Black Rock Desert

Last weekend I took a few days off from work, flew out to LA to meet with my USRPL buddies, and we drove up to Black Rock Nevada for Balls 17, the best experimental amateur rocketry launch in North America at least, probably in the world. Well, our rockets definitly flew, however we managed to rip the fins off when the rockets were about 1 second from the end of the motor burn. It's unfortunate, but all we have to do is shore up the structures, put one rocket on top of the other, and we'll be putting something into space. These launch videos are awesome. And the pictures are amazing. You should check out more at USCRPL.com .


Silver Spur 2B Flight from David Reese on Vimeo.



Turbo Encabulator from David Reese on Vimeo.

La Luz Trail Part II

Last Sunday I hiked back up the La Luz trail. I didn't take my camera...it looked like a pretty gloomy day, and it definitely was. I got going at about 9 in the morning, two hours later than my first hike up the trail. But, I got going, it was cloudy above me and I kept on going. There was a good down pour about 5 miles into the hike, and it was misty until well....it was misty for the rest of the hike. Luckily, I was smart enough to bring long pants, those pants that you can go from shorts to pants, and a sweat shirt. It would have been better if it was a rain coat...but I wasn't completely soaked to the bone, and I mate it the rest of the way up. All in all, it was a fun hike, and I'm pretty out of shape, so my legs started to finally feel better today. I'm hoping to go up at least one or two more times before it gets chilly.

La Luz Trail

I went for the hardest hike of my life today. I was completely not ready and I'm totally out of shape. I climed up to the Sandia Crest via the La Luz Trail, which is anywhere from 8% grade to 16% grade consistently through the trail. The trail itself is 7 miles long and gains 4,000 feet in elevation from 7,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level. But that wasn't the entire part of it for me. I started at the tramway, so that added 3 miles, then I hiked along the Sandia Crest for 2 more miles to get to the tram down the mountain, instead of hiking back down, which would have killed me. But, it was pretty amazing, and I'm stoked that I made it the entire way. I hope that I'll have the time and the motivation to go up the trail one or two more times while I'm here in Albuquerque...and I'll be more prepared.

Hiking the Sandias

I went for my first hike in the Sandias today. It really wasn't much of a hike, just getting myself situated with the area. I think next time I go hiking I will do somewhere else or do something different. I might actually go to the other side of the mountain at some point to find trails. But I think the next time I've got a chance to go up, I'm gonna go the La Luz Trail...i think that's what it is, up near the Indian reservation. It goes up to the crest, I think it's an 8 hour hike there and back, hopefully so. That will be a long day, but it should be fun. If I don't get a chance to go back next weekend I'll be hiking up to the crest. But, at least, I can go home for a few days in two weeks.

Ezekiel 25:17 (Pulp Fiction)

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I was surfing iTunes music store, and in my infinite ADDness, i thought of pulp fiction, which obviously lead to me searching for that quote out of the movie, which then made me look for the real bible Ezekiel 25:17 that lead to me understanding that Ezekiel 25:17 is just the last line of the whole quote and that the line in the movie is more like Ezekiel 25: 8-17. Just thought that was kinda interesting.

Post 4th of July

Today is kinda a blah day. It's almost 4 and I still haven't taken a shower, nor have I attempted to get dressed. But, I did get my place cleaned up a little bit, did dishes and put clothes away. I guess I am going to need to do my laundry sometime this week, and I need batteries for my camera. It's almost dead. The only reason I may take a shower today, is to go out and get 4 AA batteries. But, I did make a pretty wicked breakfast this morning. Some bacon, romano tomatoes, basil, and chili sauce. That hit the spot, but I can't upload the pic that I took of it, cause my batteries are all dead in my camera. But.....I'm starting to feel a little bit better. I've gotta teach myself how to iron, cause my pants are all wrinkly and then...I've gotta find a way to really relax. But, I'm leavin now.

Finished!...for now

Well, I got all of my background pics updated, and I think the site looks alright. I'm going to fix those pics though, that flickr thing is kinda lame, so I'm going to use a java script that i've found and change how i do my pics. But, I'm pretty happy with how my site is looking. Maybe a few changes, but that's for another time.