brisk run.

4 mile run today. Leisurely. under 40 minutes.

weight: 221lbs

Felt really good. Fast and not too tired. will up miles as I'm putting in an 8 miler this week.

Thinking of a 30k race in a few weeks. We'll see.

On another note, after the long weekend in Reno, and checking some things out, I figured I could use a challenge for the year, and something to plan and look forward too, personally.

so......I'm going to hike the Tahoe Rim Trail, which circumnavigates Lake Tahoe, peaking at Mt. Rose Summit. While not a 14er (fu brownie haha) it's 150 miles total, and I'll plan max 15 days, min 10 days. Hiking, camping and seeing what I can do.

late spring or early summer.

Sick ass jumps!!!!

HAHAHA, well...not so sick...and not so much "jumps" :D

Anyway, I told Chris to go down a ways and prep the video on the camera...and wait for something spectacular. :D
Here are a couple videos that we took of me on the snowboard. For the record, it's been 2 years, since I board...I'm just saying. What I love about snowboarding is the learning curve is so fast.

You're doing it wrong!!!!

You're doing it wrong......AGAIN!!!!!!

Finally, something right!


well, I can't usually get videos loaded directly to blogger...so I just put them on youtube.com. enjoy.

I think it's time I go snowboarding outside of Tahoe too. Got an invite to Salt Lake City, Utah. :D

Squaw Valley USA - check

So Saturday I clicked off something on my list. I've always wanted to snowboard at Squaw Valley USA, which was home to the 1960 Winter Olympics. There is some history here, right inside the Lake Tahoe region. I've actually hiked up the mountains at Squaw in the summer, a few years back when the Iguanas H3 came through and held a hash weekend at South Lake Tahoe. heh. Exxcess happened to be there too. One of the best Iguana Hashes ever. I managed to lay trail with Two Guys Fcking straight up the mountain at Heavenly...along the gondola path. 3,000 ft elevation change (from 5,900 ft to almost 9k feet elevation), was hungover, no sleep, carrying an alice pack with a 12 pack of Tecate, with 2.9 mile distance, just in the climb. We then made them run another 5 miles down the mountain. :D but that is another story for another time. It was awesome.

Anyway, I've always wanted to go here and snow board. Chris said they had night boarding, so we decided to make it up around 4pm and kill two birds with one stone. hours are 4pm to 9pm. Bought some tickets ($22.00) after standing in line forever. Called my buddy Alan, who is an instructor up here, and he met us, with beer in hand after he was done with work. hahaha perfect.

After getting squared away, we took the obligatory photos with the name in the back before going out and absolutely bansaiing down the mountain. I realized a little later that it's been 2 years since I was on the board. WAYYYY to long. And well worth getting back on it. Chris and I ready to go.
The only downside to night boarding on a weekend, was the large amount of people. half of them are just going to the top of the mountain to get dinner. Anyway, one gondola is running, and it only takes 86 people. so they pile you in like cattle into a waiting area, then they move you onto a giant elevator, then it goes to the second floor, then you pile out to a waiting area, as the gondola arrives, and unloads, you pile in and it takes about 10 min to the top of the mountain. Kind of lengthy and we were cooling off in the process. We grabbed some shots at the top.
Alan and myself.
We took the smaller lifts at the top, so as to not have to come down the mountain right away.

After making our run, and feeling good about it. We realized we'd missed the gondola, so Chris ran to the car for our beer, and Alan ran to the instructors locker room for his beer. haha so then we stood in line while everyone else envied us as we pounded beer before getting to the top of the mountain.
One last shot at the top.
We decided to go about half way down, and Alan said to pick a spot, and we'd pull over and finish the other beers. He managed to carry quite a few. Well, after attempting some sick ass jumps in front of the video camera, and failing miserably...hahahaha, he waited for us with beer on ice. :D
After brushing off the excess snow off myself, from eating it face first....(hence the helmet) we finished up the rest of the beers, sitting on the side of the mountain overlooking the valley lights below that are Squaw Valley USA. Very cool.

Two crappy shots I took with my phone camera. But that is the village below.This one is a little better. A little closer to the bottom. :)

Enjoy. I can't wait to get back up there to do some more snow boarding. Might head up a few days earlier than my sisters reception and go ride.

Snow shoeing....

Day after Xmas was a lazy day. Got up to some ham and eggs that the old carbon based maternal unit was making. Sipped on the coffee and we tried to figure what we'd do today. I got a hold of some old hasher friends of mine from the east bay, that now live in South Lake Tahoe. Exxcess and Lycktonite. Known them for quite some time.

After a leisurely morning, I was itching to get outside, and since they had been shoveling snow all day, they figured, snowboarding was out, but might be up for some snow shoeing. We decided to meet at the Mt. Rose ski resort bar at 2:30, after they opted out of any exercise. hahaha

so Chris and I headed up to the meadows.
Here is a photo of Chris and Eryka's new place. It was definitely a white Xmas.

I hate to say it, but Chris has turned me on to this new bud light (red beer), which comes with clamato juice. Which is my choice over tomato juice. Downed this on the way up to the meadows. Way I see it, alcohol in the blood stream tends to thin the blood, therefore allowing the easier transportation of Oxygen throughout the body. :D Well, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. Oh, and some new socks...as I'll be snowshoeing in my runners.
Hwy 431 up towards Mt. Rose Highway. Lot of douchebags without a clue as to how to drive in the snow and ice. oh well.
Chris out on the trails. Most were packed down a bit, so not to hard, but we decided to forge our own trails, so we were trekking through powder, sinking about 2-3 ft. Not bad, but a really good workout.
We managed to go out for about 1:15 and loop back around and got some killer views. Unfortunately the cold must have been draining the camera battery a lot faster, cause my camera died while on trail. boooo.
Just a few shots in the meadows.
Self portrait.
After we snowshoed, we still had to get back down to the ski resort. Met up with Exxcess and Lycktonite and had a few beers, as we caught up over a few hours. :)

Exxcess is a very cool dude. Descendant of Gunnar Kassen (who was the final dog sledder to take antibiotics to the town of Nome, Ak. back 1925) An event made even more famous many years later by the Iditarod race, which carries many of the same traditions of that event. While some controversy exists over who should deserve credit, I figure all the mushers that drove their dogs through the night relaying the medicine should be given credit for stopping the outbreak of Cholera in that town. Either way, Exxcess is top notch and I've hashed with him all over.
After we bugged out, we went back to Reno and decided sushi would be the fare of the evening. :D And in Reno, it's always "all you can eat sushi". While it might not sound very appealing...it's a gambling town, so they make sure that most places (you just have to know where to go) have the best food around. This smaller sushi restaurant was excellent. and at $21.00 each, Chris and I made about $140.00 worth of damage in sushi. hahahaha oy, I was full, and definitely the most I've eaten in quite a while at one sitting.
This also helped: "Free Sake"
yep, you heard it right...you also get free sake with your "all you can eat" sushi.


After dinner, we went over to Scrupples Bar to catch up with my sis and down a few beers, before heading back to the house. All in all a pretty cool day. Got to see some friends, and also snow shoed.

Also took care of some stuff that was pending, and hopefully today would be the last day of having to deal with any of it. In a good way. sigh.

Xmas weekend!

What a long weekend. Lots of good fun, and pics to come. Just uploading now. Off to work, and then will post tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great time this holiday season.

cheers

Xmas with the Battens.

The Xmas ham was awesome. Eggs with ham this morning even more awesome.
The kids tearing through their presents.

Cooper, in food coma, "I got loaded at the Xmas party, and all I got was this sweater!" hahaha

Eryka and Cooper

Well, we officially have a plan, we're meeting Exxcess and Lycktonite at the Mt. Rose ski resort bar at 1pm. Snowboarding and I'll bring the snowshoes just in case they're too beat from shoveling snow up in Tahoe.

If nothing else, the fall back plan is to drink at the bar. :D

Will be back with more. Hope everyone had a great Xmas and is spending it with family.

Stopped on IH-80. Actually, don't think I waited for more than 30 min. Just chatted on the phone.

Road dissapearing under the snow and ice. Cool thing is, that with chains, I could pass people on the right or wherever there was snow and ice, while they're doing 10 - 20mph.

My functioning cables. hahahaha actually, they were both working well here. But I like this photo. "Stay in his tracks son, stay in his tracks" :D

After the food coma set in for all of us, Cooper sleeping at my feet guarding his new Xmas gift "My toy!"

Then the kids went out to play. We started at the Bighorn bar, drank with a bunch of the locals, who were having snowball fights inside the bar. It helped that the bar owner was in on it, and flipping snowballs with the rest of them. hahaha fun shit. Then we hit the casinos.

(oops, need to edit the settings so the text is before the photos :D) Got on the road for another out of town trip for some fun. Headed out pretty early and drove up to Reno. With heavy predictions of snow, I can't wait to hit the slopes and some trails. :D

On top of all that, my mom will be in town, so we'll get a chance to catch up.

It was pretty miserable in San Francisco, raining very hard, which can only mean one thing...snow at elevation. Flippin' Awesome!!!

The drive was uneventful, got some hail in Sacramento...but just small stuff. A few miles up, in Colfax, the road signs were saying that IH-80 was closed due to zero visibility over the pass. WTF!? well, that sucks. Anyway, I just ignored the signs and kept driving. They update every hour, and sometimes, you just have to wait on the hwy till they reopen it.

At the chain control, they were exiting everyone...great!!! But as my luck is changing for the best...all around...as I got near the exit, they reopened the hwy. HELL YEAH!!! Cause man, I would have hated being the people who had to exit, as it was grid lock.

Made my way up the mtn, and it slowed as snow and ice were on the ground. Managed to go quite a ways without needing the cables on the tires. Finally near the top, I pulled over and threw the cables on, which was easier than I had imagined (haven't used them in over a year) and got going. Cruising along at 40mph was nice, passing all the other Californians who have no clue. haha

Took some photos on the way....

Near the end, somewhere near Verdi, I blew out one of my cables. So pulled over and removed it and just limped down off the ice till I hit Reno. Nothing major. Arrived around 2pm for an amazing Xmas meal of a slow cooked Honey Ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatos, and some sides and of course family to share it with.

Clean up

Sorry my friends. It's supposed to be a fresh start, and I'm not being good about it. So some clean up is done, and on on ! :)

Tomorrow, Xmas with the fam, then some boarding and see what's up.

Chillaxin'

Man, I must have been tired last night. The cheeseburgers were awesome home grilled. Some casserole to go with it, and Brandon brought over some brown shugga! I just love me the brown shugga. hahaha...as well as a nice 12 y/o scotch.

Actually a nice heavy beer from "Lagunitas" Brewery here in the bay area. They also sponsor the local Gypsies H3 group.

Had that while I sipped on a bit of 12 y/0 scotch, neat, and then we started watching a movie. I have to say, I didn't last long. Got some good snoozing in soon after. Slept like a baby nestled in the bossoms of a large breasted mother. Hahaha.

It's pretty cloudy today, so I think I'll head back up to SF and get some things done. Might work tonight, not sure. On call on Xmas eve = mucho mula!

hahaha, damn, dude...you hit the nail on the head!

Funny, sometimes you just have to give props to those that need props, and right now, my brother deserves props. For figuring out exactly why that shit happened. Thanks little bro, sometimes, you are smarter than me. And I'm old enough now to say it. ;) haha (mathematics, not my strong point)

but you're still a fattyhead! :P

My friends are going to be cooking in a bit, and I can't wait, I am hungry. Then we're watching some cool motorcycle documentary movies and races. Nothing like a lazy Tuesday before the holidays.

Time to move on. For the best. Whatever happens from here on out, I take with a grain of salt. I feel liberated, but still a bit sad about the enormity of it.

On a happier note, I'm off to a friends house for some afternoon fun and relaxation, and then will move in the rest of my stuff to the new place. :) Gonna throw in a 5 mile run today too, and maybe a few problems at the bouldering section of my climbing gym.

2 days and it's snowboarding time. I think my buddy Alan can get me into Squaw Valley ski resort. :D That will be cool, and I'll be sure to take loads of pictures.

welcome

Soooo, where did I leave off. Oh yea, it's been a tumultuous few months, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Oh well, this past Friday, I felt like I needed to get out of SF for a bit, to clear my head, so I drove up to Reno to visit my sister and her husband, Chris. I left in the morning, and did fairly good time, even though there was snow and ice on the road. Some slow going over the pass, but didn't have to put the chains on the truck. hahaha good thing as it was flipping cold.

Turns out it was perfect timing, as my sister and my brother in law are moving into a new house. I'll post photos later on. It's a cool two story, 3 bed, 3 bath, huge garage, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, Chris is on light duty, after an emergency appendectomy this past Wed. which he thought was food poisoning. Everything turned out good, and a lot of their friends showed up in trucks, and I think between 4 trucks and one trailer, we moved the entire house in two runs.

organized as best as possible, and then just enjoyed the company of my family.

It was great hanging out with my sister as it has been far to long.























Also got a chance to run into an old hashing friend, McTaco who was up for the weekend at his home in Reno. We bullshitted over some beers.

The next day, took some photos from the deck in my sisters main room. Pretty cool to see the sky red with clouds, figured though, that storm was coming.






So I bugged out earlier than expected and skipped the hot springs. Will do those next weekend as there is quite a bit planned for the holidays. :) I made it over Donner Pass pretty easily, and not too much snow, although it was coming down hard by the time I got up there. Enjoyed a nice peaceful evening in SF last night, after being invited over to the chinese neighbors house for some free home cooked food. flippin' awesome. Their little girl is super cute, and always run to the window, when I start my motorcycle and she hears it, just so she can wave hello. too funny.

At first she seemed scared of the big bad Mexican...hahaha, but it didn't take long for her to be friendly, and then bring me everything in the kitchen for me to eat. :D






















Well, so much to do today, and finally going to get some work done tonight. Headed off for the Holidays in a few days, and planning on getting some snowboarding in, and some snowshoeing, as well as a much deserved trip to Grover Hot Springs.

You have new Picture Mail!

More work! Staring @ the colors anticipating the fun!

You have new Picture Mail!

Trying again.

You have new Picture Mail!

What I'm thinking right now! :-D