Hurricane Ridge visit October 2011

Whenever we Sequim residents have visitors, we share with them the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula like Crescent Lake and Hurricane Ridge. Hurricane Ridge is attracting more visitors on their Sequim vacation after funds were raised last year to keep Hurricane Ridge open all year round 24/7. This is a big commitment for the Olympic National Park and the responsible authorities. Port Angeles and Sequim businesses expect more visitors this winter from skiers, snow-shoers and hikers to visit winter wonderland at the Ridge.

On our first Sequim vacation in September 2005, we encountered the first snow of the season on Hurricane Ridge. It was funny to see people in flipflops and shorts walking around in the snow. No snow this week though, and it's already end of October. We had paid attention to the general weather forecast for the Peninsula for this week and figured Tuesday would be a nice day to have some sun on our visit to Hurricane Ridge.


Before driving up, we checked with the daily Hurricane Ridge weather and street update 360-565-3131, which we definitely recommend to everybody to call who plans a visit to the Ridge. At 9am the fog was still hanging over Hurricane Ridge and the streets still had a bit of ice. We postponed to 2pm.


When arriving at the Visitors' Center, we double checked the Hurricane Ridge webcams whose images are now available there on good size monitors. Great for visitors who are still uncertain whether it's worthwhile driving up to the Ridge. The webcam images looked promising and we made our way up to Hurricane Ridge through some low hanging clouds into beautiful sunshine. No winds blowing which is very rare on Hurricane Ridge. We walked around to enjoy the views, sat a bit in the sun and took some photos. Please, enjoy our latest Hurricane Ridge photos.




Tags: Visit Hurricane Ridge, Hurricane Ridge photos from Sequim Vacation

Nordics Diary

Swedish experience

When I was asked to travel to Malmo on business, I did not even know such a place existed on the globe. Is it in Denmark or Sweden ….. that was the question before me. I had never travelled to the Nordics before and hence my ignorance could be excused. I later found out that Malmo is a seaside town located at South West Sweden, just 20 miles from Copenhagen as the crow flies, but about 400 miles from Stockholm. Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and Gothenburg with a population of just under 0.3million.

I entered Sweden through Copenhagen airport since it was the nearest International airport to Malmo. The train ride from Copenhagen airport to Malmo was really breathtaking. The 20 minutes ride consists of 15 minutes on the Öresund Bridge which links the 2 Nordic Nations. The Öresund Bridge was opened in the year 2000 and offers a new road and rail connection between Denmark and Sweden. It is considered to be one of the greatest structural achievements in Europe, across the Baltic Sea.

After checking in at the Hotel, I ventured out for a long bicycle ride which was offered free of charge by the Hotel. I was glad to see people use bicycles extensively on the roads. This way I could cover all the major landmarks at Malmo, pedalling across the city. The Turning Torso building caught my attention immediately. It is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden and the Nordic countries. Upon completion in 2005, it was the tallest residential building in the European Union. Its unique structure cannot be missed since it resembles twisted cubes. The strong chilly windy conditions aborted my journey after seeing this structure.

Next day I was told that I need to move out of Malmo and set up base at Helsingborg since the client I was visiting scheduled meetings there. Helsingborg is considered to be the fastest growing town in Sweden with a population of just under 0.2 million. This beautiful seaside town has a history dating more than 1,00 years and is today the eighth largest city in Sweden. I loved the open boulevards and vast greenery of this small town. The Hotel where I stayed offered spacious rooms with kitchen facility overlooking the Gardens. Since the timing of the visit was just right (mid August), I could keep the windows open for fresh and unpolluted oxygen. I the mornings, I often ventured out for brisk walk in the gardens and once I bumped into an old structure, which looked like an historic monument The building was a medieval fortress named Kärnan located right in the city centre. It seems this tower like building stood guard for over 600 years and witnessed the change from being a Danish controlled city to a modern city in Sweden. This beautiful town has history written all over the place what with majestic statues and castle like structures dotting the landscape.

One can easily sight the nearest sea side town located at Denmark from Helsingborg on a clear and sunny day. On a lazy Saturday afternoon I decided to make a day trip to Copenhagen, which is the nearest capital city from Helsingborg. One has to take a ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingor which is just 20 minutes ride and then a train journey to Copenhagen for another 45 minutes. The ferry ride by large passenger cum cargo ships is not ordinary. It has duty free shopping facility, casino, entertainment zones and large open decks to enjoy the ride. Copenhagen is a big change for those who come from the smaller Swedish towns due to more traffic, a crowded environment and more buzz. I had no time to visit the Palace and Tivoli, a world famous family amusement park in the heart of the city. I rather chose to take a canal boat ride to enjoy the great city. Copenhagen is in fact a city of canals, which links every nook and corner of the city. I was overawed to see old and modern buildings rubbing shoulders with each other and must say, this city is an Architect’s delight. The Black Diamond building, which houses the Royal Library is a beautiful structure that should not be missed. The older buildings dating back to 17^th or 18^th century still look grand and majestic. Copenhagen is the birthplace of Calsberg and one can visit the museum dedicated to this product. The City Hall square attracts lot of people, young and old, which plays host to freelancing musicians, dancers an. After a quick tour of Copenhagen I headed back to Helsingborg. The warm sunny weather which welcomed me to this city suddenly turned cold and gray. It was time for me to return to Helsingborg. Weather is very unpredictable in this part of the world. So make hay while the sun shines.

As an Indian used to living in cities that are overcrowded and overpopulated, the cities of Sweden are a stark contrast. You can see fewer people, very less traffic and hence less pollution. People are very warm and friendly and speak good English. There are few Indian restaurants run by Sri Lankans or Bangladeshis, but worth giving them a miss since you can hardly connect them to the cuisine we are used to back home. However the locals seem crazy about Indian food especially the Spices. Herring (fish) preparation is their National Food but Sweden by itself does not have a cuisine of its own. The public transport system is just extraordinary, be it the buses or trains. They are almost always on time and ofcourse less crowded. Since the traffic is less, I hardly encountered any jams or honking on the streets. Cycles are used extensively for commuting which is also encouraged. Sweden perhaps has the highest Income tax rate structure in the world but the Government makes generous allocation of the funds towards social welfare especially on housing and medical care. Fortunately I was visiting this country in August-September timeframe which is the best period to visit Nordic countries. At the same time, people in India were rallying behind anti corruption crusader, Anna Hazare…while I was visiting a country that is at the bottom of the corruption index. In fact I was surprised that people never bribed to get things done in this country and “corruption” is a word that must not be existing in their lexicon.

Sweden, a unique country with warm and friendly people may not offer much to foreign tourists but certainly a great place to visit if you are looking at “off the beaten track” locations.

Photographs:

The photos can be viewed by copying and pasting the following into your browser:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114415907332130891045/SwedenTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzA-Of5xob84AE

https://picasaweb.google.com/114415907332130891045/CopenhagenDenmark?authkey=Gv1sRgCJn9u7SPofGlzwE

About the Author


The author, Arvind Kamath is an avid traveller and a foodie. He writes his travel blogs on http://arvind-kamath.blogspot.com. Arvind is employed with a leading US based I.T. organization and has more than 20+ years of experience behind him. He has travelled a lot partly due to his work assignment and the rest with his family on holidays. He hopes to come out of his corporate lifestyle very soon and start a venture in travel and living. His wife Anita and son Anish also love travelling with him. He can be reached on arvindakamath@gmail.com


Date Visited: 29th August 2011 to 10th September 2011

Plan your 2012 Sequim Vacation

What about a 2012 Sequim Vacation?

If you are living in any of those hot summer states like Florida, Arizona, Texas or Pennsylvania and suffered through the 2011 double digit summer temperatures for months, why don't you plan your 2012 vacation in Sequim. Our Sequim vacation rental with a fully equipped kitchen, living room, bedroom and outdoor sitting area, where you can really sit during moderate Sequim summer temperatures.



You may enjoy our peaceful, upscale neighborhood next to Carrie Blake Park, Discovery Trail and a short drive to John Wayne Marina offers everything one needs for a monthly getaway in the refreshing and invigorating air from the mountains and the ocean in Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula. Sequim Vacation Rental amenities:

- high speed Wifi connection for your laptop

- FREE long distance phone within US and Canada

- 'Select Comfort Bed' for your best sleep at night

- comfortable lazy boy love seat in living room

- more TV and music channels than you have at home

and so many more top vacation rental amenities all for the same low monthly rate starting from $850/mo., a rate where you can stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim for 4- 5 nights. OK our Sequim vacation rental doesn't have a swimming pool but SARC with pool, jacuzzi, steam + hot saunas + top scale exercise equipment is a short walk or drive away and available for affordable $49/mo. per person for your Sequim vacation.

Enjoy also all the Sequim wild life & magnificent nature during your monthly stay at 'Bell Hill View' Sequim Vacation Rental

Enjoy the views of Bald Eagles nesting on trees in and around Sequim


Gorgeous mountain views of Olympic Mountains when biking or walking Olympic Discovery Trail

Deer roaming the hills behind our house and nibbling on our raspberry bushes

Canadian geese raising their goslings in Carrie Blake Park

Hummingbirds love Sequim and our hummingbird feeder

Ducks entertaining themselves and park visitors

2011 Summer is over. Now it is the perfect time to plan your 2012 Sequim vacation. Our Sequim Vacation Rental is as good as it gets.

Tags: 2012 Sequim Vacation, Sequim vacation rental for hot summers

Blank Screen finally fixed in AppSender v1.8 ?!?!

I have been receiving feedback from several users that AppSender still displays a blank screen with v1.7. I been trying to fix this for some time now, but was having problems reproducing this bug. Recently, I picked up a new Android device and I was able to reproduce this bug immediately. Hopefully, this is the same bug some of my users are seeing in the field....(I hope).

After a bit of debugging, I found that following code was giving an error.

List pkginfo_list = pm.getInstalledPackages(PackageManager.GET_ACTIVITIES);

I use the PackageManager to grab a list of package installed on the device. Apparently, when there are lots of apps installed (i.e. over 200 apps), it will give the following error (in logcat).

E/JavaBinder( 2225): !!! FAILED BINDER TRANSACTION !!!

Since I don't really need to use the flag "GET_ACTIVITIES". So I simply changed it to the following (which should consume less memory):

List pkginfo_list = pm.getInstalledPackages(0);

Tada!! The bug is now fixed.

I have just released AppSender Version 1.8 on Android Market with this fix.

If anyone find any bugs, please feel free to report them to moto.android.software@gmail.com and I will try my best to fix it.

Enjoy!

Sequim reunion of Hawaii expats

Dear Sequim Town visitors, real ones or cyberspace ones,

When we moved to Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula from Hawaii in January 2006, we didn't know a soul here in Sequim but that should change soon. We found lots of kindred spirits at SARC (Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center) where Keoki started teaching his Easy Stretch class - still going strong now: Mondays + Wednesdays 10:45am at Sarc for those who live in Sequim and surrounding areas - and among the big group of Hawaiian expats, people like us who had moved to Sequim from Hawaii.





The Hawaiian expat group puts a reunion together twice a year, once in summer and another one in winter during the Christmas holidays. Last Saturday we all came together for our summer luau to celebrate our lives and blessings with a great Hawaiian style pot luck luau and lots of Hawaiian music by volunteers who love to play the ukulele and other instruments.

What would be a Hawaiian luau without the traditional Hawaii hula?! Hula teacher Mahina and her hula halau from the Sequim Senior Center danced to their own and to all the Hawaiian expats' entertainment. Just look at their smiling faces in the photos! They tell you how we all felt: loving our lives in Sequim yet enjoying great memories of our lives in Hawaii!

We would like to thank John and Margret Mitchel who opened their beautiful Sequim home and property for all of us and made this summer Hawaii luau party a full success with their TLC. Mahalo, Margret and John!





You want to move to Sequim, a Sequim vacation home is the first step to learn about life in Sequim.

Tags: What is it like to live in Sequim, Sequim events

AppSender BETA Version 1.7 Released...

AppSender BETA Version 1.7 is now available from Android Market

The main reason for the update was to fix the "blank screen" problem reported by new users when launching AppSender.

I have found that AppSender was functioning, but was simply taking a bit of time generating initial application list for various reason (low memory, too many apps installed...etc).

To help resolve this problem, AppSender 1.7 will now display a dialog box. Probably much nicer than looking at a blank screen. Hopefully, this will help the user see progress while waiting patiently for the app to start.

The App will now display the following next to the App name. Please note Copy Protected Apps cannot be shared.
-User Installed Application: AppSender can share these apps
-Preinstalled Application: AppSender can share these apps
-Copy Protected Application: AppSender cannot share these apps


As always, if you have experienced any bugs, it would be greatly appreciated if you can contact me at moto.android.software@gmail.com. Please include as much information as possible to reproduce the problem. I will try my best to fix it soon as possible.

Also feel free to send me feedback. I would love to hear your wish list and improve this app.

Have a great day!

Sequim Library hosts a 'Whodunit'

Dear Sequim visitors,
First things first, we really love our Sequim library. One can find almost any book there and if they don't have the book you want at our Sequim location, it's easy to order it. The Sequim library also offers book sales at least once a month where you can buy paper backs as cheap as 25cents. Perfect for getting books for going on vacation. Those who come on vacation to Sequim will like the Sequim library a lot because it also offers free Internet service.

The Sequim Library 'Whodunit' seems to be a great fun addition to the library. This past Friday night a hoard of amateur CSI'ers descended on the Sequim library to solve the mystery of who killed the book author. The library hosted this event, inviting all, young and old, to come and solve the mystery. The Sequim library was packed and we were divided into groups of 4 to 6 persons, given a clue sheet and a crossword puzzle to complete in case of ties. There was a cast of 8 characters who read from scripts detailing the storyline and slipping in clues along the way. The story mixed in locales in and around Sequim, mostly in a funny way. We were given 3 breaks to discuss our clues and to roam the library to find more clues stuck here and there.

The Friends of Sequim Library provided a table of snacks to satisfy any hunger pangs brought on by all that thinking. The evening ended as we turned in our choices of who killed the author, the motive and the weapon used. The first place team received $25 gift certificates for a local restaurant, 2nd and 3rd place received a Lotto ticket each. All in all it was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Friday evening. I for one am looking forward to the next mystery to solve at the Sequim Library.

Tags: Whodunit at Sequim Library, Sequim Library mystery