Go deep, stay long

Back in my collage days, my parents owned a place up in New Hampshire. My dad had built a summer cottage on a hillside with a gorgeous view of Mount Washington (the tallest peak in the Northeast). After taking up skiing, I went up there during the winter breaks to hit some of the slopes just 15 minutes away. As a summer cottage, it was not well insulated. The strategic purchase of a quality sleeping bag made the stay tolerable. On one trip, we found out that gasoline will not evaporate below -45 degrees (F). How did we determine this? It was -45 degrees and the cars would not start. Once the sun came up a little higher in the sky the temps soared to a sweltering 20 below.

After surviving these winter trips, the sleeping bag has stayed with me for years. It has came in very handy. One weekend, I decided to stay on board, and the temp outside dropped to around 20 degrees. A few other crew members had also decided to stay the night, and seemed to be more affected by the cold. Keep in mind that a boats fiberglass hull does not have much insulation. If you’re planning on staying on a boat overnight, make sure you have the proper gear for the task.

The same can be said about keeping warm underwater. A quality wetsuit or drysuit / undergarment will keep you warm! This past weekend I was diving in 38 degree water for over an hour. I was comfortable the whole time. Other divers were complaining of about the cold. If you purchase the proper gear, and maintain the gear properly, it should keep you warm, and last for years.

This was a weekend of rain and high winds. Between rain storms, I was able to sneak in some yard work (we have this weird green stuff all over the yard, and it’s not algae).  After said yard work, I’m proud to announce that I have the largest leaf pill on the block. Even though much of it blew back onto my yard last night. There were also some indoor tasks on the “honey do” list, but after it all, I was still bored, bored, bored. While my wife watched Jimmy Johnson drive his way into history, I jumped on the computer, and performed a few upgrades to the website.

• Upgraded application servers
• Changed themes
• Added a “comment filtering” (now I don’t have to dig through 50 + spams a day)
• Added Gallery software
• Reformatted the more recent posts to use the Gallery viewer
• Updated the reporting
• Installed RSS feed software (to be displayed once I’ve worked out the theme)

With the time remaining I created an online store for another site (opening soon).

I apologize if this caused any odd behavior over the weekend (not me, the web site).

I’m still trying to figure out the best way to integrate the photo galleries into the site. I like having the images in with the text, of the individual dive descriptions, but the slide show does not link in as well as I would like. It might have to be a “click here for the gallery” scheme, but I’ll keep working on it. Personally, I’d prefer if the slide show appeared in a new window, rather than redrawing the screen.  It just does not seem to fit right to me.

However, now that it is gallery based, it’s much easier to upload images.  I’ve got more shots to integrate in. It was just difficult to do before.

Check the gallery slideshow