Wednesday, February 28, 2007

vanity makeover


after refinishing
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
In my spare time this last week, I refinished the vanity in our main floor bath. The birch plywood cabinet is solid and well built, but still sported the dark 70's stain. I sanded down the faces of the drawers and doors, followed by a couple of coats of verathane. The hardware was spray painted black and now match the counter accessories. The result is an improvement over what it was. (check my photostream for the 'before' pic) I still have to do something with the louvered bifold doors, but I'm not sure what.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Sidney Glen boys take district championship

Today was a marathon of basketball in South Kitsap. All ten elementary schools in the district battle it out for bragging rights in a boys and girls tournament. It takes place on two Saturdays, and today was the final day. The Sidney Glen Dolphins did great. The girls went undefeated until their last game, and the boys dominated with an undefeated record. They played five games just today. Coach CJ was proud of his talented teams, though a little disappointed that the girls didn't make it a perfect Sidney Glen sweep. One contributing factor to our school having good teams is an extensive after school basketball program. Each year CJ organizes the program and teachers volunteer to coach. Four of the boys on the school team have been on teams that I coached; and two of them are former students. It was fun to watch them do so well. They played hard and worked as a team. Way to go boys and CJ!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Big White weekend


ski in/ski out chalet
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
We are spending President's weekend with the Eides at Big White. The chalet this year is very nice. It has a large open framed living area, with dining, kitchen and living room all in one great room. It has good ski in/ski out access. We had one less day for the weekend as we had school on Friday this year. We are trying to pack in as much as we can. The snowboarding has been good. The runs are nice and long, and the snow is dry. It's too bad the vacation is so short.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

foggy day of snowboarding

Yesterday Markus and I went snowboarding at Stevens Pass. I picked him up in the morning at SPU and headed up for some father/son snow carving. We had a good time together, but the conditions were less than ideal. The snow wasn't too icy, but there was a band of clouds that hung on the mountain all day. Visibility is important when you careen down a mountain! The crowds weren't bad and we put in a full day. Markus broke in a new pair of bindings, and I wore out an old pair of legs.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

a new lense to capture life


new camera
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
Five years seems to be the critical point for me to upgrade my technological toys - excuse me, TOOLS! It was five years between my iBook and my MacBook. And it was five years ago that I entered the digital photo world with my Canon Powershot S110. Yesterday, I purchased a Canon Powershot S3 IS for the exact same price as the S110. I debated long and hard whether to get another compact click and shoot or the bulkier feature rich camera. I have really enjoyed the convenience of the pocket camera, but have been frustrated with it's lack of perfomance, particularly in low-light and indoor settings. I reasoned that I could still use my small camera, when on the dash; but utilize the more powerful S3 when I wanted to do more serious photograhy. The new S3 has a 12x optical zoom and strong image stabilizing features. Stay tuned for hopefully better pictures on this blog.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

a quick project


donated labor
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor.
Earlier this school year, I donated four hours of labor to a fundraising auction. A fellow teacher got the high bid and wanted me to build some shelves for her mother. Tonight I made good on my promise and built these shelves in their newly constructed garage. They are 3/4 inch plywood shelves; sixteen feet long, eight feet high, and 30 inches deep. She will be able to fit a lot of stuff on those shelves! I had to be a little careful working in the garage with a fully restored 57 Tbird next to me!