Cold as ice...

On the 5 minute drive home tonight...yes, that's right..I drove to work yesterday. Mostly cause I got up late, but also cause it was freaking cold.

This morning it was 26 degrees F. and as I got onto the interstate, I noticed on the opposing lane, 2 motorcycle cops had cars pulled over. HAHAHAHA

Damn, now that's hard core. Bet the cars had no idea or didn't even look for moto cops, thinking they wouldn't be out in that cold. Oh well, there is such a thing as "heated gear" to make the ride more comfortable. Unfortunately I don't have any here. haha

chelada x1 done.
time for bed. :D

#

224 lbs. Heh. Interesting.

1 of 4 down, back to work tonight. Apparently it's supposed to snow today. HAHAHAHAHA in Austin. While it is not impossible (as it's happened before) I doubt it will, as they're already predicting sunny weather in the 60's tomorrow, Saturday. If it does, I am taking the back roads. Last thing I want to do is drive around with a bunch of yokels who don't know how to drive in snow, let alone rain. :D

flying high

Just booked two more flights for work to SF in the month of Dec. Gonna be a lot of running around at the end of this month. It was a busy past 2 weeks, but got a good day of rest (not really) in SF, on Tuesday and managed to fly back on Wed. I have to say that the Stanford Women's soccer team did nothing to encourage anyone to think how smart students from that college are. hahahaha

no idea how to board a plane...even southwest, which has dumbed it down so much.
no idea how to follow instructions from flight attendants...reminded me of the Italians, when I was overseas. hahaha
but a few were cute, so no biggie, right?

back to work tonight for 4 nights...got some time off next week, and think I'm going to try and hit the Corpus Christi Bay Area Larrikins H3 run on Thursday the 10th of Dec. Otherwise it's work, sleep, work, sleep.

Working Xmas here in Austin, and New Years at Stanford. oh the joy. :D

I think I may have found the spot in Baja where I'm going to ride to, maybe solo, when this job contract is done, and just lay in a hammock, next to the ocean, with unlimited beer, tacos, ocean, and whales swimming just off shore on the Sea of Cortez. :D

off to find some breakfast.

Brownie:

Next event....is in 2010

Bandera 50k is out (work related), Brownie, it is a 100k but they also have a 50k.

Catalina 50 miler is out (work again)

but this, BIGFOOT race, looks to be a go, with a bunch of hashers. :D Looking to sign up for the 25k.
It will be right after my work contract is done in Austin, and I'll finish this, and fly back to Houston perhaps and do the Brass Monkey H3 inaugaral hash with those reTArds from the Kimchi. :D

Now, to find a better set of snow shoes and boots. Ideas?

on a side note, on day 2 of 4 at Stanford. Not to bad, but some misguided planning on my part for my schedule will probably have me flying back to SF in 2 weeks, after working 6 nights in a row in Austin. work work work, happy that I have it, so not bitching. :D

The money is okay too. hahahaha :D

Holiday travel.

back in SF after an interesting day of travel.

Started off with little sleep, called the cab company in Austin, and go the oldest cab driver I've ever seen. hahahaha we tooled around, but still made it to the airport on time. (I swear, I'm going to start showing up 20 min before my flights), since there seems to be no reason to show up any earlier in Austin.

Flight out was uneventful, with a change of planes in Vegas. Flew out at sunset, and dropped into the bay area right at sundown. It was interesting, as I'm watching the Pacific Ocean, and the lights get brighter below, to see another airline jet flying next to us, off in the distance. Yet, it seemed to track closer and closer to us, in a parallel manner...we had an angle that was causing this it seemed.

I'm thinking, hmmmm, did the pilots see this other jet....this shouldn't be normal, should it?

Just as I'm gonna hit the call button and say something to the flight attendant, our jet banks up sharply and throttles up. hahahaa guess they saw it after all.

I could see the passengers in the windows of the adjacent airplane.

Captain comes on a minute later, with a calm explanation, saying that they normally approach two planes at the same time, parallel to each other, onto parallel runways, but that in this case our distance was just a bit inside the "legality standards" (his words) and they called our number to go around. Me thinks, someone fucked up, and they caught it in time. Otherwise why would you say that they do this all the time, but somehow today it wasn't "legal"?

It amazes me at how much people in general will not speak up, for fear of embarassment or overreacting. As quite a few people just stared out the window and never said anything, till we banked up and went around.

at the airport, waiting for my ride, I saw some mom (speaking a foreign language) have a meltdown with her child and beat her some, cause the kid just wated to go pee. hahaha
kinda sucks. from the gestures, the kids crossed legs, the amount of times they both said "pee pee", I think the mom told her to pee in her pants, and was frustrated cause she had a bunch of baggage with her.

the joys of holiday travel. For me, it was easy. Not a lot of people travel on the actual holiday.

Back to work now for the next four days.

One day off...

...choices....hmmm, which to do. Not sure. I'll catch some zz's, and hit the Austin H3 for some running, or I could go ride out to Lockhart for some ribs and then out to Roundtop for some of the best Pecan Pie around.

and tonight, Lovejoys...for a little bday celebration. A few friends from work, and whomever else...either way, I'm cabbing it home and expect to have a hangover in the morning. haha

Party time!!

Not sure why so many co-workers complain or let themselves be stressed out by our job. It's like a party everytime I go to work. Where else can you do fun medical stuff, stay up all night, hopped up on caffeine, sugar and adrenalin, and bullshit and play pranks on co-workers? :D

Knocking out 11 nights of work in 13 nights isn't bad this way.

Lovejoys tomorrow night, bday celebration.

hash is at 1pm, if I get up in time, I'll run with them. Looks like a decent park, trail run.

San Antonio pick up hash run tonight...

..rounding out a trip to the Valley to see my family, and got lucky enough to be here when my nephew was born on Monday.

Leisurely day to drive up to San Antonio, then back to the grind of working as much as possible.

Catalina 50miler? decisions decisions.

The Tank!!!!

Gavin Aleksander de Pena, 8.5 lbs, born November 16th, 2009...my new nephew. :D
Aaarrrrrrrrrrrrr, why ye be looking at mee?
hahahaha

The kid is hilarious, all went well, and now I have a new nephew to spoil. :D

done!

Just finished up a run of 10 work nights in 13 days....including a roundtrip flight to SF to work my job in Ca. :D

some breakfast tacos, and a chelada seemed like the thing to do this morning. Austin H3 this afternoon, and then I think I'll roll down to the Valley and visit my family.

fun with windows...

..about midnight, we had two kids walk in bleeding everywhere....they wheeled one back in the wheelchair, and we rush him into the trauma bay, find our positions and get to work on him.....after pulling off the bandages, we found the source of the majority of the bleeding, three 6-7 inch gashes along the right neck. Nice one, kid, you really went all out in getting these.

Him and his brother were wrestling in the house and went through a plate glass window. Luckily, none of the blood from the neck was spurting out, so he was lucky...otherwise, he might have bled to death before he got to us.

Bet they'll think twice about horsing around at home again.

It was some good excitement, and an impressive wound.

This morning the pediatric E.R. nurses went out for drinks at Katz, and ran into the adult E.R. nurses who were there drinking too....hilarity ensued. hahahahaha

Texas is the only state, that I've worked in, where the hospital staff would get together after work in the mornings for booze, beer and breakfast.

Veteran's Day ride!

I'd been wanting to ride out to Luckenbach, Tx. for a while now, and being back in Austin temporarily seemed perfect. Luckenbach was established in 1849 as a trading post. Being Veterans day, I figured it would be a great ride, and Knave (Rob) had time off so he swung by the house and off we went.

It was late in the day, as I had passed out in the morning, after a lot of hours working, I needed a few more zzz's. We rode west on hwy 290, not the most scenic, but still nice and traffic free west of Dripping Springs. Knave was keeping up on his clapped out (hahaha) HD sportster.

We had gotten an email from RC about meeting up with us, as she's in Dripping Springs, so we were either going to meet her on the road, or at Luckenbach. It happened we passed DS before she got there.

a few shots once we got there.

A shot of Knave with our bikes, and then Cherry rolled up and we hung out for a while. Had a drink and a sloppy joe before rolling back to Austin, since it's (M)S.S.'s bday tonight and we're supposed to go out.

The trash has been here. LOL Saw this Carolina Trash H3 sticker on the wall at Luckenbach. So cool, and those guys are hilarious and shittons of fun to hang out with.

This was hilarious...I figured it to be a "parking spot" for your guitar cases. hahaha There was a couple guys picking away at their g'tars. Next pic, is Cherry and myself under the post office sign.

Later that night, we met up with Slut Slinger and we all had drinks after hitting up the Austin H3 mismanagement elections party. A few overly fancy drinks at Pashe and then some burgers at "El Camino Real" (as seen on Dive's, Diner's and Drive Inn's) and passed out from a long day of fun.

waiting

waiting on F.U. Knave to show up so we can go ride our motorcycles to Luckenbach, Texas. :D

Pics to follow.

Looking forward to a nice ride out, on this sunny Veterans Day!! Honor all of our Vets today, by showing them respect and remembering their contribution to this great Nation.

Old School Badass

Just a sick photo that I thought I'd share with you guys. Saw it over on this blog, The Vintangent, that I follow. A cool blog that follows and catalogs Motorcycle History.

T-minus...

the countdown is on, to the end of this 4 day stretch of work at LPCH (palo alto). Flying back to Austin tomorrow, through LAX, god do I hope we don't change planes. hahahaha

I hate LAX. It's been a great weekend here, trying to catch up with friends, and getting some errands done.

Got the racebike running and in straight order, thanks to Shawn who came over and worked on the bike. Had a fabulous dinner at the Cliffhouse with my friend Lindsay.

Sunday, made brunch with Emm and a few of her friends for her bday.

Sleep, maybe I'll sleep on the plane tomorrow. hahaha and (M)SS 's birthday is on Wednesday, so I have a feeling we'll get in some trouble.

random thought about work...

...I was on the flight to SF yesterday, and stopped to think about that 56 y/o gentleman that came into the pediatric E.R., having a heart attack. Funny how things never turn out or seem to go the way we want them sometime...analyzing or just thinking about the entire ocurrence, it was interesting to note that nothing went the way we wanted it too. It usually doesn't.

Standard practice with a chest painer...well... lets see....oxygen, heart monitor, EKG, IV...x2 if possible, medication for pain (to help dilate the vessels and prevent an infarct somewhere), blood work, etc...

first problem: no IV access...and I don't mean we didn't see anything, it was that and the fact that he'd been stripped of some crucial veins for his last heart attack. : great! a couple sticks later, and one of the girls got a 22gauge IV in his hand.
After thinking about it...I thought to myself, maybe this was the best location for him to end up in....a Pediatric E.R. where we specialize in hitting small veins on babies. Lucky for him.
2nd problem, he couldn't take nitro pills (pretty standard for chest pain) shit.
3rd problem...Morphine is a good alternative, it helps with the pain, and also dilates the vessels....he tells us he has a bad reaction to it. well, shit!
Dilaudid it is.

The doc who took care of him, also works at the adult E.R., 2nd plus for him.
EMS arrived in short order, and I couldn't help but mutter under my breath a good luck to him, as I thought of my grandfather, and thinking this guy is alone in this city and his family is not here. I just wanted him to make it so that his family could see him before anything drastic happened. We transferred him out expeditiously to the adult e.r.

that is all.

day off...

...well, just one. haha

I worked the last 3 nights in the e.r. peaked when night before last, we had a 56 y/o male walk into the peds E.R. having a heart attack. nice. hilarity ensued, we worked him up and transferred him out.

I am really enjoying being back in the e.r. Chaos, movement, excitement, and fun to be had with the staff.

Last night, we got rid of all but 2 patients in the 44 bed e.r. and had canoe races....one stretcher, 3 staff on each one, crutches are the paddles. LOL massive hilarity ensued, lots of cheating and loads of fun. hahaha

Got slammed the last hour at work, with 10 kids coming in, and only 2 of us nurses. not bad though, always make the time go by super fast.

I fly to SF today and back to work (4 in a row) as of tomorrow.

Going to have dinner with a friend tonight. :)

Camaro = mullet?

So this is how I want my car to look like. :) current project restoration is in affect. Proper ph0tos of the build coming soon.

Found this shot on the internet. Funny, that's the color I picked, and I definitely want the hood cut for the air scoop to show. although, I'd prefer it to not be so tall. we'll see.

and the wheels, have to be black for me.

Gogol Bordello....at Lovejoys!!!

hahaha, so I went to the Gogol concert at Stubbs, in Austin. It was huge and packed, so I was near the back. No biggie, great music, and could see well. Had a few beers...and was thinking of going to Lovejoys after for some beers, and ran into a co-worker of mine.

At the end of the show, after the 2nd encour, Eugene comes on stage and says, "we are going to a local bar, who have allowed us to come in and fuck some shit up...you may know it...it's called lovejoys"

HOLY SHIT!!! I'm watching the crowd start moving towards the door. :D

So I rode my bike over (the 2 blocks) and got in to Lovejoys before the crowd mobbed the place and the doors shut down due to capacity issues.

(read, 2k plus at Stubbs, only 100 people capacity at Lovejoys, maybe less)

They played more music, sang and drank shit tons for hours after the show.

Epic doesn't even begin to describe it. I'll just say it one more time, this is my favorite bar: LOVEJOYS!!!! Austin, Texas.

The funniest part was a few hipster fags and some lesbians who were all bent out of shape cause lots of people were jumping up and down and bumping into them. What the hell did they think this was, a fucking Disney show...it's Gypsy Punk bitches...get over it. hahahaha eventually, after all kinds of yelling and shit, they got tossed to the back. hahahaha

Definitely my kind of rowdy. I have got to go to another show now. :D

Missed the hash run....

...for a really good reason. Got a text message last night that my Grandmother and Aunt were driving through Austin today, and would like to hang out for lunch. Well worth the reason to miss the hash. They rolled in and I took them to Freebirds. LOL They loved it actually, especially my grandmother. I drove them around for a while through Austin, showing them around a bit, before they had to continue on to Tyler, Tx.

I hadn't seen my grandmother since October, 08, when my sister got married in Tyler, Tx. and the last time I saw my grandfather alive (r.i.p.) So it was really cool to hang out, laugh and chat with my grandmother.

We stopped by the spiderhouse afterwards for some coffee before they rolled out. :)

After they rolled out, I headed to the hash end in Pease Park.

A day out in Austin.

So I had a few days off in Austin, and yesterday being so sunny and nice out, I decided to go out and get some photos in the city. I rode through the U.T.-University campus for a shot of one of the two more famous landmarks, which are the UT-clocktower, 1935,which has some macabre history to it, (read up on Charles Joseph Whitman) and the other is the Texas State Capitol building, which is similiar to the National one in D.C., only it's about 15 ft taller. :D hahaha always bigger in Texas. LOL
U.T. was founded in 1836, and the clock tower was erected over the main building in 1935. It was closed for 23 years starting in 1975, after Charles Whitman went on a killing spree, and snipered 14 people, eventually dying at the hands of police who stormed the tower top.

I rode by Lovejoy's to see what time they opened, and cause I wanted a beer....:( not till 4pm. But I did see this clapped out Ducati out front. Gnarly rat bike, too cool.

After a nice ride for a few hours, I stopped at Mt. Bonnel to get a quick view of the city, took a couple photos and then meandered through the city





.

Eventually, I ended up at Lovejoys, after a couple hashers said they'd meet up there. Saw these really cool bikes out front, and after talking to the bartender, found out they belong to them. A chopped and custom old BMW airhead (ABC) with the side jugs, and a killer looking 750 Norton Commando.

After that we ended up at Mean Eyed Cats for a few beers, and then some chicken wings...."you can't drink all day, unless you start in the morning"
;)

just passing through...

hahaha, so I'm bored, had a few minutes while the rain is coming down in sheets....found some photos that I thought were really killer....

That last shot of the hot rod pickup, is my favorite. I've always wanted a mid '40's pick up truck, or tow truck to convert into a badass little hot rodd, like the green one above.

Currently working on a 1967 Camaro, with a built motor, and custom paint job, etc......photos to come. That linked picture looks very simliar to the ideas I have for the car. The paint scheme is the same too. I really like that white, with the red racing stripes.

Candlestick Park, SF.....check.

I've been catching up on so many trips, events and adventures, and will be posting up more photos soon.

I went to catch a live NFL football game last month with some co-workers. It was the SF 49er's vs Seattle Seahawks at Candlestick Park....and seeing as how it is a historic sporting venue, and I only live 2 miles from this place, I had to come check it out. Not only that, but there is talk of building the new 49'er stadium and this one might be demolished.

Had loads of fun, with what little sleep (2 hours) I'd had, since I worked the night before, and then we tailgated right up until kick off. It was super hot, and next time, I know what seats to buy, so that the afternoon sun is covered by the stadium walls for some shade. Basically, across from where we were sitting. LOL

c...c....c...c.....coff....coff....

Coffee!!! Must have coffee! If the weather is decent today, I think I'll roll out to Luckenbach, Tx for a looksee. :D

Texas BBQ

I'm definitely hooked...as I just rode 56 miles round trip over to Lockhart, for some lunch. :D A pound of brisket, and a full rack of ribs with some delicious sides to go, threw them in the messenger bag and raced back to Austin.

It's 28.5 miles door to door to Smitty's (best damned bbq), in Lockhart.

I foresee more runs in the near future...hahaha now, if we could just get Chris' Harley running, I could convince him to go with me. :D

New Orleans!!! or bust!

Friday, October 23rd, 2009: Shake down run for the new wHip. Or as I like to call it "Parrandiando con la otra mujer" ;) la mujer siendo la negrita que esta en la primera photo.

Here are some photos of the trip I took this last weekend. Since I bought the bike on Friday, and had the weekend off, I figured why not make a run out to New Orleans to visit some hasher friends. P.S. Knave and Spread'em.

Starting mileage, 16,018

After getting home and throwing a bag together, I decided to roll out and get some lunch in Lockhart, Tx. Home to some of the best barbecue in the world. hahahaha I love these small town courthouses....they are elaborate and historic in nature, as well as unique each town you visit. (M)SS told me to go to Smitty's bbq as it was one of the best.

Below is a photo of the bike in front of the courthouse, and then the old entrance to Smitty's.

I have to agree, that BBQ was unbelieavably good. The brisket was beyond tender and juicy, with just enough fat to add flavor.....I think this is the first time that I have eaten BBQ without adding any bbq sauce...because it didn't need it.

the fires on either side of the smokers, providing the heat for the slow cooking meat.

photo below, is where I pulled over on the side of the road to put on my sweatshirt...it started to get chilly

After a good lunch, I hit the back roads to 290 and then east to Houston...it was pretty late in the day, so I decided to go as far as Houston only....The Woodlands to be exact. :D After arriving around 6pm, and some cool riding, and watching the screen on my bike go to a light tone of blue.....I got together with DTR and his brother and we went out for food at some sushi place.

a final shot of DTR his brother and a friend of theirs...before I called it a night. hahaha

The next day (Saturday) I was going to book it to N.O. Knowing that my friend Virginia was in New Iberia for a high school reunion...I called her, and told her I was in Lafayette, La. on one of my fuel stops. She said to wait there, and was only 23 miles away...hahahha awesome. so we decided to go and get some food, and being that that is one of the reasons I was out here, I was game. Off to Poche's on Breaux Bridge for some authentic cracklin' and Boudain. Damn good stuff. From there we rolled to her sisters house and we made plans for the following day for lunch with them, since they were cooking up a storm the following day and watching the undefeated New Orleans Saint's (5-0) wtf?! hahahaha

After a while, I rode out to N.O., being only 45 miles away...since Knave and Spread were waiting for me. I arrived to a sunset sky, that looked like it was on fire, with blazing orange clouds.. Pretty spectacular as I haven't been to the south in a long time, and haven't been through the storms we're going through right now. I love it, and miss the heavy downpours a lot. So after getting ready, we headed out to a H3 benefit for some charitable organization. We just showed up for the free beer. LOL

Photo in the middle, is Kelly, Ryun and Myself. (Spread'em, P.S. Knave)

We had a good time, and it was at a funky Art Gallery (can't remember the name) but they had some creepy shit on the wall (although I liked a few of them :D) So knave and I went about impersonating the art pieces...and got spread, in on the action.

I can't remember that short ladies name, but she is a hasher, her dad was a horse jockey....and she was hilariously hammered. After a while we got bored, and the festivities were wrapping up, so we went out to a bar for some beer, where Knave and I serenated each other on a fabuloussssssssly sequined/bedazzled piano. LOLOL that last song was for Brownie. Then we needed to get all kinds of photos with weird shit across the city. So with beers in tow, we stopped by these eye statues. Pretty cool shit. And then Knave said we should scale a wall and go see this huge metal statue, and he convince Spread to go in first so I'd go too...hahahaha we got the above photo...again, I'm pointing at what Brownie likes the most. Cack!!

Then we found this head that's semi covered in bushes. climbed all over that, and then off for some Beniegts at Cafe du Mond!! Where Knave showed me how to eat them.....basically you put as much powdered sugar on them as you can. Goddam, were they good!!!!

I think I took that picture of Kelly to show how huge the guy sitting behind her was. hahahaha, I think it kinda scared her when he plopped down. :D

Above is a picture of Jackson square with some time delay shutter speed. Then I took a picture of this ginormous Clarinet on the side of the Holiday Inn. hahaha
We ended up in the quarter, and hoped around to some bars. Apparently police horses can take a piss wherever the hell they want. LOL We were at another bar, and a zombie kickball team came out and attacked Kelly on the sidewalk. ahahahaha, Then Knave convinced her that it was a good idea to climb up on the art piece for a photo. I happen to agree. Cool ass photos and a hilariously good time with these guys.

Being that we've been drinking pretty good, and it's now near 2am, it's time for food. Knave asked what I'd been wanting, and I said, on my list was a Fried Oyster Po'Boy....so off we go in search of a place that is open...and some other locals point us to Verti's Market on Royal St. That's me and Knave up there ordering food, ate the whole damned sandwich. so good.

P.S. Knave says, "how can I be drunk when my eyes are still open!! "LOL

The next morning, Kelly made us breakfast and I needed to head out.

Sunday morning:

This morning I had plans to cross Lake Ponchatrain north of New Orleans, and ride on the longest bridge in the world.....The Ponchatrain Causeway...

Here are a few self photos of myself riding across. It's crazy to be out in the middle of the lake, and nothing but water, and this one way road. If a crash happens out here, it can get backed up for hours upon hours. With this ride across the Causeway, I get to cross it off my list of things to do.

I got across the Ponchatrain and hooked a left on IH-12 and headed to Baton Rouge to meet up with Virginia again since they were in the middle of cooking up and watching the game, and that means....home made gumbo, and jambalaya and other southern treats.

after a long lunch, I rode off into the sunset......and got hit with food coma bad....hahahaha, so I had to pull over and get a Monster Energy drink before I ran into a car or something.

I was getting close to Houston, and the sun was about gone (photo below) .....I'm now racing to make it to Austin for the Tragically Hip concert that my buddy invited me to, and I have a ticket for.

Funny, this was a really good photo that I took on my camera phone...and it really defines how the night was going to be. It got dark quick, and IH-10 is dark and lonely. hahaha After riding through some heavy and fast Houston traffic (feels like an all out assault of adrenaline and gasoline as I twisted the throttle and skirted cars at near a buck through the city center), outside the city I linked up with some fast movers, and we cruised at about 85-90. I was running really late, and had almost resigned myself to not making the concert, and after turning on Hwy 183 north, it was really late. I figured I was out for the concert.....so I rolled into the house, and txtd Marcus. I get an immediate text back, "they're still playing, get down here", I look at Chris, and say "I'm outta here" hahahahaha, I made it down to La Zona Rosa and saw a whole hour of the show...they played for 3 hours, including the encore. Holy shit, that is a long time to play.

Some parting shots of myself, with Heather and Marcus before they headed home at 1am. Also a shot of Gord, lead singer for the Tragically Hip.

one last addendum, I heard today from Marcus, that they had a blow out on the way home in the middle of the night, and he's in a parking lot, changing the tire, when the sprinkler system along the side turned on, and water is cascading down on him as he lays under the mini-van trying to take out the tire. HAHAHAHAHAHAHALOLHAHAHAHAHAHA and Heather, who was "done" earlier...I think was of no help. :D

end miles: 17,192 (total of 1,174)