Colombia, take 2.

The first day in Colombia, before the previous posting, we went down to the beach, and just got in some quick sites of the surrounding spots before going to dinner.

Sun setting on the coast, surfers coming in.

A shot of the city in the background.
Local vendor rolling down the beach.
hahahaha, ran into this site as we were coming off the beach. These guys give people rides around the city (tourists) for a nominal fee. It smelled like major booze around this guy, and he was passed out snoring. Hilarious.
Local carts that do a quick tour out to the old city. Them horses have seen better days.


Just a couple for now.

motoGP 2006 event pics.

So I was trying to catalog some photos and the ADD kicked in. and I started to go through photos from past racing events that I've been too, and found some really nice gems. :D

In no particular order. This is from the MotoGP races in 2006 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Ca.
this is the only road racing track in the general vicinity here, that I have not run my bike around. They require stock exhaust on all bikes, cause the uppitty, rich neighbors refuse the loud noise of the motorcycles...even though the raceway was here years before they started moving in. I think there is like 7 "noise days" allowed. This being one of those weekends.

Here is the Red Bull Mig 15 if I'm not mistaken (or maybe a 17) that came out for a short flyby and aerobatics display. From what I was gathering, it is the only actively flown private Mig in the USA, and there are very stringent rules in allowing it to fly around. (ie. flight time and location/routes of flight)

Here is myself and a bunch of friends, Linda, Brian and James (now in London) The race event usually needs a ton of volunteers, so they volunteered for corner worker duties, and I volunteered as medical personnel. Awesome, cause that vest is practically a vip pass to almost anywhere on the track. Got some great photos cause of it.
Valentino Rossi joking with the crash truck crew, after his engine blew up from overheating. It was super flipping hot this weekend. The crash truck crew were awesome, and crazy dudes in there having a blast. they would see how fast they could get this dually down the track and around the corner, and when they'd come down the front straight all the guys would be surfing in the bed of the truck, trying not to fall over.
Some of the greatest minds in racing. Jeremy Burgess (chief mechanic for Rossi), Valentino Rossi (motoGP world champion) and Mick Doohan (5 time motoGP champion).
Fabio and myself. :D For all the shit that this guy gets for his commercials and modeling...he is one cool motherfucker. I saw a documentary on this guy and at his mansion in Italy, he has a huge collection of motorcycles. He is an avid motorcyclist and when they toured the inside of his house, he had about 11 motorcycles sitting and parked in his kitchen. When asked, he said "I don't cook, so I store my motorcycles in here"
haha awesome.
A crazy, one-of, Ducati Monster bobber. pretty much the only thing that resembles a Monster is the frame, and the L-twin motor. It was pretty sick, and I'd rock it, but they want 12k for it now that they are trying to sell it.
Randy Mamola (ex-motoGP rider) taking people out for guest rides on the Ducati Desmosedici which was set up for guest riders. Here he is coming in for a stop, doing stoppies with the passenger on.

Linda wanted to go shower, and needed a ride to the shower location...but only having a solo seat bike, she had to sit on the tail light. precarious, as the whole tail is chopped off this bike (this is now my race bike :D )
At the time, a little known racer (well, not little known) but not very popular, and was in the last pit at the end of pit row. Chatted with him for a bit, real nice guy, from Australia. :D Yep, Casey Stoner, when he was riding for Honda, the year before going to Ducati and then becoming motoGP Champ in 2007.
A shot of me with King Kenny Roberts Sr. also motoGP champ back in '78, '79 and 1980.

One of the Kenny Roberts custom bikes that he was making and promoting at this race weekend. Pretty sick.

Spam Musubi

Yesterday I was hanging out with Linda and we were trying to decide what to make for lunch. She said she would make some rice (she's Chinese, so it's to be expected) hahaha, and so the lazy part of my brain went into action. I decided I'd make some spam musubi.

Busted out the SPAM (did you all know that the tiny island of GUAM, state of Hawaii and CNMI are the highest consumer of Spam per capita, amazing. Or better known as the "Hawaiian steak". Also in 2002 (7 years ago) the 6 billionth can of spam was sold. )

sliced her up, wrapped with rice in some seaweed...and voila.....tasty treat for lunch.

(now back to cataloging my Colombia photos)

Cartagena, Colombia, South America: Prt 1

A few months back, I spoke to my friend Alan, whom I went to school with many years ago, and he said that he was headed to Cartagena, Colombia to visit his extended family. He married a girl from Colombia, and they had a little boy who is now 1.5 years old. They wanted to take him down there to visit with the family and introduce him to them. He asked if I wanted to go, and it would give us time to catch up, have some fun, and I could explore a bit of Colombia for my eventual trip from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in a few years. Yes, I still plan on riding a Harley from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (northern most accessible location in Alaska) down to Tierra del Fuego, South America (Southern most accessible location in the Americas)

Anyway, back to it. I flew out to Miami first, and then met up with Alan and Emily on Friday and we flew to Cartagena. I do enjoy foreign countries so much as it's always an adventure and such a difference in what can and can't be done, compared to the USA. For instance, on the flight from Miami to Cartagena on Avianca Airlines which by the way is a really good airline. Brand new jet liner, state of the art, personal entertainment center on each chair, and the flight only half full. Being near the front, I was able to watch as two 1st class passengers talked their way into the pilots cabin. The male passenger had been chatting with the pilots before we took off, and then took his wife and they were in with the pilots for the last hour of flight, as well as the landing. A bit unnerving, mostly cause we're brainwashed here to think that anyone that goes to the cabin and tries to get in with the pilot is some kind of terrorist. Oh well, I figured it was mostly harmless, even though they were trying to hide that fact, when they pulled the curtain. haha

On arrival, and on the way to the hotel, there were all these scooter taxi guys running around. Nobody ties their helmet on, they just plop it over their head. and they haul ass, snaking in between cars everywhere.
From our hotel, we were less than half a block from the waterfront. So we bought a 12 pack of beer that night and went down to the beach to drink and catch up.
A long shutter exposure. It was nice and warm here, the Carribean breeze made it cold for many of the locals.
Went out later that night to the old city, or better known as "la ciudad amurallada". This was the original city, and was completely enclosed by the city wall to defend against invaders, pirates and such.

We came around a corner, and I saw this old lady sitting in the middle of the walkway. So I set my camera down, turned off the flash, and then put it on timer. this is the photo I got. I tipped her a few pesos for my effort.
Colombia, and much better, Cartagena are known for their music, and the Accordion is a huge part of that music and history/culture. which started in Valledupar (which is where Alan's wife is from) I gave one of the local musician dudes some pesos, and he let me pose with his accordion next to the statues. :D An annual musical festival is held in Valledupar where thousands of people from around the world converge for a huge festival. I think Bill Clinton was at the last one...we know how he likes the curvy women. haha

Emily's brother and I. Alan and Emily had been up since 2 am to make their flights so they were too tired to go out for some drinks. So we went out and checked out some bars and night scene. His girlfriend was taking the pics.

This was the first night. Cartagena is definitely a tourist city, as well as being one of the most important port cities in Colombia and the Carribean. Founded in the 1500's by the Spanish, the history and culture (and many countries which subsequently invaded, conquered and ruled) this part of Colombia, added so much to the flavor.
The naval museum would explain so much more. Off to work tonight, so I'll post more photos tomorrow.

it's your job! DO IT!!!

After my trip to Colombia, I came home on a Wednesday and went straight to work on Thursday. I figured best thing to do was to keep busy till I could sort all things out.

The issue of superstition in the medical field is long and well documented. While some may scoff at the idea of anything "out of the ordinary" happening, I can say from personal experience that, "full moon" nights in the E.R. were hellaciously bad and insane. Nurses also don't like to say "We're not busy" for fear that in the next few minutes all hell will break loose and the pouring in of patients will occur...but it happens. So with that, it seemed that Friday the 13th would be just another day of superstition and nothing more. Wrong.

Thursday the 12th started out pretty normal, but at 0100 on the 13th, our first kid coded. It was a long and drawn out process, very serious, along with having to do CPR on this girl after she went into V-Tach and we lost blood pressures. Somewhere in the process of doing CPR, something "let go" inside and must have released the build up of blood in the peri-cardial sac because the chest tube containers filled up with blood as fast as we could replace it in her body. We replaced 3 containers that hold near to 1 liter each. Needless to say, we were working our asses off. She had cardiac tamponade, which was determined after the CXRY was reviewed.

Surgery showed up, and decided she needed to go to the O.R., but how to tranfer her in this severely unstable condition? While they were discussing it, one of the doctors began to state what he needed and wanted as far as nursing personnel to go with him to take the patient to the O.R. I found it odd, and infuriating when one of the RN's stated to me, that she didn't want to have to walk all the way to the O.R. room (in essence not wanting to help out, cause she would have to walk over to the O.R.) WHAT. THE. FUCK!?!?!?! are you serious?

I must have given her a very dirty look, but when I spoke to her, I was very calm and simply said, you know what "she's dying, and seriously might not make it out of the O.R., and yet, you will get to go home in the morning as if nothing has happened. Why don't you just suck it up, do your job, and do the best that you can while here" I think it made me mad mostly because I had the passing of my grandfather so fresh in my head. More than that though, it's her fucking job....suck it up, if you don't like it, go do something else. She shut up most expeditiously and went and did it without complaint.

I think sometimes people forget that they are dealing with other peoples lives and lose that sense of respect and dedication they should have to doing the best job they can. It's professionalism...and moreso it's the right thing to do. So your vagina hurts...big fucking deal...suck it up, in a few hours, you'll be home in bed, resting comfortably, while this person might be dead. Grow the fuck up.

okay, that's my rant.

My Grandfather, the greatest man I'll ever know.

Arturo Gonzalez Barrera
August 4th, 1921 - March 7th, 2009

Probably the greatest man I have ever known and will ever know. My grandfather passed away on the 7th of March. He had lived a long and fruitful life with many ups and downs. He taught me a lot in his many years as a surrogate father to myself and my siblings. I appreciate every day that I was able to spend with him, and every conversation that I had with him. I will always hold him close to my heart. I'll take the subtle jokes and stern advice handed down to me over the years, and try to never forget them. The many anecdotes and life stories that he passed on, were the outpouring of a mans hard life, to go from a barefoot kid shining shoes in the town square, to the provider and well to do man that he was in the end. A brave, powerful and stoic man who stood on his feet, head high in the presence of any and all trials and tribulations.

He worked very hard throughout his life, and was not given the easy deal from his family many many decades ago. What did he do? He struck out and made his own fortune, providing and raising his own family and instilling that sense of independence that I love and use to this day. In the end, my grandfather succumbed to his illness and old age, but as he would have none of the sorrow felt for him, he stuck it out like a high brow aristocrat thumbing his nose at death and fighting as long as he could.

I spoke with him 2 days before he died, and I am very happy to have had that opportunity and am at peace with having been able to tell him how much I loved him and how grateful I was to him for all of his help throughout the years. I will miss him greatly. For now, it's time to visit my family and do whatever I need to do, to help them along.

sadly...

....Lots happening in the last week. will post up more soon. some not so fun or happy. but life moves on, and I'm glad that I have friends and family to support me, even if some don't agree with how I choose to live my life. Oh well, can't satisfy all of them.

A quick note:(I will expand on it later) My grandfather passed away last Saturday. He was in the hospital, and it seemed like another bout with Cancer that had been showing up and weakening him and that he'd get on his meds and be home soon. He was upbeat when I spoke to him on Thursday, yes, the day I flew out to Colombia. We were both at peace with each other and I find solace in that. A big part of the reason that I rode my motorcycle to Texas in October of 2008 is because I wanted all of those memories tied in with him, as well as the days that him and I spent together talking and getting to know more about each other. All of his wishes were followed as I'm told, and I know he is resting now, no more pain, no more hardship. Even in the end, he fought, as he truly was a great man. The greatest man that I have known. Rest in Peace Gramps, I will miss you greatly, and I will see you again.

Time has come for some changes and new directions in my life. All is well with that, as well as being debt free recently. Yep, debt free. Last few bits of payments are the regular stuff that go with every day living, but as far as the large credit card debt that I (foolishly) accumulated at a younger age, they are all gone!

I just got back home on Wednesday night. Wanted to be alone, and not really talk to anyone, but sent my communications to my mom and grandmother. I went to work Thursday and Friday. Hard days at work. We coded two of our kids and a third one was not doing to hot last night. Very busy and very trying nights at work what with the recent happenings in my family. We did our best, and the kids are still alive. I'll express more on that later.

I'm off today, and going to see a San Jose Sharks Hockey game that my roommates have invited me too, with some free tickets.

A simple statement to whomever listens, reads or cares to do it: If you have family, friends or significant others, take the time to tell them how much you love them, care for them, and are happy that they are in your life. I'm glad I changed that in the last few months and that I did that for my grandfather and towards my mom as well. You just never know which conversation could be the last one. (I know, getting a bit sentimental there) but fuck it, it's the way it is sometimes.

on on

Colombia

Well, I'm packed and ready to go. Early flight to Miami to spend the night there, and then meeting some friends tomorrow and we are all flying in to Cartagena together.

You can rent the movie "Romancing the Stone" and check out some of the sites in the city of Cartagena.

Looking forward to this trip and maybe finding some rock climbing or some good runs through a few portions of the jungle, without going too far off the beaten path.

:D

Will take loads of photos, and post up when I get back.

Hwy 1 (PCH)

We've been having rain around the bay area lately, so when the sun came out for a few days last week, we went for a quick ride up to Alice's restaurant on Skyline blvd and then down to the coast. Dave was out on his Triumph Street Triple, and Linda was pulling rear duty on her DR650. Alice's is a common spot for motorcyclists to stop at, along with hot rodds and all kinds of motor vehicled clubs. It's been around for a long time and we usually stop in for lunch while riding the hills. Here was a nice shot to all my friends who were working hard on this day, while I was out in the hills playing on the motorcycle in the sun. :D

Apparently a lot of people were playing hooky, as I've never seen this many motorcycles up here on a weekday at this time.

We rode down 84 to the coast, and then south on Hwy 1 to Pescadero rd. and stopped for a quick photo and to enjoy the location.
Dave, Linda and myself. I think Linda is standing inside a large hole.

Dave reflecting and wondering why he'd never ridden down to the coast when he lives right here in the bay area.
Linda making herself happy, I think. haha

On our way back to the house, we figured we'd take Dave down the front side of Hwy 9. Local favorite for motorcycle play time. Also it claims a lot of lives and metal with guys going too fast for the conditions on this road. It is fun as hell riding up and down it. This photo is at "four corners" another popular spot to meet up with friends and bullshit, while riding the motos in the hills.
Last shot of me on the coast. Fun as hell day.

Sun is out today, might go for a spin.

Pay attention Steph...

haha, this one is for you. I had been telling the roommates that I would cook some food up, and wasn't sure of what to make, but finally decided, some flautas would be a good start.

Nothing major, it's similar to enchiladas, but it's fried tortillas as opposed to baked.
What to start with:
1-rotisserie chicken
habanero peppers
Canola oil
Avocado
Canned Salsa Verde
Bush's best Pinto beans
Corn tortillas
Sour Cream
Queso Fresco
Garlic cloves (2)
I made the Green sauce first. Pretty quick recipe for some good sauce, and also can be a dipping sauce, or just eat it with some nacho chips or what not.

1-Avocado
2- cans of "salsa verde" (found in the Mexican food section)
2- cloves of garlic
1- habanero pepper (add more if you like it really spicy, but I got roomates)
1- big spoonful of sour cream.
(might have to add some water to this, maybe half a cup to loosen it up a bit)
chucked it all in the blender and liquefied it. Voila, green sauce, nice and thick, and ready to pour after being heated up.

Pulled all the meat off the chicken bones, and then chopped up a good cup's worth of chicken. (The left over chicken is great for chicken salad sandwiches)

Next, it's time to make the flautas. (flautas = flutes)
1-whole rotisserie chicken (overkill really, but plenty of meat for leftovers)
corn tortillas (I have an issue with this, as they always seem to break when being rolled, so you have to heat them up a bit first) as you can see from the one on the far left.

I bought some canola oil (don't use olive oil), so there wouldn't be an off taste to it.

After heating up the canola oil, and heating up the tortillas separately, you take some chicken, roll it up in a tortilla, and then put a toothpick through it, and keep it rolled up.
I made 5 of them, and then you place them in the hot canola oil, and watch them, turning them as the tortillas are fried into a crisp light brown color.

I usually pull them and put them on a paper towel to drain as much oil as possible, pull the toothpick, and you are done with the flautas.
For the best, and most authentic style refried beans (I got this from my grandma) without having to cook them from scratch, buy some Bush's best Pinto beans, throw them in the pan, heat them up to a boil, lower the heat to about a low to medium, and then use the potato masher to crush them.


For serving and presentation (as I'm told by my friend Va. that I must) , I took some real thin slices of iceberg lettuce, and laid it out on the plate, then placed the flautas on top of that, heated up the green sauce, and poured it on top of the flautas.
Refried beans on the side, and I added something I hadn't found in a long time, and that's "Queso Fresco" which I got at the local Carniceria (Mexican meat market) and you crumble some of it on top of the beans and also the green sauce.

a few things: I was very surprised at how well the green sauce turned out. No need to reduce it, as I thought I would have too. It was spicy. Very spicy, but perfect. Like I said, add more Habaneros to make it even better. I might even have to add a bit of water to loosen it up a bit more. Seemed really thick.

Enjoy.

Sequoia 50k - check

Just scored tickets to see Queensryche at the fillmore in June. :D awesome.

On Friday at 4:20pm tickets went on sale for Cypress Hill at the Fillmore, and I got 2. Concert is on 4/20 (April 20th, of course)

On another note, I'm sitting here sore as fuck, and loving it. Completed my first Ultra Marathon yesterday (albeit a wee one) but still...fuck yo marathon distance! hahahahaha

I'll write up a full story later, as I'm just chilling today.

Race started at 0830 yesterday.

distance: 50k (30miles)
Time: 8 hours 18 min (super slow, yes, I know)
Location: Oakland Hills
Elevation gain: 5,030ft
Place: DFL

The course was laid out decently with colored ribbon marking the course.
There were 4 races that day (50k, 30k, 20k and 10k) The 50k would run a 20k loop, with a 10k spur added to it (with a mondo drop into the valley and then a climb out), and then drop bags at the finish (30k into the race) and then we went out for a second 20k loop to complete the 50k.

I am torn about that. I kind of like the unknown factor of one giant loop out, and it can be demoralizing sometimes to know what you are about to get into, for a 2nd time with the same loop. Oh well, not too bad. Pushed it, and didn't stop moving forward. I think from now on, I will do these with friends, hashers and the likes. I'm glad to have done it solely on my own, but don't want it to be a chore. Would rather have fun with other hashers and shit.
Got lots of positive feedback on my hash shirt that said "Math is hard, drinking is easy" :D

I'm signed up for the Big Horns 50k, but will see about maybe a half marathon in Santa Cruz that is coming up in a month or so. Will go for a 1-2 mile walk tomorrow.

At the finish, the organizers were very cool, and my "coaster" had "First Ultramarathon" on it. hahaha cool
MMMMMMMMM, PBR at the finish. Always satisfying.

TXIH 2002 - Corpus Christi

2002 TXIH had one of my most memorable moments when about 0730 on Saturday morning I was awoken from my natural slumber (read= heavily hungover and probably still intoxicated state), fell out of my tent, due to a massive racket coming from Lily Von Shtoops Van with some band screaming out "I got erection" and came around the corner to see Lily drinking his tecate already, and joined in.

TXIH in 4 weeks. Can't wait.

I finally found out who sang the damn song that he had playing that day. I've been trying to find out for ever, cause it was hilarious. and it was , Turbonegro (Norwegian kings of rock'n'roll blending punk with glam metal and hard rock) who will be in concert here in SF shortly. :D

I hope Donnie is ready for this! :D
There will also be an "In & Out" experiment in full affect...we'll see what happens. be ready Donnie! haha

1 out of 2 ain't too bad..

Well, I was working on some tickets to tonights show at the fillmore and the two guys that were scalping the tickets flaked. fuckers. Oh well, I did score the other ticket that I was looking for recently. Found it on craigslist at the second tier pricing. :D Awesome, so I am officially going to Burning Man 2009. The ticket is pretty crazy..now to come up with some ideas, as this years theme is "EVOLUTION".

The other ticket was to see Blondie at the Fillmore, kinda bummed I missed it. I'm sure it would have been a cool show. Instead, I met up with some friends and hung out most of the day, and finished it up with a great dinner at the Hukilao...best hawaiian joint in SF (Geary and Masonic) with my friend Heather. Then some beers at the Pig & Whistle. Surprisingly warm ride home tonight.

Got a short run scheduled tomorrow, then take it easy and prepare for Saturday morning.

Sequoia 50k

4 days till the Sequoia 50k. Probably haven't trained near as hard as I should have. We'll see, I feel good, and just gonna run it at my pace. Setting a goal, and will try and break that time limit.

The course is pretty cool, and located in the Oakland Hills.

Also, hashers in the bay area are putting together a team to run the Reno/Tahoe Odyssey Trail.

I'm in for this, but actually want to run a few of the legs back to back. We'll see. Should be fun, and mostly want to do it to get myself out on the Tahoe trails. Since one of my goals for this year is to hike the Tahoe Rim trail (150 miles) over the course of 10 days. Mostly for fun, and some camping and out on trail by myself.

Need to shake the boredom of running, when running alone. Bleh. I think it's one of my major downfalls when trying to run.

On another note...Colombia, in 2 weeks. :D

Sun break...

Cool spot off skyline to chill.
Big blue off in the distance.

It's been raining off and on here for about a week. Everyone is crying and whining about it...sheesh, for fucks sake, you'd think it was a monsoon or something. It's just rain people. It hardly rains here, as a matter of fact, we were in a drought warning for some time before these small rains.

Anyway, the sun popped out, so my buddy Chris and I took the bikes out for some hooliganism up in the hills. Hit Skyline road, going up Woodside to Alice's for some lunch and then catching the sun as it dropped down with some beers and stuff.

Finishing up day 4 of 4 now, at work.