For the time being, this is the stuff I have uploaded from my weekend trip to Reno and Northstar. I will be compiling the videos together this week to upload to Youtube later. For now, take a look at my ride home on Interstate 80:
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Reno Trip Day 2 - Going Home
There is white powdery stuff falling down outside while traveling east. There are also many of those moving objects with wheels on the road. Basically, a good deal of people going home from the ski resorts for the weekend, since many people have to go to school and work the next day.
The car is averaging about 30 miles per hour in this chain control area. Basically no one wants to be stuck in traffic since everyone will arrive home late. Likewise, if the snow in this area becomes severe, highway patrol will shut down the road to clear the snow before allowing people to pass.
It is currently 19:24 and we are at about 4,000 feet above sea level. There is plenty of snow outside even at this elevation. Of course, the reason why I'm not so used to this is because whenever I go to South Lake Tahoe in February, there has been little snow these past few years. Also, Northern California has had a few storms pass through the past week. This has to be the reason why everyone is rushing up here this weekend, since there must be much powder in the area.
Reflecting on my skiing experience today, the (intermediate) trails offered at Northstar are wide, lightly groomed, and not too ripped up by large amounts of traffic. But, today the area had some new snow, so that replaces the ripped up runs. However, at Heavenly, Big Dipper is one of my favorite trails, and it is also extremely busy with traffic. Way early in the morning, the grooming tracks can usually be seen. By about noon, that trail would develop some moguls from the traffic through it. Even if it snows in the afternoon, there is ice on the trail. I can't compare Big Dipper with any other runs at Northstar, because this still is my first time there.
So it is now 19:42 as I'm writing this post on the document saved on the computer. I just stuck my hand outside to record some video of the snow conditions and traffic at this time in Interstate 80. Take a look here:
Likewise, I just passed a van that looked like CBS5 News, since it had a blue logo. That's exciting seeing news being broadcasted directly from it's source. Of course, I'm not sure what that van was doing there, since it looked like it could possibly be a webcam set up for this part of the highway.
Okay, it is now 7:47 PM, and that just reminds me of the Boeing 747 of course. I'd be home by now if I took a plane home. What would be interesting is that I take a private jet - say a Bombardier Learjet 45 - and looking outside seeing all of the mountains under the plane. But flying in a plane is different experience compared to being stuck in traffic.
People are now outside removing their chains. Trucks are all outside removing their chains, along with other people. And we just passed the chain area, and our speed is now up to 50 miles per hour. We just passed Crystal Springs Exit 148A.
The laptop battery happens to say 22% and 48 minutes remaining. I'm just doing word processing, so that should be no big deal for a computer. But either way I'm starting to get tired of writing. And there's no more snow. It's all rain, with sleet on the sides of the road.
Published 2010-01-25
The car is averaging about 30 miles per hour in this chain control area. Basically no one wants to be stuck in traffic since everyone will arrive home late. Likewise, if the snow in this area becomes severe, highway patrol will shut down the road to clear the snow before allowing people to pass.
It is currently 19:24 and we are at about 4,000 feet above sea level. There is plenty of snow outside even at this elevation. Of course, the reason why I'm not so used to this is because whenever I go to South Lake Tahoe in February, there has been little snow these past few years. Also, Northern California has had a few storms pass through the past week. This has to be the reason why everyone is rushing up here this weekend, since there must be much powder in the area.
Reflecting on my skiing experience today, the (intermediate) trails offered at Northstar are wide, lightly groomed, and not too ripped up by large amounts of traffic. But, today the area had some new snow, so that replaces the ripped up runs. However, at Heavenly, Big Dipper is one of my favorite trails, and it is also extremely busy with traffic. Way early in the morning, the grooming tracks can usually be seen. By about noon, that trail would develop some moguls from the traffic through it. Even if it snows in the afternoon, there is ice on the trail. I can't compare Big Dipper with any other runs at Northstar, because this still is my first time there.
So it is now 19:42 as I'm writing this post on the document saved on the computer. I just stuck my hand outside to record some video of the snow conditions and traffic at this time in Interstate 80. Take a look here:
Likewise, I just passed a van that looked like CBS5 News, since it had a blue logo. That's exciting seeing news being broadcasted directly from it's source. Of course, I'm not sure what that van was doing there, since it looked like it could possibly be a webcam set up for this part of the highway.
Okay, it is now 7:47 PM, and that just reminds me of the Boeing 747 of course. I'd be home by now if I took a plane home. What would be interesting is that I take a private jet - say a Bombardier Learjet 45 - and looking outside seeing all of the mountains under the plane. But flying in a plane is different experience compared to being stuck in traffic.
People are now outside removing their chains. Trucks are all outside removing their chains, along with other people. And we just passed the chain area, and our speed is now up to 50 miles per hour. We just passed Crystal Springs Exit 148A.
The laptop battery happens to say 22% and 48 minutes remaining. I'm just doing word processing, so that should be no big deal for a computer. But either way I'm starting to get tired of writing. And there's no more snow. It's all rain, with sleet on the sides of the road.
Published 2010-01-25
Reno Trip Day 2 - Traveling on Interstate 80 enroute to Northstar
The car plane just crossed the agricultural inspection thing, so we are now back in California. The car's GPS is weird as we are searching for "Northstar." We apparently got "Northstar Aviation" as one of our search results. Apparently the exit on the Interstate 80 had a little sign with an airplane on it, but no sign for "skiing."
Currently, we are on the road to go up to Northstar's resort. The GPS announced we are five miles away from the destination. There are plenty of people lining up all the way there. It's been a while since we just got out, sot he GPS currently says "4.5 mi 0:07 to go."
Continuing from breakfast earlier, we had a lot of time to screw up stuff. We left Reno, and bought some breakfast at McDonald's. I had a Egg McMuffin meal with orange juice, since that's my favorite breakfast item. The others had other things, nothing specific.
I'm going to go play on the flight simulator now. On the ads up to the ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, skiing is depicted as "flying" with skiers jumping off of a ramp. I'd rather fly with my plane.
Currently, we are on the road to go up to Northstar's resort. The GPS announced we are five miles away from the destination. There are plenty of people lining up all the way there. It's been a while since we just got out, sot he GPS currently says "4.5 mi 0:07 to go."
Continuing from breakfast earlier, we had a lot of time to screw up stuff. We left Reno, and bought some breakfast at McDonald's. I had a Egg McMuffin meal with orange juice, since that's my favorite breakfast item. The others had other things, nothing specific.
I'm going to go play on the flight simulator now. On the ads up to the ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, skiing is depicted as "flying" with skiers jumping off of a ramp. I'd rather fly with my plane.
Reno Trip Day 2 - Going to Northstar
It is now a few minutes before 08:00, and we are about to leave Reno. I put on the cumbersome stuff first so that our time at the ski resort will be minimized. I'm pretty sure we are going to eat at McDonald's for breakfast, so that we can eat along the way. As for now, I'm going to warm up my legs and stretch the rest of the body so that I can be more awake later.
Published 2010-01-25
Published 2010-01-25
Reno Trip Day 1 - The most deserted little city in the world
It's been about 3 years since I went to Reno. Frankly, I wouldn't remember the last time I did so since really there is nothing I like to do at the biggest little city in the world.
However, this trip is exciting because I'm going to be skiing at Northstar, the first time I went to some place other than Heavenly. I'm here with my mom's coworker and his family. Since they live in Alameda, they offered to take me up there as well. This trip is only two days - Saturday is Reno and Sunday is Northstar. For someone from the Bay Area, this is a nice little retreat because it's quick and reduces stress from a one day trip, rushing to get up, ski and go home.
What happened today was that we left Hercules at 12:15, arrived at 15:30, and parked the car by 15:45. This was due to the sparse traffic and extremely beautiful weather - full sun with clouds not in the way, snow pushed aside, rain sparse - while driving on Interstate 80 up here. That has hardly ever happened with a trip to South Lake Tahoe, and I would expect to arrive at Stateline around 17:00 and later. I'll see what happens this year.
Not surprisingly, writing this post on the computer without an Internet connection reminds me too much of COSMOS and the Alaska trip, where for a while I wrote my blog posts in a Microsoft Word document so I can upload later. Sure, there's Wi-Fi at Silver Legacy, but why should I pay for Internet access when I'm only here overnight?
There will be some pictures of Reno posted here. I'll see if I can whip up a quick slideshow when I get home. Most likely, I'll be working on making the slideshow for last year's trip to Lake Tahoe and studying for my test on magnetism.
Published 2010-01-25
However, this trip is exciting because I'm going to be skiing at Northstar, the first time I went to some place other than Heavenly. I'm here with my mom's coworker and his family. Since they live in Alameda, they offered to take me up there as well. This trip is only two days - Saturday is Reno and Sunday is Northstar. For someone from the Bay Area, this is a nice little retreat because it's quick and reduces stress from a one day trip, rushing to get up, ski and go home.
What happened today was that we left Hercules at 12:15, arrived at 15:30, and parked the car by 15:45. This was due to the sparse traffic and extremely beautiful weather - full sun with clouds not in the way, snow pushed aside, rain sparse - while driving on Interstate 80 up here. That has hardly ever happened with a trip to South Lake Tahoe, and I would expect to arrive at Stateline around 17:00 and later. I'll see what happens this year.
Not surprisingly, writing this post on the computer without an Internet connection reminds me too much of COSMOS and the Alaska trip, where for a while I wrote my blog posts in a Microsoft Word document so I can upload later. Sure, there's Wi-Fi at Silver Legacy, but why should I pay for Internet access when I'm only here overnight?
There will be some pictures of Reno posted here. I'll see if I can whip up a quick slideshow when I get home. Most likely, I'll be working on making the slideshow for last year's trip to Lake Tahoe and studying for my test on magnetism.
Published 2010-01-25
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy Birthday to You
Here are 18 pictures of you and/or Cluster 6 to remind of how we all had fun at COSMOS...and I threw in a little airplane picture (of me about to land at Orange county) at the end, because I like airplanes. Yeah, 18 pictures are for your age.
If you want to take a look down memory lane, go to , and take a look there.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Flight Gear Review Pictures/Video
These pictures were generated by Flight Gear version 1.9.1.
The first picture shows the cockpit of the Boeing 777-200ER included in Flight Gear. The second shows the plane flying over the Bay Area with the experimental 3D clouds turned on.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to Habash,
Hey "slowpoke," as you accidentally responded to in calculus, here's a recap of things that have happened in the past 126,227,704 seconds. Enjoy, and don't laugh too hard.
- We met in 7th grade, when Julian introduced me to you in history class. There were four Chrises in Kidder's class 6th period (remember that lunch didn't count back then) class.
- I later found out you were with me in Algebra I as well, so eventually we became friends that way.
- Later that year we worked on that castle project, my first project in which I collaborated with someone, and the other person (you) actually did work. We also happened to participate in the Spell-a-thon, where we both got eliminated somewhere.
- By the end of the year, you managed to write this in my yearbook:
- Therefore we had a good summer, and then rendezvoused at the walk through for 8th grade. I had just got back from a trip to Lake Tahoe over the summer (and incidentally my last for quite a while), and told you about it. And then I declared that the only reason I would be in school is so I can look forward to skiing in 2008. And you said, "but your going to Canada."
- We met in geometry. We were severely confused about what to expect from a "Mr. Nguyen" we had never heard of before. And in addition, it was a weird class with both middle school students and high school students. We later came to get the feel that this was normal, along with PE with Ms. Gomes.
- También, tu fuiste mi fuente de inspiración a escribir música. Nosotros estábamos en la clase de español de Sra. Rice. Durante nuestro tiempo en su clase, me aburrí y enseñarte un poco música. A ver se recuerdas...
- For most of 8th grade, we would get to talk: in the morning after we walked out of Geometry and headed back to the middle school side; once between passing periods for 3rd and 4th period; during lunch; in history with Ms. Doyle; and if I'm lucky, after school as you exit the locker room.
- As we developed our cadence for dealing with the school year, we finally got to the eight grade promotion. Basically our ceremony was rather awkward, where we weren't lined up in alphabetical order. Therefore I was speaking with Ellango the whole time, with a running commentary of people's accomplishments so far as they walk the scaffold. I'm pretty sure you got the certificate before me, so if I remember correctly, I said to Ellango, "you deserve the applause."
- Thus as we concluded 8th grade, you wrote in my yearbook:
- We spent most of our summer doing that summer assignment Ms. Headington gave us...TCOMC. We randomly talked over the telephone a few days before school started - I remember that conversation. You briefly mentioned how we should have met up over the summer to have fun, and how you and Marci exchanged a few words. Again, I reminded you about my desires to go skiing, which is a tradition that we agreed on keeping.
- Come 9th grade, and I became increasingly greedy with my time with you, specifically when I walked to Mr. Richardson's class and you walked to PE. We only shared a single class that year, and it was English. And we didn't have the same lunch period.
- You and Mendoza came to my first birthday party in a very long time. Now what did we do, I barely remember. It included fussing around on the piano, playing monopoly, playing with my bike outside, and the like. Mendoza and I later went on to eat a Todai in Concord, and hence, we made the plan to get together during ski week.
- (Out of the style with the other posts, there is a point 14 in this one) Around December, we had the cultural exchange in Headington, and you taught us a few words in Hebrew, and shared baklava with the class. It was also the last time I could look at you in the eye without tilting my head, for you grew taller than me with your growth spurt around January 2008.
- And boy, you wrote a long thing for freshman year's yearbook, during that awards ceremony nonsense:
- And as it turns out we didn't have a lot of classes together in 10th grade, only Journ, WHAP and Spanish. Or well, that's already 3/7 classes. So I take that back. At least we managed to im prove hour writing American goodly by the end of year from take juornalism and good engrish teacher Sub and Litvin. "Um," (Wojo) we also learned a bit about the world around us in WHAP. "Historically speaking," (Wojo) we did take world history in 6th grade, but it was nothing compared to the stuff crammed down our minds. En la clase de español, nosotros teníamos la Sra. Mar por un segundo año. Este tiempo, nosotros teníamos la misma hora. Y Davidson estaba en la clase.
- Well, this is embarrassing.
I forgot to get you to sign my yearbook for sophomore year. Probably because you had to go at the conclusion of the ceremony, or something of the like. And because I was busy watching CNET TV during the last few days of sophomore year. Likewise, it's not like we've done crap in junior year yet, so I'll stop the list at the end of sophomore year.
Hello Myron, this is Chris Habash, a new friend from seventh grade. We have been through a lot (no I'll say many) "things" this year. Including projects and essays, well not really that much. The castle project - yes. Do not let the homicidal maniac sign the yearbook. At least he won't bother us in Geometry next year! Since now I'm continuing (fridays) from yesterday, congratulations on passing the test (Geometry, well Algebra) both of us.
Hi Myron Lam, this is Christopher Habash a.k.a best friend, and I'm the real one!! So, this is cool, I can't believe it's over, I remember when I saw you in the walk through. I hope it's the same next year. We had a lot of laughs. The music you made was awesome. - of course a hard-worker you are. Pleasure to have in class - oops the teacher's influenced me.
Hello, Hola, shalom, Bonjour, Kif'halec, and many other different languages to greet very good friends, if not best friends. Although some people would consider me their best friend, I consider you my best friend in the sense of having meaningful conversations and being there for each other, but I'm sure you also have good best friends (like Marci, Benton, Ellango, Henry...are mine). Call me/e-mail me; as usual to discuss matters. Um.. let's see, what else, I still plan to take Amanda up on that offer of going to San Francisco together without our parents, to intrude...so feel free to contact me anytime. And hopefully we will have many classes next year together, because we'll be taking the same classes. A friend (Habash)
*MZ
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