Where The Hell Have You Been?!

Yes, where the hell have I been? Here's where I've been for the last three weeks...Why yes, that is a gym. Equinox Fitness. How the heck did I join a gym? Or better yet, WHY did I join a gym, Mr. Bike riding, trail hiking, "I get my exercise outside" guy?

I joined a gym because I wasn't getting outside enough. It's been a long time since I've put in dedicated miles on my bike. Kinda stopped doing that when I took up sporting clays on the road. Days off were for shooting not riding at the end. When I returned home, I was trying to ride as often as I could, but I was getting discouraged because I'm not at the fitness level I used to be at. Of course, back then, I rode everyday and spent every hour at The Bike Shop. "Back then" is over 15 years ago, plenty of time to loose fitness. It's demoralizing when you are constantly passed by faster cyclists, and you know, back in the day, you could have kept up.

So I joined a gym. I was hesitant at first for similar reasons, I didn't want to be the fat guy at the gym bench pressing a barbell with 30 lbs on it next to the guy pressing 150 lbs. But I got over it when I figured I have to start somewhere, and since I've never been in a gym before...

Why the fancy pants Equinox Fitness? Because my sister-in-law is a trainer at the Chicago branch, and she got me a family discount. Otherwise, I'd never have joined, "fat guy in the gym" syndrome would have kept me at the ice cream parlor (that and the cost as a non family member). It's actually a really nice gym. There are clean showers and a eucalyptus steam room, as well as masseuses on staff. Kind of a spa, but more gym that relaxation.

I go in the late mornings 3 times a week because that seems to be when the place is the emptiest. I still have the complex of being the fat guy in the gym, but at 11AM, it seems pretty even with fat guys and fit guys.

I also have a good trainer that my sister-in-law recommended. I feared the trainer. You always hear about these trainers who are failed drill sergeants, yelling at their clients and pushing them really hard. My guy is not like that. He's been really straight forward. He'll load up the bar with what he thinks I can lift and then lets me decide if it's too much or too little. So far, he's been about 75% on the money. I deduct 25% because he always makes it too light for my leg work out. This week he started me on "mini circuit" training.

I'm hoping to see results in 6 weeks, or that's what my trainer expects. So far, all the gym has done for me is make me tired in the afternoons and sweat a lot. Next step, is changing my eating habits.

So that's my excuse for not blogging in a while. I'll try to get back on it so you can see, or at least read about results... Hopefully in 6 weeks.

Check out Sean Patrick's blog... I'm going to write there about my other excuse for not blogging... Swim lessons...

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Worlds Most Expensive Towel

Ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the worlds most expensive towel...
Okay, maybe it's not the most expensive towel, I did find this one online, and $150 is a lot to pay for a towel. But that one is a bath towel and the one pictured above is about the size of a dish towel. So in terms of square footage, this one is more expensive.

And why was this towel $100? Because that's what the ticket cost to see game 4 of the National Hockey League playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks. The towel was the give away item everyone received. We were sitting in the nose bleed seats with a face value of the ticket at $65. Yes our tickets were more or less scalped. We sat with the guys who bought them. They had 4 tickets and only 2 people, so my friend Root and I were the other two to complete the quartet.

Thinking about it, this probably wasn't the most expensive towel there. Considering people sitting much closer to the ice probably paid several hundred dollars for those seats. There towels, although the same, were much more expensive.

I think I was probably the only one in my immediate area to save my towel. My friend Root, along with the other two guys, and about 5 rows of people around me were Detroit Red Wing fans. So I was seated in enemy territory so to speak. I don't think any of those guys took home their towels.

This blog isn't really about the towels. It's more to ponder what is a fan. I'd like to think I'm a fan of hockey. I like the sport, I know the rules and object of the game. I'm familiar with it's players, both good and bad. I know a certain amount of stats and hockey history. Heck, I used to play goalie on my roller hockey teams both in Hawai'i and in California.

I like to sit at a game and watch the action. See a play unfold, a goal scored or an amazing stop by an acrobatic goalie. I can turn to my friends and comment on the game and have a discussion about tactics.

I think I'm a good fan.

And that's it. I'm a fan. What I'm not is a fanatic. Those are the fans that really make the live game suck for me.

Fanatics are people who scream until they are hoarse. The people who start or lead cheers. They are the ones that talk about the players like they are best buddies, knowing, and screaming, each player's nickname(even from the cheap seats), as if the guy will turn around and say, "Thanks Steve, for knowing that I'm called 'Nicky Lidstrom'."

Fanatics are the ones who scream (ESPECIALLY from the cheap seats) at the players when they make mistakes, or miss a pass, or don't see the open player. I'm not sure what they expect. Does it make them feel better to scream at people and point out their mistakes. On the flip side they scream loudest when the player does something right.

Fanatics also spend the better part of the game getting up and sitting down, thus blocking the people behind them from seeing the action. The stand to lead cheers, they stand when to point out mistakes. They sit when the other team scores.

But what fanatics do that I dislike the most, is they taunt and anger the people around them who are for the other team. What does this prove? Why do you feel the need to yell at someone, a regular guy like you and me, and berate them because they don't share your love for... a sports team. Because that's all it really is. It's a bunch of guys who are physically fit and super talented at a game. And if you think about it, the people who cheer for the other team have just as much a right to be there as you, because they team is also physically fit and super talented at a game.

Why do people feel the need to live and die at the hands of a sports team? The team wins, they live. The team loses they die. It's just a game.

Don't get me wrong, I love sports. I love hockey, I love football, I'm fond of baseball, and I can take or leave basketball. Oh, and cycling.... LOVE cycling. But I'm not screaming at the TV when a rider I like is falling behind. I'm not telling him to, "Make your move!" and then get mad when he doesn't. As a matter of fact, when I saw the Tour of California back in February, I felt a little strange (and slightly hypocritical) when I yelled at the peloton. That's not me.

What ever, I've ranted enough. I'm going to make it a point to start watching more sports on TV with Sean Patrick and take him to games when he's old enough. I'm going to teach him to be a fan and not a fanatic. Because sports, is just for enjoyment purposes, not for living and dying.

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Perhaps They Are Polluting The Ground Water, But It's Still A Neat Place.

Still trying to catch up on the blogs.

A couple of weeks ago, the Boland family, and the Fernaniker family went on a little outing to JPL.

I'm well aware of the fact that there's no baby in the Baby Bjorn strapped to me. He's in his chariot behind Mommy taking the picture.

JPL stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It's part of NASA, and believe it or not, the entire facility is tucked up against the mountain not 2 miles from our house. They had an open house weekend where they showed the general public (that would be us) what it is they do there.We went on the Sunday and made a point of it to get there early. Which was a good thing because by the time we left at noon the place was packed. When we entered, they gave us a map of the facility that pointed out the 22 exhibits that were open to the public. The lady at the information booth circled the "Three most important" exhibits to see saying, "You were smart to come early because by 11AM there will be one hour waits for these exhibits".

Here's the three things we got too, and a little description of each.

The first place we stopped was the "Robo-Dome", which was an exhibit that featured robots being tested for "Precision Formation Flying" on what is basically a large air hockey table. The plan is to launch a series of individual robotic "lenses" that will fly in "Precision Formations" to act as a very large and powerful telescope to see even further than the Hubble Telescope.We still had to wait for a half hour or so before we could get in. The baby strapped to my front side, however cute, was a little grumpy in the dark hot room with 50 strangers. So we had to walk out. I actually missed the demonstration, but Nicole took pictures for me.

From there, we walked over to what I think was my favorite part of the day, Space Flight Operations Facility or, "Mission Control". It's from this room that all the current space operations are monitored.You know, on TV when they show all the scientist huddled around a bunch of monitors, waiting breathlessly for the Mars rover to signal that it landed on Mars and for it to start transmitting pictures? This is the room that they all sit in. What I found interesting was the large projected image of the daily time line (in the picture, the colourful screens at the top left and right. Each horizontal line represents a different space ship or mission that is currently running, from Voyager to the latest Mars rovers. The vertical red line indicates the time of day (the screen represents your standard 24 hour day). So what you're looking at, is the times when "Mission Control" can point their radio telescopes (which are in three places, California, Madrid Spain, and Canberra Australia) at the sky and download and upload data from each mission. COOL HUH?

Unfortunately for this exhibit, Nicole had taken the baby so she didn't get to see any of it, but the bonus was, he drank a bottle and was sleeping like, well, like a baby. She also took the time to walk to what was our next stop to save us a place in line.

And we were glad she did, because by the time we had gotten there, the line had snaked around the parking lot. And I can understand why everyone was interested.Here was a large clean room, where the "rocket scientists" were building the next Mars rover to be launched in 2011 (or was it 2021?). Here's a picture of the completed model that they were working on. For those who don't know, a clean room is just that, a completely clean room empty of all germs, parasites and dust bunnies. As the scientist/guide lady said, "We don't want to be dropping off anything on Mars we didn't intend to bring." Although I found it strange when I took the above picture of the upside down rover shell, that there's a half eaten sandwich and a can of Coke on the table.

Just kidding. Made you look again though didn't I?

And that was it, we only saw three of the 22 things because, as I said before, it was packed. Worse than Disneyland on a weekend.

So we left, with Sean Patrick pretty much in the same position he was in after the Robo Dome.Fast asleep in his chariot.

Oh, and the title, about polluting the water. They aren't really, but every year we get a water report from them sent to all the houses in the area to let them see what their studies have revealed in terms of their environmental impact. We just joke that they are putting harvested alien eggs in the water.

They're not.

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Sometimes, Los Angeles Surprises Me.

Actually, we get these all the time up in Altadena. It just so happens Sunday I was driving down to the Verdugo Bar when I saw this and had to pull over and take a photo.
Not a bad photo for a cell phone. Or is it, not a bad phone for a camera. Whatever. It's a good thing L.A. is on the west coast because if I saw something like this while on my way to a bar on the east coast, I have a drinking problem.

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