Black Bear

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I didn't say anything about this until now. Laura and I saw a Black Bear last Sunday night. It didn't see or didn't care about us as it walked past about 100 ft away from us. We were sitting at a little fire pit outside of a restaurant at the Northstar ski resort near the north end of Lake Tahoe where we were spending the weekend to celebrate Laura's birthday.

We were just hanginout out AND chatting, and when I happened to glance a little to the right I noticed a bear walking down off the hill beneath the gondola and heading towards the plaza around us. It was kind of surreal because it wasn't something I expected to see, despite the fact that we were definately in his / her house, and not the other way around. So I casually said to Laura "Hey look, a bear." Laura was up and out of her seat in a fraction of a second, and it didn't take much more of that second for me to finally understand that her move was a really good idea.

We walked about 10 feet over to the front door of the restaurant, probably so that we would have something to hide behind if the bear came towards us, which it did not. The poor guy was just looking for something to eat. The bear sauntered across the plaza and up near the windows of another restaurant. People inside that restaurant got out of their chairs and went to the window to watch the bear, almost like a scene from a zoo. Something must have spooked the bear (maybe all the people running up to the window to check him out?), and he turned around and jogged back towards the hill from whence he came.

The whole encounter was over very quickly, and no one was harmed. It was all very cool and strange, and perhaps lucky for those of us who saw the bear and lived to talk about it. It's so sad that a person can go to the forest to get away from the city, but not expect to see wild life like the bear.

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Anyway we had not been to Lake Tahoe in a couple years, so it was a real nice get away for us, even if it was only for a couple days. The choice to stay at Northstar was kind of a whim; Laura had heard about this new "village" of theirs, and we chose to go check it out. It's quaint, lots of little shops and eateries. The 1 bedroom "condo" we stayed in is located such that you could literally ski in and ski out, which would be totally awesome ... it it were winter, there were snow on the ground, and if I was a competent skiier.

Otherwise the area was generally pretty quiet, which was very nice. There were quite a few mountain bicyclists around because Northstar opens up their "slopes" to the downhill bikers in the summer time. Of course I think this looke like a ton of fun. I'd like to do it, by given my recent accident and definate novice status in the off-road bicycling world, I think it'll have to wait until 1) I actually have my own bike and can develop some skills, and 2) I'm not madly trying to get in shape for a rowing race in Boston.

And so it goes on...

bike crash follow-up

The bloody lip is finally healed. It actually healed up quickly, the only weird part was the scab that formed (on my lip) and looked really ugly for a couple days. It's funny how I've found other bruises on myself that I didn't even know I had in the days since I fell. My front tooth behind my lip was sore, but finally last night and today, after a week, it's starting to not hurt any more. The worst part of it all is turning out to be one of my ribs (I think) on my right side. It started hurting last Friday and got steadily worse over the weekend. I really don't think it's broken, but it's definately bruised. And the back side of the same rib hurts as well, which I'm still not sure is sinply because of referred pain, or there is a possibility that the seat of the bike I was on may have actually hit my back and pushed me forward as I was falling down. Good times.

Plenty to do at work, which of course means I'd rather be somewhere else. Plenty of projects to do at home as well ... stain the new hutch for the bathroom, paint two round tables for the living room, strip and paint the coffe table and entertainment center, paint the downstairs bathroom and bedroom, buy and install ceiling fan in the office, texture and paint the garage, put up cupboards in the garage, install vent fan in the garage, install knobs and pulls on cabinets in the bathroom and laundry, and my personal worst example of procrastinating, the one about which I am most terribly embarrased, MAKE A HOUSING for my damn bus destination sign. Not sure why I felt the need to list these all out here. Sometimes it seems like the only way I'll ever get to them all is to take a couple weeks off of work to get them all done. But we all know that never seems to work out in our favor. Maybe if I lived in Europe and had five weeks vacation time available to me every year. Of course I'd also be paying 50% taxes.

Speaking of money, anybody know how to earn more of it? Ha! I've got goals of paying things off, and they aren't being reached very fast.I'm not saying I want to be filthy rich, at this point I'd be happy to just be even.

Off to eat lunch now.

bloody lip

It's really quite amazing just how many times during a short conversation my teeth bump into one another. I suppose I am noticing this today because yestarday I fell off a mountain bike while riding with coworkers in Fairfield, and although the fall looked pretty bad, my face and specificaly my teeth were there to stop me. Thank goodness my teeth are ok (as far as I can tell so far, anyway). All in all the result is pretty minor, and other than the sternum pain from where I also hit the handlebar as I went ass-over-teakettle, I feel pretty good, and count myself as lucky.

Here's the key: I'd already accepted the fact that I am a novice mountain bike rider, and on many occasions yesterday I got off and walked the bike. Except for one. I walked over a steep down-graded rock, then watched as two of my three buddies completed the rock while still on their bikes. Not wanting this to be the end of it, I had to try again. Which I did. And I fell. It's very strange watching a rock come rocketing towards your face, and not quite knowing what the hell is going to happen. Yes, I am very lucky. And yes I will ride again, but the next time around I won't make a second attempt on a feature or trick that I know I can't do.

weekend = Friend's Dinner, landscaping, and a movie

Had a super swell time at the most recent edition of the Friend's Dinner at Denise & Ken's place, especially the bit where Laura and I got to tell everyone that she is pregnant! Woo-hoo! I can't tell you how totally excited I am about this. I still feel a little bad for jumping on Denise & Ken's pregnancy announcement like I did, but the timing was perfect, and it would have been awkward to wait until later; everyone would have wondered why I didn't just do it earlier. We had a great time visiting with everyone, and I'll get my couple of photos posted here sooner or later. And as of today, both my parents and Laura's parents know as well, so we're not keeping it a secret any more, just keeping our fingers crossed that everything will work out well.

That same morning I purchased my first lawn mower and edger, both electric, and Sunday morning I got out and added the "landscaping" merrit badge to my homeownwer belt. It all worked out great except for two nagging problems. 1) My extension cord was about 15 ft too short, so I was unable to cut part of my lawn, and right now it remains taller than the rest. 2) I thought I'd get some sun, so I wore a tank top, but like the idiot that I am I completely forgot to put on sunscreen, so my shoulders, upper arms, and the back of my neck are now dark pink like an uncooked salmon. Nicole, please don't tell your mom, I am already so embarassed, and it still burns like a mother, so I am definately paying the price. I keep hoping that one of these days I will learn from lessons like these...

I also went to see the 2nd Transformers movie with Paul & Tom Sunday afternoon. It was certainly entertaining and chock full of good graphics, but really I think the plot was "to have things explode", and then it was peppered with robots, Megan Fox's boobs, some kinda love story, and some acting. Here are my comments, in no particular order of importance:

• I never could have imagined Transformers being anything like this when I was a 10 year old playing with the original toys and watching the cartoon on TV
• Why in the hell do half the robots have British accents? I have nothing against the British, but most of the robots were GMC products. At least if you're gonna give a robot a British accent, make the car version of the robot be an Astin Martin or some other cool classic Brisish car
• Finally, I could understand what Megatron was saying. In the first movie he was screaming all the time and I couldn't understand a damn thing.
• Why in the hell do The Twins act like street thug rappers? And why did the little RC truck bad guy-turned-good-guy-leg-humper have a Bronx attitude?
• It is pretty sweet that Peter Cullen still voices OP
• Soundwave. In space. Need I say more? Well....Ok, the only problem with Soundwave attaching himself to a satellite is that the satellite would not maneuver correctly (think physics folks, mass is no longer what it was), and the folks on the ground would notice a problem. But of course if some of the robots can also teleport without explanation, then why not have Soundwave mount a satellite without anyone noticing.
• While we're on the subject of Physical impossibilities, once again most of the robots are WAY taller as robots than their volume would suggest when they are cars. But who cares.
• Biggest problem with the whole movie, which I did actually enjoy by the way, was the lack of any explanation for the Terminator-style girl. Uh hello? Robots disguising themselves as humans? I think we have a new and bigger problem here?!

Ok, sorry for the geek-out. My sunburn really hurts right now and I am looking for something to distract myself.

zip, row, moon

I finally found someone (here at work) with a Zip drive so that I could copy the contents of two old Zip disks over to a more practical (i.e. more current) media. When these disks were "new", they were the hot way to store a "lot" of information. By a "lot", I of course am speaking in terms of the year 2000, and I mean 100 Megabytes. I have two of these disks, and neither of them was completely full, but for arguments' sake let's say they were maxed out. I transferred their information over to my 4 Gigabyte thumb drive, where, if I do the math right, I could copy (4000 / (2*100)) = 20 times the information I have on these "full" Zip disks over to my one thumb drive. Incidentally, the thumb drive is less than 1/7 th the size of one Zip disk, and has no moving parts, so it's that much less likely to break. Check back in 9 years from now and let's see how much computer memory has grown again, and how my thumb drive has become obsolete.

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Finally, the company that took photos at the rowing regatta a week ago has posted their photos on-line. They all have watermarks across them to discourage anyone from simply copying the photos for themselves, but you can still make out most of the detail. Check out this link here, then pick any of the photos at the left side. If the link doesn't work, or takes you to the wrong place, then visit the main page (www.sportgraphics.com), set the "All Schools" drop-down box to "River City Rowing Club", set the "All Events" drop-down to "Men's (AA-C) Masters Eight", then click the "Search Photos" button.

I am second in from the right, but some of my rowing buddies are a lot more entertaining to look at, like my friend Rex in the red had who seems to be having a stroke in almost every photo. These must be from somewhere near the beginning of the race because I don't seem to be breathing in any of the photos, and I recall very specifically sucking major wind as the race went on. Anyway, they are good for a chuckle.

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Lastly, and most importantly, Happy Anniversary to the Apollo program, which today marks 40 years since it first put a human on the moon. When do we go back again, and how can I be on that ride?

I've come to believe that if I could fit in about a 20 minute nap every weekday afternoon, say around 2:30 or so, that I would be a much, much more productive employee in the remaining work hours of the day. My need for a nap only confirms that which I have suspected for years, that I am still a child, and that I would be better off outside playing than I am coupled up inside, sitting at a desk doing work all day.

So there.

welcome new niece, plus weekend recap

My sister and her husband welcomed their second child, Hayden, into the world yesterday afternoon at about 3:30. Despite my incorrect text message to some of you, her last name is the same as her mother and father, not her mother's maiden name (I really wasn't thinking when I sent that text). She is an adorable little girl, and the whole family is doing great. It was a real treat to be at the hospital, in the waiting room of course, and get to hear from my mom that she had been born. Apparently the process went ridiculously smooth, which is great for my sister, and cause for jealousy on the part of other women.

I'm certain that my nephew has no idea how his role as "the one who gets all the attention" is about to change. It'll be especially interesting watching Casey & Jeff deal with a 14 month old boy is now walking, grabbing everything, and trying hard to start talking, whilst dealing with the diapers, feedings, and erratic sleep patterns of the new little girl. I wish them all the best luck and lots of energy to do so! But I'm sure they'll do great. I did snap a photo with my cell, but it turned out very poorly, so I'll have to get a copy of a good pic from my mom and share it with you all later on.

At one point we snuck out to grab some burgers for Casey & Jeff (and ourselves) from a place near the hospital that the nurses recommended. If you're ever in Walnut Creek, check out Gordo's Gourmet Hamburgers. I wouldn't call the place gourmet, but the burgers were pretty good, and they have an interesting mural painted on the walls, including this bit

I'm not sure how Stewie earned a place amongst Batman, Superman, Hulk, Spiderman, and Thing, but if a parrot, a unicorn, and some kid with a candle can be on the wall, then why not a child with a British accent and a football head.

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Saturday we purchased some unfinished furniture (on purpose) for our master bath. We'd wanted a small unit for the open, empty corner of the bathroom to hold towels, TP, whatever, and we found a great unit, made out of real wood, for way less than if we'd bought from a regular furniture store. No, it's not as cool and original as a Telford piece, but I don't (yet) have the skills or the tools to do it, and by "yet" I mean probably not any time in the next 5-10 years. If you're looking for anything, the place we went had a pretty good selection, despite everything being crammed into a relatively small space, and there being NOBODY else there.

Saturday evening we visited Steph, Jeff, and their daughter Alexis at the birthday party they threw for her. S&J were fairly busy with all the activities and all their family that was there, so we didn't really get to visit too much, but it was nice to catch up during the short time we did have.

Sunday was rowing races at Lake Merritt in Oakland. I rowed in two different single events (me by my little self in a long, narrow boat with two oars) and an eights race. I was pummelled both times in the single, mostly because I just don't have enough practice time in it. I enjoy rowing the single, and I'm glad I raced it, but it just didn't happen. The eight went much better, and actually was a hell of a ride. We took second to a real sharp boat from Marin, and beat several other really fast boats. It was so fast, and hard to keep up, or breathe. It was a lot of fun, and I came away from it with a medal, so that felt nice. I'm still waiting for the service that was at the event taking photos to post proofs from the racing on their web site. Perhaps I'll link a couple here (if they aren't totally embarrassing) once they come out.

And I'm spent.