Coooold Weekend :)

I spent this last weekend freezing my ass off. Saturday I had planned to ride to the coast, but with the clouds and low temperatures I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I finally went out around 9:30 AM headed for my starting point in Woodside and on my bike by 10:35. It was already really cold and the sun had yet to show itself. My destination was Pescadero and eventually Tunitas Creek. There were lots of cyclists out on the roads so there was plenty of company at varying sections of the ride (though fewer on the long stretch into Pescadero). Arriving in Pescadero I got there just in time to miss the crowds. There was an organized ride from Western Wheelers that day and so there seemed to be about 30 or so cyclists at the bakery I love to go to out there. They were within 5 minutes of leaving which was perfect so I got my sandwich and went out to chill.

The ride up Stage was a little chilly, but not bad. It was when I got to Tunitas that I was really freezing my ass off. It was about 42.5 F about halfway up and I was tempted to start peeling off the layers, but when I took my long Wombat gloves off, my fingers turned numb! Was feeling really tired by the time I got to the top so was ready to start down the other side. However, it wasn't much warmer on the other side and going down Kings Mtn Rd with the temps around 43 F and the windchill at [who knows] was making things really chilly ;).



Sunday Nahoko and I had planned to make a day trip to Bear Valley; making this our last expected trip for the 2008/2009 snow season. We were a bit nervous about the weather, but as it turned out it wasn't all that bad. Quite cold, only sunny for a little while, but considering our (i.e. my) track record with the weather up in the mountains this was a picture perfect day. Got in some great runs once the icy top layer softened. The diamond and double diamond runs on the backside where a blast. No more rocks to dodge like last time ;). Wish there was more time to go (not to mention $$$), but there's always next season. Right now it's ride time...this upcoming weekend though might not be that great (more rain in the forecast).

Training

Been slow to start, but I've started riding again with some consistency. That riding though has been limited to indoor riding on the trainer I bought a few weeks back so that I can ride in the evenings when I get home late from work. Anyway, made it out to the coast this last weekend and boy it was beautiful. Here's the route I took. Bought new wheels for my bike (Easton EA90 SL) and so this was the break in ride. Much stiffer than my old wheels, which seemed to help a bit, but also rolled very nicely (perhaps my old wheels would have done well if I simply had the bearings repacked ;)).

Here's my route from MapMyFitness.com.

So damn lazy

After several months of really not doing anything active I am paying the price. The last major bike ride I participated in was in October and I had already been slacking off for 2 months. With work eating up most of my time and patience during the week it's been difficult to force myself to stay active.

So while my overall weight has only increase a few pounds, I clearly have gained some unnecessary pounds and lost some good ones ;). Picked up a trainer for my bike so that I can ride when I get home late in the evening during the week and no longer have the excuse of "it's too dark outside". As part of using the trainer I've realized that my legs have lost a lot of muscle that I spent time building up and now have to recapture.

What I'm hoping is to be able to build back that muscle in the next few months and that in doing so the "unnecessary" pounds will go away as the good pounds come back (yeah I'm dancing around the words, so what :P). I'm planning to ride the first century this year in April so I still have a few months to go, but I need to drop about 10 lbs by the end of March and of course get back in that "groove" (the groove should be easier than the pounds).

Time to get to it.

Week of hell

This holiday season hasn't exactly been what I was hoping for. Though not all bad, the vacation plans I had were canceled and as is typically the case with my work, we were releasing a product once again right at the end of the year; this basically spells stress and lots of extra hours spent at the office.

This last week was stressful starting with Monday and I knew what was coming last weekend so when I had lunch with my father I told him, "this week is going to suck" (to put it mildly). After several late nights till after 9 and one night till 1 AM, the week ended. Of course not without one issue arising on Thursday that had to be resolved Friday ;). I jinxed it Wednesday by saying that things were going pretty much as planned...the joke on Thursday was that if there hadn't been an issue it wouldn't have been as planned hehe.

Glad to see Saturday finally, but I already have some major project planning task to complete for Monday so I'll have to find some time to work on it again this weekend. In addition to this there are deadlines and other dev tasks to complete this coming week ASAP.

Oh well, at least I'm staying busy :-).

Fantasy Hockey 2008-2009 report

I just had to post this for fun. I'm relatively new to hockey, though I've been going to a few games here and there for years. It's my old housemate that is the huge hockey fan. This year, he invited me to join the public league on Yahoo that he's in. Typically it's a big of a challenge to join the same public league, but just takes a little perseverance by choosing the same parameters including the draft date/time and whatever else. This year it took a few tries, but eventually got in. More fun this way than starting our private leagues where we can't get hardly anyone to join.

So he promised to give me some help in adjusting my roster, adds and drops, whatever little advice I needed without exactly telling me what to do (well more or less I guess he was doing that, but that's what I needed). Though I couldn't always do what he was suggesting because I'd get the details at work on my iPhone, but making changes wasn't always somethingg I could do right away.

When I started I was nearly on the bottom and really sucked. Someone as time moved on, I quickly (and I mean quickly) jumped up in the ranks and point totals. I have been a good 20 points or so in first place above the next closest team (which for a while was my buddy Scott). And as of 12/21, I finally topped the number that I had been eluding me!

Feeling older

I had a birthday earlier this last week, but thanks to my beautiful girl, I spent it in Vegas! Now for those that know me well, they know that this was my FIRST trip to Vegas. That's right, I had never been to Vegas (not even just driving through) and was somewhat ashamed (considering I went to Chico and the biggest party I'm told was in Vegas). Anyway, it was somewhat last minute, but there was a good deal on flight and hotel and although I pleaded with her to let me help pay, she refused (though she finally caved on my paying for my half of the BMG tickets...that would be the Blue Man Group, always wanted to see that show).

Due to Nahoko teaching Japanese school on Saturday morning, we could not leave until mid afternoon...not really all that big of a deal. The flight in was quite uneventful till he landing. I've been a few flights over the years, but never been on one with the plane sliding left and right and the wings tipping up and down all the way to the ground!

Did the usual, some craps, some poker, whatever I usually do, and also checked out the buffets at the MGM Grand (where we were staying) and the one I had been told to go to, "The Buffet" at the Bellagio. Both were great, but The Buffet was better! The BMG show was incredible as well. I'm so glad we saw it and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to see just one show. Although there are likely other good shows, this one is worth it.

We walked a bunch of the strip on Sunday afternoon checking out the various casinos and shops including the M&M World store, the Coke store, and other misc places. I was thoroughly impressed at just how big this whole place is and it's in the middle of the damn desert!

I was up till around 4 am playing poker and then craps (we won't get into my winning and/or losing :|) and after getting another comp'd beer at the bar while playing video poker (put in $20, get my beer, make $10, leave bar) I headed back to the room where I had left my girl asleep many hours earlier.

We awoke the next morning (Monday) to a rush to get out as checkout was 11 and it was now nearly 10:30...oops! After checkout, we went off to Harrahs and had lunch at the Toby Kieth Bar and Grill (or whatever it was). Now I'm not much of a country music fan, but Nahoko is (probably one of the only Japanese [woman or man] that is ;)) and so she enjoyed listening to the various country songs...I enjoyed it too I suppose hehe.

After lunch, we wanted to go see the Hoover Dam where there would be plenty of "Dam" jokes from the guide. Took the power plant tour, got plenty of great pictures, before stopping by the gift shop and then driving back to return the car. I also purchased a spur of the moment item while waiting in line to buy a few magnets for my collection.....a bottle of hot sauce (only I didn't think about what I was buying and where I was heading afterwards).

After returning the car, getting nearly up to the security checkpoint at the airport, and then finishing off the bottle of water that I knew I still had, Nahoko realized that the bottle of hot sauce was 5 oz, 1.6 oz above the limit....GOD DAMN YOU OBL AND YOUR FOLLOWERS!!! I put it in my bag of liquids and simply hoped they wouldn't realize how big it was, they did. I tried to head back out and check in a bag, but f**king United wanted $15 for the bag. Such a load a bullshit, but what can I do...I screwed up, so I gave the bottle to this Mexican guy who was helping me at the checkin counter. I asked him (in a somewhat joking manner so as not to seem like I'm stereotyping) after he asked me what the liquid was I was checking in, "you like hot sauce", to which he replied "what do you think?" lol. I handed it over and said, "well it's your's if you want it, else chuck it."

The flight out was bumpy up to cruizing, but all in all not that bad. Once in the Bay Area, the weather was really nice. No turbulance to speak of from what I can remember and the only negative was it was surprisingly busy outside! There were cars and people everywhere as we waited for my sister to pick us up.

Well that's about it. I stayed within my budget for losses (as always), got to see where Magatron was hidden and escaped (well sorta), got caught by the TSA (seriously time to change those liquid rules, all someone has to do is just keep trying until they get something through...it's not like they're throwing someone in jail for that tube of toothpaste that may or may not be toothpaste), and finished my 31st year. Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday Nahoko!!!

Yes I haven't blogged for a while. I've been busy (with work mostly, though personally too), sick, distracted, stressed, etc, but what a better time to come back and make a post :).

Happy "21st" ;) Birthday Nahoko. Can't wait to go out to Todai with you tonight (and not because you get a free dinner...we'll go somewhere else to get you a nicer dinner sometime this week).

Bakersfield

Back in Bakersfield for the third time this year and surprisingly it's quite warm (well not that big of a surprise). I'm back here with my coworker for another bike tour. It's the Spooktacular that I attempted last year and got rained on for the 3rd time in 2007 so only finished slightly less than 100k. The weather this year is excellent and should be quite warm as the morning chill wears off. My previous visits to Bakersfield were in May as I was passing through to camp along the Kern River to do some fishing for Memorial day and again for my friend's graduation from college.

I hadn't planned on attending because I'm picking my girl up from SFO on Sunday morning and figured my counterpart wouldn't be leaving till Sunday morning to go home. Turns out he's leaving after the ride so works out perfectly. Though I haven't been riding so not sure how tomorrrow will go, but I'm going to attempt the Horrible 100 once again and will do my best...here it goes!

Now if I could just get my iPod to finish syncing then I could go to bed!

Bye bye Alex...

...don't let the door hit your ass on your way out!

Ok maybe that's a bit mean, but honestly it's about freaking time. Truthfully Alex Smith (the former 1st round draft pick of the 49ers) isn't actually gone yet, but after ending up on the injured reserve today and already having lost his starting job as QB to JT O'Sullivan, he might as well already be gone. I'm certainly not sorry to see him go (and will quite pissed if he's back again next season).

The Niners have all sorts of issues, but one of the most embarrassing (IMO) is the amount of money they paid to a QB for being nothing more than the 1st pick overall in the 2005 draft. That may be how it's done, but only in professional sports could that be true. Unproven at the professional level leads to a huge amount of uncertainty. Can you imagine if normal jobs were like this? Get out of college into a job paying far more than the average pay, only to keep your job when you still can't perform it after 3 F***ING YEARS! Wouldn't that be great? It was when the 49ers picked up the option on Smith that I really felt bad to be a fan. I couldn't understand how easily the coaching, owners, etc were just "overlooking" the obvious flaws and inabilities in this kid to be a pro.

Now I'm certainly not a football expert (I know far more about baseball than I'll ever know about football), but regardless of the number of OC's he's been through, any other job in the world other than professional sports and he'd have been fired in the first 6 months (if not sooner). The kid has made $30+ million for 4679 yards in 3 years (Alex Smith on Wikipedia); I'd say he made out just fine, though not exactly a stellar career that I'm sure he'd prefer to have had.

Some other team will probably pick him up as a reclamation project and perhaps he'll amount to something. Maybe he'll be able to have some kind of decent NFL career, but honestly, I think the football world would be stunned to see him live up to the #1 spot that he was honored with 3 years ago... (course he wouldn't be the first)

Labor Day '08 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Went off to go backpacking for the first time with my girlfriend on labor day. She had expressed interest previously in going to see Mount Lassen; considering I had never been there myself (despite being in Chico for 4.5 years) I was up for the idea. So we left after work on Friday and made it up to Chico around 10 PM. Had dinner at Olive Garden (apparently she'd never been there and right now is their unlimited pasta bowl so I was "hell yeah, let's go"). Dinner went pretty quick and we were out the door.

Driving up highway 32 into the mountains was really dark (there was no moon) and our goal was to find a place in the National forest and just setup camp. As we got to the forest we continually saw signs saying area closed, no camping, and other things. We did finally find a place about 10 miles from the Lassen Volcanic National Park to pull off and setup camp, but by this point I was falling asleep. I didn't want to drive any more and Nahoko had already been sleeping so wasn't keen on having her drive.

Awaking the next morning was nice (I love those drive and camp trips) and we got going early. Arriving at the entrance gate at 8 AM we then had the issue of not enough change to make the $10 fee and no one was at the gate yet. After finding someone who had change we paid and were on our way.

Checking out the sites on the drive in, including the sulfur vents (cool stuff), we finally got to the trailhead, only to realize we couldn't get the permit there (the Ranger Station that was supposed to be there isn't there). We were forced to continue driving to the other entrance and get our permit there.

NOTE: The permit was self registration so we actually could have got it at the first entrance we came in; I simply was being stupid and didn't realize that fact when filling out the entrance fee...damnit.

Our hike was getting a late start and the trailhead parking lot was packed. Labor Day weekend visitors seem to be a constant problem for me (in 2006 I made the mistake of going up near Pinecrest thinking I could find first come first campsites...yeah right. Still found a spot for dispersed camping (basically pull off the road and camp within the National Forest), but quite a hassle.

The plan:
Day 1: hike from Summit Lake trailhead out to Snag Lake (about 7.5 miles)
Day 2: hike from Snag Lake to Horseshoe Lake (about 3 miles)
Day 3: hike out from Horseshoe back to Summit Lake trailhead (about 7.1 miles)

Actual: see above ;)

The hike in was tough unfortunately. Mostly related to pack issues for both of us because of bad packing or adjustments to the straps, but we still managed. Stopping to take plenty of pictures of course also slowed us down a bit ;), but worth it. There were lots of burned out areas along the way and at Snag Lake it was no difference. The lake was surprisingly low compared to others we had seen. Not to mention every lake was very shallow (like walk out 15' and still be only just above your knees).

Our hike on Sunday was short so we just enjoyed the morning. Staying warm, chatting, napping, whatever, we just didn't really move much. Finally got up, ate some breakfast, and eventually crawled out to break camp. The hike was much more scenic this day. Also saw our first bear scat (gross), but at the time I wasn't sure if it was bear or not...now I know (FYI, we saw several more throughout that day and Monday). As we got to Horseshoe Lake all we could say was "IT'S HUGE!" And quite beautiful too and definitely worth stopping at. Only irritating part was we needed a break and it was another mile around the lake before we could camp (there were signs saying "no camping next 1 mile". We made it of course, found a nice spot and set up camp. Early in the day, but that's ok. Got some rest, relaxed, enjoyed the mountains, and then eventually got up to do some fishing, filter some water, and make some dinner. The night was cold...

Waking up the next morning I was freezing. I had mentioned to Nahoko the night before that I though the view would be beautiful on the lake in the morning early and worthy of a picture; didn't think she'd bug me to get me out of my sleeping bag ;). I did get up, but I was in shorts and TShirt (warm in my bag, but not out of it). It was beautiful and worth seeing.

The hike out took a while and we were a bit tired, but all in all it wasn't bad. More climbing, but still nothing too bad. My feet needed some attention for sure.

Reaching the car was rewarding. It was a short weekend, but very enjoyable. Can't wait for the next one with my love.

:)