Blog du Wren

Appreciating Photographers - Maui Hat Draw Edition

Much of this blog is about chronicling events of my life, both to share with you, dear readers, and to have for myself when I am old and grey. And while it occasionally turns out okay to have a words only post, everyone knows that posts with pictures are way better. But if I'm busy doing, I don't have much time to take pictures of those doings. I do okay when I'm diligent about it, but it's fair to say that many posts lack in the photo department.

Enter other photographers, people who know what they are doing, have great equipment, like doing it, and do it prolifically. I'm so appreciative when someone like that is 1) around and 2) willing to share their photos with everyone. And it makes creating a decent blog post that much easier.

Case in point: Kurt at the Maui Hat Draw Frisbee Tournament. Without the awesome photos he took, I'd have 2 or 3 photos Della captured on my not-a-phone to share*. Instead, I've got a whole gallery to choose from to create a post that conveys the experience in a much more efficient way.

And since pictures say much more than words, here they are:
The Action:

The Off-Action Fun:

Big hanks to Kurt and all the other photographers out there that share their art!

Wednesday March 20 2013

File under: travel, hawaii

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

Happy Pi Day 2013!

Even though I've been looking forward to and semi-planning for this year's Pi Day for over a week now, I somehow find myself celebrating it exactly the same as last year. Well, maybe not exactly because my quiche has spinach and mushrooms in it, but pretty dang close*.

Yep, pecan pie and a quiche, just like last year. But why not celebrate it the same way? It's the awesome way.

Speaking of celebrating Pi Day, did you know that I wrote a Pi Day Crossword? You should print yourself up the crossword, go find a nice slice of pie, relax, and celebrate!

(oh, and if you're really in the mood for all things Pi Day, you can check out my previous posts on this oh so special day here, here, here, and here.)

Thursday March 14 2013

File under: holidays

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

Maui Transit Review

Never does everything go right on a trip. Every traveler knows that. But with some preparation, the number of hiccups tends to go down. This recent trip to Hawaii seemed to have more than its fair share of hiccups, at least from the get go, starting with a 6 hour plan delay that put us into Maui in the middle of the night, long after our hotel's shuttle stopped working forcing up to sleep in a homeless camp on the beach. But those things happen.

The big hiccup that altered our trip severly was one I never saw coming. We were quite rudely refused service on Maui Public Transit due to the size of our luggage(which I would have been happy to carry on my lap). So all the planning of figuring out the schedules/routes to get us to the frisbee tourney, to campsites, and back out to the airport was lost. I was stunned at the this rule and the rudeness with which it was enforced.

An inquiry to the transit agency after our trip was rather unhelpful as to ascertaining the reasoning behind such a limiting regulation. "The rules regarding luggage size are from City and County of Honolulu." I, personally, suspect that there is a more underhanded motivation behind the rule, to discourage tourists from using the service, instead pushing them to car rental to help boost the island's economy. Call me a cynic, I guess.

So where did that leave us, all transportation plans shot? At the whim of strangers, that's where. But luckily, we found quite a few friendly ones, specifically ones associated with the Maui Hat Draw frisbee tourney* who toted us out to tournament site and helped us find a nice campsite afterward. It also pushed us to the time-honored tradition of , something neither of us has done much but took too rather easily.

While in the end the trip turned out awesome despite the epic fail of the local transit agency, I can't help but have my faith in public transportation slightly shaken by the experience. If I can't believe in the bus, what can I believe in? Am I going to have to become a car-renting, gasoline-burning tourist like the rest of them? We'll see, I guess, as I've got another adventure just around the corner.

Thursday March 7 2013

File under: hawaii, transportation

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

Hawaiian Vacation Overview

How do you summarize a trip where you didn't really do anything? I can't say "we went to a luau, surfed, and ate fresh coconut every day" because we didn't. But that doesn't mean we didn't have a great time, because we did. And I suppose it would be a bit of a stretch to say we did nothing. While most of our time was spent or meandering around Lahaina, we had a few noteworthy experiences.

We saw many breaches of the humpback whales (often right from the beach at our campsite), ate some of the local , hitchhiked*, hiked to get a geocache, saw the largest in the U.S., were warm, reveled in fun yet insignificant , and just enjoyed hanging out together.

And in terms of bang for our buck, I think we did pretty dang well. The whole concept behind the trip was let's go hang out somewhere warm and not spend oodles of money (hence the camping, hitching, spam, etc.) And while the final receipts haven't come in yet, I know we did amazingly well.

Yep, Hawaii ain't such a bad place to hang out for a week. In fact, I might just have to do it again next year.

Saturday March 2 2013

File under: travel, hawaii

Toggle Comments (2)

comment?

Hawaii Mini-Post

It turns out that 1) Hawaii is pretty dang neat 2) keeping current with blog posts is hard when you are camping and 3) sno-cones are delicious. I'll get some better posts up soon.

Wednesday February 27 2013

File under: travel, Hawaii

comment?

New Crosswords!

After taking a bit of a break from crossword creation, I'm back at it. I posted a while ago about the puzzle I submitted to the New York Times. Well, I got a very cordial "no-way bub" response*, so that means I can now make it available to ya'll! It can be found here or at on the games page.

Since then, I've put together two new ones, both of which I think are pretty dang neat. They can both be found over at the games page as well. Format wise, I've forgone the html online version in favor of just .pdf and .puz. If you're greatly missing the html version, let me know and I'll resurrect it.

One puzzle is worth calling attention to: A Reason For Celebrating was created as a welcome to the world for baby Soren (although in reality, it'll be at least 8 months before he's figuring out "Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity spot" in 4 letters.)

Anyway, do the puzzles, share them with your puzzle-oriented friends, and let me know what you think. I've farmed a few more out in hopes of getting published, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll no doubt keep you posted on if anything ever comes of that. In the meantime, I'll keep cranking out puzzles. Because if nothing else, I certainly enjoy them.

Wednesday February 20 2013

File under: games

comment?

Welcome Baby Soren!

In case you haven't heard the exciting news, Jule and Katy recently welcomed a happy and healthy baby Soren into this world. From all accounts, all the birthy things went well, although us men-folk are sometimes spared those details so for the full story, you'll have to go to the source or Auntie Fern or Uma. I can tell you he's a big baby, tipping the scales at 9lbs!

It's high on my agenda to get down there and get in some good uncling time soon. Until then, I will be watching the Baby Soren picture stream and you can too. It's linked to over in the right hand column* or here.

Saturday February 16 2013

File under: family

Toggle Comments (4)

comment?

7th(!) Annual Roses Are Red Breakout

This year's entreaty for Roses are red poems is coming a little late. That means you better get your submission in pronto! And remember, the more entries the more fun! (Rules as always: gotta use either "Rose" or "red" in the poem and it must follow the standard Roses are red rhyming/stress scheme.) Happy composing!

oses are red that much is true but there isn't a flower that can hold a candle to you	'll make you a rose In your choice of hues If you don't care What chemicals I use
or 7 years now I've rapped about roses How many more years Til this tradition decomposes

Wednesday February 13 2013

File under: poetry, holidays

Toggle Comments (7)

comment?

Lazy and Easy

This photo, taken of last night's sunset and then pretty-ified with instagram, is meant to represent what I'm up to: chillin'. While I can't, for the life of me, think of what I've been busy with the previous 6 months or so, I feel like I haven't gotten a proper chance to indulge the lazy life that I once knew so well. These past couple weeks have been a return to that easy life, and it's been so nice.

Lazy and easy doesn't mean I'm not productive. I'm working on all the projects that have built up for me over the past months, both for myself and for others. I'm making websites, printing troothpicks, , writing*, making crosswords*, and getting travel plans ironed out.

Lazy and easy, however, does mean that there is time for non-productivity too. I'm catching up on reading, tv, baking, and lots of Words and Scramble with Friends*. It's easy to let myself enjoy this because I know it's not meant to last. With spring travel then summer circus season just around the bend, I better enjoy the lazy life while I can.

Saturday February 9 2013

File under: misc

comment?

Beard Post - Interactive Edition

It has been a really long time since I've made a beard post*. This is partially because I've been bearded more than normal this past year, and partially because I'm having a hard time coming up with new beard art ideas. This time around, however, I thought I try to employ a little technological fanciness for some fun.

The Sweep

The Fade

If you aren't using Internet Explorer, click here to see the fun canvas version. (If you are using Internet Explorer, click here to learn why you're doing it wrong.)

Sunday February 3 2013

File under: beard

comment?

< Previous Page Next Page >

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 .............25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace

Name:
URL: (optional)
Comment:
speak yer peace