Life on the Farm

Kiefer, Katie and I have been having a lot of fun here on the goat farm.  It has been so wonderful to spend this time with my family!

Monday, December 20th, 2010
This was a bit of a lazy morning, but eventually we made our lunches and headed for the museum.  Thanks to Grandma we got to see the Planetarium show about Black Holes, AND the 3D-IMAX showing about the Hubble telescope as well as the museum.  Kiefer, Katie and I enjoyed the Gems & Crystals exhibit, as well as the planetarium exhibits, the Colorado exhibit, and the dinosaur exhibit before they kicked us out.  We picked up some peppermint brownies for Grandma on our way home as a thank you, she really enjoyed those.

I've really enjoyed talking with Grandma when we go down there, and hearing stories about my dad growing up.  It's nice to hear it from an outside perspective.  See dad?  I'm learning all about you =P, and now I know where I get my issue with authority from!

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Today we learned how to milk a goat!  Yes it's true, even us city folks can learn to milk a goat.

Not these goats, this is (left to right) Mira and Tully.

Not these goats either, (left to right) this is Tessa, Ziggy, and Pixie.

It was Lucy (a.k.a. Lulu) (left) that we milked.  Also pictured is Marygold (left) who is 3 months pregnant, and yours truly =).

The first step was to get cleaned up!  Cassie wiped down the goats udders and teats with warmed wipes (yay technology!) after sanitizing her hands.

Here you see me rolling Katie's sleeves up so she can get ready to get messy!  It's pretty chilly down there by they way!!  Next you get the bucket in place, and you have to learn the mechanics of milking!  This is actually very interesting, as the udder is much like a bag full of milk.  When you grab the teats you can feel the milk go out of them, so you have to kind of pinch it off at the top to trap it in the teat, then squeeze the teat firmly to get the milk to come out.

Kate took a couple tries to get it down, but then was excitedly (and slowly) milking!  She was very focused, so you can see that her glasses are slipping off of her face.  Speaking of the cold we all got cold weather/snow boots to wear, and we have been VERY glad to have them down at the barn.  They are excellent muck boots as well.

There is something extremely satisfying about learning how to do something different and new, and that is the whole point of this blog, to encourage us to get up and get out of the house!  See how proud of herself Katie is?

Kiefer and I also gave it a try

Success!!  We all have learned a new skill! 

Also interesting to note, goats like to eat pine needles (and branches), and peanuts!

Kiefer went out and participated in an Airsoft game with my cousin Riley.  They had fun =).  Cassie and I spent some time decorating the FRESH CUT Christmas tree.  Rice lights are awesome, and we wrapped them from the center of the tree outward along each branch for MAXIMUM LIGHTS!!!  We used strands of blue, fuchsia, and red lights, creating an amazing lighting effect!

Sorry no nighttime pictures to share yet, maybe I'll snag one tonight!  Later Cassie and I went down and lunged Dancer and Piper (two of the horses).  They seemed to enjoy the stretch of the legs.  We finished up just in time for the boys to get home.  Cassie had to throw some hay down (HEY!) from the loft in the barn, so Kiefer and I helped her out by stacking the bales.  This was a very dusty job!  Then we fed all the goats, and they were very happy.

Kiefer and I ran to the grocery store to buy dinner makings, and headed home to prepare a feast of Fajitas for everyone.  This dinner was devoured with many compliments all around.  It was very nice to be able to make a meal for our hosts, and give them a treat to say thank you =).  We then exchanged our Christmas gifts.  Kiefer and I decided to get the whole family a Wii since they were so generous in sharing their home with us this week (and their food!).  This seemed to be a very good choice as everyone was delighted.  My aunt got me a HILARIOUS set of post-it notes, and Kiefer got a "demotivational" calendar from Think-geek.com.  We both loved them as much as they loved the Wii!  I will be using those at work for sure =).  Katie got a plush horse which she thinks is the best thing since sliced bread!

We helped them put the Wii together immediately, and showed them how to put on all the updates.  Uploaded the Netflix channel for them, and now they're all set!  Raving Rabbids TV Party wrapped up our evening.

Exploring Colorado

Dear Readers I am sorry I have not posted in a while.  I have been having issues with my commuting bike, so my blogging time has been spent exploring those.  Additionally I just spent a week in Fort Walton Beach Florida for business travel (I'll have to backdate blog that in).  But for now, expect regular updates, as I am off of work, and on vacation!

Kiefer and I decided it would be fun to visit Colorado before Christmas.  So I contacted my dad's brother and sister and let them know we were coming to visit, and planning to stay in a hotel.  My Aunt emailed me back as soon as she heard, and informed me that Kiefer, my daughter and I were all invited to stay with her and her family (my uncle, two cousins, and my grandmother) on the farm.  They own a beautiful farm on about 40 acres (which I'm always going on and on about to my friends and coworkers) where they keep the following menagerie of animals:

• 24 goats (+/- periodic boarders)
• 4 Horses
• 2 Dogs
• 5 House Cats
• 2 Barn Cats
• "some" fish

Kiefer was positively delighted that we would be staying with them.  So we bought our tickets, and packed our bags and here we are!!

Friday, December 17th, 2010
I spent the morning doing mundane pre-vacation chores like washing the bedding, and folding laundry (we were already packed) until it was time to pick up my daughter.  This is where the true fun began!  We had spent the week prior to this baking cookies and packing so we would be prepared for our hectic schedule, so when I picked Kate up we were all ready to go.....deliver cookies at my work!  Katie put on her best Christmas dress when I picked her up, and we made our rounds at my office delivering Christmas cookies and Christmas cheer.  Everyone was very cheery to see her in her little red dress with white fuzzy trim.

From there we headed for the OC to pick up Kiefer from his mom's house (That crazy man rode his motorcycle to work in the rain so he could leave his car at our house!).  The drive was...dreary.  It was pouring rain all day in Southern California, and it is supposed to continue to do so through Thursday last I heard!  After picking the Kiefer up, and a blessed episode of NO traffic between his mom's house and the airport we made it in time for our 8:08 pm flight....which ended up being delayed by 30 min.  /facepalm

I Had a gourmet veggie sammich, and Kiefer had a deli multi meat sandwich for dinner.  I allowed Katie to have a happy meal, since I know those were pretty hefty ($9!!) sandwiches, so she had "chicken nuggets" for dinner, and proceeded to devour the entire thing.  The flight was 2 hours, and wasn't too bad.  Kate read book 6 of Chugo Chara (Santa apparently heard that she was running out of books to read, and slipped one in her backpack at some point!  What a clever Santa!), watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Chris on the mini TVs, and followed it up with some Scribblenauts .  She made it ALL THE WAY to when we were taxiing in to the gate before she started to fall asleep.

Backstory here:  Kate is a VERY heavy sleeper.  She sleeps like the dead.  You can pick her up and move her, or make loud sounds, or turn on all the lights, and nothing will wake her.  I like to say she'd sleep through the nuclear holocaust.

We made it to the rental car depot to find that the 20 Subaru Outbacks that had been there when I was last in Denver on business in April 2010........were all gone!!!  So we looked, in the 25F chilly night air at all the cars.  Chevy Malibu, Chevy HHR, VW Bug (no way our luggage will fit in there!)...and one Nissan Altima...which was already being sat in by another family.  DANGIT!  So we decided the HHR was our best bet, since it has room for us.  Fortunately it gets GREAT gas milage, but I hate it still.  Wussy little car...and the seat is impossible to adjust!  That reminds me... I need to look up the owners manual.  Anyhoo...we headed to our hotel.

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

We stayed in a hotel overnight, which was fantastic, had our delish breakfast, and then watched Four Christmases in our hotel room.  This was a funny/frustrating movie, check out IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes for reviews..as that is not really the premise of this blog!  We packed up our stuff and headed for......TARGET!  Because I forgot my belt! We had lunch at this gourmet burger place called Diego Zhane's, and it was fantastic.  It was a total pain in the butt to find, but we found it, and it was yummy!  I had a tasty salmon burger, Kiefer had his first Buffalo burger, and Kate had unlimited grilled cheese sandwiches.  I also had some of their tomato basil soup.  YUM!

Then right to my aunts house.  We got ourselves situated, and had a lovely dinner with my family.  I had forgotten how much I love spending time with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  I think after dinner we visited grandma (she lives in an apartment below the main farm house.).  We finished up the evening by watching Home Alone (which my daughter had never seen before).  This turned out to be an excellent choice, and everyone laughed.  Then we went to bed!

By they by, dinner was accompanied by home made goat cheese.  It was fantastic.  We had a pepper jack, and a chev with honey.  Oh and btw, the honey comes from their friend's bee hive.  Fresh made cheese, fresh gathered honey.  Amazing.

Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Today was very exciting!  We started off the morning with a hot breakfast of cream of wheat topped with fresh honey, raisins, and fresh goat milk.  Yum!  My aunt also makes fresh yogurt, but I haven't gotten around to trying any yet.  I'll have a snack of it before we leave =D.  Next we proceeded to take the goats for a walk!

They are so funny, all you have to do is walk away and they will follow you!  I was feeding them some stalks off the bushes.  Also, apparently goats really like to eat pine trees too.

Even Kiefer was playing with the goats!

We are already getting to know the goats.  This one reminds us of our friend Sean...we call him "One Horn"

My uncle said that us taking the goats for a walk was a big help, because it allowed them to get their stalls cleaned quickly.  Yay for being helpful!  There are a few other things we're trying to help out with while we're here.  I have NO problem with earning my keep.  In fact, I'd like to make dinner for them one night.  Tomorrow night will probably be the best night for that =).  We'll bring taco Tuesday to the farm!

We ended the night by introducing my uncle to Top Gear, and watching the pilot episode of Firefly with my cousins.
The plan for today is to visit the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.  Grandma gave us tickets for it, which is extremely helpful!  Time to make sandwiches!

Look for more posts later!

Fun Weekend of Fun - Part 2: Saturday and Sunday

Dated from 9/20/2010
Saturday
So saturday morning we mostly just relaxed....a lot.  It was much needed at any rate.  Kiefer went to our friend's place for the afternoon to help him get a new mountain bike, so he can ride with us more often, and he was really jazzed about it.  Kiefer even liked all the hydrolic brakes he's tried out lately soooo much that he's ordered some for himself!

That evening we went to a charity dinner for GT.  He is doing a charity ride for MS, and proceeds from the dinner benefited that.  My daughter was really excited about going to the dinner, mostly because she got to dress up real fancy.  The food was great, and I enjoyed seeing Ernie there and meeting all the new people.  They even had karaoke, and I got my daughter to dance with me.  She, of course, was the major star of the dance floor, and everyone loved her.  We kept dancing until we had no more dancing left in us, then our Kiefer drove us home.  What a good man!

Sunday
Sunday morning we all got up and Kiefer was a darling and loaded all of our mountain bikes into the truck.  Katie was excited to go for a ride, and even donned the cute pink cycling jersey Kiefer gave her for her birthday last year.  We arrived at Bonelli only a couple minutes late (which is pretty good considering we had to bet money for parking!), and quickly got on our way!  Katie and I did one loop trailing behind the guys before they took off for more adventures, though Kiefer's dad was nice enough to stay behind with Katie and me.  After our loop we went to the playground area, as planned, and "tested" all of the slides, and the swing.

Apparently Sean took a grandiose dive over his handle bars down a hill, and Crab and Sean's Uncle were feeling like taking a break.  So we all sat down and enjoyed the park for a while until the boys caught back up with us....just in time to watch Sean take ANOTHER spectacular dive down a hill, crashing through some brush at the end.  We all did one more loop together, and then headed for the cars.

After our ride we headed for In-Cycle in San Dimas, and lunch (I was starving!).  We all agreed that Red Robin was the tastiest option, so we headed over and dug in.  During lunch we found out what, exactly, a sesame is.
Bike Shopping at In-Cycle
Hanging out with baba
Bike Shopping at Helen's Cycles
Tasty Dinner
Planet Earth!

Long time no See!!!

Sorry I havn't given you an update in a while, things are a little hectic for me.  My Babushka is in the hospital, well now she's in convalescent care.  She's not doing too well.  I spent a few weeks staying with her until late at night.

This past weekend Kiefer and I went with my folks up to Big Bear Lake.  It was WONDERFUL.  Rained miserably most of Saturday morning, so we stayed in.  I got to finish my book, which was nice, and taught Kiefer how to Crochet too!  Mid Saturday morning it started to snow a little, and it pretty much never stopped until after we left.  Kiefer treated me and my folks to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1.  I REALLY enjoyed that movie.  I LOVE the whole series like a crazy fan girl (come on, my cat's name is CROOKSHANKS for goshsakes!). 

We skittered around town afterwards and headed to K-Mart to look for snow chains.  The skittering was indeed due to the fresh coating of snow over a lovely bed of ice caused by the rain that morning.  The chains at K-Mart were the ultra el-cheapo kind but instead of being $50 they were nearly $80!  So we went to Napa and got some $140 ones instead.  These were not really marked up, and they are much much higher quality, so I was okay with spending the extra dough.  I know I go up to Big Bear frequently, and these are VERY easy to apply, so I'd be fine with applying them myself on a solo trip to Yosemite or something.  And yes, I do realize that I overpaid by the same % I would have for the K-Mart ones....but the K-Mart ones wouldn't have lasted 5 miles.

Tonight we're getting ready for our annual Stress-Free (aka Family Free) Thanksgiving.  Everyone knows it's gonna happen, so they just call to confirm that hey, we're still doing this right?  Yup!

Meanwhile my bike is giving me issues.  He's started whining on my ride home (Kiefer suspects the bearings need repacking).  Also the forward derailleur is not operating correctly.  It's very frustrating because I have to shift all the way up in the rear chainrings before the forward chainring will shift in to top gear...which means that now I have a bike in top gear, and I was just getting going.  /fail  I have some kind of throat tickle as well ahem ahem...HEM!!

Finally I've been practicing my piano again, trying to get the old fingers warmed up for the Holiday Season.  I love to play Christmas music on the piano.  My favorite thing while in drumline was to get the vibes out and play the Ukranian Bell Carol (no that's NOT me, we didn't have Youtube when I was in High School).  Time to go out and buy some music!

GTFO and VOTE

I don't care who you vote for, just VOTE!!

Don't vote for someone just because you hate the other guy more, if there is a 3rd candidate, vote for them!  Know your measures and propositions, and wield your ink-a-dot (or finger for electronic voting) carefully.

Get out there and Vote!

Gloomy Doomy Weather...well for me anyway.

Lately I haven't been feeling 100%.  I'm not sure if it's that I'm coming down with something, or that I haven't ridden to work all week because of the rain (yes it actually rained in LA a few times this week) or some crazy combination of that and shark week.  Who knows!

This weekend I'm getting out for a couple things, tomorrow I'm serving a tasty dinner to my friends Nick and Stacey.  I'm about to take a trip down to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients.  I've got a tasty but light menu planned:

Wine & Cheese
Fall Salad
Pumpkin Soup
Lamb w/ Butternut Squash Risotto and Spinach
and special dessert made by my friends with coffee/tea

yum!

Hopefully I get to get all of this stuff ready before tomorrow, so I can go mountain biking, but I don't want to over do it, so we'll see!

Bike Lust

Kiefer is lusting after a new mountain bike. Maybe I'll sell a kidney...

Soccer Moms and Helocopter Moms watch out....her comes Triathlon Mom!

So I would like to take the time today to explain the difference between pressure and encouragement.  Lets consult some sources shall we?


Mirriam-Webster.com defines encourage as follows:

en·cour·aged en·cour·ag·ing

Definition of ENCOURAGE

a : to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten encouraged to continue by her early success> 

b : to attempt to persuade : urge encouraged him to go back to school>

 

Mirriam-Webster.com defines pressure as follows:

Definition of PRESSURE

a : the burden of physical or mental distress 

b : the constraint of circumstance : the weight of social or economic imposition 

 

Now, here we see that pressure would involve causing mental distress, whereas to encourage would involve inspiration.

 

Today Kate had her first session of Running Club.  I am PROUD of her for going, and doing her absolute best! That said, there were many parents out there.  One in particular kept telling the kids "you can rest, you can stop if you want!" While I'm telling them "Great job!  Keep going!"  And she looks at me and says "they CAN rest you know.

So politely I explain my theory, that kids have the same amount of energy as us, just much less mass to move around, so it goes a lot further for them.  And threw in "besides, it's good for them to run around some!"  An energetic dad nearby goes "yah!  Let them run around!" So helecopter mom looks at me and goes "It's a no pressure run club remember" in her sweetest voice (not sweet enough to cover up that glare though).  So I genuinely reply in my most go-get-'em voice "It's not pressure, it's encouragement" followed by shouting at more children as they pass clapping and telling them they're doing a great job, and keep going.

HALLO!

I'm still here, I didn't forget to get out!  In fact I've been so busy getting out, that I havn't had time to write!

Went to Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Saturday.  HAD A BLAST with Kiefer and my friends.

Then had tasty Canadian Thanksgiving at my mom's house this weekend.

What to do in the event of a bicycle-auto crash

This is a very valuable, though short article.  Read it, and remember it.  I might make a little printout, and stick it in my bike pouch.

Rancho Palos Verdes MTB Ride

For Saturday 10/2, Crabtree and I had decided to try out the Portuguese Bend trail in RPV again (mostly to make up for the initial failed attempt using my brother's Costco Schwinn special). We hit the road and arrived at the trail head around 8:30 AM. This time we are sporting bike bells to alert people of our presence without having to yell "on your left" a million times.

The weather started off damp, cool and just a tad foggy (nice riding weather if you ask me). We head down the first descent of roughly one half mile then make a pit stop (omg had to peeeeeeeeeee). From here we had to make our first decision. Continue on the trail we did last time, or check out the full fledged geoladders trail. Acting out of bravery and adventure, we opt for the latter. This turned out to be a bad mistake.

The first climb was tough. Either side of the trail had some decently hard packed dirt littered with stones, while the center of the trail was a river of fairly large rocks (5" in diameter +). I also missed the pedal while trying to clip in and took some skin off my shin. Once we finished the climb and caught our breath, we noticed the trail had signs prohibiting bicycles on all horse trails. Damn it.... Not wanting to get ticketed, we flipped a bitch and headed back the way we came. Crabtree and his sexy new EX5 full suspension bike ate up the trail. I didn't fare so well with my 29er hardtail (with a seemingly rigid fork).

At this point I may as well clue you in to the fact that I recently upgraded my brakes to hydraulic and went from 160mm rotors to 203mm. This proved to be far too much braking power... Coming down the rocky hill my front tire hit a deeply embedded stone which in turn caused me to pull on my front brake just a bit too much and over the bars I went! The fall itself wasn't bad since I didn't hit any major rocks or spiny plants. My bike however was very angry at me.

I coast down the rest of the hill to catch up with Crabtree and tell him my bike is having problems. My initial diagnosis was I had bent the rear derailleur, since the symptoms including the derailleur swingarm brushing against the spokes. At this very moment, some downhill cyclists were pushing their bikes uphill (natch). They stop and inspect it, saying that the hanger was bent, not the derailleur. That was much better news, since the part is much cheaper to replace. We discussed bike mechanics for a bit and they confirmed the 203mm rotors were a bit too much for an all-mountain/cross country bike. I would be better suited with a 185mm/160mm setup. They took off and we tried to bend the hanger back into place, with a bit of luck. I could continue on so long as I didn't use gears 1 and 2. Great....no granny gear for the climb.

Not wanting to end the trip after only 30 minutes, we braved on. The downhill segment continued on for about a mile and we took a quick pitstop to eat. We had two choices of trails from this point (which in fact was the place we turned around on the previous ride). There was a wide uphill road to the left, and a small technical-looking singletrack to the right. We choose the former.

I tell you what....climbing in 3rd gear instead of 1st or 2nd suddenly made it transform from an aerobic activity to an anaerobic one. My quads were burning like fire, but I trudged on. At the top of this hill we stopped and took a few pics. one two three

From here we just wandered and didn't find any trails that looped back to our starting point, so we just went back the way we came. Initially it was a breeze because we were heading back downhill, but then the real climb began. I changed up my power delivery and it saved my legs quite a bit, so losing the first two gears didn't feel as bad anymore. Crabtree kept yelling "RRRAAAAA Crab not built for this!" at the mountain. A few older guys passed by us when we were stopped under a tree (it had gotten hot by this point and I was regretting my black motocross jersey). Some hikers called to us as we were climbing "Hey those old guys are beating you!" I responded "Ah, we're letting them win!"

After about two miles of bitching and uphill climbing we finally made it back to the truck. Total elapsed time was roughly 3 hours.

Boiling Lava Hot

I'm melting, I'm melting!  So as you all know I live in the beach area somewhere in Los Angeles.  Well for some reason, someone took away the breeze, and it is unusually and unseasonably hot this week.  It was 95 today at my office, it hasn't gotten about 75 all summer.  The worst part is really the breeze, or lack thereof.  Usually around 4-5 pm there is a fantastic cool breeze that comes through the house and refreshes all the air.  Well for some reason that is totally absent today. So our house is totally stagnant =(.

My poor long haired cats are miserable, so I put each of them in the sink in turns and hosed off their tummies.  I've never had Loki complain so little about getting wet.  He literally meowed 2 times, and they're both looking much more comfortable now that they're able to cool off a little better. 

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not able to sit with this laptop on my lap for verylong, IT'S HOT!  But tomorrow we are going surfing after work.  Period.  It's just too damn hot to be in the house!

Getting out for the weekend, and spending some dough!

So the plans for this weekend were as follows:

Friday Night - Three Musketeers at the Theatricum Botanicum
Saturday - Surfing in the morning, then some cheese festival in the afternoon
Sunday - Mountain biking on Fullerton Loop

In reality this is what transpired:

Friday
Kiefer and I headed to Costco to pick up 2 extra elite surf boards (the $99 special you know!), and then threw on our gear to ride up to Topenga Canyon on the GSXR.  Boy was that a nerve wracking ride!  For Kiefer it was because we took every turn up Topenga Canyon Road nice and wide due to my added weight on the back.  For me it was the fact that 75% of the road on the way up has what seems to be a trench for some kind of plumbing most likely, that has been filled in with asphalt that has been "smoothed out" with several men with shovels.  It was very bumpy, and very scary through a turn in the dark....  We eventually made it to the play (20 min late), but it was fantastic.  I happen to love the story behind the Three Musketeers, so I really got into it very quickly.  The actors were very good =).  Our ride home was MUCH MUCH better, as the downhill side was totally smooth, so we enjoyed a brisk drive through the canyon, and then a nice zippy ride down the fwy (pronounced FWEEEEE) home.  We hit the hay right away, as surfing was booked for 8am sharp!

Saturday
So I wake up at the crack of dawn (as always), it's like I don't even need an alarm clock anymore or anything!  I prep a tasty breakfast of Cream of Wheat and scrambled eggs + egg whites with salsa (yum!), and we get ready for the salt water.  Now, admittedly I was not really looking forward to getting into the water yesterday.  It was the first day of shark week, and cold water just sounded really uncomfortable.  Plus we didn't have wetsuits...you know? So first we headed to a local surf shop to check out wetsuits.  Those fit us okay, but were not really in our price range.  Well let me rephrase:  Crab didn't like the color (orange), Kiefer was meh (color and fit), and I was not amused by the price ($230).  So we convened and decided instead of actually surfing we'd go shop for suits.

We dropped the boards back at our house, and headed out.  Sharky Ryzzie was getting grumpy due to lack of food, so when Kiefer suggested going to Sports Authority I was very whiny about them probably not having any, or not having any in the guy's sizes.  (Crab needed a LS, Kiefer an MT, I just needed a men's L, so easy there).  They had plenty of $100 or less suits, but none of them fit right.  I tried some ladies ones on and ended up totally shredding my fingers in the process.  I guess the way my fingers were rubbing on the material was just rubbing them raw =(  I have those on both hands too.  We gave up on SA, and headed out.

Earlier I had mentioned Spyder Surf, but they had been closed.  Well it was like 10:30 so they were definitely open now!  Crab navigated us there, and we were pleased to see they said "500 wetsuits in stock now!" and something to the effect of "BIG SALE."  So the boys piled right in, and I followed along moping because I had booboos.  I walked right up to the desk with a sad face and asked if they had bandaids.  They guy felt SO sorry for me, and went into the back and got out the first aid kit and got me a couple.  After that, he proceeded to help us out big time!

Chris and I ended up getting AWESOME deals on these suits:

Both DEEPLY discounted, and both perfect fits.  The guys at Spyder Surf on PCH were SO helpful, and SUPER SUPER nice, so I would recommend going there to ANYONE.  They even brought us water while we were trying on our suits, and it was tasty water too.  I'm not one to post stickers or promote shamelessly, but they were so helpful, and so nice, and friendly that I KNOW I will do all my surf shopping there from now on.  Oh and Crab even got a suit for about $100 which was nice too (also rip curl, but I don't know what brand).

So we headed home for our next event.  Well it turns out our buddy, who had selected this event had totally forgotten about it.  We were NOT offended at all, considering it's been 100+F all weekend inland, so Kiefer and I decided to stay home.  we tried this great pizza place in South Redondo Beach, and it was indeed fancy pants gourmet pizza.  The crust even had a tasty flavor and everything!  Yum!  We also did a fun motorcycle/bike ride (I rode the GSXR, and Kiefer rode his road bike) over to the local Motorsports store, and BevMo! to check out moto-X gear for the season, and pick up some beer to go with the pizza we'd be ordering later.  Yum!

We finished up the evening with the end of Seven Samurai.  Phew!  Long day!

Sunday
My friend from work came over by 8am as planned, so we headed for Fullerton.  We pulled up to the Ralphs at 8:58 am, in plenty of time.  Everyone showed up on time, and we slathered up with sunscreen, and finished up our last minute adjustments before heading out.  Everyone had a great time, even though Crab fell down several times (new clipless + shoes, he just needs more practice).  I even took a dive trying to get up a curb.  I went up a couple smaller ones before that, but hadn't attempted anything so large before, but I figured I'd give it a go.  Well I misjudged and/or was going to slow, so I pulled up (WAAAAAAYYY) too early, and smashed right into the curb instead.  Fun times!  Didn't fall on my but, but my hands touched the ground nice and solid for sure.  I count that as down.

Sean had fun flying down a few hills by skidding sideways, and Crab even took a nice steep hill we were all certain he was going to die on, and did fine (I have videographical proof!).  We were hot, Crab tried to pass out from carb crash, and a little over doing it, and I tried to get too hot, but stuck my head in a sink at a bathroom we passed, so we were having fun (despite my complaints, hey someone had to do it!).

Well I was having a BLAST with my new bike.  It was great that it has disc brakes, non-twist shifters, front suspension, actually fit me, everything about it was great.

OLD:

NEW:

You can just SEE the awesomeness abound!  I love my Cannondale F5.  Kiefer was saddened by my GT Palomar, so he showered me with this gift.  I asked him to not literally shower me, as I felt the bruising would be very apparent.

Anyhoo!!  We're riding along, having a great time, and at about mile 9 I go to shift (on some nice, flat ground) and all of a sudden I hear this sickening CRUNCH as my pedals seize up.  Now I figure something's gotten stuck, or the chain's popped off.  This kind of thing happens.  NONONO.  I look down to see that my rear derailleur has completely snapped off.

Yes, that's right, on the inaugural ride of my brand new bike, it broke.  Completely snapped off the hanger assembly.  I found a nice shaded parking lot to hang out at until they finished the ride, and came to pick me up.  After a tasty lunch at Daphne's in Fullerton, we headed home (so my friend from work could take off), and then to Helen's Cycles to see what they could do for my new baby.

They were completely dumbfounded by this break.  The guy that sold me my bike was not happy to see me unhappy, and the mechanics were just like WTH how does that happen!?!?!  They are going to keep her for the week, and get SRAM to replace it on warranty.  They are hoping SRAM will send an upgrade for my troubles.  I'm glad to get a free upgrade, but I would have rather finished my ride you know?  Le Sigh, oh well, she'll be back soon and I can have more adventures.

I just wanted to ride my damned bike!

Veggie Night - Teriyaki Tofu with Garlic Broccoli on Brown Rice

I have been inspired by my friends to make this weekly post.  Several people have mentioned to me that they are adding a "Vegetarian Night" to their weekly meal plan.  I am so proud of all of you!  Having a vegetarian night is a great way to add some really healthy food to your diet.  Many of you have asked me for recipes and meal ideas, and I thought that posting them here would be a great way for me to share them with you!

Tonight I'm going to tell you how to make The following extra tasty meal:

Teriyaki Tofu with garlic broccoli served on brown rice.

NOTE:  This recipe serves 3

Ingredient List
1 package Firm Tofu
1 head of broccoli, fresh*
3 to 6 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
1/4 c. Soy Sauce
1/4 c. Mirin**
2 tbsp. Rice Vinegar
1/4 c. Worcestershire Sauce
Brown Rice, prepared per packaging

All of these can be found at your local Asian Grocer, and are great to have for other asian themed dishes, or even tasty salad dressings!

*Frozen broccoli typically has excess moisture on it.  You would need to thaw and drain frozen broccoli, but the likelihood of splattering is VERY high.

**For reduced sugar teriyaki please substitute your favorite powder or liquid sweetener for the Mirin.  I recommend preparing the teriyaki sauce first, then sweetening to taste after it is prepared.


Teriyaki Tofu
1.  Slice Drained and Pressed tofu into large pieces (about the size of a card deck).  Set aside.
2.  Sautee on high heat 1 to 3 cloves of  Diced or press garlic in approximately 2 tbsp. of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of Sesame Oil.  Do not allow the oil to smoke.
3.  Reduce heat to low, and allow to cool slightly.
4.  In a small bowl combine soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar and 1 tbsp Sesame oil.  Carefully add to the frying pan.
5.  Heat the sauce until it begins to simmer, then gently lay the sliced tofu in the sauce.  Continue cooking on low to medium heat, turning tofu over once it is darkened on the under side.  Remove from pan when darkened on both sides, and warmed through (the darkness is from the sauce being absorbed).
6.  Increase the burner to med heat, and reduce the sauce remaining in the pan for approximately 2 min.  Be careful not to scorch, and stir constantly.

Set Tofu and Teriyaki Sauce aside.

Garlic Broccoli
1.  Without discarding the stem slice rinsed broccoli into sixths lengthwise.
2.  Sautee 1 to 3 cloves of diced or pressed garlic on high heat in approximately 2 tbsp. of olive oil and 1 tsp of sesame oil.  Do not allow the oil to smoke.
3.  Carefully add the broccoli to the oil.  Reduce heat to medium.  Sautee broccoli, turning over occasionally until the color changes to a BRIGHT green, and the stalk begins to soften (test with a fork).  Cooked broccoli should still be firm, and not mushy at all, but easy to skewer with a fork.

Serve Tofu and Broccoli over a bed of brown rice and drizzle your homemade sauce over the top.

As always READ THE INGREDIENTS of what you buy, and be portion conscious.  

Ryzzie takes no responsibility for assuring reader(s)'s cooking skill, or the quality of reader(s)'s cooking equipment or appliances.  Please be sure to follow all manufacturer's directions, and do not leave your stove unattended at any time.  Keep a fire extinguisher rated for grease fires in your kitchen in an easily accessible place at all times, and regularly check the batteries on smoke and fire detectors.  Cooking can be dangerous, so please be careful!  Knives are always sharp, and stoves are always hot.

Bonelli Park MTB ride

After the grueling ride at Schabarum Park it was Ryzzie's turn to pick a venue to go biking. Since we had Katie for the weekend, it was decided to go somewhere she has ridden before and therefore could easily keep up. This time around it was Bonelli Park in San Dimas.

The full crew consisted of me, Ryzzie, Katie, Gary, Stephen, my dad, Sean and his friend Curt. My dad was the first to arrive with Gary arriving shortly thereafter. We caught up with them just after 8:30 AM, our scheduled meeting time. While I was pulling the bikes out of the truck, Stephen, Sean and Curt magically appeared all at once! We spent a few minutes checking out everyone else's bikes while Katie got warmed up in the parking lot. Stephen had just picked up a new full suspension bike at Jax and was the envy of the group.

Rides

• Ryzzie - Red Monster
• Me - Gary Fisher Mamba
• Katie - Specialized Hotrock
• Gary - INTENSE Uzzi
• Stephen - Trek Fuel EX 5
• Jim - Diamondback Response
• Sean - Kona Lana'i
• Curt - We couldn't see his bike because it was camouflaged

We started off to complete a loop of the paved road that circled around the park. Right away Katie was having trouble with climbing anything uphill. She needs to build some leg muscle! After awhile the group ended up getting split up, with Lyz, Katie and my dad hanging back. The rest of us went to find some hills we could climb, which proved to be easy to find. We rode a few easy trails to get some dirt on the tires then went towards an arduous steep hill to test our mettle.

My climbing technique has improved since I first started, and I can tell because I'm not wheelie-ing up the hill nor spinning the rear tire excessively. Once we reassembled at the halfway point up the grade, we wanted to try some downhill. Right away Sean found a small steep singletrack that lead down to the paved road we just came from. It was unanimously decided he would get to go first. The first corner leading down the path was sharp and sandy (which is never good) and it tossed him off. He got up again and started down the steep path. The last thing we saw was Sean flying through the air! He got bucked hard by a bump in the middle of the hill. We yelled to see if he was alright, to which he yelled an affirmative. I chased after him down the hill (very slowly with my foot down half the time). Gary followed and finally Stephen walked his bike down half of the hill. Curt took the easy way out and went back the way we came!

After tending to our wounds and bruised egos, we headed back to find the rest of the group. Ryzzie and Katie were playing on the swing set in the park, but my dad was nowhere to be seen. I took off with Gary to go find him. After completing a full loop of the park I went back to the car to grab my phone in case he called. Eventually we found each other and talked about our respective trail rides. He had climbed up the entire hill and took a lot of pics with his phone. However that ride took all his energy and he was ready to head home.

I get back to the group to discover Sean has been plowing new trails again. Curt had caught the whole downhill Superman nut buster on video (but it was taken a bit far away). Sean took to the restroom to ensure he was still a man (spoiler: he was).

We packed up the bikes, bid farewell to Sean, Curt and my dad then headed for Red Robin and InCycle. Never before have I seen such an awesome bike shop! We spent a full hour there without getting bored. They even had a cat named Dog! Stephen bought a pair of really nice Sidi mountain biking shoes while the rest of us managed to hide our wallets and escaped without spending a dime! Good times :)

Fun Weekend of Fun - Part 1: Thursday and Friday

This one is going to come in installments again, because I don't like spamming a tl;dr post to my readers!

Thursday mostly consisted of nothing exciting.  Rode to work, rode home....EXCEPT that on my way home some GUY decided to try to run me off the road.  This is my first encounter with it, and I was totally taken by surprise.  We were at a 4 way stop, and I have a bad habit at this particular intersection of creeping up and passing people.  This one guy had his right indicator on, so I figured I'd pass him on the left.  I'd done it before, and no one really minds because I turn left right away anyway.  Well this guy got SOOOOO mad that he decided to forgo turning right in order to chase me down.  REALLY GUY?!?!?  REALLY?!!?!  So I couldn't make my usual left turn, and had to keep going straight for about a mile (there are a set of culdesacs between that street I wanted to turn on, and the next through street).

Over the course of that mile he tried to pass me on the left 3 times (the lane is VERY narrow, and there were 2 cars in front of me....that I was keeping up with just fine) despite the fact that there was oncoming traffic each time.  Then he tried to run me off the road, so I finally blasted past him at a stop sign and made the next possible left while he was still accelerating.  he seemed to back off as soon as I made my left turn hand signal, but if he hadn't I would have just taken the next right.  CRAZY SOB!

So I get every other Friday off (as I've stated before), and I usually like to stay home and relax, catch up on chores and that kind of thing, then pick up my daughter early from school.  Well Kiefer woke up with a "crick" in his neck, so he called in sick.  We relaxed in the morning, and then headed to the mall to do some shopping.  I have a love for sweaters that I cannot explain, and I have a mighty need to replenish my collection, since my favorite sweater got shrunk in the wash on accident.

Shopping was not exciting, didn't find any good sweaters (too early for southern california), so we decided to go check out some mountain bikes!  Kiefer feels very bad for me when I have to use my all steel solid frame (no suspension whatsoever) rim-brakes mountain bike.  Here is a poem that I composed about how it makes him feel:

Ryzzie's Mountain Bike Makes Kiefer Sad
It does not want
to go up the hill
so I push it
it is heavy.
He does not like
to see me walk
when everyone else can ride.

It does not want
to stop going down
so I go slow
it is scary.
He does not like
to see me crawl
when everyone else can go.

It does not want
to be picked up
so I struggle
to pick it up
I hit my head.
He does not like
to see me fail
when everyone else can do.

There we go!  What a lovely poem!  And no, I totally do not take that seriously, but I sure do think it's fun!

So we went to Performance Bikes and REI before we got burnt out on bike shops, then headed home.  That was when we found out Kiefer's dad had secured us free tickets to a special event at Knott's Berry Farm!!!  How exciting!  So we picked up my daughter from school and got ready to go.  We totally surprised her with our destination, and were surprised ourselves to discover that it was free parking (always a nice treat).

My daughter got to ride on Montezuma's Revenge and Boomerang (both rides with loops) for the first time, and had a BLAST!  I was so glad to have so much fun with her, Kiefer and Kiefer's Dad and sister.  We had a great time!

Dear fellow cyclist commuter,

You do not have a name, but you know who you are.  I like you.  I don't know you at all, but I like you.  Why?  Because we have something in common, and it's something I happen to be rather passionate about.  I will always smile and say hi to you.  I will ask how your ride is, not to make small talk because I don't like the sound of quiet, but because you might have some genuine advice or some good commentary.  Maybe you need to gripe about the guy who just cut you off, because "yeah I can't believe he did that either!  What a jerk!!!"

I check out your ride, and your gear, and note what I like, and what seems to be effective so that I might get a better idea of how effective various safety gear can be.

I respect you.  I respect that you choose to ride your bike, but I also respect you as I respect any other human being.  I will always say excuse me, and please and thank you.  I will not cut you off, or swear at you, or yell at you.  I treat you the way I wish to be treated, so you can feel the way I do when someone is genuinely nice you me.  I want to share with you.  Like I said...I like you.

So why do you feel compelled to be rude to me?  Sure many of us have a difference of opinion when it comes to street riding tactic.  I will not dispute this.  I, however (as high and mighty as this statement is) will not tell you what to do.  If you want to ride on the side walk, as much as it grates on my soul, go ahead.  Despite the fact that you are LESS visible to vehicles exiting driveways, and MORE likely to run over a pedestrian, I respect the very idea that you might not be comfortable with cars passing you at +30mph relative to your speed.  I'm not you, so I can't knock it.

Why do you have to pick on me for riding in the center of the lane on narrow streets?  If the lane width permits (i.e. car width + bike width+3 feet <= lane width) I will ride along the side.  I do not want to be "that guy" unnecessarily holding up traffic.  HOWEVER, my research shows conclusively that if lane width does not permit (i.e. car width+bike width+3 feet >= lane width) it is UNSAFE to ride on the side of the lane.  This is called Vehicular Cycling and even my own personal observation is that if I ride in the center of the lane, drivers respect me as a fellow, albeit slow in some cases, driver.  They pass by changing lanes fully, and change lanes again in front of me.  There is no aggression, it is just driving.

When I ride on the shoulder, they try to pass me with as little room as possible.  This not only makes me feel uncomfortable, but is extremely dangerous.  As a cyclist I have no escape path, and as a motorcyclist I know this is inherently wrong.  Choosing to put myself in this situation is like taking a gamble.  I'm not a gambling woman, and I'm not willing to put my life on the line for that bet, because the odds are NOT in my favor.

Finally, when you tell me "you're asking for it" inferring to me asking to be hit by a motorist while riding in the center lane, I am flabbergasted.  When you say things like this I am so affronted that those words crossed your lips without being met at the mental threshold by your censorship mechanism, that I find myself speechless.  To me, saying that, is like saying a woman is asking to be raped by wearing a short skirt.  I like to wear short skirts, I do NOT wish to be raped.  I don't wish that upon anyone, and I don't want to get hit by a car, nor do I want you to get hit by a car because you ride on the sidewalk.  This is not a logical argument as to why I should not continue my riding habits as is.

I am telling you this because I like you.  I feel a sense of camaraderie when I ride with you, whether you pass me, I pass you, or we ride along side for a few blocks.  I consider us to all be in a club together, and I will continue to do my best to be supportive of you when I ride, and aware of you when I drive.  I will still stop to help you with a flat, or a band aid.  All I ask is that you respect me too.

Cordially,

Ryzzie

PS  I know that for every vocal person there are hundreds who would never think to say something like what has been said to me.  I know you are out there, and I love you too!  Keep riding!

Extreme Mountain Biking!

So for Saturday September 11th, we all decided upon going mountain biking in Rowland Heights at Schabarum Park. Well to be exact, it was my idea but Sean picked the venue.

Ryzzie and I leave pack up the bikes and leave around 7 AM to be at the meeting spot around 8 AM. After an easy Saturday morning drive we arrive at our destination, which was altered slightly due to the fact that the park charges $6 for parking (but Starbucks is free!). We call up Stephen only to discover he is just getting ready to leave. Facepalm...

To kill time we decided to go find the trailhead so we could start right away when Stephen & Shannon arrived. After a short ride up the main street of the park, the GPS was telling us we were running parallel to the track. Time to turn around. Sean asks a police officer where the equestrian center is (one of the stops along our trail). The officer directs us to some place miles away, so we ignore his directions and go up a short hill blocked by a gate. Several soccer games are going on in the grassy field so we tread lightly. Eventually Sean finds the trailhead hidden by some brush and trees. Now that we know where to start, we head back to collect our friends.

By now the Crabneys had arrived in their monster mobile (Shannon's truck from work, a full sized 2500 HD with 8 foot bed). We spent a short amount of time oogling the expensive rental bikes, while I tried my hand at doing stoppies on them. Very fun! Shannon had to get her biking legs ready so we cruised around the parking lot for a bit. After about 15 minutes, we were ready to attack the trail.

Our congregation met up around the trailhead and stared at the steepness of it. Right away Sean, Ryzzie & Shannon decided they were not going to attempt it and walked their bikes to the top. Stephen and I wanted to give our best effort. He made it about 50 foot before finally stopping and pushing his bike up the hill. I was making a good climb but ran into problems. If I leaned too far forward, I would loose traction in the back and the rear wheel would spin. If I leaned too far back, I would wheelie the bike and couldn't steer. The latter problem manifested itself and I was attacked by some vicious tree branches. Eventually I too lost power and had to push it up. Talk about a heroic beginning to a group MTB ride :P

Once we were at the top of that first hill, we found a really easy hardpack trail. This trail led on for about a mile to the equestrian center where I made a wrong turn (due to my GPS unit accidentally getting turned off). After some coaxing of the GPS unit, we found the correct loop (hidden behind some fences and trees of course). This is where the real fun started.

The elevation gain was brutal. Roughly 700 feet in less than a mile. We stopped every couple hundred yards to catch our breath. Eventually we were greeted with a very good view of the valley (mmmmm....SMOG). We climbed for another 30 minutes or so before deciding we had enough. The hill just kept going and we were gassed.

After yelling and screaming "Who picked this trail?!" we turned around and headed back down the hill. Here's where the real thrill of mountain biking comes in! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Barreling down the hill we yelled ahead to any hikers that we were coming. Sean mostly yelled "AAAAHHHH NO BRAKES!!!" I fell over on a switchback because my rear tire nudged a rock the wrong way.

At the bottom we waited for the girls to catch up. It was concluded that the downhill segment was the ultimate in badassery. I stole Stephen's bike for a bit to perform some more stoppies. The girls finally arrived (after navigating around some horses) and we headed for the park exit.

We all packed up the bikes, tended to our sore muscles and headed to Souplanation for some tasty noms.

Thought for the day

Riding in the rain...here I come!

So it drizzled on me a little on my way to work yesterday morning.  This got me thinking that I really need to prep for rain.  Fortunately for me I got a $50 recognition reward from work (in the form of a giftcertificates.com certificate) which I am going to redeem at REI for rain gear.  Rain gear must include some kind of backpack cover to protect my work clothes & shoes in my bag, and preferably something to cover my head so I don't get completely wet hair.  I don't really care if I get my workout clothes drenched, that's what plastic bags are for.  I'll just have to remember to keep an ultra absorbant towel to roll my clothes in to get out the moisture.  laundry rack in the office...not to professional, but hey, it's a CUBICLE...it's not exactly a meeting facility for executives!

We totally skipped pool night last night, in lieu of convincing Chris to just get a membership at 24 hour fitness.  $3/week x 4 weeks in a month is $24/mo (for the two of us) and we only get to use the pool 1 day per week.  Time to upgrade!  One of our local gyms has a lap pool, and membership is WAAAY less per month.  I paid about $600 up front for 3 years (That's roughly $17/mo for 3 years) with an annual renewal of $49/year thereafter (that's $4/mo).  Ultra cheap!  (This means I'm not paying anything right now....except extra fees to go to that other pool, which I'll admit is really nice)

I think we'll check that out sometime this week.  Meanwhile I got new upgrades for my bike!  Ok, so they weren't NEW but they're new to ME!!  I got a 6503 Ultegra groupset.  Woot!  Triple in the front, 9 in the back, new brakes/pads, grip tape the whole kit & caboodle!!  My bike is a nice bike now (before he had Sora parts)!  We're going for another ride this weekend on Sunday, and more mountain biking to come on Saturday.  I wish I could get Kiefer to blog about his adventures.  Yesterday he rode to a bike shop near his work to check out mountain bike rentals for our friend.

Many adventures ahead!

Swimming etc....feeling sickly

I don't know, today for some reason I just don't feel....right.  In fact it started last night when I got home from work.  That ride just took everything out of me.  We went to the pool but I felt like I was just kindof there, swimming laps, and going, but not really into it.  Maybe I was a little chillier than I thought on the ride home.  Out here by the beach things are cooling down in the evenings with the fog & marine layer.  Time to invest in some leggings and perhaps one of those ultra visible yellow jackets.

Speaking of which! some random cyclist guy came up and started telling me I was riding wrong.  Not my technique, but my behavior.  Well I ride the way I do for a reason.  I take up my full lane, because rather than giving me 3' of clearance like they are supposed to, most drivers just give me 3", and that is not enough for me.  If it is a wide street, I will ride on the side, so we both have enough room to ride safely.  I pay taxes just the same as them, and I'm going to ride on the road.  he's like "oh I've been rear ended before blah blah blah" and I am thinking "well I've been nearly knocked off my bike several times by motorists."  Yes I ride a little differently.  Probably from riding motorcycles around first, but it seems to work.  People pass me just fine, and I'm okay with that.  They typically get fully into their lane before going around me, and give me plenty of room.  Sure there's the odd jerk-face that can't WAIT to get to the next stop sign before me, despite the fact that I'm going to overtake them again and again at each subsequent stop sign.  Yes people are crazy, but I feel like it keeps me sharp.  I have to pay attention to the road when I'm riding, so I don't get distracted by stress, or worry about things.  It's really nice.

Speaking of riding, Sunday Kiefer and I had our first group ride with a local cycling club.  It went really well, and I'm quite proud of myself.  We did a big hill, and had a great time!  Ok so the hill was big to me (up in Rancho Palos Verdes) and I thought I was going to quit a few times going up, but I held on, and persevered.  21 miles approximately all in all.

We also all rode our bikes to the Grocery store on Tuesday.  Me, Kiefer and my daughter.  It was lots of fun, and a bit of a challenge for her, but she did it, and she was super proud of herself.  I just need to get her confidence at starting from a stop up so we can raise her seat higher, then she'll have an easier time of the hills.

A good active week so far!

Lets go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' now....

So today was another surfing fun adventure day.  Our friend showed up at like 830 and we threw our lunches together and hopped in the car and headed to the beach.  Pier Surf had excellent board rentals, and decent wetsuit rentals.  it was $44 for Kiefer and I to share a board, and rent 2 suits for 2 hours, and $32 for our friend for his suit & board.  All in all we did really well.  We all caught waves, and Kiefer got more and more comfortable with navigating the waves as the day went on.  I'm really proud of how he's come along, because i remember a few months ago he had no interest in surfing.  Now I got him to buy a volley ball, so maybe we can give that a try sometime!  The real goal is to get him to go snorkeling with me.  If we're going to go to New Zealand next year, you can bet I'm going to want to do some snorkeling (there is some to do there right?).  Heck, I'd love to snorkel out in Catalina, there is a beautiful dive park there, which is open to snorkelers as well.

He said he is getting more and more comfortable with the ocean, and that really makes me happy, because we live right by it!

Tomorrow we're going to meet up with a local cycling club and go for a beginner ride with them.  I am excited to learn the ways of the road, and I just hope there are some people our age there (you know, more friends is always exciting!).  We're supposed to meet up with them at 845 for the ride, I think we'll show up a little extra early, just so we can be sure not to miss everyone.

Oh!  I forgot to mention, today, I got my feet on the board for the first time!  Yes, I stood up!  I am super proud of myself, because I'd never done it before, and today I did it!  The waves weren't the best, but I caught them again and again.  I'm getting a lot better, and it's very encouraging!  I just picked waves that would catch me, and I'm finding that I'm less and less afraid they're going to KILL me, and more and more just ready for the ride!  That's what I've been waiting for, is that level of acceptance, that the wave is going to do something, and that I KNOW what it's probably going to be, and that now I can get on it.  Now to make it a regular thing.  Kiefer, our friend and myself (and even my sister!) has agreed that we shall do this again next month.  this makes me really happy, because that means that it would be worth my while to get a board of my own!  I think wetsuits are first in order, and it will be tough for Kiefer to get one since he's super long and lean.

I'm open to suggestions to good places to find wetsuits for surf, and what brands/styles to get etc!

Yesterday Kiefer took me to see Volbeat at the House of Blues in Anaheim.  They were great, played a tribute to the Misfits (a guilty pleasure of mine since the age of 14), and one of the openers did a tribute to Nirvana.  We were down in the front, and people kept moshing.  I think Kiefer was worried he'd have to drag me out of there to keep myself from being hurt.  HAH!  I've been the wall of the pit before, you just shove the shovers back 2xs as hard, and they go away.  I was expecting it.  If there is a pit at a Juliana Theory concert....there could be a pit anywhere.  They even did a "wall of death" I held my own, and enjoyed the show a lot.  Thank you for the date Kiefer!

I want to hear stories on Monday, about how you got out this weekend!

PS, look for something new next weekend.  I plan to start a "Sunday Dinner" weekly post where I post a tasty and healthy recipe for you to try!

Long Weekend Part 4 - Monday (Last one!)

Monday, August 23, 2010

The ride to work this morning was a lot easier for me to do, and it’s really become part of my morning routine.  I get up, throw on workout clothes, and stuff my work clothes in my backpack.  Have a nutritious breakfast (some kind of whole grain cereal, some kind of fruit and/or vegetable, and a protein or two of some variety), a cup of hot tea, and brush my teeth, and out the door I go!  The ride is always enjoyable for me, and I find my confidence is growing day by day!

When I got HOME I decided I hadn’t had enough torture yet, so I did the whole laundry chore type deal, and then did some more P90X!  I followed it with an extended stretching session, since I have been really bad about stretching for the past…oh…year….oops!  But I’m naturally flexible, so even without stretching I can put my flat palms on the floor, when others can barely touch their toes.  (yes I AM proud of that actually!)
Well, for some reason, we had a huge laundry mix up, but I got it ALL under control, and ultimately folded and put away!  AMAZING!  Now I was all set for my Netflix movie! I finally got to see Bend it Like Bekham.  This movie came out when I was in High School still, I mean COME ON!  I really enjoyed the main theme, and I loved the happy ending.  Bonus, it was a movie about sports and being active, so YAY!  Plus I love Kiera Knightly!  Kiefer was saying that in that movie she looks like me in High School.  HAHAHA!  I wasn’t THAT thin, but I definitely had the whole lerpy/gangly thing going on for sure!  It also helps that I LOVE Bollywood films!!  Bride and Prejudice, and Monsoon Wedding are two that I highly recommend.

Four day weekend...wait...WHAT?!

So today started as a normal day.  I got up, and put my cycling clothes on.  I packed my work clothes into my backpack along with my tasty lunch (made by Kiefer).  I hopped on my bike and cycled in.

All normal...up until the part where the light was out at the intersection by my office.  Huh...strange...

So there were traffic cops (motorcycle cops!) directing traffic.  This was odd, but whatever, I figured they had some maintenance thing going on.  Whatever, wasn't making me any later for work, but I bet all those people on the cross street were unhappy!  There was a really big line!  So I pulled into the lot, and the security guard  that was standing there (extremely unusual) informed me the building power was out, and was my office located in this building.  I said yes, and pointed to my group who waved enthusiastically at me from their safe location in the parking lot.

According to witnesses at the scene (aka my coworkers) there was some kind of noisy fiasco that included loud "BOOM"s, shaking the building, and flickering the lights.  Very exciting.  Eventually they came around and said we could all go home.  Great! right???  RIGHT??? Yah, except I just killed myself (as I do every morning) to get to work.  My legs were feeling the burn.  I ride that 5 miles like I don't have to ride again for 8 more hours...because that's usually true.  Now I have to turn around and ride BACK home 5 more miles!  Lucky for me home is the OPPOSITE direction of traffic in the morning, so I booked it....well until my legs started burning then I'd take it easy for a while.

Well I got home, and I decided that I had a mighty need to do P90X's YogaX.  WOOH was that intense!  Maybe it was that I had just ridden 10 miles pushing myself REAL hard, or that I had just ridden 5 miles last night and followed it up with more P90X...I dont know!  All I know is it kicked my butt, and I'm okay with that!

I've been making the most of my impromptu day off by doing some housework.  Eventually I'll make dinner for me & Kiefer, since we are going to a concert tonight.

ok, i have to go return the house to it's normal, not being mopped state...all the chairs are up on tables, and the sofa is completely unusable since the ottoman and my fitness ball are piled up on it!

Busy Weekend Part 3 - Sunday

So this year I am sending my daughter to summer camp up in the mountains for the first time.  I went every summer (it's only one week!) from the time I was her age, and I loved it every year!  I even came back after i graduated high school to be a counselor a couple of times.  I wish I had enough PTO to be a camp counselor again.  Maybe next year!

Of course we left all camp packing for the absolute last.  Luckily I’m pretty good about doing laundry so there were enough clothes to make her bag complete.  Gotta make sure the kid is all set to Get Out! for a WHOLE WEEK!!  Being an experienced camper, I know all the things she needs, so she ended up with 2 swimsuits.

Plus we had to make sure we had all of our swimming gear, as Kiefer’s mom invited us over for swimming.  Finally, we got everything packed, and left the house by 9:42 AM!  Only 15 min later than planned…..except my daughter forgot her glasses, so we had to go back.  Kids, what can you do right?

So we FINALLY got BACK on the road, and headed for Orange County for some pool time, swimming yay!  I always have a hard time enjoying recreational swimming, since to me the water is a workout tool (especially in the pool form).  But I had fun playing with my daughter.  She was so funny, saying things like "OMG I forgot out to swim," so I took her to the middle of the pool and let go….lo and behold ye: she swam to the side!  Not gracefully, or efficiently, but she did it.  The girl needs to spend more time in a pool!

Meanwhile Kiefer had a project to do.  Kiefer’s mom was donating and old, unused bike to a guy at her support group.  The guy lives on the streets (but keeps himself clean ), and uses a bike to get around.  Well someone decided they needed it more than him, so they took it.  In turn Kiefer’s mom is going to give him one.  Well that bike needed some work.  One of the tubes was completely fried, and the other one was mystery tube.  Plus the cables were looking rusty.  We know the guy isn't looking for speed or performance, but it would be nice if we could provide the guy with a RELIABLE bike.  So Kiefer his sister and I meandered over to the bike store. 

This bike store was great, it’s like an excuse for a group of cyclists to sit around and play with bikes all day.  Probably half of the bikes on the floor were actually people’s rides, they had mud on them, or wear, and no price tags.  There was a den section with sofas surrounding a TV and coffee table (under which were strewn countless pairs of well worn cycling shoes).  The selection was definitely sparse all around, they had like 2 of everything….really.  Though I’m almost willing to bet they can order anything, but probably only stock the stuff that they like to buy!

Well tubes are easy enough to change, no tools required....but to do the cables you definitely need some tools, so logically this leads to the “where are the tools”.  Well apparently someone decided they needed Kiefer’s mom’s tools more than she did…so they walked into the garage and walked off with them.  Le sigh.  So with the claim funds she’s going to get herself a new bike.  Fantastic!

In other news, Kiefer and I have been looking into building up a single speed/fixie flip-flop for someone as a surprise.  I think it will be an awesome gift.  Plus then they can come ride with us!  WHEEEE!

Finally, after the police were called to take a report of the stolen merchandise, we left for Big Bear, and summer camp.  We got there fine (only 1 u-turn!) and got my daughter settled into her bunk (right on top of Baba, that’s my mom)…only to discover……(drumroll please)……my daughter’s shoes are too small.  So Kiefer and I had an adventure and drove in to Big Bear City to visit the local Payless.  My daughter was very pleased with the results, so that was that!

On our way home we stopped at the A&W along route 38, YUM!  I had a plethora of horrible fried things, all washed down with a root beer float (made with some sort of ice cream-like substance).  Onion Rings, Fried Zucchini and a Fried Fish Sandwich.  The Zucchini was REALLY good actually!  Hey, I eat healthy most of the time, I can indulge once in a while!

When we finally got home and I declared we needed to work out, so we busted out the P90X (thanks to inspiration from one of the Blogs I follow, it’s all your fault you know!) and I made poor skinny Kiefer roll around on the floor with me doing Superman Banana and the like for an hour.  Sorry Kiefer, I’ll get you a nice thick yoga mat for next time I promise!  We finished our workout and then snuggled in for a GREAT French action film called District B-13.  The main actor is the inventor of Parkour, which is a form of free-stunting, or free-running..  He does all of his own stunts, and there are no guide wires, or safety lines, so everything has an excellent REAL feel to it.  Not an activity for me, but inspiring to watch since everyone there is highly active.

Not running very well today.

So yesterday, since I arrived home a little late, we opted to go for a run following a much needed trip to the market.  Kiefer has been working on timed miles, and got down to the 7min range.  Good job Kiefer (maybe he will write a post about it)!!

Myself, meanwhile, has been suffering from an acute case of ankle blister since last week's dancing the night away.  So I started out running fine....got down the whole block before my asthma even kicked in, so that was definitely an improvement.  Eventually, though it did kick in (for some reason running is the #1 aggravator) so I had to go back to run/walking.  As much as I love interval training, you would think that after running off and on for 2 years I would be able to run better/longer than this.  Even when i ran very very regularly I couldn't keep running for an entire mile without feeling like I was breathing through a straw.

This is MORE frustrating, because I can push myself REALLY hard in the pool and it won't bother me, or REALLY hard on a bike, and still no issues, but as soon as I go to run I feel like I'm going to die.

Well, despite that, I'm used to dealing with it, so I powered on...until my foot started hurting.  See my blister was bothering me, so I started placing my foot funny when I ran (toe striking), and the bottom of my foot was telling me "oh HEEEEEEEEEECK NO!"  So ultimately I ended up walking the majority of the mile.  I know, I'll get there eventually.

No P90X last night or the night before, but tonight it's back on!  Then afterwards a nice quiet dinner with my kitty men, and some reading.  Gotta exercise the brain!

Busy Weekend Part 2 - Saturday

So our friend invited us to go see Flugtag in Long Beach this past weekend.  I figured my daughter would find that amusing so I had her look up some of the airplane designs on her laptop (yes, Santa brought my 6 year old daughter a laptop....).  Finally we got on our way after a morning of /lazy.

Now I was already put off because the Red Bull Flugtag website didn't really say anything about where to park, or where exactly to go or anything....which is not helpful.  I figured Long Beach would have lots of street markings to tell us where to go...I figured wrong!  There was one sign on freeway said get off at 6th street, and one sign on 6th street said go straight, no more sinage….lucky me I used to work around there, so I found our way to some $8 parking.

Eventually we meandered our way down to the pier area and WOW...it was completely packed.  Finally we found a good viewing spot after a few tries.  We stood there in the beating sun and watched about 6 launches, it was pretty fun, my daughter REALLY enjoyed it.  The three of us were starting to melt a little in the sun though, and it was getting really hot, so we decided to go get a beer at Yard House.  Unfortunately we were not the only people with that idea, and there was a line out the door and down the handicap ramp.

Kiefer declared he didn't want to wait in line, so we ended up walking up Pier Ave to try to find some place else.  All of the restaurants on pier had really long lines, after walking around and being passed by no less than 5 different paramedics (on their way to assist people suffering from heat exhaustion no doubt) finally decided to go someplace further away for lunch.

King Taco is this GREAT taco place located all over Southern California.  I am a fan of the Long Beach location.  So we finally got there, after cooling off in the super max A/C in my truck, and making a loop around the block to get in to the parking.  Now, we go to this place, that specializes in tacos and...no one actually ordered tacos /facepalm.  My burrito was really good, daughter devoured her quesadilla, and Kiefer enjoyed his burrito.  Additionally, their salsa is very good.  Long slow, but intense burn, and makes you sweat!

Sadly I discovered, much to my dismay, that the Sweet Tamale is made with lard, and that violates my pescatarian philosophy of food.  Un/fortunately I discovered that about 3/4 of the way through eating it, so I decided I may as well finish it and enjoy it.

After lunch we headed home (right around the time we expected to get home anyway....it was more like an early dinner than a late lunch).  Everyone was tired so I continued my Buffy/Angel binge.  Kate played on her computer, everyone had showers, and then we vegged.
Of course, despite several reminders, I had totally forgotten that my sister said she was coming over to stay the night.  She had something to do Saturday, and then something again Sunday.  She did call to remind me that she was coming, but with the heat of the day, I totally forgot, so she was knocking on the door and I’m like wth who is knocking on our door at this late late hour?!?!  Well it was just my sister!  She had a really bad sun burn on the tops of her feet....in the shape of her loafers...eep!  But she was also just in time for dinner!  We had some (veggie) burgers and beer, and chatted about the day.

After dinner we sat down to watch a movie, but couldn’t make up our minds what to watch.  Finally we chose the “documentary” walking with dinosaurs.  It was really an enlightening and refreshing view on the mystery of dinosaurs, and it’s REALLY well done, so my daughter totally bought into it.  I had to be really careful not to break the magic of it.  Sometimes it’s boring being an adult and having to deal with reality. 

The girls started falling asleep on the sofa, so we all decided to go to bed and finish it up in the morning.

To be continued...

Are you playing Games with me?

Kiefer and I at game night last night.  We played a game of Othello, I lost by a mere 2!  Then we played a game of Werewolf.  These were both immense fun, and I got to win at Werewolf by being the evil Werewolf Mayor!

The most exciting thing of the evening, however, was that I rode the motorcycle with a passenger for the first time last night.  Kiefer volunteered to be my first...er...victim.  Unfortunately he does not know how to be a passenger, and yes, you actually do have to know what to do.  Sometimes you lean in, know when to hold on to stop, and hold on to go.  when to adjust yourself, and when to just hold still!  Well He didn't know!  So he wiggled when he should have sat still, put his foot down (cardinal rule of being a passenger is you never put your foot down!), and couldn't make up his mind whether he was going to hold on to me or not.

Of course I have horrible braking and throttle control, and my corners are kindof....WIDE, and when he put his foot down it was because I jammed the brakes because there were people jumping in front of my right hand turn.  It doesn't help that i'm an inexperienced motorcyclist to start with, and that riding with a passenger makes EVERYTHING feel really strange (accelleration, turning, stopping, sitting at a stop light!).  To top it all off I'm used to riding a 2 wheel vehicle that's about 1/10th the weight at most!

All in all, after about a mile of our 5 mile ride Kiefer got more comfortable, and I got a little smoother, and we now have a MUCH greater appreciation for eachother's positions on the bike when we ride together.  I will say this though, being a passenger on the motorcycle is a HUGE exercise in trust, because you have to trust that your driver is going to know how to ride with a passenger.

Busy Weekend Part 1 - Friday

Okay, so this past weekend was SO crazy, I had to actually make an outline for my blog posts.  Then I decided it was WAAAAAY too much for one entry, so it's going to be broken out into parts. 

We start with Friday August 20th, 2010 a.k.a. Caturday. 

Originally I had planned to go on a bike ride, but I was really tired from going out with friends Thursday night.  Luckily for my I have a 9/80 schedule, where I get every other Friday off.  We call this Caturday.  I had to pick up my daughter after 1pm anyway decided to do whatever the cats were doing, which is mostly laying around all day.  The kitty men thought this was an amazing idea, and decided to join me.

The activity of the day was decided by the Ryzzie dictatorship to be watching Buffy and Angel.  I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon's work, and especially love the Buffy/Angel universe.  It WAS around for 7 seasons afterall!I'm still trying to power through this series.  I’m on Buffy season 5, angel season 2 now (finally). I ended up watching like 6 episodes of each (that’s 12 episodes total…makes for slow story progression!)

The only bum thing about the day was Loki had an…..issue a couple of times, so needless to say he got his feet and back side washed.  He was not amused, but I did notice that putting him in standing water seems to work better than spraying him.  Next time he gets a bath it will be in the tub, not with the shower head!  I need to brush him every day so he stays mat free and doesn’t shed so much.  Fluffy kitties are fluffy!

Yesterday......oh I believe in yesterday......

From 8/13/2010

Yesterday was a stay in and recoup day for sure.  I rode my bike to work, so I still did SOMETHING, but I needed a crazy cat lady evening (in which I eat dinner sitting on the sofa with Loki and Crookshanks).  I took my truck to Target, and after not driving all week it was an odd feeling to have so much cushy seating under my bum!

I had a light, but nutrition packed dinner of Vanilla flavored Greek yogurt, mixed nuts, granola and blueberries.  All light but very filling foods =).  Oh and a glass of wine, then I watched some Japanese soap opera (gotta love good ole' channel 18.2) with the kitty men  Eventually it was very late, and I headed to bed (darn it I could have watched Buffy).

Today is going to be a get out and see stuff day.  Kiefer is taking me on a date to see Lewis Black live.  I'm not really familiar with his work, but those I know that have heard it insist that he's very funny.  Besides I always look forward to Kiefer dates!  I forgot until I got halfway to work that today is a short day, and I still could have taken the bike today, and gotten back in time to get freshened up for this evening.  Now I'm all antsy because I didn't get my morning physical activity!

Tomorrow we are going for a mountain bike ride.  I'll admit I'm not exactly a fan of riding my mountain bike.  See Kiefer has a bike much like this:

Dancing the night away

Got to go out again last night.  Still riding my bike to work, which is working nicely.  Went to some nightclub in Hollywood.  Spent a few hours there with friends, danced a lot, which is always fun, and tiring and sweaty!!!  Hey but sweaty means I'm using my body, and excercising my heart.  Dance to your health!

So this weekend has some exciting things planned, going to check out the Flugtag, and then taking my kiddo to summer camp for the week.  I'm sure gonna miss her, but I always had so much fun at camp!  Perfect that it's right before school starts too, leave her with some good experiences to share at school.

I was going to go for a ride this morning, but decided to stay home and practice cat chi.  Much like Tai Chi, but you follow what the cats are doing.  So this morning has been mainly laying around.

I think when Kiefer gets home we might go for a family bike ride.  that would be nice!

Dental Adventures

So today I got to try out a new experimental (kindof-sortof) technology that can supposedly REVERSE the early signs of tooth decay!  It was really quick to apply, but tasted AWFUL!!!  The only catch is that since it's new, dental insurance will not pay for it.  Lucky for me I have an FSA through my work, that I've been looking to spend.  So sweet.

No cavities though, aren't you proud mama??  (My mum has been a Dental Hygenist for...well....as long as I've been around!)

Tonight is water night, time to get back in the pool and stretch!  No biking to work today, as that would be completely absurd with the dental appointment.  I'd have to cross the airport to get there, which means, on the bike, going around, and either around is AWEFUL.  So therefore, I sadly left my bike in the barn (garage) with all of his friends.

I'm really surprised my reddit post about my revalation did SO well.  It's really encouraging to see so many people (especially people in Los Angeles, like me!) that have shorter commutes by bike than in the car.  Next I'd like to get kate to ride her bike to school.

Step one for me on that one is to inquire as to the status of their bike storage facilities on campus next week when I go to pick up start of school packets.  I'd really like to get the parents into this, since our drive-through drop off area can be quite crowded.  I would totally head up a bike bus one or two days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are perfect for me and Kate!) to help people get to school safely!

Maybe I can host after school cycling lessons for free or something for the kids.  "How to ride without training wheels!"  Kiefer even said he would gladly volunteer his time to help install a bike rack at the school if they don't already have one.  I'm sure we could create a beautiful and interesting art piece out of some recycled stuff that will also serve as a bike rack.

Anyone else know of some good ideas to get cycling introduced in schools?

I have gotten heckled on my bike before, here are some more great stories!

I just had to post this mind blowing fact....

I found it extremely interesting that the math works out this way.  I thought about figuring out what my typical breakfast/lunch was calorie-wise, and then determining from there how much it cost on average per calorie....but I'm too lazy.  No need though, because I have FUN riding my bike, whereas I get stressed out when driving!  go figure!  Plus that way I get most of my 1 hour workout per day, though I suspect as I get better I will get faster, and then I'm going to have to supplement!  Oh dear!!!

Just found out I don't need to drive all the way to camp to pick up the munchkin, so I even got on the top of Bicycling reddit with my revalation!  YAY ME!

EDIT:  Here is a link to the thread on Reddit.

And a link to an article about our lovely mayor of Los Angeles.  Apparently he got hit by a cab while riding his bike, so now he cares a lot more about bike safety within the city!  GO FIGURE!