House Of Koenig

If you have just joined in you may want to start with the first post in this wedding weekend series, which can be found here. To recap, we arrived in Bend and enjoyed a wonderful pre-wedding family dinner. It’s now Sunday and the kids are awake and ready for the pool. But we need nourishment first and thankfully we have a free continental breakfast waiting for us courtesy of our wonderful hotel. We got downstairs before the rush of the hungry arrived and devoured everything in site. The kids got their fruity colored cereal and I got to make a couple of waffles in the cool waffle maker they had. I’m pretty sure they tasted so good because I poured and cooked them myself. After breakfast the boys were clamouring non-stop to head down to the pool. So we put on the bathing suits and headed down to the pool, which amazingly was devoid of all life. The water was really warm and the boys splashed around and indicated that they were never going to come out. Zachary, my oldest, was still having some fear about swimming and having water go over his head so we managed to coerce him into slipping on a life jacket and trying to float around a bit in the deep end a bit. After a short time he was swimming the length of the pool so we were pretty excited about seeing that. We were finally able to coax the kids out of the pool so we went back to the room and packed everything up to check out and head up to Elk Lake Resort where the wedding was to take place and where we would stay the night in some rustic cabins.

After checking out of the hotel we decided that it would be best to strap on the ol’ feedbag before heading out to the cabins, so we stopped for lunch at a place called Boston’s. It’s a gourmet pizza joint/ sports bar. The kids ordered pizza, the wife ordered an individual spicy chicken pizza and I ordered fish tacos. But before that came we enjoyed a delicious plate of nachos which was the best plate of nachos I have ever had. The jalapenos on the nachos destroyed my stomach later but looking back I still feel it was worth the suffering. Full from the meal we attempted to navigate our way out of Bend and onto the Cascade Lakes Hwy toward Elk Lake. If you have ever been to Bend you are aware that most of the intersections throughout town are actually round-abouts. Being a newb in town I had no idea how to get to the road we needed so I asked the gas station attendant if he knew. He gave me what seemed at the time fairly simple directions of going straight, turning right a Reed Market and going through and endless number of round-abouts until we were supposed to see a sign for Mt. Bachelor. We did everything as instructed except for the turn to Mt. Bachelor which resulted in us taking a 20 minute drive around Mt. Washington Road, which wasn’t too bad as we got to see a lot of Bend we hadn’t seen before. Finally after completing this large loop and ending up right back where we started we saw a sign for Mt. Bachelor and started the 40 minute drive over to Elk lake. If you have ever had the good fortune of driving this road then you are fully aware of how beautiful this drive is. I’ll conclude Part 2 with a few photos of the beauty of this area. Stay tuned for Part 3 of Wedding Weekend.

Last weekend my sister got married.  She lives in Bend so we loaded up the car Saturday morning and began the 2 hour drive across the Cascades to Bend.  We took the Hwy. 126 route which took us through Sisters Oregon.  Sisters is a town I love to hate.  There always seems to be traffic that backs up along the only main street through town.  This time was no different and we spent a good 20 minutes traveling 1/4 mile.  Finally we made it through and proceeded toward Bend.  I actually enjoy the drive between Sisters and Bend which passes through the high desert with great views of the Three Sisters.  We arrived in Bend and after some misdirection arrived at our hotel, which was the Fairfield Inn by Marriott.  The kids were excited to be staying in a hotel, especially one with a pool.  We checked in and took a brief rest and then headed over to my sisters house where there was a big family dinner planned.  The dinner was incredible.  I enjoyed a plate of cheesy grits with shrimp (see below) which was absolutely delicious.

We also enjoyed some good margaritas although my 3rd was a bit strong (mainly tequila with a splash of mix).  Lots of good conversations and time spent getting to know the families better.  It was probably one of the more enjoyable evenings I have spent in quite some time.

It was getting late and the next day was the wedding so after saying out good nights we headed back to the hotel and called it a day.  Even the cat was worn out.

It’s been awhile since I lasted posted to this blog. Lots of things going on that have been taking up much of my time. Here are a few things that I have been working on.

I’ve been experimenting with off-camera lighting after purchasing a pair of Cactus V4 wireless flash controllers. This allows me to control both my 580EXII and 430EXII flashes without having to have them on the camera hotshoe. I’ll be writing a review of those shortly.

I’ve also been trying to learn more about Photoshop CS4 and better detailing my workflow and different techniques for really making my photos “pop”! I purchased the book Adobe Photoshop For Photographers by Martin Evening which based on my initial quick review of various sections looks to be the best Photoshop book I have seen so far. I’ll be writing a review of that shortly as well.

Since experimenting with off-camera lighting I realized that I have much to learn about proper exposure and how to best set my camera in different circumstances be it a strong backlight situation or low light. I found a great book called Understanding Exposure (Revised Edition) by Bryan Peterson which I have found to be invaluable in explaining exposure as it relates to aperture, shutterspeed and depth of field. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with the relationship between aperature and depth of field and how to shoot in manual mode. I’ll be writing much more on this later.

Finally I attended my sisters wedding in Bend last weekend. The ceremony was held out at Elk Lake in the Oregon Cascades with the backdrop of the evening glow on Elk Lake and Mt. Bachelor in the distance. It was just an incredible time and I have a 2 part post coming up on that.

As time goes on I find myself needing to engage life more and get out there and experience it. It’s a blink of an eye and then we are gone so now is the time to take risks, overcome fear and pursue fully the things we want in life. I’ve got several exciting projects in the works that for the time being will remain under wraps. These are exciting times and I’m looking forward to sharing those with you soon so stay tuned…more to come.

The County Fair is typically a big summer event. In the past several years though we have been disappointed with the quality of the fair as well as the cost. This year was no exception and added to previous years of disappointment. Twenty-four dollars just to get the family inside and then $3-4 per ride for the kids. But the kids enjoyed it and you can’t put a price on their happiness. We first toured the animals where they got to see pigs, goats, sheep, all kinds of birds (some that I had never seen before) and rabbits.

Next we saw all the vegetables and produce.  People had decorated up their vegetables to look like different things like a submarine made out of a squash, or a porcupine out of a potato.  There were some pretty creative ideas on display.  We then checked out the flower diaplays with some pretty wild and beautoful flowers like this sunflower.

We also wandered through the photography exhibits and artwork but by this time the kids had had enough and were restless for the carnival rides.  We bought 40 tickets for $20 and let the kids choose what rides they wanted to go on.  There was a helicopter ride where they could control the elevation of the copter, a race car ride that went around in circles, a canoe ride through a waterway and several other little kiddie rides that they were tall enough to go on.  Finally my oldest son wanted to go on the big ferris wheel.  It was an incredible view at the top looking down on the entire Fair.

All in all it was a fun day and the kids really had a great time which is the most important part.  See my Flickr site for additional photos.

We planted a garden this year. Nothing special, just some tomato plants, cucumbers, eggplants and failed spinach and lettuce.  It’s a small garden of 2 raised beds which are partially shaded most of the day (hence the failed lettuce and spinach) but it’s the only space we have to plant.  The tomatoes have pretty much taken over the garden at this point and we have a mega load of red and yellow cherry tomatoes.  The cucumbers are doing better than last year (we’ve harvested 3 so far with many more developing on the vine) and I can’t see the eggplants right now as the tomatoes have overgrown their baskets and engulfed them.  We didn’t plant any sunflowers this year but apparently we didn’t need to as what we planted last year laid seed and we ended up with two sunflowers in the middle of the garden.  Here are a few shots I took the other night.  More can be seen on my Flickr site.

Last year in August we camped at Waldo Lake but this year we just made a day trip.  Waldo lake is one of the purest lakes in the world.  It’s waters are ultra clear.  On a calm day you can see 120 feet into the water.  We arrived just in time to head out on the lake in kayaks.  I got in one with my youngest son and headed across the lake to a secluded beach.  I felt bad for my son as every time I paddled with the oars it dripped water on his head.  But he seemed to enjoy the ride.  It was a bit windy so the water was choppy and on occasion a wake would spash us in the face.  So the boys enjoyed a nice day at the beach while I paddled around a bit on the kayak.  One thing I failed to do was put on sunscreen so my legs and top of my feet burned which is turning out to be quite painful.  But it was worth it.  Sitting out alone in the middle of the lake in a kayak just looking at the wonder of nature surrounding me was very relaxing.  As the day wore on we took a hike along the shore of the lake and then as the sun began to set I snapped a few photos (more can be seen on my Flickr site).  As soon as the sun went down the mosquitos came out in full force.  We all got chewed up pretty good but my eldest son got one right on the eye lid which proceeded to swell up.  We arrived home quite late but with wonderful memories on our minds.

One of the best things about summer is the wealth of fresh and local fruit and vegetables that are available.  Today we took a trip out to the farm and got sweet fresh summer peaches straight from the tree.  It’s hard to beat fresh fruit that is grown organically and locally.  I’ve always felt it is important to support local farmers.  If you can get it fresh and local why would anyone want to buy from a far away source.  Find a local farmers market near you at Local Harvest (http://www.localharvest.org/)

MOTOROKR S9-HD

With all the laws being passed regarding use of cell phones while driving (California, Washington and soon my home State of Oregon) I figured I should look into some kind of hands-free headset.  I didn’t want to get the standard blue-tooth ear piece as I like to listen to music on my phone as well (either mp3’s or streaming Pandora) so I opted for a stereo headset.  There are plenty out there to choose from but I went with the Motorokr S9-HD for a number of reasons.  First, it’s Motorola and as a brand they typically stand for good quality.  Second, out of all the headsets that I looked at I liked the Motorokr S9-HD the best due to its small size and weight, comfort and easy to use controls.  Thirdly, the sound was the best.  The negative aspect of the Motorokr S9-HD was that they were the most expensive at $89.00 (you can probably get them cheaper online but I purchased mine at Best Buy).

The remainder of this review is based on my use paired with an HTC TYTNII (also known as an HTC Kaiser or AT&T Tilt).

PAIRING

The Motorokr S9-HD supports the following profiles: HF 1.2, A2DP 1.2 and AVCRP 1.0.  It was incredibly easy to pair the headset with my phone.  I turned on Bluetooth on my phone and powered on the headset.  The phone recognized and paired with the headset in a matter of seconds.  It was just that easy.  Powering on the headset is as simple as pressing the power button on the back for 2 seconds until you see a flashing blue light.  Once paired, I was able to get quite a distance from my phone without sound cutting out.  When I first used the headset on a walk and listened to a podcast the sound did cut out quite a bit and I was a little dismayed by that but with further use I haven’t experienced those issues since.

WEARING

Wearing the Motorokr S9-HD headset is just a matter of gently pulling the headset wide enough apart to slide over your head.  The ear buds are comfortable (even after hours of use) and slip into your ears.  The back of the headset simply floats over the back of your neck.  My experience is that they fit snug enough that you can easily run, job or bike without feeling like they are going to come off your head like I imagine other brands that rest “on” your ears would.  The Motorokr S9-HD comes with spare ear buds of two different sizes.

CONTROLS/CONTROLLING

Controls for the Motorokr S9-HD are pretty simple.  On the right side of the ear piece there are controls for Track Forward, Play/Pause and Track Back.  They are raised buttons so it is pretty easy to feel where they are and after a period of use I easily remembered which was which.  On the left side are the volume control buttons as well as the phone button for answering calls (more on this in a bit).  The buttons are all easy to press and operate and you feel a definite “click” when pressed as well as there is a beep you hear to indicate that the button was pressed.

SOUND QUALITY

I have used the Motorokr S9-HD with mp3’s as well as streaming music with Pandora and the sound quality is very good (much better than the wired ear buds I was previously using).  The bass is probably the best I’ve heard from such a small headset.  As Motorola advertises the Motorokr S9-HD has “high definition sound – powerful SRS WOW HD surround sound delivers spatial audio and improved bass for a rich music listening experience”.  I will admit that I was skeptical about HD surround sound but I can honestly say that the Motorokr S9-HD sounds great.  For its size, comfort and price it is probably the best sounding headset I’ve used.  There are actually two different sound quality settings that you can choose from.  The first offers a fuller sound and better clarity and the second more balanced audio with more bass.  I imagine that based on the audio settings and enhancements on your device (phone, mp3 etc.) you may need to test the different settings and see what sounds best.  To switch between the two it is as simple as pressing and holding the Track Forward button until you hear a beep.  While listening to music you can use the Track Forward/Backward buttons on the side of the headset to move to the next track, back a track or pause the music.

RECEIVING A CALL

When you are using the headset for music and a call comes in you will hear it ring in your headset and the music will pause.  The first time I received a call I answered the call from my phone as I usually did.  What happened was that the party that had called me could hear me but I could not hear them.  I quickly figured out that in order to answer a call you need to press the call button on the left side of the headset.  If you don’t do this then you won’t be able to hear the party that just called you.  I don’t know whether this is by design or a bug but it seems to me that you should be able to answer the call from your phone as well as the headset.  I found the call quality to be decent.  At times I needed to adjust the volume and I’ve had people say that I sounded like I was talking in a cave.  Overall I am satisfied with the call quality and to be honest I don’t use them all that much for making calls.  My primary use is to listen to music without all the cables.  Of course as soon as the “hands-free” law passes in Oregon I will be using them much more for making calls.  Also, to make a call you need to press the Phone button on the left side of the headset and then dial your number.  Again, my experience is if you don’t do that you can still make the call but you won’t be able to hear the party you are calling.  If you are on a call and another call comes in (you must be popular) simply press the Phone button on the left side of the headset to answer the incoming call.  You can use this same button to switch between calls.

STATUS

On the back of the headset is a light that flashes in different sequences and colors, each indicating a particular status of the headset.  For example a steady blue light means the headset is in pairing mode.  Or a quick red flash means the battery is low.  There are also audio tones that indicate different statuses as well.  There is a whole table in the manual that lists the light/tone status for the headset.

BATTERY LIFE/CHARGING

To charge the headset simply lift a rubber cover at the back of the headset and use the mini-USB charger that comes with the Motorokr S9-HD.  It generally charges in less than 2 hours.  I’ve used the Motorokr S9-HD for about 2 weeks now and in general with my particular use (streaming music, podcasts for 1-2 hours a day) I find myself charging it twice a week.  Your experience may vary.  I’d like to hit on the biggest negative that I see in regards to the Motorokr S9-HD.  THE BATTERY IS NON-REPLACEABLE.  Motorola indicates that with general use one would get about 400 charges before the battery would no longer hold a charge.  What this means is that you are basically buying a disposable headset.  For me I am fine with that as I am sure I would upgrade to something different in a year, so I can live with this.  But for many this will be a real negative aspect of this headset.

CONCLUSIONS

A few other questions I have regarding the Motorokr S9-HD are its weather proofing, how it stands up to rain or sweat.  I’ve heard that they don’t stand up well to sweat and moisture so I plan on being careful with mine.  I don’t have a definitive answer at this point and Motorola makes no mention of weather proofing.  Overall I like this headset and would recommend it to anyone that wants a comfortable, lightweight performance Bluetooth stereo headset and can get over the fact that it will have a limited life due to a non-replaceable battery.

PROS: lightweight, comfortable, easy to use, exceptional sound quality

CONS: expensive at close to $90 and non-replaceable battery (meaning these are basically disposable)

Woke up this morning and started thinking about the predicted 90 degree weather here in the valley. What do you do when the weather gets hot here? You head for the coast where it’s a bit cooler. So we packed up the car and hit the road. Rather than hit the usual places we’ve been to many times before we decided to head to the north Oregon coast from Newport on north. We headed up Hwy. 99 to Corvallis and then west on Hwy 20 to Newport. The drive was nice despite the constant chatter from the back seat of “Are we there yet?” or “How much farther?” As soon as we hit Newport though we knew the weather would be much different. We could see the fog bank skirting the shoreline and while the wind wasn’t too bad it was definitely cool outside. It was strange to look toward the ocean and see fog and then look inland and see nothing but sunshine. We drove north on Hwy 101 to Agate Beach where we let the kids out to run and play on the beach. They scoured the shore for shells and rocks. We found lots of jellyfish and a sand burrowing crab that we played with. Eventually we put the crab near the water and watched him burrow deep into the sand and disappear. The kids continued to run into the water and let the waves chase them. At one point I wasn’t paying too close attention to the boys and they wandered out a bit toward the waves. A larger wave then they were used to came in and knocked both of them off their feet and tossed them around in the surf a bit. I could see my youngest son floating with a look of pure panic on his face. Keep in mind that the water off the Oregon coast is not a nice warm tropical water. It’s bone chilling icy cold freeze your arse off water and both boys were now soaked by it. I raced into the water myself and hoisted them both out. The older boy wanted to keep playing in it but the youngest was crying and saying he didn’t want to go to the beach any longer. I got them back up to the car and we dried them off and changed clothes. Back on the road we continued north through Depoe Bay to Lincoln City and then further north through Cloverdale, Beaver and Pleasant Valley to Tillamook where we were going to stop at the Air Museum but first stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we got to see the production floor of a large cheese making facility. The place was packed to the hilt but the kids wanted ice cream. To get the ice cream you had to wait in a long line to order and pay. Then once you got your order receipt you had to shuffle over to another line where you had to wait to actually get your ice cream. The problem was that none of the lines was clearly identified so we waited a long time in the wrong line and had to then go to the back of the correct line. By the time we got out of there it was too late to go to the museum as they were closing in 30 minutes. Oh well…I guess we’ll save that for another time. We decided to keep driving north since this was new territory for us and stumbled upon a small town named Garibaldi. This weekend happened to be Garibaldi Days and they had some special trains in town. The first thing you notice when you enter the town is the tall smoke stack which is all that remains of the Whitney Mill built in 1921. The kids also quickly spotted the train which turned out to be the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. They were in the process of moving some engines on the track so the boys really enjoyed that. The engine was a 1910 Heisler Steam Locomotive and we watched them fill it up with water from a fire hydrant. There was also a non-functional Polar Express train engine there which the kids instantly recognized from the movie. We also got to see the Great Northern (pictured) which was exciting. By this time it was getting late in the day so we headed for home. All in all an exciting day with the family. On to the next big adventure.

I’ve recently discovered the falafal. I don’t mean that I “discovered” the falafal but it is new to my menu. After eating one at Casablanca in the 5th Street Public Market (Eugene, Oregon) I had to question what took me so long to discover this incredible food. I mean I had heard of a falafal before but always thought of it as some strange food that would probably taste horrible and never really knew “what” it was. If you don’t know what a falafal is (don’t worry, I didn’t either) it is a fried ball (or patty) of spiced chickpeas (garbonzo) and/or fava beans. Since discovering Casablanca I have tried falafal at a few other places around town as well as up in Portland and I have to say that the falafal that Casablanca serves up are the best I’ve had. My favorite dish at Casablanca is the Falafal Sandwich which is a pita lined with hummus, layered with lettuce, tahini sauce, falafal, cucumber yogurt and a jalapeno relish. Good Lord it is good! I’ve also had the salad with tahini lemon dressing which makes a great combo with the falafal sandwich. Casablanca also makes a tasty drink called Majik which is a refreshing blend of Mediterranean juices (rose water, pomegranate juice). On a 90 degree summer day you can’t find a drink more refreshing than this. But don’t take my word for it. Head on down and try it for yourself. Say hi to Todd and the guys while you are there.