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recent news

july 25, 2000 Humphreys Peak, a hike to the top of Arizona.. (more)

july 24, 2000 Scenes from lake Powell, 5 day family vacation... (more)

july 15, 2000 Natalie visits for the weekend... (more)

july 13, 2000 First full week in "Flag", starting on projects... (more)

july 30, 2000
The rest of this week was fairly productive effort on the ideal gas law Chemistry project. We have all of the parameters working in a prototype, so that students can adjust volume, temperature, and numbers of gas molecule to try to achieve a given pressure. The idea is to place this online so students can manipulate it at the same time from different computers.

Take a look!

screen shot of prototype
screen shot of programming environment

In a few days, it should be ready to allow you to try it out yourself, and then we will develop some more realistic interface elements.

On Friday, I took care of something long overdue. For sometime, people close to me were suggesting my wild long haired look are not working, but I was stubborn and ignored them. Today, my senses returned and I am sporting a new look, courtesy of "Alley Cats" on San Francisco Street.

Now isn't this fascinating?

today's photos

- all photos   o o o o

o o Biking Flagstaff and Hiking Sedona

This weekend was time to get physical! On Saturday, I packed the mountain bike and drove out to the Flagstaff Nordic Center, on the road from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon.

Part of the Coconino National Forest, the nordic center is a cross-country ski area in the winter. During summer, the trails are ideal for mountain biking. The trails take you through magnificent stands of Aspen trees. On the back stretch ("North Rim" trail), a parade of 7 or eight elk stomped across the trail, not stopping long enough for me to get a decent picture.

Huffing and puffing at the 8000+ foot elevation, I managed to get to the top of the knobby hill that had a grand view of the San Francisco Peaks. Okay, I admit that it was way to steep, and I pushed the bike up there!

After that, it was a long coast down to the starting point, careening through the woods.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and rove doen the scenic US 89a highway that descends through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona, the picturesque red rock town south of Flagstaff. the destination was the trail head for the Wilson Mountain North trail.

This trail climbs 2400 feet in about 4 miles and offers a airplane like view of Sedona from the peak. The city is nestled among dramatic red rock peaks and canyon walls, and is surrounded by what looks like a vast tract of pine forest. The view is a bit smoggy today, but still refreshing.

All in all, a scenic weekend. Now about all that work I plan to do...