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Feb 12th, 2009
On the road again
I really love being on the road. I really can't stay home for too long before I start getting that itch to travel to new places, see new things, and comeback to find out while watching the discovery channel that in my small way I played a role in the eventual cataclismic demise of some national treasure or culture.
That's why I bought another Volkswagon Vanagon camper, named her "freedom" and headed off to put my own, small dent in the Grand Canyon!
Why in February, you ask?
I chose to go in February because Ive never seen the canyon in snow, have always wanted to do some wintertime camping in the van, to experience the elements and feel alive, but mostly because I was dead bored at home and wanted to stop staring at my new toy out the window, and get in it and go!
At night it got below freezing. If it wasn't for my little electric cube safe-t-furnace, I might have froze to death. Instead, I only froze to dramaticallly uncomfortable. With the nearest bathrooms a good 800 yards away, I was impressed with the engineering, and thoughtful design of the bottles that vitaminwater brand energy drinks come in, specifically at 1 a.m., and 11 degrees.
On my way home, I drove through Sedona, and stayed at the famous Sedona Motel , and on Monday, drove west until the freeway became a parking lot just 73 miles before the Los Angeles county line. You can see pics from my adventure by visiting my Flickr photo site.
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Puttin' FUN back in FUNdraiser!
 8th Annual Otlandish Luau-
An AIDS/Lifecycle fundraiser
558 South Grand Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
When: Saturday, March 28, 2:00PM
Bring a friend, and a checkbook!
Each year I do the AIDS/Lifecycle ride to end aids in California, a 545 mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that takes 7 days to complete, months of training, weeks of fundraising, days of preparation, hours of packing and I'm exhausted just thinking about it
This year marks my 8th ride.
Ive ridden over 5,000 miles worth of these events, Trained for over 3,000 miles for these events
helped train about 250 other people to ride with me in these events and with your help I've raised over $35,000.
Ive hosted 9 fundraiser parties, created 13,500 t-shirts for other riders to give away to their donors and given away over 1,100 of my own to my donors. if each of these t-shirts helped raise $50- they would account for about $675,000.
Ive gone through 36 bottles of sunscreen, worn 17 different jerseys, changed 138 flats, drank 280 bottles of water or gatoraid and stood at the top of 40 different monster hills to cheer 16,000 of my fellow riders up.
People every year ask me why I do this.
My Answer; Because I can.
Please Help me out-
On March 28th, 2009 I'm hosting my 8th annual Outlandish Luau fundraiser to raise money for the AIDS/Lifecycle. I need to raise $3000 to participate.
The money goes directly to services that support awareness, prevention and treatment of this horrible disease that affects people and infects people all over the State of California daily.
Since my last ride, I have been horrified by the news of 2 more people in my personal circle that have beeen infected with HIV, and one person died. I can't tell you how shocking it is to hear of new cases arising in this day and age, when the virus has been identified and prevention is simple and well documented.
It only goes to show how much more work we have to do- please help me do the work needed to help stop the spread of new infections, and to help those infected get the help they need.
A small donation from you is all I request, and I will ride the 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles as a tribute to your help, and to make a difference in awareness for the State of California.
For news on the fundraiser, visit my evite page, or if you just wannna donate go directly to my funrasing link by clicking here.
Thanks for your help!
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February 9th, 2009
Ya Think?
I see the pattern here. As the year muttles on, the wind conditions slowly start to fade through the autumn months until there's nary a trickle of a breeze at the beach, and we fold up our kites, and roll up our lines, knowingh that today is quite possibly the last day we'll see our kites in the air this year. The Holidays come and envelope everything, then the rain starts, and every weekend and some week days we're inundated with extreme weather, cold fronts, hail and the annual colds and flu.
Then, finally, through the clouds, the sun breaks, and on some sunny breezy day we think; "Is this it? Is this the start of the new season again?"
That's when we make out first mistake.
In our haste to catch that wind, we harness up too soon and end up hurting ourselves or others by trying to kite in unstable conditions. Ive seen it, I've done it, I'm avoiding it this year.
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February 7th
The Dude annoys
Last week I took Big Red (My 20 meter Waroo kite) out to Belmont for an afternoon. The wind was about 10 mph, nothing to kitesurf with, but enough to get this big'n into the air. My intention was to unravel my line issues, seems I have one short one, and one busted line, and in the pile of extra sets I have, I needed to create one complete safe set. I also wanted to check the status of a tear repair I performed last year, and to make sure salt deposits hadn't corroded vital parts of my harness. Overall it was a maintenance and testing day.
 Guess what happened? That's right, my pet peeve showed up and started talking.
It's one thing some of my readers have heard me rant about and I'm so damn tired of it, and still havent figured out a way to make it stop. Some jackass, who thinks he's Gods gift to kitesurfers always approaches me on the beach to "ADVISE" me about something he Thinks I'm doing, that I'm not actually doing. It's never the same guy twice, but always some young punk who see's himself as a pro, and everyone else on the beach as his subjects. Let's call this guy Peckerhead.
I was stringing up my lines when PH started pounding thru the sand to save me from myself
Peckerhead: DUDE!
Me: (modest glance, then Ignore)
Peckerhead: DUDE!
Me: (stop- make eye contact, then Ignore)
Peckerhead: DUDE! You' re not seriouslyy gonna launch today!
Me: HI, How are you? Nice day
Peckerhead: DUDE! There's, like, no wind today dude. Really!
Me: There's enough for what I'm doin' really. What's your name again?
Peckerhead: DUDE! Like, you really should reconsider, flying today is a BAD IDEA dude.
Me: I'm Thomas- and you are . . . ?
Peckerhead: DUDE! a buddy of mine tried to go out in this recently and dropped his k5 in some gnarly free-flop and got his tangle busted up reall douche- serious!
Me: Um, ok! Well, thanks for the advice, or story, or whatever that was, but I'm not actually goign out. I'm testing my lines today.
Peckerhead: Oh, right, 'cause it looked like you were plannig on trying it, and I was like "No Way!"
At this point I had my harness on, and was in the process of launching. The light wind takes the 20 meter kite to the side softly, then she rolls over and floats into the sky likes she's filled with helium.
Me: . . . and I was like "No way, is that another know-it-all douchebag coming over here to advise me on wind conditions! Not again! Right?
Peckerhead: Ah, ya, right, so I guess you got it then . . .
Me: Ya, I got it, have a great day DUDE!
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