Dude!

For the last couple months I've been trying to find some low elevation hikes that could be done early in the hiking season this year.  I picked three hikes in the Salt Lake area and waited for a time to get out hiking.  Today we decided to drive into Salt Lake to cheer on a friend running in the Salt Lake City Half Marathon and it seemed like a great day to get out and do some hiking.

Because we had most of the day left with very little else to do I decided to do the longest of the three hikes: Dude Hill.  I didn't know much about it, just that it started at the Ensign Peak trailhead at about 5,000' and climbed to the Dude Hill benchmark at about 7,100'.  2,100' didn't seem too bad, even if the hike was 5.25 miles each way.  

Since I was on the Ensign Peak trail anyway I decided to stop by Ensign Peak on my way up.  It was nice.  It took 11 minutes from the trailhead to the peak.  Then I went back down the hill to where the trail splits to go East.  In the picture above you can see Ensign Peak in the distance and the trail leading up to where I'm standing.  I've found that I prefer taking pictures of how far I've come rather than how far I still have left to go.

The one thing I need to do for the next hike is clean the camera lens.  The trail gets really steep almost immediately after branching off from the Ensign Peak trail.  Then it gets steeper.  Then it stays steep, but in the downward direction.  Then it repeats that about 25 times.

It was really nice to be able to look down at the city.  There were very few clouds in the sky, and the skies were blue.  There was a little haze in the valleys, but it was still a great view.

Here was one of the worst hills.  Not the worst.  Except for about one mile of the 5.25 miles, it all looked like the picture above.  And then, after climbing 300 vertical feet on this hill, I dropped 200 feet down the other side.  The trail has only one switchback.  It just follows the ridge to every high point and low point.

Again, looking back you can see the trail climbing up and down back toward the city.

The picture above shows the one switchback on the trail.  You'd think that it would make it easier to climb up, but in this case the switchbacks are still just as steep as the rest of the trail.

Up near the peak there was a bit of snow.  Not a lot, and it didn't cause any problems.  It was kind of fun to see a little snow.

And finally after 3 hours, 5.25 miles, 2 wrong turns, and nearly being run over by a dozen mountain bikers, I made it to the top.  And, after examining the the GPS track when I got home, I was able to determine how many feet I ACTUALLY climbed by going up and down and up and down: 3,600'.  Quite a few more than the 2,100' I thought I'd be getting.

It was a good hike, though.  Beautiful day, great views, great workout, and it gives me confidence that I'll be able to tackle any other hike I attempt this year.  They couldn't be any more difficult than this one.

Homemade Alcohol Stove

I recently came across some plans on the internet for a pop can alcohol stove and knew I had to try it. It's the kind of stove that you can use on a backpacking trip. It's made entirely of pop cans, so it's cheap (especially if you're a pop drinker) and extremely light weight.

There are many different designs out there, and they all have their merits. After many attempts I've come up with a design that works for me and is easy to explain to others. And, after all these attempts it's time to stop building them for awhile because Annie wants her kitchen table back.

What you'll need:
2 pop cans (empty)
4 more pop cans (also empty), for when you make a mistake
A utility knife
A drill with a small drill bit
A ruler of some sort, or just a good eye
A metal file is helpful, but not entirely necessary
A supportive wife

There's a good chance I forgot a few things in the list. When you see them mentioned below, just mentally add them to your own list.

I like to start with the parts most likely to go wrong first. The very first thing you'll want to do is drill a big hole in the bottom of one of the cans (didn't I say you want a 1" hole saw bit?) A hole saw on a drill is the easiest way to go, since the bottom of the can is pretty thick, but you can use other things to make the hole, too. However you make the hole just be sure to either (a) file the edges so you don't cut yourself, or (b) be careful not to cut yourself.

After you drill the big hole wrap some masking tape around the bottom of the can (did I mention masking tape?) and mark both ends where they cross each other. Then remove the masking tape.
Don't worry, you put the tape on for a purpose. Lay the tape flat on the table and with the ruler (I know I mentioned the ruler) divide the tape in half, then in half again. That will give you four marks (the two at the ends are in the same place on the can). From there you can decide how many holes you want. I've seen anywhere from 6 to 32. If you have a small drill bit go for more holes. If your drill bit is a bit bigger go with a smaller number. Chances are pretty good that after you finish this stove you'll drink a little more to make a couple more stoves and you can try different hole patterns on each of them.

Put the tape back on the can and drill holes at each mark. I like the holes right in the center of that angled surface on the bottom, as seen above. You can go to the far outside, or right up near the rim if you'd prefer. I don't know which is better. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that all your holes need to be in the same ring around the can so that they end up at the same height. If some holes are significantly higher than other holes they won't get as much fuel coming out of them.

In this example I did large and small holes just for fun. I don't think it makes it any better or worse, just different.
The next step is to get out the tape again. Make a mark or two (or four) 1 1/4 inch from the bottom of the can and wrap a piece of masking tape around the can at that mark (on the bottom side of the mark, as shown above). The nice thing with the tape is that it tells you if you went straight around the can or not when you get back around to where you started. If it doesn't line up exactly, re-wrap it.

Get out your utility knife (I've heard you can even use scissors for this, but I didn't want to risk further aggravating Annie in case it has a dulling effect). However you choose to do it, cut as close to the tape as you can all the way around the can. Once you have it separated, cut tabs in the can as shown below to allow this part of the stove to fit inside the other part.

You didn't throw away the rest of the can, did you? We're going to use every part of the buffalo for this project. Cut the can all the way around near the top to give yourself a section of can at least 1 5/8 inches tall, then split the section so it folds out as shown below.You'll want to cut the piece to 1 5/8 inches tall, and maybe hack a 1/2 inch off the end. Then roll it up and set it in the stove top piece you've already cut and push it down into the lowest part of the stove top piece. Make a mark where the pieces cross, then cut halfway through the piece on each end (from opposite sides, as shown) so that the two ends can be inserted into each other to make a loop.

There are two ways to connect the two ends. I like to put the tabs on the inside rather than the outside so it stays a little more round. Plus, it just looks better. Before you make a loop out of this section, you'll need to cut three notches on one side or the other (all on the same side). I usually cut a notch right in the middle of the piece, then measure out both directions 1 7/8 inches and make notches there.

Next we'll make the bottom section of the stove. It's a lot easier than everything else. Just measure up 1 1/4 from the bottom of the other can and put tape around it, just like you did for the stove top. I like to put a lot more tape (2-3 times around the can) and leave it on when I push the two halves together. It probably doesn't give the aluminum any additional strength, but I like to think it does. If nothing else, it makes it a little easier to grip the can.
Once you've cut out the bottom you should have something that looks like this:

Now just put the stove top inside the stove bottom. Make sure the notches on the center piece are on the bottom (they're there so the alcohol can flow freely, not so the air can flow freely).

This, at least for me, is the hardest part. Try to push it together evenly. If you're even a little bit tilted it will buckle and tear the bottom part. There are many theories about how to make this part easier. None of them work. Really. It just takes patience, persistence, and an unexhaustible supply of pop cans.

But when you finally get it together, it looks a lot like this:
If you don't have any laying around the house, go to the paint section of the hardware store and pick up a can of Denatured Alcohol. Pour a bit into the center section of the stove and light it.

It will burn in the center for a little bit. Maybe a minute or so, depending on the temperature and other factors. At a certain point, though, the flame will move out to the burner holes on the side.
When the alcohol in the middle is burning, it's heating up the rest of the alcohol. As the alcohol heats up, it expands and vaporizes. The inner wall you built traps the alcohol vapor in the outer section and it has nowhere to expand but out the holes. The stove will continue to pressurize itself through its own heat until the alcohol burns up completely.

There are a couple other things you can do to make the stove a little more functional. With a third can (get digging through the garbage again) you can cut off the bottom 3/8" and use it to put out the fire by setting it on top of the stove. That will cut off the oxygen supply and the fire will go right out. You can also make a "simmer ring" to limit the heat of the fire by cutting out the top 3/8" of a can and setting it on top. The fire will be limited to the hole that you normally drink out of.

Anyway, hopefully this is a project you'll at least attempt. It's a lot of fun, and a bit addicting. Just try not to burn the house down (I'd seriously recommend only using these outside. They can really burn hot.)

Frary Peak

While not on my "official" list of hikes I want to do this year, I was able to get in a bonus hike on Saturday. I had never really considered hiking up Frary Peak on Antelope Island, but my friend Tyler suggested it as a possible early season hike. After studying up on the trail a bit (I like to be prepared) I suggested that we do it last Saturday before the bugs come out for the year and before it gets too hot.We decided to get an early start and made it to the trailhead just before 9:00am, and it's a good thing we did. It was a beautiful morning and we were able to do all the climbing before it got too hot to be comfortable.

I've been told that I went out to Antelope Island once when I was really young, but I don't remember it at all. I was amazed at how big the island is. It's also a lot prettier than it seems from farther away.

Our route is shown on the following screenshot in light blue. The trail goes southwest for the first mile, then follows the ridge south from there.
Notice the elevation profile above. Many trails are a constant, even slope from start to finish. The Frary Peak trail alternates between being very steep, level, and downhill. It made for an interesting hike.
Most of the scenery looks about the same. One surprise was how green things are on the island. Sure, it's still pretty brown, but it looks a lot more green up close than it does from the city.
About 3/4 of a mile into the hike, the trail splits. The left trail continues up to Frary Peak, and the right goes up to Dooly Knob, which, in my opinion, is one of the coolest names for a geographic feature that I've ever heard. I'll have to go back another time to hit Dooly Knob; I couldn't talk my feet into it.
One highlight of the trail is going through a "cave" about 1 1/4 miles into the hike. It's really just a few giant rocks together making a smallish opening (okay, so I had to duck, but most people probably don't). It does provide a little shade, which is nice, but it also marks the point in the trail where you start the steep ascent to the top of the ridge.

It was at about this point that we noticed hundreds of runners down on the dirt road on the west side of the mountain. Apparently we were there on the day of the Buffalo Run. Maybe we were a little crazy for climbing to the peak, but there were hundreds of other people who were completely insane running around below. (By this point we were so far up that the people just looked like dust specks in the pictures.)
Up near the top of the mountain there are actually trees. A lot of them are dead, like this one, but there are a quite a few that are alive and doing fine.

Throughout the hike the scenery stays pretty much the same, just from a higher elevation. The nice thing, though, is you switch sides of the mountain multiple times. You start on the East, climb over to the West, back to the East, back to the West, and so on. There are quite a few places where you can see both sides of the island.

On the last push to the peak the trail gets really steep. It's not like a rock to rock leaping sort of thing, but it's almost uncomfortably steep. In just 1/10th of a mile we climbed 280 feet. It was steep, but the view from the top and the sense of accomplishment were worth the effort.
It was such a perfect day for the hike. It was cool enough on the way up that we never really got too hot. I'm not even sure I even started sweating until the last little push to the peak. There was very little smog, hardly any clouds, and we could see for miles in every direction.

Going down was quite a bit hotter, and there were people everywhere. When we started at 9:00 there were only a few cars in the lot. When we got back down there were dozens. It was an amazing hike; maybe one to add to my regular rotation. If nothing else, it's a great hike to do early in the season when everything else is covered in snow.

Hiking Preparation

To prepare for my adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail in (hopefully 2015) I've decided to dedicate myself a bit more to hiking locally. I figure there's no better preparation for a hike than hiking. So for this year (2012) I'm planning to do the following seven hikes. I could do more, but at the very least I want to accomplish these hikes.

Why am I posting this? Two reasons:

1. If I post it, I'm more likely do it.
2. You're invited!

Really, if you'd like to join me on any of these hikes, let me know. I don't have firm dates set for any of them, but will probably do them in roughly the order they're listed, just due to snow levels in the various canyons.

Desolation Lake

There are many ways to get up to Desolation Lake, but the route I'm planning starts about halfway up Big Cottonwood Canyon and ends a couple more miles up the canyon. I'm not sure when enough snow will have melted to get there, but it's likely to be one of the first areas that I want to hike to lose its snow. Also, with how dry this winter has been, I'm hoping it will be accessible earlier than usual.

The route I'm planning to take is about 6.7 miles, 4.5 of that uphill. It's not a huge elevation gain though; only about 2500 feet for a slope of 10.6%. See the following Google Earth screen shot for the route and elevation profile of the hike.

Lake Blanche

Also up Big Cottonwood Canyon, the trail head for Lake Blanche is at the bottom of the S curve. Annie and Titan and I attempted it last year but Titan was only a couple weeks old and we didn't have water. The 2 miles we did on the trail were beautiful though.

This hike climbs about 2700 feet, and does it over about 3 miles, giving it a slope of about 17%. Hiking just a little farther you can get to lakes Florence and Lillian. I'm not committing to those lakes, but there's a good chance I'll see them too, making the hike a little longer.

Ben Lomond Peak

The first peak that I think will be accessible is Ben Lomond Peak above Ogden. This is a ridiculously long trail, but it doesn't climb much. It's just over 8 miles each way, but only has an elevation gain of 3500 feet. I've never done any hiking in the Ogden area, so I'm excited to stretch my comfort zone a little. You can read more about Ben Lomond here.

Deseret Peak

It has been a long time since I've climbed Deseret Peak, and I'm excited to head back up there. It's accessed from South Willow canyon in Tooele County. The trail climbs about 3600 feet, about the same as Ben Lomond, but it does it in half the distance (about four miles) giving it an average slope of 17%.

One nice thing with hiking Deseret Peak is that you can come back down a different way than you went up. It's always nice to have a change of scenery on the way down. You can read more about it here.

Catherine Pass

Going back to Big Cottonwood Canyon, this is another hike Annie, Titan and I did last year. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. You actually pass by 3 lakes on your way to the pass (4 in a really low water year).

To get to Catherine Pass you can either go up Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon. I'm planning to go up Big and come back down Little to have a change of scenery on the way down. It's only a 1500 foot elevation gain, or an average slope of 11%. I'm pretty sure it starts out at 20-25%, but it levels out pretty good at the top. You can read more information here.

The Pfeifferhorn

This is likely to be my biggest challenge this year, but I'm excited to give it a try. The most common route starts in Little Cottonwood Canyon and heads up to Red Pine Lake. From there the trail becomes more imaginary and you have to find the best route to the top. The last few hundred feet are very steep over difficult terrain. It should be a blast.

The trail climbs 3600 feet over about 4-5 miles, depending on how you go above Red Pine Lake. The average slope is about 15%, but there are a lot of areas much steeper than that. There are great views from the top and it should be a great adventure. You can read more about it here.

Mt Timpanogos

I've lost count how many times I've climbed Mt Timpanogos. It could be anywhere between 7 and 9. However many times I've climbed it, it's still not enough. I've always started at the Timpooneke trail head, and I'm not about to change that, but, if I can make it work, I'd like to take the Aspen Grove trail back down.

The Timpooneke trail is about 7 miles long (there's a lot of dispute about that, but I'm pretty comfortable with the seven mile estimate). It climbs 4400 feet, but because it's so long it has an average slope of only 12%. I'm tentatively planning this as a fall hike--late September or early October--and the last hike of the season. You can read more about it here.

That's my plan for the summer. Just let me know if you'd like to come along; I'm sure Annie would prefer that I have some company. I'll most likely do these starting early on a Saturday morning, but I'd consider doing some of them as an overnighter.

And if there's a hike you're planning and you'd like some company I'd be happy to go with you.

Wow

I was looking back over my posts for the last couple years and found one back in November of 2010 where I made some predictions for 2011. I was a little off on some things, but I'm really surprised how many things I got right. Check it out by clicking here, or navigate to it on the right in November of 2010.

Freaky.

Six Months in Six Seconds

Goats

There was a time when having whiskers on your chin was a good thing. In the last few months, though, I've noticed a disturbing trend: whenever there's a news story about a pedophile, a flasher, a guy who may or may not have killed his wife, or any other creepy deviant, almost without exception they have what's commonly referred to as a goatee ( though traditionally called a Van Dyke).

I've had a goatee myself on and off since I've been able to grow hair on my face, and it has been over 6 years since I've seen my chin. It's too bad that some people have been bringing a bad name to those who choose to have beards.

Without any hair on my face I look like a 15-year-old, which really isn't a good look for me. Annie would probably leave me if I didn't have at least some hair on my face. But I don't think I can continue sporting a goatee with all the bad press guys with goatees have been getting lately.

So I'm considering a change. Please refer to the following chart:

Which type of facial hair would you like to see me wear? Please take a moment to vote on the sidebar to the right. The results of the poll will not be binding, but I'll certainly consider them.

All Intensive Purposes

I don't know if I'm just getting old and grumpy or what but certain mispronounced/mispelled words and phrases have been driving me increasingly more crazy every year. Maybe it's because people write increasingly more than they speak, and they're less and less able to pass themselves off as being literate when they can't just speak quickly and pretend they had a small stroke midway through their sentence.

Whatever it is, I just wanted to try to help the three readers of my blog (not that I think you have a problem if you're one of the three readers, but you may be able to use this to help other people that you know that are struggling with this.)

I took a lot of information (okay, so maybe all of it) from this great article at http://www.yourdictionary.com/. I appreciate their attempt to help people not look like idiots. And, I do have to admit, I learned one or two things from the list.

Arctic and Antarctic - You'll notice that there are 2 Cs in each of these words. Both Cs actually get pronounced. Although, I have to admit that it's easier to say, "Let's get a shake at the Artic Circle." Unfortunately, it's difficult to get a shake at the Arctic Circle in less than 20 minutes, especially with their perpetual "Slow Service" (Help Wanted) signs up.

Bidness - I know it seems cute to say "bidness" and kind of fun to write "bizness" but, really, can't you pretend you don't have a giant wad of gum in your mouth when you say business?

Blessing in the Skies - Even though blessings often come the the skies, it really doesn't have much to do with a blessing that, at first glance, appeared to be a trial. Blessing in diguise really is the better phrase for what you think you're trying to say.

Chester Drawers - With so many things in our world named after people, it just seems logical that a guy named Chester became famous for his furniture. Sadly, though, despite all the people through the years named Chester that have made, sold, or owned a Chest of Drawers, his name never actually stuck. I spent my first 10 years of life wondering who Chester was. (On a side note, I'd like to see Chester Cheetah hide in a chest of drawers in a Cheetos commercial one day.)

Dialate - No, sorry, it dilate. Just one 'A'. I don't like when the eye doctor dilates my eyes, but I think I'd like it even less if he ever tried to dialate them.

Doggy Dog World - There are lots of dogs in the world. Living in a "Doggy dog world" almost sounds like a happy place, with lots of doggies running around in a field, chasing after frisbees and jumping and frolicking playfully. I'm sorry to ruin this illusion, but the term is "Dog eat dog world". You know, where dogs eat each other. Not quite so fun, but much more descriptive of the point people are trying to make.

Drownd and Drownded - It's sad when sacks full of cats are drownded, but it's even more sad when somebody uses the word drownded. This is one where, when people are forced to type it, they completely change to sentence to avoid having to type it because they have no clue what the real word is supposed to be, and they know that "drownded" can't possibly be right.

Excape and Expecially - It's so much more work for your mouth to say "excape" instead of "escape". Why do people do it?

For All Intensive Puposes - Despite how intensive the purposes may be, they have nothing to do with what you're trying to say. It should be "for all intents and purposes", or apparently, "to all intents and purposes" if you're English. This is the phrase that got me thinking about all this today. Somebody had posted it in the comment section of a blog and I just had to laugh. Laugh and laugh.

Heighth - Even though width ends in "th" and width and height often go together, there's no such thing as "heighth".

Hot Water Heater - I guess this is sort of like frying refried beans. How many times does the water need to be heated?

Irregardless - Adding the "ir" to regardless sort of nullifies the original intent, doesn't it? This is similar to "unthawing" something. As far as I know, the best way to "unthaw" something is to put it back in the freezer.

Liberry - I'd like to see a liberry. Maybe I could read about it in a book that I checked out of the Library, the kind with two Rs that aren't next to each other.

Lightning - Even though it may be "lightening" up the sky, it's still spelled "Lightning". There's no E between the light and the ning. Really. Trust me.

Mannaise - For people who pronounce it this way, have you ever wondered why it's shortened to "Mayo"? Is there a pH-balanced version of it called "Womannaise"? Which bring up the one mispelling that drives me more nuts than most. In fact it drives me so nuts I'm not even going to keep it in alphabetical order. It moves up the list to right here:

Women - "That's the right spelling," you say. And you're right, if you're talking about MORE THAN ONE woman. It's not hard to see the connection between "man:woman" and "men:women" is it? Apparently it is for some people.

Moot - Yes, it's funny to say "Moo point" instead of "moot point", because who really cares what a cow has to say. But it's definitely not a "mute" point. It can still be heard.

Nucular - Here's a hint: Homer Simpson mispronounces it in an attempt at humor, not to set an example for generations of people. It's nuclear. Nuclear.

Ordinance - Yeah, that's a real word, too. But it's more of a law or rule. Ordnance (without the I) refers to bombs, bullets, and other military equipment. The military may have many ordinances, but you're probably referring to their ordnance.

Probly - If you insist on spelling it this way at least have the courtesy to put in an apostrophe so people can pretend it's correct.

Prostrate - As near as I can tell, nobody has ever died of Prostrate Cancer. They were probably prostrate at some point during their treatment for Prostate Cancer, but the prostration wasn't really the issue.

Realator - I admit, it seems like there should be another syllable in Realtor, but there's not, so get over it.

Sherbert - No, that's what Ernie says when he's in agreement with his bunkmate, not the fruit flavored frozen treat you're eating.

Spade - It's too bad Bob Barker died without ever knowing how many people misunderstood his pleas for them to "spade" their pets. The correct term, if you're still reading, is "spayed", meaning the past tense of the verb "to spay". Wait, Bob Barker's not dead?

Spitting Image - Yeah, this one surprised me, too. It's actually "Spit and Image". The image doesn't actually do any spitting, though that would be cool to see.

Supposably - Supposedly, this is one of the words that Shakespeare invented. It's not, though. It's not any kind of a word at all. It's just a bunch of letter put together in a somewhat logical fashion.

Take for Granite - I spent most of my young life wondering what this could possibly mean. I finally determined that it meant that something was solid and unmovable. Like, if it were to take it for granite that the army would keep me safe, that meant that I firmly believed that they would. I'm surprised I survived to my tenth birthday.

Tiajuana - I also spent months trying to find Tiajuana on a map of Mexico. I thought it was odd that there was a place with a similar name, Tijuana, which was also right on the border.

There are probably many more that I could add to the list but I don't feel like it. If there are any mispronunciations that drive you nuts add them in the comments.

Quote Games

Well, I've done it again. I finished (is anything ever really finished?) writing another game. This one's even pretty fun. It's great for when you don't want to have to think, but you'd like to think you're learning something or doing something productive.

It's actually composed of five separate games, all centered around famous quotations. There are nearly 9,000 quotations that will come up randomly. And at this point I have to say that I haven't personally read all the quotations. Some may be offensive to some people (although I hope not) and some may have spelling errors that would make it difficult to solve the puzzle. Just consider that part of the experience, I guess.

The first game is the one that will pop up when you first start. It's called PLUMMETGRAM. If you do those variety puzzle books you've probably seen it as Wordfall or some other similar name.

The quotation is stripped of punctuation and laid out in a grid. The letters are removed and suspended above the grid. Your job is to drop the letters into the correct spot to complete the quotation. Clicking on a letter will drop it into the next available space, or you can drag the letter into place, or you can type the letter (it will drop into the highlighted space), or hold control and press the down arrow. You can move around the puzzle by clicking on a space, using the arrow keys, or rolling the mouse wheel. You can play the whole game with as little effort as moving a single finger on the mouse.

There are 5 skill levels for each game. For this one, the skill level changes the number of rows, thus increasing the difficulty. The Novice level has 3 rows, the Wizard has 7 (you can probably figure out the rest from there). There are also 2 helps at the top of the screen: Show Hint drops a random piece into place, and Cheat highlights the pieces in red or green to show what you have correct and what you screwed up.
In case it's not obvious, you can click on the part of the screen on the right that says "More Games" to see the other options. Or, if you don't feel like clicking, just hover over there for a second; it'll pop up.

The second game is just a regular CRYPTOGRAM, where each letter is represented by another letter. All the punctuation will still be included in the quotation, and you get the extra benefit of seeing the author's name (well, you have to solve that, too, but it can help).

There will always be one space selected in bright green, and all the other occurences of that letter will be highlighted in a darker green. You can move around by clicking on a space, clicking on the top part of the key at the bottom, or spinning the mouse wheel (which can be really fun). Enter a letter by typing it on the keyboard or clicking the lower portion of the key at the bottom.

The third game also appears in some puzzle books. I call it PSEUDOGRAM. In this game, all the letters are represented by a number, and the difficulty level determines how many letters are represented by the same number. The Novice level uses 13 numbers to represent all the letters (that's 2 letters per number, if you're keeping track). The Wizard level uses 5 numbers to represent all the letters (that's 5 letters per number, and 6 letters for the number 1).

To fill in letters, just type them from the list of available letters below each space. In this example, the first letter is selected, and you can either type J or W. If you prefer, you can just click the letters instead. If you get stumped on a word and want to return to it later, just click on a space in a different word and it will let you work on that one.

The next (or fourth, if you're keeping track) puzzle is the JIGSAWGRAM. It's really pretty simple. It takes a quote, writes it on a piece of paper, cuts it into pieces, and scrambles those pieces. All you have to do is put the scattered pieces on the right into the right order in the boxes on the left.

The difficulty level defines how many pieces there are. On the Novice level, it draws a 3x3 grid. On the wizard leve, it grows to 8x8. I'll let you figure out the ones in between.

The last (or fifth) game is what I call a CLUSTERGRAM. I've seen these in some puzzle books, but only really hard puzzle books. In the puzzle books, they only have clusters of 3 letters. That's really too difficult to be fun, if you ask me. So in my version, the Novice level has clusters of 7 letters, and the Wizard has clusters of 3.

In this game, the quotation has been cut up into equal-sized pieces. The only catch is that the letters in the pieces don't include spaces or punctuation. You have to use the spaces and punctuation in the blank spaces to determine where each piece should go. To make it easier (or does it make it harder?), the name of the author is part of each puzzle. Just drag and drop the pieces into place.

Where can you get this game, you ask? For being a reader of my blog, you can get your own copy by logging into my special ymail account set up just for that purpose. Go to http://www.yahoo.com/, click on Mail, then enter the following information to log in:

Username: softwaredan@ymail.com
Password: soft123

If fact, you could even just cut and paste from here. Then, just find the e-mail titled: "Quote Games", open it up, download the file, put it somewhere you won't forget it (the desktop works well), and play.

All I ask is that you let me know what you think of it, and tell me if you find anything not working right, or that could be done better. Or, if you don't want to tell me what you think, that's okay too. I'd rather you play it and not tell me than not play it so you don't feel obligated to send me a message. Either way.

Progress

So I've achieved my life-long dream of writing a screen saver that shows the time and date represented by the location of the planets in the solar system. Okay, so maybe it hasn't been a life-long dream, but I've spent a considerable number of hours contemplating it.

Among the features of the screen saver is the ability to rotate the solar system to any angle. It also shows the current phase of the moon (it's hard to tell, since it's currently a full moon. Believe me, though, it changes). The planets also get smaller as they get farther away,. There's also a mode where you can have the planets move in their normal orbits, unrelated to the time. Oh, and if you're lucky, from time to time you'll see shooting stars (and all the other stars twinkle a little bit).

I guess you'd just have to see it action to fully appreciate how useful it is.

I've also finished (short of a little more testing) my calculator program. I can't stand the stupid little calculator that comes with Windows, and it's just too much effort to reach into my desk drawer to pull out my real calculator. Plus, this one has so many more features than either of those.

The 2nd and 3rd rows of buttons actually move in 4 directions to show 4 more sets of buttons: one for financial functions, another for statistical operations, one for trigonometric functions, and another to do common conversions. (There's also a second function for each of the buttons that can be brought up by pushing shift, or just right-clicking the button.)

It also runs in the background on your computer and can be pulled up with a hotkey any time.

Oh, and the best part about the calculator: it uses reverse polish notation so it's easy to use. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Anyway, I'm getting better with the whole programming thing. I just need to figure out how to put all those skills to a profitable use.