Musings from the prairie

RUN 

Katrina Making Waves 

So I realized that I needed to start another blog (that no one will read either) for my weather fixiation. I guess that means that I need a real photo blog, rather than using this one for that purposes... Anwway, Eric's Weather Blog (boring name, I know) is where I will be posting random stuff related to weather. I will also post a page with current weather stats, with focus on the upper midwest. There's even a site feed .

Or so says Brian Solano. I received that voice mail about 10 years ago after a friend called my home phone, my pager (I'm dating myself here), and my cell phone with no luck. It seems that in this age of instant communication and rapid fire messaging we have as much trouble connecting as ever. So with that in mind I offer the following additional methods for contacting me: Free World Dialup: 288701 Skype: ericortega Gizmo: 7476086268 Or if you don't mind paying for some LD charges you can call 360-968-1809. It's a Washington state number but it gets forwarded to my Free World Dialup (FWD) SIP phone. So there you have it. Now you and anyone else can hit me up. And goodnight Mr. Solano, wherever you are.

As many people know I am a certified weather nut. Moving to the Midwest from the desert was a major boon to my habit. Recently I found a cool website that will place current weather information over Google's mapping features. Google Weather Maps is actually pretty cool. Also, checkout the Google Earth state (US only, sorry) radar overlays. You'll have to download Google Earth but it's worth the wait.

Waiting For The Final Light 

Evening 

This one, he's with me 

I know that a bunch of you might think that this turned into a photoblog (would that be so bad?) seeing as I haven't writen anything lately. 1) Things are going well in SD. We have adjusted quite well and the weather has been great! 2) I AM taking more shots lately so you can check out the gallery. The link is on the right. 3) Podcasting: www.ipodder.org . Figure it out! Make it happen. On that note I have been subscribing to a podcast called EarthCore. It's the serialization of a novel writen by Scott Sigler. And it ROCKS. He puts out a few chapters a week. Use your podcast client to get the previoius an future episodes. The Scott Sigler site is here . and the EarthCore feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/EarthCore . Also I spoke with the author via IM and he asked me to spread the word. You've been told. :) In truth, it's a really good story and it gets better every week. 4) We are going camping this weekend so expect some pics from that.

14 Hours Later 

New Fence/New Camera 

Average Day 

North Dakota Refrigerator 

Click here for the bunny movie!

So you’ve probably noticed that the site has been going up and down for the past week. That was due to a bad chassis fan and power supply in the existing unit. The bad hardware has been replaced and the site should now be stable. Until the new stuff fails. Maybe then I’ll start paying for hosting. Maybe not. Mail is still being hosted over at www.docsis.org . Thanks Fagan! If the box goes nuts again, mail will still keep flowing. If the new box is stable I will swing mail back over to www.iortega.org . Things are going well here. We are adjusting to life in South Dakota and doing well. Having a warmer than normal winter is a bummer but we’ll get by. There are pictures of a big snow storm over at the Gallery . On a side note, you should get into podcasting . I own a 3G iPod, but now you can use any portable media player (or no portable device at all). You should get an iPod. As usual write me and let me know what going on with you. E