June 28, 2008 / Saturday
Indoor Skydiving
Well, more like "skydiving" than skydiving. There was no sky, and there was no diving. There was, however, a vertical wind tunnel blowing air up at us in our flappy suits. Whoosh, flap flap flap.
We went to iFly in Union City last Sunday for Alissa's birthday. After watching a short (and amazingly not too cheesy, as pre-flight videos go) video, we emptied our pockets, headed out of the classroom, and got suited up: knee pads, elbow pads, flappy suit, earplugs, goggles, and helmets. Then, into the wind tunnel staging area.
Because I was the last one in, I was in position to be the first one up. I held my arms up (but not out) in front of my chest and leaned forward into the tunnel. Whoosh! It was windy in there! We had an instructor who stayed in the wind tunnel and adjusted our heads, arms, and legs for optimum flight.
And then, all too soon, my minute was up. The instructor steered me toward the exit and I grabbed hold of the sides and pulled myself out. We all had another minute after the first around of "flights", which felt easier than the first. I wasn't sure if it was because we were more used to it, or if they had turned the wind speed up.
After we had all taken a turn, the instructor got a couple minutes of solo time in the tunnel with the wind speed cranked way up. He zoomed up and down and did a bunch of tricks while we watched and oohed and aahed.
We exited the wind tunnel area, returned our gear, and headed off to dinner. So what do I think about indoor skydiving? I want to say I don't think they should call it skydiving, as I imagine skydiving to be way super crazy scary fun and exciting, but I will wait until I actually go skydiving before I make that comparison. This, this vertical windtunnel flappy suit thing, this was neat. Neat as in, oh, this is novel. Or maybe, oh, I could see how it'd be neat to come back and work on being able to do nifty tricks and stuff (if it weren't so expensive).
There were signs there warning people with prior shoulder dislocations not to fly. I didn't understand why at the time, but my shoulders were a bit sore the next day, so I guess it does put some strain on them.
Next time I do this, I'm trading the wind tunnel for an airplane. ;)
05:18 PM | | Comments (0)
Segregation Is Not Always A Bad Thing
I needed wash a couple dark items so I could pack for my Mt. Whitney trip this week. I didn't have enough for a full load, but I did spot a few towels that I could throw in. The towels were light, though, and I wondered whether they would get stained by the dark items in the wash. "Whatever," I decided, "they're not super nice towels anyhow."
The towels took exception to this, and now I have light colored towel lint all over my darks.
12:11 PM | | Comments (0)
June 26, 2008 / Thursday
Smokiness Is Relative
I saw my neighbor riding home on his bicycle just now, and asked him whether the smoke bothered him.
"It's not bad," he replied, "It's not as smoky as China."
Well there you go. I'm just being a whiny American.
The whiny American in me says darn you, fires! I was going to ride Mt. Diablo this week, and now I'm not going to have anything to show for June.
Waah.
06:11 PM | Bicycle | Comments (0)
June 25, 2008 / Wednesday
Cousins of Squirmy
I bought a bag of Chinese mystery bok choy-like vegetables at the farmer's market last weekend. When I prepped them for cooking last night, I noticed holes in the leaves and a mini Squirmy look-a-like on the bag. After some meticulous searching and washing, I found one more. Satisfied that I had removed all non-plant life, I cooked me up some lunch for the next couple days.
I had me some lunch just now, and found a stir fried cousin of Squirmy in the sauce. I poked around the veggies and found another. This, after already having eaten most of what was in the container.
I feel a little ill.
11:58 AM | Food | Comments (5)
June 24, 2008 / Tuesday
Current Conditions
Smoke. Given that I can't see through the stuff to tell if it would be clear, sunny, or some flavor of cloudy otherwise, I suppose that's pretty accurate.
Stepped out on the balcony just now, and it is indeed nasty out there. So much for my plans to go mountain biking after work. Phoo.
• • •
Got home and what did I find? Blue skies and fresh air. (*#$^(*@&^!^!!! I blame work for moving me to smoky San Ramon.
Aw, (*@&#*&^@*&^$ again! I really wanted to ride! Sitting around all day makes me feel blech.
03:32 PM | | Comments (2)
June 23, 2008 / Monday
It's Not Exactly Easy On Foot, Either
Paid a return visit to Las Trampas yesterday. This time, I was smart enough not to bring my bike. Aaron and I pulled up with our hiking gear and went for a ~7 mile loop up over Rocky Ridge and back. We'd originally planned to go for a 12 or 13 mile hike, but alas, no time. Story of every weekend.
Though short as far as hikes go, it still gave us a pretty good workout. We did a decent uphill to the top of the ridge, headed south a ways, then descended to the other side on a loose and somewhat tricky switchback. Boy, was I glad I had my poles. The bottom of that trail met up with a vastly different trail: a fireroad that looked to go straight up the mountain, back to the top of the ridge. Eat trail mix, drink water, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Four legs good. Two legs bad. Finally, we made it back to the top of the ridge. We wrapped up the loop on some rolling hills and headed back to the car.
On our way up the big giant wall of a fireroad, we saw a guy in a long sleeve shirt running down. How was he not slipping? This hill was steep! Later, as we neared the parking lot, he ran by us from behind. "Did you run all the way down the big giant hill and back?" I asked. The answer? Yes. We chatted briefly, and then he continued on. How did he do that? I saw the answer as he ran off: he had calves the size of my quads. Yikes.
So that's it, our final training hike before heading off to Whitney. We'll do some short loops while we acclimate at Whitney Portal, but nothing more than a few miles. I can't believe that's next week. Lots to prepare!
This rock was kinda neat:
08:20 PM | Hike | Comments (0)
June 20, 2008 / Friday
Semi-Recappy Ramble
Dear Friday,
Hello, and welcome. It's been a long week. Working from home isn't easy, especially when it's 90+ degrees out, you have no air conditioning, and opening the windows just makes the really loud construction next door even louder. I had no idea when I dropped my car off on Monday that I would spend the next four days carless and stuck at home. Okay, I wasn't really stuck, but I was definitely in car limbo waiting for it to be done every single day. I did at least get a nice motorcycle ride in to REI and BB&B. Sports equipment and kitchen gadgets, oh yeah. I also got a load of laundry done, which is huge because I'm usually never home when the laundry room is open.
In any case, I'm glad you've arrived, and I'm happy to be back in the office. It's air conditioned here. I also have my nice ergo setup, multiple monitors, and a much better network connection. There's also decaf coffee here. I cheated a bit on my caffeine free (except for DMD before hockey games) kick this week since I don't have decaf grounds at home.
The drive into work today was a pleasure. My car hasn't felt this smooth since it was new. Confidence inspiring, really. I was tempted to push it, but I'm also doing an experiment to see if the fix has an impact on my MPG. So, until the gas light comes on for this tank, I'm going to behave myself.
I'm looking forward to this weekend. I want to go to the farmer's market and maybe the self-serve yogurt place Aaron keeps raving about. Saturday night, hockey! Whoo hockey. Then, Sunday, maybe something on one of my bikes, followed by indoor skydiving for Alissa's birthday.
That reminds me, when I was too sick to go real skydiving for my birthday, I told myself I'd go for my half birthday. Well, that was last Sunday. I totally forgot. Woops.
Okay, I talked to Aaron about this weekend just now and he seems to have a very different idea of what we're doing than I do. I'm still gonna play hockey, dammit! And I'm not going to wear myself out with a big long hike beforehand. No siree!
But then, I DO need to hike. What to do, Friday? What to do?
Work? Oh yeah. You're a weekday. Talk to you later, then.
Viv
01:27 PM | | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008 / Thursday
Happy Car, Happy Viv
With a long drive to Mt. Whitney coming up in July, I finally got off my butt and brought my car in for repair. On Vinny's (and the internet's) glowing recommendation, I decided to bring it to Palo Alto German Car. I called them up, described my problems, and brought the car in on Monday morning.
I asked them to look at a couple leaks: the exhaust leak I discovered eons ago, and a slow but troubling fluid leak I couldn't identify under the car. They called me back Monday afternoon and let me know what they had found. The oily mess on the underside of my car was power steering fluid; I had a leak at both ends of the high pressure line. I've had this (slow) leak for years now, and given cost of fixing it, we decided that I should continue to keep an eye on it and top it off every once in a (long) while. The exhaust leak required a stethoscope (!!) to diagnose, and they narrowed it down to the exhaust manifold.
Tuesday morning, they disassembled their way to the exhaust manifold. The damage: a leaky gasket and a warped (but not cracked, hoorays) manifold. That was good news; it meant I didn't need a new manifold. New gaskets were ordered and the manifold was sent to the machine shop. Everything came in around 3 PM. Too late to reassemble and test. Another night at the shop for my car.
On Wednesday, they got everything back together. While checking things out, they found another leak: a hole in the intake manifold. This was a hole created as part of the original fabrication process, but it was supposed to be plugged. Where was the plug? Gone! They called a few dealers and located a replacement in SF (or was it SSF?). When could they get it to Palo Alto? Thursday morning. Night number three at the shop for my car.
Thursday morning came and I got a call. The part was here, but getting to the hole and putting everything back together was going to take a few hours of work. They said they would try to get it done by the end of the day, and they did. I love my car, but not how tightly everything is packed into the engine bay. Makes it hard to work on.
The above was just to document for my car. What I really want to say in this post is that despite the frustration of not having a car for four days, I was really pleased with the fact that they took the time to double check and make sure everything was okay. Harald (the owner) was great; he called to update me every step of the way, and gave me useful information on my options, what they needed to do, how much it would cost, and how long it would take. When I showed up to pick up my car, I wanted to learn more, so he did some more explaining and showed me some diagrams of what they had worked on. I asked about the stethoscope, and he showed it to me and told me how they used it. It really is a stethoscope! Minus the flat round part. Neat.
I remembered that I'd had trouble getting crush washers for my oil pan drain bolt from the dealer last month (they only sell one-piece bolt-and-washer combos now, and the one they sold me wouldn't go in), so I asked if he had any. He gave me a couple for free. Score! Also, they fixed the annoyingly misbehaving negative terminal connection on my battery. Score again!
My car runs smoothly and quietly now. Great recommendation, Vinny! Will I bring my car back here the next time it needs work? Absolutely.
• • •
"Stethoscope" is a total tongue twister for me. I can barely say it once unless I do it really slowly.
08:51 PM | GTI | Comments (1)
Unphotographable
This is a picture I did not take of a young man on a bicycle in the left turn lane, a drumstick in each hand, tapping, tapping, tap-tap-tapping on his bike, waiting for the light to change.
And why didn't I take a picture? Because my phone has a crappy camera. Thank goodness for Unphotographable.
06:02 PM | | Comments (0)
June 18, 2008 / Wednesday
Earplug Fail? Nope. User Error!
I woke up this morning to a duet of hammers around 7, put my earplugs in, and went back to sleep. A little while later, I woke up again, this time to a symphony of hammers. I marveled at how easily the sound penetrated my earplugs as I rolled around for another five minutes. Finally, I gave up and decided to get out of bed. I reached for my earplugs.
Hey, where'd the left earplug go?
Oh, there it is. On my pillow.
09:10 AM | | Comments (0)
June 17, 2008 / Tuesday
Whoo Ride! Whoo Hockey! Whoo Goal!
My car's been in the shop since Monday, and they're keeping it until sometime tomorrow. This left me carless tonight, with a hockey game I somehow had to get to. I sent a late afternoon message out to my team and got back a couple ride offers. Thanks Char for the ride, and thanks Lindsay for offering to drive out of your way to give me a ride!
I was happy and smiley all night, I think because I was just so pleased that I didn't have to miss my game. I played on a line with Lindsay and Gwen, which was totally fun. I even managed a goal toward the end of the game, when Gwen sent the puck down the ice ahead of me and Adrienne. My first thought? "Ooh, PUCK!" My second and most urgent thought was then to skate as hard as I possibly could to get as far away from Adrienne as I possibly could. (Tangling with Adrienne is always a losing proposition.) But then, when I got the puck, I actually had the clarity to remember that this goalie had been overcommitting all night to the angle I was at, and I sent the puck across her body and into the net on the other side of the post. Or was that just luck? Naw, I meant to do that!
Final score: 6-3. I'm sooo glad I got to play this game. Thanks Char again for the ride! :)
11:24 PM | Lollerskates | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008 / Monday
Point Reyes Lighthouse & Tomales Point
We started off our day at the Bear Valley Inn, a cute little eco and bike friendly bed and breakfast in Olema. We had a nice breakfast of pancakes, bacon, fruit, and yogurt with the other guests, then paid a visit to Tomales Bay Foods for some sandwiches to eat on our hike: a fancy chicken thing for Aaron and a fancy veggie thing (cheese and olives and mushrooms) for me.
We then headed out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Aaron had warned that it would be windy there, but despite that warning I hadn't actually expected to be blown sideways. Still, the winds were "calm" enough that the steps to the lighthouse were open, and we were able to walk down for a visit.
After the lighthouse, we headed for the Tomales Point Trail. It was breezy at times, but nothing compared to the wind at the lighthouse. We saw lots of elk, and a couple had fuzzy antlers that I wanted to pet. Also fuzzy were the caterpillars and the Cobweb Thistle, which were so webby they appeared white. Totally weird. We also encountered a skunk, which actually looked quite cute as it bounded down the trail. Made me want to pet it. Hooray for self restraint.
It was a bit foggy when we started the hike, but the sky cleared up nicely as we neared the point. It was beautiful but windy there. We hunkered down behind a hill, ate our sandwiches, and headed back. More sand, flowers, cypress trees, bumblebees, and purple mini wheat looking things. My feet hurt, which was a sign that I'm not hiking enough. I need to toughen up my feet for Whitney! Maybe this means I should hike next weekend, too.
I leave you with the following "Where's Vivo?" photo:
[ Update: Aaron's photos for this post are here. It includes shots of the aforementioned Cobweb Thistle, fuzzy caterpillar, and bounding skunk. ]
07:24 PM | Hike | Comments (0)
Dinner on a Farm
More precisely, an Outstanding in the Field dinner at McEvoy Ranch. There's more info about it on the website, but the idea behind it is this: A bunch of people get together to have dinner on a local farm. We get to see where our food comes from, meet the people who grow it, and share this experience with our fellow diners. Seating is at one very long outdoor table out in the field.
I'm not sure where I'm getting this number from, but I *think* there were 140 people at our dinner on Saturday. It was a very Prius-y crowd. We saw a couple Priuses on the road near the farm and joked that we could follow them to the dinner, then laughed when we realized they really were heading to the dinner. Once there, I headed to the main building, and while in line for the restroom I overheard a conversation between two people talking about the wonderfulness of their Priuses. Then, at the table, more Prius talk. What could I add to such a conversation? I own a car with a stinky exhaust leak (don't fret, I brought it to the shop this morning!) and an emissions canister neutered motorcycle. Perhaps I should have just started singing, "Bom-bom-bombombom-bom bom bom bom-bom..."
There were a few Hollywood cowboy types at the dinner too. You know, with the glam designer threads, giant sunglasses, pointy boots, and cowboy hats. Hrm, I wonder how a conversation between them and the Prius owners would go.
We got seated for dinner and were immediately surrounded by foodie talk. "Are you a foodie?" "I'm totally a foodie." Erm, people, we each paid $200 to come to this dinner. It should go without saying that we're all some sort of foodie. That said, it soon became obvious to me that I was not totally a foodie, as I don't dine at fine restaurants in the city every night. Yes, it's true, some nights I like to go home and cook myself an egg sandwich.
Okay, since I did choose this dinner because I wanted to experience a Vincent Nattress meal, here's the part where I write about the food. Sorry about omitting the wine; I don't drink. I will say, though, that the various sample sips I took from Aaron's glass didn't suck. :)
Pre-dinner: A really tasty olive onion bruschetta thing. In retrospect, I should have had more of them, because we waited around from 4-5, then had talks and a olive mill tour from 5-6. I was pretty hungry by the time we reached the table.
Appetizer: Oysters. No, wait, one oyster. It had little mini Chinese broccoli looking things on it. Those were good. The oyster was pretty good, too. More, please. Still hungry!
Salad: Some combination of greens with both sweet and hot radishes. I discovered that I can tolerate radishes if they're sliced paper thin. Or maybe I was just hungry. I had a particularly small helping of the salad because the guy at our table who started the round of serving accidentally took giant portions for him and his wife. I was pretty bummed about being hungry and saladless, but I think the guy felt even worse than I did. No biggie; I eventually got my hands on more bread. :)
Main course: Lamb sausage, braised (lamb?) leg, roasted (lamb?) saddle, and tasty yellow eye beans. I'm not a big fan of lamb, but I did enjoy the meats. Well, the sausage and braised leg, at least. I didn't end up with a slice of the roast. Woops.
Cheese course: Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, tasty marinated apricots, greens, and flower petals. By this time I was slowing down, and Aaron got to help me finish my cheese. Just as well, he's a big Cowgirl Creamery fan. I did have a second serving of apricots, though. Did I mention they were tasty?
Dessert: Strawberry shortcake. Fresh and tasty also.
By the time we finished dessert it was after 9 PM, quite a bit later than we'd expected. It was COLD, and I'd been shivering since before the main course. (Thank you, neighbor, for snagging me a Mexican blanket when they came by with them.) No one lingered; we ate our food and retreated to the heated shelter of our cars.
Overall, the food was decent. It wasn't super gourmet; just good food from local sources within a 25 mile radius. We have a lot of flavors and variety available to us here. That's quite nice.
A few notes for those of you thinking about going to an OitF dinner in the future:
- The schedule may say 4 PM, but really you just mill around 'til 5 PM for all the stragglers to arrive.
- Dress for winter! It's cold out in the fields at night.
- Bring your own plate, and a story to go along with it.
- Play Punch Buggy Prius with your companion(s).
Oh, and McEvoy Ranch makes some tasty stuff. Check them out at the Ferry Building. :)
04:07 PM | Food | Comments (8)
