super super super supermoto!!!

Today three friends and I went riding out at Corral Canyon OHV. BM was needing some photos for his new businesses website and had asked me to be a photo model.

I was the only one on a supermoto and the rest of the gang were on XR650L, Husky 125 two smoker and a TW200 with Distanzias on it. I was the lone guy out on street tires. But at least I had e-start, great suspension and my mountain biking skills to help me out. Yeah for my bike and the short time I spent on my TTR-125.

We did a 28 mile loop around and through the park. I only fell over twice. Once while turning around I dropped my bike and kept the clutch in and just picked it right back up and rode off. The second time I was moving along and was a little too confident in what my tires could do. Hello ruts and rocks, hello too much throttle. Hello ground! Scuffs and scrapes on the bike but I was totally unharmed. Yeah for good gear!

I got yelled at by a ranger once for going to fast on the paved road up to the look out tower. Hello, I'm on a supermoto on a paved road with jumps. What do you think I am gonna do??? So she locked a gate and trapped us, thinking then we would have to ask her to let us out. Wrong. PM and I just pushed and pulled and lifted our two motorcycles over the gate. Yeah for brute strength!!

I want to do this ride again! I also think having a dedicated dirt bike (again) would be totally worth it. (Santa didn't bring me a CRF150R, nor did I ask for one though...) Yep, my old GSXR 600, my WR250X supermoto and a Honda CRF150R dirt bike and I could ride anywhere, anytime, anyway.

Random Pics. Never mind my helmet hair either!

gig

So tomorrow I have another "modeling" gig. This time I am supposed to get shots taken of me for a motorcycle touring/rental website. Basically just me in action on my supermoto on and off road.

Wear my cleanest, nicest coolest gear. And tear around on my motorcycle over and over for the photographer. From 0930 till about 1400. And when I am not needed for photos I can just ride around and do whatever where we are shooting with the other people.

Fun times!

random shots of me on motorcycles:(i loved this motorcycle as much as any machine could be loved. i miss it soo badly)

A keffiyah by any other name....

Is a shemagh. Or a scarf even. And I have two, each with a funny story.

While wearing my bought in Africa, black and white checked keffiyah, traditionally associated with the PLO, in Morocco I was almost kidnapped. True story.


Now I have a somewhat more fashion oriented keffiyah bought from the Arab American Museum. (who knew such a thing existed?) This one is black and green and while nothing funny has happened while wearing it, it is too new yet, my receipt is the definition of ironic humor. Look closely and following "thank you for your support" is a very un-Islamic "Merry Christmas".



I am sure this is only getting me closer and closer to the no-fly list. Going to Muslim run countries multiple times, having a degree with radiation, working in Iraq and Kuwait, visiting jihadi websites in Arabic and ordering propaganda items that get shipped to my house from place like say oh.... Iran.

Sun Tzu said it best, "To know your enemy, you must become your enemy."

Or in other words, if I see you wearing one with skulls, a pink one, or one bought at like Urban Outfitters, don't be surprised if you get a look of disdain or I question your street cred.

My Christmas Vacation. In Rowdy style.

For Christmas vacation this year I went to Utah to see family that now lives there and to receive my present of snowboarding for a few days. Overall I had a great time and will now just give you stattaco machine gun bursts of pictures, ideas, impressions and such from my week away. I'm glad I am back and I hope you are too!!

Over the break I drove almost 2,000 miles!! No wonder everything below the waist is numb! (I'm sure I will recover)

I need to write a poem entitled, 'Ode to Road Rage'. Seriously. When did the left lane become the slow lane and the right lane the fast passing lane?? If you are going 70 in the left lane you need to move the heck outta my way moron!

St. George has to be the white trash capital of the I-15 corridor. A beautiful natural area, but boy.... the locals.... I'm so glad TCB got us a great place to stay when I decided to make a stop there.

My last day at Brighton was one of my top 5 ever days snowboarding.


10 degrees is freaking cold! So cold in fact it set off the low pressure tire warning in my truck. Hmmm.... 32psi at sea level at 60F turns into barely 24psi at 17F and 4,000' altitude.

And for all you Toyota Tacoma drivers out there, here is a helpful tip. In park, foot on brake, hold the VSC OFF button down for 5 seconds and you can turn off the stability control completely until the next time you start the truck. HELLO! When I am off roading I need the wheels to spin. Especially when I have just slid into a 2' snow bank in the middle of nowhere! (yes, that did happen when we were out 4x4ing. it is totally frustrating to have your foot totally floored and nothing happening 'cause the nanny-machine computer in your car thinks it knows better)

Due to FB and blogging and such, I can keep up with my siblings pretty well. So much so than when we get together we don't have much to talk about. So we end up talking trash to each other. I'm glad that passed and the last day we were able to have more regular, adult conversations. (would you want to explain to your sister what a dirty sanchez or hot carl is, in front of your dad? me neither!! ((so stop saying it girl!)))

When 21 people are in one house, you need a lot of cups! Wow.

My homemade smoked salmon and beef jerky was loved by all.

I spoke to JK for the first time on the phone. No more wild Christmas surprises this year. Like, oh "I have a kid you don't know about." Or, "I'm a lesbian." Much more calm this year.

Nieces and nephews are awesome. Even when they only communicate through screaming.

A Snuggie is totally the best gift for a gift exchange. Unless you are fancy, then you get a Slanket.

Travel really does make you a better person. Going different places, seeing different things, eating different food, speaking different languages all make you better. Staying in one spot makes you worse.

I think I won both the spatula and towel game. Trust me, you actually don't want to be the winner of these games.

Christmas lights, reindeer petting and hot chocolate at Thanksgiving Point with the family.

I got stopped at the agricultural station for the first time ever coming back into California. Good thing I didn't have my piranhas as planned!

My brother was very nice when I shot him twice at close range during our roman candle fight. Truly a good sport as we were on a team and I couldn't resist the easy shot at him.

I didn't gain a single pound while eating food I normally don't for a week! YES! And I easily resisted this 3lb bag of cinnamon bears. Shocking, I know!!

Godzilla will totally crush the Travelocity gnome if he has to sleep on the hide-a-bed one more night!

I've learned to appreciate American football. Beyond just being a fan of the teams where I live. I actually wanted to watch certain games and had some emotional investment in who won.

And finally, I learned that if you call your job to say "oh, I won't be in tomorrow" and you are already out of state they probably won't fire you. I totally forgot to tell them I wouldn't be there this past week. It was a done deal in my mind, so I just assumed I had taken care of it in the rest of my life. I'm still employed.

There you have it, all I can think about from my Christmas vacation. I'm back in San Diego now. So watch out!

12 hours later....

So yeah, after a butt numbing 12 hour drive and three major episodes of road rage I am back home in SD!!

Pictures, funniness and a report to happen tomorrow. After a long hot bath and many hours of sleep.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas dear readers. I happen to be in snowy Utah, USA going snowboarding and visiting family.

No matter where you live or who you are with, I wish you the best. And if you are Christian, I wish you the best in celebrating the Savior's birth.

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Holiday

Mon-pack. drive to St George. eat and sleep.

Tue-drive to SLC. family and food. snow.

Wed-snowboard at Brighton. watch the Utes in their bowl game. cold.

Thur-food. family. fun. maybe four wheeling. frozen.

Fri-presents! gift exchange! more family! snow.

Sat-snowboard. sherlock holmes movie. K's birthday. gray.

Sun-drive from SLC back to SD. tired.

There ya go friendly readers! I will look forward to "being" with you again as soon as I return. With pictures of course!

Bugs Bunny was right!

Ugh, so I just finished paying over $1,000 to get the CEU's I need to keep my nuclear medicine license, both nationally and from the state.

This sucks because I won't be seeing this returned to me in anyway until tax time in 2011. And because I haven't even worked in nuclear medicine for a year. And I'm still paying my freaking student loan for this degree. Which I don't use in any way.

So I am going to a SNM conference. (No not that kind of s&m) In February. In Albuquerque New Mexico. My first hotel choice was sold out. Flights are at cruddy times. The hotel I could finally find a room at has a 53% rating for its reviews.

Can you tell I am soooo totally happy about this? Why couldn't a mid-winter meeting be in Phoenix? Or Las Vegas? Any place but some crappy little town at 5,000' altitude in the middle of winter? With just junky hotels and no real attractions?

I knew I should have made a u-turn at Albuquerque!


PS-The weekend of the 24th I am in Santa Cruz for a big jiu jitsu tournament. Then the 30th in New Mexico for the nanotechnology and molecular imaging conference . Then Feb 6th is a bone density conference. Three stressful weekends back to back to back. At least one of them I will be sleeping in my own bed.

Random Ketchup er.. I mean catching up.

Because I hate ketchup. Even on a late night snack of fries, scrambled eggs, canadian bacon and hot sauce. All served up on the classically classy paper plate.

I also happen to have eaten my very last can of chili as well. The HORROR! It is a good thing I am driving the 742 miles on Monday to where I can get some more. Maybe I will bring back three cases this time as I don't have to deal with putting it in airplane luggage.

There is a Dimitri Martin joke in here somewhere......

I have brownish hair now. Fun. I did it myself, kitchen beautician style. It will wash out in 28 washes for all you weirdos who seem to think red hair is good. (I don't see you with it)

And to close, a cell picture of the sunset from my back deck.

Smile!

How can Taco not smile while we are out having fun??

la cinema

I WILL see this movie. Sometime, somewhere, somehow.

It's never too early to....

Plan your New Years Eve! And I know what I want to do this year. Lately I've been falling asleep on the couch well before midnight and that is not gonna happen this year!

I am going to do something fun! Well, my definition of fun at least. I don't drink alcohol at all, I don't smoke, I don't really "party" so I am going to do something nontraditional.

Red Bull. New Year. No Limits.

Yep, I am going to go to Long Beach and watch Travis Pastrana jump a rally car into the bay. Now just to convince MM he needs to go as well and buy tickets!

Info here!
http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Sports/Motor-Sports/New-Year-No-Limits/001242797773354
Video here!

When I.....

drop a box of q-tips down the stairs I make sure I drop ALL of them.
say my 6" trail bike only weighs 30lbs I am not guessing, I know.
make smoked salmon it even LOOKS like a salmon.

Holiday Hierarchy

Everyone has their favorite holiday, for various reasons. For me, Christmas is normally pretty low on the list. I much prefer 4th of July, Thanksgiving or even Memorial Day over xmas. (I prefer to write it as 'xmas' so that I don't even have to type the word Christmas)

I'm even super happy to live some place that doesn't snow so it even seems less xmas-like during the season.

But that does not mean I have a heart of obsidian or no sense of fun. The proof?
Check out these hand made paper snowflakes in my front window!

The Rowdy Holiday Enjoyment List
1. 4th of July
2. Thanksgiving
3. Halloween
4. Easter
5. Memorial & Veteran's Day
6. My birthday
7. Valentines Day
8. New Years Eve
9. xmas

New books

I just got "To live or to perish forever" a book about the author's experiences in Pakistan. This book is a new release and I bought a hardcover version. It was featured in the NYT magazine a few Sundays ago and the author was on NPR last week. So it is getting some current popular press.

I had lent a SEAL buddy of mine a book entitled "The Art of Deception. A guide to critical thinking." I had owned this book before and it is really great at showing you how to logically make a case and more importantly all the ways to deconstruct another's argument based on the way they present it. Well, he must have liked it a lot as I never got it back. (To my knowledge, I'm not accusing you of anything if you're reading this. You're just the last person I know I lent it to....)

I have also received some early Christmas gift cards and they are going to be turned into books as well! So, thank you!!

The three books dealing with more modern issues in Vietnam were all good and would still recommend them. I'm also just about done with a book about Shakespeare by Billy Bryson that is my nightstand read. It is totally fine, but definitely an easy read.

Rainy day hiking.

I had decided that this day was to be an outside adventure day. So after much poking and prodding K decided on a hike. I then decided we would hike out to --------------, let's just call it a future Secret Squirrel Summer Skinny Dipping Spot, so I can't give you the name.

After about a hour drive east we had a hike that took us up and over two ridge lines for a few miles. The rain was light and it was cool to see steep hillsides, fall colors and foggy mist. Not what you would normally think of as "San Diego" typical scenery.

About 3 hours after starting we were back at the truck and california burrito bound!

It was a steep hike at times and we finished it pretty well soaked, but well worth it to see the falls. I will be back!

Los Photos: