I'm a sad and lonely boy

So sad, in fact, that last night I had a dream that someone, some random person, read my blog and complimented me on my nilla/necca joke that I used as a headline like three posts down.  I mean seriously, how sad is it that I have to have dreams that people actually read the crap that I write.  Whatever.  Anyway...

More Us-vs-Them garbage...

This has been in every cyclists face since it happened on the evening of Friday, July 25th, in a NYC critical mass bicycle ride. Take a look...

Justified???  

Here is an article about the incident.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/24/MNGJSQ0N5Q1.DTL

Here is a chat room full of officers and their take on the incident and on bicyclists as a whole.

http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/7789/t/Video-shows-NYPD-cop-assaulting-cyclist.html

You feel me Nilla...I mean Necca...I mean....

Necco Wafers are the oldest continually made candy in the US.  And yet I have never heard of them.  Looks like crap to me.  

Nilla Wafers on the other hand kick so much ass.  Morgan Kanat used to have boxes stacked up in his pantry when we were in high school.  Before Morgan I thought Nilla Wafers were kind of the retarded kids cookie.  Boy was I ever wrong.  They are kind of delicious.  I wish they made a cereal out of them. 

To do tonight

Move Emma's Car.

Call my Mother.

Walk Buddy until he poops.

Read in my book Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz.

hands sink stuff

Washing my hands in the kitchen sink will always remind me of my dad.  Of summer.  Of fruit trees.  Of freshly sliced apricots and peaches.  Of perfectly peeled melo and of split purple figs.

Still Oregon Creek

More comfy reading spot shots.

Emma on the camel back rock.  That hole in front of her feet is like 10 feet deep and three feet wide.  
My back and butt. 

Oregon Creek Continued

Girl.

Beast.
Creek.
Beast.
The most comfortable reading spot I have ever sat in.  It was like a stone hammock.

More Oregon Creek

Emma walks off to scope out the upper section.

You can't really see it but behind the rocks on the right side of the picture, where the water is white, is an 8 or 10 foot waterfall.  Also, the rocks in the center of the photo, the ones that look stacked, make for good jumping rocks.  We never made it up there to jump but we saw all the kids do it.
Mustache and a pretty girl.
More beauty and the beast.
Pretty girl.  My girl.

Oregon Creek (Picture edit)

My girlfriend Emma and I went for a little creek hunting trip.

We drove approximately three highway hours and then through "4.5 miles of death".
We hiked a short, dusty ass, semi treacherous path down to:
And found this little beaut.
Ahhhhhhhhh......

In the Big League

Tonight will I will be going to the Giants game with my brother and some folks from work.  It will be the first time I have ever been to a game with my brother.  This is his favorite sport, his favorite team and his favorite city so I am looking forward to what will hopefully be many insights into this game that I know next to nothing about.

Go Giants!!!!

Creek Hunting.

I was so exhausted after my Seamanship coarse at OCSC in Berkeley that when 7:00 p.m. rolled around I was seriously doubting weather I really wanted to drive out into the middle of no where in the middle of the night all to find some supposedly pristine swimming hole.  But when Emma called the tone in her voice when she said "I'm off.  You still wanna go??" had that spark, that hint that says 'this could be a really cool adventure.'  Of coarse I was down.

We packed up the trunk of her Mustang with a couple of sleeping bags, some blankets for padding and the usual swimming hole things; hammock, sun block, swim shorts/bikini, sun glasses, et cetera, et cetera, and drove off to Concord to pick up my truck.  I was excited to finally feel the evening heat that Concord is so consistent with and that San Francisco notoriously lacks.  Unfortunately my home town failed to deliver on this particular evening.  

We transfered our  gear to my truck, kissed the folks all over their faces and heading off into the night.  Our immediate destination, the Coloma Club.  Our destination for the trip however, was an area just inside the Tahoe National Forrest that contained three swimming holes; Oregon Creek, Mushroom Rock and another more populated, more poluted, more littered one that we felt no need to explore.

It was a wonderful drive up.  Our bellies full of Jack in the Box, our conversation meandering through topics yet never fully devouring them so that we might come back and have a taste again at a later time.  

There comes a point in the trip, it usually happens after I exit the 50 and turn onto North Shingle Road.  About 150 meters down the road a wave of nostalgia fills my nostrils as the aroma of dirt, ponderosa pines, the American river, and camp fires files the air.  Jesus, why did I ever give up being a river guide.  Best job ever.  

We make our way to the Coloma Club, a total roadhouse bar filled with all kinds of country.  Ten gallon hats and big belt buckles, no teeth and shaggy beards, river kids in their board shorts and dread locks, floppy Gilligan hats and wrap around sun glasses, large women, filthy men.  There is a roadhouse band playing awful rock and blues covers and a room full of filthy stinking people getting down.  I, of coarse, used to be one of those filthy, stinking people.....and I miss being one of them.  

A bunch of the old O.A.R.S. crew were there, James 'Canada' Rogers (to relieve confusion I was called San Francisco James), 'Carnage' Craig, Daniel, Dana Blanc and some girl he was chatting up, KZ, Ryan Miller and John Greiver a.k.a Groover (a groover is a portable toilet used in expedition trips) a.k.a. Little Ball of Hate.  Emma and I enjoyed one beer and a bunch of slurred, mumbled, spittle filled catching up with the old boys and girl before we split off to make our cozy bed in the back of my truck.

We pulled into the Rivers Bend  parking lot and made our way to guide town.  The lot was full so we parked in the second guide lot and made out bed.  

We slept, for the most part, like babies, or logs, or whatever else has a relatively easy time sleeping.  We were on a slight hill so I kept sliding left, towards Emma, and down or out the back of the truck.  The morning sun and a pair of woodpeckers woke us up at around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m.  We were slow at packing up and cleaning up and saying goodbye to the folks at camp but soon enough were on the road again.  

It was about an hour or so of a drive through beautiful country into the Tahoe Forrest.  The creek is just past the Middle Fork of the Yuba river.  We parked my truck in a tiny two car turn around along highway 49 and wandered down the trail.  It only takes about four minutes to get to the water from the highway granted it is a semi treacherous trail.  

What we stumbled upon was nothing short of beautiful.  We found cascading waterfalls, jumping rocks, scramble rocks, thick foliage, beautifully clear and crisp water.  We spent the better half of the day there by our selves.  It wasn't until about 2:30 or so that folks started showing up....and shedding their clothes.

We swam, we scrambled over a rock or two, we lay in the sun on the rocks reading, hugging, laughing and chatting, we read, and we chatted with the naked locals and we splashed around and played with their children.  

We decided to end the night with a sushi dinner and a movie in Concord.  It was an amazing 26 hours.  

Haters

People hate me because of the type of bike I choose to ride.  I am the subject of mangled stares, scrunched faces, and pointing fingers.  

The future of Fairtex

This is one kid you'll want to keep your eyes on.  At age 11 he has already had 70 fights, winning 60 of them.  That is more than most westerners see in their whole career.  Check out mymuaythai.com or muaythaiuncovered.com for more info on JangJao Fairtex.

For my girlfriend Emma

because I can't wait until March.

Rebecca Ohlson bench dedication service...

A date and time has been set:

On Saturday, August 16th, at 2:00 p.m. friends and family will gather in Dolores Park in San Francisco to celebrate beautiful Rebecca and the relationship we all shared with her.

The dedication will start around 2:00 but please feel free to come early and spend the day with friends hanging out in the park.



lovelove

"until we meet again"

Snap, Crackle, Go to hell.

So I snap my fingers. A lot. A lot, a lot. Stop pointing it out.

Unless you are my GF.

For once, I am incredible

I just tossed my keys onto my bag....perfectly.
As most of you know I have a key ring attached to a carabiner that I clip to my belt loop and shove in my back pocket. My keys were on my desk and getting in my way, so I decided to toss them over by my bag on another desk about five feet away. As I tossed I thought I hadn't given enough gusto and that they would just hit the flap of my bag and fall to the ground. This is not even close to what happened. What happened was that I tossed them, they hung in the air, and upon contact clipped themselves to the flap of my bag and then gently came to rest upon the flap. Even to me it looked totally cgi, and I was sitting right here. As the great Joey Russo once said "Woah"

Can it be?

Is it just me or do people from older generations seem more likable. I'm not talking ages ago, just like two generations ahead of me. Maybe it's not that they're more likable but that I just don't like very many people in my generation. You tell me.

Bill Murrey can kiss my ass

It's now 7:36 and I'm stuck at work. I've been outside only for a brief ten minute period. The one day that I really wanted to get out on time and I'm stuck in the muck. Oh well. See you in a bit.

Update: I ended up getting out of work around 9:30ish. Not so so bad.

Stripes in the DP!!!

I tossed this idea out there this morning and it seems to have cought on.  This is a repost/invite from my brother.  I would have written my own but really, lets face it, he's better.  

It's movie night tonight at Dolores, and they're showing Stripes! a group of us are heading down around 7pm for pre-movie beers...wanna join?  call or text dudes...

let's sit together in some urine soaked grass and enjoy the warm'ish night...pretend like you're still in college, Thursday s Friday so don't give me any excuses.

holler if you bother.

The hungriest hippo

My new favorite summer time lunch.  Now, there are some variations, but it's generally all in the same class.  

Several tomatoes sliced about half inch thick.

One avocado sliced.

Three thick slices of Feta, crumbled if you prefer.  

Cover the plate with the tomatoes, avocado in the middle.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano.  Cover with feta and chow down.  

Today I added a couple of extras; cherry tomatoes, a large cucumber, and some garlic hummus. 

Morning weight:  Go to hell.