Christmas Day

After a social ride and a delicious lunch at Jesse and Kristy's house we joined Cindy and Roberto at a beach near their place with Cino the dog.

Christmas in Hawaii

Santa brought Marianne a new helmet, a new calphalon frying pan for me, and kitty got to play in the box. Later that morning we met 4 other couples for a Christmas bike ride and brunch that Marianne and Kristy set up.

Saturday Jesse and I rode over to the North Shore and after some coffee decided to ride around the island. After 60 or so miles though we decided that was enough and stopped for lunch in Kaneohe.

This past Friday Marianne had off work so we went over to the North shore to check out some big waves. That afternoon we dressed up nice and went to our friend Jesse's promotion to Major party at the O club. I think we clean up well.

Technical difficulties

It seems the blogger site is having troubles putting up pictures again. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I will try again tomorrow.

Out on the Water

Sunday we loaded up the kayak and went out to Kailua with Jesse and Kristy for some fun on the high seas. Our goal was to try and paddle down the coast to the AF recreation center at Bellows which we did. It's always extra exciting trying to get through the braking waves when you launch or return in a kayak and Kristy entertained us when we were beaching them at Bellows with a nice uncontrolled barrel roll in the surf. Jesse had been swimming behind supposedly getting a workout but I think he planned it that way. No harm done except Jesse's sunglasses ended up in Davy Jones locker. While we were there we did some bodyboarding. We all caught some good waves and also were pummeled a few times since the surf was up a bit. Jesse pointed out to me that "people plan and save all year to experience what we can do whenever we please". This struck a chord with me because I am the king of taking things for granted. He is right. Living here does not suck.

Living here does not suck

Saturday night we went to Marianne's flight christmas party at her friend Marie's house in Kaneohe. She has an awesome view of the bay from her deck and the food was all delicious. Marianne accompanied Marie on the piano with a soulful rendition of chopsticks

So, for only being on the ground 3 days I accomplished alot and got home Friday night totally exhausted. Kitty made the trip in fine form and transitioned from desert to tropics immediatley.

A short trip to the mainland

Last week I flew to Tucson to pick up our cat "Kitty" who we left stranded 3 months ago on our way to Tahiti. Marianne's Mom and Dad were kind enough to look after her until we were settled here. My son Tyson flew out from PA so we could knock around together for a few days and he also helped Bill and I paint Bill's house. It was good seeing him and all our family there. We got into the Christmas spirit at my nephew Christian and niece Isabell's Christmas pagent at their school. Tyson and I went on a hike in the Catalina's one morning and also went by our house in the foothills and checked out some new carpet I had installed between renters and ripped up some horrible old outdoor carpeting on the back patio. It was a jam packed 3 days. I should have made the plane reservations for a few more days but oh well.

Ska music, bikes, lost sightings

I was listening to a podcast on i tunes a few weeks ago and heard talk of finding alot of great bands on myspace. Having always thought myspace was a way for 14 year olds to tell everyone how hard and meaningless their lives were I had never bothered checking it out. Turns out that it is a goldmine of good music, including ska which I am a huge fan of. I still refuse to put up a profile on the site though.

Went for a good ride early Saturday morning over to the North shore with friends Jesse and Kristy. I enjoy riding with them for a lot of reasons but #1 is that we are always going fairly hard and most days my needle is pegged into the red for just about the whole ride. They are both very strong cyclists and after all that solo training last year I enjoy getting beat up and trying to dish some out too.

We did stop once for some caffine and had a celebrity sighting in line behind us at starbucks. It was Terry O'Quinn who plays John Locke on the tv show "Lost" which is filmed over there. I should find out when it's on and watch it sometime.

I'm off to Tucson today with a few different objectives. #1 is pick up our cat who we left stranded there during our move here a few months ago. I'm sure she (kitty) will be thrilled to shoved in a box and a cargo hold for 6 hours. My son Tyson is also flying out from PA for a visit. Him and I are going to lend a hand painting my in laws home there.

And speaking of bikes.........

We weren't in the market for it but fate conspired for us to buy Marianne a new road bike. Some friends of ours had ordered it with some special deal which meant they couldn't return it when it turned out to be too big. It's a Felt F3C full up carbon with all Dura Ace except for the FSA carbon compact crank. It's insanely light, fits Marianne great, and bonus! It was about a grand off of list. This bike could make me give up titanium.

Alternative transportation

This is my main mode of transportation these days. We chose were to live very carefully so as to minimize driving. The cars mostly sit in the garage all week which is fine with me. This place has too many cars anyway. I've made some very interesting observations though. People aren't sure how to treat you when you ride up on a bike here. Your obviously poor or crazy, probably both, and should be avoided, scorned or felt sorry for. I revel in the car challenged prejudice. It's amazing how peoples identities are wrapped around their idiotic cars. My second observation is that if you are god forbid walking somewhere, you must display your socioconomic status by talking on your cell phone while listening to your I pod. Even better is to have a remote earpiece for your phone so you can look like your talking to yourself. I often wonder, who the hell are these people talking to!??? I'm done drinking the kool aid that society feeds us, ie I don't want the newest piece of electronic junk or the flashiest auto. I can always use another bike though.