Which is actually my oldest home on the web. Imajazz.com was my first domain and I still use my kc@imajazz.com.

For months now I’ve been uncertain about the future of my personal blogging. This move is one step towards re-purposing and reinvigorating this channel.

The immediate motivation for the move is to let me directly tinker with my blogging tool. At blogger.com everything is taken care of for you, and there is less room for customization. Here I run the whole show. I install and administer the WordPress tools that publish this blog. I can configure the site as I want. I can install plugins to extend the basic functionality. Already I’m playing with Flickr integration and sitemaps. I may try out some polls and other goodies. WP also provides some content management capabilities that will allow me to publish other non-bloggy pages that will be integrated into this site’s navigation and share the same design.

But who really cares about KC’s blog? Almost no one. But I have my own reasons for experimenting and building a better home nest.

Hawthorne district Fall Foliage during a break in the storm
Originally uploaded by BernalKC.

Yeah, this blog is pretty dead these days. I’ve been a lot more focused on the schools blog and just living my life.

Meanwhile, check out my recent photos, or maybe a gallery of desktop wallpaper images.

I’ve been obsessed with WEBoggle for weeks now. Obsessed. Playing it constantly. Sheesh.

I haven’t been this obsessed with an online game since Planarity.

This is so much more fun. And I suck. If I get my name in the top 40 I’ve won. Or if I have found as many words as I recognize. So many 3-letter words that are totally obscure. And it seems there are throngs of Boggle nerds who know every damned one of them and came type them all out in 3:00 minutes! Oh well. It’s just a fun challenge.

Beth is even getting into it!

I feel so all alone, so suddenly. Words fail me. For now I’ll let Google bring these words to me.

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons—James Thurber

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down—Robert Benchley

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.—Gilda Radner

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.—Milan Kundera

The more I see of men the more I like dogs.—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael

Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. He can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.—Gene Hill

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.—unkown

Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.—Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday.—Thornton Wilder

Goodbye Angel. We miss you.

Thanks to Digg, I found a cool recipe for embedding Flickr slideshows in a blog.

Here’s my summer vacation set, which may actually be of interest to the friends and family that make up a the majority of the audience here:

Morning sunrise over Poopenot Valley
Originally uploaded by BernalKC.

but will this blog?

I’m having many mixed feelings about this blog and its future. Taking some time off has been a useful way to get some perspective on it. But I don’t yet know if I want to resume, nor what changes I will make.

While I mull the options over, I thought I’d post a link to a new set of Camp Mather pictures I just uploaded. Enjoy.

My dad is gone. May he rest in peace.

Though he and I have been estranged for some time now, there was no hard feelings between us. I will always cherish my childhood memories of dad. I’m thankful for his presence in my life, thankful for the many things he taught me. He was an intelligent man and an honest and forthright individualist. He always knew where he stood and spoke his mind with conviction and without trepidation. There are so many traits that I hope, on my good days, that I’ve picked up from him.

This is not the place I want to pour forth my feeling and thoughts about the man. Yet, what else is there to write about? For now, I will sit with this and privately dwell on his life, his passing, and what it means for me and my family.

Peace be with you all.

The Times say so! Fights diabetes and heart disease? Pour me another cup!

My latest Flickr gallery collects some shots I’ve taken from the neighborhood.

OK, so it really is cool to be around all this wine. And one of the more interesting things about working this show is taking home a whole boat load of open wine bottles from the day of the show. But what do you do with multiple cases of open wine bottles? If you do nothing, they all go bad in a matter of days. You can gas them, and if you do it well, it will make them last a week or two.

Not me. I play wine maker. I invite my wine friends over and we mix our own wines. They last for months—maybe longer but I wouldn’t know. And sometimes they come out really tasty. When they don’t, who cares?

Of course, by the time I pull the cork on one of my blends I typically have no idea what is in the bottle. It’s kind of enjoyable that way, but also a bit disconcerting. Especially when it tastes really good. If you drink wine for the pure taste experience, it’s great. If you have some need to be an expert, or bask in the prestige of the pursuit of fine wine, it’s really disappointing. Which is why I love it.

This year I have one blend that I made in an opened screw top bottle that I shared immediately at my blending party. We had the unique chance of tasting the two ingredients separately, then tasting the mix.

And it was good. Very good.

So I christened it Bernaltage!

I’m seriously tempted to chase these labels down and try this again. The blend was way, way better than either of the two bottles were on their own. And you tell me, when will you ever taste a blend of an inexpensive South Australian and rare Paso Robles wines? Only if you make your own Bernaltage!

Here’s the mix:
2-parts Wakefield, 2004, “Promised Land” Cabernet Merlot
1-part Rotta, 2003, Paso Robles Cabernet Franc

Pouring one flight while another is retired
Originally uploaded by BernalKC.

OK, maybe a weekend skiing on fresh powder is more fun. And there’s not doubt that I wok harder on this weekend than any other—hands-down. But I really love working the wine competition.

Of course, it’s cool being around all the wine, checking out the judges, and tasting all that wine. But it’s not just about the wine. The longer I do it the more I dig jumping into the beehive and getting the work done, sharing the whole experience with a crew that I only see around this show. I definitely look forward to it in a big way.

As I said last year, Thanks Chandler!

This is a battle worth fighting! I mean, come on, we’re talking about my upbringing here. If you are what you eat, I’m probably about %50 Fluffernutter—and proud of it!