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Week ending January 27th, 2008
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

And what a great time we had! I spent Fri/Sat/Sun at Mammoth. I hadn't been snowboarding in almost two years so I was amped to go with all this great weather. It started with me getting new snow tires for the truck then grabbing some bindings and new boots for the snowboard earlier in the week. I managed to get it done by Thursday so I was ready to go.

Thursday night I went over to my friend Paulo's house and hung out there. We were leaving first thing in the morning so it made sense for me to drive up on Thursday night so we could get an early start. We got up early on Friday but didn't exactly get off as early as we wanted. Our good friend Quynh got there on time but we didn't manage to hit the road until 7:30.

The drive up was relatively uneventful until we got to the high desert just outside of China Lake. There was snow everywhere. China Lake is around 4000 feet but it's in the desert so I wasn't expecting snow there but sure enough, there were loads of it. Once we got past there it was smooth sailing. We stopped in Bishop so I could get some snow chains, just in case, but it turns out I didn't need them.

When we turned on to the 209 from the 395 there was snow and chains were required for cars and trucks without 4WD. Now, this is why I bought the truck in the first place, so I wouldn't need to have chains. Anyway, with 4WD on the truck handled great and didn't slip much at all. We turned in to the condo place and still had some time for some snow fun. There was a big embankment of snow next to the condo so we built a large ramp and made a few runs on a saucer sled. That was a riot!

After that we sparked up the fireplace, ordered some pizzas, watched a few movies then hit the sack. Early the next morning we grabbed our boards and headed to the mountains. The last time we were there we went to the main lodge but this time we decided on Eagle Lodge. That was a great idea as it was less packed and we had pretty much clean runs. Since I hadn't been in a while I did a few runs down the green slopes before headed to the blues. I was able to handle left turns just fine but transitioning from left to right is a little more difficult for me. I think with some more time and practice I could be hitting the steep runs. I made a couple runs without falling down too much and I only managed to "run into" (literally, I smacked right into her) one person the entire day (haha).

After that we went out to dinner at Grumpy's, watched a few more movies then hit the sack. I got up early on Sunday to drive home when I found this. LOL! It took me about 20 minutes to get all the snow off the truck and then trusting the truck's power and 4WD to get me out (which it did just fine on the first try!). After warming up the truck I hit the road. It took me 7 hours to get back to San Diego because I took the 395 all the way to the 15. But that wasn't the major problem. The problem was on the first leg of the 209 and 395 I had to drive through a BLIZZARD! You literally could not see the road. On the other side I noticed the CHP was escorting drivers up to Mammoth. Lucky them. The conditions did not clear up until about 25 miles before Bishop. After that it was smooth sailing to get home.

I'll have a whole bunch of pictures up on the site soon and I've already posted a few that I took with my cell phone. Not the best quality but you get the idea. We're already making plans to go again next month and I can not wait. Mammoth rocks and the clean air and beautiful scenery makes the long drive worth the trip!

See you around and be safe!

 

Week ending January 20th, 2008
Excellent week! Work is extremely busy and I have a bunch of new projects to work on. So far everything has been going really well. In fact we have tomorrow off so I am planning to play golf with some co-workers. We have a little golf "clique" at work and we try and play as much as we can together.

Everything else is going well. Next month is my birthday so I went ahead and bought myself an early birthday present. I'll post up pics as soon as it arrives. It may surprise you what it is :)

Church was great yesterday as well. I really do like my Pastor as well. He's on a series right now about Israel and what is going on in regards to scripture. Amazing to see so many of the prophecies written coming true before our very eyes.

Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet week. Not too much going on. I am planning on going to Mammoth next week so that will be fun. I will be picking up some new boots and bindings this week. I heard they have gotten a lot of snow recently.

I think WSMC was this weekend but I haven't renewed my license or my number. Doubtful I will even race this year but I definitely want to get in a few track days.

Well that is it for this week. I know it's kinda short but I've got a ton of stuff to do and little time to get it done. Talk to you next week.

 

Week ending January 13th, 2008
My first week back at work after a very, very long vacation (and long overdue, I might add!). Things went fairly smoothly and I got some new projects to work on. I have so much planned for work and the good part is, I have pretty much dictated my direction/path. We have a lot of opportunity to attend classes so it looks like 2008 is going to be the year I get "edumacated" for sure. :)

It appears that Mammoth (and all the other mountains) got a lot of snow this week. That's a good thing coz I am headed to Sports Chalet to pick up some new boots and bindings for my "End of January, 3 day jaunt" to Mammoth. Been a few years since I've been there and it will be a very good test of the 4WD on the Tundra. Ummm duh, that's the whole reason I bought the truck with 4WD. The last time I went up there I had to put chains on my 2WD. Not fun. Not fun at all. And it handled like absolute poop. (Well, it did...sheesh).

The weather was so nice today I almost tossed the leathers on an went for a jaunt to Palomar. Then I remembered it was Sunday today and there's a ton of squids up there. Not to mention I don't want to damage the bodywork anymore than I have already. The Bandit really wasn't made to do canyon carving on, haha. The reminds me, it's paid off, what do I do with it? I am thinking of selling it to the highest bidder and taking the cash and lumping it down on something a little more, sporty shall we say? Oh, I freely admit I am drooling over the ZX-10. I've never been much of a Kawi guy (and that pipe is beyond UGLY) but yeah, the numbers are looking good.

Let me see what the bike mags have to say. If I can find a deal I might be sporting something a little more refined for canyon carving. And I promise, if you see me on V-Twin you have every right to shoot me dead on the spot. haha.

BTW, I think I started a new "tradition" the past couple weeks. I have been gorging on Sushi either before or right after Church on Saturdays. Yesterday I had a rainbow roll, 2 spicy tuna wraps and 4 halibut and I was still hungry. Must be all the weight lifting. I've had to stay off the protein powders for a while. I have a theory and will let ya know.

PS: I busted a new weight high for the past 2 years but I'll wait to see if it holds next week before I release the numbers.

Have a great week and talk to you soon.

 

Week ending January 6th, 2008
Well how was you New Year? Mine was quiet. I got up early on New Years, warmed up the Bandit, tossed on my leathers, helmet, boots and gloves and headed NorthEast. The ride to Palomar was nice and quiet. Oddly enough, it was colder in the pass than it was on the Mountain itself.

Once I got on the mountain the road was clear. I rode up the tight side and was taking it easy to make sure the tires were warm. Good that I did because several turns had a massive amount of sand and rocks. Definitely not safe. A little further up the mountain the road cleaned up and I was able to lean the bike over further. Coming across a sweeping right hander I heard some scraping. I was fairly certain it was the new bodywork. Once I got to the top of the mountain and dismounted, my summations were correct. I scraped up my brand new bodywork. I wasn't aware that it was so close to the ground but oh well. That just gives me a reason to either repaint it or go ahead and buy another street bike :)

Hmmm what should I get? A CBR1000RR? An R1? A ZX-10? To be honest, I am really like what Kawasaki did with the ZX-10R. Other than the ugly pipe the bike looks really nice. I'm not completely sold on the looks of the new CBR1000RR but it appears performance wise it's right on top with the other bikes.

I also hit Home Depot this week to buy some stuff for the condo. Believe it not I bought a lot of plants. Yes. Plants. So now my place looks a bit more like home and all the light bulbs work :) I did not get a chance to go snowboarding as my buddy is still out of town but man, with all this rain and snow lately I will definitely have to make it to Mammoth. I heard they got a TON of snow! Church was also great this weekend as always. I brought a friend this time. Been trying to do that more often.

So now my 2 week vacation is over. I'm motivated to get back to work as I have some new solutions to start on that are going to make a huge impact on the infrastructure.

The New Year is sure to bring great things and I am looking forward to it. Looking back on the past year, at first I didn't think anything could top it but I am sure that with lots of faith anything is possible. You know what they say...

"Those who think they can, can. Those who think they cannot, can't..." Which one is it going to be for you?

Have a great rest of your weekend and I'll talk to you next week.