edpaffjr.comMy lonely 20 gallon tank has sat empty since we moved into our house in Kansas City. But that will change soon! I’ve decided to delve into the world of saltwater fish keeping. Just a couple of days ago, I filled the tank up with saltwater, leaving the sand that I had in there from before. I added the rest of the equipment and have let it settle over the last couple of days. Now I am on a mission to acquire some live rock. This will help cycle the tank and get it ready for adding some critters into the mix. I’m not exactly sure what I will put in it in the end, perhaps some clownfish (think Nemo). I’ll be sure to post updates on the status of the tank.
Archive for 2007
I had a surprisingly bad week in fantasy football. I only predicted one potential loss when checking out my matchups, but I ended up losing two after Drew Brees miserable performance last night. All I needed was 14 points from him, but I ended up getting -1. Yep, I actually lost points because of him. I am still undefeated in the 8 team league, and have moved into first place. In the other two leagues where I lost, I am now 2 of 12 and 3 of 12. So I am still in good shape overall.
Fall is definitely here, and winter is just around the corner. It is currently a crisp 57 degrees here in Denver, which is pretty much as warm as it will get today. In addition to the cool temperatures we even had a little hail this morning. It won’t be long before the snow starts falling! With this in mind, we headed up into the mountains on Saturday to check out the changing foliage before it all falls to the ground. Our route took us through Leadville, over Independence Pass, and into Aspen. With a name like Aspen, I figured that the golden aspen trees would be all over the surrounding area. This statement is definitely true, but I would say only around 50% of the aspens have changed colors. Next weekend will likely be much more golden throughout the Rockies.
Just outside of Apsen sit the Maroon Bells, a couple of the tallest mountain peaks in Colorado. This was the main reason for our trip, and I was not disappointed one bit by the sights. When we first arrived it was pretty cloudy, but we could see the sun trying to peak out, and the clouds were moving fast. So we waited for a half hour or so until the sky was blue once again and took some great pictures. Maroon Lake sits directly in front of the peaks, and as the sun fell the water got calmer and provided an excellent reflection of the landscape. There were lots of photographers there who appeared to have been there for most of the day. It seemed that everyone was happy when the clouds finally gave way and the water became still. It was quite a sight to see, just check out the photo gallery.
Is anyone else excited for the upcoming TV season? Survivor China started last night and I already watched it. I love Survivor and I think this season will be full of good entertainment. Plus it is cool to see the show take place in a setting that’s much different than normal. I wonder if there are any panda bears on the islands? That would add an interesting twist.
Anyway, are there any other shows that I should record this fall?
The last day of Hawaii photos are now up! On the first page are photos from our snorkeling trip, but none of them are actually of snorkeling. Most are photos of the dolphins we saw along the way, and some of the Waikiki sights as well. All of these were taken with the old Nikon camera. I wish I would have had the new camera for the dolphin encounter, but the water scared me.
From there, I took lots of pictures from Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. We tried to go a day earlier, but the wait for the memorial was nearly three hours. We later read that you should visit either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. So when we arrived around three in the afternoon, we got right in, even though we visited on 9/11. You will notice all of the flags in the pictures are at half mast. It was a good place to visit on a day of remembrance.
Later that evening we went on another sailboat cruise, this time on Na Hoku II. This was an evening “booze cruise” with complimentary drinks and amazing views of Waikiki and the sunset. It was a great way to round out our amazing trip to Oahu.
This marks the 38th state I have visited. Hopefully I can get to 40 by the end of the year.
I’ve added a couple more photo albums from Hawaii.
The first contains photos from the North Shore of Oahu, including a beautiful sunrise, the Banzai Pipeline, and some sights that can only be seen with a 4WD vehicle (or a really long walk). Early on Sunday morning we headed to Makapuʻu Head, the eastern most point of Oahu, and hiked to the top to take in the sunrise. It was an amazing site, and I think the pictures from that turned out really well. From there we headed up the North Shore and made various stops along the way, many of which I mentioned in an earlier post.
The second album contains photos from a brief adventure up the Waiʻanae coast, where we saw some dolphins and a very large cave. Also included are some photos from Waikiki Beach toward the end of the day, with some nice looking sunsets. Those pictures were all taken with the old camera, if you want to look at the differences between the two. One thing I noticed while looking at the dolphins, is that an even better lens for longer distances would be a nice investment. Although I think those are all quite pricey.
Well, it’s now official. I have yet to lose a game in fantasy football. I only wish the same could be said for the beloved Bengals. I have now won five games in a row, winning all three of this past week’s games by 20 points or more. Yahoo ranks teams based on record and then total points (I think) so I am now ranked 1 of 12, 4 of 12, and 2 of 8. Not too shabby!
In addition to the photos I added last Friday, I just posted some more from our Hawaii adventures. In this album are photos from our hike up to Manao Falls along with a few from the Byodo-In Temple. The Manao Falls plunge 160 feet or more down the mountain side cliff. As great as the falls are, the hike to them is nearly just as scenic. Along the mile to mile and a half route, you pass through a rain forest which is filled with every shade of green imaginable, along with some colorful flowers and even shoots of bamboo. This is on my list of must sees while on Oahu.
After the hike, we took a nice and relaxing drive over the mountains toward the Valley of the Temples. Inside this large cemetery are many temples, the most prominent being the Byodo-In, which is a replica of a 950 year old Buddhist temple in Uji, Japan. This temple is an amazing site, with the Koʻolau mountain range in background and a large pond in the front. The temple was built in the 1960s without the use of any nails and it fits together like a giant puzzle. Inside of the Byodo-In is a nine foot Buddha that was carved out of wood, the largest made of wood in over 900 years. Though our visit was short, I was still able to take some good pictures of it.
I was going to dedicate the next few posts to my pictures from Hawaii as I slowly add them to the site. However, I don’t think slowly is the right word, as I am still working on the first day of pictures. The few pictures I took in Vegas are up, and I should have the first day of Hawaii photos up by the end of my day.
Instead of picture talk, I will provide an update on my fantasy football leagues. As I mentioned before I have Chad Johnson on two teams and I actually ended up with him on my third team despite the draft being automatic. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about that. The final league didn’t get the draft done in time for the first weeks results, so I don’t have much else to report there. The other two leagues that I am in did play this week, and I wound up victorious in both, just like the Bengals! Here’s two some future league championships.
I’m back from Hawaii, but still wishing I was there. I hope that my new tan doesn’t fade off too quickly, although fall is right around the corner and the weather in Denver is already cooling down. While we were on the island of Oahu the weather was nice and hot, maybe a little too hot at times, but the ocean was usually nearby providing a quick relief. Here’s a list of some things we did and don’t worry pictures are coming soon. I have nearly 700 on my new camera that I need to sort through and cut way down to post online.
So, we got in super early on Friday morning, as I mentioned earlier. After picking up our rental car, a Jeep Wrangler, we headed off to first climb to the top of Diamond Head. Despite the early start, the weather was already hot and baking us throughout the hike. But the view from the top was well worth it. From there we made a couple of stops at various sights such as Halona Blowhole, Pali Lookout, and Kapena Falls. We stayed busy throughout much of the morning and afternoon, stopping at many of the places on my list.
Saturday we met up with our friend Maria, who was also traveling for the same work function as Kim, and hiked to the Manoa Falls. The 160 foot waterfall and surrounding forest were amazing. Later that evening we all attended the conferment ceremony for the girls’ insurance designation. The highlight of this event was the keynote speaker, Erik Weihenmayer, who is a blind mountain climber. His speech was incredibly inspiring and delivered in both a funny and touching way. What he has accomplished without being able to see is truly incredible.
The highlight for Sunday was exploring the north shore of the island. We found the location of the Banzai Pipeline, and though the waves are highest in the winter months, the surf was still strong enough to keep me out of the water completely. This didn’t stop others from heading out and surfing, which provided some basic surfing lessons to us. We also saw some sea turtles in the water at Turtle Beach, and did our own snorkeling adventure near Hidden Beach and Secluded Cove, which required 4WD to get to. The only bad thing was a flat tire we got along the way, but it was easily replaced. On a more positive note, we stumbled upon a seal who was laying out in the sun near Secluded Cove.
Monday was another shorter day. After stopping at Pearl Harbor and finding out the wait for the USS Arizona Memorial was over two hours we decided to drive up the Waianae coast. This was once rarely seen by visitors of the island as it is a poor area and has a reputation for being a rough place. However, most of this is not true anymore, although the area still appears to be poor. The highlight of this drive was seeing dolphins out near Kahe Point. This was the first time we saw them on our trip, although we would later see a group of them while on a boat ride on our way to a snorkel spot.
Speaking of snorkeling, we decided to take a trip early on Tuesday morning on a sail boat which would include a stop to snorkel. The dolphins we saw shortly after leaving the shoreline were Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins, and there were close to ten of them in the group. It was amazing to see them up close, and I’m still bitter that I didn’t bring my new camera on this trip. After watching the dolphins, the boat headed out to the snorkel spot which we were told was populated with sea turtles. I was a little hesitant at first, but once in the water all my fears were gone. There were turtles everywhere and if you didn’t make sudden movements you could get to within a few feet of them. There were also tons of fish there. The guys on the boat said that there were nearly 30 species on the reef, and although I don’t think I saw that many, there were at least a dozen or more when we were there. It was an amazing experience, and by far one of my favorite things from the trip.
Since Tuesday was our last day on the island we quickly tried to fit as much in as possible. So after the boat trip, we rented a surf board and tried to surf after watching others do it for days. Surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as I thought, and standing up on the board was pretty simple. The hardest part is actually padding enough to get on the wave and continue to travel with it as it breaks. So we took turns helping each other get started and then watched as the other actually rode the wave for much longer than I was expecting.
From there we headed back to Pearl Harbor, and to my surprise, we immediately got in a tour group. I was really surprised since I figured that 9/11 would be a busy day, and maybe it was earlier in the day. We got there late in the afternoon, following a tip from Oahu Revealed, and walked right into the movie theater. After touring the memorial we headed back toward Waikiki to take another cruise on a sailboat, this time on a “booze cruise” which was a little different than the trip earlier in the day, but was nearly just as fun. This event wrapped up our time on the island, and it was nice to see the sunset from out on the water before leaving. I think we made the most of our time there and stayed really busy throughout the entire trip. I will be sorting through my pictures in the next few days and will be slowly adding them to the site. There should be some good ones.
