Trident Warrior

I just returned from the Norfolk area following going underway on the USS Nassau for Trident Warrior '09. Trident Warrior is an annual Navy exercise for evaluating and assessing new technology for the fleet. It's been 20 years since I've been underway on a Navy ship and it all went very well.

FL Trip

I just got back from a trip to Central FL to visit my friends Jimmy K and Valerie, and Frank and Maritssa. It was a great time and so much fun to catch up with everyone. An added bonus was that another friend, Kyle, flew in to watch the shuttle liftoff and we had the opportunity to hang with him one night as well which is always a blast.

Click on the pics to enlarge the slideshow.

Petes

It's been a long time, but I had the pleasure of hanging with one of my old friends from CT, Petes, who's in town for business. I took my camera with me but forgot it in the car however Petes looks great. He doesn't look like he's aged at all since 1997. Sean and I had a good time catching up with him and had dinner in La Jolla. It was great to see you Petes!

Harry Potter

Sean's been reading the Harry Potter books and is now on the 3rd book. The funny thing is that he talked his Grammi into reading them also and they have an open discussion about how their progress is going. I think she's almost done with the 2nd book. He enjoys knowing that she is reading the same books and looks forward to talking about them with her. I love that he is reading. I used to read all the time but not as much lately. I did, however, read a really good book recently entitled "Three Cups of Tea". It's a true account of a mountain climber who makes it his life's work to build schools in remote Pakistani and Afghani villages and is an incredible story.

Chess

Sean decided recently that he wanted to join the chess club at school and now takes pleasure in regularly beating his Dad. Lucky for him, his Dad is a good sport and not inclined to violence. The first time, I didn't even see it coming and was torn between being proud of my son and humiliated that a 7 year old just kicked my butt. Anyway, we have fun playing now and he's been teaching me some opening moves.

House of Blues

Talk about dreams come true... The Christopher Cash Band had the pleasure of playing the House of Blues this week. What a friggin' blast! We don't always get to play at places like this very often and we were fortunate to have so many friends come on out to share in the fun. For me personally, it was a very special night.

Click on pics to enlarge the slideshow

Angeles Crest

It's been almost 10 years since I've taken my motorcycle up in the dramatic mountains above Los Angeles so with a long holiday weekend, I spent 2 days riding in areas north of LA including the Malibu mountains, Santa Clarita mountains, Antelope Valley/PalmDale region, Angeles Forest Highway and Angeles Crest Highway, and the Hollywood Hills. Temps were around 30-40 degrees up at elevation with snow on the ground and icy roads a concern but traffic was light and roads were dry making for a perfect trip.  Click on the slideshow for bigger pics.

Happy New Year's

Happy 2009!   I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and great year.   2008 was a good one here on the Left Coast.  Sean is growing so fast, I wish I could slow it down.   This past year saw him lose his first tooth, do well at school, visit his cousins and grandparents, and generally have a great year.   Here's a few photos from 2008...

SoCal Bike Tour

Last week, a group of us did a really fun 3-day bike trip from Santa Barbara to San Diego. 207 total miles. Man, my butt was sore! All in all, it was a blast but tiring. The coast of CA is beautiful and I never get tired of all the views.

Here's a link to Jimmy's great pictures from the weekend.
http://jimmyjyuan.com/2008/biketour08Web/index.html


Here's some more great pics from Sudi
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=76kl916.8ou5lv1u&Uy=gkpre5&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Enjoy!

CT trip

Sean and I just got back from CT visiting family and had a blast. Click below to view the pics.

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TK's wedding

Congratulations Terry and Sandra!!

Click on the pic to view the slideshow from the entire weekend.

Professor Jodi

Jodi was approached about an opportunity to teach a Neurological Therapy class at nearby Mesa College for the fall semester. Congratulations Professor! She is a Physical Therapist and supervisor with a specialization in neurological therapy and well-respected in her field. She is also a former board member and Treasurer for the California Physical Therapy Association and I know she will be an excellent teacher. She is only teaching one class on top of her full-time day-job but she's excited about trying something different. Way to go Jodi!

Jimmy's birthday and photo gallery

My friend Jimmy is our resident photo archivist and he always captures excellent photos. In addition to my own photo gallery, I also often link to his site so I just added a permanent link on the sidebar to the left.

He's also a great friend and in addition to being our photo archivist, he's also our resident pilot, divemaster, skier, cyclist and distance runner.... By day, he's a software programmer and I'm amazed he has any time to have a job. Happy birthday Jimmy!

First tooth...

Sean's first adult tooth coming in...

Lost pic from Tony's visit last winter

...out at the sushi bar.

Pics

Finally uploaded pics from our Channel Island trip... We really had a wonderful time. Click to view all the pics

Channel Islands and Santa Barbara

We just got back from a long weekend camping and hiking on the Channel Islands and then a visit to Santa Barbara. Pictures to follow but Santa cruz Island is incredibly beautiful. A pristine, isolated island with no amenities and incredible views. It's a National Park and we really enjoyed the peace and quiet and the great hiking. After a couple days, we headed up to Santa Barbara and stayed in great old inn called the Upham Inn. Very elegant and romantic.

Info about the Channel Islands:
http://www.nps.gov/chis/

Meet The Press....

Hearing the news today about Tim Russert really caught me off guard. He is one of the few guys I really liked on TV news. It caught me in the same way that it did when Princess Diana and John Denver died... too sudden... too young. Such a likeable, regular guy. Sad news...

Russert was one of those few personalities that you just knew you'd like if he were actually your friend or colleague.... a regular guy. This was reinforced by all the tributes I heard tonight by numerous newsfolk. He seemed like the real deal. Everyone liked the guy.

Rock-n-Roll Marathon 2008

Last week, the BigFellas played again at the Rock-n-Roll Marathon here in San Diego. Nothing better than getting up at 4:30 AM following attending a wedding the night before and lugging heavy equipment for a show. Seriously though, I love playing for this race. 20,000 smiling people all having a good time and running as fast as they can away from the noise we're making. :) Actually, for about an hour and a half or so, it is pretty much a sea of people and the energy level is very high and very positive. Much fun!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

new CD release

Hi Everybody!
I hope all is well in your world. Great news this week on the Left Coast... The latest Christopher Cash Band "Invisible" CD was released this week. I've been with this band almost 2 years now and this CD was a really fun endeavor. I got my hands on it today and heard the final product after final mixing and mastering and was blown away. It sounds great!!!


you can check it out here:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/christophercash2


I hope you like it! Check it out... Turn it up!... the louder the better.... I'm very proud of it. I played bass on all the tracks and am happy for my friend Cash who is an excellent songwriter. My bandmates, Mark and Kevin sound fantastic as always. It was produced by Jeff Berkley who is a San Diego legend. I am so proud to have been part of this project and am excited to share it with you all.

Love to all, Drop a line if you can.
Bill

Springtime

Hi all. Just checking in. It's been a very hectic few months. In addition to work and activities surrounding Sean, this winter has included many fun activities as well such as skiing in Mammoth, a great trip to San Francisco, a weekend biking adventure, and a few great band shows including an excellent BigFellas show at Humphrey's last week. Also got news that the Christopher Cash Band CD is finished and will be available in the next week or so. More to come on that but CD release party tentatively scheduled for late June.

Other changes and news....
My Aunt Edna passed away in January and we will all certainly miss her.

Pam moving back East. she's currently en route and I hope she's enjoying her trip.

Sean passed his first karate test and earned his yellow belt. He's enjoying karate and it might be helping him at school as well.

I won the 2008 Freddy which is our annual trophy for the NCAA tournament pool! We've been doing this for about 15 years and is officially called the "Tate George Memorial Cup" but we all somehow ended up calling it the Freddy.

It's Baseball season again. The picture was taken at the annual "Friarfest" at Petco Park in Feb.

I'll try to keep this more up to date..... I hope all is well in your world.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and the office is very quiet. I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Sean will be in Illinois for the holidays. Pam is in Peru (lucky!). Most of the family will be in CT trying to stay warm and dry. Jimmy and Val are in FL. I'll be here in sunny San Diego spending the day with Jodi and playing board games later at Wendy's house. Yesterday, we took Sean to the model train museum which was a blast. They had a huge Lego train display which was very impressive. I wish I had taken pictures.

My Aunt Edna, who is battling cancer right now, is dealing with pneumonia so my thoughts are with her right now. She is feisty and positive so I hope things get better soon.

Out about town...

On Tuesday, we kicked around town visiting the suspension bridge in Bankers Hill, Petco Park, the Star of India and the other ships in the Maritime Museum, then took the ferry over to Coronado where we had lunch. It was a gorgeous day.

Balboa Park

We spent nice afternoon down at Balboa Park on Sunday. Sunny, clear, cool... felt like Fall. Mom and Jodi went to one of the art museums while Sean, Dad and I went to the Aerospace Museum then we all met up at 2 for a picnic snack while enjoying the Pipe Organ concert.

Torrey Pines State Park

On Saturday, we went to the beautiful Torrey Pines State Park for a nature walk on a windy, chilly afternoon. The para-gliders and hang-gliders were all out in force up and down along the cliffs. The path I selected was a little more hilly than I intended but Mom handled it with grace and humor and a smile on her face.... (ha!)

Mom's the Original Wild Child

We've been having a good time with Mom and Dad visiting. On Friday, my friend Marc had free tix to the House of Blues to see the Doors Tribute band, Wild Child, so on a rare rainy night, we dragged my Mom and Dad to see them (my Dad's first rock concert). They actually had a pretty good time (earplugs and all). We thought Tony (my Door's fanatic brother-in-law) would get a kick out of it...

Family

The past week has been highlighted by mucho family activity. I am one of those who while on one hand, feels that I have great family relationships; yet on the other hand, I totally take all of those family relationships for granted. Not something I'm proud of though!.... Anyway, this past Sunday, my step-niece, Pam, was in town for the weekend with her friend Kelly. I met up with them for lunch in Old Town and had a blast. It was very surprising when we both realized that I hadn't seen Pam in about 10 years. It definitely didn't seem that long.

Next, my parents just arrived in town from Connecticut for a visit. I've been really looking forward to their visit for about a month now. Of course, living on the west coast means that you just don't see your east-coast family all that often and it's tough at times. Anyway... I'm very glad they're here and look forward to having a great 10 days with them. We're all not getting any younger.....

Lastly, my beloved Aunt Edna developed serious medical problems in the past week and was rushed into emergency brain surgery on Wed. She has a long road ahead of her but right out of the gate, she is kicking ass. Following her brain surgery (removing a plum sized tumor) on Wednesday, she was was doing so well that she was able to eat a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and be discharged on friday (48 hours later). Now she has other tumors to tackle, but given her fantastic attitude (and her infamous sense of humor and laugh), she will give it a serious fight, no doubt. Her daughter Beth, my cousin, has been providing all of us with updates over the past week for which we all are very grateful. On a side note, it makes me realize that I haven't talked to any of my cousins in many, many years....

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's Day, Sean, Jodi and I went to Knott's Berry Farm up in Buena Park (near Disney). I had never been there before. Knott's is a nice amusement park that is very close to Disney ( and I think it may have been there first) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knott's_Berry_Farm

Sean had a blast and the highlight of the day was when he won a large stuffed shark at the ping-pong ball toss game. You should have seen his face when he won!

Quick note of Thanks to Knott's Berry farm.... I don't think they get much attention for this but Knott's was running a promotion in November where all veterans and a guest would get free admission to the park. I was very impressed by this because it seemed very heartfelt in that they seem to not do this for any attention (because they don't get any). It seems very genuine. Apparently, they've been running this promotion for the past couple years. But anyway... I greatly appreciated it and very much enjoyed our day at the park. Thank you!

November Update

Hi Y'all, I can't believe it's 2 days before Thanksgiving... Where did 2007 go?? Things have been going very well out here on the West Coast in Sunny San Diego. We went through a rough week of wild fires in late October and many, many people lost their homes. It was a very stressful week and my heart goes out to all who are dealing with the loss of their family home.

Things for the most part are back to normal. I had a number of friends who were very lucky as their homes were right in the thick of things so I am very happy that they all came out unscathed. Four years ago in 2003 was not the same story as my good friends lost their home in the Cedar Fire. It took almost 2 years for them to rebuild.

I personally am looking forward to my parents coming out to visit next week. Sean is excited to see his grandparents. It's always great to have visitors because it gives us an excuse to play tourist. San Diego has so much to offer and we never take full advantage of it except when we have visitors. My Mom has requested that I not schedule too much though so I'll respect her wishes (but I want to do so much when they're here!)

Halloween was fun. I enjoyed seeing pictures of my nieces and nephews. I have always loved this time of year. Jodi and I took Sean to a pumpkin patch and we had a blast carving and painting pumpkins. Sean was Trooper from Star Wars for Halloween. Btw, costumes are much better than I remember as a kid. We had these plastic things we'd wear like a garbage bag with a mask. Now, the costumes have muscles and much better detail. Anyway.... May the force be with you.......

Happy Birthday Mom! (belated)

My Mom celebrated her birthday in late October. Happy Birthday Mom! I'm really looking forward to having you and Dad come out to visit later this month. Thanks for sending the great photos from your birthday and I'll talk to you soon.

Fires

San Diego is in the midst of dealing with major wildfires which have now spread into many communities. I'm fine and am in no imminent danger. I live in Mission Valley which is not too far from downtown and the beaches. It is shaping up to be very bad and will probably not end before Tuesday or Wednesday. No one has any idea how many homes have been lost but the numbers will be high. Many of the experts have indicated that this looks like it will be even worse than the devastating 2003 Cedar Fire which destroyed over 2200 homes. The air smells like smoke and it is very hazy. Many of my friends have been evacuated from their homes including one who just moved in to their new home on Saturday so my thoughts are with all of them.

September Update

September is a great month for birthdays including Sean's! But also many friends such as Jimmy's, Valerie's, Garry's, Rob's, Tom's as well my own. We had a fun party for Sean's 6th birthday. He was really excited about having a party and had a great time. The water balloon fight was priceless. Transformers was the theme of the day.

My birthday was fun as well. We went on a nice group kayak excursion and then headed to dinner at The Gathering in Mission Hills. Jodi gave me a beautiful watch which I love.


Some other updates....

My old high school buddy John Relja contacted me and it was great to catch up with him. He is teaching guitar to my friend Lamo's kids and this has triggered a flurry of emails from a bunch of my old buddies. It's been great to catch up with all my old friends. John and I used to ride dirt bikes around the area where we grew up (Elizabeth township in PA) but I could never keep up with him. He also filled me in on a lot of our old friends who I've lost touch with.

Shannon also called to wish me a happy birthday. I miss having her and Annika living out here in SoCal. We used to get together a couple times a year but I'm glad things are going well for her in her new life back East and look forward to visiting sometime this next year.

PayPal woes...

Woke up this morning to find that someone apparently hacked into Paypal and hit me with a $480 charge I didn't make. To make a long story short, I filed a report and also called and I guess there were numerous others who also got hit. Should be resolved by next week.

UPDATE: This has been resolved. What a pain though....

The old crew

My long lost friend Lamo emailed me over the weekend and it was great to catch up with him and my old buddies I grew up with. Time flys and it's easy to lose track and then the years just flow right on by. I need to plan a trip back East to get together with these guys.

UPDATE: Due to the numerous requests from my family and the fact that 25 years can make it hard to recognize even ourselves.... Here's the lineup of the MV crew....
From left to right: Berk (Matt Berkley), John Sorna, Jeff Curry, Lamo (Larry Moffa), Kevin Geyer, Boomer (George Kelly), Chuck Come.

NBC 7/39 appearance

I finally got the footage from the TV appearance edited and posted online. Enjoy! It was a lot of fun. All the folks at the station were great. Next stop Letterman...

Comin' down the mountain

"Hood to Coast" was awesome! We had a blast. We went about 39 hours without sleep. Our total race time was 27 hours and 14 minutes. Oregon is very beautiful and reminded me a little of back East where I grew up. Hills, trees and so green! Portland was great (nicknamed "Beervana" for all the pubs and microbreweries)

Here's some pics from the race and a link to the official site.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560493454LgtXWD

http://hoodtocoast.com

Big Fellas on TV!

The Big Fellas did the NBC 7/39 morning show this morning. Pics and videos to come soon I hope. It was a blast. Charlie was a riot and we had the usual stable of downtown wingnuts and street people come by as we were getting ready and while we were doing the show. At one point, this guy walks by with a huge, beautiful parrot and somehow the idea comes up that the parrot should sit on Charlie's head for the next segment which probably looked hilarious on TV. I recorded it and can't wait to see it. btw, the bird did actually drop a load on Charlie's shoulder mid-way through the song but not sure if that made it onto TV or not.

We also had running bets whether or not we'd get the big hook at any time because a few of the songs are not too politically correct but we seemed to stay on the air...

Video coming soon... Great Pics here...

Update

Summer's been flying... A lot going on in the past month since I've last posted.

• Camping trip down in Baja on Punta Banda. Fairly remote. Opportunity to use 4-wheel drive to get to our location. Fun! Pretty knarly dirt road over the mountain. Nothing around for miles and extremely beautiful rugged coastline. We kayaked, hiked, snorkeled and had a lot of fun. Great Pics from our Baja Trip here:
  
• Getting ready for Hood-to-Coast next week. We fly up to Portland on Thursday 8/23. More to come on that. http://hoodtocoast.com/
  
• I've been playing with a band called The Big Fellas quite a bit this summer. My regular band, The Christopher Cash Band took the summer off to allow Cash to finish up the new CD and also just to take a break so I've been sitting in with The Big Fellas. They asked me to join, but I'm not sure I can commit to it at this time given that that they play pretty frequently and it can require a lot of time. I do enjoy it though and have been having fun sitting in. Last week, we played at a local community event and despite some early PA problems, had a lot of fun.
  
• ** Also, we'll be on TV this Friday, 8/17 on the local NBC affiliate morning show. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/concertsonthesquare/index.html More to come on that too.
  
• Jodi and I went to see the Tony award-winning play called "Avenue Q" which was bizarre anad hilarious. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061008/news_1a08avenue.html
  
• Sean is doing great. He's really into the whole "Transformers" thing right now. Plus, he recently discovered Pokemon and loves a set of cards Jodi bought for him. They're like baseball trading cards (which by the way, he also loves too)
  
• My new apartment is working out well. I need to send some pics for that too.
  
• Jimmy K and Valerie moved back to FLA and we're going to miss them. It gave us a good excuse to have a bunch of parties.
  
• Met my very distant cousin... "Bill Maine" . It's a funny story. He contacted me and we talked and discovered we had a lot of similarities besides our name. We determined that we are related going back to N. Stonington, CT... way, way back. He seemed like a good guy and we'll probably hook up again. He lives down in San Felipe, MX and I was planning on going down there this fall sometime anyway, so we'll hook up with him.
  
• What else... Padres games and Twilight Concerts in the Park too....

Twilight music

One of the nice things about San Diego is all the great outdoor things available to do. During the summer, Balboa Park hosts free concerts in the pavilion 4 nights per week (in addition to the usual year-round Sunday afternoon organ concert).

It's a great way to spend an evening. On Monday, Jodi and I took a picnic dinner and enjoyed the Summer Series Monday Evening Pipe Organ concert under the stars. Every Monday, they bring in a world-class organist to perform a 2 hour show and it was great. I need to do this more often. The organ is 92 years old and sounds incredible. Check out the pics and info here


Also, on Tue, Wed, and Thur, they host band concerts ranging from everything from Rock, to Mambo, to Country, and everything in between. Check out the schedule here

47 years!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 47 years on June 26. WOW! That's a loooong time. I hope you guys have a nice celebration to reflect and reminisce. Looking forward to the big 50!!!

Here you are today....














And after the first 25 years of marital bliss...

Hey... isn't that....??

My brother-in-law Bob's daughter Pam, posted some awesome pics up on her blog of her dad which were great. Man, I love the 70's. Happy Father's Day Bob!

Hey, isn't that Jimmy Buffett....?!?










or was that David Spade....?!?

More on Father's day

After reading my friend Frank's blog, he inspired me to go share a bit more. I'm lucky to still have my Dad to share conversations with. Very healthy and active at soon to be 71. My son has his grandfather's cleft chin and blond hair / blue eyes. Sean loves baseball and we play at the park frequently and I strive to use my Dad as an example. He always had time to coach my teams and taught me about sportsmanship. He was always fair and while winning was great, it wasn't what was most important. I remember when he bought me a batting-practice thing for our back yard. I remember him mixing the concrete for the car-tire we used as the base and thinking he knew how to do everything. It had a pole with a spring-loaded arm and a baseball on the end and you'd hit it and it would swing around a few times and swing back and you'd hit it again. Anyway... I'm sure he wished I used it more than I did (my hitting was mediocre at best) but I still got a bit of use out of it over the years. Thanks Dad!

This picture is a few years old and a little tattered since I carry it in my wallet.

Sunday wrapup

Happy Father's Day Dad! It was good to talk to you today. Sean gave me a nice photo in a frame he made and also a book he wrote which I loved. We had fun at the park playing ball today. We hooked up with another family and had a fun pick-up baseball game. Sean enjoyed finding another kid to play with.

I found a new apartment and will be moving on 7/7. It's very nice and I'm looking forward to getting moved in (although moving is such a hassle). The good thing is there's much more room and the place is kind of a resort-like condo complex so come on and visit. Mom, you'll love the pool area. The condo is also very central and pretty easy to get to most places and I can also walk to work. Sean will also have his own room now which he's happy about.

Checking in

Hi Everyone. Just checking in. Last night, I sat in with the Big Fellas again. We played up in LA so it was a loooong night. 2 hours drive each way and $45 in gas (we made just enough to cover gas and late-night pancakes at IHOP).

Other news.... I've been looking at apartments and trying to make a decision on this matter. Getting to close to deciding though.

Also, it appears that I actually slightly tore my calf muscle rather than just pull it. It's been over 2 weeks and it's still sore with some swelling down in the ankle area (although I didn't twist my ankle.) Jodi taped it up using a method called Kinesio which looks really interesting and seems to be helping. Less pain in the past couple days.

Trevor Hoffman from the Padres got his 500th save this week which was incredible. He's already the all-time Saves leader and the first to break 500.

Rockin' at the RnR Marathon

I had a lot of fun this past weekend. The San Diego Rock-N-Roll Marathon was on Sunday and I was lucky to be asked to sit in with a band called the Big Fellas. Tim, their regular bass player, couldn't make it so they asked me to play. It was kind of short notice (less than a week) and we didn't get to practice beforehand but Charlie, the band's songwriter sent me the mp3's and charts for about 20 songs and I worked on them and it all went very well and ended up being tons o'fun.

Click here for Pics

There was so much great energy coming from the runners and I had a total blast. I've run this race twice before and it holds a special place in my heart so it was fun to be a small part of it this year.

or Check out this short hi-quality video

Quick Update

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been almost 2 months since my last post. Well, things have been pretty busy. I promise to step it up and do better. Anyway, here's a quick synopsis of what's going on in my world...
- work is getting busier
- Triathlon training continuing
- bought a new good road bike. I'm happy with it but i still like tooling around town better with my other bike, a piece of crap beach bike though... :)
- calf pull in my left calf about a week ago. getting better though. Was dehydrated and had not eaten anything that day.... big mistake to go and run 6 miles that evening.
- Trip planned to Oregon in August for the Hood-to-Coast Relay http://www.hoodtocoast.com/ a 200 mile running relay over 24-28 hours. There are 1000 teams and it is supposed to be a lot of fun but challenging. Your team (12 people) travels in a couple vans for at least 24-28 hours and by most accounts, you don't get much sleep. I will have to run 3 legs (5-7 miles each) over that time.
- New CD hopefully will be finished this summer. It's out of my hands at this point. I'm excited about it though.
- Michelle's wedding?
- Peru trip? next year?
- Sean getting ready to finish Kindergarten and is a great reader now.
- I have to move soon. They're renovating the entire complex and I have to be out by the end of July... Total bummer... major hassle.
- Jimmy and Valerie moving back to FL in July... major bummer but happy for them.

Ski trip pics

Jimmy posted some great pics from our ski trip to Mammoth. You can see them here. Thanks Jim!

Hell's Bells

Padres won tonight in a close 1 run game. Tony, Bob, and Chris are probably familier with who Trevor Hoffman is but most of my family has probably never heard of him.

Anyway, One of the coolest sights in all of baseball is when the Padres are up by a run or 2 in the 9th inning and then.... it's Time...... Trevor Time! ..... "BONG!!!" ..... The rafters literally shake.... It's the cathedral bell from beginning of the song, "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC.... It sends chills up your spine... Then Trevor comes sprinting out from the bullpen as the song kicks in, cranked up loud. It's just one of those events that have to be experienced at the ballpark... It's great. Anyway, Trevor is a little like Tony Gwynn in that he is a lifelong Padre, a hometown hero, he's one of the greatest closers of all time, the all-time saves leader, and a future (probably) hall-of-famer... plus he's friggin 40 years old.

Fun weekend

I'm exhausted from the past few days.

Thursday night, we ran a 10K and then afterwards, I went to the Y and swam 500 meters. I slept very well Thursday night... totally wiped.

Friday night was the Home Opener for the Padres. Jodi, Rob, Jimmy and me had a great time. We weren't able to get downtown too early but we had time to eat a great dinner and still make it to the park on time. By the way, San Diego built a nice new ballpark downtown about 3 years ago and it is awesome. It's quite beautiful. Padres lost though. Jimmy's pics are here

Saturday morning, we ran another 10K which was fun and then we followed it by doing this big hill (I hate hills). Saturday afternoon, I had band practice which ran a little long but it was a good practice. We have a show coming up on 4/27 and are looking forward to that.

Sunday, we hiked Mt. Woodson, about 6.6 miles and 2000 vertical climb. The weather was cool and overcast so it actually was really nice for hiking but the views were limited at the top. Later in the day, Jodi hosted a nice Easter dinner party and we all gorged ourselves and hurt ourselves laughing at Rob's "Mile of Men" story.... let me just say he won't be dating any more professional football players... yes you read that right... she was a professional ballplayer who looked like John Goodman apparently.....

Monday, we did an easy 3 mile run after work but I was spent and it was rough... so now I'm home, had dinner, talked to Sean, watching the ball game and heading to bed.... zzzzz

2 Wheels!!!

Who needs those stinkin' training wheels?!?

Today was a very special day. Sean and I went to the park and decided to practice riding his bike. I told him I was going to raise his training wheels to the highest level and he was doing great. So I said, Let's take those training wheels off!!! This was met with a stubborn refusal.... Didn't like the idea one bit. It took him a little while and a promise of a chocolate milkshake to give it a try but he finally warmed up to it and we were off! He was definately nervous about the idea but we started on a grassy slope and tried that about 4-5 times then moved over to the sidewalk path where he was awesome! He actually did much better than I even hoped or expected him to do. He can ride just fine and can almost start all by himself but usually needed a slight push to get going. Stopping was getting better as the day went on and he can now stop pretty well without almost falling over. I was totally proud and excited for him.

Congrats to my sister!

Way to go Jeannie! My sister works for Konica / Minolta in the US headquarters in CT and she won a trip to Ireland this May! Last year she had won an award and at the ceremony last week for all of last year's winners, they held a grand prize drawing which she won.... Luckeee!

So I'm excited for her and Tony and really look forward to hearing about their trip. It will be great for the 2 of them to get off on their own for a week... Have a blast!

Trackin'

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to 5 rough tracks from our new forthcoming CD and I gotta tell you... I was really excited. In the past month or so, a number of new layers have been added to the various songs including keyboard tracks as well as multiple guitar tracks and finally the main vocals and I have to tell you... it sounds really good. I am genuinely excited about how it is progressing. It might take a little longer to come to life because of cost but it is going to be good.... stay tuned...

Yuma, AZ

Over the weekend, Jim, Val, TK, Sandra, and me made the trek out to Yuma, AZ for the annual Padres spring-training game in Yuma. It's about a 3 hour drive through the mountains and desert. The Padres used to hold spring training in Yuma before moving to Peoria, AZ (near Phoenix) where they share a nice facility with the Seattle Mariners. But now every year, they play one game in Yuma... it's nice because people from San Diego can make it a Day trip to Yuma whereas Peoria is too far (about a 6 hour drive).

Anyway, it was a great day and it brought to mind the last time we did this trip. I think it was in 2000.... TK, Marc, Gary and myself made the trip and it was a monumental day. My friend Gary is like the mayor in that he knows everyone. He's a professional musician and used to play in a party band with Tim Flannery. Flannery spent 25 years with the Padres organization (played for 11 seasons and was a Coach for 14 seasons before a brief stint as a broadcaster and he just recently became the 3rd base coach for the SF Giants for the 2007 season. )

So, during the game in Yuma in 2000, Gary networked with everyone as he always does. We hung out with the Roel family from Roel Construction as well as Graig Nettles' kids. Flannery kept coming over in b/w innings and BS'ing with Gary and he told us to wait after the game and he'd meet up with us.

The game ends, and we head back to where we're parked in the grass field and commence the post-game tailgate... it's not long before the parking lot clears and who shows up but Tim Flannery, Kevin Towers (the GM, General Manager for the Padres), and Greg Booker (the Pitching Coach for the Padres). Things got really interesting at that point. Flannery is originally from Kentucky and he brought out a flask full of moonshine he picked up when back home and passed it around. Gary had his guitar and we all hung out and sang songs, drank moonshine, and BS'ed for about an hour before they had to move on. It was just one of those really fun days. I'm going to try and post a pic or two if I can dig 'em up.

Are you "TechSexy"?

This week, the annual MMS 2007 (Microsoft Management Summit 2007) is taking place here in town. It's a big conference for people who manage large-scale network environments... basically a big geek-fest full of mostly middle-aged, pudgy white guys who work in IT... (yes I looked in the mirror this morning). People come from all over the world for it. I attended a couple sessions today and in one of the early sessions, the speaker started off by talking about "TechSexy" being the new catch-phrase for the year (he was joking) and he used it in the context of the new "exciting" features in the coming releases of applications. Anyway, the slide that got the biggest reaction from the crowd as an example of what is "TechSexy" was a picture of a Swiss army knife with a light-saber as one of the features.... the crowd went nuts... as I said, a total geek-fest... But it was kind of a cool knife though...

The "Y"

Another noteworthy item in my world lately is that I recently joined the Y. I've been running off and on in the past few years and recently stepped it up a little. I'm lucky to have a friend who we call "Coach" and is in all actuality, a bona-fide Coach who I depend on to keep me in some kind of "physical condition". Anyway, in addition to running with my friends 2-3 times per week, I wanted to get back in the gym and work on some upper-body strength. Believe it or not, there was a time when I regularly worked out at the gym (24-Hour Fitness) and was 175 lbs and somewhat defined and tone and in OK shape with abs and all that... :) (In fact, I remember it clearly as being b/w 4pm and 10pm on April 25, 1999.... )

Anyway... the point I wanted to make is... Why do most of the Commercial Gyms such as Gold's and 24-Hour insist on creating such a crappy environment during a prospective customer's exploratory or curious phase? Wouldn't it make more sense to lay out a welcoming environment as opposed to one where the pressure is completely on the current first visit ("Today only!"... "this deal will not be available if you leave and then come back.") Seriously, I would be much more inclined to consider their offer if I had the chance to do my research and then make the best decision for me. But they don't allow that! You either sign or walk.... and so of course I walk. I don't understand why they think this is the best course to follow but it doesn't matter.... read on...

The antidote to all that was the the YMCA. The first thing you notice is that it was an incredible environment... as good as any commercial gym. Great equipment.... large selection of stations... 2 great pools.... Also, there's no sales pressure... at all. You can sign up or not.... or come back next week and sign up then. Here's what it costs and that's it...

When I was at Gold's Gym, I swear it felt like I was at a car dealership.... the same 'ol crap...

Also, I've been really pleased with the programs that Sean has been involved with the past year at the Y. He's been in a couple soccer sessions and T-Ball and they all have been really well-run.

Working for a living.... (wurkin!)

The new job is ok so far. A lot to absorb. It is going to be more project management than anything. A lot of meetings and a lot of research and document/project management. It's unique in that there are numerous contractors/companies/or govt entities involved with the various IT projects we are responsible for. Each entity has its own responsibility and ours is to ensure the overall projects have a solution and stay on course and on time. Each of us in my group get assigned a number of technical projects that we need to make sure get accomplished accordingly.

I'm more accustomed to working in smaller and more efficient environments and doing hands-on work but I'm going to make the best of this opportunity. There are numerous positives which I tell myself to focus on.... decent hours, no pagers, great salary, steady work, great commute (10 mins), nice window office. The bottom-line is we are responsible for the Navy's IT platforms (network, servers, pc's) on shipboard environments.

Hmmmm...

The only problem with hosting a blog is the obligation to keep it up on a regular if not daily basis. :) This is why I dropped it a couple years ago... never been one to keep a journal or diary, although I always wished I had. Anyway, what to report...? St Patrick's Day was fun. Sean had an early soccer game (they won their first game and also scored their first goals in 3 games... of course, at 5 years old, they don't really care one way or the other which is refreshing). After the game, we headed down to Balboa Park for the annual parade and hooked up with a group of friends and had fun. Sean enjoyed the kid's jumpy things (you know... those big blow up things). He really liked the dinosaur obstacle course. It was pretty elaborate and took him a few minutes to get through it. After we left, my friends called a couple hours later from the beer garden where the party had kicked into serious overdrive. Apparently, the bands were excellent this year and had everyone dancing for a couple hours.

Mammoth 07

My other fun Winter trip this year was a 5 day excursion to Mammoth Mountain in late Feb. I've been going to Mammoth almost every year since 1997 and it is my favorite ski getaway. This year, prior to arriving, the snow level had been a little on the weak side... However, on the day we arrived, the snow kicked in BIG time and our first day of skiing was actually difficult.... for the most part a high-wind, blizzard-like day... No exaggeration... :-) . In fact, Mammoth had shut down most of the mountain due to the high winds and conditions. Our 2nd and 3rd day of skiing turned out to be pretty good, with tons of powder. Unfortunately, during our time there this year, they were never able to open up the entire mountain, including the top, of course, which is fun but sometimes closed due to high winds even on normal days. Anyway... all-in-all a very fun trip. The skiing was good. I had many more opportunities to work on deeper powder which is tough! I did miss skiing off the cornice and the top of the mountain but to be honest, due to my health insurance situation (none at the moment) .... I was fine with not pushing the envelope too far.... :). Check out the great pics from our trip here. Thanks Jim!.

Catalina, Feb. 2007

Believe it or not.... I haven't been to Catalina before in the 10 years that I've lived in SoCal. It's hard to believe in that it is so close and that its Island Vibe is so contagious and yet... I haven't explored it. Honestly, I knew that I'd love this place way before I ever set foot on the island... Sometimes you just know. Anyway, it did live up to expectations. It really is an ideal weekend getaway. It has History, Nature, Fun Bars and good restaurants. This February, Jodi and I joined a group of friends who go there every year for the Buffalo Run, arguably the hardest half-marathon in the country. It is very hilly and the majority of the course is a trail run, which means it is just basically much tougher... Anyway... while my friends were out running their race, i went on a 6 mile hike which was fun, but tough. I barely made it back in time for my friends to begin crossing the Finish Line.... Overall, the trip was a total blast. We stayed in a hotel in the small town of Avalon and really had a good time. Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed the fun dinners with friends, the bars, the scenery, and the overall vibe.

A toe in the Water...

Indeed.... I'm out of practice. Over the next couple weeks, I'll try to get this thing back to date. At the moment.. it's March Madness Time which is always great... Like everyone else, I enjoy this time of year but I'm trying to have a life outside of TV and professional or televised sports and I'm making progress... but it's tough. My biggest obstacles are News, Sports and Documentary TV.... More specifically.... in no particular order... ESPN, Fox news, MSNBC, A&E, Discovery, Spike, Comedy channel, History Channel ... etc...

Huh?

Damn... how the hell is this thing still being hosted? Almost a year and a half since I've had anything worth posting.... Reading back through it made me laugh. Anyway, after an otherwise completely shitty 12 months and a slightly better than shitty 6 months, my sister Sue guilt-tripped me into updating this thing... So for now, just wanted to say I'm still here... not dead yet.... in case anyone was wondering... Living in the sunshine in San Diego... :)

All in all, things are OK. New job, new life, a great 5 year old son who makes me laugh, many old friends, and some new ones...

Ha Ha

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a sailing rally onboard the "Bad Kitty" down to Mexico. I was gone about 2.5 weeks and it was great. Our journey covered a little over 900 miles and consistedof 4 legs. (The official rally ended in Cabo after the 3rd leg at which point everybody continues on their own way). (http://www.baja-haha.com)

Leg 1: San Diego - Bahia Tortugas (Turtle bay)
3 days/3 nights underway. We left SD with about 130 other boats on Halloween, Oct 31. There had been a costume party the day before and everyone was in high spirits and excited about the trip. Weather reports were good for the coming days. Wind was great for the first day, but by the 2nd and 3rd day, there wasn't much. By nightfall of the first day, all the boats were pretty much spread out so all we could see was 3 or 4 others. We also took a course quite a bit offshore (30 miles or so) and I think there was less wind out there. The "Bad Kitty" is a motorsailor and we did more motoring than sailing. Most others reported they had to motor most of the way as well but there some who were able to sail almost the entire leg. We hit some heavy fog near Cedros Island, just north of Bahia Tortugas, the night before we pulled in. That was fun, but with the radar, we had no problems.

Bahia Tortugas is a tiny fishing village and they love having all the cruise boats come each year. Apparently they look forward to it because it is a boon to their economy. They organized a big beach party on the 2nd day at anchor which was a lot of fun.

Leg 2: Bahia Tortugas - Bahia Santa Maria
2 days/2 nights underway. Again, there wasn't much wind so we motored a lot. One of our crew members who had been sick for the entire first leg is finally able to stay vertical for this leg. She had been a last minute crew addition (she was supposed to be on another boat which was having electrical problems and wasn't able to leave on time, so Captain Larry invited her to come with us). One pleasant surprise is that Gary, the captain's brother, is a great cook and makes some great meals for us while underway.

Bahia Santa Maria is a wonderful bay and anchorage. The water is crystal clear and the mountains protecting the anchorage are beautiful. There is nothing at all here... no town or development of any kind. There is only a small fish camp but the fishermen don't live here permanently. I really liked this bay and can see how it would be so peaceful to be here after all the other boats left.

Leg 3: Bahia Santa Maria - Cabo San Lucas
1.5 days/2 nights underway. Finally some wind! 15 knots from the north pushing us downhill towards the cape. Swells are pretty big but also from the north and it is a pretty nice sail to Cabo. On all the legs, the biggest obstacles were cruise ships at night which run up and down the Baja coast. Each night, we'd usually see one or two and it can be a little tense because they can be hard to determine their relative position and whether they will be passing to port or starboard. The problem is they are lit up like christmas trees and it can be hard to distinguish their navigation lights.

Cabo is a great spot but very expensive. It is not a very big town but a big resort destination. Beautifully clear water. We were anchored in about 28feet and could see the bottom. One problem we had at all the anchorages was that our outboard for the dinghy was not working. Thankfully, each place had amigos in "pangas" that would ferry you to shore for a fee (usually $1/person but Cabo was $3/person). Pangas are utility boats about 18-20 feet long and used for everything from fishing to water taxis.

Leg 4: Cabo San Lucas - Mazatlan
2 days / 2 nights underway. Mazatlan is almost due east from Cabo across the Sea of Cortez on the Mexican mainland. No wind at the start but boy did that change! About 6 hours after we left, we cleared the Baja landmass and the winds from the north started blowing hard. For about 36 hours or so we had solid 15-25 knot winds off our port beam and gusts in the mid-30's. We had to reef the sails. The seas were really choppy and rough with big swells almost the entire way over. Finally it calmed down a few hours out of Mazatlan.

Mazatlan is a large seaside working city. It has miles of beaches and 3 islands right off the coast. We put the "Bad Kitty" into its marina where it will be based for the next month and had lunch. After checking out the town for a couple days, I flew back home.

It was a great trip. I got to hang out with my friend Tom O'Neill, who was on another boat, while at the different anchorages. I also met some very nice people from all walks of life. Capt. Larry and Bad Kitty will be in Mexico for 6 months at which point next spring, he'll put the boat in a yard in San Carlos (north part of Sea of Cortez) and come home for the summer. I believe he plans to keep the boat in Mexico and go back each winter. A lot of people do this. Many boats who participated in the rally plan on doing extended crusing after spending the winter in Mexico with plans to go to the South Pacific and beyond. While we were in Mazatlan, we met 3 or 4 boats who had been cruising for the past 5-6 years. One boat had a married couple who'd been cruising for the past 11 years. Also, there were a surprising number of families who had come down with us as part of the rally. At least 8 boats I can think of had families with kids (one as young as 15 months!).

When in doubt... A Buffett show always helps...

I went to the Buffett show in Pittsburgh tonight at the new baseball park, PNC Park. I grew up here in Pitt and my sister and brother-and-law still live here so I hooked up with them and all their friends. It was great. A hot day but it worked out OK.

Anyway, I'm excited about going whitewater rafting on the New River in WV next week. It is supposed to the best rafting on the East coast. Btw, I sold my house and I am now officially homeless... at least until I figure out what I'm doing..... :)

"Buried in alligators up to my butt...25 years or more" (Gary Seiler)

A couple of friends have recently released new CD's....

My buddy Gary Seiler (http://garyseiler.com/) is on a roll.....literally! He's currently out on the road promoting his great new CD release. This is his second CD; "He's Finally Living" is a sweet collection of salt-water stories of which he is a master. Surfing, Mexico, steel-guitar, mellow vibes... these concepts and sounds always equal = Gary Seiler. Gary's new songs strike a chord with all of us who dream of a sun-drenched lagoon with the palms giving up a little shade and the trade winds blowing steady. (Cozumel, Gone Surfin). Gary shows a pretty personal side in I Gotta Get Out Of This Place (my favorite) and He's Finally Living. He also shows off his roots in a hidden track sung in German. Tasty traditional country sounds come forth on She Wants Him. Kevin Ryan's steel guitar provides a sweet hawaiin-style backdrop on most songs on the CD. Crack open a coconut, mix up some Mai Tai's, put "He's Finally Living" on the your CD player and who could ask for more?

"It ain't the ball game... it's only one inning of play" (Joe Rathburn)

Joe Rathburn recently came out with a Live 2 CD set (http://joerathburn.com) which I can't seem to get off my player. Joe is one of my favorite artists and songwriters from San Diego and a friend who is the most amazing songwriter and guitar-player. This CD set is just incredible... period. He has a few new songs on it which I just love... (Stumbling Blocks & Don't let it Slip Away) and my old favorites are there and I like the live versions even better than the studio versions (Sunshine through the Rain, Spaceship, What Don't kill Ya, Never Will Kill This Thing, The Dad I Had, The Way of the World). Joe and his friend Dave Beldock are both incredible guitarists.

Unplanned trip...

Just got back from a very impromptu trip to SoCal to see my son, Sean. I have had another trip planned for mid-April but could not wait until then since he had been asking for me. I go out to visit each month but because of Easter, I almost did not go in March due to scheduling conflicts and airfare. Anyway, I made the decision on Tuesday 3/22 and left on Thur, 3/24. It was great to see him but as you might expect, it always takes an emotional toll. The bottom line is that he is doing really well and that is what is important.

We hiked up Cowles Mountain and he made it up about 3/4 of the way! Of course, I then had to carry him the rest of the way up and then back down. He crashed on my shoulder on the way back down, he was so tuckered out. If there is anything better than having your son fall asleep on your shoulder, I haven't yet experienced it. This is probably one of my most favorite things. Luckily for me, he happens to fall asleep on my shoulder a lot. Do you think we might be running him too hard? :)

Speaking of those Bead Whores...

Speaking of those Bead Whores... HD (blue) and MB (pink) grabbing the bull by the horns... no wait, grabbing the cow by the nips.... forget it, now I'm confused...