Are you kidding me?

As I sit here finishing up my lunch, listening to Rush, and pondering
the weekend - I checked out the weather to see what it was going to be
like. Growing up and living most of my life in Buffalo, I stop and
say, "are you kidding me?". Isn't is the end of January? The weather
here never gets old.

Excuse any fomatting and spelling errors from here on out. I found out
how easy it is to make mobile posts to the blog. It's awesome, but of
course not without its shortcomings.

Benton Interrupted...

At long last here are is a picture and quick video of Benton playing at Angeles National Forest from several weeks ago. First the camera was "misplaced" than we didn't have a card reader to transfer the photos. Whew, thank goodness that is over and I can sleep again at night.
Anywho. Here.

Do you think he likes the snow? The answer is yes. Our little mountain dog loves the snow.

Inov8

We think we found the perfect pair of trail runners for Nicole. They
are by the same UK based company as mine, Inov8. These are the Roclite
282's. They will get their inauguration day on Sunday. Trail report to
follow...

The King, no not Elvis...

His birthday was actually Thursday, but many people have Monday off to recognize and celebrate the life of this amazing man.

In other news, Nicole and I went to our local REI Adventure store to check out some trail running shoes for her. I am fortunate to have dialed in my brand and models. Inov8 Roclite 315's of which I have gone through at least 7 or 8 pairs between the Appalachian Trail, and various other section/day hikes. Trail running for distances under 20 miles or so at a time my favorites are the Roclite 295's.

We didn't find the perfect shoes for Nicole yet, but the current front running brand is Salomon. Any suggestions from the readers?

Oh and the photo to the left? It was taken in REI. The significance for those who don't know, we met on a flight to Costa Rica. The rest as they say, is history.

My parting advice to all of you computer users out there...back up your data! External hard drives are cheap, but having a backup of your digital photos, documents, and music is priceless. Even if you only do it once a month or so, it is extremely important if you care about your files.

And with that I say...later.

We spotted the ocean, at the head of the trail...

Santa Barbara's own Toad the Wet Spocket. Oh yeah, 1991, back in style.



Of course nothing tops hearing Justin and Bill play and sing this as well as many, many other songs down by the Niagara River, at Rooney's in Fredonia, 109 Chautauqua, etc. Good stuff.

Nicole and I enjoyed take out Thai food from down the street yesterday to celebrate her safe return to CA. We ate delicious food as she told me about her fun adventures back in MA. I swear it tastes much better than it looks in this photo.

Before this weekend we'll look into getting Nicole a proper pair of trail runners. This is critical since she is going to do an 18k mountain run in late March. Her brother Jeremy got her a pair of sweet running shades too. Maybe she will model them for everyone in a future post.

And that, as they say, is that.

"stars of track and field we are..." B&S

I know you all had it on your calendar and were looking forward to it as much as I was. Today is January 9th. The day the college up the street is opening up the track after the recent construction project. This is huge because until it is light enough to run in the mountains after work, the track is my #1 spot to get in the mid-week miles.


Apparently disappointment is a dish best served...February 1st? Yes, according to the paper printout in 48 point type, my beloved track won't be ready for a bit longer...sigh.

The good news, as shown by the enormous amount of blacktop in the photo below, is that it will be a brand new track. Just get done with it already! Oh, right, and thank you.


Nicole comes back in a couple days unless the storm that is predicted for MA has something to say about it. The puppies and I hope that the flight is safe and on time.

My parting comment is that it is really bizarre to me that it's early January and every day it seems I see a handful of people driving around in convertibles with the top down. What's that about?

Ok, now back to my feature Netflix film of the night "24 Hours on Craigslist". I guess it is going to focus on a few random people who post the ads etc. It looked interesting and weird enough to make it in our queue and to the doorstep. We'll see how it pans out. I bet people sell stuff, get jobs, rent apartments, and meet "lost connections". Ooops, forgot to precede that with the SPOILER ALERT tag. Sorry. Bye.

Distant Early Warning...

Okay, I can't seem to find our camera at the moment. "What's it to me" you may ask? Well the pictures from our ACNFNYD Angeles Crest National Forest New Years Day hike are on it, so it means you'll have to wait to see them.

In the meantime (not the Spacehog song...wait, did anyone actually get that reference?) check this guy out. He and his wife are responsible for inventions that will forever impact how we are able to utilize energy and information.

Switching gears. Rush. The band. My favorite band. Ever. Thanks to JJB for telling me about the Rolling Stone article several that came out months back. I thought it was mediocre, but then it probably would take a 74 page article and free concert tickets to please me. Math rock, nerd rock, call it what you will and I'll listen.

Nicole is having a good time with family in MA this week (even though the weather is a bit colder there!) Oh don't worry about me, I have the dogs to keep me company and to cruise the neighborhood for long walks in the evenings after work.

Lastly, I watched a couple of environmental type documentaries over the past two nights. "Who Killed the Electric Car" and "Oil on Ice". They were both pretty good. Netflix has them if you think you might be interested.

There's no swimming in the heavy water. No singing in the acid rain

Who wants pizza?

We went for a great hike in the Angeles National Forest yesterday with Benton. I'll post a couple pictures soon. It was pretty excellent.

Tonight's dinner extravaganza consists of pizza and spinach salad (with blue cheese crumbles, vinaigrette, chopped pears, and craisins. Delicious, I promise you.

Oh, and 20% off the pizza doesn't hurt either. Mushroom and spinach on one, and pepperoni on the other.

The parting photo was taken on our way out of the parking lot. Many people were stopping and staring at this high performance safari vehicle...and I decided I NEEDED to have my picture taken with it...in a driving pose.

Enjoy.