pbh4
10.31.2005
Halloween VB in the Park!
A little Halloween Volleyball never hurt anyone...
Reference http://rpwacc.blogspot.com/2005/10/halloween-ball.html for more pictures.
Chucky brought out some garb and strawberry shortcake showed up!
How in the heck could you not have fun? ¶ 5:58 PM 0 comments
A little Halloween Volleyball never hurt anyone...
Reference http://rpwacc.blogspot.com/2005/10/halloween-ball.html for more pictures.
Chucky brought out some garb and strawberry shortcake showed up!
How in the heck could you not have fun? ¶ 5:58 PM 0 comments
10.29.2005
10.26.2005
is there anything left to learn?
Is there ever a point when you think you know everything? Sometimes I may think I know a lot, but it's at those times I know I'm not challenging myself enough or that things I'd like to accomplish have been placed on the back burner... It's not that there is something that always has to be done, of course there always is. And sometimes a good sit on the couch or a nap feels great. And other times I ask myself if I'm pushing hard enough. Questioning and digging deeper... The relationships in our life are definitely more important than what we can ever accomplish, because what can be better than sharing something with those close? I will periodically ask myself a couple part question to make sure my outlook on things is clear:
- If money were not an issue would I still be doing what I am doing today?
- Why am I doing what I'm doing today?
- What is important?
- How can I give and grow with those around me and in this world?
- What are things available to me that I'd like to learn about?
-- snow survival -- telemark skiing -- navagaion -- sailing -- kite surfing -- hang gliding -- surfing -- skydiving -- photography -- climbing -- languages -- arts -- scuba -- kayaking -- wood working -- metal working -- dancing -- martial arts -- bike maintanence -- music -- video -- gardening
just a small list of a few things to think about. What else envokes thought? Many things taught and learned in school
-- biology -- geology -- physics -- literature -- pyscology -- chemistry -- electronics -- mechanics -- the list goes on...
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ¶ 3:01 PM 1 comments
- If money were not an issue would I still be doing what I am doing today?
- Why am I doing what I'm doing today?
- What is important?
- How can I give and grow with those around me and in this world?
- What are things available to me that I'd like to learn about?
-- snow survival -- telemark skiing -- navagaion -- sailing -- kite surfing -- hang gliding -- surfing -- skydiving -- photography -- climbing -- languages -- arts -- scuba -- kayaking -- wood working -- metal working -- dancing -- martial arts -- bike maintanence -- music -- video -- gardening
just a small list of a few things to think about. What else envokes thought? Many things taught and learned in school
-- biology -- geology -- physics -- literature -- pyscology -- chemistry -- electronics -- mechanics -- the list goes on...
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ¶ 3:01 PM 1 comments
10.24.2005
if you've ever wanted to sleep in my bed while I've been away...
Here's the time to do it. I finally got some hard dates from work as to when I'll be out working on the joint repairs to one of the discharge lines from our plant. so come visit me in the middle of nowhere or come by the house, trev and tyler will be happy to hang out with you. anyway, hopefully i'll have some trips home on the weekends...going to need to get some skiing in sometime... ¶ 5:24 PM 0 comments
Here's the time to do it. I finally got some hard dates from work as to when I'll be out working on the joint repairs to one of the discharge lines from our plant. so come visit me in the middle of nowhere or come by the house, trev and tyler will be happy to hang out with you. anyway, hopefully i'll have some trips home on the weekends...going to need to get some skiing in sometime... ¶ 5:24 PM 0 comments
10.23.2005
wakeboarding, back again?!
Kev happy to be on the glass!
Talky got back from his stint in New Orleans and was ready to get back behind the boat and give it a go again. Kev and I happily abliged and were ready for the chilly waters!! I went over to don's house to get the boat set up and back in the water. since we hadn't been using it, the battery had drained and the boat subsequently would not start. Don did have a charger handy, but that just wasn't quite doing the trick. So we were scratching our heads trying to figure out if something else had changed in the meantime. I thought I should bring my car over and see if that would give us enough juice to get the boat started. luckily for us that worked at starting the boat, now the real test was to come, if we could start her up in the water and have enough working power to start up again and again. Well we decided to bring along my battery to supplement any power concerns. We dropped in and after a little fiddling got the boat started up. We thought 'why in the heck should we even turn the boat off since we got it going?' so we let the boat run the whole time the 3 of us took 2 runs each. after that though, i know the alternator charged that battery up, because it would start right up after that. I got in 2 solid runs, maybe falling once or twice (meaning I wasn't pushing real hard, but having a good time). The water was glass, and hardly any boats were out. Only one real mishap on the day in my mind: we were heading into the sun down the curved stretch of the river where the best water normally is. i pulled out and then came across and cleared the wake. no sooner did i land did i realize there was a boat coming straight at us fairly quickly. I stood up a prepared to cut hard to get out of the way, but realized it probably wasn't necessary. The sucker missed me by maybe 3'. i was not happy, not only are you supposed to go 5 mph when you are anywhere near another boat, he was just a dummy. after that the day was just glorious. Why can't the water be that calm in the summer when it's nice and warm?
Kev happy to be on the glass!
Talky got back from his stint in New Orleans and was ready to get back behind the boat and give it a go again. Kev and I happily abliged and were ready for the chilly waters!! I went over to don's house to get the boat set up and back in the water. since we hadn't been using it, the battery had drained and the boat subsequently would not start. Don did have a charger handy, but that just wasn't quite doing the trick. So we were scratching our heads trying to figure out if something else had changed in the meantime. I thought I should bring my car over and see if that would give us enough juice to get the boat started. luckily for us that worked at starting the boat, now the real test was to come, if we could start her up in the water and have enough working power to start up again and again. Well we decided to bring along my battery to supplement any power concerns. We dropped in and after a little fiddling got the boat started up. We thought 'why in the heck should we even turn the boat off since we got it going?' so we let the boat run the whole time the 3 of us took 2 runs each. after that though, i know the alternator charged that battery up, because it would start right up after that. I got in 2 solid runs, maybe falling once or twice (meaning I wasn't pushing real hard, but having a good time). The water was glass, and hardly any boats were out. Only one real mishap on the day in my mind: we were heading into the sun down the curved stretch of the river where the best water normally is. i pulled out and then came across and cleared the wake. no sooner did i land did i realize there was a boat coming straight at us fairly quickly. I stood up a prepared to cut hard to get out of the way, but realized it probably wasn't necessary. The sucker missed me by maybe 3'. i was not happy, not only are you supposed to go 5 mph when you are anywhere near another boat, he was just a dummy. after that the day was just glorious. Why can't the water be that calm in the summer when it's nice and warm?
Labels: recreation, wakeboard
¶ 5:30 PM 0 comments
10.16.2005
The Relay and how I became The Blue Ox
This is basically a draft but I thought I'd leave this up, it may get changed and more pictures added hopefully (my camera was on the fritz so only got a few shots, hopefully I'll get some more shots from the folks running) (also this is a crapload of verbage, believe me, feel free not to read all of it...) This is what you do when you are sore and just feel like sitting, typing on the computer that is...
Results -- We finished 42nd out of 238 w/ an average pace of 7:52 min/mi, pretty solid!!
-- reference previous post The Relay --
I had no idea what to expect going into this run, except that it would entail running (duh!) Basically a team is comprised of 12 people, each having to run 3 separate legs to complete 199 miles. The team is split into 2 vans of 6 members each (ie van 1 runs legs 1-6 then van 2 runs legs 7-12 and so on until the end). In van 2 (the van I was in) was (in order of running) Ian, Kev, John*, me, Aaron*, and Janine* (* denotes met at this event), also in our van was Ian's brother Shawn* who ran along with: Ian in his first & second leg and Janine in her first leg (that btw is a pretty studly effort in my book). We definitely had a pretty amazingly fun van, between the maddison brothers and my & john's extraordinary odifying gifts, we all were a good match for a weekend of running together.
Although I definitely see how reality tv works for instant drama. You throw a few different personality types into together, don't give them any sleep and then put them under some sort of assumed pressure and volia! a winning combination! good thing for us we all got along great and were very encouraging. Ah good memories:
- team push-ups, sleeping in the van, watching ian and shawn battle with brotherly love, the rocky iv soundtrack, easy like sunday morning, missing turns, dancing at the golden gate bridge, ian and kris snipping at each other.
we were sad we weren't able to meet up with the alio's at the end of the race, but still very glad that we could be running for them and their daughters.
also, while we were a little male heavy in van 2, van 1 had a bit more female influence. in order of appearance: marlene*, denise*, mb*, roger*, kris* and dave* (i'm sure i spelled some of those names wrong too...). i'm sure they probably had some more worthwhile conversations about relationships and outfits, but we probably had better topics of discussion on flatulence and rocky iv....
this run was by far the most senic total run i've ever done. you can't beat going thru the wine county, the rolling hills and valleys, over the golden gate bridge, along the sf beach front, thru the hills to santa cruz, and into santa cruz. you've just got to love CA!!
only pic i have of me from my camera...what a suprise...
-- Leg 10 - 8.9mi - Very Hard -- Start time ~5:30p
- time ~ 1hr 10mins ~8:00 min/mi pace -
So before the relay, just thinking about running leg 10 definitely made me realize I should be running religiously and practicing more mountainous terrain than say, sacramento if I was planning on completing that stage. What happened? Well, hopefully you haven't looked at my posted workout log/cartoony thingees because I only show running 3 times in the month and week prior, and the only time before that that I ran to run was June 10! Although I do have a crapload of biking and some soccer and other activities...but it's not quite the same. And so I realized dramatically after doing the relay. I took the warm up to the beginning of the hill at a half way decent pace and then grunted my way thru the ups. Made it w/o walking, so i was happy about that at least. I passed one guy on the hill that was walking then jogging, but also caught a glimpse of another guy walking/jogging ahead of me as well. I kept seeing him for a second and then he would turn a corner. I finally saw him at the crest of the hill and then he disappeared going down hill. I saw him again when we got on real roads and made it my goal to pass him. I was closing the gap pretty well and then heard ian yell out 'You got him ox, go pass him!' so that was it, i had to get on my horse and leave him in the dust. I kicked it up a gear and went past and finished the leg. Pretty tough leg, was tired, but still felt pretty good afterward and glad I only had 2 more stages left... I found out afterwards that I was named 'the blue ox' by our team members because apparently I liked blue (I did wear my superman shorts, my blue socks, blue trimmed shoes, the blue headband, and blue shirt, you just got to do it sometimes!!!) and I was a workhorse that could take the beating...so for the rest of the weekend you could hear GO-OX-GO!!!
shawn chasing ian on Leg 7, kev getting water from shawn on Leg 8
-- Leg 22 - 4.2mi - Easy -- Start time ~ 4a (brutal!)
- time ~33min - 8:00 min/mi pace
I was pretty well out of it by this time of the night, been up for quite a while, had a good hard run under my belt already, and it's chilly outside and my body was yelling to go to bed! What i thought was supposed to be my easiest leg turned out to feel like one of the most difficult! It was all rolling hills, couldn't see anything because it was the middle of the night, my muscles were heavy and sluggish, kind of crapped out. I made it thru and sweat in a chilly van for the next 2 hrs before taking a shower!
john driving on our second set of legs, kev finished with Leg 20
-- Leg 34 - 6.2 - Very Hard -- Start time ~ 11a
- time ~46min - 7:30 min/mi pace
I started this leg off with some stiff muscles and figured i'd let them warm up a bit before trying anything too crazy. I passed one guy right off and then spotted a running chick up in the distance. I just kept my own pace pretty much and she stayed about the same distance ahead as well. I started warming up and got pretty close and kept thinking about passing and making sure to set my own pace. I just watched the pony tail for a while and kept thinking about passing. finally after about mile 2 I knew it was time, i passed by her and then another guy and then another 1 or 2 others. at mile 4 the hill started and i just put my head down and tried to maintain the same pace. hey the faster i go i thought the faster i finish. I got about 400yds to the finish and i see another guy ahead of me walking, so I know I've got to pass him as well. I get up to him and pass and then he starts right back up and says 'you're going to have to earn it'. so i think to myself, 'great, dang it, i was ready to finish all easy and stuff, but noooo'. so of course, high gear comes back in and we sprint to the finish. he gave a good push, but my overdrive took over. I'm glad he pushed me a bit, made me finish strong. a short while later the running chick comes in and says she kept waiting for me to bonk so she could pass but it never happened (luckily for me I think =) )
This is basically a draft but I thought I'd leave this up, it may get changed and more pictures added hopefully (my camera was on the fritz so only got a few shots, hopefully I'll get some more shots from the folks running) (also this is a crapload of verbage, believe me, feel free not to read all of it...) This is what you do when you are sore and just feel like sitting, typing on the computer that is...
Results -- We finished 42nd out of 238 w/ an average pace of 7:52 min/mi, pretty solid!!
-- reference previous post The Relay --
I had no idea what to expect going into this run, except that it would entail running (duh!) Basically a team is comprised of 12 people, each having to run 3 separate legs to complete 199 miles. The team is split into 2 vans of 6 members each (ie van 1 runs legs 1-6 then van 2 runs legs 7-12 and so on until the end). In van 2 (the van I was in) was (in order of running) Ian, Kev, John*, me, Aaron*, and Janine* (* denotes met at this event), also in our van was Ian's brother Shawn* who ran along with: Ian in his first & second leg and Janine in her first leg (that btw is a pretty studly effort in my book). We definitely had a pretty amazingly fun van, between the maddison brothers and my & john's extraordinary odifying gifts, we all were a good match for a weekend of running together.
Although I definitely see how reality tv works for instant drama. You throw a few different personality types into together, don't give them any sleep and then put them under some sort of assumed pressure and volia! a winning combination! good thing for us we all got along great and were very encouraging. Ah good memories:
- team push-ups, sleeping in the van, watching ian and shawn battle with brotherly love, the rocky iv soundtrack, easy like sunday morning, missing turns, dancing at the golden gate bridge, ian and kris snipping at each other.
we were sad we weren't able to meet up with the alio's at the end of the race, but still very glad that we could be running for them and their daughters.
also, while we were a little male heavy in van 2, van 1 had a bit more female influence. in order of appearance: marlene*, denise*, mb*, roger*, kris* and dave* (i'm sure i spelled some of those names wrong too...). i'm sure they probably had some more worthwhile conversations about relationships and outfits, but we probably had better topics of discussion on flatulence and rocky iv....
this run was by far the most senic total run i've ever done. you can't beat going thru the wine county, the rolling hills and valleys, over the golden gate bridge, along the sf beach front, thru the hills to santa cruz, and into santa cruz. you've just got to love CA!!
only pic i have of me from my camera...what a suprise...
-- Leg 10 - 8.9mi - Very Hard -- Start time ~5:30p
- time ~ 1hr 10mins ~8:00 min/mi pace -
So before the relay, just thinking about running leg 10 definitely made me realize I should be running religiously and practicing more mountainous terrain than say, sacramento if I was planning on completing that stage. What happened? Well, hopefully you haven't looked at my posted workout log/cartoony thingees because I only show running 3 times in the month and week prior, and the only time before that that I ran to run was June 10! Although I do have a crapload of biking and some soccer and other activities...but it's not quite the same. And so I realized dramatically after doing the relay. I took the warm up to the beginning of the hill at a half way decent pace and then grunted my way thru the ups. Made it w/o walking, so i was happy about that at least. I passed one guy on the hill that was walking then jogging, but also caught a glimpse of another guy walking/jogging ahead of me as well. I kept seeing him for a second and then he would turn a corner. I finally saw him at the crest of the hill and then he disappeared going down hill. I saw him again when we got on real roads and made it my goal to pass him. I was closing the gap pretty well and then heard ian yell out 'You got him ox, go pass him!' so that was it, i had to get on my horse and leave him in the dust. I kicked it up a gear and went past and finished the leg. Pretty tough leg, was tired, but still felt pretty good afterward and glad I only had 2 more stages left... I found out afterwards that I was named 'the blue ox' by our team members because apparently I liked blue (I did wear my superman shorts, my blue socks, blue trimmed shoes, the blue headband, and blue shirt, you just got to do it sometimes!!!) and I was a workhorse that could take the beating...so for the rest of the weekend you could hear GO-OX-GO!!!
shawn chasing ian on Leg 7, kev getting water from shawn on Leg 8
-- Leg 22 - 4.2mi - Easy -- Start time ~ 4a (brutal!)
- time ~33min - 8:00 min/mi pace
I was pretty well out of it by this time of the night, been up for quite a while, had a good hard run under my belt already, and it's chilly outside and my body was yelling to go to bed! What i thought was supposed to be my easiest leg turned out to feel like one of the most difficult! It was all rolling hills, couldn't see anything because it was the middle of the night, my muscles were heavy and sluggish, kind of crapped out. I made it thru and sweat in a chilly van for the next 2 hrs before taking a shower!
john driving on our second set of legs, kev finished with Leg 20
-- Leg 34 - 6.2 - Very Hard -- Start time ~ 11a
- time ~46min - 7:30 min/mi pace
I started this leg off with some stiff muscles and figured i'd let them warm up a bit before trying anything too crazy. I passed one guy right off and then spotted a running chick up in the distance. I just kept my own pace pretty much and she stayed about the same distance ahead as well. I started warming up and got pretty close and kept thinking about passing and making sure to set my own pace. I just watched the pony tail for a while and kept thinking about passing. finally after about mile 2 I knew it was time, i passed by her and then another guy and then another 1 or 2 others. at mile 4 the hill started and i just put my head down and tried to maintain the same pace. hey the faster i go i thought the faster i finish. I got about 400yds to the finish and i see another guy ahead of me walking, so I know I've got to pass him as well. I get up to him and pass and then he starts right back up and says 'you're going to have to earn it'. so i think to myself, 'great, dang it, i was ready to finish all easy and stuff, but noooo'. so of course, high gear comes back in and we sprint to the finish. he gave a good push, but my overdrive took over. I'm glad he pushed me a bit, made me finish strong. a short while later the running chick comes in and says she kept waiting for me to bonk so she could pass but it never happened (luckily for me I think =) )
Labels: the relay
¶ 5:07 PM 0 comments
10.08.2005
local vb tourney
jimmy, from lunchtime vb and work, got a lot of flack from a whole bunch of folks that kept pestering him to set up a reverse coed vb tournament. basically his vb friends like competition and playing with fun people, so jimmy got some good players together and just like that we had a fun tough tourney. He had 9 women and 8 men. So I played one game to 15 (rally scoring) with each of the women against the other teams. At the end, the highest scoring (+/-) man was paired with the second highest scoring (+/-) woman and vice versa for the finals. I made it in and my partner Debbie (she was a rockstar) and I seemed to have a little more left in the tanks at the end of an 8 game day and ended up winning the finals and receiving a $10 gift card to starbucks (which she purchased to give out for the finals...(a little foreshadowing you say...hmmm)) so I gave my card away since I never go to starbucks, go figure. =)
¶ 8:51 PM 0 comments
jimmy, from lunchtime vb and work, got a lot of flack from a whole bunch of folks that kept pestering him to set up a reverse coed vb tournament. basically his vb friends like competition and playing with fun people, so jimmy got some good players together and just like that we had a fun tough tourney. He had 9 women and 8 men. So I played one game to 15 (rally scoring) with each of the women against the other teams. At the end, the highest scoring (+/-) man was paired with the second highest scoring (+/-) woman and vice versa for the finals. I made it in and my partner Debbie (she was a rockstar) and I seemed to have a little more left in the tanks at the end of an 8 game day and ended up winning the finals and receiving a $10 gift card to starbucks (which she purchased to give out for the finals...(a little foreshadowing you say...hmmm)) so I gave my card away since I never go to starbucks, go figure. =)
¶ 8:51 PM 0 comments
10.06.2005
PPPP
Pearblosom Pumping Plant Pipeline
So it sounds like I'll be heading down to work on a pipeline project here soon. The pipes running from our powerplant are 9' in diameter so no small indevor indeed. I'm guessing they'll send me down in early november for ~14 wks, but we'll see if i ever get any hard dates. should be lots o work and fairly interesting. i'll write some more later when i know some more specifics...
General views of the area I'll be in.
Some background on the plant I'll be working on.
How that plant compares to others in our project in the area. ¶ 5:41 PM 0 comments
So it sounds like I'll be heading down to work on a pipeline project here soon. The pipes running from our powerplant are 9' in diameter so no small indevor indeed. I'm guessing they'll send me down in early november for ~14 wks, but we'll see if i ever get any hard dates. should be lots o work and fairly interesting. i'll write some more later when i know some more specifics...
General views of the area I'll be in.
Some background on the plant I'll be working on.
How that plant compares to others in our project in the area. ¶ 5:41 PM 0 comments
10.02.2005
hiking - auburn
Nancy rallied the troops and got 7 of us to head up and do a quick hike in auburn. Here's a link to the route we basically took. We did not turn it into a loop however, a fun short hike to get our appetite ready for burgers at ikeda's in auburn!
map to location
¶ 2:08 PM 0 comments
map to location
¶ 2:08 PM 0 comments
10.01.2005
davis to sonoma ride
kev and i finally decided to try out the ride from davis to sonoma. it was a little tougher than i thought it would be but good overall. i got to see the first section of my first leg that i will be running for the relay coming up in a week and a half, so that was a plus. the realization though...it's going to be a tough one. check out the profiles below of the route. if anyone knows how to designate a route on google maps (rather than having it asign one for you) or how to get a profile, let me know. =)
There is some beautiful country in between, we go through lake berryessa area, and then through the wine country. the toughest part of the ride was through oakville grade, that hill kicked my butt. 60 mi in and then we go straight up without relent for quite a while. and then straight down on curvy roads, with hands smashed on the brakes. still a good ride!
Stats:
distance: 79.4 mi
riding time: 5:45 min
start time: 9:30a
finish time: 4:30p
There is some beautiful country in between, we go through lake berryessa area, and then through the wine country. the toughest part of the ride was through oakville grade, that hill kicked my butt. 60 mi in and then we go straight up without relent for quite a while. and then straight down on curvy roads, with hands smashed on the brakes. still a good ride!
Stats:
distance: 79.4 mi
riding time: 5:45 min
start time: 9:30a
finish time: 4:30p
Labels: cycling, rides, training
¶ 6:20 PM 0 comments
