Sunday, February 07, 2010

A Month of Posts, All in One!


Ok, more beach trivia: What kind of bird is this?
Hi All,
Well, I blinked my eyes, and almost a month has past since my last entry. I believe that in the their infancy, blogs were supposed to be daily postings, but now with Twitter, Facebook, and all the other available avenues, technology has moved onward. For me, it’s not about technology; it’s about having the time to write, and perhaps that I just didn’t have much to say.

A "Snowstorm" in Palmdale. We had a meeting cancelled for this!
That’s not say a lot of things have happened. I almost don’t know where to start. Here, in the desert, we have had the shoveling of the last of the gravel, citywide flooding after 3 inches of rain, a visit to see Amy, Jon, and Andy, converting the Redline to a fixed-gear configuration, a trip to Santa Barbara for Nancy’s 60th birthday, and all the usual other parts of the day that interfere with writing.
We always hit the beach when we are in Santa Barbara...
I could not resist this snapshot. The gentleman wore a pair of very fancy basketball Nike's...
As I was composing this edition, I realized that if I wrote everything I should have written in the last month, l than this blog would be longer President Obama’s State of the Union Address! So, in the interest of brevity, I am going to just publish a bunch of pictures with long captions. Enjoy!
Soccer Pitch/Catch Basin...three days after this, the water was gone!
Flooding. Yes, we had plenty of that. The desert terrain here is so firm and hard-packed that water just runs off the top. So, just a few inches of rain and there are streets that become rivers, and soccer fields, that become lakes.
Children have such fun at the beach...
Traveling. We have made a couple of trips since my last post; first, to see Nancy, Muhsin, Sue, and Dana, to celebrate Nancy’s 60th birthday. We had a great time as we gathered and spent a great time just being together as family. While we were at it, we managed to start planning a long-awaited trip to Zion national Park this spring.
You're really special if you get TWO birthday cakes!
No caption needed... Happy Andy...
Two weeks later, we drove down to Tucson to spend a few days with Amy, Jon, and Andy. Boy! That little girl will steal your heart. I’m not sure what else can be said here, other that we sure enjoyed spending time with Jon, Amy, and Andy.
I am told it's not the bike, it's the engine riding it! Well... OK then!
The Redline: I recently converted the Redline 925 from single-speed configuration to fixed-gear. What does this mean? Well, it means the bike still rides like a single-speed bike, but now, there is no freewheel, which also means, NO coasting!
I took the fenders off to eliminate some pedal strike on the front wheel...
Want to ride fast? Pedal fast. Need to slow down? Pedal slower! It’s a whole new feel, never being able to stop pedaling. I rode the bike 12 miles today, (back and forth to work) and I am still learning all the techniques that are involved in riding “fixed.” Quite a blast, really! It's been quite interesting, learning in some ways, how to ride all over again!
That's the quick news.. I will try and do a better job of posting..
Jim

3 comments:

Paul said...

Bird = Sandpiper.

Snowstorm? Not even close.

Gentleman in the Nikes has more vert than Lebron.

Kate said...

Nice to catch up on your news Jim. Well, if that's the brief version, some of it. That little darling Andrea certainly has grown! What fun they are calling her Andy. It really suits her pixie looks! Is she still as chatty?
I hope we get some photos of Zion National Park. And may we see one of the garden finished?

Anil P said...

The beak is as fine as its legs.

Sleek bike. Must be a joy to ride long distances on those.

It might have helped to have the rain soak through the mud. I suppose certain types of mud will not let water seep in.