This afternoon, we went and saw Iron Man.

It's quite enjoyable, but also a by-the-numbers superhero movie with lots of wooden writing and characters. If a stiffer, or less charismatic actor than Robert Downey Jr. had been cast, I think it would have been a total flop rather than the success it is.

I just got back from four days camping at Yosemite. Since it was during the week, and spring, we were able to get a reservation at one of the campsites in Yosemite Valley. For both those reasons, it also wasn't particularly crowded. We did some easy hikes (since we are wimps), saw some great scenery and I even did a little bouldering at Camp 4, the climber's mecca. The weather was nice and the rivers and waterfalls were very full with winter runoff. There are a few photos here.

I spent most of the weekend getting my geek on at the 2008 Maker Faire. I wrote about last year's event here.

This year was also cool, but I wonder if this event is heading the way of San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival - an event that has grown to such a size that it is less fun to attend. This year, it felt like there were a lot of attendees who were just there because they heard it was a the place to be, rather than because they are interested in the DIY culture the event celebrates. I got there early on Saturday and it took 20+ minutes to get from the freeway into the parking lot and I heard it got a lot worse later in the day.

I saw lots of interesting lectures, some very cool sculptures and some good bands, including Total Annihilation, Microfiche and Culann's Hounds.

Here are a few pictures I posted from this year's event.