Pupdate [s]

It was a rough weekend so I don't have a gaggle of cute puppy photos. Since last week he's learned to actually pick up the stick (below) and has made it onto the couch more than once.



Shots are due Wednesday, but Friday night is a bit more realistic. After that I can take him out to interact with other dogs. He did well at Burger Lounge on Friday night, getting no shortage of attention.

He definitely has a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on, cycling between wanting to chomp everything to the most docile (and slightly oversized) lap dog.

Important events [s]

So my favorite protagonist in this tale of life is now be-ringed. The few days prior were very high quality, beginning with some time in the Commonwealth (?) of Virginia. J hosted Dave, Heidi, and I, we toured the closed Smithsonians, ate Burmese food, and discussed applications of the zone system to street photography.



Out in Philly, Team SoCo reunited and the groom's half spent some time at the local range. Of course the ceremony itself was well done and, most importantly, the reception appetizers did not disappoint.

Back in SD, I'm doing some touch up on the house to prepare for the roomie move in. The sub-heater vent had to be shrunk to fit an available grill size, this simply entailed adding a 2x4 to the gap, putting up a small piece of drywall, then patching/texturing/painting to complete the cover up. I applied a similar procedure to cover the holes in the ceiling that were required to install the bathroom fans.

And it appears Ted has now slipped into the steaming cauldron of property investment. In other news Jon is sad, but at least sleeping on large pile of favors.

Visuals [s]

My computer spent the night uploading a couple of videos from the trip. I ended up swapping flash cards with more than one cohort, so I'm still waiting on some media.


Molokini.


Haleakala.


Dinner.

I picked up the monitor Ted/parents got me for Christmas. All I can say is 1680x1050 is the dopest resolution of all time.


It looks like Connie got rolled up on by the Google stalk car.

Touches of civility [s]

The rest of the blinds went up in a few short minutes - the difference being that they mounted inside a sill. That left enough time to put a few base boards down. I threw a few videos up for comparison.




They're not too far from the, er 'simulation'.

Today:
>>>> why is he jsamo?
>>>> he's suppose to be tsamo@...

>>> I think maybe he used to go by
>>> James back in high school. 'Ty' is a
>>> pretty silly name, so it makes sense.

>> don't make me go on the rant about
>> how some dumbass probably thought
>> that, upon seeing my name, ty is not
>> a real name and thus used my middle
>> initial. [friend]. well thanks a lot uno,
>> looks like i ranted anyway.
>> since we're on this subject, how come
>> you're not uno.d.ritchie@... isn't
>> there like some precedent for false
>> identification here? and the "d" is
>> for dumberson.

> haha ! dumberson.. haha!


I framed my door.


Upstairs west bedroom.




Upstairs south bedroom with a couple base boards.

Motorsports day [r]

And what a day.

F1 Hockenheim



Hard to say it was technically a great race, but about thirty laps in, Timo Glock certainly sparked a wave of drama. He showed everyone in spectacular fashion that F1 cars don't take too well to driving off tarmac - rumble strips included. The ensuing safety car nullified Hamilton's gargantuan lead and, on account of creative pit strategy, the Brit had to regain the lead from fifth.

More artificial drama at Glock's hands included Piquet's run at the checkered, owing to a fortuitous pit as the Toyota spun into the barrier. It was certainly entertaining to watch Hamilton on a ten lap charge to regain first. And the scandal of Kovalainen's yield to the faster McLaren - a team that purportedly issues no orders.

Superbike Brno
Standard operations here. Two races with great battles, lots of lead changes, Bayliss!

MotoGP Laguna Seca
The Laguna race featured the finest battle so far this year, even if it was resolved prematurely. It's too bad Hayden couldn't compete and Hopkins was out, but the AMA wildcards did pretty well.



Check out 1:06... There's a much better replay out there somewhere showing an opposite angle.

Rossi:
'The Corkscrew was a great overtaking spot. Sometimes it's possible to make a mistake there, but the gravel had good grip.'

Drift day [s]

Today was drift day at El Toro. Interesting events, interesting crowd. It rained until about noon, making driving and shooting difficult. Then the sky cleared up and all was well.

Drifting creates some great opportunities for the photographer, but it isn't easy. Panned shots are important and this skill always involves a degree of trial and error. The optimal snap shows the rear wheel spinning while the front wheel is turned and locked. Skids and smoke is a plus. Here's what five hours of shooting yielded.

I picked up a Nikon f/2.8 70-200 from Calumet. I was hoping for something longer and prime, but that's all they had available.

The rise and fall of Sauritch [s]

So we took the atc2k out for the second first time. Work must be done on how it's affixed, but otherwise it worked well. The Fletcher's break was pretty brutal, enough so that Erik's recent acquisition lost most of its skin on a wave.







On the plus side, there was a board sale at the shore that day and he picked up a mighty fine replacement. E was undecided until he learned that it was a benefit for San Diego's youth, he immediately laid down some cash money.



In other news San Diego is burning again, I'm back over .500 in fantasy, and I hate the following equation: transmission + final drive + differential = transaxle.

Corral Canyon [s]

What do you buy for the spoiled little brother who gets everything? Road rash, of course. So I put together a dirt biking excursion to Corral Canyon. We rented a CRF230, TRX250, and XR400 from Califorina Motorsport. They were pretty good to rent from.

The timing and location was great:

• The weather was clear and cool.
• It wasn't too far from San Diego proper.
• There was a good variety of roads, trails, and jumps.
• It wasn't crowded at all, which was especially good considering the low-visibility corners.
  

The atv turned out to be the most popular, indeed it drifted like a champ. It did, however, have a propensity for rolling as Connie and Ray discovered. The 230 enjoyed almost as much demand and claimed the epidermi of Ty and Ted. The 400 was only mounted by bold and bucked Erik as, mid-jump, he received a fateful call from Matthew (see video).

And I think a record was set for the longest string of coherent 'that's what she said's when we loaded the vehicles back on the trailer.

Check Connie's and my photos.


People.


Jon jumping.


Connie and Ted chase Jon.


Erik then Ted hit the jump.


Ray - I got both wheels off the ground.


Erik - Yeah but my phone's ringing.


Connie on the atv, Jon on the crf.

Fletcher's [s]

The swell's a'comin'. Erik, Matt, and I went out to Fletcher's for some surf n' shoot. Then got pho with the White Lambda who stumbled into my large, empty house.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to double sess and get more time on the board. Maybe even WK, CS, or AG will show.

The photos are posted here, with a few highlights below. Other vids: 'Over Here!', my awesome paddling back to shore, and a couple more videos.


A fine ride punctuated by a buried nose.


Erik buzzes my proverbial tower.


A right for Matt.


Matthew at various points down the corner.


I swapped Erik board for camera (on a temporary basis).


Erik in the middle of a bottom turn (check out the three shots in sequence on the flickr).


People who ride back door look so funny.


Matt's gratuitous ass shot. Watch it glisten, ladies.

Barren slopes [r] [s]

I took a midweek trip up to Tahoe's fabulous north shore. Apparently all that Wii Weather paid off, or I just got really lucky:

1. An hour after our flight left San Diego, the airport was shut down on account of heavy fog. My roommate was in a holding pattern for an hour before they redirected him to Vegas.
2. A snow flurry arrived for our first day of skiing. It created a slightly treacherous powder-on-ice situation, but was preferable to hot weather and a thin, icy base (experienced by the same roommate the days preceding).
3. The second day was very mild and clear with great, fresh snow.
4. We returned to Sacramento as a nasty storm was approaching, escaping Tahoe at precisely the right time.

The first day we skiied Squaw Valley, then Northstar on the next day. Both resorts were virtually deserted, leaving vacant slopes and nonexistent lines. In fact, the only significant population consisted of rainbow-scarved Google employees on their annual ski trip. It probably goes without saying that most of them took advantage of complimentary lessons and could be seen wobbling down the flats, so the mountain backsides were wonderfully barren.

Connie had her little point and shoot, so I had a some fun shooting a couple runs. I couldn't coax her into the snow park, but the vids definitely show what a nice day it was. Next purchase: auto-stabilization.

And finally, it was this trip that I realized how much better the Northstar runs are. Squaw's runs are short, the chairs are slow, and the lift/run setup is just lackluster (like Mammoth). Northstar has some long runs, a great all-diamond backside (see first video below), and lots of fast, high-capacity chairs.