SummaryWhile we missed out on the big blizzard of 2009, we did get a little bit of snow from what was left of the system. I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to try out the new camcorder (Canon HG21) and tripod. It’s unedited raw / stock footage so it may be a bit boring but a good experiment for me. I also took some photos as well. Locations included in the photos and video are near Kaufman Lake and Parkland College in Champaign, IL.

Bike LogAfter yesterday’s 6 mile walk, I figured I’d dust off the bike and take it for a spin this morning along the same route. It’s due for a check-up this week so I wanted to make note of any issues or strange noises to share with the local bike shop. One of the great things about the bike is the storage bag on the bike where I can stash a few goodies. I brought along my Canon A590 point and shoot camera so I could take a few pictures. (wished I’d had it on my walk yesterday morning) No bike ride for Stan is complete without a GPS and ham radio and today’s ride was no exception. Last month I bought a new handheld radio and bike mount so I was anxious to try that out as well.

I departed my apartment at 6:21am and headed through the path at Kaufman Lake. I quickly got a chance to see how my bike would handle on gravel and bumpy terrain. (suspension might need a little adjusting?) I made my way towards Parkland College and stopped near one of the softball fields to grab some water from the fountain. Even this early into the ride my legs were showing me just how out of shape they are so I took it easy for a bit. As I approached the main entrance of Parkland, I noticed dozens of geese roaming around which definitely warranted a photo shoot. I pulled over and snapped several pictures and the geese really didn’t seem spooked by me at all.

I continued my way to the northeast and found a few flowers that wanted their picture taken. Despite the sun not yet making its way to this part of the complex, the pictures didn’t turn out too bad. After that I headed over to the tennis courts to take a few shots. Then I found a soccer field that called my name, so had to get a few shots of the nets which were pretty cool. As I walked back to my bike, I heard what I thought was a lawnmower in the distance. Suddenly I saw this flying contraption coming towards me which definitely required some picture taking. I’m not sure what it was, but it was a one-person machine with what looked like a giant fan behind him and a wing above him. He flew on by so I went on my merry way.

I made my way around Parkland and headed back towards home. I stopped at Heritage Park and took a few pictures of the lake and tried (failed) some macro shots of a bug. I continued on the path home and took a detour to avoid spooking a rather large dog being walked by their owner. I made another stop on Country Fair drive to take a few more flower pictures and then headed home.

Final Thoughts
Yeah, I know I really didn’t ride very far compared to what normal people do but it was fun. I just need to ride more often to get my legs conditioned. It was very comfortable out this morning and the breeze was welcomed. I need to figure out why my ham radio did not transmit my location to the internet, not sure what happened there. Some other lessons learned this morning:

• My legs are really out of shape
• My ham radio was unsuccessful at getting my location transmitted.
• You burn more calories riding a bike than walking the same path.
• Always have spare batteries for your camera (which I luckily had!)

SummarySo I braved the cold weather to stand outside and attempt to shoot the lunar eclipse. I don’t think my camera likes the cold weather as the almost fully charged battery was showing it was almost dead. Anywho, I setup the nice cold metal tripod in the back yard and shot the moon. Even using a tripod and shutter cable trigger, the shots still came out a little blurry. I picked out a couple though to post to the site, kinda cool regardless. I didn’t watch the whole eclipse as it was just too freaking cold to stand out there all night.

Spaceweather.com has a really cool gallery of people from all over the world who have submitted their pictures of the eclipse:

http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_20feb08.htm