Mayhem and Marathons...

I swear I keep wanting and telling myself that I need to update this, but with so much going on and since I am on the computer for most of the day I really like to go home and just chill. Looking at a screen for a few more hours just isnt in me as much as it once was. But oh well, we keep going and moving forward, dont we?

I spent Memorial Day getting up kinda early and taking the Metro to Downtown LA and see the LA Marathon. I've lived here for a long time and I never went. I must say how inspiring! I was very impressed by the amount of people showing up to support but the amount of runners that also showed up even though it was a holiday. By the way, there were 18,000ish runners this year versus 30,000+ish. Still nice to watch.

I had two friends that ran as well and I feel horrible because I was crammed with all the other people on mile 26 near the finish line and my first friend blew right past me without me noticing him! I must have been adjusting my camera or something because the next thing I know he is calling me asking where I am at! DOH! So i talked to him and said congrats and stuff and waited for my other friend to come down the line.

Inspiring to say the least...

At about 5h 30m I got a call from Sam and she told me she was at mile 24 and heading my way. I told her where I was and what side I was on and waited patiently for her arrival. I shot pictures of numerous people on their last mile, some in a full sprint and some just clinging to the very fact that they were still walking and ready to topple at any second. Its amazing to see that the human condition in such style. The crowd cheering those that are in the last sprint using all their energy to finish and the crowd roaring to motivate those that can barely walk.

Then I see Sam.

She is wincing in pain, leaning to her left side, teeth bared and pushing as hard as she can using every bit of energy that she can muster to CROSS THAT FINISH LINE!

Of course everyone turns and looks at me when I am screaming at her RUN!!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! RUN SAM!!!!

She crossed, just under 6 hours.

This was her 4th LA Marathon.

Proud to be her friend is an understatement.

She was worshipped that day for her dedication.

Great job SAM!

As promised...

Ok, so as promised I would go ahead and put up another post.  Most folks out there blogging are putting up stuff relevant to what they do, or maybe what they like or just want to share with the world their families because I really believe they think that there may be a sort of a way to "leave their mark" on the world.

Nah...not gonna do that.

I am more of the type that spent the most of my 20's hanging out at a coffee bar writing down thoughts and observations of things that were happening.  I spent alot of time at a particular coffee bar called Portfolio in Long Beach, CA and met alot of really great and interesting people. I loved the fact that I lived a block away from a local bar and a block away from a coffeehouse.  So depending on how my evening was going would determine the location that I would end up.

Not so much now.

Pasadena is a bit different in which I have to drive somewhere to go to the bar, let alone go to a coffeehouse.  Starbucks is ok but I am not thrilled with the ambiance of it.  I feel rushed there, and mostly going in to get a cup of joe in the morning is what it really is good for.  Portfolio however, was a hangout.  Something about that place brought out the creativity and spontaneity in people.  Now for most people that didnt know about Long Beach I used to affectionately call it Punk Rock retirement.  Kinda like Florida for the Snowbirds on the East Coast.  The populace that is out there pretty much think Long Beach was the home of Sublime and of course, Snoop Dogg and the world famous West Coast Choppers.  Yeah, that was cool and all but the people that were living the hard edged lifestyle that didnt want to fully give it up ended up settling there.  that is what I loved about that place.  Portfolio seemed to be at the time the unofficial center of Long Beach due to the fact that if you weren't gangster, then you didnt move north of 4th street.  South of that you were good to go.  The unofficial center seemed to be the gathering place of the people before or after they went out; and that was fine by me.  I spent hours there talking to people, reading, writing and smoking a ton of cigarettes and talking.  I have many of good friends that I still talk to that I met almost a decade ago.

So now that the rambling has started, my point is this:  More writing and more expressing my thoughts in this little digital corner of my life and it is not going to be about my family, or my job (even though I admit I think its cool), this is more about the experiences of my life.

It may get boring at times but if you think about it, when does is not?

And when it gets interesting, then you better hope that you got your helmet on.... til the next round at least.

My how time flies

So I guess that I really havent caught onto this whole blog thing... Just when i thought I would start to do one I hear a report that blogging is dead.

Par for the course I guess.

to those that may be reading this (I would assume nobody but that is OK) I will work on a new update...

...coming from the noise inside my head!

Bison, Bears and Elk, Oh My!!!!

So I spent the 4th of July weekend up in Jackson, Wyoming, and I must say how beautiful it was up there. Tons of wildlife and the views were epic. Between all the animals and the lakes and rivers I am very much surprised that Jackson is really known only for skiing in the winter. Ironically, the summertime is much more beautiful than anything that I have seen in a while and I am only a half day away from Yosemite!

My friend Cinda who lives and works up there (shameless plug - Grand Teton Lodge Company http://www.gtlc.com/) stated to me that since it really only stopped snowing a month ago, that this was spring time and the amount of Flowers that were up there were incredible!

The flower above (I have no idea what the name is) I shot when I was in Yellowstone near one of the hot springs (actually about 20 feet from one) and it had the most vivid yellow's and reds. There were more of these types of flowers all over the place but not as brightly colored as this one.

Ok, I'm getting off point here, so the main reason why I decided to post this was because I have seen much wildlife (and not from the zoo). I have seen Bobcats, Owl, plenty of birds, deer, etc....

I have even been chased by a bear (aaahhh... youth). But I know that one of the high points of going to Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons is the amount of wildlife you get to see.

I must say that it was an amazing experience. Especially from the pic above. Being from SoCal, the opportunity to see a Bald Eagle in person is a rarity, much less getting pretty close to one (I got within 25 feet to take this pic)!

So having such a great, amazing and enlightened time, it was time for me to go home. The only sad part of my trip was that I only saw 1 moose, and 1 bear. So loading up my luggage into the van to go to the airport, I heard over the radio from the dispatch that there was a Grizzly bear and her cubs (or maybe a Brown Bear, no matter) within the area and the Park Rangers were on their way. Not thinking much of it, I loaded up and was on the road.

Ironically enough, we are driving thru the exact area where the bear and her cubs were at. At that moment, I wish I had a camera!!!!!!!! I was so mad that mine was in my luggage!

...and why you ask, I was so mad that I didnt have my camera? The answer is, the bear and her cubs werent the reason...

It was the 30+ idiots that were within 30 feet of a very aggressive animal (with her cubs!) and the Park Rangers that were sent there were basically running crowd control.

As I passed by in the van (as the driver is slowing down as to not hit anyone that is OUT of there cars and running back and forth in the middle of the road), these people began screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs for us to MOVE.

I dont think this too often, but to quote Yogi Bear, "Smarter than the average bear" is definately not us human beings.... we think that we are still top of the food chain and that we are the reason that life on this planet is possible, not to mention that people still think that we are the center of the universe.

I just wanted the bear to attack somebody... really I swear I did.

Because most people just dont get it.


And that, bothers the hell outta me.

Greetings!

Greetings Everyone!

Just created this because I am soooooo behind the times! But I do plan on getting this up and running with random thoughts, observations, musings and the like.

I do hope you stop by and look around when this is finished.

Welcome to my life! Here we go!