the future?? an omen..??

so i just finished reading a non-fiction account of the Krakatoa natural disaster in 1883. then i see on the news the huge earthquake/tsunami in Indonesia.

guess where i will be in 3 weeks? right in the middle of all of this! the most active volcanic region on earth....

should i be prepared for something? will Hanoi seem like a picnic after what could happen in Malaysia?

earthquake?
volcano?
flood?
tsunami?

what natural disaster is gonna spring on me while in S.E. Asia??

If/When I am ever disabled**...

This is how I am gonna handle it. Hook my wheelchair up to the back of my "motorcycle" and keep on living.

This guy has been my hero and inspiration in my mind for weeks now.

"All men die, but not all men live!!!!!!!!"




**of course if i keep taking cell phone pics while i drive, who knows....

cell pics #1

At the driving range with the boys, Saturday night. We all had fun. =)

cell pics #2

Riding my bike home from jiu jitsu

Season Finale

Super D race 9/26/2009 RacersandChasers.com
FIRST PLACE OVERALL BEGINNER
FIRST PLACE AGE GROUP
FIRST PLACE OVERALL AND AGE GROUP SUMMER SERIES

My time would have had me 2nd place overall in the Sport Class. I think this is my last, though it was my first, year of racing beginner for Super D. (Rim Nordic I race Open Class)

People commented I looked slow and wondered if I had something wrong, and to be honest I felt like it was maybe a 3rd place run. Eight guys raced in my class today and two of them looked fast in practice. I had an issue getting reclipped before a technical section and then jumps. I also just didn't "feel" like I was going fast.

But if you have watched any kind of two wheeled racing, you have probably said yourself, "Wow, they are soo smooth. It doesn't like they are going that fast. They make it looks soo easy." I think that is what actually happened to me today. I was mentally and physically ahead of everything that happened and I made quick recoveries from my few mistakes. I was able to go fast enough that it just looked smooth, fluid and paradoxically slow.

And yes, I woke up early and made that cheesy "crown" style number plate myself.






(Now if work would just kick down some sponsorship!!)

^^^^^^^The latest poll^^^^^^^^

Ok, I am searching for the next thrill, rush, adrenaline junkie resume builder.

So far I have:
skydived 4 times and indoor tunnel twice
mountain bike raced
motorcycled on race tracks, desert, mx tracks with both sportbikes and supermotos
competed in brazilian jiu jitsu tournaments
rock climbed for 5 years
been in a war
wakeboarded
snowboarded
bunjee jumped
swam with sharks multiple times, cage and no cage
race my cars in autocross
surfed in US and Costa Rica

Which leads me to, "what next?"

Vote for something or leave a comment and tell me what YOU think.

Things lost.........

-my ability to surf. done and gone. i can stand up in the white water easily and catch small rollers on a long board, but that's it. and i am a weaker paddler now than i have ever been.

-the title, registration, new green sticker and a clutch lever for the TTR125. a guy came to buy it today and when he looked at it i showed him all those things. when he came back two hours later with the money i had somehow lost them!!!!!!!!!! the only think i can think is i mistakenly threw it all in the trash as it's garbage day.

-the little adapter thingy for my micro sd card from my phone to allow me to upload photos i take from my phone to my computer. so i am behind about 3 posts due to not have the relevant and needed picture that is residing on my cell phone.

-my patience with the interface between vista and my printer. they have never ever ever worked together in concert in anyway. i hate both of them now.

How to fix these things?

-surf more on an easier board. and go with people who are good. one of the dudes this morning A., was super helpful. i think i am going to just drop it though and learn to kite board. speed and air! that's more like it!

-make a few trips to the DMV. ugh, the 4th circle of hell. and wait.

-spend $20 and get a new one.

-just not print anything. hahaha.

The Motorcycle Diaries, Southeast Asia

Ok, here is the rough plan.

Fly to Malaysia and do the MotoGP weekend, full on VIP style. Kuala Lumpur and Sepang.

Then fly from MY to Hanoi, Vietnam. Rent a motorcycle in Hanoi and go on a tour of North Vietnam, including spending the night with a hill tribe and riding part of the Ho Chi Mihn Trail.

It is going to be hot, rainy, loud, confusing, exciting, totally new and the experience of a lifetime! Wow.........

October 21st can not get here tooo soon!

Rumination

The job I had for 6 years, nuclear medicine, paid me between $36 and $48 per hour. Where I work now is $10 per hour.

In those 6 years working nuc med, only at one job did I live too far away to ride my bicycle to work. I would be riding my bike almost 55 miles each day if I rode where I work now. I also loose $6 per day in toll road fees.

Working where I did in the hospital I never worked past 5pm and was on call once a month. Call could be very busy, but I was compensated properly for it at around $60 per hour and at least $10 per hour just to carry the pager. Where I work now I am home at 730PM, work weekends and have no perceived control of my schedule.

Oh, and of course no health insurance, vacation or paid holidays where I work now. The benefits are being able to wear shorts and get a discount on bicycle stuff (after 90 days of employment).

Where does this lead me? I've been working this job for "fun", hoping that I could put family things number one and then my personal stuff number two with this job filling in the left over time. That is not happening.

I find that I am compromising too often family and personal things for this job. That is not how I want it to be. And of course the frustration I feel and loss of self-esteem over not being able to work what I went to college for, got a BS degree for, have a talent for and still pay student loans for is heightened more and more each day. What should have been a time filler, fun and a little extra change is becoming everything but.

What to do, what to do? I think I will go back to being a house dude. With that though we would let the house keeper, $160 a month and the gardener $90 a month go to offset 50% of the loss from my extra job now. I of course would then take over their roles full time. Doing the house work, the family duties and then my personal interests.

This is what I want to do. Now just to make sure I feel inside me it is the right thing.

TMI Tuesday

Well, not really. But since a shower hair made one reader "throw up in my mouth a little", I figure this could count as TMI.

I had to fix one of my toilets today. The handle broke inside, so nothing major. But if you know me, the guy who wears latex gloves to handle raw meat. The guy who won't wear the same shoes two days in a row. Well you can imagine how much fun it was for me to put my hands in the toilet tank's water.

There ya go! Fixed.

There are no straight lines in nature.

But there are randomly strewn hairs in the shower forming almost perfect Yin-Yang symbols
and "evil" chalk Pikachus

**UPDATED 7:30pm**Frustration grows best under artificial light

**UPDATE** This should give you an idea how my day went....

I think I read that in an old REI print add from the 90's, "frustration grows best under artificial light" superimposed of a cubicle forest.

After some of my brief office type job experiences I totally believe it!! So with my newly vulnerable to the sun shaved head, I am going to spend some time outside today!!

What will it be? Mountain biking? The beach? Reading or sketching in the park? A motorcycle ride up Palomar? Shooting? Tennis somehow?

And if you are sadly stuck inside, here are some "outside" pics to inspire you!

A typical, not atypical Sunday

Sleep in till 0800, read the papers, quick shower, church, a snack, get on the webz, have an awesome dinner (green curry shrimp), lounge on the couch with book and TV, easy bike ride, more snacks, sleep.

New York City? Get a rope!

Do you remember the Pace Picante Salsa commmercials of the Texan cowboys eating salsa around the campfire (like ya do) and reading the label for one and reading where it was made and then proclaiming, "Made in New York City? Get a rope!" to lynch the hombre who had dared to bring that salsa to their home on the range.

Well here in California we have an institution known as the "California burrito". It is a burrito made with carne asada, papas (french fries), pico de gallo (fresh salsa) and sometimes cheese and/or guacamole. They are delicious!! It is a gastronomical scientific fact.

Today I decided to make a rowdystyle version of the venerable California burrito. The Rowdystyle CA burrito (notice the capitalization this time, TM pending)has:
seasoned ground turkey
refried beans
monterey jack cheese
lettuce
chopped tomatoes
yam fries

Blasphemous? A new twist on an old classic? Frankenstien's monster burrito?

I think it is pretty dang good. And I do say so myself. (Not to myself and if I did say it to myself why are you listening to me when I am clearly talking to myeslf?)

Buzz Lightyear, Buzz Aldrin, Buzz Bay, Buzz me

Guess who is going for the lean, mean and clean look?

funny. or not. you decide....

Yep, I took all of these but the manatee/shark hugging one.


On my old rocking climbing wall in the garage
Dancing baby ahead? That is sooo 2002 internet.
A bear surfing a shark, holding a machine gun. Perfect!
Truth in advertising.
Mongol Rowdy Khan
I know what kind of fish it is!!
I love yams so much I guess I inadvertently started to grow them.

My work day in a few pictures

80% of a bikes problems can be fixed with 20% of my available tools
Normally I wear shorts at work, so test rides in jeans require the ol' "peg"
The office. The better original BBC one, not the crappy US one
I am neither of these two monkeys
Because I can