Sunday, November 25, 2007

Over the last several days, the sinking of the Explorer in Antarctic waters has captured my imagination. It was just two years ago that Nancy and I were on another ship, the Endeavor, in the Antarctic. The two ships are similar in size, weight, ice hardening, passengers aboard ... and both were exploring the antarctic peninsula. In spite of 20 - 30 foot swells crossing the Drake passage, our sailing was textbook. The Explorer’s was not.

Hitting submerged ice, the Explorer began taking on water through a fist sized hole in the hull. After all the passengers and crew had successfully abandoned ship to life boats, the Explorer sank. All aboard were successfully rescued and taken aboard a large cruise ship nearby.

A coincidence, our ship, the Endeavor, was about 50 miles away at the time of the accident and steamed to the site to participate in the rescue. The passengers were taken aboard a Norwegian ship to the Chilean research base nearby where they were airlifted home ... another coincidence since the Endeavor put in to the same base when one of our fellow passengers became ill and was med-evac’ed out.

I am glad all passengers and crew were saved without injury. I feel connected to them somehow. But it reminds me that there are still wild places on the planet. Our trip to the Antarctic was fantastic. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m glad there are still wild places left and I’d like to keep exploring them. But it gives me pause ... and reminds me to be careful out there.

The airfiled is just beyond the hills in the background. The base has a year-round population of 42 but might be home to a couple of hundred folks this time of year. You can check out all my Antarctic photos at Digital Quixote. Click on Travel A-M and select Antarctica.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Motorcyclists have an expression, “Keep the shiny side up!” There’ s a shinny side (fairings, tank, chrome and such) and a rubber side (tires). So literally keep the shiny side up means don’t drop the bike or crash it or run into anything. Less precisely it means “Have a nice day!” in motospeak.

My son-in-law sent me this photo, which he saw on www.desmonorthwest.com, was taken by Patrick Andraste of a model, Jade Indica.

In any event, it provides a slightly different spin on the notion of keeping the shiny side up. Of course you may want to enlarge it by clicking on the photo below.

Click here for the rest of the story ...

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Motorcycles
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Saturday, November 10, 2007

I am a fan of live theatre so it was a thrill for me to get a backstage tour of the Historic Paramount Theatre last Saturday. These free tours are conducted at 10:00 AM the first Saturday of every month. Recommended!

So it’s true, I’ve been on stage at the Paramount. The theatre was built in 1928 and used as movie theatre. In those days movies were silent, but were accompanied by live organ music, timed by the organist, to fit what was on screen. During the tour we heard the organ, which was wonderful, and learned it is unlike a church organ. It can play essentially all the instruments in a symphony orchestra and sound effects (like a fire engine for example).

The theatre originally cost about $3 Million to build. It sold 10 years ago for about $12 Million to a group of investors that spent an additional $20 Million on restoration. Today it is one of the busiest theatres in Seattle. I mentioned restoration. The details of this wonderful building have been lovingly preserved.

Below stage, on the walls of a hallway are posters from many of the productions seen here. All are signed by the cast members. It was a treat for me to see this historical side note since I have seen most of these shows right here.

A couple of times a year, they do a “Silent Movie Monday” where they show historic silent films and accompany them on the organ. That could be fun!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Friday, November 02, 2007

Click on any photo to enlarge ...

I spent the afternoon today at the Seattle International Auto Show. I am beginning my research which will lead to the purchase of my next car. Number one contender at the moment is the Audi R8 (above) and the number two is the BMW Z4 Coupe (below). There are many other choices. I’m intrigued witht he Nissan 350 ZX. Mercedes lost me due to very poor quality in my current SLK 350. It’s a very long story but I’ll resist the temptation to digress. Maybe another post. In any event, this is a target rich environment.

No car show would be complete without a few classic beauties. I liked the one below.

I was disappointed in this year’s car show in two respects. Firstly, car shows are supposed to have “car show babes” standing on their revolving platforms, in skimpy little dresses with spikey tall heels, next to the cars they’re selling. This year’s show had few and they would have rated low on Richter Scale of car show babes. Second, I like the exotic concept cars. This year there were really only two ... and they were trucks!

Both by Ford, the first looks like it was modeled after a WW II German personnel carrier. Oddly attractive. I liked it!

And the second truck won all the prizes for the biggest vehicle at the show. Sporting a V10 engine, it also had both front and rear seats. And the rear seating area was as large as ballroom. Cool, but ginormous!

But my biggest dissapointment ... no Smart and no Tesla.

Had fun. Enjoyed the day. Hope you liked the pics!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • and Automobiles
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