The blog of the thirty-something fag- September 2006 Edition

"Anorexics never have boyfriends. ... That's one way to know you don't have anorexia, if you have a boyfriend."--Ann Coulter

" . . . yes, that's all well and good, but Scientist have still only solved half the equation. Wake me when we figure out the speed of dark"
-- Tommy
September 28th, 2006

Dispatch from the Beach continued . . . .
I just noticed that the end of September is quickly approaching and I want to get a few notes in before the month is completely gone.

I hope this kitesurf stuff isn't boring you . . .
I've been driving down to Belmont shores this week, twice so far, in search of my elusive kiteboarding instructor. Twice so far I have called in to set up a third and final lesson, and twice I have failed to connect with the instructor.

I found Bill, the guy who taught me lesons 1 and 2, and he saw Ryan, my instructor for lesson 3, but Ryan and I simply missed each other on Tuesday. I decided I wasn't going to wait any longer. I wanted to get wet, and setting up this kite for dragging my sorry ass across the beach was getting old.
I pulled out my kite, inflated it, hooked up my lines(there are 4, two in the front of the kite on the inside, and two on the outside) and steered it into the wind window to send it up.
After about 10 minutes of flying it on the beach, I wandered into the water to do some body dragging, with limited success(note to self: body drag in the water on your stomach!) The wind is simply blowing in the wrong direction. Currently(pardon the pun) it's blowing onshore(from the water onto the beach) and ideally it shoud be blowing up or down shore(parallel to the shoreline). I can go into the water about 15 feet, and drag back into shore, but it's a short ride, about 10 seconds, which isn't a lot of time to learn much.
I went back to the shores today and did the same thing. The wind was much weaker, but I went in, did my body dragging, and learned a few new things about the kite and how it responds to the wind.
I found this chart online to help demonstrate how the wind affects the power of the kite, and the best way to exploit that.


In search of Boardom
In the meantime, I went ahead and shopped for a new board. The one I wanted was almost $800, the second choice was the 2006 Cabrinha Prodigy 148. The 2005 has a lousy reputation, but the 2006 was voted a strong board with a razor sharp edge, and good in relatively light winds. Of the five boards that I looked at (excluding the Underground -sorry Chris-too pricey) this board was the most versatile. That meaning- a good board to learn on, and keep for the long haul as well.

The colors, red and grey, also matched my harness, which didn't hurt. It looks and feels a lot like a snowboard, thin and flexible, whereas the other boards seemed more like surfboards. The shop guys said it was new technology. We'll see if I got suckered or not. It's so hard to make decisions when you have no experience to go by.
I think the buying of all this equipment- the kite, the harness, the board would have been easier if I had just given and experienced kiteboarder $2k and said "Do Your Best!"

Alas, how else would we learn?

With any luck, the wind direction at Belmont shores will change soon, and if it's strong enough, I'll be able to get out there and get my ass out of the water and start Kiteboarding.

From all those I've talked to so far, once you're out of the water, the learning curve flattens exponentially, meaning I'll learn and develop faster. It's just a matter of time.

Wish me luck.


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Some serious recall notes
This scared me more than most terrorists threats. My pretty little Powerbook get's pretty toasty on my lap when traveling (I try to keep it elevated during the day on my desk, so air can circulate under it) but this is the first story I've heard of a lithium-ion battery actually going ablaze . . .


Check out this story from Gizmodo



And this one too
Virgin bans 'fire hazard' laptops [BBC]
"Apple and Dell laptop owners travelling on Virgin Atlantic international flights are being asked to remove the gadget's batteries before take-off."


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September 19th, 2006

La Cañada on Fire
Why does it seem the first fire of the year is always La Cañada Flintridge?

Someone ought to go door-to-door looking for a serial Pyro, because that bar-b-que stench isn't the flowery scent of coincidence, I smell fire Marshall Bill!

I mean, how much flammable brush can one community grow in a year?


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Pop is out and about
I've been getting reports from back home lately that Dad isn't doing too well. he's been forgetful, a little delerious, confused. Falling a few times, and not strong.
I've been feeling rather help-less over it all, wondering what the heck I can do about it, if anything.

Then today, Pecia sends me this image, entitled "Look who came to visit?"
There's Dad, all dressed and smiley sitting at her kitchen table.

Well, how about that?
I think I dare say that pretty much made my day, week, Month! Go Dad!


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September 18th, 2006

Back in the saddle

I had a real nice ride this weekend with buddies Alan, Jim and Fred. We took Rt 39 up to Mt. Baldy Village Road, an then Alan and I road down Glendora Mountain road back to the cars. The total we made was 45 miles for us, and it was the perfect day for it.

The only draw back to riding with Alan, Jim and Fred is that there are never any flat routes, we're always either climbing a hill, or flying down one. Good for the butt, I suppose.

My big mistake was waiting to get some coffee, and ending up without any. Half way up Mt. Baldy road I ran completely out of fuel, and crashed(no energy) and aquired a splitting caffein-withdrawal headache while my buddies had a strong and healthy climb.

They waited a good 5 minutes for me at the Mt. Baldy/Glendora Mtn road interrsection. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it was the lack of coffee that f*cked me. I wasn't any good for anything for the rest of the day. I'll never make that mistake again.


AIDS/Lifecycle 6 coming soon

I spent the remainder of my Sunday afternoon at the Aids/Lifecycle reunion party. I saw some friends and aquaintances I hadn't seen since June and it was really nice to be back in the company of my fellow heroes again. One special friend googled me over the summer and found this blog- now that was smart. So we had a lot to talk about over veggie burgers and tea, mostly ME (My Favorite subject)

I signed up to facilitate new TRL training this year. Sarah Sypnewski seemed especially excited about it, me too. I love to talk, and if I can get anyone to listen, EVEN BETTER!


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September 17th, 2006

Dispatch from the beach . . .

Some of you lovelies have asked "Where are the kitesurfing pics?"
Great question.
I have signed up for classes, and taking them, but unfortunatley lovely weather in Southern California means crappy kitesurfing weather for the beginner.

Here' what I know:

1. You need at least 10 knots of wind to get a kite up and flying for training ( don't ask me how fast a knot is, I just know how it feels, and that's relatively uninterpretible)
2. Several hours of flying a kite are required to figure out how to control it, because the damn thing pulls like a bull, and is extremely dangerous.
3. The wind needs to be moving in the proper directing to be adquate for newbies like me. This direction would be parallel to the beach. A wind going onshore is a risk of the kite dragging you into the parking lot, and an offshore wind is a risk of dragging you into the parking lot at the Marina on Catalina Island so . . .

I'm getting a lot of beach training time, and since I go alone to these lessons because all I know are working between 3 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, there's no one there to take a picture.

Check out this crazy video I found online. it'll give you a good idea why I'm getting a little zany over safety lately.



In the meantime, I bought a Wahroo kite by Best kites, and a nice little (har har) harness. Hopefully I cn get my stuff over to the beach today and start body draging in the water before I buy a board. I'll have pics that day, I'll have Bang with me to see me launch.


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September 1st, 2006
Meanwhile, aboard the "Maid of the Moist"

Our friend Joe read the article in a magazine or something, "The top 10 things you MUST do before you die". I'm not sure if it was simply out of interest or in response to some near-death experience, but he's taking this concept quite seriously, and has enlisted Bang and I to help him fulfill this pre-death requirement.
I don't know if Niagara falls was number 1, or simply one of the easiest choices on his list, but in the last weekend of August we all piled into the Boeing 707 and headed off to Buffalo to check out the largest waterfall in North America.

We had a room with an amazing view of the Horshoe falls, just inside the Canadian border. From the back was both Falls, American and Horshoe (did you know there were two?)but from the front we could see at least 2 Starbuck Coffee shops (the key to keeping Alan happy) and an Applebees restaurant that served breakfast in the morning, and had a full bar at night and was only 100 feet from our hotel lobby(The things I require to get a "perfect" score)

Tour Group 51, we're sloshing this way . . "
First day, it was raining, HARD. The remnants of a hurricane had gone as far North as it could go and was dumping water and high winds all over our three-day weekend. Since they give out rain parkas(more like loose fitting ugly yellow body condoms) for most attractions in this town, we soon realized that we'd be wet and cold regrdless of the weather, so, o.k.! This was quickly turning out to be the soggiest vacation we've ever taken.

Overall rating: 10
It was the perfect tourist trip. In four days we did everything you can do as a toursit of Niagara Falls. We went to the tunnels beneathe the falls, road aboard The Maid of the Mist, did the River walk, and road in a Turbo jet boat up the river from Lake Ontario to the Whirlpool and got absolutely soaked. It was a total and complete HOOT!
This was the first total travel out-of-town hotel trip we've ever taken with Alan and Joe and it worked out vvery well.
We'll probably take a trip with them again soon, who knows, maybe Yosemite!


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