Dog Days

Leona became sick after after a prey-drive toad encounter, so I regrettably sat out today's event. Brian provides some play-by-play. Scott's pics are here.
Good to hear Leona is doing better. Record books are probably not going to change dramatically, but it was a truly great day. The pond was kind to most, and I know a couple of personal bests were set or equaled. Team mastercraft and nautique both performed flawlessly. Dave had a strong 38 showing. Brooke ran 30 consistently, and got well into 32 when I was in the boat. Unfortunately I missed her second round, so I'm not 100% on the whole day. I skied marginal, mid 32's, couple mistakes cost me big. Anxious to get some skiing this week...
Julie Hommel- definitely most improved over June
Jim Degnan- 2 @ 35
Skip, Pat, Paul, and Bruce all saw 38
Justin Peterson- 1 @ 35
Dan Warner- 4 @ 35
All I can remember.... It was a great weather day and lots of fun. Ski soon, Bd

No Toads Here - Leona on a toad-free day (2008)

Terzo

I have purposely forced my way into paying a dinner tab by saying something like "I'm doing OK, when you are doing better, you can pick it up." I had used that line some time ago, and perhaps more than once, with Heidi. So this time around, despite being all camped out on her couch and all, she used the same logic right back at me: I was treated to a fabulous meal at Terzo. Highly recommended in a city where the food is better than the superlatives.

Remembering the 1980s up on Alpine

Whipple Ave.

27 years ago I flew JFK/SFO on a DC-10 for my interview with Ampex Corp in Redwood City. I remember my doe-eyed stare out the left side of the plane; my first adult view of the peninsula. Although I had never gone through that sequence of events, everything seemed natural: the plane flight, renting the car, driving for my first time southbound on 101, the warm evening air blowing in the windows, drowning me with excitement, like a fly in “absinthe classic”. My destination was an orange-roofed Howard Johnsons (is there any other kind?) on Whipple Ave where I would stay the night before the interview.

I repeated a similar but different sequence of events this morning: a BOS/SFO flight I’ve flown countless (80?) times, renting the car, and then a strange thing. I’m driving south again on 101 to have coffee with some friends when I exit on Whipple Ave and drive past that (still) orange-roofed Howard Johnsons. A warm feeling comes over me. The actions portend something good, I believe, just as it did back in 1981. I hop back on the 101 to meet my friends, just off Willow, not Whipple Ave.

Another Terrific Weekend

A too-short visit with Ron and Faith up on the coast of Maine. No drama. A birthday for Ron. Lobsters. Beach. Sun. And just down the street - so to speak. Nice!

The Gang

Team Mastercraft

Brian took up the slack (literally, but not so well at his -35 one ball) this week as I've been anxious about my upcoming travels. It was nice to get in drama-free daily sets, even if I've slipped back a few buoys. I'll blame it on the cooler, more-dense, roller-y water, even though I know it is in my head.

"The ski doesn't know if you are having a bad day."

A Terrific Weekend

The flight back was a mess. Eighteen hours to go LAX/BOS on what was supposed to be a five hour non-stop: Two planes, one with a stubborn rudder.  Three mechanical incidents and one medical incident. Everyone OK, life goes on. ... My "LA Weekend", however, was bliss, and the photo below captures the feel...

The Arts and Crafts Vibe of West Hollywood (2008)

Relentless Blue Sky

A stinging, omnipresent blue radiates from the southern California sky. Well in the day anyhow. No doubt this is considered a virtue by some. I'd prefer some variation, but for now - no complaints. Today (so far) we've had all sorts of activities, not all unique to la-la land. An F250 pickup truck moves back less than a foot and disfigures my friend's pristine E63. Bummer. The cats go to the vet and move closer to town. Cats aren't so pleased. Sushi (at Sushi Roku) for lunch. Much better. And for dinner we plan to meetup with an old college pal. Things are looking up for that blue sky.

BLD Restaurant

Dinner at BLD was nice - the conversation was better. Cindy, Tamara, Kurt and I yap it up.

Walking in LA

Hearing Dweezil cover some of his dad's material from the Missing Person's era got me thinking about, well, the Missing Person's era. So I'm here in West Hollywood and will take a stroll up Melrose with my camera and see what turns up. In theory, as I take each photo, it is tagged with the GPS data in the EXIF field and placed here on the map at the bottom of my SmugMug page. While I work the bugs out of this, another approach is to hit my TravelSmugShots gallery, select any picture, then click the "map this" button in near the top right of the page.

Zappa Plays Zappa

What a terrific show! And a watershed of ideas for things I hope to write about. There is no doubt this music speaks to me... I remember Mike Mondor at the Woodstock Youth Center, the older one (~1972) down by Tannery Brook, not the new one (~1974) up on Rock City Road, playing "Willie The Pimp". Then there are countless adolescent moments that had FZ as a soundtrack. And finally, my mind drifts back to the summer of 1977 where my Joyous Lake gig had many great moments. In any event, Dweezil is amazing. He's his own man, but he is also his dad's son. And this band doesn't suck either!

State of Mine

Exasperation is OK! Breathe. Exhale. These are things you can forget to do when you are wrapped up in all that life is dishing out. I stumbled upon this old photo and thought "this is how I wish to feel". Like Beckett's Hamm (from Endgame) exclaiming violently "Use your head, can't you, use your head, you're on earth, there's no cure for that!" And then there was Juliana's recent blog about "No Answer", as I split open and melt to the outro..."da-doo-doo do-da-dooh". It's all OK, says my Estragonic half - my yelp validated, if not complete.

My state of Mine

ACME, hold the OJ

ACME and OJ are two rival manufacturers of propellers for tournament ski boats. The OJ prop was the OEM spec on our very special 1997 Nautique. The ACME prop is used on contemporary Nautiques. The opportunity presented itself, so instead of hunting for vintage OJ, or worse, rolling the dice on the hydrodynamics of a rebuild, I acquired a new ACME prop. Craig, Gina, and Fred at NECC took care of me, and we were back on the water in no time.

Fred spins on the castle nut

Drama-free smiles!