500!
MovableType tells me this is my 500th post. I think only a couple posts never made it out the door so you have that much drivel of mine for your reading pleasure. Should you want to, you can start at the beginning. Many of my early posts were links until I discovered del.icio.us and started using that to capture all my links. Along the way to 500 posts I switched jobs and started writing more technical articles (hint if you only want RSS notifications for technically related stuff try the Flex Feed). Lately I've been more on the personal side, too lazy to setup a separate blog for that, unlike some more motivated bloggers.
The fact that this is post number 500 is perfect timing since I just cashed in my Mountain Dew coin bottle and came up just shy of $500 in coins ($499.03 to be exact). I've been saving coins in that bottle since about the time I came to Boston in late 1995. Having needed quarters for laundry and parking meters over the years the bottle was almost 100% pennies, nickels, and dimes. It weighed in at 90 pounds. The final tally from Coinstar was 1 dollar coin, 2 half-dollar coins, 5 quarters, 2995 dimes, 2330 nickels, and 7978 pennies. Which based on some calculations Brian and I did in the past using coins weights is about right. The only odd thing is I had more nickels than I should have, assuming standard change amounts, 17.5% versus 12.5%. Pennis were 60% versus 62.5% and dimes 22.5% versus 25%. The difference maybe due to many convenience stores giving out a nickel instead of 4 pennies.
I went with an Amazon gift certificate since I want to buy a new camera (suggestions welcome as I need to order real soon now) before my next trip and getting a gift certificate avoids the 9% counting fee normally charged. With the help of John I captured the redemption efforts.
In other random updates, over the long weekend all of Gilman Manor, both past and present, went out to California for Shaun and Meg's wedding. It was a wonderful custom ceremony in a beautiful bay area setting. Minus some very stiff winds the weather was perfect. I captured a few pictures during the festivities.
While out there for the long weekend we also explored San Francisco and visited a few places I'd not been on my previous excursions around the city. In particular we walked around and explored Golden Gate Park. My camera doesn't do macro very well (hence part of my desire to replace it) so only a couple of shots from the Conservatory of Flowers were worth posting. I didn't take any at the Japanese Tea Garden, but exploring the area reaffirmed by desire to visit that part of the world.
Lastly, in between fighting colds, food poising, and bad weather my hiking has been suffering. One weekend just to do something I took a trip up to Breakheart Reservation. No difficult climbs but a nice woodland stroll with many nice views of Boston. The top of Castle Rock had the best views (if you ignore the nearby power lines).