More Images from AZ Jr. Regatta

I've posted a sampling of photos on my photo page. Click Here to view. Or paste url http://web.mac.com/e_diethelm/iWeb/Site/Jr_Champions07.html in your web browser. The slideshow will give you a nice big picture view.

I certainly don't claim to be a professional photographer and I did this for fun. For coaches, competitors and Regatta staff--if you see a picture or two you would like e-mailed. I'll be happy to do so and at no charge to you.

Enjoy!

Arizona Jr. Championship Regatta

Yesterday I spent the morning at the Arizona Jr. Championships helping out on the dock. I took the opportunity to work on my photo taking skills. Of the 1024 pictures I snapped, I edited down to about 750 good photos. I wish I could put them all on the web as I think some of the individual pictures really gave you a feel for the enthusiasm and effort these high school rowers put into their sport. Most of them didn't know that I was taking pictures both close up and while they were rowing because I had my 300 mm lens allowing me to be close but far away.

The weather was a bit unusual with choppy water, wind and cold in the early races. It cleared off for a calm sunny afternoon. The later races definitely benefited from that. Although this was mostly an Arizona HS regatta there was a contingency of scullers from Connecticut that were having a week long camp on the lake. They competed in the regatta which is a nice way to finish out sculling camp.

So many of the pictures came out well that I will post a chunk more on a photo page elsewhere and add a link on a subsequent blog. I know the coaches will want these to pass around and I certainly will get those to them.

My only disclaimer is that these photos are scaled down for my blog. They are a bit more detailed in their full high resolution view. You can click on the images for a larger web view--which is still pretty scaled down.


Here's that enthusiasm I'm talking about. Rio Salado women's four leaving the dock to race.


The Varsity women's eight was the battle of the day. As well as the last race of the day. These boats were side by side until the very end when Rio Salado powered up for the win. I love this first picture as it's quite exiciting to look over and see the competition right next to you.


Here's a full view of this crew battle.


This shows what the single scullers had to contend with. The conditions were less than ideal for them but they showed their determination to get through it. This is one of the visiting Connecticut rowers. I think she was feeling more like she was in Conneticut than Arizona. I was out on the lake sculling last week when they were having camp so I'm glad they got to enjoy the flat water and sunshine the week of their camp.


Oh those regatta volunteers... they take their job VERY seriously. This is Rebecca and Alicia having a serious (seriously staged) photo at Regatta Central. I laugh everytime I look at this!

Good Eats II

I thought maybe I should comment on the final outcome of Matt's first full meal cooking job. It was delicious! Like any good cook--one thinks of ways it could be even better after. Alton Brown's recipe called for red snapper. However, they didn't have any at Whole Foods, so we got trout instead. We decided that red snapper might be better or another light white fish. Also, I'm not sure if Alton showed it on his show or not but it would be wise to remove the spine from the fish first. We did that after cooking and it kind of made our plates messy. We also deduced that this would be a great way to cook fish over other vegetables or grains such as spinach or rice. Overall, I think it was a really nice meal and one we can play around with for lots of future great meals.

A picture of the cooked version is below.

Good Eats!

Matt (a.k.a. Cricket) has become an Alton Brown Good Eats watcher. I think he's connected with Alton on the Food Network because he approaches cooking in a logical way with lots of history, science, chemistry and explanation mixed in. He also has everything ready before he starts mixing up dinner. This is appealing to a GEEK. I fixed a Rachel Ray recipe one night and followed her lead by just throwing stuff in as I went along. That was a bit to chaotic and messy for him.

Tonight he's fixing one of Alton's recipes. He's doing an excellent job and I can't wait to taste it. I'll let you know how it turns out. Until then, here's a few rare pictures of the spouse cooking. I think he's having a good time... so maybe it will be a more frequent thing (I'm hoping!).


He's got all the Alton Brown shows on his laptop so he can watch and prep at the same time.


Looking good... even if he is putting my not so favorite food on. That's ok, I like tomatoes COOKED.


If it taste as good as it looks prepped, I'll have to give him a big pat on the back for an outstanding first meal.

By the way, this is basically fish stuffed with herbs, with cous cous and veges. White wine to steam and wrapped up in parchment paper. It's cooking right now and smells really good.

How Geeks Get Out of Housework...

Cleaning the floors at our house has always been one of Matt's "honey do's". A few years ago he was pleased to discover that he could get a robot to vacuum for him. We purchased an iRobot Roomba. He was quite happy as he only had to mop the floors after "Rosie" (Our name for our Roomba--after the Jetson's robot). However, early Roombas had a few flaws that made them break down after about a year or two. Most of the mechanicals were a result of the onslaught of pet hair Rosie had to clean up on a day to day basis. Roombas are a little pricey so we decided that it wasn't cost effective if they were going to break every year. So Matt begrudgely went back to vacuuming and mopping. Spending precious hours on the weekend keeping up with his house chore.

After a couple years sans Roomba, we broke down and bought another. Kind of an anniversary gift to ourselves. Now they make a model just for vacuuming up pet hair. The wheels are more durable AND replaceable should they go bad. So Rosie 2 has been diligently keeping our floors vacuumed. She does such a good job that we decided the only thing better would be to have a Scooba as well. A Scooba will actually wash the floors. Today FedEx showed up with the big box. My joyous spouse couldn't wait to test "Scooby" out. He got Scooby's battery all charged up, filled him up with cleaning solution and anxiously watched as he moved about the floors cleaning. I think the results can be seen by images below.


Here's "Rosie" our vacuuming Roomba. She get's all the dirt picked up before Scooby has to clean.


Here's Scooby leaving a nice clean wet trail. He has little brushes that clean up the goo. The amount of water he puts down is just right. No streaks!


Scooby does very well up against walls etc.


Scooby's clean and dirty water containers.


Here's the dirty water being emptied. This is just from a small hallway floor job.


Yuck! Look at all the dirt that was on what appeared to be a not so dirty floor.

Overall, the floors look great. In fact, they're so shiny and clean you can see the reflection of things on top of it. I know Matt is quite happy that his home task has been automated. Now if we can just get a robot to clean blinds & windows!

Spring Visitors

My cousin Tim, and son Timmy, are visiting from Michigan. Yesterday I took them to Pinnacle Peak Park for a hike. This is the time of year where everything is blooming, including the cactus. Pinnacle Peak Park is one of the better places to see a lot of spectactular desert fauna and get some great city views at the same time. The City of Scottsdale has done an excellent job marking the trail with information about the desert fauna. So it makes for a good educational hike as well. Not sure these pictures do justice to all the colors. Click on pictures for bigger picture.


Timmy was a good hiker. He was also very tolerant of my picture snapping.


Tim, Timmy, and my Uncle Steve taking a breather. Ok... maybe Timmy didn't need it--but it's always good to stop and look at the view.


Pretty wispy flower that I don't now the name of.


A view from the trail.


My Aunt Jill and Steve at the bottom of the trail.