A new (to me) way of sharing photos

At work today, we had an all-day workshop focused on social software applications.  These are applications like facebook and LinkedIn, but also other kinds of programs that feature some content provided by the users.  Amazon, for instance, uses user-written reviews to great effect.  eBay is almost all user-contributed information (i.e. the items for sale, the bids, the user feedback ratings, etc.).

Flickr.com was already one of my favorite sites.  I use it to find photographs for all kinds of reasons.  I've used it on this blog to show you some of the places I'd love to go.  I've used it at work to find (properly licensed) photographs to convey some message in a presentation.  But I hadn't tried it for housing and sharing my own photos.  One of the speakers at today's workshop was from flickr.  It was a pretty interesting presentation, and it inspired me to give it a try.

So, a couple of photo sets have been put up there.  Some of these photos I've shown here before, but most will be new to you.  I'd be interested in hearing what you think.  Of the photos, sure, but also of flickr as a means of viewing photos in the context of a blog.  Would you prefer to see a few selected photos embedded in the blog?  Or would you rather see a bunch more photos, but a little out of context?

These are photos from a fishing trip I took, up into the Sierra Nevada mountains two years ago.  My brother-in-law, his brother-in-law, and their friends make this trip every year.  I've gone twice, and both times come back relaxed, grounded in nature, and much more in touch with myself.

These are photos from the family driving trip we took last year, up the coast of California and Oregon, and back again.  A wonderful time together, punctuated daily by interesting and beautiful sights.

I hope you enjoy them.

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This morning's yoga class was nice.  Particularly nice, because I learned a lot about a chronic problem I've had.  My hamstrings, and the tendons that run up the back of my upper legs, are very, very, very tight.  So tight that I can't sit up straight with my legs out straight in front of me.

When stretching, I could never get into the muscle, because the tendons would shriek with resistance.  So, I kept trying to lengthen them.  It's frustrating, because there are few leg stretches I can even get started on, because of this tightness.  Today I brought it up in class.

Turns out that, from where I'm starting, stretching with straight legs is the wrong place to start.  It puts all the strain on the tendons.  If I worked those tendons over and over, without also stretching out the muscle, I could eventually damage the connections between the tendons and the bones.  Instead, I need to work on the "belly" of the muscle (a great, figurative term that makes total intuitive sense to me), by giving myself permission to ignore all the advice my high school gym teachers gave me, and stretch with my knees bent.  It felt GREAT.  What was a frustrating, painful part of every stretching session has turned into something enjoyable.

I'm also hopeful.  Hopeful that, with time, I'll stretch out the leg muscles enough to get to the tendons in the right way.  Hopeful that, eventually, I'll have flexible legs. We'll see.

Food log:

Breakfast: yogurt, with strawberries and a little granola.  A cup of mixed chopped fruit.

Lunch: 1c egg salad, a greek green salad, a small handful of potato chips, a chocolate-chip cookie

Snacks: crackers with cheeses, fruit, and a little hummus.  A diet coke.

Dinner: leftover salad of romaine, beets, bleu cheese, fried chicken tenders, and honey mustard dressing.  A glass of milk.  Yum!