Twisted Fate: Unexpected meetings on I-80

I returned to Black Rock City on the playa this year for a Burning Man reunion with the inhabitants of Burnstream Court. Every year these delightful folks allow their Airstream trailers to get covered with fine, white bentonitic clay, blown up from the Black Rock Desert playa, in order to enjoy each others' company and the excitement and art of another burn. Burnstream Court is a theme camp of Airstream trailers that was started by Arc (Ray Koltys) at Burning Man 2002 and has grown bigger every year. Kelly is the charming, hard-working lady who organizes the camp every year and keeps up the website.
This is a great group of friends from around the country that I look forward to seeing every year. My 1977 Airstream Argosy motorhome fits right into the neighborhood.


There's never enough time to see all my friends that come to Burning Man each year. I hooked up with Bill Kositzky, the accomplished Reno photographer who has had a number of Burning Man photos published, and has taken some stunning photos of Reno's fire performance group, Controlled Burn. We had a chance to take some photos and compare cameras. Then I tracked down Kim and Tina from UNR and caught up with changes in the IT department at my old job, and just generally enjoyed hanging out. Saturday night they burned the man for the second time this year, and then they burned the oil derrick. I managed to find Collin and Juliana at home in their trailer on the other side of Black Rock City, and shared dinner and champagne at sundown on Sunday. Sunday night's temple burn was particularly moving, and I ran into a old musician buddy while searching for my bicycle afterwards, amongst thousands of others, with my GPS.

There was so much to do and so much to see that I didn't spend as much time as I wanted with the folks at Burnstream Court. Sooner than we wanted Burning Man was over, and we all went our separate ways back to the default world.

On Tuesday morning I was heading back to a gold-drilling project outside of Lovelock, Nevada. A tire on my Argosy exploded on eastbound I-80, but I made it to an exit ramp and started to put on the spare.

I'd never had to change a tire on the Argosy before, so this was when I learned I didn't have adequate tools for the job. I called AAA for help, and they said someone could come to my aid in about four hours. I needed to get to work, so I needed help sooner than that! I began to improvise with what I had, and was wishing really hard for a hydraulic floor jack, when a blue vehicle pulling a familiar Airstream Globetrotter pulled up.

It was Arc! And his lovely wife Mary. They were on their way from Reno back to Chicago, had seen my vehicle in distress, and had turned around to come and help. In the spirit of the playa, Arc always thinks of others first. He immediately sized up the situation, dug into his tools, and came out with a floor jack. Just the thing! Improvise a few more tools and we'd have this fixed in no time! He and I were busily engaged in the project while Mary offered suggestions, when suddenly, behind us, there was the awful, heartbreaking sound of slowly grinding steel against aluminum! We turned to look, and could not at first accept what was happening. An eighteen-wheeler was coming to a stop, the back of Ray and Mary's beautifully restored Airstream Globetrotter ground up in his rear wheels!

No good deed goes unpunished. I was heartbroken that this had happened to my friends, but this is when I learned the quality of their character. I knew Ray had spent hours in the Chicago rain restoring the aluminum on the back of his trailer, and this had to be upsetting. And yes, he wasn't happy. But he was totally in control of the situation, and he had his personal values in order. And again, with Ray, it is others first. He was truly concerned about the driver of the truck, who it turned out was also an Airstream enthusiast, and who was devastated that his truck had damaged such a valuable old trailer. While settling insurance issues Ray actually managed to make a new friend. Because that's the kind of guy he is. Mary seemed to have the same ability as Ray for calm equanimity in a crisis, and despite the outrageousness of the accident and severity of the damage, hostility and recriminations were simply not part of the exchange. Ray did not even want to call the police, hoping the insurance company would simply do the right thing, and not wanting to cause a mark on the driver's record. Because that's the kind of guy he is. This is where I stepped in and called the Highway Patrol anyway, because I had, in the past, lost out in an insurance situation for lack of a proper police report. Ray acquiesced, and the motorcycle cop that showed up and took the report was very cool, professional, and sympathetic to all involved. (I overheard him telling the driver how to get his record cleared with driving school online.) Soon the police and truck were gone, and only two mangled Airstreams remained at the exit.

But Ray had thought ahead, and called for reinforcements. Chris, another of the elders of Burnstream Court, was still in Reno, planning his trip back to Texas. Chris soon arrived with plenty of tools and two Zebracorns in his pickup. He quickly assessed the damage - a torn off bumper, twisted frame, busted window, hanging metal, and so on. Chris doesn't see problems, only solutions. He plugged my drill into his generator, and proceeded to get the job done and get Ray's trailer back on the road. Because that's the kind of guy Chris is. Ray and I worked on getting the bumper tied up away from the pavement, and in the middle of all this the AAA guy showed up hours early and quickly finished changing my blown out tire. In no time, Ray's Globetrotter and my Argosy were battle-scarred but roadworthy again. Hugs all around, we wished Chris a safe journey home, and Ray, Mary and I again turned east on Interstate 80.


We parted ways at the Fernley exit, and headed once more for our own piece of ground in the default world. All the best to Ray, Mary, Chris, Kelly, Dan, Monte, Anne, Aja, Tim, Kurt, Paul, Stan, Jim - too many to mention! Thanks for making Burning Man 2007 a great time! Have a good year, and I'll see you on the playa in 51 weeks.

Back at work, finding more gold in the hills of Nevada. This is the fun part...

Arachnophilia: Capturing a combfoot

Last night I met this lovely young lady at the motel where I'm staying in Lovelock, NV. The one there on the left, with the long, hairy legs and red hourglass. A baby black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus), about an inch long. Still young and cute enough to be not too scary, don't you think?

This evening I was talking with arachnologist Dr. Kelly Kissane, who teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno. She told me that black widows are called "combfoot" spiders, and have tiny hooks at the end of their legs with which they hang onto their webs. She said the hooks are so small that I'd need a microscope to see them. Well, here was a challenge - a chance to test the Super Macro capability of my new Canon PowerShot S5 IS digital camera. I went back to the base of the lally post by the gazebo where I'd seen this spider last night. She was still there, waiting for some tasty insect to fly into her tangleweb. She wasn't at all camera shy, just stayed put and ignored me as I experimented with focus and flash.

The trick I needed to master was using manual focus, handheld, at such a close distance that the depth of field was only one millimeter. Anything out of that small window would be out of focus. This is where my rifle team training at Boston College served me well. I set up in a pretty stable sitting position, bracing the camera with both arms and legs, to minimize any shake. Using the manual focus while working in the dark took practice. But I finally got this shot. Look real close at the hook on the end of the leg and you can see the filament of web that the spider is hanging from.

I'm pretty pleased with the macro capability of the new 8MP Canon Powershot. I do a lot of microscope work, so I'm used to seeing the fine details of things. This camera seems to have the capability of capturing microscopic levels of detail on the fly. Cool!

Revealed: My Secret Recipe for Rice Pudding

My midwestern roots, and years as a young geologist in America's southland, offer up fond memories of large family gatherings and community pot-luck dinners. You always know what each person is likely to bring, for every aunt, uncle and next-door neighbor has their own specialty, a recipe they alone seem to have brought to mouth-watering perfection. One's offerings at these intimate pot-lucks becomes part of one's reputation and personality. I am by no means a gourmet chef, but in order to contribute to the heavily laden board at these occasions I have perfected a few recipes of my own, each somewhat off the beaten culinary path so as not likely to compete with similar dishes at any particular affair. When asked to bring a dessert, every one knows I'm very likely to show up with a rice pudding topped with fruit sauce that can't be beat.

You think you know rice pudding. A vanilla-ish pudding matrix with little clumps of rice scattered throughout to add texture, if not exactly flavor. That's not what I'm offering here. This is rice pudding with a smooth, creamy custard texture and puffs of flavorful rice, plump raisins, and subtle accents of nutmeg and vanilla amongst the sweet and sour garnish of a tart raspberry sauce. A secret recipe with roots in antiquity, finally revealed. Here it is:

1.33 cups Minute Rice
5.5 cups whole milk
0.66 cups refined white sugar
1 teaspoon iodized sodium chloride
0.66 cups raisins
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla - the real stuff only, please.
0.5 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Combine the rice, milk, sugar, salt and raisins in a saucepan and heat to just below boiling, stirring carefully, and let simmer for ten minutes. While the simmering is going on,

Mix the eggs, vanilla and nutmeg in a one-quart casserole dish and beat until the eggs are somewhat stiff. Into this, pour the hot ingredients from the saucepan. The hot milk will begin to cook the eggs immediately, so stir well while pouring to promote the best texture.

Place the caserole in a water-bath (a half-inch of water in a broiling pan will do) in an oven pre-heated to 375°. The water bath prevents scorching. Bake for 40 minutes or until an inserted knife blade comes out clean.

In the years of my childhood there was a Swedish Smorgasbord restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica, CA which served a delightful fruit sauce over its rice pudding. My attempts to reproduce the delicate interplay of flavors always failed until I discovered Junket Danish Dessert. That was the ticket. (Few stores carry this, so if you can't find it at your supermarket ask them to stock it, or buy some at http://www.junketdesserts.com/junketdanishdessert.aspx .) Now, for the piece de resistance, boil one envelope of Raspberry Danish Dessert in 2.5 cups dihydrogen monoxide, and top generously over the rice pudding.

This will make enough servings to feed your immediate family and most of your aunts and uncles. But a few of your cousins who opt for the cherry pie first, thinking they can come back for the rice pudding later, are going to miss out.

Now, the secret origins of this recipe: it was published on the side of every Minute Rice box during the 1960's. Eventually it was pulled, never to be seen again. Until now. Enjoy!

Harry Potter, Your Order of Phoenix is ready.

Well tossed, lightly scrambled, very light on dialog, with a delightful visual presentation.

JKR has done a great job with the novels, and the movies got off to a good start. This one, though, is only for fans who have read all the books so they can follow the story, as little of it as is presented, and appreciate the meaning of the visuals.

E.g. where does Percival Weasley show up? He's there, but not addressed by name, has no spoken lines, and is only recognizable by the use of an actor that looks like a Weasley, with a nasty demeanor, and a fraction-of-a-second hateful glance from Ron. Dialog is apparently passe in Hollywood and all relationships between characters are conveyed by the Meaningful Glance. Anyway, who needs dialog in the movie when there's all the dialog you'd need and more in the book? Again, this is a movie only for very well read Harry Potter fans. Read the book before buying your ticket.

All that said, the visuals are great. The purpose of this movie is to give the Harry Potter fan some alternative visuals to the ones he or she imagined when first reading the book. The visual story stays true to the book plot, and the characters, as much as they are defined in the film, are true to the characters in the book.

So all in all, a fun movie for Harry Potter fans who have the book memorized. Anyone else who wanders into the theater will probably be saying, "WTF?" a lot if they try to make any sense out of the plot.