long driving weekend...

bench

bench
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This bench is found along the Midstate Trail, on Audubon property, a bit north of Rt 62 in Princeton. Such nice clean lines! I like it a lot more than the memorial benches south of Barre Falls dam. For one thing, this wooden bench doesn't get nearly as hot as those granite (?) benches. And having a back rest really helps the tired hiker.

view to east

view to east
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view to the east from the summit of Wachusett, if I recall correctly.

The "problem" with Wachusett is that you can pay a $2 fee to get in and drive to the top, where there's plenty of parking. (That's exactly what I did today.) This is a problem because the summit is far from peaceful. The two times I've been there, it's crowded with people. Motorcyclists, radio hobbyists, casual hikers, bicyclists. (I admit, the radio hobbyists are kind of fun). Not that there's anything wrong with that - I just don't like the crowds, and although I'd like to linger, taking in the views, I have always headed off as quickly as possible.

There are a couple of USGS markers up at the summit, according to NOAA. I took a quick look around today, but couldn't find them, and I just didn't feel like doing a thorough search with all the people around. I'll have to come back some other day.

pond at summit of Wachusett Mountain

pond at summit
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 3.5 h | 8.6 mi | 2.4 mph

I parked at the top of Wachusett Mountain, and hiked down to Rt 62 in Princeton, to close the gap that I still had not hiked in the northern part of the Midstate Trail.

There's a little pond at the summit of Wachusett, and a sign in front of it warning the visitor to not drop anything into the pond, so as to keep it pristine and so on. When I walked over to the edge, I saw a pretty impressive school of tiny goldfish in the pond, so I'm guessing "pristine" is over.