October 8, 2007 on 5:47 pm | In cabernet sauvignon, wine making | No Comments
Yesterday, Dan and Kasey invited Meghan and I over to help them make a batch of Cabernet Sauvignon. They told us to wear “grubby” clothes because it would be messy. We started with 332 pounds of grapes in two 55 gallon trash bins. The grapes already had their skins broken in order to let the juice get a red coloring by marinating in the skins. We pressed all the grapes and strained the juice to make about 22-23 gallons. Kasey said the batch will be ready in a year or so. I can’t wait!
October 2, 2007 on 8:31 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 Comment
This last weekend Meghan and I when on an overnight backpack trip to Sykes hot springs in Big Sur. It was a 10 mile trek each way. The total elevation gained and lost was 2380 feet and 1490 feet respectively. We were both extremely tired after the two day affair. The hot springs at 100 deg F felt great after hiking 10 miles. We actually got one all to ourselves which we heard was not likely because it’s such a popular destination. We were lucky to get a camp site as most of the sites were taken when we got there.
May 15, 2007 on 6:12 pm | In Uncategorized | 4 Comments
The weekend before last I competed in the olympic distance triathlon course at Wildflower. This was my second triathlon but first olympic distance. The experience was amazing. The challenge, excitment, and competitive atmosphere all added up to a great weekend. Meghan and I camped out with the medical team for two nights. They are a fun AND loud group.
I ended up placing 20th out of 57 people in the 20-24 year old age group. I finished in 2:55:21 and my goal was to beat 3 hours. The triathlon consisted of the following events in order:
1. 1.5K Swim
2. 40K Bike
3. 10K Run
In the photo above is me and Andy (the competition in my age group).
April 4, 2007 on 9:23 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments
March was a month of firsts. My first triathlon and first public mustache. The triathlon was amazing. The mustache…not so much.
February 25, 2007 on 10:11 am | In sierra summit, snowboarding | No Comments
The first time riding Sierra Summit mountain (or as most affectionately refer to it as “Sierra Slumit”) I vowed never to go there again. The snow was hard and icy where there was coverage. Lines were long. The lift operators noticeably dislike their jobs. In short, all signs point to “go somewhere else” but Sierra Summit is the closest resort to SLO so what can you do.
Well, I gave it another shot yesterday because there was two feet of fresh snow from the storm on Thursday. Ben and Andrea invited me for a day trip and it ended up being a blast. I was able to ride through powder for the first time this season and it was sweet! The new Burton Malolo board I bought at the beginning of the season is working out great. It floats and cuts through the powder with little effort required.
Sierra Summit can be good and worth the trip….if there is fresh snow.
February 18, 2007 on 5:05 pm | In ball python, feeding, rat, snake | No Comments
Eric’s ball python slurping down a rat. Watching this never seems to get old. Mmm, mmm, good.
February 18, 2007 on 5:02 pm | In Cinder, cat, water | 1 Comment
Our cat Cinder is very much like a plant because we water her almost daily.
February 18, 2007 on 3:24 pm | In taxes | No Comments
Almost a month in the making and I have finally completed my taxes. I started a few weeks ago and have been waiting for all the tax forms to come in. This was my first year preparing my own tax return and I must say it’s more intimidating than it really is. TurboTax made it so easy to do…the only hard part is figuring out what to do with the refund.
February 3, 2007 on 10:23 pm | In movie review | No Comments
Meghan and I watched Pan’s Labyrinth a few days ago at the Palm theater in SLO and I was impressed. All I had to go by before seeing it was a recommendation from a friend and a disturbing photo of a monster who’s eye balls were in it’s hands on the front page of the New Times. The movie takes place in Spain during their civil war about 60 years ago so it is in Spanish with subtitles. The subtitles were easy to follow and didn’t distract from the movie. On a whole the film is well done and extremely entertaining. An interesting fact is that some of the special effects were done by a local SLO company called Cafe FX. I won’t give any plot away but I will say that you should see it.
January 21, 2007 on 2:52 pm | In baby, plane | 1 Comment
The flight from Jackson, Wy to Denver was late but luckily our connecting flight was delayed so no problem. Our bags however did not make the flight so we had to wait at LAX for the next flight from Denver to arrive. Mike and I ended up making the drive back to SLO arriving at about 1am…what a long day.
On the flight from Denver to LAX I had my first experience sitting next to a fully energized two year old. My initial feeling was pure fear when the mother apologized to me as I sat down. I think this is every flyer’s worst nightmare because it means that you have a 0.01% chance of reading/sleeping/relaxing until you exit the plane because two year olds have a seemingly endless amount of energy. But, it actually turned out to be a cool experience. I just happened to be reading a chapter in the book “Freakonomics” about what makes a good parent (no, the book is not about parenting it just happened to be the topic of a chapter). That chapter led to an interesting conversation with the mom about parenting and I learned a quite a bit from her experiences. I have never considered myself to be good with kids but playing with her son was surprisingly fun. Maybe kids are alright after all?
Most importantly I reassured myself that making the best of a situation is loads better than being angry and cynical about it.
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