I just learned how to do batch process in PhotoShop today. WOW! Why did I not figure this out 7 years ago? I've used various third party programs to batch resize images, and I'm manually resized a countless number of pictures over the years.

I have tried batch processing in PhotoShop before, but ran into dead ends. Maybe there were no good tutorials then, or maybe I was on the wrong track somehow. But it is really much easier than I imagined. In PhotoShop you open an image, then open the 'Actions' tab (next to the History). Create a new Folder (call it Batch Actions), then create a new action (call it Resize). Then hit the record button on the 'Actions' tab. Resize the image like you would, and save it to a new folder. Then hit the stop button. That's it.

Here are some more detailed tutorials on batch processing:
How to Batch Process in PhotoShop
Batch Processing in Photoshop
Batch Processing Images in PhotoShop

The first winds of winter started blowing last week, and the cold air behind them brought some snow showers tonight. It's been grey and rainy the last couple days, but it turned into a snow/ice mix tonight. Supposedly it's 36 degrees out, but there is close to a half inch accumulated on the ground.

A week after my first visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park, I got the chance to visit again. This time I go with Matthew, Mike and Dennis...of which Dennis had been there before. With a guide this time around, we ventured deeper into the park.

We made it to the Alpine Visitor Center which is near the middle of the park. From there you can trek up to over 12,000 ft above sea level.

Dennis, Mike, Matthew, and Chad at 12,005ft above sea level

From there we drove around and checked out the views anywhere we could. We stopped at one point and saw a heard of elk grazing along the mountainside.

Elk Grazing

We went to Bear Lake and Nymph Lake, but this time I was able to go all the way back to Dream Lake. It was a beautiful setting, but night was falling by the time we reached it. No good pictures. We did pass this nice little waterfall on the way...

It was a fun day, and we got to explore a lot of the park. Here are some more pics from the adventure.

I've stayed pretty busy the whole time I've been in Boulder, but the last couple weeks have been busy and stressful. A lot of ups and downs, with a lot of work left to do. I'm learning new things in all directions, but that doesn't keep me from having to deal with all the things I still don't know or haven't mastered.

The fast paced environment of recent leaves me alternating between bouts of work and brief interludes of contemplation. I'm a trooper. I am enjoying the ride as a one-of-a-kind life experience. But the ride isn't always smooth, sometimes you have to hold on to your hat and power through.

I've been very fortunate, and my life has taken interesting turns in the last decade. I have been given such opportunities and experienced a range of things I could never have fathomed. The series of events that leads me to this point in life has been very far from "normal", if there is such a thing. But the variety of projects we're working on now, along with the scale and the rate they're coming together, is at the outer limits of where I've played before. It's big, dynamic stuff. Very cool...and possibly overwhelming at times if you're not prepared. Hence, me doing some contemplating on how best to manage the next phases.

This blog. What an odd concoction. I realize it's not a niche blog, breaking down some new technological mystery every day. It's not devoted to technology, Web 2.0, marketing, gardening, or porn. It just me. It's more of a journal, except it's slightly amplified, in the sense that it's completely public. I can keep people informed of what's going on in my world, and record stuff for myself to look back and remember later. I guess I've always thought of doing something like this, but I get a case of perfectionism/procrastination going on sometimes. It's a horrible disease. You think of a idea, you think about long and hard, and you get to the details. Then you see the pros and cons of each way you could do something. You think and think...pros and cons, pros and cons...then you can't make up your mind which way to go. So you go to sleep, and absolutely nothing gets accomplished from all your hard thought out planning. That has happened a lot in the case of me keeping some kind of blog. I never found the perfect way to incorporate everything, and so I just never got started.

This domain, chad-king.com was purchased by a friend of mine...probably just a couple hours after meeting him. He said do whatever with it. I'm not sure if this is what he had in mind. Haha! But it's a start. I once registered chadking.com, but that was back in 1998 or so, and domains were $100/yr. I never ended up paying for it, and moved on. But with this site, it's pretty much a free for all. So I'm going to enjoy it. I realize it's a little cheesy. When comparing it to a friend's more artistic blog the other day, he responded - "You write about life as life, I write about life as a story book." Which is true. Sometimes I want to write story books, though. Maybe next year.

I just wrapped up a book called, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which is a modern science fiction tale. The main thing that stood out in the book was their economy. It was entirely based on reputation. Intriguing.

Autumn is on its way. Slow and steady...summer is still hear...but I feel it.

There are deer everywhere in Colorado. I'm not sure how hunting works out here, but it is nothing like hunting in Indiana. These deer are not afraid of people at all. I've seen them in the road, in the park, in gardens, eating flowers, and even in the back yard. Not long after we moved into this house, I spotted a doe with two tiny fawns trailing her, strolling through yard, making their way to the open space behind the house.

Today, I saw the same three deer. The fawns are starting to lose their spots.

So after a long day, I sat out on the deck tonight with Nick for a bit, and told some good lies about life, experience, and whatnot. Before long we started seeing shooting stars. The Perseid meteor shower was in full effect, and our view to the west, over the mountains, before the moon came out, was the perfect viewing opportunity. I saw 15-20 shooting stars in a short amount of time, and tried to accompany each one with a nice wish for good measure.

A couple weeks ago, a good friend was visiting, and we tried to catch a glimpse of the milky way above. But the moon and street lights wouldn't let it happen. Tonight, you could see it perfectly, contrasting with the pitch black sky.

As our discussion wandered and landed on books, Nick brought up Kurt Vonnegut and the importance of "knowing what's nice" when you see it. This was a nice experience.

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Kurt Vonnegut - University of Wisconsin in Madison Speech

And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''

So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''

That’s one favor I’ve asked of you.

A friend has been doing a lot of research on China lately, and we had several conversations early today that stemmed from that. The Olympics and the World Expo were brought up, as well as current pro's and con's to the major government types in existence today.

There was an increased depth of light conversation that made me smile. All social environments are different, but at certain times, under the right conditions, some environments can definitely be more stimulating, educational, or productive than others.

On top of that, what did I learn today?
- Recent U.S. passports have a note inside that says, "This document contains sensitive electronics." Evidently those electronics can be destroyed by about 4 seconds in a microwave oven.
- Some people use images of 3d spaces in their minds in order to keep track of certain things, such as counting cards. One individual I talked to said he pictured a room with items placed all around it. Each card was associated with a different item. A 6 of Hearts was represented by a guitar. Reason being, heart strings related to strings on a guitar, and a guitar has 6 strings. Each time a card comes up, the individual pictures walking around the room and posting a sticky note on the object. Then you can count the sticky not to know how many of those cards have appeared. By assigning each card a different object, and each object a certain spot in a 3 dimensional space, your brain does a better job of keeping track of everything.

...and some days the bear gets you.

After work yesterday, a couple friends and I set out on a short (20 minutes had been mentioned) bike ride. We headed off on the North Foothills Trail, which none of us had explored before. We realized very soon it was going to be a little rougher than expected. One of the guys was on a carbon fiber racing bike, and he did his best to ride up this washed out trail, over and around boulders, ruts, and stones. After conquering the hill, and maneuvering down the other side, the trail smoothed out a little bit, then ended at the trailhead. We went down a gravel road for a ways, then I guess we got on Eagle Trail. It ran along a ridge for a ways, then down a hill, past a lake...and continued all the way to the Boulder Reservoir.

Our 20 minute ride had been extended considerably by this time. We decided to come back via the roads rather than the trails. We were gone about an hour, but in the 90 degree weather, it seemed like a lot longer.

Joy and Brandon from Access Marketing Company dropped by to visit right as we arrived home. They brought lasagna, salad, and pie! We ate, drank, and told stories for several hours. We even had some impromptu entertainment with singing and guitar.

A great day by any standards!

Tonight a friend of ours, Doug, dropped by. We decided to play a little Frisbee in the park down the trail. It was about sunset, and as we got about 1/8 mile from the house, we started seeing all the prairie dogs scurrying around. Soon after, they all seemed to be standing on their hind legs, on top of their mounds, looking around at each other. You could see 35 to 50, spread out all around.

Prairie dogs bark/talk vocally to one another, and there was no lack of that. I have seen prairie dogs have an active spurt each night right as the sun is setting, and I thought this standing posture was possibly a part of that nightly ceremony. It wasn't for another 1-2 minutes did I see the actual cause. A coyote was slowly ambling through the field of prairie dog mounds, right at the base of the mountain. The prairie dogs had all eyes on the coyote.

The craziest thing about this, is that it all happened within site of our house. It was like an episode on National Geographic, right in the backyard.

We continued down the trail, and played Frisbee for about an hour and a half at the Foothills Community Park. There were already several league teams playing Ultimate Frisbee there, but we made some space and had a great time. My hands are all sore and bruised from being abused by the Frisbee.

After a fun couple days in Boulder and Denver, on Sunday we headed north. Though Kim only had one day to acclimate to the altitude, we pushed the limits and went to the Rocky Mountain National Park for some exploring. We didn't know exactly where we were going, but with some tips from friends and the visitor center, we found a couple nice hikes and got to see a wide range of scenery. We went up to somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 ft above sea level before the day was through.

Inside Rocky Mountain National Park

Everything inside the park looks like a postcard. Whatever direction I turned, I had this urge to take a picture. Being from the Midwest, I'm not used to seeing mountains silhouette every view. The mountains, the wildlife, the lakes, waterfalls, cliffs...it's all beautiful.

Our first excursion was to Alberta Falls. It was a nice little hike, and at the end you were rewarded with a non-stop roaring waterfall. There is not a good vantage point to see the entire thing in one shot, for the upper falls wind around a little bit. If you climb up a ways at the falls, you can see out over the treetops to the valley below and the mountains beyond.

Albert Falls

Next, we made the trek to Bear Lake. There's a trail all the way around the lake, and the view changes dramatically depending on which side you're standing. The snow capped mountains in the distance peak out over the trees. Reflections ripple in the water. Bob Ross must have came here for inspiration.

Bear Lake

We continued up the trail beyond Bear Lake to Nymph Lake, which doesn't offer quite the same breathtaking views. It's smaller, more secluded, and seems more peaceful in general. In the lake were tons of lily pads (I don't know what the correct term is), which was another new thing for me. Those are a little less common back in Indiana.

Nymph Lake

We hadn't really planned too much in advance for our trip, so being low on food, water, and energy...we figured we should head back to civilization. After eating, we went swimming at the local rec center, and sat in the hot tub for a while to relax after an eventful day.

The day seemed to fall into place, and capped off a great weekend. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Kim and I spent early Saturday driving around in the mountains, taking pictures and enjoying the view. Glennis, from The Guide to Health and Healing Magazine, told us there was an art festival down on Pearl Street that we should check out.

We proceeded to Pearl Street take in the sites. There were booths setup all down the Mall, and some of the adjoining road was blocked as well. Metal sculptures, paintings photos, woodworking, and stone art were some of types of media being displayed. Matt Angiono at Epic Light Photo and Mark Zurek at Photo Anarchy both had some creative photo work that enticed me pick up their cards.

There were several musicians playing down on Pearl, like there are every weekend. We still had some $1 bills left over from last night, so we proceeded to tip and take pictures of our favorites.

We saw Bob Culbertson playing a Chapman Stick. A Chapman Stick is a two-handed fretboard tapping instrument...basically a regular guitar neck and a base guitar neck attached to each other, and they are both played entirely by hammer-ons and hammer-offs. This guy is one of the best. We had oddly enough watched part of a video by him on Friday, so it was cool getting to see him play live.

Bob Culbertson playing Chapman Stick

There was a couple playing didgeridoos non-stop. As I tipped their hat, the gentleman didged "Thhaaankk Yooouu..." without missing a beat.

Playing Didges

After the art festival, and walking down Boulder Creek Trail for a bit, we headed down to Denver to what they hope to be the first annual Mile High Music Festival.

Mile Hight Music Festival stage and sunset

We got to see O.A.R. perform, but our primary goal was to see Tom Petty. He came on around 9PM and put on a great show. Steve Winwood sang a couple songs with him, and he pulled out "End of the Line (It's Alright)" from his time with the Traveling Wilburys.

Overall it was a jam packed day, with good company, topped off by a great show.