Mike Ball

Cold Weather

Mike — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:17:57 +0000

This has been a weird winter, the warmest on record, but after some very spring-like weather that coaxed the blossoms out we had a hard freeze and snow. For example, we had a small snowstorm today. In the valley, it was mixed with rain, and it didn’t stick here, but it’s got the growers worried.

Personally [...]

What I’m doing with this blog

Mike — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:15:07 +0000

When I retired it seemed that a large part of the reason for having a blog disappeared. Also, my blog was besieged by spam, and whenever I tried to update it something went wrong. I’ve been accumulating lots of photos from family events and travel, and I know that some people would like to see [...]

Up the Umpqua

Mike — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:55:22 +0000

The day after our trip up Table Rock was also clear and sunny, so we looked for another place to explore. My left ankle was very stiff, so it would have to be mostly driving, but we really wanted to get out somewhere. The Umpqua is the next major river north of the Rogue, and [...]

Table Rock

Mike — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:22:45 +0000

Last Friday we had the first nice weather in several weeks, so we decided to go take a look at one of the local landmarks, Table Rock. It’s one of a pair of mesas just North of Medford. We decided to tackle upper table rock. The trail was steep in places, and filled with rocks [...]

Architecture Goes

Mike — Sun, 25 May 2008 04:14:16 +0000

We are all packed (except for necessities) and I’m at loose ends for the next few days, so I’ve been catching up on TedTalks. I’ve mentioned a few of them here before.

Here’s one I especially like: Norman Foster: Building on the green agenda.

I have a few special reasons for liking it. First, it explains how [...]

Why Crack Dealers Live With Their Mothers

Mike — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:51:55 +0000

A couple of years ago I read a great book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics. It was a great book, applying economic principals in day-to-day situations. I heartily recommend it. This posting was inspired by a video of a talk by Steven Levitt on a topic from the book. One of them lived [...]

Yreka (The Great White Mountain)

Mike — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:16:37 +0000

Yreka (Why-ree-ka) is a small town about 25 miles South of the Oregon border. The name is said to come from the local native language and means “great white mountain”. The picture shows why.

We really don’t know much about the town, though we expect to learn more, but just driving by makes it look interesting. [...]

Our New House in Southern Oregon

Mike — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:26:44 +0000

As I said in the last post, we’ve just acquired a house in Southern Oregon. At the moment we have a contractor doing some repairs before we move in. We’re planning on moving sometime during the first couple of weeks in June.

We set out to buy a house in Ashland, which is a small university [...]

Some great work on music

Mike — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:50:29 +0000

I know I should have been keeping this up to date, and there really is lots to report on (we now own a house in Oregon), but I’ve just seen a talk and demonstration that really inspired me. Tod Machover at the MIT Media Lab has been experimenting with new ways to play music, and [...]

Idealism Wins One

Mike — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:16:04 +0000

I just saw a wonderful talk by a fellow named Dave Eggers. He’s set up projects to get successful adults working one on one with school kids. Check out the talk or his website. It’s well worth the time.