Crystal Peak

Crystal Peak is maybe 80 or 100 miles southwest of Delta. This is an odd yellowish rock that sticks out alone among other juniper- and sagebrush-spotted mountains in the Wah Wah Range (no, this range was not named after any of Barbara Walters's ancestors).

There's nothing crystal about this peak, unless maybe it appears as crystal when you're looking at it from a distance in the early-morning sun on a clear day. We wouldn't know about that.

Crystal Peak "is a leftover from Tertiary volcanoes that preceded block-faulting in the area." (Utah's Wilderness Areas by Lynnard and Leland Howard) I don't have any idea what that means, but I do know the mountain is a big, rough rock riddled with stones of various types. Apparently this is volcanic ash that has mixed with the other stones and hardened like cheap concrete.

Randy and I went there yesterday, because it was such a fine Spring Saturday.












Crystal Peak is behind me. That's right, you can't see it for the clouds and the ice-snow that is blowing horizontally from west (right) to east.





















The mountain is pretty interesting with its weathered pockets.















This is not "the" peak. This is a short peak in front of the real peak, which we couldn 't get to, because the route we took would have required climbing along a very narrow ledge that was covered in several inches of icy snow, and we didn't feel so much like dying.





















We climbed up as high on this side of this peak as we could without needing Search and Rescue to help us down or pick up the pieces.





















Hey, I think I see a break in the clouds. Oh, never mind.





















Ducking on the east side of a ridge out of the driving wind, we were able to find a nice dry spot to sit and enjoy a pleasant picnic. What we didn't realize until later was that the porous rock had actually trapped a lot of moisture, which wicked nicely into our pants. This made for an uncomfortable drive out of here.















Some interesting plants grow right from the rock, like this little bonsai tree and its red friend.















And this tough tuft of whatever it is.





















And lichens, of course. I thought this looked like a slice of fruit with a green rind.















Oh, look. The clouds cleared a tad as we were leaving.















We drove out of the Crystal Peak area to the west and found Zebra Mountain. Good luck finding that in your guidebook.




Normally we would have taken the Tahoe, but Randy had left his car at the Lexus dealer for some work and they gave him a Toyota Rav4 as a loaner. We decided that was a good choice for driving over 100 miles of rough, sometimes muddy desert roads. It worked very nicely, though with its street tires and front-wheel dirve it was a little squirrelly in some of the bumpier corners, and it tended to get sucked into the muddy ruts. Amzaingly, the muddy roads were the same color as the car (taupe?), so other than wiping the windows a bit, Randy can probably take the Rav4 back to the dealer without worring about washing it.














We found Jared's roots on the way to Ely.














And we saw these sorry-looking elk, who, I suppose, are the lucky ones who survived the winter in the east Nevada desert.

Stay tuned. I'm going back to Crystal Mountain on a day when we can actually see the mountain and hike to the top.

It Is Me

That was yesterday (see blog below). This is today.
















When we were in Virginia last year, Jared and I went to Wal-Mart and each bought a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS navigator. I love mine. It has directed me through a number of foreign cities like Lexington, NC; Lexington, KY; Louisville, KY; and St Louis, MO, with only a few weird detours. It's small, the battery lasts for hours for when I use it outside the car, and it even took me right to Bob Timberlake's art gallery in NC when the people in town couldn't figure out how to get there due to a washed-out bridge.

So, a few days ago I decided to upgrade to the lastest maps. The Garmin website confirmed that the 2010 map was right for my Nuvi 200, so I paid the $69 and downloaded it. I knew from upgraging to the 2009 map last year that the memory was limited on the Nuvi, so I deleted all the extra languages--there are about 20--and vehicle icons.

But when I tried to install the map, a message said I could only install a portion of the U.S. 48 states, plus Puerto Rico and Hawaii, due to a lack of memory. Why I can't swap Puerto Rico and Hawaii for the rest of the U.S. I don't know. But this isn't an option.

I wrote to Garmin's tech support. Two days later I received a page of instructions for deleting the extra languages and icons to make room.

I responded that I had already done that.

A day later I got an email with instructions for deleting the extra languages and icons.

This morning I called the "help" line--800-800-1020, good buddy. I was informed that the wait time would be more than 30 minutes, and it was well more than that.

The tech support guy instructed me to delete the extra languages and icons.

Garmin tech support employment test: Can you say, "Delete the extra languages and icons"? You're hired.

Beyond that, he was lost and had to forward me to the software group, "who will fix your problem."

"Due to unusually high call volumes, your wait will be more than 30 minutes."

It was way more.

The next guy asked me to check how much memory my Garmin has by going to "My Computer"...

I made the mistake of telling him I was on a Mac ("My Computer" is a Windows thing).

"I'm sorry. I'll have to transfer you to the Mac team."

"Wait. I can see the memory. There's 991.9 MB with 15.5 MB free."

"I don't know if that's the same. I only know PCs. I'll transfer you right over."

"Will I have to wait another half hour?"

"I don't know why they sent a Mac person to me. I only do PCs." Click.

"Due to unusually high call volumes, your wait will be more than 30 minutes."














I've now been waiting on the phone for two hours and 17 minutes. If I hear "Thank you for calling Garmin International...Our next product support specialist will be with you as soon as possible" one more time, I'm going to mount my Garmin in a Greyhound bus and drive it through M-Star's Whipple heating and air conditioning system while reading six copies of the June issue of Popular Photography.

Is It Really Just Me?

Have I ever told you about my customer service woes? Don't ask me about we-didn't-steal-your-luggage Greyhound, you're-an-IP-address-hijacking-noncustomer M-Star, or when-you-call-today-we'll-come-today-or-next-week-or-not Whipple Plumbing; you'll be here for hours hearing how these are the stars of everything that's customer disservice.

But here's an experience I have to share, because it just happened today:

I subscribe to Popular Photography magazine, as well as the magazine's email newsletter. I received an email offer to join a PopPhoto customer survey program with a chance to win money. I said, OK. After I registered, I was directed to a page that offered 6 issues (1 year) of a sister magazine, American Photo, for $7. Not a bad deal, so I said, OK.

A subscription page came up with American Photo at 6 issues for $14, not such a great deal. Please enter your credit card number. I called the publisher in New York. The lady in NY gave me an 800 number. The lady at the 800 number had no idea what I was talking about and said the offer must have come from some other company.

I thought PopPhoto should know someone was using their name for a scam, so I called NY again. The same NY lady connected me immediately to another woman named Mirta, who happened to be the one in charge of that very promotion. Mirta was flabbergasted that her promotion didn't work, as she'd tested it several times.

Mirta promised to correct the problem. A short time later she sent me an email telling me life was good, my new subscription to Popular Photography was submitted, and the magazine would arrive soon.

All would have been good, too, had I not already been subscribed to Popular Photography and actually wanted American Photo.

Mirta (I like writing her name, Mirta) sent me another link. I went through the whole survey process again. And voila, I could now subscribe to Popular Photography at only 12 issues for $7. Yes, that's the magazine I already receive.

Now, Mirta has either gone home for the day or decided to go see Spamalot again.

I have to wonder how many people this offer went to, and am I the only one having trouble?

Is it really just me?

And how many copies of Popular Photography will I now receive each month?

Easter Pics

April 12, 2009












These are the people who enjoyed the ham; layered, mixed, fruit, etc, salads; funeral potatoes, 48 rolls...I can't list everything. (Someone was was especially tickled pink.)

Everyone look at the camera and say, "Cheese."

This Brit's Got Talent

You've got to see Susan Boyle. She's a contestant on a show called "Britain's Got Talent" that Simon Cowell judges. Yes, the American version is based on the British original. (The video goes goofy at the very end. Sorry, I'm not redoing it.)



I posted this at Chieko's request. I think she's watched the performance on YouTube about 487 times, and that's just today.

Ooooh, I Confess to Trespassing and Trying to Steal a Train

Tooele County Sheriff's deputies need more excitement. Except for the occasional head-on crash on Hwy 36, they don't really have a lot to challenge their police-academy training. I know, because when I park within sight of the interstate in Tooele County, a deputy stops to check me out. One bored officer did some time ago when I stopped by an old, almost-gone gas station next to I-80 on the road that goes to Dugway. A deputy pulled up behind me, sauntered to my door, and investigated my suspicious doings. I was eating my lunch.

I've seen guys with high-powered rifles poaching antelope on the Pony Express trail just 40 miles to the south, still in Tooele County, and not a deputy within, well, 40 miles. I've also seen more emptied beer bottles than sagebrush at any freeway exit all the way to Wendover. But eating your lunch on a frontage road next to the freeway is bordering on criminal.

Anyway, this afternoon I needed a quiet place to work on an article I was writing, so I chose a dirt-road railroad crossing along I-80 near Grantsville, the same place where I'd stood on the tracks and taken pictures a few weeks ago. The clearing where the road meets the tracks has a couple small sheds and a propane tank, and today there were two worker buses, a few Union Pacific hard hats, and a train or two.

I pulled up in front of the propane tank next to the tracks and sat in the passenger side of the Tahoe with my laptop on the top of my lap and my camera next to me on the floor in case a train came by, and I wrote the article.

After about three hours, a UP worker in a white Explorer stopped on his way home and told me I was on UP property and had to move, because the railroad had a lot of things there that could get stolen and they were going to be doing more stuff there in the future. That's what I said to myself: Huh? Whatever. I suppose I could have spent the three hours casing the place, but if burglary had been my intention, it really wasn't a good spot, considering it was daylight, the place was visible from 20 miles in any direction, and there was nothing worth stealing other than about six new 40-foot utility poles, a few rail cars, the 10,000-gallon propane tank, and a couple diesel-powered Union Pacific engines. The worker pointed just ahead and said I could park on the public access road. So I moved 20 feet to the public access road.

About 10 minutes later, a Tooele County deputy snuck up on me. Well, he didn't really sneak up, since I noticed him coming from about half a mile away. He wanted to know what I was up to. I told him I was working in a quiet place where I could take a picture of a train if one came by, as if I needed a reason to be in a public desert. Okay, I admit there are people dumping bodies just 20 miles to the west, near railroad tracks in Delle, and people burning themselves up in cars. I obviously wasn't doing either of those things, with my laptop and camera and all. But Officer Cliché (dark glasses, bushy mustache) wanted my ID anyway. I gave him my driver's license. He took it back to his patrol SUV and for the next 10 minutes or so I suppose he checked to see how many arrest warrants I had outstanding, while I finished the summary paragraph to my article.

Ironically, the article was on Amtrak's use of IP video security cameras at its Oakland and LA rail yards, which don't have fences or other physical security. Apparently people do steal steel rails, rail spikes, food from the commissary supply palettes, and power generators.

The deputy brought my license back and told me I was on UP property and had to move. I told him the other guy said I could park here, but I would be happy to move again.

Keep in mind that dirt roads run all over the West Desert, and many cross railroad tracks. This place happened to have a couple maintenance sheds next to the tracks, but there were no no-trespassing signs or any indication that this area was closed to the public.

Officer Benevolence told me that since the UP guy had given me permission to be there he wouldn't cite me for trespassing this time, but I'd have to move on.

I smiled, thanked him, and drove away.

After he left I went back and threw a couple utility poles and a Union Pacific diesel engine in the back of the Tahoe and drove home.

John Defends His Dissertation

John did a super job defending his PhD dissertation on April 3. Actually, he did a super job on the research and dissertation. His boss/professor said he attended a conference recently with five Nobel winners in attendance. Four of the Nobel laureates approached him with questions about John's work specifically. It is really a breakthrough in the way medical research is done. I'd explain more, but 1) I would probably be incorrect, and 2) I don't want to take the wind out of any sails by posting anything on this blog.













John and his boss, Tom. We're very proud of John.



















John gave a one-hour presentation to his boss/professor and three-member committee, family (Caroline, Misa, the Crawfords, Chieko and me), and several peers. After the presentation we had to leave while the professors questioned John for another hour. Of course John passed.













Traditionally the PhD candidate's professor takes the successful candidate for drinks. Instead, Misa planned a reception in the school's 7th-floor atrium. This was much nicer than drinks.













This is the University of Texas Southwestern south campus. A shuttle runs between the north and south campuses along the ramp in the background.













The north campus is most of the buildings in the background, as well as the Parkland Hospital, where John F. Kennedy was taken when he was shot in downtown Dallas.



















Would you pay $19 for six cupcakes? You would if you bought them at Sprinkles. They were good. Three were red velvet, two were chocolate, and one was vanilla with chocolate. Chieko thinks they were worth the price. I think you have to do these things once.













The first thing I saw when we arrived at the Astles'.



















Elliot's karate lesson.













The downtown Irving mustangs.



















On Saturday morning we went to the King Tut exhibit. No pictures were allowed in the exhibit, but this is outside the building, in the Dallas art district.













After King Tut we rode a trolley to an area with a bunch of restaurants and ate fish and chips at an outdoor Irish pub. This was near the trolley stop, in front of a building in the art district. Caroline has a Tut-replica mirror in the shape of the "ankh" (which means "life" or "eternal life").













The bluebonnets (Texas state flower) are just coming into bloom.













If you've never been to Fry's, you need to go. It's a huge electronics store that sells everything from electric shavers to vacuum cleaners to video cameras, computers, and computer parts. The prices aren't great, but you can find anything. But only if you know what you're looking for--the workers often don't know much about anything. I think the store originated in California in old Incredible Universe stores. In the Texas version you get the longhorns.













Before our flight on Sunday, we went to the Water Gardens in Fort Worth.
Caroline.













Elliot.













Mei.














The water gardens have a couple of large pools. One has water running down rock walls into a river-like bottom, and narrow steps lead to the bottom of the pool.













Caroline.













The Forth Worth Water Garden also has a "mountain."

Challenge:















While at the Water Gardens I found an SD memory card with 180 pictures on it. I think the girl on the left is Yesenia Avelar. She appears in many of the pictures and may be the owner of the camera. I can't make out the logo on the jacket--possibly a school uniform. Other pictures have a wedding, older people, a young family, a cathedral or mission, and an amusement park or carnival.















The pictures look like they were taken outside the U.S., likely in Latin America. If you are a super sleuth and can give me some hints for finding the owner of these pictures, please let me know.