The art of finding the perfect spot for #2

Bono has been around for close to 7 years. They've been 7 great years. I guess he is middle-aged if you do the doggie to human conversion of 7 x 7 = 49 years old.

He has done a lot of pooping in that 7 years, basically all of which I willingly and purposely pick up (with special double ply bags from PetSmart).

However, instead of finding where he wants to go quickly, he decides to pace back and forth, back and forth for 6, 7, 8 round trips...smelling many spots, sometimes giving the squat pump fake, sometimes stopping and just staring at me.

He does this along the ridge on the side of our condo complex. He usually does it when I'm in a rush.

So here is a series of pictures of his pacing. Don't all get excited at once!





Below he finds the spot! The pictures end here :)

CT Scan Shenanigans

I have to get a CT scan every year or so to see if the testicular cancer is trying to make a comeback and sneak up on me.  Typically the worst part is drinking the Barium Suspension shake crap (that's a technical term) before the scan.  

The scan was scheduled for 7:30am, so nothing except water after midnight, the first Barium shake at 6am and the second at 6:30am.  I can usually chug the first half of the bottle before my body realizes what it's drinking.

The Barium helps the gastrointestinal show up on the CT scan.  Besides the Barium they also to Iodine contrast through an IV.  This leads me to the "shenanigans."  The guy who started prepping me for the scan was busy, so he told the "new girl" to get my IV going.  

After one try with no success (I didn't mind that too much), she got the IV started on the second try.  That's where the good news ended.  She couldn't twist off the tube you see below.  She tried and tried, but had to leave to get someone else.  There was no danger, just made for a funny photo.

For those that haven't had a CT Scan, they are fairly quick (at least the chest/abdomen/pelvis ones I've had are).  The Iodine IV contrast is a little weird.  Once they start it, it gives you a warm sensation all over your body and a metallic taste in your mouth.

The CT scan day was a great one though.  After the scan Cezanne and I went to the Hash House for breakfast...awesome as usual.  The size of the pancakes NEVER cease to amaze me.  From there we met with our Priest, Father Andrew, about Cezanne's baptism.  We got it scheduled for Monday, September 29th.

It is going to be classic "my big fat Greek wedding" complete with the little pool and dunking in the water!  I love it!

Shorter days...

It's been a while since my last blog update. I know the masses have been on the edge of their seats. Well, let's say that probably about 3 readers have been laid back in their seats, not paying much attention.

It's been busy lately getting ready for the move to D.C. I owe a couple of blogs from my trip back to Annapolis and a funny CT scan episode. The trip to Annapolis was great. Got to spend a lot of time with family and get in some good and beautiful rides.

I had the difficult schedule of (1) dropping off my Mom at work at the Naval Academy, (2) stopping by Hard Bean for a latte (and sometimes a scone), (3) eating a relaxing breakfast while watching TV at my Mom's, (4) going on a "before it gets too hot" bike ride, (5) having lunch, (6) heading over to Jon and Jen's (bro and sister-in-law's) to hang out and play with the kids and get my kid fix and (7) have a nice dinner with family!

The days don't get much better than that.

Now to the subject of this post. Sunset yesterday was at 6:53pm, with today's at 6:52pm. I guess summer is winding down. Pretty soon with the shift to daily savings time it will be worse. Over the winter here in San Diego there is a period where sunset is around 4:50pm. That's no fun.

So yesterday I got in a nice ride on my usual route and got home around 6:55pm. Near the Torrey Pines and La Jolla Village Drive interesection I snapped the below pic.


It is a reminder of the shorter days and less time for riding.

I was following a guy on a Cervelo P3 yesterday. It was a nice rig complete with Zipp 606 clinchers. I passed him coming down Torrey Pines hill. I thought he might use the aero to his advantage, but I also figured the TT bike is a little harder to handle going 35-40mph with the odd tree root bump in the bike path.

He later told me that he takes it easy on the downhills unless it's a race since he already has 2 titanium plates in his spine. Good idea.

Palomar Ride with Toon

Toon (Mike Toribio) and I hit up Palomar Mountain for a ride this past Monday. We thought since it was Labor Day we should labor up a huge climb. I know, that was so cheesy, that's why I said it.

I call Palomar the Alpe d' Huez of California. I don't know how accurate that is though. It's about 7 miles at about 7% with about 13-15 switchbacks. That's a lot of "abouts."

We decided to set out early and meet at 7am at a spot about 20 miles from the ride. I promptly set my alarm for 5:15am, made sure it was set for the "weekend" and went to sleep. Turns out Monday is not on the weekend, who knew? I was up at 4:40am for a bathroom break and fell back asleep only to be woken up by Cezanne at 6:35am saying it looked a little light outside.

Ooops. Chaos ensued. A quick text message to Toon and Cezanne (being the little trooper she is) helped me get everything ready, including mixing my drink bottles with Accelerade.

Here is the ride below. We went clockwise from the red marker, a 2 mile warm-up before the climb.

This is the climb, all squiggly.

We actually had fun this time instead of crushing ourselves on it. This was Toon's 4th or so ride after coming back from deployment and he did awesome!

Here he is in his USNA get up, hydrating at the bottom of the climb. The Madone...freshly tuned up.


We were encouraged when we saw a lot of cloud cover, until we got within about 5 miles of the start of the ride. Here is a hot, long, steep stretch.

Beautiful curves. There were a ton of motorcycle riders out as we expected. No issues at all, we didn't get buzzed close once.

Here's Toon crushing it up the last couple of meters. He always has to be first. He sprinted when I took the camera out. Slimy tactic! Just kidding.

Now on to some sad news. Cezanne and I have been cleaning out the storage unit lately in preparation for the move to D.C. and every time I go I have to stare at what's become of my mountain bike. Sad. It still has mud on it from 4 years ago. Not joking. Back tire is flat, front one really soft, no seatpost, I don't know if it even shifts.

One of these days I'll get her cleaned up and riding again. Something about hopping on a 30+ pound bike isn't too appealing when you're riding at half that weight. But then again, I used to love mountain biking.

Spam and canned meat, the art of shopping for a large family?

This picture doesn't even do the full story justice. I think these "cans o' meat" represent about a third of the total cans o' meat that this family (looked like Mom and Grandma) had in their shopping cart.

I made Cezanne take the picture. I'm such a wimp. I don't think I've ever had Spam and I'm not sure what else this family had in these surely tasty little cans. I also counted more than 10 cartons of 18 eggs. That's close to 200 eggs!!!

Who are they feeding?


Cezanne and I have started to shop at the Commissary a little more. We kind of trade off between Trader Joes and the Commissary. You can actually get good quality, healthy stuff at the exchange.

For some reason I like to take pictures of food. Not sure why. But I prefer the below meal (steak, brown rice, and salad) to canned meat. Who knows, someday I may become a can o' meat man. What I won't become is a Vodka a Ramen noodles man.

Cezanne and I were walking to a restaurant in Venice Beach a few weeks ago (before the Coldplay concert) and we overheard a guy say something about not having much money and that he was heading to pick up a bottle of vodka and some ramen noodles. I think the ramen noodles are something like 25 cents each. Interesting combo.


In preparation for renting our condo and to enjoy for the next 2 months, we finally had our laminate wood flooring installed. We got it from Lumber Liquidators and had "Henry" install it. Cezanne saw him installing it at another place and he did a great job, his price was reasonable, so we hired him. He did a really good job.

We moved a lot of stuff out of the condo to make it easier for him. It's all in my 4Runner and it's staying in there. The place looks so nice with less clutter, so we are reluctant to bring it back in. Meanwhile my 4Runner is doubling as a storage unit.


After I was out the front door getting ready to leave for my Tuesday bike ride I decided it was a little chilly and that I need my arm warmers. I was in full Slipstream get-up, so I asked Cezanne to grab them (no walking inside with my cycling shoes on).

She came back out wearing them. She's almost as nutty as me. I think it's a good look! And check out that bling!

Cezanne is at a work function/dinner tonight at the Melting Pot, hence my blogging. What am I going to do now? Eat ice cream and watch the Olympics. Luckily track and field just came on, replacing the 10 meter platform diving. I was getting ready to jump out the window.

I'm letting the ice cream sit out for about 15 minutes this time though. I let it sit 5 minutes last time and could only manage tiny scoops, but suceeded in flinging one of those scoops across the kitchen as it suddenly became loose as well as tearing one side of the carton all the way down. Trying to avoid that this time.

They finally delivered my yacht

First off, just want to point out that Cervelo has added a new frame to their "aero" road frame line-up, the S3. Pretty sweet. When I saw them during the Olympics I thought it was just an SLC-SL with a white paint job. It basically is, but apparently with a little more aero AND vertically compliant seatstays and chainstays. Nice.

Check it out: http://www.cervelo.com/bikes.aspx?bike=S32009

Back to the subject of this posting. A while back I came across an extra $10 million just hanging around under the sofa cushions, so I ordered a yacht...over the internet, sight unseen.

It finally arrived in San Diego last week. They threw in a helicopter for free. Any SH-60 bubba's out there want to be my personal pilot?


Clearly I was joking about happening upon all that money. I just want to point that out (and the fact that there is not a single dollar bill in my wallet right now) so any crazy person who happens upon this blog doesn't come to knock me off for my money!

The pic below is a little off-kilter. I was driving down La Jolla Shores Drive this past Saturday (after a fun club ride) to meet Cezanne and her friend Deb for lunch and I caught a glimpse of a couple of gliders from the "glider port." I could only get my phone out in time to get a pic of one of them.

It was an absolutely beautiful day... a little humid for my SoCal blood, but I can't complain, at all.


I can't complain because I've had it good in the weather department for the past 5 years; besides the wild fires last October. Monterey/Carmel for just over 2 years and San Diego for 3 years, it really doesn't get a whole lot better than that.

Like most things, it has come to an end. Washington D.C. here we come. Home of hot and humid summers with winters full of cold rain, freezing rain and sleet. The cross-country drive will be starting October 15th, with stops (planned) in Oklahoma to see Cezanne's Dad, Michigan to see Mike & Cathy Cisek and their daughter Norah (partly because we kept saying we were going to plan a trip out and never did and mainly because they are the best peeps!), then Meadville, Pennsylvania (WHAT!!!/WHERE???) to meet Cezanne's Grandparents (on her Dad's side) for the first time.

Her "Pap-pap" is an old Greek man and a WWII paratrooper vet. They own a KFC, so I'm looking forward to eating that for the first time in at least 7 years.



The above pic is a little further down La Jolla Shores Drive. I've almost wrecked before coming down this road. The tight turn kind of sneaks up on you.

I've been a little down about cycling lately. I know I've only been doing it recreationally (is that a word?) for 3 years and stepped it up a little this past year, but I was a little bummed about not doing better in the 2 beginner races I did this year.

I've been on a couple of training rides these past few weeks where I felt really lackluster and unmotivated. There were points where I didn't have a lot of pep in my cycling and felt like I couldn't push any harder/dig any deeper even though I wasn't really anywhere near my limit.

It may have to do with my loading up on swimming and running for the Annapolis Triathlon and my body probably isn't happy with the change and with the extra physical activity. Come to find out just last week that Anne Arundel County did not approve the Annapolis Tri's permit for the bike route of the triathlon! Crazy!

So, there is no bike and they are planning on possibly doing an aquathlon (swim then run). The Annapolis Tri folks said they submitted the necessary paperwork this past February, got the tentative "looks good, go ahead" only to get it disapproved a month before the event. I was actually almost happy to stop running and swimming, but my bro Jonnie wants to still do the aquathlon...so I'm still running and swimming.

That is frustrating. They had the inaugural Annapolis Tri start downtown in Annapolis and with staging there and at the Navy Stadium, but residents complained and they moved it out to Sandy Point state park for this year. Lame. I also heard that people complained about it being on a Sunday while they were trying to get to church...well, if you move it to Saturday, what about the people going to temple?

But anyway, the club ride this past Saturday lifted my spirits and re-peaked my love for cycling. It's nothing special, a 46-mile "B" club ride, but it was a ton of fun. I'm typically at the front of the B-ride, mixing it up with the strong folks. Given my feelings lately and a little less riding volume, I thought this would be more of a "hang back" ride and get used to it again.

This wasn't the case. There is this guy who is always punishing people with his legs and putting the hammer down on these rides (in a nice way, he's not a jerk at all). He is older, probably 45, with thighs twice the size of mine. He is a racer, I'm just not sure what Category.

Anyway, I got on his wheel at about 29mph winding up into the final big sprint before the stop at Java Depot. He seems to always find the right path. Long blog longer...I followed him, he held me off, but I was able to take second in the sprint and didn't get out of the saddle (I was trying to pull a Cancelara). Although not a huge deal, it made me feel good. Sometimes that's all you need.

Well, I'll end this long blog with a pic of Bono, peering up at me. By the way, that is Cezanne's hand, I don't have a ring with Diamonds around it, although I REALLY want one! :)

The Best Pup

One of the good things about getting a new phone that connects to your computer is that you're a lot more likely to take pictures with it.

My little Bono is the best pup going (had to put in a "dog" blog post after JW's), so I tend to take a lot of pictures of him. Don't let him fool you, he always looks sad, but he has a good life.

I think he was hiding from the vacuum cleaner in this pic. I guess I didn't help by chasing him around with it when he was a puppy (he's now 7).


We had some guests over today (hence the vacuuming) and Bono was as needy as ever. I was sitting indian style on the floor and he came over and sat right in my lap. He proceeded to put all his weight on me and lay across me. It lasted for a good 5-10 mintues before I had to tell him to get up.


Sometimes he curls up into a ball. He loves "rides" in the car, so when we mentioned our pending "ride" cross country this October, he got all excited.

It's fun for about the first hour, but then by the second hour it gets a little annoying when you don't want the windows down (at 70 mph) and he is just standing patiently with his nose at the window and looking at you waiting for you to roll down the window (more like trying to will the window down).