Beer & Gear and Notable Noob 29Dec17

I headed to Summit on a false alarm for an appliance delivery and got a few grim runs in at Breck while there paying my tax bill. Sure it was gorgeous weather but recent snow had mostly been knocked down, lines were long, and the meager amount of open terrain was pretty crowded. I did find some stuff on Peak 7 below T-Bar but left early.

Kala got me a big lens Daylight for my desk in Summit Co. Sweet.

Jason bought some Oppo PM3 closed back, planar magnetic cans to mate with the tubes & Schiit he bought from me. It's cool it all gets used forward; I just wish my new stuff would come.

While observing a TCU comeback, a shootout in TX, a squeaker for Northwestern, and a drubbing of Trojans by Buckeyes I enjoyed some new IIPAs/DIPAs. We tasted Asterisk at the GABF and I was pleased, and its now available in some stores - good. SKA, who makes a nice Modus Hoperandi has brought out a dubl, also tasty.

I found a notable noob on the music front. A 12 year old singer-songrwriter won the America's Got Talent competition and I stumbled on the winning video and then dove on her work some. This is just crazy; she can be bigger than Taylor S with unique voice and penchant to do her own writing. Her covers are OK but I prefer the original works. Listen to Grace VanderWaal - chosen here are some live, decently produced, unadulterated pieces... including her originals from AGT.

I Don't Know My Name

Clay

Moonlight

A Team

Shoes, Fam, Beauty & The Beast, Beer 23Dec17

'Tis the season. We don't only gift over here, we refill our own needs as well - driving the demand economy during the holidays. I acquired my 12-18 month replacement Solomon sneakers. Typically I get XA Pro 3D GTX trail runners... I always look for the sales on these $150 shoes. This year I did similarly for just $100 but "had to get" the CS (ClimaSheild) versions instead; these employ a membrane from a GoreTex competitor which is less expensive. Hmmm... they don't breath as well, leaving feet a bit more moist and they crinkle noisily as I walk/run. I'd go back to GoreTex next year.

We couldn't find snow for the holiday family picture so...

In the same sitting I caught the Beauty & The Beast...

And with some great Thai dishes and other good foods among the family this season, we enjoyed a new DogFishHead brew, Liquid Truth Serum - not unlike the crushed hops Rupture IPA from Odell... a winner and super tasty.

Winter Birthdays Out & About 21Dec17

Some of the CoWW gathered to celebrate winter birthdays, tell fishing lies and debate trips for 2018 and beyond. We pub crawled from Trinity to Cerberus to Iron Bird to Ute & Yeti. Here's an image, PC Daryle DeBalski, who was also wearing flannel, and BK was not.

When Will That Open 21Dec17

I did some more skiing at Keystone and Breck this week. The "storm" didn't really materialize while I was there, maybe tonight. None the less, the man-made was OK and there was a smidge of new mixed in at Breck today. Still, we are pretty far behind and very little is terrain is open. I did ski off all the open peaks in a whirlwind morning (6 and 10 are still closed), taking 2-3 lifts per peak. I even got busted for speed, probably just 'cause all skill levels are on so few open runs. Here I am wondering when the tops will be open. I also had to rearrange some vino in prep for a new cooler and found these cool bottles - Old Soul and Passive Aggressive - good names.

Ice In The Guides 19Dec17

I'm in Summit to catch the "storm" of 3" pending Wed & Thu this week... if you are here, hopefully there's more moisture up there. With dry & sun on Tue I hit the Blue in town. Among ~10 folks among 3 guides, which sucked - I did not get to fish my two fav holes;  I did manage to catch a couple of nice rainbows. It was 17° when I awoke so I dressed slowly while listening to Led Zeppelin. Whaaat? Yeah, I recently acquired the Page-driven ReMasters disc set... worth it. Maybe not for you 90's guys but Beatles and LZ are my definitive pop and rock & roll bands... it was still too super smooth in America. Anyway... I fumbled the big boy pic with cold and gloves and camera and landing but he was ~18"; I got the pic on the small one. Fun but crowded as I've experienced before here and it will put me off this water for an extended period. Still listening to LZ in HD - Immigrant Song - brought the internet down - it wouldn't be possible in "the non-neutral Internet." Game on.

Live California Punk & SKA [FB Repost] 17Dec17

Live California Punk & SKA... We caught the last tour stop of a fine lineup of bands from Cal including The Regrettes, SWMRs, and The Interrupters. It was excellent, enjoyed in a new (to me) venue in LoDo Denver ~ Summit Music Hall, among supportive fans. While I was in the mosh pit I did not participate in the wall of death/unity or the circle. The crew of Mary Yohanan & Jim, Leslie Wilke & Tom, Kala Marietta & I, Cody Hanson and Ross Nordstrom started with a good dinner at Kachina before the show. We all pined for our MIA mate Brian Wilke who came down with a bug at the last minute. Plus, don't get the wrong idea that Leslie or Tom joined for the concert. Really good music, "I'd do it again," with really good friends - not such good pictures, really.

The Derided Gift 16Dec17

I thought I was clever but Kala was unimpressed with her birthday gift of a skottle. The gift was even the butt of jokes during a past dinner party where I demonstrated its use as I prepared phad thai on it.This is an outside wok, for lack of better definition, and is a South African native cooking station. It's very cool IMO and will aid prep of a number of dishes when car/camper camping. The cook surface is fired from beneath using a normal LP tank and the entire thing cleans up quickly and breaks down tightly for storage. I was heartened though when Kala did use the skottle recently to prepare Kung Pao chix for us. Here she is "skottling" the meal... always improved while enjoying a Ruination.

IT Day 14Dec17

I ran out of space on the main 2TB server drive which held Plex data (TV recordings and associated metadata), our personal on-site server storages, and all our images and videos in raw and otherwise. There are already 8 drives on this Win7 Xeon quad-proc server (six Hitachi Ultrastars @ 2TB each and the system/OS/apps on a pair of Intel 500GB SSDs), so what to do? I got two new 4TB Ultrastars for ~$300 and migrated the primary server drive onto two 2TB drives - one dedicated to Plex and the other for images and our personal stuff. I then adjusted the Macrium Reflect backup strategy a smidge and added a 2nd 4TB drive for "other stuff." Performance up, capacity up - back online and complete after 4 hours or so ~ sure there were moments of panic. Anybody wanna buy some 2TB Hitachi Ultrastars? I use these drives due to reliability - they are from the old IBM group and still seem to have the best MTBFs. I am considering experimenting with a NAS box but that's at least another $300 for something that'd transcode video in real time and why do it if the Win7 continues to sing.

Falcon With Yoho 12Dec17

With little winter for skiing and still great weather in COS, Jim & I rode Falcon. Great trail with some mods speeding the upper downhill section since earlier... I haven't ridden here in a couple months. The Broadaxe was perfect with fewer big drops on the DH. Though the Thanksgiving poundage loomed large on the climbs even on the lighter hardtail. We did miss a turn at the top and did a cute little extra credit 1/4 mile loop. I was surprised to see the stream still flowing strong. You might also notice I scored a new MIPS full coverage brain bucket - at my age blah, blah, blah - plus, look at that uphill position (probably taken right before I walked the bike). What a blast. 

The Medicare & The Move 09Dec17

We killed a few brain cells celebrating ex-doc Scott Brantley's birthday. There were a few awesome dead soldiers and a long lost blueberry pie to commemorate. Too - Kala & I prepared some fine Thai foods including a skottled phad Thai and an awesome beef tenderloin with custom green condiment. The dude's on medicare ~ nuff said. The males (us + current-doc Brock Bordelon) massively failed to vanquish the ladies in CodeNames... grrr.

I moved Woo Audio Fireflies DAC/AMP and Audeze LCD-2 cans to Silverthorne since the little Schiit went to Jason. Here's the new home. Yeah, that's a special piece from the Pitch Perfect 3 ladies combining with The Voice finalists to deliver George Michael's Freedom. I've enjoyed catching this season of The Voice again - some of my favored vocalists made it to the finals.

Iceman 08Dec17

I've re-reimagined the Black Ice, again. I'm infatuated with the effect of blue hues on fish - for whatever reason I think it motivates more strikes. It's not naturally occurring in many aquatic insects so I don't know why it works ~ but I sense hit rates on a blue-adorned fly are higher than without. Perhaps its the lower visibility I've faced this fall (when silver surfer was a great producer and a blue wire "caddis" attractor caught fish too). Dunno. I found gunmetal blue wire and have tied my stock of "reimagined black ice" flies using this new color. The fly now differs pretty significantly from Larry Kingrey's Ice Nymph. With the deviations comprehended I think I deserve a new name for it... I was thinking Val Kilmer but settled on the character instead. Here's Iceman.

CVP asked for full recipe for Iceman so here it is:

• Tie in #18 - #22
• Black #70 thread
• Black nickel tungsten bead sized for hook
• Black soft hackle fiber tail
• Black holographic Mylar body wrap
• Gunmetal blue wire (SM) overwrap (or black)
• Mix of 2/3 black UV and 1/3 peacock ice dubbed thorax (size = bead)
• Leave Mylar attached at thorax and wrap over it for wing casing
• Tie over tail fibers forward then use them to make legs as last step 

The Most Versatile Fly 08Dec17

The Pheasant Tail is the most versatile mayfly nymph ever IMO. It's an all-natural so isn't the sturdiest around but it is ever so useful and buggy. I tie PTs in many different forms, my seven primary ones are shown here (R to L).

• The One... a soft hackle flymph tied a bit large with a rusty antron tail ~ serious action in the water
• BHFBPT... a beadhead flashback pheasant tail ~ sinks great
• Magnymphico... a single hidden bead (covered using peacock ice dub instead of peacock) variant of the 2 Bit Hooker ~ sinks well and stays thin
• FBPT... a flashback pheasant tail ~ classic, subtile & deadly
• Merc FBPT... a FBPT with mercury glass bead mimicking emergence gas ~ great during hatch
• PMD FBPT... a pale morning dun variant with red glass bead (check their eyes) and cream ostrich mixed in thorax (they are lighter colored) ~ PMD time
• RQ FBPT... a red quill variant (here with merc bead) with darker/reddish body pheasant and often a red wire ~ Red Quill time

Something was really funky with the way the PMDFBPT above rendered so I'm reprising just it below. I think this is a DRC exclusive actually as I've not seen it or even close to my recipe anywhere else, and its a slayer in summer PMD hatches on multiple CO rivers. It's a bit hard to make out even here but I do flashback the ostrich thorax - kindof wings and gas flash. I only carry #18s but they can be larger in real life. For comparison I've included an image of the adult and a cartoon of emergence - my fly mimics this emergence subsurface from the nymph - a perfect time to taste PMDs I guess.

Slow Start #2 06Dec17

While SoCal burns and the Internet loses neutrality I'm very concerned for America... ok that's off topic. I was informed by Schiit that a key component supply shortage will delay shipment of my new AMP; bummer ~ but I'll gladly wait for the best. I have received the new MrSpeakers Ether C Flow headphones though. I've asked that the AMP & DAC come in the same shipment - so the whole kit of Schiit electronics is delayed several weeks. However, three sets of killer matched NOS 6DJ8 tubes, and the phenolic socket savers, have arrived in wait for their place in the AMP. So what's a guy to do? I'm currently driving the new cans through my DAP via a fully balanced config - including cabling to the ears. So sweet but the relatively low power for closed planar magnetics limits what I'm getting. Cymbals and bass drums aren't as defined as can be. I'm excited but looking forward to more... understand though that this is from a guy who yesterday attended a "Health Care Costs & Taxation In Retirement" seminar.

Flyin' Frigid 04Dec17

It was 9° at Keystone as I hit the gondola line. I was dubious at the temps but excited for my first day out this season and 6" of new snow. I actually scored ~12K ft vert, which is good for me on day 1 @ 9° - it happened mainly because just 2% of terrain is open and skiing was "easy." Snow was actually decent on man-made topped with fresh. The skis held great as I was making radically weighted carves like Greg said - because it wasn't steep where the mtn was open. Further, I scored new lenses for my Phoenoms which are double paned; I think they fog less - of course I got 'em at 75% off since my goggles aren't edge to edge cool like DD's and they were on deep clearance. It was fun being out again for sure.

Rainbows & Rim Ride 29Nov17

Caught some and lost some on the Arkansas River tailwater below Pueblo Rez. Flows were too low @ 75cfs IMO. Viz is still not great. I did wrangle a good ~19"er to net above Valco - took the Awesome Midge. Others nabbed BWOs like the FoD and Silver Surfer. Being near the reservoir did allow me to also grab a ride on the south shore. I started pretty late and while I did finish in the dark, the ride was fun - especially the 5 mile Inner Limits segment.

Dancin' In The Desert 20Nov17-27Nov17

Kala & I hit the dusty trail to the Sonoran Desert for some fun with friends and family. The drive was uneventful and into outstanding late fall weather in Phoenix. We dropped off a couple of cases of French burgundy to our excited friends Steve & Anne Gordon. I played a round of golf with Steve and one of my oldest and dearest friends Jesse Swisher - I sucked but Swish could still hammer the pellet mightily. We also hit "Top Golf" the next day where I was much better at playing the goofy target shooting game. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with my sister Letha; Matt Coffin even flew in for the occasion - a rare sighting. I got the old Microtest exec staff together with wives (L>R in back: Mark Barmettler, Mark Johnston & Shirley, Dave Coffin & Kala Marietta, Maria Marinick & Michael, Susan Sciacero; L>R in front: Jim Sciacero, Heather Hittel & Paul). We missed Mike Sierra of course but had a raucous good time at Jim & Susan's. I rode Brown's Ranch with Jim & Michael - I like the saguaro flipping us off and the 4 Peaks (elevation 7.5Kft) between us. The next day I rode Trail 100 (my old stomping ground behind our house in PHX) with Michael. It was very cool riding in the Sonoran Desert again. We also caught up with Karen Koenig and Jimmy as well as her kids. While we ate and drank at some good spots in Phoenix, Karen's gazebo was a really keen vibe with spa, fire pit, stocked beverage cool, TV and more - perfect outdoor spot in the desert for much of the year, including late Nov. I liked her sign and being near New Mexico allowed tasting a number of Cumbre brews - like the special Project Dank.

Also, mainly for documentation, Thanksgiving is a time when we get to see MLC's main HS mates. Here the Peregrine Partners are convened again. L>R: Matt Coffin (skydiver & big data code jock), Matthew Brantley (federal lands law enforcement), David Vadnais (satellite comms firmware jock), and Mitchel Yohanan (mechE master's degree pursuits).