fishing time

Saturday Fishing. It was a fun time. we all caught little bitty fishes that were not worth keeping. Although one of us did... I'm sure it will cook up to be a nice fish stick.

I never gone creek fishing before and it was a good learning experience and a good time spent in nature and with friends. I'm a lucky and greatly blessed SOB, I must admit. To be able to have these experiences and to be able to enjoy the people I'm around... despite not catching any legitimate "keepers"... what more can a person ask for. Trully blessed.

Next time we'll catch something... Now it's interesting that I never really considered myself as a fisher person but apparently I've gone enough times that when I tell my mom that I'm going fishing she knows better than to expect me to bring fish home... Kind of a forgone conclusion that me fishing equals no fish. Ugh. why do i even bother. but yet I do it. Could it be that I really do like fishing eventhough i have no talent for it? It's hard for me to imagine liking something that I'm totally crappy at. Maybe it's a stubbornness that prevents me from giving up.

I am fascinated I guess about this whole process and if executed correctly usually will result in a fish on the hook. I'm mezmerized and I can't help it.

Angels vs. Oakland. It was an okay game. I didn't really want to go as I needed to prepare for saturday fishing but I figured it was okay as it's probably one of the few things my parents do together w/out arguing. So in this pic Tim Salmon is on first base. He's trying to hit 300 Homeruns before he retires. Unfortunately he didn't do it on this day.

A new one for the years

This is a neat shot of what modern day fireworks can do... This is my second Big Bang Friday fireworks show at the Big Ed and I was trully impressed when I first saw it. I admit that I'm old and after all these years I'm not easily impressed. One fireworks show is the same as the other, isn't it?

Not in this case as some of the pyrotechnics of this show I've never seen. Granted it's been awhile since i stood and watched a show so these could have been around for a while but the kid in me was really impressed with the patterns, noise and heights. A really good show. I'm sad I missed the smiley face... Yes, smiley face ;)

Grand finale of the Big Bang Fireworks show at the end of the Game on Fridays for the Angels. You might say this is the true grand finale as this is the last friday game of the season for 2006. Nice season Angels. Better luck next year.

Last week's turning and burning.

So, has it been a week already? Man, time sure flies when you are doing nothing except counting the days til i get to see my wife. In the meantime I have to do these torturous events and feel guilty that I'm having all this fun without my her.

Oh well, what I must do to perservere without her. So, me and the cousin go to K1 carting in irvine. He's starting his first year at uci and i figure it would be a cool time to spend the day with him. Viola, we end up at K1 speed indoor cart track. The carts were pretty cool. they were electric and they were fast. I miss the noise of the gas carts but i can't discount the speed and the instant torque. Although I feel that driving a gas cart feels more like a living, breathing entitiy versus the electric cart was all machine (and thus perhaps no soul...) It was fun nonetheless.

k1 carting... 2 thumbs and a smile.

K1 indoor cart track in irvine California. Two big thumbs up from the cuzin. probably going to go back again. I'd like to take some carting classes to improve my times.

One thing that was a drag is that this place is still so new, you can't get decent people to race against. At first it was me and my cousing. Then we got smart and told the lady who arranges the races that we wanted to be with people. "okay" she says... But the people turn out to be a pre-teen kid, his aunt and his mom. So the kid drives like a kid who's never driven before, the mom drives like she's out for a cruise in her lexus and the aunt?... I couldn't tell as I got so dizzy lapping them on the track they all blurred into one big conflagaration. Is it a wonder why the 405 is the way it is? I wish we had cops waving flags telling people to yield to slower traffic like there was on the track!

Old Versus New.

The juxtaposition of modern day intimacy versus old school intimacy. So my wife is back east and I wanted to send her a card but wouldn't you know that she sent me a card first? And she got this card 3 weeks ago! sheesh. How can I compete with such foresight and planning. Anyway I can't beleive the technology that is available to us nowerdays. Right out of the Jetsons, i'm able to see my wife and talk with her on a daily basis. But in the old days, a letter was it. And even though it's low tech, I perfer the card. Yeah, no bells and whistles but the physical presence of the card is a lot better and more tangilbe than the talking (complaining!) head on my computer screen. But don't get me wrong, i like to see her face and it helps in preventing mis-communications seeing her expressions and stuff but I suppose i'm also a romantic at heart and I appreciate the sentiments of a good old fashion card. and not a stupid email card neither. hate those.

Welcome to Temecula

Welcome to Temecula, CA. On our way to Rainbow Heights to go and resurface a driveway. Unfortunately the driveway was way beyond a simple resurfacing so my pop's made a command decesion to contract an asphalt company to re-pave the driveway. Whew, dodged that bullet.

But I'm not that lucky. After driving to visit some rentals in San Marcos the truck broke down and so we found ourselves with time on our hands and a lot of resurfacing tar. It was a no brainer that my dad decided to re-surface the drive way there. After all we had all the supplies and nothing to do...

Anyhow somewhere in those hills in the back, where there is no electricity, is about 5 acres with my name on it. Maybe in 10 years there will be houses dotting that hill. Certainly 10 years ago when I use to go shooting in this area, it was no where as populated as it is now. Really boonieville. I guess that's progress.

Ahhh at long last a Denny's. Time to eat. To bad the food didn't agree with my dad. I guess 45 minutes later he had the squirts. Must be an age thing. I gots lots to look forward to when i get older. Happy times.

The place of kings

Hometown Buffet. Mom and Pops with Danial. My dad's personal junk mechanic. The more and more vehicles of my dad's that breakdown the more and more I can appreciate Daniel's skill. He was able to replace an alternator in a mervyn's parking lot in less time that it would take a novice to change a flat tire. Too bad the alternator didn't have the correct plugin. but since it was a diesel vehicle it didn't need the alternator like a gas car would so we were able to make it home. Luckily it was daylight and only started to get dark so we didn't completely drain the battery. The old alternator was malfunctioning and shorting out the electrical system (we think) preventing the truck to go above 30MPH. Which is even too slow for my dad to drive the freeway (by 5 mph)

So this is our treat of the day. Bon apitito

Kite flying magic

Man, where did the time go. I wish i was like a person that could maximize and wring out the most from every situation. As the saying goes, "I aint getting any younger".

How ironic as the older I get the more rushed I feel to do, accomplish or become. But yet I don't act upon those urges... Why? Is it because I'm lazy?

I guess I got to schools of thought coursing through my being. But as the picture demonstrates the one that usually ends up winning is the one that just wants to "be". Man, I love this moment. I can look at this pic and the feelings of that day come back to me .

It doesn't really motivate me for going back to school eventhough I know I should.

I guess i wish i was a dynamo. that whole momentum thing is true, but yet it requires a lot of work and maintenance. Do I have it and can I sustain it? That's what I need to ask myself and work on. Maybe that's why I like the kite. It expends zero energy but yet it wants to just fly right out of your hands. Plus that and the magic of just "floating" in air and the awe of nature.

The Missus

So i was just going over some photos and I came across this one. We are at Kauai in HI 2005. I forget the name of the resturaunt but it was one that everyone "raves" about but I have better memories eating coconut fried shrimp at that shirmp junction place by that big canyon. Anyhow what got me was this person is married to me?... How can that be. As my boss at work said (and everyone thinks) how did I get so lucky? What a crazy world. I must be in oppisite land or something!

Mr. Deebs

Mr. Deebs nicely toasted from crazy captain zodiac... Hmm I'm reminded that I lost some nice shorts during that ride... I only have every other picture from HI to remind me of them :(

A sight for sore eyes.

It's already been a week since I dropped my wife off for school. I'm a little bit heartsick i guess. I'm in a house alone with the dog (parents gone to Blythe) and i'm so lonely i have "War of the Worlds" in the back ground along with AOL xm funk playing on the 'puter... And I'm blogging. *SIgh*... is that loud enough for my wife to hear in New York? I'll have to practice somemore **sigh** Hmm not quite right either. I'm trying to immitate her sigh but I just can't really evoke the guilty feelings like she does in me while she's complaining about the heat... Pretty soon it will be about the cold when winter hits. She tells me that I can go snowboarding this year but not to tell her or call if I do *SIGH*, yeah! that's it! made me not want to go 'boarding this year after I heard that... Maybe i'll ski.?...

Anywho, here's a picture that I was able to recently get because of my new camera. It boots up really quick so I was able to snap this pic without causing a major bottle-neck. It's the 34th street subway exit and I like it because it has the Empire state building in the background. On a clear blue sky day, it is even better. But this one is not so shabby as the wife is in the picture. You'll just have to ignore the goofy looking dood in the background.

Okay, adios.

Vin

Note to Self.

Self, when you see an empty subway car approaching the terminal there's usually a reason why it's empty. And no, it's not because you are incredibly lucky or fortunate. It's because of either

A) Vomit.
B) No Air conditioner
C) A vagrant*

Please move directly to the next car.

* Now I hate to consider myself as an elitest or snooty or hoitey-toitey etc. but man! Sometimes them bums can really reek. It's sad and I feel bad that I can't be more sensitive to their plight etc. but this guy was staked out in the middle of the car and he had his protective trash bags (filled with who knows what) strewn about him in a semi-circular fashion and he was totally zonked out. It was raining and so he also had a damp musty smell along with his usually smell. So me and the wife upon entering the car (thinking we'd scored and would be able to get a seat) notice the bum, get hit by the horrendous odor eminating from said bum and immediately try to be as far as possible. And wouldn't you know it?... that still wasn't far enough. Oh man, I was affraid to take a breath!

Now I've been away from the rotten apple a few months now so my smell has not yet gotten de-sensitized from the strange and unusual odors that fill New York and thus at the next stop we switched cars. I've never had to do that before but man, I didn't want to be there any longer then I had to be... And as luck would have it the next car had some kid eating cool ranch doritos. Smelling that I almost puked. Not that cool ranch is bad but I'm remembered of my brother Richard's feet and how they use to smell like corn chips when I was a kid.

Them feet were bad but not leaving a subway car bad... But before today, during my time back this past couple of days, I was lucky enough to experience the subway cars in my memories: Clean, cool, and shiny... No bums, smells, beggars, or crowds. It's amazing what a couple of months in California can do and how I can wax poetic and not remember these things that are quintessentially New York. I guess that's what's sorta amazing about this place... No matter how bad it may seem, you'll always (or most of the time) come away with something positive and with warm feelings... and thus I fear that the next time I see an empty subway car, I'll be the first one in.

Cheezing on the M104

Back in New York city and we are participating in mass transit once more. The bus is nice to unwind in and it was pleasantly uncrowded.

the Kayak god entity

a picture of a sculpture with the wife for scale at Lincoln Square. It's at julliard. we find ourselves around here a lot because it's right off of broadway. made out of kayaks and canoes.