«The One Ring»

Speaking of tungsten carbide, I've had a ring made of tungsten carbide for nearly a year now. My dad and I bought identical rings; other than their size, they are identical in design and material. My fingers are thinner than his. I wouldn't say smaller though, as my fingers are longer.

I have to say, my finger ended up being more interesting than the ring in this picture. You can see the little hairs and the texture of my skin. This picture¹ was taken yesterday (April 27th, 2010).

Click image to view full.

In my opinion, tungsten carbide is one of the best materials for jewelry hands-down. Since it's so hard, it literally takes a diamond, corundum, or something equally hard (and rare) to scratch it. The ring will keep its luster indefinitely under normal wear. It will also keep its shape, unlike rings made of softer materials like gold that tend to form to your finger.

I bought it on May 20th, 2009 at a jewelry store named Rialto in the Commons at Federal Way in Federal Way, Washington. It cost me $136.50. Since I'm a citizen of Alaska, I'm tax exempt in the state of Washington. This picture was taken the day I got the ring.

Click image to view full.

Tungsten carbide has some interesting physical properties.

• Mohs hardness is between 8.5 and 9.0, depending on the trace amounts of other elements such as nickel or cobalt. As a comparison, hardened steel tools are 7.5.
• Compressive strength is higher than nearly all other metals and alloys (osmium would be one of the exceptions).
• 3 times as rigid as steel.
• Impact resistance is in the same range as hardened steel tools.
• It maintains its hardness and rigidity to temperatures of up to 1400 Fahrenheit. Impact resistance is unaffected by cryogenic temperatures (-453 Fahrenheit).
• Conducts electricity just as well as steel, and heat twice as well.
• Density is twice that of steel.
• Corrosion resistance approaches that of noble metals.
• Wears 100 times longer than steel in conditions including abrasion, erosion, and galling.
• Heat treatment is unnecessary; there is no change to physical properties after multiple heatings and quenching.

It's mine... My own... My precious...

^1: That was actually a really tough picture to take. I wear the ring on my right hand, and the camera is near impossible to use with my left hand.

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«Marf on Rice»

No, it's not some new cuisine...

While I was on Fremont Street in Las Vegas I had a key chain made. Not that I actually use key chains, but I wanted my website address on a grain of rice. It cost me $10.76 after taxes. Click an image to view full.

This dude writes any message you choose on a grain of rice; I think there was a 64 character limit. He does it freehand and with no magnification. The monitor you see in the photograph is for our benefit.

Here's what the key chain looks like. The grain of rice is in a clear oil inside the little vial.

There were many different vials to choose from, with little ponies or dolphins on them. There were also different colors of oil. I just wanted a basic vial with clear oil.

After he wrote the address he still had room, so he asked me what else I wanted on it. I had him put my little M symbol on the other side of the grain of rice.

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«Fremont Street (Photo Heavy)»

This will be the last of my photographs from Las Vegas. Click an image to view full.

Here's another picture of the Luxor, showing the Sphinx out front.

I went out exploring the area, took this picture of the corner of the Luxor.

I wandered off the Strip, this is looking back toward it.

Here's the pools at the Luxor. All but one were closed. They're all only 3.5 feet deep anyway, not worth even going to unless you have little kids.

Our last night in Las Vegas, my dad was feeling well enough so we went to the Fremont Street Experience. It's the largest overhead screen on Earth.

The Fremont light shows are every hour on the hour at night. They're like a throwback to the 70's. I mean come on, Queen? Really?

The next morning we left. It's amazing how a landscape so dry is so marked by water erosion.

Before I knew it I was back in Ketchikan. It was colder than when we left. It was 80 in Las Vegas, and I came back to 34 degrees with snow in the forecast. *sigh*

And that's pretty much my vacation to Las Vegas. I gambled (and lost) $100, exactly the amount I planned to lose.

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«Capitan Jackson Vader (Photo Heavy)»

My dad ended up sick in the hotel room, so I wandered out on the Strip without him. While I was out I was seeing dead men walking... Elvis was expected, but I also saw Michael Jackson. Hell, I even saw Darth Vader and Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. But the costume I saw the most was Captain Jack Sparrow: even more often than Elvis! For some reason I didn't take any pictures of them. Perhaps you've noticed, people are rarely the focus of my photos.

Here's the lion statue outside the MGM.

When in Vegas, nothing is out-of-place.

This time, the gondola rides were in full swing. It wasn't raining this day.

Despite appearances, this is indoors. It's in the Grand Canal Shoppes, part of the Venetian. The ceiling is painted to look like the sky.

Why the face at the top of this arch is a lion while the rest of them are men, I don't know.

It was no coincidence that I saw most of the Captain Jack Sparrows around Treasure Island.

What is it with that big saucer at the Fashion Show Mall, anyway?

Beyond the Fashion Show mall there is literally nothing on the Strip anymore but construction sites and Circus Circus, which has seen better days; it looked rundown.

I thought I'd be done by now, but it looks like there's going to be yet another post's worth of photos to share. I took 381 photos while on the vacation, I'm just hand-picking the best ones to share here.

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«Rain in Las Vegas? (Photo Heavy)»

It's more likely than you think... I guess we brought some of Ketchikan with us.

Poor babies. It starts to rain in Las Vegas and everyone starts handing out yellow umbrellas and running for cover. They don't know what a real rainstorm is. Funny thing is it was also windy, and some of the umbrellas were getting turned inside out.

It's funny how much gets shut down because of a little weather in Las Vegas. They weren't doing the gondola rides at the Venetian, and nearly every outdoor fountain in town was turned off due to the wind. Also the roller coaster at the New York New York was closed due to weather. It's a good thing Las Vegas is in a desert...

It was raining hard enough outside that my dad and I were actually getting wet, so we decided to walk through the Forum Shops near Caesar's Palace.

The ceiling reminded me of a cathedral.

I thought this was funnier than hell. This is the entrance to some restrooms in the Forum Shops. Whatever happened to equal treatment of genders? If this were reversed the feminists would probably sue.

I didn't go see any shows while in Vegas. The only one that interested me was Penn & Teller at the Rio. However, the Rio is off the Strip and the tickets cost too damn much. It wasn't worth it to me.

There's quite a bit that has been built since my last time in Las Vegas (2004). The Town Square for example; the only thing that used to be out there was Fry's Electronics. There were constant jets low overhead because it's so close to the airport.

Just like the City Center, there's still construction out by the Town Square.

There's still at least another post's worth of pictures to go, so check back tomorrow.

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«Las Vegas Continued (Photo Heavy)»

Photos from my Las Vegas trip continued from yesterday. Click an image to view full.

In this one image, you can see many different casino/hotels on the Strip. The New York New York, Planet Hollywood/Westgate, Excalibur, MGM Grand, and Tropicana.

The newly built CityCenter. A city within a city, MGM Mirage and Dubai World are partners in its construction. It is the largest privately funded construction project in the history of the United States.

Las Vegas is in the middle of a desert, a land where nothing belongs... So everything seems to fit in. Here's Paris.

This was the view from our room. It looked out over the Strip and the McCarran International Airport. We were on the 25th floor in the pyramid.

An obelisk. What more is there to say?

Like a million people before me, I had to take a picture of the Sphinx.

The Mandalay Bay is right next to the Luxor. Beautiful hotel.

There's a tower that's part of Mandalay Bay that's labeled "THEhotel", I guess they couldn't come up with a better name?

And I've reached my self-set limit of 8 pictures per post, so I will continue again tomorrow.

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«To Las Vegas! (Photo Heavy)»

It'll take a couple of day's posts to cover my trip to Las Vegas. Click an image to view full.

Here's the jet my dad and I left town in. While Ketchikan's airport is small when compared to the nation's major airports, it has a 7,500 foot asphalt runway and a 9,500 foot water runway. Over 16,200 aircraft operations and a quarter million passengers go through it each year. That's why we needed a bridge.

Before I knew it we had taken off and were over the Alaska native village of Metlakatla.

Alaska, the land of 3 million lakes; suck on that, Minnesota... Actually, I think this was over Canada, but you get the idea. The landscape looks the same.

We had a few hour layover in Seattle, so we took the opportunity to explore the Sea-Tac airport.

The construction of the windows in the previous photo were interesting.

Abstract art... I suppose that's what this is.

We stayed at the Luxor. We got in after dark, this was taken the next day. For those who didn't know, the Luxor is a giant pyramid with an Egyptian theme.

From the inside, you'd never know it's daytime.

More to come tomorrow.

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«Back on the Rock»

I got back Friday. I had a good time... My dad not so much, because he ended up being sick most of the time.

Oh, what's that? You didn't know I went anywhere to begin with? I decided to slip off to Las Vegas without saying anything about it on my blog. Surprise! I left hints though... Remember that Caturday about Las Vegas? That's the day we flew out.

Oh, what a wonderful sight it was to see Ketchikan getting smaller and further away. I hadn't been on a plane for 16 years¹. I really do hate being stuck in this town...

Click image to view full.

I'll go into more detail later in the week, after Monday.

^1: The other recent times I've left town was by ferry, not plane.

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«Columbia Center: 73rd Floor (Photo Heavy)»

The Columbia Center in Seattle, Washington has an observation deck on the 73rd floor. It's the tallest building in Seattle, Washington and well worth the small fee ($5.00 per person) to get to the observation deck. There's a guy in a suit that looks suspiciously like an Agent from The Matrix that sits up there to sell you the tickets.

These images were taken on May 19th, 2009 in Seattle, Washington when I was on my vacation. You'll definitely want to view the full post, there's some impressive photographs to see. Click an image to view full.

This is looking toward the iconic Space Needle.

The historical Smith Tower looks so short from up here.

The cityscape behind the Quest Field stadium looks so... flat.

Here you can see some of the labyrinthine overpasses of Interstate 5 through Seattle.

You know you're in a tall building when you're this far above the 4th tallest building in Seattle. You can see its roof in the bottom of this photo.

I spotted an alien spaceship trying to hide on this building...

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