Quirky habits...

I have these quirky habits that turn people off.



I can't seem to avoid salt shakers when dining out. It's nasty habit I learned in my physics class in highschool. Safer with salt shakers than glass of water (found out the hard way). With a minimal amount of salt (or sugar), you can balance just about anything. In school, we used a flask to demonstrate that an object's stability is dependent on location of its center of mass.




I balanced a bottle of Eberle's Viognier at home to show Tianna. She was really interested in learning why this worked. (A few grains of salt (less than shown) are actually needed to hold the bottle in place). Great way to get kids interested in science.

Didn't you just love Science in school?? I loved being in school and in an academic environment. I'd like to return and get my PhD some day soon. I know, I'm just a geek at heart. :(

Memorial Day Weekend Wrap Up

Friday Night - Cruisin' in Paso Robles


Saturday - Strawberry Fest - Arroyo Grande



Sunday - Blues Festival (Sista Monica, Fabulous Thunderbirds and Robert Cray)- Avila Beach



Yes, quite the weekend. Lots of fun this Memorial Day Weekend. Tomorrow, I am going to take it easy, do some laundry, paint a little and study more for my pilot's exam (aircraft systems and flight instruments).

I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend.

p.s. Anyone interested in going to Live Oak Music Fest - June 17, 18, and 19 in Santa Barbara? I'm 90% sure I will be attending. SLO's own JOOSE will be playing on Friday. Darn, I won't make it on Friday. The music goes on from 8 am til midnight (Friday and Saturday). It will be my first time at Live Oak. I am thinking of camping out Saturday night.

Bay to Breakers 2005

My best friend and I ran/walked the Bay to Breakers in SF on May 15. We had loads of fun. Next year, we have to come up with a creative "body art".

Let me preface by saying, on Saturday night, I was up til 2 in the morning. I woke up three hours later and drove the 3.5 hours to the City. It took another 45 minutes (detours, etc) until I finally found parking...aarrgh! Fortunately, I managed to have found my best friend who had already ran a mile into the race. What would one do w/o a cell phone?

I was dead tired and very lethargic!! But it was all worth it. Probably the best fun I've had in ages. I especially enjoyed all the live bands that were performing on almost every block!

For mature viewing only. Enjoy..... :)

Concerts!!

The Doves, great Manchster Indie Rock Band, are playing at the Filmore on June 13th -- YEAH!!! Great musicians such as Smiths, Morrissey, Joy Division, New Order, Stone Roses, James, Oasis, Badly Drawn Boy, 808 State have come out of Manchester!


I am also hearing rumours of Maroon 5 playing at California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles. Tom Petty and Journey are also scheduled to perform, I believe. Great venue this year.

If anyone is interested in going to either or both, shoot me an email! I definitely do not want to miss the Doves!

Open Mic Night Recap

It was a lot of fun tonight at the Open Mic at Malibu Brew. I was extremely excited to have finally met one of my blog commenter, Chris and his daughter Jessica! Chris, thanks again for coming out and supporting our efforts. I hope you guys had a good time. And tell Jessica to hang in there with the guitar. We're going to need her to perform for us soon.

List/Pics of Players - thanks to:


Joe


Byron of Krej


John and Friend


John and Friend and Friend


Gregg (he gave me the Bob Marley t-shirt shown below. Gregg used to photograph rockstars in the 70's and 80's. The t-shirt was of his work)


Me - attempting "Comfortably Numb"

Additional Thanks to Musician's Fellowship, Malibu Brew and Muscian's Unlimited!!!

Next scheduled Open Mic will be sometime in June.

Portals

I've been using the Google web portal for last several days and I find I really like it. I can check my Gmail, news, stock ticker, movies, weather and even look up driving directions all in one place. Reorganizing the portal is as easy as click and drag. I know this portal technology has been long in existence (MSN, etc), but now I can I can use it alongside Google the browser. Now if I can just get my blog feeds and flickr feeds here, I'd be set.



Quote of the day:

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. - Will Rogers

What happens when you let one go because the cacophony of screeches and squawks became unbearable??

Interesting, once I started using this portal, I noticed that my MSN Messenger now pops up with something similar (emails associated with my hotmail account) on the MSN Today popup window. I've always had this feature unselected.

My Noah

Yesterday evening, I was purchasing tickets for the Bruce Foreman concert and guitar workshop in June, when I ran into Noah. I had seen him before hanging out at Divine Appointments but was always too intimidated to approach him. I've been looking for someone like him for the longest time. I checked him out again - brown, solid and good-looking. Finally, I got the nerves to approach him. We started interacting and a voice inside of me screamed out "HE's the one!!"

I did something I've never done before, I took him home with me w/o thinking of the consequences... and we made music all night long... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeew.... I took a snapshot of him, my baby, last night after we rested. Gosh, isn't he heavenly??

"Divine" Gig

Late afternoon, I went to check out Adam, Matt, Scott and Bill play at the Firestone Brewery! These guys are the real thing! I love hearing them perform. What a great venue.

Adam is my guitar teacher at Divine Appointment Guitars. Bill instructs on the bass and Scott leads the monthly jam sessions at Divine. Divine Appointment Guitars is owned by Matt and Heidi (shown below). Matt and Heidi, imho, sponsor some of the best concerts in the Central Coast. Acts including John Jorgenson, Harry Manx, The Bills, The Waybacks and upcoming Bruce Foreman. You can also catch Matt and Scott with Beaujolais

Scott sang "Minne the Moocher" - Jazz classic by Mills-Calloway. The audience roared!!

Folks, now here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher,
She was a red-hot hootchie-cootcher,
She was the roughest, toughest frail,
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.

The Devine choir:

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-di-hi!
Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho!
He-de-he-de-he-de-he!
Ho-de-ho-de-ho!




<>

--- OPEN MIC ---

I'll be taking a sabbatical, a sort of furlough from blogging this week while I prepare for the open mic (posterings, etc).

See You In the Next Life
When we'll fly away for good. - Suede

Laugh Break

I'm studying for my private pilot written test and needed a break. I found this site and have been ROFL for the last 10 minutes.

Here are some examples that had me rolling:
Things You Would Never Know Without The Movies

If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade - at any time of the year.

Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do.

It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

101 Ways To Be Annoying

Invent nonsense computer jargon in conversations, and see if people play along to avoid the appearance of ignorance.

Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will "swipe your grub."

IF MICROSOFT BUILT CARS.....

If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.

Resume Mistakes
Cover letter: "Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!"


Okay..back to the books, but I leave you with these ponderings:

If you drove your car at the speed of light, and you turned your headlights on, would they work?

If a man speaks in the forest and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

Malibu Brew

Tonight I went to take some snapshots of Malibu Brew so those of you interested in playing at the Open Mic can get an idea of how the place it set up. To my surprise, I found out that every Wednesday night til September, they will be holding a sort of "street-like market" with vendors displaying clothing, jewelry, and art. There were ample of activities for kids: jumper and face paintings.

What was really cool was the live entertainment. There will be different entertainers every week. Music from all genres (rock, blues, jazz, folk, instrumental, etc..). Tonight on the stage, percussionists from a local school.




Different views:


As you can see, there are enough room for everyone to enjoy great live music outside. I've gotten several emails regarding performing, so I am very excited at the immediate interests already!

Open Mic at Malibu Brew

This evening, I met with the Director of Musicians Fellowship in Atascadero. I met representatives from his organization at the Pine Mountain Festival several weeks ago. Artistic family - daughter is an artist and his two sons play bass and guitar in local bands.

Musician's Fellowship is a non-profit organization dedicated to the training and encouragement of the musical arts in the North County. They host an annual silent/live auction of musicial instruments and memorabilia. Proceeds from this auction provide musical equipments for local students and church organizations.

It saddens me to know that there is a decline in music education in public schools. I know when I was growing up, our school couldn't afford a music curriculum and my family couldn't afford lessons. I love volunteering for organizations like this (and music festivals like Pine Mountain) because they heighten the public's appreciation of the value of music.

I approached him with the idea of sponsoring Open Mics around town and he embraced it. We are tentatively setting up an outdoor Open Mic at Malibu Brew on Thursday, May 26 (6 - 9 (or later)). I am going back on Wednesday night to take some photos of the place. The back(yard)is very conducive to live shows. Lots of space to perform, dance or warm up underneath the gas lamps.

I am undecided if the Open Mic should be all acoustic or both acoustic and electric. Any suggestions? I liked the acoustic ambiance at Cafe Vio, but maybe electric would draw more crowds??? I need to work on postering ideas.

If you're interested in performing or know of anyone who would be interested in performing, have them contact me. Come by, enjoy some coffee and live local music. Buy some t-shirts in support of this organization that is helping keep music education alive in our schools and community!

"music is a window to a higher brain function" - Dr. Gordon Shaw (Mozard Effect Learning Theory) (passed away on April 26, 2005)

Mother's Day Outing - Bishop's Peak

Last night over sushi at Goshi's, my little girl ask me, "So, what do you want to do for Mother's Day?". I replied, "I want to go hiking".

This morning, we went hiking up Bishop's Peak, an ancient volcanic mountain, in San Luis Obispo. The peak stands an estimate 1559 ft. It was a great hike - 4.5 miles!! We, unknowingly, took the back road and it was a little steeper with massive granite boulders but Tianna climbed it like a pro.

Directions to Bishop's Peak: 101 South. Get off Santa Rosa Street and make a left turn. Make another left on FootHill. Take Foothill all the way to the outskirts of San Luis Obispo city limits. There will be a turn out (immediately following a church) to the right. Park and cross the fence over. I believe there is a less steep climb up Bishop's Peak (via a residential area), but I am unaware of that turnoff.

On the way up we saw couple of paragliders. Now that is fun!!! (I wonder what that entails, might have to look into that).

Hiking, in general, gives me a "spiritual" feeling. Feeling spiritual is being filled with the breath of life. Although I struggled with my allergies, I really felt at peace. I didn't rush to get to the top. It's not the destination that is important. I had more fun in the journey up the massive boulders, grasslands and woodlands. I really enjoy being along to ponder about my dreams and goals.

When we are uncomfortable with ourselves, with what's in our minds and hearts, we feel bored. Learning to be alone with yourself, your thoughts, and your feelings, will help you to reduce the availability of boredom in your life. Using television, food, or other people as a way of not being alone with yourself is only a temporary relief: once the TV is turned off, the food is gone, and the people have left, you're still alone with yourself. Learning to love being alone with yourself is a step towards spiritual growth.

Coming back through the grasslands, Tianna darted out in front of me. The image of her running around and falling down reminded me of Laura Ingall's little sister, Carrie in the opening credits of "Little House on the Prairie". (Okay, let me go off on a tangent here. There was never a dry eye after any episode of "Little House of the Prairie". And I so dreamed of having a cabin house out in the prairie.)



I hope you all had a great Mothers Day!!!!

Airplane with four engine

If anybody out there with a strong stomach wants to validate this technique, I'd really appreciate it.

- chrisdiclerico.com

I'm also curious if anyone's tried this...

Warbirds

Shafter, California. A Warbirds In Action Airshow takes place May 14 at Shafter-Minter Field (MIT). World War II European Theater Aircraft and other warbirds. Also U.S. Air Force F-16 Heritage Flight.

Cool, looks like loads of fun. The show is from 11-4pm. I will be in Visalia for a wedding of a co-worker that evening, I am thinking of catching this during the day, especially the aerobatics.

An Eye for an Eye

There have been so many reported crimes against children in the past several days that have saddened me a great deal.

Police said it was the girl's stepfather who actually killed her with a kick to the head and then used hedge clippers to sever her head.

I read the above article this morning and can't begin to stop mourning for the little girl. How does someone commit such a crime? How does a mother watch someone else commit a crime like this towards her own child? It's so unnatural and hard to comprehend. Yet it's been happening for years and continue to do so every minute ...

I believe crimes against children should be reprimanded with great severity. An eye for an eye!! I loathe the filth that committed such a crime.

As a parent, my life is my little girl. I am so over protective of her, that she often complains that I don't let her be "free". But the possibility of her falling victim to harm will be something unbearable and would probably cost me the rest of my life (because I would hunt down that son of a bi_ _ _ and crucify him).

Clunk.. Clunk... ...splat!

Okay, seriously, I must have wronged someone in a prior life because this week has been the ultimate payback week! It's a good thing I have a sense of humour...

Let me give you some brief history. Several months ago I ran into a fawn. The result was: broken head light and dead fawn :(. A couple months later I ran into a coyote. the result was: torn bumper and dead coyote :(. I dropped a couple hundred to fix the broken head light, but the quote for the bumper was astronomical so I did what any other "frugal" person would do in my situation. I bought some bungee cords and attached the broken bumper back unto my car.

While driving home today (and yes, I gassed up at work), and singing at the top of my lungs to stay awake, I heard "Clunk...Clunk...". A flat tire? Noooo!! I was in the middle of nowhere. "No Service" was displayed on my cell phone. This could not be happening. I pulled over to the side and got out of my car to check all four wheels. They were solid. So I got back into my car and started driving. "Clunk..Clunk".. I stopped immediately and got out of the car. "Did I hit another animal?...was it caught underneath my car??"

I slowly got to my knees and looked underneath the car.... To my chagrin, something (pictured to the right)had unattached itself from under the vehicle and was hanging loose. I was relieved it wasn't a dead animal. I wasn't sure if I should drive home. What is this piece? and it is imperative to have? Oh well...what's another 50 miles?

I pulled out the piece, place it in the trunk, regain some composure and got back on the road. Okay, what else can you throw at me?

As I parked my car under the carport and went to open the door for the little princess, I looked down to see... a flat tire...

Times like this, I wished I had taken auto shop in highschool instead of sewing.

AND HOW WAS YOUR DAY?

No More Lucky Day

Today was one of those days where anything that could go wrong would go wrong - a true Murphy's Law day. My allergies worsened these past couple days. I was taking disolvable Benadryl, Claritin and some other disolvable allergy tablet. I am very allergic to cats and this onslaught of allergic reaction was probably due to Lucky Day. I resembled a clogged up rudolf the red nose reindeer with puffy irritated red eyes. I have rashes all over my forehead and cheeks. And worse, it itches! My nose itch, my eyes itch, my face itch, my skin itch. Nothing I took alleviated the allergic reaction to Lucky Day. I even had to use my inhaler. I get very asthmatic when my allergies intensify.

My little girl was so frightened of "Lucky Day", that she would not be in the same room as he. So I had to clean the the cage up with one hand and hold Lucky Day in the other arm, sneezing and nose running, while my little girl hid out in her room. Then I'd run outside, take a sniff of my inhaler and breathe in the fresh air. Even now as I am typing this, I feel as if I have aged 20 years. My skin feels so rough from the scratching. The fine wrinkled lines appear to stretch from my eyes all the way to my ears.

Last night, I swallowed about 6 allergy tablets so I could sleep. I woke up at 2:15 am this morning because I couldn't breathe. I couldn't swallow, either. My throat felt swollen. I reached for my inhaler and spent the majority of the morning soaking/napping in a warm bath. I got Tianna ready for school, put enough water and food for Lucky Day and closed his cage door shut. (The cage door is located on top of the cage).

All day at work, I was just plain lethargic. When the clock struck 4:15 pm, I left to gas up for the road. But somehow, instead of gasing up, old habits took over and I found myself driving home. I drove the one hour home to Paso, picked up my little girl from daycare and within 2 blocks, my car sputtered to a halt. We walked half an hour to a gas station that didn't have a container for us. We had to walk another half hour to a Rite Aid to borrow a container and walk back the half hour to get gas. Then walk another half hour back to the car. I was a messs... holding the container of gas in one hand, dragging my little girl (who kept complaining the whole time about how far it was) and sneezing/running nose (I'm allergic to grass/pollen..etc). Also, the stress exacerbated the allergies. By the time I got back home two hours later, I was just a complete mess physically and mentally. I was drained.

I went to check on Lucky Day. To my astonishment, the cage door was opened and he was gone! GONE! OH MY GOSH!!! NO NO.. so I checked all over the apartment. In my lethargicness this morning, I forgot to latch the cage door!! Tianna at the same time was screaming all over the apartment, hopping on the dinner table, trying to hide from the rabbit. I'm stressed and sneezing and at the same time hollaring at Tianna to stop screaming. I search all over the place..and finally I hear a little scratching noise. I looked behind my bookcase and there he was, the cute little devil. Tianna rushes off the table into her room. I was able to lure Lucky Day with some banana and placed him back into his cage and latched it shut.

I knew what I had to do. This couldn't go on anymore. I called up the breeder and we talked and arranged for me to return Lucky Day. We met an hour later. Lucky Day was such an adorable little rabbit and with me, he would have to be caged up because Tianna was just too scared. He shouldn't be caged up like that. He needs to have a place run around freely and little kids that will love and play with him. Another family would give him a better home. Tianna hasn't even petted him yet. :(. Driving home, I felt saddened. I had fun holding Lucky Day, washing him and combing his hair. I had fun feeding him and looking after him. He even slept in my room because I was scared he might be lonely out in the livingroom (hence my waking up to an asthmatic attack).

Well, its 9:30 pm. I just finished vacuuming the whole apartment and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors. I am aching for a bath and then bed. But I can't help thinking how much I have failed .... :(

A plane in every garage?

A plane in every garage? Manufacturers are inching closer

James Fallows, whose book "Free Flight" explores the future of private aviation, thinks there will come a time when it "will no longer be the playground of the super rich." As more people fly and more planes are built, the price will come down, said Dale Klapmeier, the co-founder of Cirrus Design in Duluth, Minn., a company that like Lancair and Wichita-based Cessna Aircraft Co. has helped bring the glass cockpit to small, singe-engine aircrafts in the last decade.

Flying Lesson #16 - Excessive Magneto Drop

It's been two weeks since I have been back up in the skies. I had to cancel the last three flights due to bad weather.

It was windy today also, but my CFI and I decided we needed to get me back in the air. The fuel was topped off, 5 quarts of oil, no physical damage to the plane, everything appeared normal. At run-up, I tested the magnetos and found the right magneto dropped 200 rpms. (Magnetos generate high voltage electrical energy to the spark plugs.)

Magnetos, individually, should not exceed a drop of more than 125 rpms. I am not an expert, but would you say a 200 rpm drop is excessive? My CFI said it most likely was due to lead soiling the spark plugs. He leaned the mixture for several seconds waiting for the higher combustion temperatures to burn off any deposits. He had to attempt this several times before the drop fell in the allowable limits. Still, I was a little apprehensive about flying. I wanted to feign an illness - blame my allergies.. :(

From what I've read, a 200 rpm magneto drop could indicate a bad plug, or bad spark plug lead. They say 70% of airplane accidents are pilot error due to bad decision making. Should we have flown?? In this report, the engine should be inspected before flight if magnetos fall out of allowable limits. I am sure there are shortcuts or ways around a certain problem, but should we have remained grounded and get the engine checked??

We practiced couple of slow flights, power off stalls and power on stalls. He was very impressed with my slow flights and stall recoveries. However, I do need to get in the habit of looking outside the plane and clearing my turns.

I was very disappointed in my landings today. More importantly, I am weary about getting back into that plane. I think if the magnetos drop outside of the allowable limits again, I am going to tell my CFI that I don't want to fly. I'm sure it was nothing serious but I don't have 9 lives..

p.s. Chris, if you can advise, it would sure put my mind at ease...


Hrs to date: 17.6 hours