I wanted a sample blueprint that I could show kids as a sample floor schematic.  I searched for vectorized drawings of houses and such but found nothing and started looking for neat stuff with blueprints like fighter jets but also found little so I started looking for hi-res pictures of famous buildings.  I searched around a bit and finally stumbled upon a nice schematic of the White House.  I failed to save it properly and went back to Google to get it again when I noticed Firefox’s history of search terms:

white house blueprints exploded
white house schematics
how to build a missile
missile schematic
soyuz capsule filetype:eps
pentagon blue prints
pentagon schematics
monument drawings
famous building, exploded view

I wonder if DHS takes Cub Scout program into consideration when reviewing search history…

The MSDS for pigment I’m disposing of recommends the following should you accidentally drink waste pigment:

Rinse out your mouth.  Drink 2-3 glasses of water.  Do not induce vomiting.   Lay down and sleep quietly.  Seek medical attention immediately.

If I ever need a nap, I’m gunning for the waste pigment.  Then if people make noise I can yell “hey, I’m trying to follow an MSDS here”.

The degree to which Comic Sans has penetrated Woodbadge is nothing short of stunning.  Body text, banners, notes, and even our shirts are in Comic Sans.  The rest of the text of the event is done in that font where it looks like things are spelled with logs.  People are commenting about the font mix and I keep thinking “here I will start my rebellion”.

Fall at OSR included repeated volleys of shagbark hickory nuts that are capable of raising welts.  I find people’s prioritization in what they cover interesting: during one volley, everyone used their binders to cover their heads except for our Troop Guide who covered his junk.

The evening of the first day of Woodbadge we played a game called “Who Me?” where players landed on colored spaces and could choose to answer questions to advance or not to stay in place.  There was  a spectrum of questions and I was blessed with the following:

  1. What is your biggest regret in life so far?
  2. Give an example of something you’ve failed to achieve that you thought you would have by now.
  3. What was your most embarrassing life moment?
  4. Give an example of a big mistake you made.
  5. Is there a personal tragedy that’s shaped who you are?

The person immediately to my left got:

  1. What’s your favorite color?
  2. Tell a story about something funny that’s happened to you.
  3. What animal most represents you?
  4. What’s your favorite food?
  5. Give an example of a TV show you like to watch.

The agony and the ecstasy…

I enjoy dated text.  They provide a narrative of progress that I hope continues to some point where our current word volleys seem quaint.  GoogleBooks has made near 2000 issues of LIFE magazine available and I picked this out of and from the March 1968 issue.

“If you’ve done any serious checking on four-track stereo-tape recorders, you know there are some great units around for $300 on up.  But from $200 on down the selection shrinks faster than your wool sweater at the launderette.”

March 1968 LIFE magazine, pg 72.

Magazines have a refreshing nowness like talk about Nixon rebuilding himself after being beaten by Kennedy.

Previous Days:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

Trip Summary: Sleepy; ouch.  Park; pretty.

For Next Time: Leave camera tripod at home.  Remember to move 2nd back to vehicle actually going to Acadia.  Try to see inside of the park instead of just coast.

There was a bit of a pall over the trip for me as before departing I received news that the EKG I had before leaving as part of my physical revealed what could be a defect in the wall of my heart.  My doctor rolled his eyes when I told him I was going camping and Acadia wasn’t nearly as strenuous as I thought it would be.

I took more photos than were listed in the entries which are available as part of the Flickr album.  I think the panoramics came out quite nice and wish to get better at taking them.

[flickr album=72157622447264170 num=90 size=Thumbnail]

I’d like to thank Pat for taking care of the cooking and Joe for putting up with the fact that I turn into a whiny 4-year old if I don’t get my ugly sleep.

Dawn came early, and we refused to rise with it, making our exit around 9:30 AM after giving the park rangers the gift that keeps on giving: a leaky propane cylinder.  We took turns driving and Joe didn’t enjoy me as his navigator.

September 22, 2009-203-Acadia

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts manned entirely by white people which included a spastic woman who listed all the allergens in my donut and got impatient with the register receipt dispenser.

We landed at 4 PM, ate dinner and decided to drive to University of Vermont to visit Matt Grob.  I have no idea why.  We visited Matt Grob and watch his friend’s room mate attempt to rocketjump before landing after jumping off a building in GTA 4.  We watched that for a solid hour.  We ate at Denny’s drove home and arrived at Pat’s house again at 1:00 AM… and decided to drive straight home.

Joe and I started on our way and I selected “HOME” as our destination.  I got suspicious of the GPS once we hit New York and it started taking us west.  I checked the future directions and the GPS apparently thought “HOME” was located hours west of me somewhere beyond Harrisburg rather than SE PA.  We put in Joe’s address which had us return east and shaved 90 minutes off of our drive, three and a half hours if you include the time we saved after overcoming the sense of whiskey-tango-foxtrot after theoretically “arriving” near Harrisburg.  I got drowsy around five AM but powered through by yelling about what I thought was wrong with Scouting, it was surprisingly effective.

Dawn came, we arrived at home, and I hit the sack like a midget boxer.  All in all the trip cost only about $250 for five days of stuff.  One day I’ll make it to the mythical “Canada” and may even remember to bring my passport.  Perchance to dream.

One of our original plans was to shoot to Canada after our third day, but my “other bag” never made it to the Rav 4 and along with it my passport, so this was the closest we got to Canada.

September 21, 2009-189-Acadia

This grate was outside of where we thought the causeway to Bear Island was located, but due to tide and ignorance, we couldn’t make it.  Instead, I took a pano.

September 21, 2009-101-Arcadia Panos

We gunned for Cadillac Mountain and were knocked over by its short mediocrity.

September 20, 2009-83-Acadia

We may have gone to Cadillac Mountain the day before, but it doesn’t matter much.  We wanted to go sailing that evening and meet up with CJ Raste, aka Ice Dragon and stopped at Sand Beach beforehand.  It was stupidly pretty.  I hope I’m not being an arrogant dick in saying this but I think the following could reasonably be a postcard with a little lightening.

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We later scaled the side-trail and found some wonderful views including the following giant stitch-together.

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We met CJ before going onto the Margarette Todd, a historic vessel built in 1999.  Joe took pictures as well with his tiny tiny camera.

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There was a mediocre musician on board that played several tunes mediocrily but illuminated well.

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And to prove the power of the Golden Hour, here’s CJ for those who doubt his existence.

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Most passengers had point-and-shoots with them but one person inspired some camera envy with their L-series 70-200 f/2.8.  For the price of the lens, I could rebuy my camera, three best lenses, and pay for most of the Acadia trip.  One day I’ll get two.

September 21, 2009-173-Acadia-2

We went to a restaurant after the trip where a small Asian child repeated pushed out a window screen and nearly hurled himself from a second story window.  Their entrees sucked but their peripheral items like desserts and sides were exceptional.  We had earlier pondered shaving a corner off of our man-cards and sleeping in a motel for the evening but manned up and bought sleep drugs instead.  They didn’t work and my final night at Acadia was spent uncomfortably.

Today was our first proper day in Acadia and after an incredibly short walk on the “Ocean Trail” we hit, the ocean.

September 20, 2009-100-Arcadia Panos

The above pano was made from 28 pictures or so and has some kludge-y parts where it doesn’t quite come together but the image suggests the absolute gorgeousness of the area.  I used the polarizing filter on my camera and failed to consider its effects on the image.  I repeated this error later, oops.  We were continually stunned by the picturesqueness of almost every vista.  Some shots looked like the stereotypical Caribbean  lagoon with the exception of glacial rock-rape evidence everywhere and others were just… grand.

September 20, 2009-56-Acadia

On the way back Joe and Pat decided to get into a tard fight…

September 20, 2009-61-Acadia

… and then pointed at each other’s junk in triumph (?).

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Our next stop was “Thunderhole” that just sounds messy but is named after the natural amplification of the rock shapes to certain waves like in this key-hole:

September 20, 2009-125-Acadia

It took about 10 minutes of waiting to get this spray, and after a few more of waiting a larger wave hit which sprayed my back.  I was angry at first until I realized I’d probably decimated my camera if I were looking in that direction and considered myself lucky.   I took a neat two-parter here which shows the storytelling power of focal distance. Here’s the first:

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To which I added the caption “hm… maybe we should get her out of there” followed by:

September 20, 2009-141-Acadia

which screams “This is a neat rock!”

We took an afternoon nap and headed into town that evening and I noticed three things:

  1. Every store sells ice cream, fudge, something with a moose on it, or something with blueberries in it.
  2. Anything referring to something historic was done in Copperplate Gothic.
  3. Pennsylvania consists entirely of the Amish to the rest of America beating out even Philadelphia and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At one fudge shop Pat and I were impressed with the attendant’s ability to cut precise quarter pound blocks.  Once we brought this to his attention he lost his cooler and was all over the place.  I felt bad.  In an adjoining shop the cashier asked us what we did and I mentioned “proto-actuary”.  She thought I was an aerospace engineer, she probably says that to all the actuaries.  That night we had a fire which looks far more impressive and forge-like with the power of long exposure.

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Joe enjoyed some face time with the fire as well.

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But recoiled when he thought the fire was getting too friendly.

September 20, 2009-156-Acadia

That night we spent some more quality time staring at the top of the tent and had another painful night on the gravel.