Winter Action

Its been a fun and relaxing winter break. Before Michelle and I left for baja, I spent a few days digging dirt jumps in OB. A bunch of people have been showing up to dig (including a few kids from my school) and we have easily doubled the size of our trails. The photos taken below were from the middle of December. The shot from the top of the hill gives you a good perspective on the number of jumps we have running.

Soon after the photos were taken, Michelle and I left for our first Baja camping trip in a few years. We had a great time camping and caught some amazing surf. Michelle took a bunch of photos and I've posted a couple of photos below. We will post a link to the photo album shortly.

Since we have been back, I've been hanging out at the jumps again. Most of them are dry now but a couple of the big ones are a little wet, a little slow, and barely makable. They should be good to go within a couple of weeks. More jumping photos to follow.

Snoring...

Could a cat do it? Jack fell asleep on my lap and prove it is possible. Please don't ask why the photos are upside down.

OB Christmas...Home Sweet Home!

Our friend Patrick lives on Newport Ave, one block up from Sunset Cliffs Blvd. His house is ground zero for the staging area for the Ocean Beach Christmas Parade. We brought our kegerator down to his house and set up a "observation zone" for friends and family.

The OB Christmas Parade never fails you...almost every entry is typical "OB". My favorites included:

• Silvergate Elementary Unicycle Club
• Tiny's Tavern (local bar) Christmas Elves - looks like they built their float in 30 minutes or less
• Local Volkswagon Club (which included the most awesome VW Karmann Ghia dunebugy I have ever seen and an old VW bug with a train horn installed under the hood)
• "Occupy North Pole" - not sure what the point of that was
• A robotic giraffe (see first photo below) that talked to kids - one tried to pet its leg and the giraffe said "ooohhhh that tickles!"
• The "Happy Funkin' Christmas" float that had a dozen people with "afros" dancing to 70's music" - I could hear them from a block away and I swore they were yelling "happy fu#&ing christmas" on their P.A. system
• The local Surfrider chapter float that had a "ban the plastic" float with a surfer staanding in a plastic bottle "barrel" (see bottom photo) - the driver had a megaphone hooked upto to the front of the truck and broadcasted propaganda while driving down the street

Nothing special...just a normal day in Ocean Beach. I've lived here for 20 years and the Christmas parade helps me remember why I'm attracted to this town :)

Perfect Weather...Surf???

Nice off-shore breeze and there is some swell but the angle is still a little funky with lots of closeouts and extreme tides. I'll check it a little longer before going out. The wind is warm...Santa Ana's?

Seattle

It took awhile but Michelle and finally posted some photos of our trip to Seattle. Check them out!

Nimitz III

My first memory of dirt jumps at Nimitz was 1996. A group of people built a bunch of jumps on the east side of the dirt lot. I wasn't really into jumping at the time and only hit them twice. Eventually they were plowed.

My second memory of dirt jumps at Nimitz was in 2009. The guys who started the jumps were friends from Barnard. The jumps were towards the west side of the dirt lot. Good times and a severely tweaked wrist is what I remember.Of course.....they were plowed again...

I drove by Nimitz a month ago and saw some small "mountain bike" style jumps. Basically that means they were underdeveloped jumps that mostly involved launching off of ledges and hills....not really my thing. Last week I noticed someone built a legit set of doubles. Nice lips and fun landings that pump you immediately into the next set. I swapped out my front tire for a knobby, showed up with a shovel and spend a few days digging.

Perfect timing because soon it rained pretty hard. This gave me a couple of days to rebuild the main section by building up the lips and adding to the landings. The goal is to make it through the entire line without pedaling. Today was the first day since the rain that I ran the line and was able to make it through without a pedal. As the dirt dries, the jumps will become faster and better.

See below for a photo of me chilling at the bottom of the second jump in the main set, a video of me making it through the whole line, and another video of what happens when things go wrong. Regardless of what happens, it made for a good time. I love dirt!

By the way...I made the video by jamming my ipod into my helmet....that is my cheap-o version of a helmet cam :)

Super High Tide

It has been 4 to 6 feet with super high tides....as big as 7.8 feet. The weather is perfect....too bad its a little closed out. I may surf anyway...or go dirt jumping....what? More on that later!

Nine Rules Card

Nine Rules card

Click on the link above to see a photo of a card that Wayne received when he went to Vietnam.

Goodbye Seattle

Boarding the plane and on our way home. I am wearing my new Pendleton wool shirt. Nice and warm. Back in San Diego soon!

Metal Owl And Maximum Oysters

Found a wacky poster for 400 in a bar. I also met a large oyster at the oyster festival. I think I ate about 20 oysters....ugh.

Got Wood?

Found a store in Seattle that sells tables and benches made from giant chunks of wood...some of it was driftwood. The owner asked me to help him flip a table over....it was REALLY heavy! Later on we watched a guy play piano on the corner...look for the guy in the photo who is in the corner.

Breakfast At Lowell's

Michelle and I woke up, had a coffee at the origional Starbucks, read about what Mr. Clean (the cleaning liquid) means in Chinese (it means "chicken meat") then we met Henry and Niki at Lowell's for a late breakfast.....a beautiful view of the sound!

Seattle Hat Store

Looking for a place to eat in Seattle and found a cool hat store...this poster in the front window....reminds me of my black cowboy hat.

Back At The Inn

Grabbed a latte and made it back to our room where we waited for Henry and Niki to arrive. They are here now so we are off to an early dinner overlooking the sound!

Pike's Market

Made it to Seattle.  Walking around Pike's Market. A fish vendor was scaring people with a halibet on a string.... nice. Next stop was the polish pottery store. Michelle found some neat stuff.

Green Flash

Stopped by the beach at sunset after the rain and took a couple of photos before a green flash. Nice!

Happy Halloween!

Michelle and I hungout with our neighbors and carved pumpkins. Take a look at our creations!

Warm it up...

I've been driving the truck recently. I wanna keep the jeep alive so I let the engine runs every weekend for about 10 minutes. I have this retro camera app on my phone and I thought I would use it with the steering wheel. Groovy.

Crashed Out On The Couch

Chasing birds can wear you out. Jack is was wiped out...what a day!

Psycho Cat

Sunset part 2... we took a picture of jack on the roof. Had to love his green eyes!

Red Skies At Night

...sailors delight.. or so they say. Michelle and I enjoyed the sunset in the backyard. Should have some nice weather tomorrow.

Rocky....Sort Of...

The Jog-a-thon is one of our school's biggest fund raisers. During a recent school-wide assembly we tried to "hype" the event with the students by giving a short presentation that involved having me dress up as "Rocky" from Rocky II and run around the auditorium. See below for a short video clip.....you can ignore the part where I nearly fell on the ground :)

New Mexico 2011 Photos Available

I'm recovering from a cold.....this gave us some time to play with Picasa. Michelle and I finally got around to posting the photos from our July/August trip to New Mexico. Check them out!