Last November I ordered two round-trip tickets to visit Mom & Jack for Robin and I for the first week of May. Robin last flew on an airplane 22 years ago, at the age of 4. The outbound flight was set for 7AM which meant we both had to be up very early and at the airport for check-in an hour before takeoff. When we arrived we were told that we needed to be thoroughly searched by the TSA agents; I wasn’t surprised as this always happens to me. Months of planning to ask Robin to marry me were almost exposed as her engagement ring was hiding in one of my camera bag’s compartments, the TSA agent looked through all but that one with Robin at my side- once cleared we hurried to the jet and found our seats, I made sure that Robin had the window seat so she could enjoy the views. An hour and half later we landed Philadelphia, hopped on another plane to Cincinnati and then to Roanoke, VA where we were greeted by Mom & Jack. Robin was surprised to see the topographic differences between Maine and Western Virginia (not West Virginia) which consists mostly of large sharp ridged mountains and rolling hills.

We ate at Robin’s first Cracker Barrel on our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway which overlooks Roanoke, Lynchburg, Shenandoah Valley, etc. I always enjoy riding on the parkway; it’s amazing to think how much work was put into building the roads throughout all of the twists and turns of the mountain range for everyone to enjoy God’s Creation.

Just as I was surprised at the size of Thomas Road Baptist Church Robin marveled at its elegance. Jerry Falwell, Jr’s theme for the morning was “Deal or No Deal” similar to the TV show, each brief case had a word that described how we all feel when it comes to spreading the Word of God and how to overcome each “excuse”. At the end of the service we browsed a few of their stores; Robin purchased a needed Bible cover for me. After church we were treated to dinner at the Peaks of Otter restaurant that sits at the foot of Sharp Top Mountain. Virginia’s evenings are warm and it’s air quiet, free from the buzzing of mosquitoes, black flies, etc opposed to Maine, so Sunday evening Robin and I sat on the swinging seat on the porch and talked about our relationship, places she wanted to visit, which was good; I really enjoy having conversations such as that with her.

On Tuesday the 6th Robin and I headed to Sharp Top Mountain; we started at the Rangers station which is the base of the mountain. Half way up I found that hiking in a heavy polo shirt with an under t-shirt with a heavy camera bag was a good way to work up a sweat; Robin fortunately and embarrassingly helped me out for a few minutes. Three quarters of the way up there’s a ledge aptly named “Buzzards Roost“; it consists of a small number of very large protruding boulders with a 200′ drop off where you can see evidence of Buzzards eating their prey and salamander’s sun bathing. We climbed to the top of the roost and photographed the landscape, had a snack and cooled off. Robin is a personal trainer and Health Educator; because of that I enjoy giving her a hard time about her fitness (which is great by the way)- for most of the hike she was ahead of me and when she was tired she’d stop to while waiting for me to catch and then would start again as I caught up not allowing me to rest at all so I brought this to her attention and stated I was in better shape than her (which is not true). Robin ran up the mountain for the remaining 300′ which does not sound difficult but in the sun and the slope of the trail it is.

The top of Sharp Top mountain holds true to its name, the tip is narrow and steep consisting of very substantial boulders that are supported by smaller boulders that make a balancing act in the circus pale in comparison. We sat on top with our shoes and socks off overlooking Bedford enjoying the cool breeze flowing over our sweaty bodies whilst eating our lunch. From our perch we had a 360 degree view that spans for at least 60 miles valleys and mountains that would make any skeptic believe in the Ultimate Artist. Even our Sigg water bottles enjoyed the view. We both climbed out onto miscellaneous perches that most people do not climb to due to the amount of courage it requires. After climbing various ledges and filling our digital camera memory cards we took a different route, the paved route that the bus transports hikers from the base to the midpoint of the mountain; the walking distance is two hours longer than what it would be taking the actual hiking trail. Fortunately we were able to spot a Dark-eyed Junco and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

On Wednesday Robin and I visited Dixie Caverns in Salem; this was her first time being inside a cavern that has droves of Stalactites and Stalagmites (my first time in this particular cavern was last year as you’ll find out in the link to the left). I think Robin enjoyed the caves; it wasn’t what she expected and left the caverns with a better appreciation of God’s intricate detail in Creation. Later in t he day we drove to Liberty Park which is located in Bedford, it hosts a small man-made pond, tennis courts, baseball fields, picnic tables and hiking trails; I mentioned that it had wild ducks that you can (not legally) feed. Robin had a good time feeding the local ducks; they will eat anything you give them or at least anything we had to feed them. We walked around the pond and found Canadian Geese with six babies eating and resting; Robin also had a chance to feed them as well.

Our plan for Thursday was to drive to Busch Gardens which is four hours away; little did we know that at this time of year Busch Gardens is only open on the weekends despite their website stating they were open for the season. Fortunately we were close to other areas of interest. We stopped at the Virginia Living Museum which was packed full of little kids that were fortunately on their way back to school. We were able to get in for free since the credit card machine was down; originally I did not think the visit would be fun but it ended up being interesting thanks to the knowledgeable staff and friendly animals. Afterwards we headed to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which spans 17 miles over and under the Chesapeake Bay. This bridge is a modern marvel; it’s astonishing to read about how it was actually built. We stopped at the mid-point and walked on the pier where people were fishing and sight-seeing for awhile before finishing the drive. I remember when I was roughly 9 or 10 that myself, mom, dad and brother drove across this bridge and stopped at the same gift shop where I successfully begged my mother into purchasing a Venus Flytrap, unfortunately they no longer sell them. The last stop for the night before trekking home was Virginia Beach, Robin and I walked on the beach bear foot looking for shells and taking in the scent of sea-salted mist while watching the bright orange waxing of the sun’s last gleaming for the evening.

The weather for Friday the 9th rained off and on which limited our options of entertainment and left one of the last things I had planned for our vacation, lunch at Red Robin and a visit to the Roanoke Star. Red Robin is a gourmet burger restaurant, and I thought it would be a fitting place to visit since Robin has something in common. We shared the “Blackened Bayou Burger”, steak fries (cooked in vegetable oil) and unlimited refills of the insanely delicious “Very Berry Limeade” which consists of Lime, lemon and blueberries. Robin met the store’s mascot as well. After we finished our dinner we drove to the star that overlooks the cities of Roanoke and Salem; when we arrived the sun was starting to set, leaving sight of only a dark blue hue sky illuminated by yellow, white and orange lights of the busy city below. Once the clock struck 8PM the massive star behind us clicked on and elucidated our platform. On the way home we had at times torrential downpours and heavy thunder and lightning which provide an interesting apace view of the mountain ranges.

Our departure on Saturday was dreaded due to a few reasons: We did not want to leave Virginia, Mom & Jack and the 8 hour layover in Boston. Unfortunately the layover was unavoidable but provided time for us to catch on reading; I was able to finish the 6th book in the Left Behind series and start the 7th.

This entire week has been abnormally warm for this time of the year, the temperature has ranged from 60 to 70 degrees; the buds and flowers are finally blossoming due to the early sun. Mornings are almost at the point where it feels like Summer- that atmosphere of the sun basking over your face with a warm breeze flowing around your body carrying songs from an orchestra of many different birds.

Yesterday Robin and I watched the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race at Six Mile Falls; we arrived at the point where all of the paddlers were just coming over the falls. The water this year was not as high as last which is why not many people flipped, I would say probably 20 out of 200 people that we saw come over the falls actually flipped as opposed to last year 90% flipped. There are a few attractions to the race, three of which are the flamboyant paddlers who either stand up while paddling or have funny items on their boats, the flips and seeing people you know.

After the race we installed my new Thule rack system that I got for Christmas last year and loaded the Kayaks on, it’s very sturdy and very easy to hook and unhook the kayaks.

On Sunday evening we headed to Brewer lake about an hour before the sun was to set and paddled up a stream with shore shrouded in Pussy Willows. These bushes/trees were covered with Red Winged Blackbirds that are very outspoken and curious. Along the way we witnessed for the first time in person two adult Bald Eagles diving for fish as well as two Osprey; Osprey dive differently than an Eagle, they actually dive completely in the water and come back up with their prey- it was very interesting to watch.

After a few years of owning a CRT HDTV I decided to go against what I have always said I would never do, I purchased an LCD TV. After researching for a few months on the differences between LCD, DLP, Plasma, shape, sizes and weight I purchased the 46″ Samsung LN46A650A. Several factors changed my mind about purchasing LCD over DLP being that DLP requires it’s lamp to be replaced every 3,000 hours or so which sounds like a lot of time but over the course of a few years the hours add up and also the fact that LCD is much lighter and slimmer than any other TV which means I can essentially put it anywhere I want without a lot of hassle. The inherent and widely known setbacks with LCD technology has been resolved in this year’s model: Motion blur and washed out black levels, I can safely say that while watching all different types of content it performs beyond my expectations and I am very satisfied with its clarity.

After a few days of putting my new TV to work I am very pleased with its overall performance, I am looking forward to my impending purchase on a Blu-Ray player in the next month or so to really work it out. David and I had a difficult time lifting the mammoth out of my apartment and down what seemed to be a very long flight of stairs. Here’s a photo of the TV.

April so far has been fairly typical for the term “April Showers” as it has been fairly rainy and cool 40 degree weather. The sightings of Robins are eagerly sought by Mainers because their presence usually means Spring has began. Up until this past weekend I have not yet spotted a Robin, I have seen and heard flocks of Black cow birds which migrate to northern Maine during Spring.

Robin and I drove Route 9 from Brewer to Ellsworth and then to Prospect Harbor to visit her parents. On the way we spotted many large groupings of Robins; we stopped alongside a field snapping photographs while listening to them sing (see flickr posting of this set). I never really paid attention to how much Robins actually run until now since my Robin is a runner. During our visit we drove through the Scoodic Loop so I can see what the coast’s shoreline looked like during spring. With the tide out it revealed many jagged lava formed rocks and ledge with a mixture of smooth water worn slide-like caves where the waves crash and restreat over and over. Summer and fall are the coasts best seasonal vistas however the it’s still beautiful during the Spring.

As you can see Ogden2k.net has been updated, it’s been a over two years since I have actually implemented a new theme. I worked long and relentlessly on not only this theme but making sure every page used the same template and that the PHP was optimized for performance.

The primary colors are blue and green; blue being my favorite color and green matches well with blue. I kept the essential dictionary / notepad look and layout as it re-enforces the focal point of the site which is blogging and writing about Christianity. One of my goals was the give the site a Web 2.0 look and I believe that I succeeded as far as what Ogden2k.net offers for content and interaction. I have Robin to thank for picking out the logo from many that I created. If you’re using Internet Explorer 6 or less I suggest upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox due to some of the CSS and PNG graphics utilized.

Here’s a quick overview of the changes since version 3.1.3:

• New theme that has a fresh clean look with consistent colors
• Inactive navigation tabs are transparent until hovered or select
• Selected and or hovered navigation tab shows the relevant “dictionary like page information” explanation
• Most images now use “lightbox” when selected
• Random content is pulled and loaded by AJAX / PHP in the Christianity section
• Updated WordPress (blogging software) to the latest version
  • Guests can now post without registering although anyone can register locally or log in with OpenID so please feel free to comment, I love to hear from my readers

The majority of the images and coding here were designed by me with the following exceptions:

• Most of the little icon graphics were designed by famfamfam
• Lightbox script and the effect that changes the “page information” when the mouse hovers over a tab was found at Dynamic Drive

I spend a lot of time on computers, the internet and working with documents. Naturally I find it necessary to access my internet bookmarks, documents and other miscellaneous data wherever I am. Up until a year ago this was mostly impossible unless I had a VPN to my home network which is not the most practical or efficient option. I mostly use Firefox for browsing the web due to a few add-ons that make it very beneficial for me, one of which gives me the ability to sync my bookmarks online and access them in any web browser via a website if the computer I’m using does not have Firefox installed. Foxmarks has really helped me out in certain situations are work and at a clients house when I needed to access a particular website. Another handy add-on that I use a lot is Toodledo, it allows me to create and organize tasks via their website/add-on for Firefox.

Microsoft has recently been working on a new product called Office Live, it allows you to upload, share and manage documents online, there’s even a plugin that allows you to access and save documents within Office which makes syncing much easier.

Synchronization is not where I’d like it to be, but the technology is progressing and in a few years I see the ability to sync everything such as web browser settings, bookmarks, profiles, documents, etc and have access to them wherever you go.