Weekend Activites

• Whale Watching with San Diego Whale Watching on the Privateer - saw hundreds of dolphins but no whales
• Merit badge day at the International Print Museum - great time and extremely well organized
• Short walk downtown with the dog

T774 Snow Camp

Troop 774 hit Mt. Laguna for a snow camp.
* The weather was cold (the overnight low was 30) and there was some rain, but no snow
* Water was freezing on the trees and when a gust of wind passed by, a shower of small ice cubes came raining down!
* Our new gear (rain pants, jackets, gloves, base layers, wool caps, sleeping bags, et. al.) worked great; I was comfortable all weekend
* Roger, John and myself plotted a great orienteering course around the small pond.  The kids did great learning how to plot headings and walk given directions.  On a shorter course, they learned how to measure height and width.
* Bengt completed the axe and saw work for his Totin' Chip.
* Dinner was a bit of a challenge as the fires were hard to start due to wet wood.  We also gave the kids a crash course on dishwashing.
* After breakfast, we broke camp, had Thorns & Roses and heading home.

Hackers Run Amok

It seems that almost every website is being hacked (or had mysterious hardware failures) these days.  Some of the ones I frequent that have become victims include STRATFOR, Bigger Pockets, and Howling Point.  The new plague is upon us.

Weekend Activities

* 10.7 mile urban hike from home to the library, around San Eljio Lagoon to home; here is the track of this and the 7.5 mile hike from Jan.
* Date night at Wine Steals in Cardiff
* Kids ski trip to Big Bear
* Dog hikes at San Elijo Lagoon

Books

• End the Fed by Ron Paul - great treatise on the moral, economic and constitutional cases for ending the Federal Reserve



• Building Real Estate Wealth in a Changing Market: Reap Large Profits from Bargain Purchases in Any Economy by John Schaub - a good beginning book on investing in single family homes, a bit light on details though



• Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll - a dramatically written account of the people and events from Pearl Harbor through Midway; light on military and tactical details and heavy on personalities; enjoyed the Japanese perspective