Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Stafford Creek



I've been looking forward to this first hike of the spring since the last hike of the fall (December 2007). Personal circumstances, namely my daughter's ongoing difficulties, made this getaway even sweeter.

Stafford Creek is a tributary of the North Fork of the Teanaway, about 30 minutes by car from Cle Elum. I arrived at the trailhead at about 2pm, promptly buried three beers in a nearby snowbank for later retrieval and hit the trail proper at 230.

Stafford Creek at this time of year is a raging mini-river and the recent warm spring sun made the flow as strong as I had ever seen it. I was just hoping that I wouldn't have to actually cross it. The map showed that the trail pretty much stayed on the east side of the creek, but you never know with washouts, etc. As it turned out, there was one crossing, but a large downed log made for an easy bridge.

The trail is relatively low, starting at about 3300'. While there was a little snow in the shadows, the going was easy for the first two miles with just a few switchbacks resulting in an elevation gain of just 300-400 feet. Nearing 3 miles, snow started showing on the trail, several feet thick in places, and with the warm temperatures making the snow very soft, the going was a little tough. At about 4 miles, as the trail passed high above the creek, I saw a little clearing far below and worked my way down the steep hillside to investigate.

I found a fairly flat spot, hard by the creek, with just enough room for my tent. There was a nice log to lean against, plenty of firewood if I wanted to start a fire and several cozy rocks to snuggle up to. Most important, it was very private with a nice open slope across the creek where I thought I might see some marmots.

By 6pm I had the basic tent set up and was sitting down with a glass of wine, watching the water boil by. A few minutes later, I felt the first rain drop. I hurriedly put up the rain fly and 15 minutes later the skies cracked open and the rain began in earnest. I threw all my gear in the tent and got cozy, preparing to make dinner. I fired up the stove and a few minutes later was enjoying a nice beef stroganoff.

As usual, I had an impossible time sleeping, even with the full-sized pillow I had brought along. To make things worse, my trusty radio failed to pull in any stations, so I was left to fend for myself, with the nearby roar of the creek my only solace.

It rained all night, but I did manage to stay dry and by 8am the sun was out and all was well. I cooked up a little breakfast, broke camp and hit the trail, getting back to the car in just 90 minutes. My precious beers were still there, though I had misjudged the strength of the sun, which had melted out the snow, totally exposing the cans to plain view.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

I'm a Slacker



It's been out for a few months now, but momentum is rising quickly for the new Slacker portable music/radio player and the accompanying Slacker.com website. I'm right on board with that flood of interest--I think this is going to be the next big thing in the media player business.

Let's start with the basics: The idea behind the service is that instead of selling us mp3 downloads, Slacker.com offers professionally pre-programmed radio stations offering dozens of musical genres that can be listened to either on your home computer or downloaded to your Slacker portable player via any available wi-fi hotspot or through your own home network.

You never really own the music, so there are no DRM issues There are no download hassles as new music that Slacker thinks you might like is constantly being downloaded in the background, normally via wi-fi, though a USB connection is also available. The basic service is free and it's a great way to discover new artists or listen in greater depth to artists that you already like.

Slacker also let's you create your own personal radio stations. Just select artists that you want featured on "your" station and Slacker will build a radio playlist around them. Slacker then fills in the gaps by adding content it perceives as complimentary. For example, I created a station featuring the Rolling Stones. Slacker added content like the Beatles, Cream, the Kinks, the Who, etc, all of whom are artists I like. It also added some more obscure artists representing the same genre/era, many of which I enjoyed hearing for the first time.

The portable player, which is an important part of the Slacker business model, has been getting generally positive reviews, and is available in 3 models, ranging from $200-$300. The more expensive units allow you to listen to up to 40 different stations and gives you more memory for your own music. The player has a huge screen for viewing album art, biographies and the standard issue dynamically driven graphics. I'm not a huge fan of the player's design, and I understand it is rather cheaply made and that the earbuds are a disgrace. Still, most reviewers say the player is entirely functional and is a good mirror of the website. I'm thinking the second generation player will be a big improvement, but there's no word when that might be available.

While the basic service is free, there is a premium service available for $10/month. The subscription entirely eliminates little 10-second Slacker ads that occasionally pop up and also gives you the option of skipping as much music as you like. With the basic service, you are only allowed to skip 6 songs per hour. The premium service also allows you to seamlessly mix in your own music collection with Slacker's radio collection.

Downsides: Slacker is not for you if you like to have total control over your playlists. Even though the Slacker portable player allocates .5gb to 2gb of memory for your own mp3s, the main premise behind the service is that Slacker chooses the music it thinks you want to hear. There will be clunkers (which you can skip) and you can "teach" Slacker what songs/artists you like/dislike by clicking on the "heart" or "ban" buttons, but in the end it really is more like that favorite radio station you listened to as a kid, minus the DJ rap, commercials and the heavy rotation of that weeks' top 40. To me, that's a good thing.

Another thing I really like about Slacker is the artist bios. They are well-written, informative, interesting and can be viewed either on the portable player or the website.


All in all, I love the Slacker concept. At home, I have my laptop hooked up to my stereo and the music plays all day from Slacker.com. If I'm in the mood for something different, I just change stations. But it's the dedicated player that completes the service and sets it apart from other personalized media. By using wi-fi, which has become virtually ubiquitous in the home, workplace and any number of other public locations, loading fresh content is seamless and virtually hassle-free. Being able to add your own music to the player makes this, and not the latest iPod, the perfect music player.