The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

Kim won a raffle in February for entry into her first half-ironman in Rockford IL on Sunday. The original weather predictions were in the 90's and humid, not great conditions for a 5-6 hour endurance test. But they ended up with storms instead of heat.

I guess there were about 500 participants...with everyone starting the swim at the same time. There were only guys around her during the swim and she's decided guys are messy swimmers. She got elbowed in the face by someone.

She was in first place starting the bike split, ahead of the woman Pro in the race! During part of the 56 mile bike ride she felt like she was in a hurricane as the storm front came through. Then she was out in the wide open with nobody around when she started seeing lightning. She said it made her ride faster to try to finish the last 6 miles!

She finished 5th overall among the women, which should mean $200 in prize money. Might almost cover her expenses (hotel/travel), but she may "break" even by the fact that when she got home she broke her blender, dropping it when she was trying to make a smoothie (lack of coordination after the exertion).

Posted by Lucy 06/10/2008

Thailand is generally considered to be a safe country for travellers to visit, but if you plan a trip to Thailand it would be wise to avoid the island of Ko Tao. You wont find this in your Lonely Planet but many tourists who venture to Ko Tao never return. The island, considered to be one of the best places in Asia to get scuba certified, is packed with over 40 dive companies and the instructors and divers that go with it. All on an island small enough to walk across in an hour. Nearly everyone on the island is here to dive, and to party, and everyone does alot of both. If you're not familiar with the dive community, they are the most laid back, fun people you'll ever meet. By diving or enrolling in a course you immediatley make friends and get plugged into the local scene. The problem? The island drags you in. Countless many people have the same story; 'Yeah, I came here for a week long vacation and never left..' Within 6 hours of arriving it was plain that our original 1 week target was totally unrealistic.

Posted by nik 09/21/2008

The day has come when I finally have to do school work again. While I was not looking forward to this interruption in my life of leisure, I was starting to get a bit anxious to meet people and start joining some clubs and activities.

I played some pick-up ultimate frisbee yesterday - got a little exhaustion back in these retired soccer legs of mine! I guess you could say they're re-TIRED... heh. I crack myself up. I also joined the Dive Club and will be joining in some of their reef trips in the coming months, as much as my money will allow me :) Reef diving isn't cheap.

I'm also currently working on making my way down to Byron Bay (which is a little over 19 hours drive down the coast!) for Easter weekend for a huge Blues and Roots festival. 5 days, 5 stages, incredible music. Some of the artists I look forward to seeing there:
Xavier Rudd, G. Love, Maceo Parker, Keb Mo', KT Tunstall, OAR, Emdee, Ozomatli, Jason Mraz, Black Crowes, John Butler Trio... and about 50 other artists. Yeah, it's gonna be amazing. But I'm not sure how I'm going to get there. Buses or planes would cost me a good $300+ round trip. I wouldn't mind making an adventure out of the drive, but that requires finding someone with a car and the same twisted sense of adventure.

But the way I see it, I have to get to this festival. So if it means dropping some money for the experience of a lifetime, then so be it, eh?

That's all for now. I'll keep you posted on my ride search!
Posted by Whitney 03/06/2008