It seems I have been slacking-off as far as blogging goes lately. I’ve mainly been passing my time watching the Olympics and trying to figure out what I should do with my life…

Two weekends ago, we did our Mission Peak hike on Saturday (August 9), but we went up from the Ohlone Trail. We haven’t done that in a while. I brought my 40D for once, and was rewarded with an encounter with a coyote near the top (pictured on the left). I saw it not far from the junction where the Ohlone Trail meets the trail from Stanford Ave. On the way down, near what I dubbed the “Cow Pond”, Nick spotted what turned out to be a Cooper’s hawk. Initially it was sitting on a rock having a staring contest with a squirrel. The squirrel won, and the hawk flew to a fence post. After a couple minutes there, it flew off. We also encountered a Northern harrier on the way up. It was right next to the path, but I didn’t have my camera ready. I did manage to get a few shots from farther away. They are posted here.

The following Sunday (August 10), Mary and I took Nick to Point Reyes. We picked up some sandwiches at Safeway and coffee at Peet’s, then made the 1.5 hour drive to the visitor center. The Big Bear Visitor Center has a really nice display of local wildlife. I highly recommend it. After the visitor center, we drove out to Drake’s Beach to eat our lunch. It was really foggy at the beach. I was concerned we would have bad visibility at the lighthouse. After lunch we drove out to the point and walked to the lighthouse (picture on left). Fortunately, it was completely clear by the time we got out there. On our walk to the lighthouse, we saw some deer grazing near the path. From the light house we watched various birds and a few sea lions far below. We could even see some huge jellyfish floating in the surf. After we got back from the lighthouse we drove to the Chimney Rock trailhead. We did not find any elephant seals at their haul-out beach. We did spot a Northern harrier on the hunt. We walked out part of the way to Chimney Rock for a view from the Overlook (picture on right). We spotted the harrier on the way back to the car. On the way home we stopped in Emeryville to look for Esperanza, one of the peregrines from last year’s brood in San Jose. She is often spotted in the area, but we did not find her.

I spent most of the week watching the Olympics. I’m not real impressed with NBC’s coverage, but somehow I keep watching. It was pretty exciting to see Michael Phelps win all those medals, but I’m glad swimming is over. I also managed to meet up with my friends Reed (from Austin) and Milya (from London) who were in town on business. Mary and I had dinner with them on Monday and I met them again for lunch on Wednesday.

This past Saturday (August 16) was Nick’s last day in the Bay Area. Instead of our usual hike, we went to Windy Hill with Jeff, Alta, Catherine and Hien. It a bit shorter and easier then Mission, but still a pretty good work out. After the hike we all went to Mango Cafe in Palo Alto. Mango Cafe is a pretty good Jamaican and Trinidad/Tobago restaurant. I think they have changed owners a few times, so the quality varies from visit to visit. Later that evening we took Nick to the airport so he could fly home.

On Sunday (August 17) Mary and I met up with Prabha and Steve for lunch. We met them earlier in the year when we went out to visit a bald eagle nest site. Prabha was also quite involved with the San Jose falcons. It was nice catching up with them since the falcons fledged. Otherwise, we watched some Olympics and had a relaxing day.

Other than that, I’ve been mulling over what my next career move will be. I feel like I’ve reached a bit of a dead end regarding clean tech. At the moment I’m leaning towards a position with my old friends at Oregan Networks. They are based in London, but they need a technical person to interact with their partners and customers in the US. It will probably involve a little more travel than I prefer, but the technology is related to what I was doing for a few years at LuxSonor, networked entertainment. I’ll be meeting with Mark, the CEO, over the weekend to work out the final details. We’ll see how it goes.