Leave Nothing But Footprints

"Leave nothing but footprints,

take nothing but pictures,

kill nothing but time."

--motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a Maryland caving club founded in 1952

Cross Country Snowboarding

Get your skootch on and join the extreme sport of Cross Country Snowboarding.

It's a powerful thing, and you really feel connected to MM (Mother Nature).

"This is an outsiders sport of an outsiders sport (snowboarding), plus we do it outside.  We are rocking a triple entendre."

"One thing about us is when we do go Cross Boarding, we never step out. No way! You're in from sunup to sundown. Stepping out is sacrilege in Cross Country Snowboarding. You just don't do it."

"If you don't switch it up and go goofy every once in a while, you're going to get skootch leg.  You'll know the guys in the chalet, with skootch leg, because they are going to be walking in circles."

Cross Country Snowboarding brings you these excellent moves:

• Skootchline Blunt
• Frontside Skootch
• Backside Skootch

It's all about moving forward, turning around and moving forward.

"We know it's never going to be the big thing. That's the great thing about Cross Country Snowboarding. It's impossible to for it to sell out."

Matchup.io and Fitbit

So you have received an invitation to participate in a Matchup.io step challenge.  Now what?  The following are directions to configuring and linking your Fitbit with Matchup.io.

Fitbit Settings

1.  Purchase a Fitbit.  (eg. Fitbit One from Fitbit / Amazon ~$99)

2.  Create a free account at Fitbit.com.

3.  Setup your Fitbit and Sync with your Fitbit account.  Sync by downloading the Fitbit application for Android / Apple / Windows / Windows Desktop and connecting to device through Bluetooth.

4.  Be friends with your friends.  This is a social activity, so connect with your friends.  Everyone can help track everyone's progress and help motivate each other to reach their goals.

5.  Be friends with the creator of the step challenge.  The step challenge creator should have already sent a friend invite to you.  If they have not, send an invite to them.

6.  Change your profile picture.  Don't be the anti social friend.

7. Configure your Fitbit privacy settings to share your step count with friends.  Again don't be anti social, allow your friends to at least see your step count, activities and primary goal.

Matchup Settings

8.  Create a free Matchup.io account.

9.  Join the Matchup challenge.  The challenge creator should have sent you an invitation or the challenge URL.  If you haven't received this yet, ask the challenge creator again.


And that's it.  Now you just need to wait for the challenge to begin and remember to stepSTRONG^TM.

75K Fitbit Award

Woot Woot!

You've walked 75,000 steps today!

What an overachiever!

75,000 steps in one day?

We bow down to your awesomeness.

Stride Length vs Step Length - Stop the Confusion

Stride Length

I think the term "Stride Length" should not be used.  It appears to have morphed from being one's "gait length" now into one's "step length", which leads to confusion.  Poor Pedometer documentation (made in foreign countries?) I think is to blame.

Having been a boy scout and earned my Orienteering merit badge long ago, we all had to calculate out our "stride length" ("pace count", "gait length") and "step length" ("step count").  This is what I have always known these terms to mean.

Google dictionary definitions of "stride length", and they all tend to say:

"stride length: The distance between 2 successive placements of the same foot, consisting of 2 step lengths"

But then you look at calculating your stride length for a pedometer and all of a sudden "stride length" is now calculated the same as "step length".

Even fitbit appears to perpetuate this in their FAQ: How do I measure and adjust my stride length.

This is why I think the term "stride length" should no longer be used.  Thoughts?

Fitbit One

Fitbit One Wireless Activity + Sleep Tracker

I won a Fitbit at a company event, and have liked it enough that I picked up a second one, for my wife.

"Fitness means being active, sleeping well, and eating smarter - and Fitbit One helps you do all three. During the day, it tracks your steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed. Come nightfall, it measures your sleep cycle to help you see how to sleep better, and it can even wake you in the morning without waking your partner. Your stats upload wirelessly via computer, or select mobile devices (like the iPhone 4S). Powered by your stats, you can set goals, and track progress with charts and graphs. Stay motivated by earning badges or connecting with friends for support or friendly competitions. Log food, work-outs and more. Bring greater fitness into your life - seamlessly, socially, 24 hours a day." (amazon)

MSRP is $99, but you can pick one up a black Fitbit One on amazon for about $86, or a burgundy Fitbit One for about $83.

Fitbit One Features:

• Tracks steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed
• Monitor how long and how well you sleep
• Wakes you (and not your partner) with a silent alarm
• Syncs automatically to your computer or select mobile devices via Bluetooth 4.0/Bluetooth Smart
• Set goals, view progress with charts and graphs, and earn badges
• Share and compete with friends throughout the day
• Free iPhone and Android Apps
• Small and discreet - wear in pocket, on belt or bra
• Log food, weight and more on Fitbit's website or apps
• Sweat-, rain-, and splash proof
• Rechargeable battery

Blood Moon

Blood Moon  (image from Google Images)

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, October 8th, 2014), there will be a "Blood Moon" total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will appear from 4:20 am to 5:20 am, with the peak maximum total eclipse appearing at around 4:50 am (for Salt Lake City).

Local viewing times can be found on the Eclipse Calculator.

Viewing conditions as reported by AccuWeather

UPDATE: I posted the photo I took of the Blood Moon on my 365 project.

Create a Slideshow with Microsoft Windows DVD Maker (HOWTO)

Microsoft Windows DVD Maker

I needed to make a quick DVD slides show of some pictures.  Fortunately, there is a free DVD creation program included with Windows 7 called Windows DVD Maker.

"Windows DVD Maker is available on Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and on Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate editions of Windows 7."

Windows DVD Maker is a pretty simple tool with minimal features, but sufficient to create a quick DVD slide show.

"Make a DVD-Video disc that includes your favorite videos and digital photos that you and others can watch on a TV or computer. Windows DVD Maker lets you create a DVD quickly, complete with professional-looking menus, a scene selection page, and even a slide show with music."

How To Create a Slideshow with Microsoft Windows DVD Maker

1) Start - To start Windows DVD Maker, select the program from the Start menu (or by running "dvdmaker.exe").

2) Title - From the DVD Maker title screen, select "Choose Photos and Videos" to continue.

3) Add Items - Drag and drop photos and videos to the project (or click the "add items" button)

4) Change Order - If you need to change the order of photos/videos, double click on the slideshow link and then you can drag and drop the items to any desired order.  You will notice the default duration is set to 7 seconds.  This duration can be changed at a later step.

5) DVD Options - Click the "options" link to change some basic DVD format options.  The option I prefer to change is the DVD playback setting to continuous loop.  Great for a continuously running background slideshow.

6) Final Touches - Once we have our order decided upon, we can click continue onto the "Ready to burn DVD" page where we can change DVD menu options and slide show options.

7) DVD Menu Text - If you wish to change the DVD menu text, click the "Menu text" button, and make the appropriate changes.  I left the defaults as is.

8) DVD Menu Style - If you wish to change the DVD menu style, click the "Customize menu" button, and make the appropriate changes. I left the defaults as is.

9) Slide Duration - If you wish to change the duration of the slide show, add music, or change the transitions used, select the "Slide Show" button. The duration is a global duration, meaning you can't set a different duration for individual photos. The Slide Duration can be set to 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, or 30 seconds.  There is also an option to set the slide duration to match the music length.

10) Slide Transitions - You can change the slide transition animation to a number of options (Cross fade, Cut, Dissolve, Flip, Inset, Page curl, Pixelate, Random, Wipe). Again only one global transition can be selected, unless you select Random to which it will randomly assign a transition to each slide. My preferred transition is the default "Cross fade". I also prefer to leave the "pan and zoom effect" enabled. Makes the slides a little more visually entertaining.

11) Music - Background music can be added to the slide show.  If there is less music than the length of the slide show, the background music will automatically repeat.  At the end of the slide show, the music will automatically fade out, instead of being harshly truncated.

12) Preview - Before burning your completed DVD, click the "Preview" button to preview the DVD video.  You will see how the DVD menu and transitions appear.

13) Burn - Finally, click the "Burn" button and your DVD begins burning.  Once the DVD has completed burning, you will be presented with an option to burn a second copy.


Enjoy your DVD slide show.

VMworld 2014 - Sights to See

San Francisco sights to see, within walking distance of the Moscone Center.

San Francisco Bay

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

Pier 39 and Fisherman's Warf

San Francisco City Hall

Chinatown

Grace Cathedral

Cable Car Museum

Coit Tower

Lombard Street

Ghirardelli Square

Natural Swimming Pool

Natural Swimming Pool

I would love to build a natural swimming pool like this.

Natural Swimming Pool

"Swimming in natural water is a delight to our senses. Your skin and hair feels soft and your eyes don't sting. It seems as if, every cell in your body is telling you - this is the way swimming should be.

A Natural Swimming Pool is swimming pool that has clear water without using chemicals. These pools rely entirely on the plants and animals to condition the water.  This is so effective that this pool has been tested and shown to be of drinking water quality. Also, through the continual natural cleaning process the pool water never needs changing, saving water. Chemical free so it is healthy for people and wildlife. Wild Swimming at home."

Introduction to Natural Pools

More information available here:

• Natural Pools for Swimming - http://www.organicpools.co.uk/
• Free PDF - Organic Pools DIY Manual
• Facebook Natural Pools - https://www.facebook.com/organicpools

Devil's Racetrack (Utah OHV)

Kenny on the Devil's Racetrack (San Rafael Swell)

For this Memorial Weekend, we road an extended version of the Devil's Racetrack in San Rafael Swell. Our total distance was 71 miles round trip.  We started at about 11 am and finished at about 8 pm, just a little under 9 hours.

We had two options to start our adventure.  The first option of starting in Ferron (only 2 hours from Provo) and riding the ATVs about 45 minutes to the top of the Devil's Racetrack loop.  Or the second option of driving clear around to I70 (about 3 hours from Provo) and starting at the bottom.  We choose Ferron, the route that got us onto the ATVs the quickest.

Daniel dropping down the "Steps"

The most difficult part of the trail is a little section on the Devil's Racetrack.  You dropped down a set of steep steps (semi difficult to go down, much more difficult to go up), only to go around the corner and find the "Pits", a pretty technical set of steps and pits to cross.  Once you are in the middle of these two, there isn't much chance of backing out now.  The two are next to the canyon ledge, which doesn't help the nerves either.

Kenneth entering the "pits" (cliff in the background)

Kenneth stuck in the "Pits"

The entire route can be summed up in the following map:

Map of our trail - 71 miles round trip

The trail varies greatly.  The ATVs preferred the dusty and sandy wash sections.  The motorcycles preferred the roads, rocky and technical sections (and very much preferred to say out of the sandy washes).

Susan on the dusty trails

Bonnie on rocky trails

GPS Tracks

I recorded our progress on a Garmin GPS tethered to my motorcycle.  With a bit of touch-ups the GPX (GPS XML) and KMZ (Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language) are available here:

Description	GPX	KMZ
Devil's Racetrack Trail (Full Loop)	GPX	KMZ
Devil's Racetrack Trail (Full Loop) - Light Version (reduced points)	GPX	KMZ
Devil's Racetrack Trail (Segmented Version)	GPX	KMZ

Photo Book

I also put together a photo book that includes other photos of the adventure.