RickMcCharles.com

I used Google’s Picasa software to scan my computer and backup drive for ALL images.

Next … uploaded many of those to flickr as a backup in the cloud.

See all 21,000 photos on flickr

If you don’t have time to look at them, try the SEARCH function.

One day I’d like to have a system where all the original photos on my computer are automatically backed up and archived in the cloud.

Last August I went back to my old gymnastics club as interim Technical Director … for 4-8 weeks.

May 30th, 9 months later, I’m finally returning to semi-retirement.

My 22nd season at Altadore Gymnastics is history.

It was a good year, overall. But my personal philosophy and life goals are incompatible with a 50hr, 6-day-a-week intense job.

I had not enough time and/or energy to do much aside from WORK all Winter. Life is too short for that.

I’m en route to Death Valley, California for hiking as this is posted. (I scheduled it to publish in the future.)

No doubt I’ll be back at Altadore in future. More history.

I’m staying on as volunteer consultant to the Board and Staff.

Expect delays approving comments.

Girlfriends’ spokesperson Kelly Ambrose joins us in the Financial Fallout Shelter to discuss why Boyfriends moving in with them just makes fiscal sense right now.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I was looking for a good first hike of the season. And a chance to test my full set of gear.

My original plan of scrambling Ha Ling, then wild camping, was abandoned after I heard about a better option from local hiker Kelly Mock.

In fact, I walked out Kelly’s front door directly to the trailhead and up the mountain …

read more – scrambling Lady MacDonald, Canmore, Alberta

… no Spring allergies there.

The Housing Bubble bursts on a speculator. Parody using a clip with Hitler as the real estate investor. He bought a house to flip, faces foreclosure, and now wants to get bailed out.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Thanks Elan.

My big AR event is right around the corner – Adventure Sports Week . Contact me if you can come down with me.

May 24, 2009

For Immediate Release…

Danelle Ballangee is scheduled to compete in the “Crux and the Crucible” at Adventure Sports Week 2009!

Adventure Sports Week is a 10 day long festival of 24 outdoor races, contests, clinics and social events taking place at Farragut State Park, 30 miles north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, June 5—14, 2009.

One of the racing world’s greatest stars and most inspirational stories is coming to compete at Adventure Sports Week in Coeur d’ Alene, June 12—14.

Danelle Ballangee is perhaps the World’s most decorated female Adventure Racer, having won Primal Quest, the Raid, the Adventure Racing World Championships, as well as dozens of other equally impressive competitions. She has also been named “US Athlete of the Year” an unprecedented six times in four different sports.

Despite her impressive resume, it was an unlikely slip that has Danelle—Nellie—to national prominence.

In December of 2006, while on a routine training run with her dog Taz, she slipped on some black ice and fell nearly 60 feet down the cliffs at Hurrah Pass, Utah, near Moab, breaking her pelvis completely in half, and leaving her bleeding internally and unable to walk. She managed to crawl over a quarter of a mile to a puddle where she could drink, and she spent over 50 hours in sub- freezing temperatures as her dog tried to keep her warm. On the third day, Taz left her, eventually making his way to the trailhead, where he was seen by the search and rescue team, who followed him back to Danelle.

After major surgery, where she received a titanium plate to hold her pelvis together, she was in a wheelchair for several months, and doctors speculated she would be unable to walk for as long as a year.

As a tribute to her strength and tenacity, Danelle competed in a solo 12 hour adven- ture race less than 6 months after her fall, finishing as top female.

Danelle will be competing at ASW representing Project Athena— www.projectathena.org – whose mission is to help women with breast cancer and other medical traumatic setbacks live their athletic and adventurous dreams by providing coaching, equipment, travel, entry fees and encouragement.

She will also be teaching part of the Adventure Racing Clinic, along with other super- stars such as Mike Kloser, captain of Team Nike, and AR World Champion.

source – Mind Over Mountain

The man most identified with the cyberpunk genre of literature is never boring.

Pattern Recognition is a novel by science fiction writer William Gibson published in 2003. Set in August and September 2002, the story follows Cayce Pollard, a 32-year-old marketing consultant who has a psychological sensitivity to corporate symbols. The action takes place in London, Tokyo, and Moscow as Cayce judges the effectiveness of a proposed corporate symbol and is hired to seek the creators of film clips anonymously posted to the internet. …

Amazon – Pattern Recognition

It’s quite good.

My only caveat in recommending Gibson is to suggest you read his books soon after publication.

He’s keen to reveal cutting trends in technology in his stories. This book highlighted Netscape and Hotmail.

hmmm

I helped Ron post a new header on his Barbecue Secrets podcast blog.

Barbecue Secrets - Rockin' Ronnie

Ron and Kate are in Calgary right now. He’s on the book flogging tour.

His latest cookbook — Barbecue Secrets DELUXE! — is the #1 cookbook in B.C. right now.