ben.parmeter

Well folks, I’m off to Asia once again.  This time it’s Korea and Taiwan, in a whirlwind business trip.  I’m on the plane writing this, killing some time on the 12 hour flight, so you may actually get this post later in the week when I get a spare moment to post to the website.  I may even be back in the states by the time you are reading this.   A little blog post latency.    Let’s get on with it.

I’m away from my girls for the first time since Claire was born, which is a big milestone in itself.  I underestimated how much it would tug at the heartstrings to leave Suzy and Claire behind for this relatively short jaunt to Asia.  As I kissed Suzy and Claire goodbye, I held back the tears and tried to steady my voice as I told them I loved them and that I would be back in a week.  Just a few weeks earlier, I didn’t quite think I’d be this emotional, but as the moment drew near I thought about all of the missed evenings with Claire and dinners with Suzy.  And don’t tell Suzy this, but I even will miss changing diapers in the middle of the night.   Sigh.  I do love my girls so much.  To make matters worse, all of the movies on the flight over to Korea were “themed” tear-jerkers.  Great.  Stupidly, I sat and watched these movies, descending further into my pit of despair.

Before leaving the house for the airport, Suzy, Claire and I did some last minute testing of Skype.  I was unsure about the microphone setup with Linux, and so I attempted to switch to Suzy’s laptop instead.  I’m not sure why I ever doubted setting it up on Linux, because it seems to be working just fine, whereas on her Windows XP laptop we can’t seem to get the video working correctly.  Chalk one up to Ubuntu.  The real test will come when we finally are able to get a real video-call going.  Unfortunately, they’ll either have to be super-late calls (after midnight here), to catch her early in the morning.  Or they’ll have to be early morning for me (late afternoon for Suzy).  I still find it pretty darned amazing that we will be able to see each other and talk in real time all the way on the other side of the globe (just about).  It’ll be nice to start the day here with a little reminder of home to take the edge off .

My live view of Suzy and Claire from Asia.

UPDATE: And yes, I posted this after returning from the continent.  Too busy to actually post in Asia…

One might think that over the last month or so, nothing has happened of note in my life.  But alas, that is not the case.  For some reason, after sitting down in front of the keyboard, I’ve been struck with a terrible case of the writers block.  I just haven’t been motivated to write about things lately.  So instead of writing a well thought out post, chronicling the goings-on, I’m going to make a list of random things I’ve been up to with photos.  Ben’s month in lists…

Things I’ve been doing lately:

• Celebrated Suzy’s Birthday, Twice (Once at Ruby Tuesday – Shameful, Once at The Melting Pot – Delicious)
• Brewed an Oatmeal Stout for annual competition with one of my co-workers
• Purchased a PlayStation 3 (Mostly for Blu-Ray support, but also for games and media center)
• Got the Santa Fe fixed
• Read “Happiest baby on the Block”
• Visited like-minded friends on the Central Coast of California, made friends with their dog Parker

• Saw this drooling bird on the pier at the beach

• Went to a good old fashioned Melodrama (my first time… and a great experience)
• Visited Taipei, Taiwan for work

• Read “Baby Wise”
• Ate great Asian food in Taipei, Taiwan
• Worked in Taipei, Taiwan
• Took pictures in bathrooms in Taipei, Taiwan (“Keeping a Clean and Pleasant Environment Makes Everyone Delighted Thank You”)

• Played Beatles RockBand (Thanks Chris!)
• Traveled to Oregon for work, visited my parents
• Met Nico Edan Ferguson for the very first time.

• Said goodbye to my long time friends Pat & Cynthia – Have a great time in Taiwan my friends… see you in two years!
• Baby Shower plus BBQ with the family in Stockton
• Obtained a flash for my fancy camera – subsequently super impressed with results
• Took second place at the Oktoberfest for our Oatmeal Stout (See Above)

• Brewed Scottish Ale from a kit (I know… I was too lazy to do my own all-grain recipe)
• Toyed with the idea of brewing a blueberry wheat beer for my second keg
• Spent time with the fellas at one of my best buds houses while Suzy had another baby shower in Sacramento – More Rock Band
• Worked A Bunch

And that folks, is just a tiny portion, of the things that I’ve been up to lately.  More to come…

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately.  It seems like things have been really busy recently. However we did find some time to get away from it all for four days last weekend.  It was nice to get out of the oppressive heat of the valley and head out to the cool weather of the coastline.  We toured the north coast of California and into the southern coast of Oregon.  It was a great trip, topped off with a visit to Ashland, OR, where I think I had the best breakfast of my lifetime (and that’s saying alot because I love a good breakfast), at a little eclectic breakfast place called Morning Glory.  Highly recommend.  The camping road-trip, it’s just what we needed to cleanse the soul.

Check out some of the pictures from our adventure here.

Well, we were on a boat recently.  A really, really big one.  Suzy and I recently went on a super-cheap cruise from San Diego to Catalina.  This was indeed, our first official cruise, ever.  The old adage “you get what you pay for”, held true for us.  And while we were a bit underwhelmed by the experience, I would say I would definitely do it again.  But it would have to meet some more stringent cruise specifications.

Enjoy some of our pictures here in the gallery.

I’m on a boat.

I know, I’m a giant slacker, I’ve been in Japan for a week and I haven’t uploaded any posts or photos or anything. Sorry internet… here’s a little something.

Just twelve hours on a plane is all it takes for me to get to one of the most amazing cities in the world. This is my second trip to Japan and I have to say it is just an incredible place. Everyone here is so polite, serious and happy all at the same time. At least that is what it appears from the outside. Tokyo is squeaky clean. The city is immaculate, safe, and awe inspiring. I have no problem walking the streets late at night – and feel 100% safe at all times. It’s an odd feeling for me, coming from the US where in a big city like this you would need to be careful which streets you strayed to at night, lest you be robbed, raped or killed. But here, in Tokyo, there is a sense of complete safety. Perhaps I am being naïve, but thus far everyone I have talked to feels the same way.

Being basically stuck in the center of Tokyo, next to the Imperial Palace, we really see nothing but prosperity. With everything that we hear the states about the struggling economy in Japan we see no evidence of this at all in this bustling metropolis. Expensive cars, business men in suits, super high-end brands everywhere. Today we traveled outside of Tokyo proper and into the suburbs to visit a customer outside the city. From the windows of the train, I can see seedy underbelly that most travelers do not get to see. I saw people living in makeshift houses made out of blue tarps and scraps of wood and metal. It’s not rampant, just occasional and very noticeable. It’s evident that the economy actually has impacted this country. I’ve got to hand it to the people of Japan – they hide it well.

My visit is bitter sweet, because, I am indeed here on business and we are working 90% of the time. This makes it pretty difficult to get out and sight see during the day. Fortunately, we did have an entire day to do some touristy things on Monday because of the local holiday here. But since then it’s been work, and meals, and back to the hotel. And to make matters worse, I picked up one of the local viruses which started with a fitful night with a stuffy head and sore throat. It’s been lingering throughout the week. It’s been hard to get out of bed in the morning, get the suit and tie on and go to work. I’ve been muddling through, but I can’t help but to long for my own bed back in the states.

Yesterday, we visited a customer in Yamato. One of the engineers that we work with took a couple of us to a bar in Yokohama called Cheers which is basically a beer bar that carries a wide selection of European beers. After sampling a few good Belgian and German beers, we moved onto another more intimate and, to me, more fascinating place. Our host led us to what appeared to be a multi-story apartment building. However, on the third floor, after climbing a tiny stairwell, we discovered the Thrash Bar (I am not completely sure about that name, but it was something to do with Thrashing). The bar was literally, only 10 ft. deep by 25 feet long. Enough room for the physical bar, and eight bar stools. They carried a pretty nice selection of Japanese beers and strangely enough a wide selection of California beers. Behind the bar was a TV playing DVD’s of German Heavy Metal bands, and our extremely friendly bar-tender who had a very good grasp of English. What a great beer-soaked evening it was; new friends and great times. I’ll definitely do this again, if I ever get the chance.

As you read this, I’m likely on my way home or have already returned. I’ve posted to photos in the gallery, here.

Sayonara for now.

Well, I didn’t get a chance to write from the campsite. There was far too much “relaxing” going on for me to whip out the phone and tap-out a full post. However, I didn’t want to leave you hanging with nothing after I teased you with the possibility of pictures in my Friday post.

Let me preface the link with just how cool this spot is. Somehow by magic, we were able to obtain a group spot in the campground which is nearly unparalleled for it’s sheer size. We literally had multiple acres to ourselves, completely separate from the other campgrounds. We had our own bathrooms, charcoal grills, potable water taps, garbage and recycling, several fire rings, and just all around amazing nature around us. It’s just a short hike down to the sea shore (less than a mile), where you can check out the tide pools or just fly a kite (like Suzy and I did). We’re definitely going to have to organize a repeat trip to this place.

Click this link to go to the Salt Point gallery.

I’m currently at 30000 feet cruising at 400 mph marvelling at my workday. Just a mere ten hours ago I was waking up and getting ready to catch the plane. I was wisked off, in just mere hours to my remote worksite hundreds of miles away. I put in my time meeting, greeting, shaking hands, powering through power point, you know, doing business like things. And then a moment later I’m sharing a beer with a long time friend and coworker under the beautiful blue Oregon skies. And now I’m back on the plane again, headed home. All in a days work. This is truly the modern age.

I am in love with this iPhone Wordpress app. Expect to see more posts like this one, written from remote locations. If I have connectivity this weekend you may even get a post on camping at salt point state park – with pictures even.

Until next time, enjoy.

Suzy and I eschewed work, responsibility, friends and family for a three-day weekend to ourselves. It was one of those times where you just didn’t want to come back. We stretched our time in the “wilderness” for as long as we could. It was fantastic – aside from the throngs of people that had the same idea that we did. Alas, we made the best of it by attempting some of the close-by hikes, cooking outstanding meals, enjoying wine by the fire, biking through the valley, playing card games and sleeping in the hammock. I captured a video of our biking excursion below which I’m really proud of. All stunt work was performed by Suzy herself.

And in other news, I have finally installed and am starting to use the integrated gallery software in Wordpress called NexGEN Gallery. Note the link on the upper left of the page actually works! I actually like it much better than all the previous galleries that I tested. It’s really slick and integrates extremely well into my current format. Check out the latest pictures from Yosemite here. Note: All my previous galleries are gone, which is sad, but necessary as start over. So if you click any links from my previous posts, they’ll likely take you to a 404 page.

Enjoy! Until the next adventure.

A short post today as I return from a week long vacation with the parents from up north. While it was great to see the family and friends, a week away from our bed and comforts of home have made us travel weary and happy to be back.

I didn’t want the holidays to pass without wishing the internet well and ushering in the new year. It’s likely I’ll be quite busy in the next year and won’t have as much time to put together any lengthy posts. However, I’m excited about what this year will have to offer for me, my family, and my friends. (and of course my internet friends)

Happy Holidays Internet! And Happy New Year!

Yup. The rumors are true. We bagged the summit of Whitney. This last weekend marked my third successful summit of the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. And I have to admit, it was a lot easier than I remembered the last two times I summited. I’m not saying it was a walk in the park by any means, but it just didn’t seem as difficult this time around. It’s understandably easier than the first time I summited in one day, but the last time I really remember it being worse. I think it was the fact that the altitude affected me more the second time. I dunno. Everyone made it and I’m proud of the entire crew. We had a great time despite the chilly nighttime temperatures. I’m particularly proud of the leaping photo that Erik took of me at the summit so I made that my thumb for this post. Note if you click on the photo it opens up a larger version over the top of the page (thanks to the newly installed wordpress plugin shutter reloaded).

I have a whole raft of pictures available on my gallery here. And I’m even planning on putting together a short video of the trip. Stay tuned for that.

I also did some more creative stuff with Google Earth this time. They have that feature where the mountains are extruded in 3-D for some landmarks. And it just so happens that Mt. Whitney is one of the areas that is 3-D. Awesome. You can check out some of the shots starting with this one here.

For those of you who are GPS folks, I’ve made my Mt. Whitney Trail GPX file available here. Perhaps someone can utilize this for a future trip. There are some data errors in there, but for the most part it’s reasonably accurate.