#rollerderby, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

On Friday night we went with some friends to go see the roller derby at the Redwood City Roller Rink. It was pretty cool, although I didn’t really have a clue what the rules were or the finer points of the game. I sort of got it by the end but it is was still a fun atmosphere.  All the players get into the part with their gear and face paint, like the image I took here. Lots of fans who were interesting, good people watching event – some had some really interesting tattoos.

The event is put on by the Peninsula Roller Girls

Here is more about them from their site:

“Peninsula Roller Girls was founded by a group of skaters in December 2010. Most of our members live and/or work on the San Francisco Peninsula. We are a skater-owned-and-operated league, and we practice hard several times a week to improve our skills and to stay in shape to bout competitively. Our travel team competes in scrimmages and bouts around California. Our home teams, the Damas de los Muertos and the Psychopathogens, play intraleague bouts against each other in Redwood City. PRG is dedicated to the promotion of female empowerment, physical fitness, fun and community engagement.

You can follow us on Facebook or join us at one of our upcoming events as well!”

Hilton’s Aeolid, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

Had a great day of diving on the Sanctuary on Saturday. The weather was sunny and ocean fairly calm.

We had a nice sighting of a couple of gray whales on our way out with them breaching in-front of us.

My best photos for the day were this Hilton’s Aeolid, I saw several on both dives.

Dive #490 – Fire Rock, 87 feet for 37 minutes.  Visibility was about 15 feet.

Dive #491 – Fire Rock, 64 feet for 44 minutes.  Visibility was about 15 feet.  Better of the two dives with a nice rock with several nudibranch and then found a nice vermilion rockfish.

Our bee swarm – hoping they move on soon, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

There was a swarm of bees that took up residence in our backyard this week. I’m going to give them a few days to move on before I take any action. From what I can see on the internet, they are looking for a new nest and would be scouting around trying to find the right spot for their new queen. It is exciting to see them all bunched up and massed like this.

This week I uploaded my collection of Redwood City postcards that I’ve collected. Redwood City is where I’ve lived for the past 15 years and I love this place. The postcards offer a variety of views from early 20th Century to modern day. I really like the old downtown scenes… You may notice the Marine World postcards — it was here in the Redwood City area until I think the 70s. A number of my friends who grew up here have fond memories of working there.

Whit-spotted jelly, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

The Monterey Aquarium has a nice exhibit of their jellyfish with a psychedelic 60s theme which I thought was pretty cute. The signs were creative and they had some new varieties that I hadn’t seen before.

The exhibit – which features the work of two Santa Cruz artists –  is inspired both by the colorful, rippling movements of the ancient underwater creatures that predate dinosaurs, and the music and art of the 1960s that paid homage to all things weird, colorful and trippy.

Big sailing ship at the port this week, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

Not a lot happened this week except for work and such.  But here is an image I took of a couple of tall ships that came into Redwood City which were cool. Its hard to tell from this image but there are 2 ships here.

They are The Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, which are reproductions of old ships who are making their annual educational tours to students from schools on the Peninsula in addition to giving dockside tours.

I went on Saturday for about 30 minutes and walked around the decks.  The crew are happy to answer questions and it was a beautiful day out.  I didn’t know much about these ships but looked up information later — here is what I found:

“Hawaiian Chieftain was built in 1988 in Lahaina on the island of Maui, the Hawaiian Chieftain is a contemporary interpretation of a traditional design. She is unique with the rig of a 19th-century trading vessel and a modern triple keel, shallow draft hull. Drawing only 5.5 feet (1.7 m), she is highly maneuverable in shallow waters.[1]

The replica of the Lady Washington was built in Aberdeen, Washington, United States in time for the 1989 Washington State Centennial celebrations.  Operated by a professional and volunteer crew under the auspices of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, she sails up and down the Pacific coast reaching out to sailors and lubbers of all ages through the romance of the sea in the hope that they take a little of her history back with them.

Today she sails regularly in pair with the Hawaiian Chieftain, educating students in the history of merchant trading, life of common sailors, and responsibilities of the ship’s officers.”

The Lady Washington has appeared in various films

1. Portraying HMS Interceptor in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the brig
2. Enterprise, a namesake of the Starship Enterprise, on the holodeck in Star Trek Generations.
3. She also provided the basis for the RLS Legacy in the Disney animated feature Treasure Planet.
4. The ship has also appeared on television, as Captain Hook’s ship on Once Upon a Time.

“The original Lady Washington, or more commonly, Washington, was a 90-ton sloop. Her early history is still in question. As part of the Columbia Expedition, she left Boston Harbor on October 1, 1787. She sailed around Cape Horn and participated in the Maritime Fur Trade with the coastal Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the Pacific in China. She was the first American-flagged vessel to round Cape Horn. She was the first recorded vessel to make landfall on the Oregon coast near Tillamook, Oregon. John Meares claimed that she was the first non-native vessel to circumnavigate Vancouver Island.

The Washington became the first American vessel to reach Japan in an unsuccessful attempt to move some unsold pelts. Washington remained in the Pacific trade and eventually foundered in the Philippines in 1797. She was lost at the mouth of the Mestizo River, near Vigan, NW Luzon in July 1797.”

Read more on WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Washington

My latest model – the space pod from Lost in Space, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

This is my latest finished model, the Space Pod from Lost in Space. Made by Moebius: http://www.amazon.com/Moebius-Models-Lost-Space-Model/dp/B0018RUNFG

It was a difficult model for me but fun. This was the first model I used my new paint airbrush. Lost in Space was one of my favorites from my childhood.

Margaret asked me to take a quiz for my “love language” — the new popular book on relationships.  It wasn’t a surprise what came to the top of the list — service and touch.   I love doing things for people but often have anxiety around people doing things for me.  Maybe I don’t feel like I can thrust they are doing it out of love for me or some sort of obligation.   I always love touch and feel touch deprived.

Interesting quiz — easy to take, give it a try.  Love Language Quiz.

My Results

The highest score indicates your primary love language (the highest score is 12). It’s not uncommon to have two high scores, although one language does have a slight edge for most people. That just means two languages are important to you.

The lower scores indicate those languages you seldom use to communicate love and which probably don’t affect you very much on an emotional level. Learn more about your primary love language and how to put it to use next to the corresponding badge below.

Your Scores

• 5 Words of Affirmation
• 5 Quality Time
• 3 Receiving Gifts
• 9 Acts of Service
• 8 Physical Touch

Acts of Service

Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an “Acts of Service” person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don’t matter. Finding ways to serve speaks volumes to the recipient of these acts.

Physical Touch

This language isn’t all about the bedroom. A person whose primary language is Physical Touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face – they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive. Physical touch fosters a sense of security and belonging in any relationship.

Saturday I did two dives on the Beach Hopper 2. The weather was great and conditions were marvelous with vis at around 40 feet.

The day didn’t start out too well though because I left my BC at home and had 30 minutes to rent one at Bamboo Reef — thank goodness for them. Switching BCs also meant that I had to also rent a regulator so that I had back up air…. with my KnightHawk and its integrated Air 2, the ones available for rent wouldn’t work.

But I stayed calm and just got it all done. The full boat went down to Carmel — very little swell starting out in the morning. Both dives were good, about 30 minutes each within the 70-90 foot range.

Here is my collection of photos from the day… many anemone this day. The second dive right at the end I was surprised with a nice sized ling-cod, pictured here.

An original Danielle Harel painting, a photo by Ed Bierman on Flickr.

I turned 49 today — not much to say about that but hard to think I’m working on closing my first half century.

I want to make some changes this year — we’ll see how they go.