Tbone's Whale Tale

Caught Up

2009-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, I think I finally have posted what I had hoped to post in January...so you are all caught up on my non-adventures in San Diego. Hopefully you get some enjoyment out of the various photos I've included below, because, quite honestly, they are probably my last hurrah for a really fun set of blog entries. At this point I'm just counting down the days to when I can return to a normal life back in Syracuse. Sure, San Diego has been interesting and the winter weather is very nice compared to a winter in the north east...but at the end of the day I still end up missing the people and the places that I'm familiar with. I want to brush snow off my car and I want to go skiing. I'm sick of bikinis and sunshine. Seriously.

Family miscellaneous

2009-02-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

Some of my family came out to visit in January and since they took several hundred photos, I feel I might as well steal some of them.

Just a reminder as pitchers and catchers get ready to report to spring training...the sun may rise and the sun may set, but the Phillies are still the World [F word deleteted] Champions! Don't forget that!

For those of you that don't know this -- the Pacific Ocean is cold! Its a shock to the system when you walk into it...even on a warm day. But kids (and New Yorkers) are crazy so my nephews ended up boogie boarding for the first time in their lives and really enjoying it.

I was just along for the assist this time, so there is no picture of me on the board...the hottie shot of me in the background is going to have to be enough to get you through until beach season in New York. (Drink it in ladies, it goes down smooth, every time.)

I had to work most of the time they were here so I wasn't able to join in for some of their outings but I wanted to share a few photos from their trip to Legoland. I think there are only 2 Legoland's in the world -- one in Europe and one in Carlsbad, California. For those of you with children, you may want to consider going to Legoland if you are out near San Diego or LA for a family trip. It sounded like and looked like a good time for children.

Ok, there were only two reasons for this post -- 1) To remind everyone that the Phillies are still the champs. 2) As an excuse to put in these pictures -- a lego beaver! How fun is that!?

Interacting with a dolphin

2009-02-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

My older sister has wanted to "swim with dolphins" for her whole life. At Sea World they let you "interact" with a dolphin and she decided that was close enough. And even though I had swam with a dolphin in a past life while on a cruise (the whole 'dolphin licking' incident that some of you may have heard about), I decided to join in.

Here is a picture of the interaction area as we were waiting to be called in. Turns out the trainer we'd get paired with is the one on the top - Mary. (Odd coincidence that we got the red-head, huh? No matter what I do, can't seem to get away from red heads.)

The only thing more fun than trying to get in and out of a wet suit? Trying to get yourself in and out of a wetsuit while also helping your two nephews get in and out of their wetsuits. It was quite the adventure. After a brief lesson and a not-so-brief prying yourself into a wetsuit session, we got split up and got to meat our trainer (Mary) and our dolphin (Ripley). Ripley was quite the ham...she was a squeaker! We got to do some signals as a group:

(Admit it, that is pretty darn cool!)

And then took our turns doing individual signals. I got to throw the fishing line out there (ignore the fact that Ripley is watching Mary and not me...I hadn't casted yet...oh well, at the time it felt like I was doing it!):

and reel her back in (see, Ripley was watching me at that point!):

We got to play relay and run her back and forth to each other with Ripley acting as the baton:

And we all got to have a splashing competition with her:

Trust me on this one -- don't get into a splashing competition with a dolphin, even if you have them outnumbered 5 to 1.

We all took a turn doing a glamour shot and kissing her:

And a group shot to end with:

All-in-all, it was a very unique and memorable event. Was it worth the money or freezing your cajones off in the really-really-really cold water and losing a splash-off with a dolphin? Probably. Since you can't really put a price on playing with a dolphin and after a while your teeth stop chattering.

As for my sister, she got to have her dream come true and hang out with a dolphin for a while...so how can you say it's not worthwhile? It was definitely a "live over" day -- you know a day that you want to live over and over.

This one is for Barb

2009-02-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've done any beaver hat updates. I was saving it for a fun event. So, on my first trip to Sea World San Diego, I decided to bring it along. Here are the highlights of the day. (I was even sporting one of my TRY shirts as a tip of the cap to the folks back east.)

A tribute to my past as a dairy farmer:

Hanging loose, surfer style:

A guest appearance in the hat by my little sister:

Stopping to smell the flowers:

And the beaver stopping to smell the flowers:

Getting a little wild, in the polar bear cave:

A tribute to Cherney's "construction worker" photo from LMCO. Do I look like authorized research personnel, to you? And I get a little scared sometimes when I see just how much the beaver hat and I look alike. (No wonder I've spent a lifetime being picked on about my teeth.)

And the shot you saw before...at the manatee rodeo. That manatee was hot! I burned my thighs a little on that one. No wonder manatee riding hasn't caught on.

Sea World miscellaneous

2009-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Going to Sea World sparked a debate. What is better/worse for the animals? Being in a zoo or being at Sea World. On one hand, the zoo at least attempts to keep the animals wild and doesn't let people fawn all over them. But there are the small cages and the fact that most animals in a zoo don't seem to happy. So, on the other hand, you have Sea World, who exploits the animals, lets them get fawned over by people, but man do those animals seem happy when they are doing tricks! So, its a pickle. Teach the animals to be a bunch of beggers or keep them more in their natural state?

Anyway, since you can feed the dolphins at Sea World -- why not do it. They are trained to come up to you, let you pet them a time or two and then open their mouth and get some fish. So, when you get them to come over and you don't actually have fish to give them. Well, they seem a little disappointed in you. And you can't help but feel a little guilty.

And a lesson for all you beginners out there. Do not splash your hand in the water. They are trained to come over to an outstretched hand, held flat over the water:

And as I said, you feel all cool that you get one to come over and then you have to deal with this...them pathetically holding their mouth open because they expect some fish. And you don't have any left, because it's 6 fricken dollars for three of them and you can't afford to keep feeding them. So what do you do? You point at the dolphin and in your best helmet voice, you say: "FOOLED YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FELL FOR THAT!" Good times.

Part 1 of the flurry of photos

2009-02-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

Since its quite obvious that I'm incapable of updating a blog in a timely basis...below are three quick entries that I worked on during the Super Bowel, highlighting some of my favorite pictures from January. Hopefully I get another entry or two up this week, with more pictures and more of a story. But as I've shown in the past -- don't be surprised if I don't get to them for a while -- but they'll get up there eventually.

-Tbone

Sea World - Dolphin Show

2009-02-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

The dolphin show was remarkable...I can't fully talk about it unfortunately, so I'll just show the crazy high jumps that the dolphins can do. I'm shocked...I swear that rope is 12-15 feet above the water level and the flag was even higher. (But that was a straight up and down jump, so not quite as difficult.)

I hope these photos can do justice to how crazy high these dolphins were jumping -- click on the photos for the full effect.

Saying hi to the crowd:

A dolphin pulling the lowered rope down to be silly:

Dunkin clearing the rope during my first time viewing the show:

My second viewing of the show -- might have been Dolly this time?

And one of those two (Dunkin or Dolly) touching the flag during my second viewing of the show:

Sea World - Shamu

2009-02-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

I was right there! Seriously, the closest killer whale was about 15 feet away. It was amazing to see them from that vantage point.

My view:

My sisters view of the same moment from safely outside of the splash zone:

My view across the stadium to the main stage:

Upper view of the trick they were demonstrating that morning. (Shamu spinning in place.)

Sunsets

2009-02-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Some sunsets and (and moon rises) from January.

Updates coming

2009-01-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

A flurry of updates are coming soon. So keep a weather eye on the horizon.

It could get a little crazy!

But things will come out roses in the end.

Stopping to smell the roses

2009-01-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

(Actually, I'm stuffed up right now, so there was no smelling involved. But I did stop to admire the roses.)

I was kind of caught off guard by the following two blooms on the patio of my rental house yesterday.

I don't know if they had just bloomed [ or bloomed more] recently? Or if I had not seen them because I'm not home during the daylight hours during the week?

It was a good reminder that sometimes we are surrounding by wonderful things and don't even realize it. So, remember to stop and smell (or admire) the roses in your life.

Better here or better here?

2009-01-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

Pretend you are at your eye doctor getting your eyes tested. This is a comparison of my last night in Syracuse over the holidays to being back in San Diego.

Better here?

Or Better here?

Better here?

Or Better here?

It's a pretty simple choice really. I'll take "Jeepers" or "Little Beave" over a little red thing any day. Snow removal or no snow removal.

My third car rental is a red VW Rabbit hatchback. I can't think of a fun name for it. Any ideas?

So This is Christmas?

2008-12-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

I must admit that its hard to feel Christmas-y living out here. No threat of snow, beach and sand everywhere I look, it just doesn't feel like mid-December. I think it is going to be a brown Christmas! But, some people do have decorations and lights and some people get really creative to make the time more festive. Here was one of my favorites. (I tried to get the string of sailboats in the upper right hand corner of the pictures.)

When I was running yesterday I noticed a sculpture making a snow, umm, I guess that would be sand-man. When I went back there today with my camera I was saddened to see that he had lost his head. The note on the front described that the neighboring community center had the sand-snow-man put up for people to enjoy but on the first night, vandals had knocked it over. So, that is sad but I'm including the photos anyway. (I didn't want to have walked 2 miles for nothing!)

Never miss a sunset

2008-12-14T15:30:00.001-08:00

Actually I've seen some out here but I've missed quite a few. (The days are too short to see the sun set during the workweek.) The times I have seen the sun set over the ocean, I haven't had my camera with me. I've either been running or biking or didn't plan ahead. But on Friday I was out of work early enough and made a point to walk over to the ocean side of the peninsula with my camera and get some sunset photos to post on the blog. So, here you are, my overdue pictures of the sun setting over the ocean, as seen from south Mission Beach. (I was able to get some reflection shots of the sun off the retreating surf...so that made the pictures a little more fun than they would have been.)

When I'm home around sunset time, I'm going to keep walking over to the ocean, in the hopes of getting some classic sunset pictures as well as with the hope of seeing the legendary green flash.

The further you go away from it, the more you learn about home

2008-12-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

So, I was sitting at work on Friday afternoon and two work neighbors were talking about Oregon and retirement. The one guy who is retiring soon, was talking about the place in Oregon where he has bought a house where him and his wife will spend their retirement years. He described things like how the people at the bank, the store, his insurance, etc all know him by name. And how he didn't really have to wait in line at the DMV. And how cheap things were. And how friendly people were. And the lack of traffic. And what a sense of community he felt there compared to San Diego. The guy listening to the story was completely and totally amazed by all this and how different it was from California and said that he had found "Mayberry". Seriously, the younger guy could not have been more blown away by all the simple things described about this place. (He was like an audience member in an infomercial -- except he didn't clap. I thought he was going to though.)

Even though I didn't want to hear the whole story...couldn't really help it. (The guy telling the story is a very loud talker.) And I also couldn't help but think - "It doesn't sound all that impressive to me. It sounds a lot like the Croghan/Lowville area of New York where I grew up."

I left work Friday afternoon kind of chuckling to myself. I'm 2500 miles away from my hometown, in what most people consider a perfect place to live and what happens -- I hear people describing and blown away by a description of a country lifestyle. In fact, the one guy can't wait to retire, get out of San Diego and live in paradise. Funny! I guess maybe there really is no place like home?

My New Home

2008-12-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've decided that its about time that I settle down. (No, not like that Catherine! Didn't mean to get your hopes up. Sorry. And Krista -- that means that theoretically you still have a chance! Keep those fingers crossed.) I meant that its time to settle down in a more permanent place in San Diego. After sleeping in four different places during my first tour of duty out here (and that is just locations -- to mention nothing about partners, which was much, much, higher than four. Ok, much, much, lower than four. But same difference), I have a long term rental in place for the next three months. And people say that I'm afraid of commitment. Ha! Three months! That is commitment right there!!!

The place is a vacation rental and is the upper half of a house in south Mission Beach.

The house is a little old and certainly not immaculate, but it has a large screen TV, direct TV service, wireless internet and indoor plumbing, so it's pretty sweet. Ok, not really...but the location is very nice. I paced it out and from the gate off the patio, it takes 80 steps to get to the boardwalk on the bay side,

and 200 steps (counting crossing a street) to get to the boardwalk on the ocean side of the penninsula.

It would be awesome in the summer time when it is more beach season, but it would also be a lot more expensive (I'm getting a huge offseason discount). So, hopefully I get some nice weekend days to take advantage of the surroundings.

The owners have provided bikes, kayaks, boogieboards, beach chairs...now I just need God to provide a couple really warm weekends. Average temperatures through the winter are in the mid-to-high 60s. Which, while being great for winter, would be a little to chilly to take full advantage of the beach and water.

But it does have a large, sun-lit patio which will get sunlight all winter

...so even if I don't do much beach or water stuff, I'll be able to grill out, read outside, bike, etc. I'm hoping its a fun little place to live. It seems like I'm surrounded by college girls, so that is going to get annoying. Several have already stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar. They must do a lot of baking! Because I've already had to go back to the store twice to restock my sugar supply. I guess they must be doing Christmas cookies already? Who knows.? Oh, here comes another one...looks like she must have fallen into a hot tub when she stepped out of her kitchen? Because her white t-shirt is soaked through...pity that.

Rental Car #2

2008-12-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

The good news about turning in my rental car every month, is that I get to try a new one the next time. This time I went the practical route and asked for a compact car instead of an intermediate. I figured this would almost allow for me to fit into the ridiculously small parking spots in most parking lots here in San Diego.

So, no more sporty looking red Mitsubishi's for me...instead I got a white Chevy Cobalt.

Since it's December and I miss the New York snow, I decided to name it Snowbalt. What do you think?

The Mandatory Trip to the Zoo

2008-11-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

And of course, we went to the zoo. It was a chilly day, actually, so I needed a windbreaker! I know I'm really suffering here. I need to keep this quick, since I should be getting to work, but I don't want to keep my 2 blog fans waiting any longer! The San Diego zoo is cool. It's big, it's hilly, it's got some unique animals locked up. And its actually considered an animal refuge and a botanical garden...so it seems like they do a good job with it. But the best part is that in addition to all the animal jokes you can make at any zoo -- you get to add on Anchorman jokes as well. So, it really is the gift that keeps on giving. The highlights:

An elephant bush! What are the odds of this growing right next to a zoo?

Why does that baby giraffe look so familiar? It's kinda cute!

I'm telling you, it was cold for San Diego...barely in the 60s.

Bear fight.

Oh no, you woke the momma.

Have you heard my koala meets a prostitute joke?

And I can never get enough Panda Watch references in. Panda Watch! Day 9:

I don't like the way he's looking at me. Stupid Panda jerk!

Seriously, its a panda watchers paradise.

Hey buddy, why the long face?

Hey mister, why the long...ummm, nevermind. I see you have other things on your mind.

What do you do to a rhinocerous with three balls?

You walk him and pitch to the giraffe! (Ok, that's old and I changed it. Sue me.)

You've seen my meerkat joke and the polar bear joke, so I'm pretty much out of zoo pictures/animal jokes. And, lets face it, there is only so much zoo that you can take until you want to find yourself a cave to hide/rest in.

I think the only thing that did more walking that day was this peacock. The thing was everywhere! Unless it had a stunt double? Here we caught it cleaning up the seating bowl after the sea lion show.

Alright, I think that catches me up on my fun photos. I've got more stories, but nothing exciting. Maybe I'll post a little on that in the next day or two but its not as funny as the koala and the prostitute.

Stay classy!

Oops, I almost forgot my picture feeding the giraffe:

Look at the tongue on that thing! It must be one heck of a french kisser.

The Lost Weekend

2008-11-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, I suppose it wasn't lost, but it has taken me over a week to write about it. Two weekends ago I got visited by my special friend. No, not my period, silly -- Catherine.

Since she was out visiting for a few days I splurged and upgraded my housing to an ocean front condo. It was pretty sweet, I must admit. And since it is the off-season for travel I got a great deal on it -- paid less than I have for a normal hotel room in other places. So, picture this - 9th floor of a high-rise, 2 ocean front "decks", plus one side deck with ocean views.

The decks were very small, ridiculous small actually -- think less than a foot deep, but the ceiling to floor sliding glass doors gave amazing views of the pacific ocean.

You could watch the surfers, the sun-bathers, the boogie-boarders, etc. And one of the mornings was really windy so I woke up to views of para-sailors. Now that looked awesome! Surfing, smurfing...I want to learn para-sailing instead. Except I don't know how they didn't kill each other. There were a dozen out there at one point and yet somehow they managed to zig and zag and turn back and forth and not run into themselves. Seems complicated but must be a huge thrill. They could go with the surf, or against it and leap into the air for seconds at a time....crazy fun.

Two Tickets to (Birds of) Paradise

2008-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Are You Sure I'm 100% Polar Bear?

2008-11-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

Son, why do you keep asking me that? I'm a polar bear and your father is a polar bear, so yes, you are 100% polar bear.

Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure. Your grand parents were polar bears and their parents and their parents were polar bears. I guarantee you are 100% polar bear. Why do you keep asking such a silly question?

Well. For one thing, I'm eating carrots. For another thing, I'm brown and not white. And lastly, but most importantly, I'm freaking freezing!

Meerkat Manor (Playboy Channel Edition)

2008-11-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hey Honey! Some tourist just threw me a little blue pill and I ate it and look! I got my mojo back. Get over here!

Oooohhhh. Yeahhhhh. Thank goodness for the little blue pill! Mmmmmm. I feel like a teenage meerkat again!

Uh-oh. My red rocket has been up for over four hours. What do I do now? I think I'm in trouble. Call the zoo keeper! We need to beat this thing down before I pass out.

Big Foot Sighting in San Diego!

2008-11-13T22:09:00.000-08:00

Wooooh! Is that a North American Great Ape I hear? Oh, nevermind, not that kind of Big Foot.

My apologies to sasquatch hunters everywhere, but you must admit - that is one big foot! (Don't you wish the blog was still locked out? :-)

This Blog Has Been Locked By Blogspot

2008-11-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

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World #$%#%$% Champions!

2008-11-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

Reminder -- I shook this guys hand back in March.

And many years ago, I got his autograph when he played as a visiting player in Syracuse. Both of those events were before I knew he had such a potty-mouth!

NSFW (Not safe for work...unless you have headphones.)
Chase, tell us how you really feel.

And this was after he got in trouble at the all-star game for his response to the classless New York fans booing him during introductions. He was miked for the game and he looked up and said: "Boo? F*$@ you" which came clearly through to the TV audience.

But, when your the champ, you can say whatever you want! His little f-bomb supposedly got the biggest applause of the day at the after parade ceremony. (You can see that from the video.)

He wore an itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie-yellow-polkadot-bikini

2008-11-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

...actually, I didn't. Here is what I wore at Blacks Beach (Look up Black's Beach from home sometime - not from work.)

And yes, that is all that I wore...and yes, the beaver hat might not have been the best choice, but its ironic certainly and I already had it out for the pictures with the sisters...and its not like any of the beach goers are ever going to see me again. I was alone and anonymous and my watch does cover up a lot.

Since I've never done the nude beach thing, I figured why not? I'm out here to see new things, right? Well, lets just say that some things you see, cannot be unseen! I saw one totally beautiful woman (right away - I should have stopped and turned around right then and there) and some other smatterings of what could be called women, but basically it was 95% sausage-fest. The beach wasn't crowded by any means, but enough to get my nude beach checkmark. And keep in mind since it's mostly sausages walking around, it is big with the gay scene. So, I saw two men holding hands. (Didn't need to see that.) I saw two men quickly kiss. (Definitely didn't need to see that.) And I saw naked volleyball and naked wading in the ocean and I even saw two naked men having a catch. Aww, look, the catcher is calling for a fastball. Wait a minute, his hand is by his glove...that means he didn't flash the "one" sign. Uggggghhhhh! He gave the "one" sign but it wasn't his finger! Gross!!!!! (Darn it all -- I never in my life needed to see that.)

So, you can go to Blacks Beach if you want, just be prepared, its not like the movies -- unless you mean the scene out of Eurotrip.

Oh, and I need a ruling. I've always said I "want to see a thong in the wild". Does it count if I saw one on a guy? (Not that I was trying to see it, mind you...but it was way smaller than a banana hammock). Does that count for a checkmark since I don't always specify "on a woman" when I state my quest? I need to be more careful with my wording!

Torrey Pines State Reserve

2008-11-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the Torrey Pine is the rarest native pine in the United States? And to think that I thought it was just what my little sister Tracie did for her ex-boyfriend. (She's pined for Tory for over a year now. Get over him already! You are as pathetic as your older brother!)

Last weekend I went to Torrey Pines State Reserve and did some hiking. I was on a mission to cover a lot of ground and I ended up getting in a 10 mile hike. Along the way I ran into a family that was geo-caching and stopped to help them as they were about to find a cache. It would have been my first! But, they couldn't find it (it was a micro-cache so hard to spot). I was bummed. :-(

I hiked a little more and was checking out a map kiosk when some women asked my opinion on a trail. Even though I had never been there before and tried to get away, the next thing I knew I was hiking with 5 crazy sisters in their 40s and 50s...and they were entertaining me with stories of their families, their children, their halloween, their running, their triathalons, their anything and everything. They truly adopted me as one of their own and took what would have been a solitary day at the park and the beach and turned it into a social event. They were actually very cool and kept cracking me up with their stories and how comfortable they seemed blabbing to me. They admitted that they were a few days into a family reunion and desperate for an outsider to break the monotony. So they latched onto "Mountain Goat Man"/"Tbone"/"Terry" as they would alternatively refer to me as. They insisted I pose in their pictures and they insisted that I take a couple of them.

When we got down to the beach one of them started talking about "Flat Stanley" and that reminded me of my own token that I had brought along...my beaver hat. So, I pulled it out of my knapsack and they hammed it up for a couple more photos before they headed back to the parking lot.

I left them as I headed for Blacks Beach...but I wished we could have hiked together longer. I enjoyed my brush with the sisterhood of the traveling hats. As strange as it was, their welcoming of me made me feel less homesick.

Torrey Pines State Reserve (Pictures)

2008-11-04T21:57:00.001-08:00

Since I don't like this picture interface...here are some random nature shots:

She was a thin mint, and I wanted "somoa"

2008-11-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry...that was the only girl scout cookie joke I could come up with...

So, how random is this? I attend a halloween party in San Diego, CA and I hang out with a "Brownie" who has cousins that grew up in my hometown of Croghan.

Actually it probably isn't all that random since she is a friend of my landlord...but still her cousins graduated with one of my sisters! (They were very good track runners and were twins and they were Beavers. Trust me on that one! They were as good as it got in my hometown...at track, that is.)

And the party setting was neat -- a balcony on a high rise in the middle of some other high rises in downtown SD. I thought that it was the polar opposite of a bonfire party in the country. Definitely the most unique setting that I've ever attended a party in. (Well, unique to me, being someone who grew up on bonfires in the country. I suppose a city person wouldn't find it unique at all.)

Overall, it was a party where I barely knew anyone...so I just stood around people watching...but at least halloween parties are great for people watching.

That's enough for now,
Mr. Condom-Head-Man

Reader Poll

2008-11-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

Please help me! Respond to the poll at the right.

Technical difficulties

2008-11-02T23:02:00.000-08:00

Some issues with not one, but two, cameras have delayed my Halloween and weekend postings. They have been taken care of and I promise to update soon. (Monday night or Tuesday night.) FYI -- Bubbles and Chastity were not dressed up for halloween. Those were their running outfits.

Here is a sneak-peak of where my beaver hat has been this weekend:

If you are bored, you can guess what is going on and who those people are in the comments section. Ally -- I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a good story.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've recruited my first new runners to SD TRY! They aren't as fast as Katie and they aren't as dedicated as Aubrey or Susan...and actually, come to think of it...they don't even run at all. But, I've decided that I need to focus less on the running part of the running group anyway. So, welcome to SD TRY, Bubbles and Chastity! I look forward to not running with you next Tuesday!

Boring?

2008-10-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

I've had an early (unsolicited) critique that my posts are boring. Well, of course they are boring. I'm posting them. What did you expect? I'm not going to have stories about going to Tijuana and seeing a donkey show and I'm not going to have exciting stories about drunken nights out picking up college women in the Gaslamp District. I'm going to have stories about where I went running and where I took my beaver hat. If you find this stuff boring, then obviously this blog is not for you and you don't need to read the entries. This is for people who miss my boring stories in person and therefore enjoy reading my boring stories from afar.

A Beaver in the Pacific

2008-10-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

This post is for Barb. You know me well enough by now that you probably believed me when I said that I would take my beaver hat with me to San Diego. But, just in case you didn't believe me, here is the proof. "The beave" came with me to the beach in Oceanside and got some rays on the beach, then went in the ocean to cool off, and even caught some waves before calling it an afternoon. So, your present has made it all the way to the pacific ocean! Thanks! :-) (Can one of my loyal readers please make sure Barb gets a link to this post, please? I still don't have email access to get it to her myself yet.)

Weekend happenings

2008-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Do you think the experts are giving the Phillies a chance now? Is there pitching still overmatched? Sorry, I couldn't help myself. They are on the brink! Up 3-1 and the offense actually showed up finally. I say it ends tonight. (Monday). Get it done, Cole! And Pat, how about you get a hit before its too late?

So, I should probably give a weekend update. But I'm lazy. And tired. I'm sort of on pacific time, but sort of not. I'll keep this short before I fall asleep.

I got shown the San Luis River Trail on Saturday morning. And it's a lovely river trail if you don't need water to be a river. From what I could tell it was a water run-off area that was as dry as a bone. Some river. I wanted to do an 8 mile run, but I knew 2 miles in that wasn't going to happen. Too much running this week and it was too hot out. I barely finished off another 10K training run...I was totally fading down the stretch. Aubrey, where were you? I needed you to pace me!

After I recovered I went to the beach in Oceanside. It was a little more crowded than Mission Beach on Friday, but still not crowded even though it seemed like a beautiful day to me. So, either everyone here is spoiled or there just aren't that many tourists around to go to the beach this time of year. There was a big fishing pier right there where people were catching and keeping very small fish and there were the biggest waves that I've ever played around in. And this was the first time that I've actually played in the pacific ocean at all. I had waded in a time or two during past trips to California but I had never actually swam. I borrowed a boogie board and dorked around for a while in the huge waves. The water was shockingly cold at first contact but wasn't bad once I was fighting the waves and current in an attempt to actually get to where the big waves were breaking. Here are some random shots from my afternoon at the beach. I managed to not burn myself, which is impressive since I won the competition for whitest-white-guy-at-the-beach. But I still have not managed to see a thong in the wild. It is still my life's quest however, so I will continue to go on thong hunts until I manage to spot one and get that check-mark out of the way. So, ladies with thong bikinis...get out here and show them off!

The first friday

2008-10-26T21:36:00.001-07:00

The work site here is on a 9-80 work schedule so Friday was the "off" Friday but since it was my first week, I didn't have the extra time in order to take fully advantage of it. So, I had to work the morning to get in my time and then I headed to Mission Beach in the early afternoon to get in my run. Well, it was a little warmer and it was timed better and there were actually people at the beach! And not just surfers in wetsuits. There were actually people wading in the surf and there were actually people sun bathing. In bikinis! Not a lot, but enough to actually make it feel like I was at a beach. So, people in San Diego do go to the beach this time of year. But it certainly wasn't packed. I suffered through a run - I decided to do the boardwalk again so I could people watch and this time I did the entire stretch from end to end. It was just over a 6K run. By then, I was dieing from the heat and from not eating a real lunch, so I bought some ice cream and walked around eating that, trying not to collapse. (So, a typical late October Friday -- a run along the ocean and then some ice cream to cool down.) Here are some pictures:

The place where SD TRY would meet. Next to the sculpture that explains the concept of the "green flash". (Just like from Pirates of the Caribbean 3...apparently there is a debate as to whether the phenomenon actually exists.)

The sculpture is next to the "famous" Belmont park roller coaster. An old roller coaster that was refurbished and is still in use.

A picture from the far end of the boardwalk. On the pacific beach end.

As I was coming back, a look at crystal pier in the distance.

As I was eating my ice cream I went into the "wave house" and watched a couple people play around in the standing wave. It looks fun, but I'm not sure that I dare try it. Plus, with anything cool and unique like this, they want a ridiculous amount of money to do it.

And some photographic proof that there were people on the beach. Not a lot, mind you, but more than I had seen up to this point.

Rental Car

2008-10-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

So, lets say you are Avis rental car. What sort of car do you give to some farm boy who grew up in a town without any stop lights? What do you give a guy totally out of his element and about to drive on 6 lane highways with crazy drivers? I know -- how about you give him a sporty little car (that actually isn't all that sporty) with absolutely terrible sight lines! The mirrors are too small, the hatchback window is very hard to see out of and the blind spot on the right hand side is almost impossible to see, even when you look over your left shoulder. After my initial drive I was totally thinking about returning the car for something that I could actually see out of. But, hey, they chose to give it to me, so maybe this is exactly the car that I was meant to have. I just don't ever change lanes unnecessarily because I put my life on the line every time that I do.

So, here are some shots of the Mitsubishi Eclipse that Tracie had requested.

Where was TRY? (And the sun won.)

2008-10-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

So, there I was on Tuesday night...next to the roller coaster next to the beach, waiting for my TRY people to show up. Only no one was there? Where was everyone? Is nobody else going to show up for SD TRY? Do I need to invite new members?

Some overdue updates:

Work sucks. They were unprepared for my arrival (somehow?) so I don't have a work computer or a VPN token so I can't do anything on a computer at work. That makes it tough to be a software engineer! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they set me up sometime next week...I can only do so much reading. It's been hard to stay at it for 9 hours a day when I'm not really accomplishing anything yet.

Also, I've been exhausted...I suppose its the time change and the running and not eating normally, etc...but I've been worn out all week. I hope that gets better because the work days have been tough to survive even though I haven't been staying up late or doing anything crazy.

As for the running -- I forced myself to go after work on Monday and Tuesday even though I was dead...because I knew the Phillies and their early games were going to keep me from getting out on Wednesday and Thursday. By the way -- would it have been so hard for the Phillies to make contact early in game 2 when they had guys on third constantly? They'd be right in the game if they had just grounded or flew out instead of striking out. They've annoyed me tonight!

Monday night -- went to Mission Beach and explored the southern end. There wasn't much boardwalk in that direction so I had to loop around southern mission beach and the channel some in order to get a three miler in. My lungs and energy still didn't cooperate so it was rather slow. And I was a little too early and didn't stick around for the sun to set over the Pacific.

Tuesday night -- after having no TRY members show up, I thought that maybe I was late, so I pushed it for a tempo type run -- did a hard four miles as the sun was going down. I decided to race the sunset on the way back, but I lost...the sun went fully under with a about a 1/4 mile to go. It was windier than usual, so the waves were bigger than usual and there were a ton of surfers out there playing in the biggest waves I had seen yet. I was overheating, but it didn't seem like other people were too much...not so much for skimpy running outfits. Even though it seems plenty warm to me, a lot of people are running in long sleeves or long pants... Sucks. I want my bikini hotties out there to inspire me! What good is the beach if people are dressed like they are in Syracuse? But, I did feel a lot better and was able to crank it up some. Not Katie level cranking it up or something...but not too bad for sloths like myself.

So, I've seen the entire Mission Beach/Pacific Beach boardwalk (about 3 miles total, one-way) so now I want to start exploring the bay side (Mission Bay). I actually "ran" part of that during my San Diego marathon, but I don't remember much of it since I was in full hurting mode by then and just hoping to survive.

Ugghhh...the Phillies just lost. They really wasted opportunities tonight. They should be ashamed of their situational hitting. I know that I'm ashamed of it.

That's enough for now...I'll try to be better about future updates and to spice them up with some photos.

It's A Whole New World

2008-10-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

This west coast living is weird. Do you realize that I can go into work at 10 and people think I'm early? (Where has that been the last 3 years?) Do you realize that they start their world series games at 5:30? That they are over by 8:30? It's like they live in a whole different time zone out here! Morons.

The first one

2008-10-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I should get this started. Not sure how much I'll use it, but we'll see how it goes. After my typical post-flight malaise finally wore off some (I didn't do anything last night), I got myself going early this morning (well, early for west coast time) and drove a few miles to Mission Beach and ran along the ocean.

I knew one of my ears didn't make it out with me yet, but apparently my lungs didn't either. It was a tougher run than it should have been. I yogged about 5 miles on the boardwalk up along north Mission Beach and Pacific Beach and started to get into La Jolla (I think) before making it to the arbitrary turn around point at the 2.5 mile mark on my GPS.

It was nice running beside the pacific ocean, but it was no Onondaga Lake Park. But I guess OLP doesn't have waves crashing and surfers surfing, so at least it was different scenery. It wasn't very warm though -- the sun hadn't really woke up and poked through the clouds until I had finished.

I'll have to get back there soon and do a run to the south to see what I can see in that direction. It shouldn't be too bad to get over to that area after work (if there is enough daylight?) so I think that will be my running exploration area for now.