Test post
Test post from Dad’s iPhone to see if I can live blog.
Update 11:47 am:
Testing an update.
Update: 11:50 am:
Update number 2!
Australia: Margaret River, December 5 (part 2)
After my paddle, I decided to go on a hike. I was right in the middle of the “Cape to Cape Track,” a 135 km trek along the coast. I went north about an hour and then turned around, following the track along single track hiking tail, jeep trails, and the beach. A lot of the trail was like sugar sand, so I was glad I wore my keens (and I had to cross the river to get started). The coast line was fantastically beautiful!
Here I am just going to use this blog’s feature of a gallery to show the pictures.
Australia: Margaret River, December 5 (part 1)
Today Dad and I swam about 30 minutes on the course again. Water was much calmer than a couple days ago! After that, we went back to Samovar for breakfast — that is 3 days in row, but they have fantastic food. 
Dad is pretty much in laid back mode now, so I decided to take the car down to Margaret River, a town about 40 km away. From there it was another 15 km or so to Surfer’s Point and the mouth of the River itself. Surfer’s Point was beautiful, and there were a lot of surfers out! The Margaret Rive r comes out here, and what is interesting is that this whole beach used to be the mouth of the river, but due to all the wineries and damming, the river is much smaller than it once was. In fact, the kayak lady told me that the river just “broke through” last night… Before the sand had built up and dammed the river. The water builds up and breaks through. In the winter it always runs freely, but in the summer, it will dam up and break a few times, and eventually dam up for the remainder of the summer!
I rented a canoe and paddled all the way to the end of the river and then back. On the way back, I stopped at some cliffs and found a huge bee-hive:
That was the end… I could have portaged over this, but I could hear the cars on the bridge which marks the end of the part of the river that you can paddle in this area within 100 meters or so…
Here are some shot from the cliffs and beehive:
After I paddled from the cliffs back to the river mouth and turned in my boat and gear, I decided to go on a little hike… I’ll post shortly on that.
Australia: Bussleton, December 3
Today we follwed the other tri-travel athletes into town in our rental “bus” and did an open water swim of about 30 minutes. Luke Bell, a top pro Australian athlete was there. After the swim Dad and I found a good breakfast place in the town of Bussleton and then headed to the expo. Only the two official exhibitors were set up — the rest will be ready Thursday.
When we got back to the hotel, I decided to hire (that is “rent” in US English) a bike… They have single speed beach cruisers only, and it turned out to be a tough ride when riding into the strong wind off the water! There is a 25-30k paved path along the beach that goes south of our resort, as well as north past the downtown section of Busstleton, so I rode all of that and took the following pictures:
Later we headed back into town and had dinner at Vasse. I had a somewhat strange but good risotto with pumpkin, spinach, corn, peas, feta, and fennel.
Australia: Perth
I am in Western Australia to watch my Dad race the Ironman on Sunday, December 7th, which I hope to liveblog, but we’ll see what kind of connectivity I can get in the somewhat small town of Busselton. It took nearly 40 hours of travel to get into Perth from Raleigh, most of that in the air! We stayed in Perth just one night, and then drove down to Busselton (about 3 hours away) the following day.
From our hotel in Perth we walked down to the river front and had dinner at an excellent restaurant called Halo’s. The concierge had told me it was “Australian fare” but it was much more “gourmet” than we expected.
Wall-E. 2008.
I am amazed at the number of excellent films Pixar has been able produce, including Wall-E. In my opinion, they have not had one mediocre film in all of their productions. They also are much better at NOT including all the adult humor and innuendo that other studios continue to place in kid’s movies.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. 2008
I know there is a lot of controversy around this movie, and I certainly understand that especially if any of the information on how some of the interviews were obtained is accurate. In my mind there should have been no need to get interviews in anyway other than aboveboard methods.
However, beyond that, I think this film should be watched, and no matter which side of the “wall” (more on that below) you are on, you should try to leave your biases at the door.
I know this film is slanted heavily in favor of one side of the story, but that is ok, it is a documentary with a purpose. In fact, the “propaganda” affected me to some extent. I thought the Berlin Wall metaphor and associated naziism and communism was way over the top in the beginning, but by the end, I felt like “The Wall” metaphor was more appropriate.
Again, don’t let your preconceived notions and biases prevent you from seeing a film just because you may fall on the opposite side of the debate than what the film is arguing for or against).
Pumpkin Cheesecake.
I’ll be making this later today… This has become a Thanksgiving (and sometimes Christmas!) tradition…
I thought it was posted here, but it was on the old 2sparrows site…
Pumpkin Cheescake
(From Emeril)
- 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup finely ground pecans
- 1 tb light brown sugar
- 1 tb ground cinnamon
- 8 tb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- three 8 oz. packages of cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tb cornstarch
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- one 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Combine the cracker crumbs, pecans, brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon into a medium bowl. Mix in the melted butter. Press the mixture firmly into a 9 inch spring form pan.
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed until smooth and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs and yolks and beat until just blended. Mix in the pumpkin and cream.
Spread the batter in the pan and place it on a baking sheet. Bake until the center is nearly set, about 60 to 70 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a sharp knife between the cake and the sides of the pan. Remove the sides of the pan. Cool completely on a the rack before covering tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
Road to Perdition. 2002.
I happened to see the 1st couple minutes of this flipping channels and decided to record it and watch it later. I literally did not know anything about it going in, but with the cast including Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, I figured it had to be pretty good.
In case you didn’t know, the definition of “perdition” is:
It was one of those movies that is not super cheerful! But the acting is good and the story keeps you engaged. Lots of twists and turns though most of them were fairly predictable.
One quote:
Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.
We The Living. Ayn Rand.
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Ok, this is the last Rand book I plan on reading for a while, and this is the first book she wrote. There is a tremendous difference in her writing ability between this and Atlas Shrugged, but that should be expected since she was only 25 when she started We the Living, and it was 25+ years later when she finished Atlas Shrugged. First - if you have this version — DO NOT READ the forward by Leonard Peikoff before you read the book. There are big spoilers in there and no warnings! Second, this is a somewhat depressing book, but what it portrays is the Soviet Union just after the revolution and the start of communism, so I don’t doubt its truthfulness. But the picture it paints of the country and the people is not pretty. |
Third, this book is not nearly as deep as Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. It is a good book, but there is only a tiny glimmer of depth here and there compared to those two works.
I had a couple of dog ears for potential quotes, but after re-reading them now, they are not that that thought-provoking so I won’t include them here.
