magstar

Hana, Maui

2011-11-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

The Maui birthday BBQ and camping group.

Hawaii surfing

2011-11-01T21:20:00.001-04:00

Hit up a couple surf spots already. Last night was a sunset set at Flys. Today we checked out Point Panic not big but some fun little swell. Tonight is another session at Flys or maybe Pops.

Stopover in Chicago

2011-11-01T14:59:00.001-04:00

Flying over SF

2011-11-01T14:58:00.001-04:00

On the way to Hawaii

What's blooming

2011-10-29T17:02:00.002-04:00

Fostylis 'Lou Sneary' Bluebird

amazingly enough this was taken with my iphone

Summer

2011-10-22T09:18:00.004-04:00

Fall has its merits but I think I will always be a summertime guy. I love weekends at the lake, sitting around with a drink and good company, without a care in the world.

Sailing in June

2011-10-18T18:06:00.002-04:00

I actually got to do some sailing this summer. Back on a daysailor after so many years. Here we are launching in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

2011-10-12T15:05:00.004-04:00

From Oct 2011

Fall in New York

2011-09-19T01:10:00.000-04:00

The Standard Hotel

Long Road

2011-09-13T10:25:00.000-04:00

What's Blooming

2011-09-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

Been a while since I posted what's been blooming. Been some good stuff that I missed.
Howeara Lava Burst

Galeandra Baueri

Hudson with Roy

2011-09-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

4 edge

2011-08-25T10:43:00.000-04:00

Road Trip: New York's Catskills - Articles | Travel + Leisure

2011-08-14T23:18:00.001-04:00

Road Trip: New York's Catskills - Articles | Travel + Leisure

http://www.theroxburymotel.com/

North Fork wine trip

2011-08-11T09:42:00.002-04:00

What's blooming

2011-08-04T16:26:00.004-04:00

Neofonetia falcata
First ever blooming after 3 years.
Gorgeous fragrance, but only at night.

Lake George

2011-08-02T21:26:00.001-04:00

Burlington to Port Kent Ferry

2011-08-02T21:23:00.002-04:00

Vermont motorcycle trip

2011-08-02T21:20:00.002-04:00

Fwd: Standard Hotel NYC Photobooth!

2011-07-12T12:28:00.002-04:00

Smalls

2011-07-06T01:56:00.001-04:00

Jazz in NYC with the Bro!

4th of July

2011-07-04T23:36:00.001-04:00

At the lake.

New toys

2011-06-29T15:09:00.002-04:00

Took a multi-day trip out through Long Island, across the ferry to New London and then through Massachusetts and back to New York

Waiting for the cross sound ferry

Joan visits NYC

2011-06-09T17:18:00.002-04:00

What's Blooming June 2011

2011-06-09T08:50:00.002-04:00

The Boys

2011-05-17T02:07:00.002-04:00

Momofucker

2011-05-05T21:22:00.001-04:00

Went to a Foundation dinner with David Chang of Momofuku and Inaki Aizpitar of Le Chateaubriand as the guest chefs. Was amazing food and fun company. Aziz Ansari was also in the crowd.

http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/05/david_chang_and_inaki_aizpitarte_spray_paint_a_table.php#spray-painting-2

Storm

2011-05-04T20:12:00.002-04:00

Huge storm rolling into NYC on 5/4 the day of all the tornadoes in the midwest. Was at the Chelsea skate park and this thing just started looming over us and then a massive wall of rain chased me down as I ran for cover.

Big Yacht at Chelsea Piers

2011-05-04T20:10:00.002-04:00

Tulips in Central Park

2011-04-26T13:55:00.001-04:00

Woodpeckers this week

2011-04-26T10:16:00.002-04:00

With spring weather finally here there were a lot of woodpeckers out and about this week.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Cookshop for brunch

2011-04-25T00:53:00.002-04:00

What's Blooming

2011-04-23T13:43:00.005-04:00

A few of the plants that are blooming right now or that have just finished blooming

MICU Wine Night

2011-04-23T13:42:00.002-04:00

Easter

2011-04-23T13:37:00.002-04:00

Fort Lauderdale

2011-03-17T16:55:00.001-04:00

Taking a ride in Uncle John's boat.

Reichels and Archer Taylor

2011-03-17T16:45:00.003-04:00

Loved seeing the Reichels and hiking at Archer Taylor Preserve.

The poison oak was just starting to come out!

2011-03-17T16:41:00.001-04:00

I miss Applewood Pizza. New York has good pizza but I am a thick crust California kind of guy.

Phoenix

2011-01-26T22:53:00.001-05:00

celebrity sighting

2011-01-26T22:32:00.001-05:00

From magstar2011

Wood Duck 2

2011-01-26T22:30:00.000-05:00

Wood duck is still in central park

From magstar2011

Central Park after a snow

2011-01-14T11:49:00.003-05:00

New Years 2011

2011-01-10T14:09:00.002-05:00

Blooming Cattleya

2011-01-10T14:06:00.002-05:00

Cattleya Rth. Momilani Rainbow with 4 blooms.

Madrid, Spain

2010-12-02T23:02:00.001-05:00

Went to Spain last month for my birthday.

Paphiopedilum spicerianum

2010-12-02T22:48:00.001-05:00

3 blooms on the Paph this year.

Paphiopedilum spicerianum

What's Blooming

2010-12-02T11:51:00.007-05:00

Been a bunch of blooms for my orchids this fall. Just been to busy to blog them.

Neostylis Fuchs Ocean Spray 10/11/10

Neostylis Lou Sneary 10/11/10
Didn't get a picture of this guys with the blooms out.

Eria Fragrans

Hybrid bloom

Wood Duck

2010-11-10T22:37:00.002-05:00

Wood duck I saw today in central park. First time I have seen one outside a zoo. Really gorgeous birds. Wonder if he was migrating south.

Blue Hill

2010-10-28T14:44:00.001-04:00

Blue Hill restaurant in NYC

Reptile show

2010-09-27T12:53:00.002-04:00

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad

2010-09-19T23:48:00.003-04:00

What's Blooming

2010-09-17T17:29:00.002-04:00

The fall bloomers are starting to bud.

Neostylis Fuchs Ocean Spray

Eria Fragrans

Unknown hybrid

Cymbidium Chen's Ruby

2010-09-17T17:16:00.003-04:00

This is the first blooming of my Cymbidium Chen's Ruby. I don't really have a great cymbidium space and this is the only one. I think I rescued it from work. It took a few years to flower and I was thinking I would have to repot, but it ended up with a loverly set of flowers.

Fall is around the corner

2010-09-14T22:04:00.003-04:00

Round Bermuda Boat Race

2010-09-13T23:08:00.003-04:00

The boat race was the talk of the island on Sunday when we were leaving. Our taxi driver said we could see one of the sections of race from the departure gate at the airport so I watched out the window with a bunch of Bermudians as the boats raced by.

Common Buckeye

2010-09-13T20:24:00.005-04:00

These butterflies were all over at the Rosedon Hotel in Bermuda. Interestingly enough there was a blog post on this particular butterfly over at Weedpicker's Journal. They had some ever better photos and describe it as a pugnacious and territorial little butterfly.

My picture. Looks like this guy has live a rough life.

Photo from Weedpicker's Journal

clouds

2010-09-13T02:03:00.001-04:00

Gorgeous day in Bermuda

Lobster diving this morning in Bermuda

2010-09-13T01:29:00.002-04:00

I went lobster diving in Bermuda this morning. Only when out for a 15 minutes but he reef was amazing and we caught a nice little 2.5 pounder.

Fun in Bermuda

2010-09-11T10:43:00.003-04:00

Lesson to New Gaduates

2010-09-11T09:45:00.003-04:00

Lessons Learned to New Graduates…

Be humble and respectful to everyone you meet. Make a good first impression.
No matter what your accomplishments in school were, they mean nothing after graduation. Alienate the people you work with and you will not be successful. Guaranteed.
Success is not a factor of how educated you are, it’s a measure of how effective you are at applying the knowledge you have to accomplish your goals in life. Be a team player, it’ll make success easier to come by.
Many of the most successful Nurses do not have college degrees, but that certainly doesn’t make them less effective as Nurses. They are however, good listeners and communicators. Neither of which are skills gained from a textbook.

modified from post at gcaptain.com

Bermuda

2010-09-10T10:05:00.003-04:00

Back in Bermuda. Love it here. Been a while since I was here in the summer. I think last time was when I used to arrive via sail on my way to and from the Carribean. Now I come to play as B- spends her days at the office here.

New boat ideas

2010-09-07T23:56:00.001-04:00

This is my latest boat crush. Not that I don't love Magstar our trusty Bristol 27, but if I were looking to buy a new boat, this is the boat I am most intersted in right now.
This boat is basically a 36 foot scaled up version of the Tiki 30 built at Boatsmith in Florida. Here area few pictures of the Tiki 30 they built.

Description of Tiki 36 from Boatsmith blog

We built our first Wharram catamaran, a Tiki 30 2 years ago. We have a blog bout the construction and sailing of that boat at http://tiki30.blogspot.com/ . We have sailed this boat several thousand miles since launching and spent many weeks on board in the Bahamas, the Keys and the west coast of Florida. We have also exhibited her at several boat shows and had a received a lot of feedback. The boat sails very well in most conditions and is very comfortable most of the time. But there are a few features or lack thereof which could be improved upon. Several people who have spent time on this boat and have many years of experience on a variety of sailboats sat with me several times and we discussed the issues and went through several versions before we decided that we had made some significant progress. First we added 6" to the aft end of the boat. It seems like most if not all Tiki 30s trim down in the stern.The bows tend to be very empty and light. We added a fourth beam 5' behind the beam right behind the house.We lengthened the houses by 1' for more space in the galley and nav area. We also raised the sheer height by 1'. This is to increase the bridge deck clearance to 3'. Sometimes when our Tiki 30 is jamming along at speed in seas we would thump pretty hard. This really slowed us down when going to weather.Raising the sheer also provides us with wider main bunks and makes the fwd bunk spaces much more comfortable. It also allows us to achieve standing headroom in the galley and the nav area. We used the space in the starboard hull between the 3rd and 4th beam to have a separate head compartment. By building a small house to the height of the top of the beams we are able to get decent sitting headroom over the toilet and you can stand in the companionway to the head. In the same space to port we have include a storage compartment for the propane bottles as well as a large space to store foulies and wet suits. Also we have included a shower that can be used in the companionway or on deck. Behind the main cockpit we have put in a helm station. tiller steering or wheel steering are can be accommodated. The helm station has a fwd windscreen and roll down side curtains for helm protection in cold and/or wet weather. We have included two twenty HP outboards in this design for stellar motoring speeds and great maneuverability. These motors are power tilt and are located under the seats in the main cockpit area. Being in the center of the boat will minimize cavitation and increase maneuverability. Batteries and fuel tanks are also stored under cockpit seats. There are also built in ice chests in the cockpit We have included two 160 watt solar panels atop the bimini and 4 8d batteries for increased electrical generation and capacity. This is to allow for the use of either an ice maker or an electric reefer unit. I like to sail and I especially like to sail fast. To facilitate this we have used a 42' aluminum mast with a big roach full battened square top main with a mast head rig. To help even more with light air performance we have added a retractable carbon bowsprit on which we can fly a srceecher or asymmetrical spinnaker. Working sail area is 650 sqft. It's ok to reef when needed. The beam has been increased to 19'8". The weight will come in between 4500 and 5000 lbs. The idea here is to build a bigger faster boat than the Tiki 30, while keeping the small boat feel and performance. The Tiki 38 is a much larger, heavier boat and does not have the same good sailing ability as the Tiki 30.
Here are some drawings of this design. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

I want to go to this next year

2010-09-07T15:29:00.003-04:00

This post is copied from gcaptain.com. I thought it looked like something interesting that would be cool to go to next year and take some pictures.
The link to the gcaptain story is HERE.

[Image credit: Bernard Ente]

This weeks ship photo comes to us from the 18th annual running of the Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition held at Pier 84 in New York City this weekend. Shown here is the tug parade just prior to race on September 5, 2010.

Fifteen to 20 tugboats participated in the event on the Hudson River Sunday morning, as they competed to be named the fastest boat in their class. And it’s is not just limited to the fastest tug. Tugs also challenge each other in nose-to-nose pushing duels and the line toss competition, where captain and crew get a chance to show off their skills and coordination.

The race is organized by the Working Harbor Committee in collaboration with Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises at 42nd Street. The WHC is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating people about the rich history, current vitality and future potential of the New York/New Jersey Harbor. The organization also provides Hidden Harbor Tours® and runs an extensive youth educational program.

Hurricane weather

2010-09-06T16:24:00.002-04:00

Felt like Hurricane Earl was in the city last weekend. Hot and humid.

Time to go somewhere

2010-09-06T16:02:00.002-04:00

Looking forward to traveling soon.

This looks interesting

2010-09-02T01:30:00.002-04:00

Just noticed this today. Never bloomed for me before

Also have a first blooming of this Chen's Ruby Cymbidium coming in a week or so.

Suzy's Memorial

2010-08-28T21:51:00.000-04:00

College and Career Center Dedication

2010-08-27T20:56:00.000-04:00

NYC SUP- boat basin

2010-08-19T23:29:00.003-04:00

Paddled from the 79th St boat basin down to our board storage at pier 66. Started out fantastic with nice ebb tide and no wind but got a bit choppy at the end when the wind came up against the ebb tide.

2nd blooming

2010-08-18T11:35:00.002-04:00

Cattleya 'Mari's Song' with 2 blooms on its second blooming this year.

Galeandra Baueri Orchid 2nd blooming of the summer.

Weekend of the lakes

2010-08-15T13:30:00.002-04:00

Took off Thursday after work and spent a day at Webster Lake and a day at New Found lake. To much driving but loved seeing everyone and it was nice to get out of the city. It has been lonely with B- away at school for 2 weeks and work has been tough with lots of sick patients.

New Found Lake, NH

Webster Lake, MA

Accident

2010-08-15T13:09:00.002-04:00

Accident on the way to New Hampshire. It happened about 5 cars in front of me. I had to crawl in the truck and stabilize the 88 year old man that wasn't wearing his seatbelt and had been flung into the back of the truck after the tire blew and they swerved into the front of a Semi. We were in the back woods of New Hampshire and luckily there wasn't any major trauma as I was in the back of the truck with him for about 20 minutes before any emergency vehicles showed up. I was glad that I carry some extra gauze and gloves in my bag as there was a decent amount of blood from all the glass. The Fire Heavy Rescue Truck eventually had to tear out the windshield and the seats while I covered the man up. Then they pulled him out through the windshield. He was just an old "live free or die", native of New Hampshire, so when I told him he really needed to go to a trauma center he told me he was fine that he could just go by the VA later. Finally he relented when we talked about the fact that he couldn't even extricate himself from the back of the truck. Overall a bad crash but I think he will be ok after a few CT scans to be sure no internal damage. It felt kind of mellow after my previous 2 days in the ICU when 2 of my patients had tried to bleed to death and one had actually succeeded. The old guy in the Truck probably only lost a little blood from superficial cuts compared to my ICU patients who had gotten more than 10 liters of blood in 24 hours. That had me stressed, but this old guy was still feisty, with good vital signs, and totally with it after almost an hour on scene. Good luck Mr--, I hope I am as strong and spirited when I am your age.

An interesting afternoon but one I hope I don't have to repeat any time soon.

Friday Nights

2010-08-06T22:35:00.003-04:00

Summer Friday night. Gorgeous weather, and the tables are empty at 8pm becasue everyone is out in the Hamptons.

Skeptical empiricist economics

2010-08-06T12:43:00.002-04:00

Bloomberg Businessweek
Features July 2, 2010, 6:30PM EST
The Pragmatic Rebels
The financial crisis blew a hole in big-think economics, raising the profile of a new breed of skeptical empiricists committed to assiduous testing and tangible results, no matter how tiny. Even lentils can lead to little miracles
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186056393103.htm?chan=magazine+channel_features

Perspective on costs

2010-08-05T15:12:00.008-04:00

This is a new graphic from they guys over at Information is Beautiful blog. The stuff there just blows my mind sometimes.

From magstar 2010

A little context

This image arose out of frustration with media reporting of billion dollar amounts. That is, that they’re meaningless without context. But they’re continually reported as self-evident facts. 500 billion for this war. 50 billion for this pipeline. Literally mind-boggling amounts of money.

So here we’ve scraped reported figures from The New York Times, The Guardian, and other news outlets and visualized them as a treemap (?). So you can see in one place figures that would otherwise be scattered across multiple news reports.

Design: David McCandless
Research: David McCandless, Matthew Sawh, Caroline Flyn, James Key
Sources: NYTimes, The Guardian, CNN, MSNBC and other media reports.
Data: http://bit.ly/bndollar

What's Blooming

2010-08-03T13:34:00.006-04:00

Looks like I am going to get a second blooming of both the Cattleya "Mari's Song" and the Galeandra Baueri. The blooming is not unusual for the Galeandra but I have only ever had one bloom from the Cattleya. This is now the second blooming of the Cattleya in 6 months and there are 2 blooms. Exciting!

Mango slaw dinner

2010-08-03T00:00:00.003-04:00

Made mango slaw from Smittenkitchen with D- & C-. It was fantastic.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/07/mango-slaw-with-cashews-and-mint/

Letting Go

2010-08-02T23:26:00.001-04:00

Annals Of Medicine

Letting Go

What should medicine do when it can’t save your life?

by Atul Gawande

Another powerful article by Atul Gawande, not his best but probably one of the most relevant to what I do.

SUP the Hudson

2010-08-02T22:52:00.002-04:00

We went paddle boarding today from the pier 66 at 25th street to the George Washington bridge at 181st street. It was fantastic day with great tail wind and a nice current that just shot us up there without having to paddle much at all.
>

Today is the best weather ever in NYC

2010-07-31T21:44:00.003-04:00

75.5 °F

Humidity:	44%
Dew Point:	50 °F
Wind:	4.0 mph Variable

Not to hot, not to cold. Perfect for any occasion.

Potrero Hill

2010-07-29T22:27:00.002-04:00

I stopped by the old hood in SF. Love the views from our old appartment. Wish we had a view from our NY appartment.

Ally & Jon's Wedding

2010-07-27T17:41:00.003-04:00

Wedding at the Bell Air Beach Club on Saturday.

Stanford theater

2010-07-24T17:31:00.002-04:00

I am a huge fan of the Stanford Theater. I wish we could go all the time. We went to see North by Northwest with my parents and M- & S- when we were back, it was fantastic.

The organist played between shows.

Apricots

2010-07-24T17:28:00.001-04:00

Blemheim Apricots from the Taffe House. They taste so amazing they could almost convince me to move back to California.

Cho's Potstickers

2010-07-24T17:21:00.003-04:00

When I was young I used to go to Cho's on California Ave in Palo Alto all the time for pot stickers and pork buns. I was glad to see it is still there and exactly as I remember, a greasy little hole in the wall with awesome food. Cho looks the same as he did 25 years ago.

At the lake

2010-07-14T17:11:00.001-04:00

The master of ceremonies at Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Ozomatli in Prospect Park

2010-07-14T00:05:00.003-04:00

Bar Harbor Pig Roast

2010-07-13T21:55:00.002-04:00

I had to work last weekend but B- went to a pig roast for her brother and his wife in Bar Harbor. Sounds like I missed an awesome party.

Photos from TVS

4th of July 2010 at the lake

2010-07-09T16:29:00.002-04:00

Tubing with my brother

Polish Horseshoes

2010-07-09T16:12:00.006-04:00

Learned a new game at the lake over the 4th of July. Polish horseshoes is when you try to hit the bottle off the pole with a frisbee. To make it more challenging you must have a drink in one hand at all times.

We had a some serious competition going on.

Massimo Dutti

2010-07-02T19:25:00.002-04:00

Did a bit of shopping in London. Love this store as their stuff actually fits me. Unlike American retailers who seem to build there clothes for our obese country so they never fit, I can wear almost anything right off the rack at Massimo Dutti.

Galeandra Baueri Orchid 2010

2010-07-02T19:12:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite and most prolific orchids the Galeandra Baueri is blooming. Last year this orchid was amazing, giving me multiple bloomings with multiple flowers each time. It kept blooming over and over through most of July and August. This first spray of flowers this year is gorgeous.

Galeandra Baueri Orchid
I really don't do much to care for this orchid. I haven't re-potted it and it is still in the moss that it came from Oak Hill Garden in. It just seems to love to flower as long as I water it when it dries and give it a moderate amount of indirect light.

Red orchid 2010

2010-07-02T19:00:00.003-04:00

The top photo is of one of my orchids that just started blooming. I thought it was interesting to contrast with the photo below of the same orchid from last year. I don't know why last years blooms were more red but the difference is striking when looking at the flowers.

World Cup

2010-07-02T18:51:00.002-04:00

Watching Brazil Netherlands at Grand Central Station today. Was waiting for a train and someone had set up a TV in the Station.

London Wedding

2010-06-30T23:19:00.002-04:00

In London for a wedding last weekend. Fantastic wedding, great weather, fun wedding.

Summer solstice

2010-06-21T23:23:00.001-04:00

A Pacemaker Wrecks a Family's Life

2010-06-21T14:56:00.004-04:00

A Pacemaker Wrecks a Family's Life - NYTimes.com
How putting in a pacemaker wrecked a family’s life.
Published: June 14, 2010
By KATY BUTLER

A moving article about a families struggle within the health care system. It chronicles the insidious overuse of health resources that I struggle against every day and shows what I believe is the difference between a good and bad death. Every day at work I struggle to help those that wish it to follow the path to a good death. It is hard and often frustrating. As this author explains, the system is not set up to follow this path and will lead those that aren't steadfast in their resolve into more than they may have wished.

I truly believe our country needs to focus on medical conservatism, when the patient wishes it, rather than pushing for aggressive care in every case.

Geese

2010-06-19T00:11:00.001-04:00

Lots of Canadian Geese this year.

This guys was begging along the Hudson when we were out walking the other night.

3 blooms

2010-06-19T00:06:00.001-04:00

This is the end of bloom #2 but looks like there is a third bloom on my Aeranthes Grandiose.

SUZY

2010-06-16T01:01:00.003-04:00

68, of Scottsdale, AZ passed away peacefully in her sleep on June 3, 2010. Suzanne, called Suzy, Mom, and Oma by those who knew and loved her, had battled breast cancer for more than nine years, while at the same time living her life, traveling around the world, loving her family, caring for her friends, and serving as an inspirational college counselor to countless Arcadia High School students. Mom was a proud member of the old Arcadia community, which she made her home more than 30 years ago, when citrus orchards and ranch-style houses lined the streets. She loved her community and was a long-time member of the Phoenix Junior League and National Charity League and volunteered at many local nonprofits, including UMOM. She was passionately involved in her four children's activities, from soccer and t-ball to Odyssey of the Mind and swim team, which inspired her to start the Arizona Marlins Swim Club in the early 1980's. She was always active at her children's schools, and later became a college and career counselor at Arcadia High School where, for the last 12 years, she helped thousands of students get accepted, find scholarships, and attend colleges. Mom had also worked for the Barry Goldwater Presidential campaign and held her private pilot's license. Our mom was one of a kind, embodying grace, beauty, love, and compassion. Mom is survived by her four children, David, Robert, Rebecca, and Matthew; their spouses and fiancée, Lolly, Liz, Mark, and Anna; her beloved grandchildren, Henry and Charlie; and her two siblings, John and Joanne. The family will hold a celebration of mom's life on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 6:00pm at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. For more information, please contact the family. In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible contributions are requested to the Arcadia PTO/Titan Teacher Fund (sent to Arcadia High School, c/o College and Career Center, 4703 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ, 85018). Please include "Suzy Van Sickle Scholarship" in the memo. The family has established a scholarship fund to allow mom to continue to inspire students to attend college and achieve their dreams