I almost missed yet another change in the security theater of airline travel in the US. Starting on January 1, 2008, there are restrictions on how you can travel with lithium batteries -- the kind of rechargable batteries you probably have in your laptop, cellphone, MP3 player, digital camera, and so on.

As I read it, for the most part, you can carry your lithium batteries in your devices the way you do today, in your carry-ons or in checked luggage. However, you may not check spare batteries; you must hand-carry spare batteries. There are also new limits on how much lithium you can carry aboard, for most people, this won't be an issue. The TSA also has suggestions on how to pack your batteries in your carry ons to minimize the threat of short-circuiting the battery and starting a fire. You should read the details and figure out your own interpretation. (For grins, here's the FAA analysis of lithium-ion battery fires in aircraft.)

For me, this will mean no longer checking my camera bag or at least the extra batteries. I usually hand-carry my laptop and its spare battery so no issue there. Stil, one more thing to think about.

As I mentioned previously, I chaperoned Andrew's (10) fifth grade class for a four day, three night field trip to Islandwood, a 255 acre outdoor learning center on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. (Here's a link to the Live Maps view of Islandwood. You can also get a "bird's eye" view of the facility.)

I must admit, the trip was much more enjoyable than I expected. First, the facilities are incredibly nice; it's not like any camp I've ever been to. Islandwood was donated by Paul Brainerd (founder of Aldus Corporation) and has a donor role that's a who's who of the Seattle wealthy (apparently Steve Ballmer hosts the fund raising dinners at his house, for instance.) As a result, they appear to be incredibly well funded. The facility is constructed and operated as a demonstration of eco design principles and is LEED Gold certified. Everywhere you look, there's a sign saying how the toilets are saving water, how the counters were made from recycled yogurt containers, how the wood was recovered from state highway projects, etc. They even weighed all of the compostable and non-compostable food waste after each meal to teach the kids to take only what they need. (By the last meal, we only had three pounds of food waste for 100+ people. This is crazy low; apparently most Americans each waste four pounds of food per day.)

During the day, we broke up into field study groups of eight kids, two instructors (masters students in education), and an adult chaperone (e.g. me). We visited some of the various ecosystems within Islandwood such as the harbor/estuary, pond, and bog. We also did team building activities on their teams course. The instructors did a good job keeping it fun for the kids, using games and hands-on activities. I especially enjoyed the owl/mouse/seed game where they had the kids learn about the balance of nature. The kids were divided into owls, mice, and seeds. The seeds had to go plant themselves, a few seconds later the mice had to pair up with a seed, and then a few seconds later the owls would try to hunt the non-paired mice. There were some rules about what happened if you were caught, etc. and over a few rounds, you could see the mice numbers fall when there were too few seeds, etc. This was especially clear on the chart they created. Neat stuff and the kids had fun.

Another highlight for me and many of the kids was a night hike. We walked through the woods with no flashlights or other illumination. I was surprised how well I could see after a little while. We talked about night vision (rods and cones), listened to the forest (they did a blindfolded "trust walk" which was interesting), listened to some stories, and did the wintergreen Lifesaver trick (they really do spark when you bite them -- cool.)

The meals were good. Most of the food was made from scratch on site (e.g. they baked their own bread) and were very accommodating to the various food restrictions the kids had. The kids ate a lot and many gushed about how good the food was. I think many families don't cook much at home so the food really stood out for them.

We also lucked out and had good weather (read: it didn't rain or snow) the whole time. Given this was only a week after the massive rainstorm that hit the area the week before, I feel very fortunate indeed.

The kids were much better behaved than I expected. The Islandwood staff commented on that as well. The only real bummer was a few kids and a teacher in my dorm got sick (projectile vomiting, etc.) Other than this small outbreak of typhoid (not really typhoid) it was a great trip. I also really enjoyed getting to know Andrew's classmates better; I hear their names all the time, but I don't know many of the kids well. It was a great opportunity for me.

I highly recommend anyone who gets the chance to attend one of the programs at Islandwood.

I just got some horrible news. In the big windstorm we had yesterday, a kiteboarder died on Lake Washington; the victim was Dan Bergin, skipper of Papa, the boat I sailed on last September. Apparently, it was a freak accident, but I don't have more details. I'm in a bit of shock. I just saw Dan a few weeks ago at the Seattle Boats Afloat Show. He told me about his new boat, and we were trying to find a good time to go see it.

I really respect Dan and the way he lived his life. He was an Annapolis graduate who served our country flying EA-6B Prowlers off of carriers, flew for Delta Airlines, and then left all of that to pursue his passions of skiing and sailing. He really enjoyed life and people; he was fun and irreverent most of the time, serious and professional when needed. It's fitting that was doing something he truly loved until the very end. In the talk he gave about long distance cruising at the Boats Afloat Show he reminded everyone to actively pursue their dreams. He did. It was a good reminder for us all.

I'm glad we met and am sad I didn't know him better. I will try to live a little more like Dan every day. Rest easy, Captain Dan.

[Update: Here's a link to Dan's obituary in the Seattle PI.]

One of the oddest things I've seen travelling is the Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City in Beijing. I've stopped there several times and admit to having a latte or iced mocha there once or twice. However, we'll have to find some other refreshment stop in the Forbidden City from now on. The people who run the Forbidden City apparently decided they wanted all of the vendors to operate under a common brand, so Starbucks decided to close the joint. Oh well.

More from the International Herald Tribune.

Thanks to Richard for tipping me onto this story.

(I've taken hundreds, maybe thousands of photos in the Forbidden City, but I don't seem to have any of the Starbucks. I'm sure I took some. Weird.)

I just got back from Foo Camp. It's late, so I'll have to write more later, but sufficed to say I had a great time, learned a lot, met some amazing people, and made some good connections for work. I even met someone who went to my high school in Minnesota (albeit many years after I did).

I had a lovely drive back from Sebastopol too, going out to coast and then driving south to San Francisco down highway 1. (Click here for the route, just for reference). I met up with my college friend Connie at Town Hall for a fantastic dinner and then headed home.

I flew down to San Francisco this morning, picked up my red Mustang convertible (may as well enjoy the sunshine), and drove up to my hotel in Santa Rosa before Foo Camp.

On the way up, I stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge on the Marin (northern) end. I have been to the bridge zillions of times, but not too often on the north end and certainly not recently. I really like the view from this side since you can see the bridge and the city behind it. Chooky and I once were on the top of a hill here on the 4th of July and saw a great show, with the fireworks over the bridge and the city behind.

I also checked out some of the old gun batteries; the area is littered with gun emplacements and an old Nike missle battery that were here to protect the bay. I've never really spent much time in this park and want to come back. I got a little lost on the way out of the park and wound up in the cute town of Sausalito. After driving through, I headed up to Santa Rosa, baking in the sun (oh well). I'm in my hotel room now finishing up a few things and then will head over to the O'Reilly campus.

Anyway, I got a few decent shots even though it was mid-day; I changed up the set of lenses I normally carry to force myself to try to shoot differently and to reduce the weight of my gear. I have my Lensbaby, a 24/1.8, and a 70-200/2.8L (yeah, still not light).

I finally got off my butt and made my travel arrangements to go to Foo Camp next weekend. Tim O'Reilly hosts this annual event at the O'Reilly Media campus in Sebastopol, CA. They invite 250 hopefully (supposedly?) interesting "Friend's of O'Reilly" (aka FOO) to get together for a few days to share ideas, debate, hang out, etc.

I was flattered to get an invitation; I'm impressed with the people I know who are going and am looking forward to meeting some of the others on the list. I admit I'm a bit unsure about how this will go since I haven't been before, but I'm excited to participate and learn.

I don't have an agenda I want to drive, but I'm still thinking of ideas of stuff to present. (Let me know if there's anything you want to hear from me.) Maybe I'll just talk about bacon.

Last weekend, Kellie, Kristen, Katya, Christopher, Barbie, and I went out to the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington for a little wine tasting. After a brief stop at the XXX Root Beer Drive-In for lunch, we headed to Ellensburg for a fun filled evening (there were no hotel rooms in Yakima that evening). We had a good time playing hearts (which I never played before, but now I'm a fan) and drinking beer at the Tav, a good dinner at Pearls-on-Pearl, and more bar fun at the Starlight Lounge and Oak Rail Tavern. Nothing like partying with a bunch of college kids (from Central Washington University - the only thing in Ellensburg.) I really liked the Tav and Starlight Lounge; Pearls-on-Pearl was nice too.

After a slow morning at the luxurious Comfort Inn (I got a in a five mile run before almost anyone was up and got to watch Americas Cup TV coverage!) we headed over to Red Mountain, an AVA about an hour east of Yakima. We hit six wineries in a short period here. Of these, I really liked Fidelitas and Tapteil.

Fidelitas, in particular, was a group favorite with several of us joining their club (many of these places have a wine club where you "subscribe" to their quarterly or semi-annual mailings of a few bottles of wine). Their M100 reds and whites were very nice low-priced table wines, and their 2004 Syrah and eight Syrah were fantastic. Their new wine room was very nice too.

We had a pleasant lunch at Tapteil inside their cozy wine room (we brought a picnic lunch, but it was too windy to eat outside). Their 2001 Cab Merlot was our lunch wine and very tasty, especially once it opened up. We also found some good wines at Hightower Cellars and Kiona Vineyards Winery (esp. their Chenin Blanc ice wine - lush and tropical...). I didn't care for Sandhill Winery or Chandler Reach (although their 36 Red wasn't bad) as much.

Honestly, I think six wineries was too much for me. My taste buds were blown by the fifth place (Kiona), so I chose to sit out for a while; I probably didn't give Chandler Reach a fair shake because of this. After all that wine (thank goodness Barbi, who doesn't drink, was driving the mini-van), we had a quiet dinner at Gasperetti's in Yakima. Gasperetti's is supposed to be some kind of institution in Yakima (I'm sure it is), but I thought it was only OK. We saw a few kids out in prom-wear; ah, young love. Apparently, prom in Yakima includes Cheetos, since Barbi saw a bunch of girls in prom dresses buying bags of Cheetos at the gas station. We made a half-hearted attempt of going out in Yakima (including a few rounds of shuffleboard on the worst table ever at the Sports Center in Yakima) and called it a night.

After another night in a luxurious hotel (the Cedar Suites in Yakima), on Sunday morning we hit a few more wineries, all of which we loved. Our hands-down favorite was the new Agate Field Vineyard. Pretty much everything was gold there. I especially liked their 2002 and 2003 Red Blends (esp. 2002) and their Syrahs. Another favorite was Wineglass Cellars; Linda, the co-owner, was very charming and helpful. I bought a few of their older Cabernets and loved their Elerding and Rich Harvest. I'm looking forward to trying the ones I brought home. Masset was a nice surprise as well; I thought their Margaret Alice Late Harvest Viognier was especially good and slightly unusual. Sheridan was pouring their second label, Kamiakin, which was fine. Unfortunately, I had hoped to try their Sheridan branded wines. (Don't go to Sheridan on a Sunday, I guess.)

The cars loaded down with wine and a yummy Mexican lunch under in our bellies, we headed home. We had a great time and found a lot of tasty wines. There are apparently over five hundred wineries in Washington now, so I guess we have a lot more tasting to do...

Click here for Kellie's account of the weekend (I can't believe she got her post out before I did...)

Yesterday I took the boys over the Blake Island for our regular adventure outing. Blake Island a small island a few miles away from downtown Seattle in the middle of Puget Sound (map). It used to be a private estate owned by William Pitt Trimble, until his wife died of an accident, after which the heartbroken Trimble abandoned the estate. It's now a state park with a Native American arts and culture center called Tillicum Village (complete with salmon dinner and dancing show - not bad actually). It's only reachable by private boat or tour boat (the Argosy cruise line runs back and forth).

We've been to Blake Island once before a few years back on the sailboat we owned, and Andrew (9) went recently on a field trip. The guys have both been badgering me to go back since they like the driftwood covered beach, so I relented. We hopped on the 11:30 boat (the only one that runs this time of year) and spent two hours playing on the beach. Andrew, predictably, started building a huge house of driftwood, aided by a pretty girl who was camping nearby (lots of camping on Blake Island). Michael (6), equally predictably, enlisted my help sending driftwood "battleships" out into the water and trying to hit them with rocks. The weather was pleasant enough and everyone had a good time. We got a bit of lunch from the snack bar at Tillicum Village (I had a salmon salad - the salmon here is good since they pin the salmon on cedar stakes and cook it over an alder fire as part of their dinner show) and then caught the 2:30 boat back (again, the only one they run during May.)

It was a bit expensive - normally $40/adult, $12/kid minus a AAA discount for the round trip boat rides - plus the crazy Seattle parking rates (I paid $22 for parking across the street from Pier 55 where the Argosy departs.) Add to that the cost of snacks on the hour-long boat ride each way. On top of that, with the single boat sailing each way, you really only get two hours on the island. I think the next time we go back, we'll camp for a few days. The island has great views of Seattle and Mount Rainier, a fun beach for kids, and miles of wooded hiking trails. There are good facilities (bathrooms/showers, water, fire rings, and the snack bar with firewood/charcoal, lattes, and ice cream), and it's easy to get to.

In any case, it was a fun outing, and any day that I get to ride on a boat is a good one in my book.

More on Blake Island (Wikipedia)

Once every few years, I seem to have to relearn that having naturally darkish skin does not make me impervious to sunburn.

On the first morning of the trip to Cabo, I took the boys down to the beach; none of us had sunscreen on. Michelle had the bag with sunscreen and was supposed to be right down, but she got sidetracked trying to find a live network connection for her laptop.

Of course, I was well protected with my extensive base tan after a Seattle winter (not). As a result, the three of us were unprotected in the Mexican sun for about three hours. By the time I realized there might be a problem, I was good and red. That evening, I could barely sleep for the pain. (Somehow, the boys managed to escape serious burns; Andrew (9), in particular, just got a little more freckly.)

Two or three days later, my face started peeling in earnest. It was pretty horrific. Michael (6) started peeling a bit too, although he was more excited about it, thinking he was shedding his skin like a snake (he's clearly a Slytherin...).

As the trip was winding down to the last few days, I could go outside again without feeling the searing heat reburning my skin. Must remember to be smarter next time...