ChrisL

Yeah school administrators... I had a blow out once with my son's 3rd grade teacher. She kept insisting we put our son on meds as he was "outside the box". He was on a daily report where she would give us feedback as to his behavior. After a while the forms just came back satisfactory so we thought the issue was resolved. She then demanded an immediate meeting to review his behavior, that it hadn't changed, in fact got worse yada yada... During the meeting I said you really surprised us as your daily reports state his behavior is satisfactory. "Well it's not". Me: So why did you report that it is? Do you mean to tell me that you have been lying to us all this time or was his behavior really satisfactory and you are lying to us now??? The teacher became enraged at my comment and the principle actually had to tell her to calm down and that I was correct. Her reports indicated everything was fine. We never got a single progress report the rest of the year and for all I know my kid was a terror in her class every day. As a side note we never put our kid on meds, he was actually tested for GATE and put in a GATE class the following year and he suddenly became a model student...

Busy weekend planned for us. Working a softball tournament tomorrow followed by an Alumni baseball game (all part of same event). So a long day ahead of us. House chores & hopefully I can get a ride in on Sunday but I have a crapton of work to get caught up on...

The past 4 days I had numerous meetings scheduled through out Southern CA. I've been spending 5-7 hours daily in my car running from meeting to meeting. Often times my commute to the meeting was 2X longer than the actual meeting. As I was getting ready to head out to yet another meeting my client texted me stating he was sick.... Whew one less drive in SoCal traffic! It's been a pretty rough week for me, 7 hours on the freeway doesn't excuse me from all of the e-mails and other deadlines so it's been at the computer by 5 AM, work until 8 AM, out the door, back at 4 PM, work until 8 PM... I had a VP give me grief about a missed deadline yesterday and states that he travels between 4 states. I told him do you fly or drive? Fly... Do you do work on the flight? Yes... I can't do work when sitting in LA traffic for 4 hours... Oh good point.

This, we've given away numerous old bikes and equipment to those getting started. Computers I tend to give to electronic recycling places.

Hawks are so cool. When I was in boot camp some pigeons made a nest outside our barracks window. I was buffing the floors and out of my peripheral vision saw a flash and looked to find momma pigeon gone amid a puff of feathers. I looked down on the ground and the hawk was putting the death squeeze on it before flying away. Two if my favorite encounters was when I was on a baseball field late in the day. The kids were done and we were cleaning up. I was talking to the coach and facing the outfield and was mesmerized by a hawk circling several hundred yards away and maybe 200' in the air. I then watched it break from orbit, swooped down to about 4' off the ground and crossed the outfield, 1st base foul area and snatched a bunny that was eating grass about 30 yards from the baseball field and fly away. It was soo cool. Another time I was float tubing in the eastern sierra's and was watching a bald eagle flying by, it then swooped down and snatched a trout out of the water maybe 25 yards from me!!! That was cool too!

Living in SoCal we have avocado trees everywhere and they are readily available year round. But I'm like you, the taste is meh and if I eat too much of it i get an upset stomach. I know it's good fat but they are too rich for my stomach to handle.

We've been in the midst of a winter heat wave in Southern CA. It was 94 yesterday, supposed to be the same today.... Good news is there is a chance of rain Wed into Thurs with cooler temps.

My nearest PB was a Supergo. I loved that place and still have a jersey with a Supergo logo on it. I read somewhere that Jenson USA is owned by the former Supergo owner.

My wife is the straight man in our comedy routine. She gets my sense of humor and puts up with my BS but she's not one to yank one's chain or tell jokes or such. We have a good ying/yang that way.

Man that's a lot of stuff for $104. Performance must have been having quiet the sale!

Oh good point, I loved the science behind the cooking that Alton Brown brought. Good Eats, a very good show.

Rachel Ray get's on my nerves as well. I liked Mario Batali and Giada as I'm a big fan of Italian cooking and like them not so much for the entertainment value but to watch cooking styles and to get ideas. I used to love the original Iron Chef shows too. When they are under pressure to get the dish prepared in an hour the skill of the chef's really comes out. Guys like Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray and Emeril are more Food Personalities and I'm sure are good chef's but watching Iron Chef Sakai work a knife or Chen Kenichi stir fry under pressure was just fascinating to watch. Their skill was phenomenal.

When my son was around 3 years old I was watching TV and flipped on Giada to see what she was cooking. I didn't really care for what she was making so changed the channel and didn't realize my son was absolutely mesmerized by her. He about had a tizzy so I put it back on and he stood there just staring at her, it was hilarious. She's attractive for sure and I do enjoy her shows as I like her style of cooking but I liked Molto Mario and his orange Crocks better!

Isn't a Scion just a rebranded Toyota? I don't see where killing off the name/brand would be an issue if the service & warranty is covered by Toyota.

If you have read the book you get a better appreciation for what their time on the base (forgot the name now) and how dealing with Capt. Sobel helped shaped the NCO's and officers of the company. It's hard to encapsulate that in a 60 minute episode and they did do a good job of it in the series but it reads better than it shows.

Yeah a few more than I care to remember. Both my parents died at home. My mom died literally 20 minutes after I left her bedside. As a cop I saw a few and had one die on me as I was trying to stem an arterial bleed. I had another die on me while we were doing CPR. Been to the morgue a couple of times as well. I'd be fine if I never saw another deceased person.

That happens to me frequently as well. I go slow and adapt to what they are doing. I have an Incredibell that walkers & hikers really appreciate. I think they like the sound of the bell rather than someone shouting out at them. I like to do a warm up on a loop on a trail that is heavily traveled (Peters Canyon). Since I'm warming up I usually am going fairly slowly anyway. I often talk to people who shoot left or panic when I approach. In a very friendly way I tell them that we are used to passing them on their left so just stay to the right or just stop and we'll move around you. Most seem to appreciate that. What gets on my nerves are the packs of women on a mission to get their walk on. They fit a certain profile, white, middle aged, well to do and on a mission. They take the whole path often times walking 3 & 4 abreast and don't even think they will make room for a bike. One time on this Peters Canyon Loop I literally came to a stop as I would have hit 1 or 2 of them as they refused to budge. I stood there on the right of the trail and asked if they would be considerate enough to make room for another trail user. 3 completely ignored me, one shouted, WE ARE WALKING HERE!!!! Oh excuse the hell out of me I guess this is your trail. F'ing whatever was her response and they brushed by me. Every other trail user I come across is either considerate or clueless which is OK with me, I can live with that. Just don't freaking act like you own the trail.

Noticing on our walks that many of the trees are in bloom and the birds are singing and carrying on. Weather has been summer like and it sure feels like spring has sprung on SoCal. I sure hope we get some of that El Nino rain the weather heads have been promising but most of it his falling in Northern CA. We may still get a wet Feb & March, we'll see...

Riding her bike hopefully...

I had a rare office day so was able to charge our light batteries and my wife and I hit the road around 6:30 PM and rode about 20 miles on a local MUP in the dark. It was really cool to find 3 police officers patrolling the MUP on those stand up ride on 3 wheeler things. I gave them a thumbs up and a nod and they waved back.

Another convert over from the LF.

I really can't stomach grilled cheese sandwiches. I think the butter & cheese is just too much for my stomach to handle. My son loves them though, we usually have American Singles in the fridge for this purpose. He just puts 2-3 slices of cheese between the bread and melts a bunch of butter in a pan, fries up one side, plops more butter in the pan, fries up the other side and chows down. PP's sandwich does sound good though, except for the dry bread.

The bike looks really clean but it is probably 20 years old and $475 seems high. I'd spend around $250 - $300 on that bike, only because it looks like it was well maintained or not ridden much.

I really wish they weren't so dang expensive as i think you guys (gravel riders) would really appreciate them. I have a bunch of family that lives on the east coast so two years ago for Christmas I asked them all to get me a gift card to Colorado Cyclist who carries Niner products and bought it that way. I'd be hard pressed to plunk down $200 on a post, I get the reservation but the technology works.