Welcome to Tuna Can Org!
Tuna's (aka Tom Slider) personal web site.
Another Christmas has come and gone! I will share that this year was a particularly enjoyable Christmas. 
With my family from Colorado visiting, it's been a blast to have everyone over at Dad's house. Of course the holidays are best enjoyed in the company of young children. Having my niece and nephew around made the day so much more enjoyable.
I'm taking a day off today from hanging out with my brother and family. Chris, Mechelle, and the kids are going doing with our step-sister and her daughter to spend the day at Legoland.
I thought I'd share one of the gifts I received this year. It's a Hewlett Packard MediaVault (model # MV2120). It's basically a really small server for the small office and home for storing and sharing files, including music, videos, and photographs. My MediaVault came with two 750GB SATA hard drives, so that's 1.5 terabytes (TB) of storage! Nice!! I got it installed and set up, now I'm transferring up my videos and music to it.
From what I've read, I will be able to stream music/video from it to any computer at home, along with other devices. I think my XBox 360 will be able to watch the videos from there, but I won't know until I get a new ethernet cable for the 360, as I had to use it to set up the Media Vault. I will keep you posted on how the MediaVault works out! -- TS
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I just got a phone call from the FPAC that the pool's heater finally died, so the pool is now going to be closed a few days earlier than planned. It won't reopen until the middle of January. Apparently the management closes the pool during the holiday season and has the pool drained. So thanks to this cold and the pool closure, I won't be able to get back into the pool for almost a month and a half. I hope the chlorine deprivation isn't too brutal! :) -- TS
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Today is my first day of vacation! It feels good to finally be able to relax and sleep in. I'm hoping that this rest will help with my the cold I'm still battling. It's just plain miserable! I want to be well so I can spend as much time as I can with my family that is coming this week.
My brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece are all coming down from northern Colorado at the end of the week to spend the holidays with us! I'm just so excited!
This last weekdn I did a lot of work around the house. I've now got a desktop computer set up on my desk in the bedroom (the eMac just wasn't powerful enough to use regularly). I also did some shuffling around of furniture and reorganizing the bedroom. It's looking 100% better. -- TS
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Lately I've started to see the utilitarian value of Twitter. 
I've been tweeting, especially about swimming, particularly my experiences. I'm also following friends (the few who actually use it) and some big name USA swimmers. Thanks to one of those swimmers I follow, I discovered that this evening the Universal Sport Network was going to be airing the USA vs. Europe swim meet! It's not even the Olympics and I'm able to watch swimming on TV! I am a very happy guy and I'm looking forward to actually being to enjoy one of my sports being televised. Check it out!
I posted a few photos from yesterday's water polo game to my Facebook page, and even shared a few with a few of the players I had as friends there. Well one of the parents was so greatful (along with her daughter) that today the daughter brought me a goodie bag of sweet treats as a thank you. It's so rewarding to be able to share something and know that it truly is appreciated. -- TS
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Whenever YHS plays against REV, I am always hoping that we will have figured out a way of getting the upper hand on the REV aquatics juggernaut. 
Unfortunately today wasn't one of those days. :(
Our girls played well, but they just couldn't get ahead with REV. I know it's really frustrating to have to deal with a rival like REV. You just want to beat them, to show them that they aren't as good as they think they are. You want them to rethink how they approach a game with you.
Check out my Picasa gallery with the photos from today's game. -- TS
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So far my MacOSX experience isn't quite what the fan boys have preached about. It's a nice operating system, but there are user interface items that I am having difficulties with.
On hunt for MacOSX software. Tonight's mission is for a Twitter client. -- TS
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I found out today that Harry Morgan, the actor that played Colonel Sherman T. Potter in the M*A*S*H telelvision series, passed away. 
I grew up watching M*A*S*H, first when it was on the air, then later in syndication. I now own all 11 seasons on DVD, so it's one of my favorite escapes.
Anyways, I always enjoyed the Potter character and felt that Harry Morgan made the character so lovable. He was that grandfather that everyone loved.
Harry, you will always be remembered! -- TS
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This afternoon was the second girls water polo game of season! Today's opponent was my alma mater, Fontana High. 
I have to say, I am impressed with Fontana's progress. When I first started shooting the YHS games, FoHi was struggling. They were out swam and out played by YHS. This is all changing now. FoHi gave our girls a run and really made them work.
An added bonus to seeinga well played game, I also got to see one of the lifeguards from FPAC (the pool I practice at in Fontana) play. Salena is a junior at FoHi and also works part time at the FPAC as a lifeguard. She's really nice and always willing to chat about water polo. I told her that I was going to try to get some shots of her playing and I came through. I've got about four or five really good photos that I will share with her.
Check out my photos from today's game. -- TS
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Day two for me at the USMS SCM regional championships. 
My morning started out fine. I slept well, got up, and enjoyed a nice leisurely morning with Don and Dennis. Don even made us scrambled egg and sausage tacos with Spanish rice for breakfast.
I was a little concerned, as I was packing up my stuff for the meet today, I couldn't account for my swim goggles. Yes, those Tyr Socket Rockets that I've had since I swam with the Masters team in Loma Linda in the mid-90s. I didn't panic though, as they must have been in my swim parka (in the truck) or it was elsewhere in the truck. As I was loading my stuff for the day, I did a thorough search of the truck and the goggles were nowhere to be found!! ARGH!! Those goggles were the best fitting goggles I've EVER owned!
Well, I got to the pool and checked around the area my team was hanging out and still no sight of the goggles. I checked with the pool office and we checked their lost and found. Nothing! Dang it! Well, I guess I was going to have to take a gamble and purchase another pair. A swim supply company had a booth on the pool deck, so I purchased a pair of the newer Socket Rockets 2.0, but this time the clear ones. I had to spend sometime during my warm up to get them adjusted to fit me, but they worked well the rest of the day. I lucked out that they didn't change them enough to make them unusable for me. :)
The rest of the meet went well. I had four individual events today: 50M breaststroke (0:51.40), 200M freestyle (4:05.75), 200M breaststroke (4:28.37), and 100M individual medley (2:08.93). The IM was the last event of the day and by that time, everyone was tired and leaving. The only ones doing the IM was myself and Karen.
After doing the event, I grabbed my stuff and heading to the showers to rinse off the chlorine, get changed into dry clothes and head back to Don/Dennis' house. As I was walking out to my truck, a swimmer (who I don't know) says "Wow, it's cold out here!" I replied "Yea, iit was so nice inside the pool complex, huh?" The next thing he compliments me on my IM race. I was a little shocked! He said that his whole team was rooting me on. Apparently they appreciated the courage and effort to took for an uber-clydesdale to get out there and swim USMS. I don't know who the guy was or his team, but I will say "Thank you!!" to those who cheered me on! It's so great to be accepted among swimmers who are a fraction of your size.
I then proceeded up to Signal Hill. Don and Dennis took to a great restaurant in Long Beach called the Beechwood Brewery & BBQ. They ordered for our appetizer the fried green tomatoes, and even though I'm not a tomato person, I decided to give it a shot. It was really good! I tried a combo plate so that I could sample a few of their items. For my sides, I decided to try to interesting items: smoked asparagus and blue cheese grits. The blue cheese grits were fine, but I was really satisfied with the asparagus! I need to learn to make them at home.
Anyways, I'm back at home now. It's been a long weekend, but an enjoyable weekend. I'm looking forward to the next swim meet at the Belmont Shore pool. :) -- TS
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Wow, this has been one heck of a day! I didn't get to bed until late last night, as I needed to do all of the last minute stuff to get ready for today. I'm sure I will sleep well tonight!
I drove down to the Belmont Shores pool in Long Beach. If you've never been to this particular pool, you are missing out on one of the most awe inspiring sights for aquatics. it's a huge pool!! It's also located right on the beach, so if you want to relax on the beach before your event, you can. The west side of the complex has glass panels, so you can see the ocean and waves. Very cool!
Well obviously I'm still alive and I survived day one of my weekend here swimming at the USMS SCM regional championships. I swam four events today: two individual events and two coed relays. The individual events were the 50M freestyle (0:46.93) and the 100M breaststroke (unofficial time of 1:59.95). The reason my time for the breaststroke is unofficial is because the swim referee disqualified me! He claims that coming off the wall out of lap three, I pushed off and did three dolphin kicks. I knew that I didn't do that, but that's what he says I did and there is nothing I can do about. I think that guy needs to get some eyeglasses, as he is seeing things that aren't there!!
I also swam the breastroke leg of the coed 4x50 medley relay, and on coed 4x50 free relay. Of course we didn't win anything, but it was fun to be a part of two relays. After our events were through, we all planned to meet up at a pizza joint across the street from the pool. It was a blast! It was nice to just relax, chat, and talk about the day's events.
After dinner, I gave my friend Karen a ride to her hotel and then headed to my evening's destination: my uncle Don and his partner Dennis' house on Signal Hill. I'm sitting here, relaxing in their living room with what has to be the most gorgeous site I've seen in a long time. Their rooms all look out over Long Beach and the Pacific Ocean. It's nighttime right now and pretty clear, it's black with there urban lights. So cool! -- TS
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Tonight was the night! For the last six months, a party has been organized to honor my high school water polo coach, Jim Dopf, and his retirement from coaching water polo. He announced that this was going to be his last year coaching water polo. Well, Dopf's wife, his daughter Tina, and his current assistant coach, were planning a surprise party for coach.
The plan included getting the word out, so they employed a modern method of getting the word out: Facebook. They created a "secret" group page, and since Coach wasn't on Facebook, we were able to spread the word and get all of the online former players added to the page.
Well, the plan was we were going to surprised Coach at the end of his current team's end of season banquet. As current players were enjoying their banquet, we gathered outside of the Sons Of Italy in Fontana. Tina and Jen (his assistant coach) used their cell phones to coordinate when we should enter.
So how did it turn out? It was great! We had players representing most years. I was the only member from the FoHi 90 team, but my friend Ryan represent '89, and Tim Miller represent '91. It was great to see everyone and to talk to coach again. He said that he's now going to join Facebook, as he would love to hear how we're all doing.
Well, I had better get some sleep now, as I have an early morning of a long weekend ahead of me. This weekend is the USMS SCM championships at the Olympic sized Belmont Shores pool in Long Beach. Stay tuned for updates! -- TS
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My schedule for the water polo games listed a game today against Eisenhower High. I made sure to secure "the lens" and headed off at the end of the school day to grab some photos of the game. What I saw as I was pulling into the college parking lot had me stumped.
I looked onto the pool deck and there were no signs of a game occurring today. Something was strange, but I grabbed my equipment in case the game was rescheduled for a later time. As I walked on to the deck, I ran into a few girls and they told me the game had been rescheduled and that our coach had sent them a text message. Apparently I need to get on that text message list!
Eventually the coach showed up and upon seeing me, he apologized for not letting me know. He said there was a misscommunication between the athletic directors. They are going to play the game next week.
So I stuck around to watch practice and even helped out a bit from the deck. It was a fun afternoon! -- TS
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As the boys water polo season comes to an end, I know it doesn't mean the water polo is over with. 
The water polo action continue with the ladies! Today was the first girls water polo game of the season.
They always seem to play Roosevelt High early in the season, as it seems to be the first game I shoot every year is against Roosevelt. Roosevelt has a very strong GWP program, as they just seem to dominate in the pool. That meant that our girls lost their first home game. What a bummer! Maybe next year we'll come out on top!! If you want to see my photos, check them out on my Picasa game gallery.
The fun wasn't over after the game though. A nice surprise for me was that my longtime friend (and FoHi water polo teammate) Chris Belcher was a referee this afternoon. I always enjoy hanging out with Chris, as I always learn something from him about the sport.
We met up with our friend Wilt and the three of us headed to the Baker's Drive-Thru for dinner. I love these impromptu reunions! -- TS
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This morning I completed what I hope become a tradition: my fellow teammate Martha and I did a post-Thanksgiving swim. 
I wanted to follow it up with lunch, but Martha couldn't go; however another teammate, Chad (the supplier of the tasty yellowtail fish a few months back) was able to join me for a sandwich at Panera Bread and some chitchat.
As a growing team, we are constantly talking about developing that team camaderie. A few of us have discussed ways of doing social things to help us to get to know each other better. The fact is, we get to the pool, get in, do our workout, and then go home to get some sleep. We don't have the time during the week to just hang out and talk about our mutual enjoyment of swimming and other facets of our lives.
Today was my first attempt to build up this social infrastructure. I'd like to see this post Thanksgiving Saturday morning workout become a tradition. The pool was closed for the holiday for both Thursday and Friday, and since this holiday is one about eating, it seems a logical thing to do to get in a swim on Saturday morning.
I'm not disappointed with the turnout; matter of fact I'm pleased that I wasn't the only one there, and that I had someone to grab a light lunch with. I'm going to be pushing it more next year, so hopefully the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving we'll have more Fontana Flyers in the pool and grabbing a bite together. Stay tuned!!
In the end I think we all had fun (I know I did) and that's what matters. -- TS
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101.
101 miles.
Why is this number significant? Because this evening I crossed the 100 mile mark in swimming. I've now logged 101 miles this year in the pool!
As regular readers of my site, you will know that since I joined U.S. Masters Swimming in July, I've been participating in their "Go The Distance" promotion. I've been tracking my yardage workout and entering into the USMS's "fitness log" (FLOG). In September I made it to the 50 mile milestone, so after doing some calculations, I figured that if I continued that pace, I could make the 100 mile mark before Thanksgiving.
This workout, my teammates and our head coach (Alex), made sure to be there as I did my lap that pushed me over the 100 mile mark. When I did the 50 mile mark, Alex said I should do the last lap butterfly, but I wasn't quite ready for that. This time though, I felt strong and pumped up, so I did the whole lap doing my best butterfly. Alex happened to be in the water at the time, so he was pacing me the last lap, making that final lap some much fun!
So, today, the day before Thanksgiving, I was able to make my goal! I won't be able to make the 150 mile mark by the end of the year, but I'd like to be at 115 if possible. -- TS
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I have to give a shout-out to two of my former students. 
Thanks to Facebook, I just found out that Shelby Hernandez and Delanie Hanson, who are members of the RCC water polo team, won the state championship for community college women's water polo.
I had the pleasure of getting to know both Shelby and Delanie during their time at YHS (class of 2011). They both share my passion for the sport, so it was great to hear that they earned the recognition for all of their hard work.
So congratulations to Shelby and Delanie!! . -- TS
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Tonight our Masters swim team, the Fontana Flyers, had a meeting with Megan Wolfe, the FPAC administrator. Megan wanted to sit down with us about the team's direction and goals.
We weren't sure at first what the meeting was going to be about. She asked Alex and Nick (our coaches) to schedule a meeting with the team. With the economic times, we were afriad that the FPAC was going to have to shutdown or scale back our fledgling team. Lucky for us, that wasn't the case!
Megan seems really jazzed about the team's growth and she made it clear that she wants input from us on how to make the team larger and stronger. -- TS
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I just want to give a shout out to my buddy Nate and his company Wild Goose Coffee for making the business section of the Riverside area Press Enterprise newspaper. They made the front page of the business section, with a large photo of Nate and his brother Joe. Nate and Joe have worked really hard to make Wild Goose Coffee a reality. Their goal is to provide the best quality from all over the world and use the proceeds to help people in need. -- TS
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After last night's cold football game, it was so nice to see the sun and blue skies today. 
It's Veteran's Day, so it's a day off from work for me.
My friend Kevin (who's a social studies teacher at YHS) and I have been planning on spending the day visiting the March Air Field Museum. The museum is right next to the March Air Reserve Base on the outskirts of Riverside, but for some reason I've never seemed to make it there. Since both Kevin and I are aviation fans, especially military, we decided it seemed fitting to visit this museum on this holiday. Kind of a nod to the men and women who've served in military aviation.
We started the day with breakfast at a place that we learned about from a co-worker. The Crest Cafe was on our way to the museum and it was highly recommended, so we gave it a shot. So what did we think? The breakfast was delicious and our waitress was a card! It was a lot of fun! Kevin and I agreed it was a place that we were going to be visiting again.
After a quick stop at the ATM, we met up at the museum. The museum is located right off of the 215 interstate in eastern end of Riverside, nestled right next to the March ARB flightline. As I parked, I was admiring the aircraft that are on display outside. I saw a B-52 Stratofortress, the Northrop YA-9 protoype (it lost the competition to the Fairchild A-10 Warthog), and a bunch of other Cold War-era and World War II era aircraft.
As we entered the main hanger to pay our entry fee, I was greeted with the sight I've been waiting for: the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was located inside! After paying, we first took a stroll around the Blackbird. The first thing I noticed, much to my surprise, was that the cockpit was open. Behind the ropes was a ladder to get up to there, but it was obvioushow we could get up there.
Heading outside we walked around to each and every aircraft, including a welcoming surprise: a row of aircraft called MiG Alley. Yep, it was a row of MiG jet fighters (well, one was a Russian transport, but the rest were jet fighters), including the MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-21, and MiG-23. It was so exciting to actually be able to see three fine examples of Soviet technology from the 50s and 60s.
Well, I could go on and on about our day at the museum. If you haven't been to the museum before and want to see some of the cool planes on display, so a look at my photos from our visit. -- TS
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We'll start this evening's update with some water polo news: the YHS boys team beat La Habra High in their first round CIF game on Tuesday! That meant that going into today, the boys were in the second round of play-offs. Unfortunately the winning streak (and the season) ended today with their loss to Los Osos High. Guys, you did well and making to the second round is nothing to be ashamed of!
On to other YHS sports news, I decided this evening I would try my hand at shooting football. We had a home game against our rivial on the other side of the hill, Redlands East Valley High (REV).
So how did it come out? Disappointng. I wasn't able to secure the 70-200/f2.8 lens, so I ended up having to use my 18-105 VR lens. It's great lens, but for sports, especially at night, I need a last and long lens. My photos were all horrible. Very few of them are even marginally good, but not enough to share. I'll try some other time when I can get a faster lens. -- TS
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This morning I woke up and I posted this to my Facebook account as my status:
This is one of those "Oh s**t, what did I get myself into?!" moments. I'm leaving to compete in my first swim in over 22 years. Mission Viejo, here I come!
Yep, I did it and actually competed in a U.S. Master Swimming swim meet at Mission Viejo. 
It's what they call an SCM (short course meters) event. That means the laps are 25 meters long. Of course I've never swam in an SCM pool, so it was a first for me. The warm up pool was a 50 meter pool (LCM=long course meters), so even doing my warm up was a new experience.
So you are asking, how did it go? Well, obviously since I'm writing this I didn't drown or die of embarrassement. Since this was my first meet, I decided to keep the event distances low, so I did two events: 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle. I had no clue what my times were going into this event, so I made some guesses. Apparently my guesses were a bit too conservative, as I swam faster in both events. I some how even managed to get a third place in my age group for the breaststroke! Talk about unexpected!!
Please check out my photos from the meet. I am now entertaining doing the meet at Long Beach next month and maybe doing some longer events. -- TS
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Today was my opportunity for one more game for me to shoot the YHS boys water polo team. 
I wasn't planning on being able to make it, but my schedule freed up and I was able to get a hold of the 70-200/f2.8 lens for the afternoon.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature was working against me. The rain poured throughout the whole game, so I had to keep the camera and lens safely (and dry) in my camera backpark. I was so bummed!!
Good news is that the boys are now in the CIF play-offs, so I hope they do well! -- TS
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It's that time of the year again; 
it's time to put on fun and sometimes too risque costumes and spend the day pretending to be someone you arent' is the norm for the day.
It also happens that today is a school day in Yucaipa, so as the webmaster, I spent a couple of class periods going around and shooting pictures of staff and students who dressed up. There were the usual things, but I have to admit our staff got pretty creative.
The ones that stood out for me were two teachers and a student teacher. These three ladies (pictured here) dressed up as characters from Alice In Wonderland. Katryn Elliott(left) and Danielle McCoy (right) did a great job of capturing the look of the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter (respectively). McCoy's student teacher (who's name escapes me right now) looked perfect as Alice.
As some of you know, one of my photography weaknesses is photography people, unless they are playing water polo!! So, anyways, I had the Wonderland ladies stand at the end of one of the buildings of the campus, with the green shubbery and trees as a backdrop. I thought the light would make for a good shot. Looking at the image in the camera, it looked promising.
It wasn't until I brought the image up on my computer did I notice how nice it turned out. I dare say it's the best portrait I've shot so far! With that, I will wish you a Happy Halloween and be safe out there! -- TS
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The KIISFM JoJo Jam was a success again! 
This afternoon the KIISFM and JoJo Jam crew set up their stage on the west of the gym and treated the students and staff of Yucaipa High to a pop concert.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the JoJo Jam, it's a tour put on by the Los Angeles pop station KIIS FM. They hold a contest where southern California high school can compete for a free concert on the school's campus. Last year we won and this year the YHS students took on the challenge and won again. It may not be my music, but it was a nice change of pace for the day.
I have another tidbit (totally unrelated) to share with you. My favorite Linux distribution, Ubuntu Linux, is now 7 yrs old. It seems so crazy that this distro is that old, so it's popularity makes it seem like it's been around a lot longer. -- TS
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Today's game is the last season game that I will be able to make it this year for the boys water polo team. 
Today's game was against Eisenhower High of Rialto.
As you can see from this photo of our goalie looking to stop a 'lob' shot, the sun was out in full force.
Eisenhower is gradually getting better, but they are still not to the level of of play of YHS. It's so sad to see that the Rialto schools don't have strong aquatic programs. I remember back when I was growing up in Fontana (next door to Rialto for those of you not familiar to the area), the Rialto Swim Club had a lot of support from the community. For our youth swim league, they were very strong.
It wasn't until their swimmers got to high school age did the interest in aquatics whane in Rialto. Eisenhower had a top notch football back then, but their high school barely had enough people for a swim team and they were never able to garner enough support for a water polo team. I hope that the community of Rialto continues to foster the fledgling aquatics program. -- TS
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Everyone is still talking about Steve Jobs' passing. 
The things I hear being said about him make me realize that most people have no clue what he was good at. He wasn't a "tech genius". He was a marketing genius. Plain and simple.
What's truly sad is that a true technology genius passed away shortly after Jobs but no one outside of computer science circles is talking about it. The man's name is Dennis Ritchie and he's the man that created or co-created such technologies as the C programming language and the UNIX operating system. Ironically, these two technologies are the same tools that Apple used to create the MacOSX and iOS operating systems. Steve Job's success is built upon Ritchie's work, but Ritchie's passing isn't even mentioned in the mainstream press.
Dennis Ritchie, you've given us technology that was used to build the great products we use everyday. This geek wants to share his thanks. Thank you! -- TS
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After some discussion amongst ourselves, we have now decided on a team name for our Masters swim team, the Fontana Flyers. A few of the goofballs wanted the sea cucumbers... I do swim with some clowns. :) Our "head coach", Alex, is going to work on a logo for the team. Once the logo is done, the management is going to order swim caps with our logo and team name. I'm now on the hunt for a swim parka that is my size so I can have it embroidered with my name, the team logo, and team name. :)
We also found out that the pool management is signing up us
as team with USMS in November. That means we will be a full fledged USMS team and we'll be able to compete as a team at USMS meets. It will be fun to go to meets next year as a cohesive team! I'm looking forward to my first meet as a Fontana Flyer! -- TS
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Somehow, YHS is again in the final running for the Jojo Jam contest, again! Today at lunch the KIIS-FM crew came out and video taped our students during lunch for the video they would post during voting. The kids were hyped up and seem to be ready to make it a repeat of last year.
It's going to be interesting! I'm sure there is going to be a lot of discussion among students and staff about it. I do know that the administration will have a lot to do if we win, and our activities director (who's also our boys water polo coach) will not have much time to get everything set up. Luckily he knows what worked and what didn't from last year.
Good luck TBirds! -- TS
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It's nights like tonight that I know that I enjoy swimming and that I'm committed to it. It was cold and wet this evening as I pulled up to the pool after class. I could have just as easily gone home and cuddled up warmly. That's not what I did; I grabbed my swim bag, headed for the locker room, and got dressed.
Apparently only a few of us braved the cold weather. Specifically, there were three of us in the water this evening: myself, Danielle, and Ed. Our coach, the committed guy that he is, was out there with our workouts. I was able to get quite a few yards in this evening, but I made sure to stay underneath the water as much as I could! :) -- TS
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USA Water Polo is also started a cool advertising campaign, this time with an actor who I didn't know played water polo: Ted McGinley. Some of you will remember him from the televsion series The Love Boat, but I remember him best from Married with Children TV comedy as the Bundys' pretty boy neighbor Jefferson Darcy. I didn't know it, but apparently he was a water polo player in his younger years! I hope that this new advertising campaign helps to elevate the sport and interest in it. It's a great sport that most of America is ignorant about.
I also discovered that the Pet Shop Boys' "The Most Incredible Thing" opera is on Youtube, so I was able to actually watch this latest PSB production. The video is a BBC production For those of you who don't know, the Pet Shop Boys have taken a Hans Christensen Andersen story called "The Most Incredible Thing" and collaborated to make it into a opera. As any TCO reader knows, I'm a longtime PSB fan, so I've been wanting to see it but hadn't found a source for it. That is until tonight.
I have to say, it was definitely not their normal stuff, but it was still enjoyable. I will offer some advice if you aren't familiar with the storyline, read the Wikipedia page about the story first and familiarize yourself with what's going on. I'm not an opera guy, but once I read the Wikipedia page, it was enjoyable to watch and listen to the PSB's work.
Only the Pet Shop Boys could get me to watch/listen to opera and actually enjoy it!! :) -- TS
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Apparently I'm on the search for the holy Grail. I'm going to be housesitting this weekend in Redlands, so I decided to see if Redlands or Yucaipa has a swimming pool that is open for lap swim. I tried Facebook, my contacts at work, and even my coaches at the Fontana pool, and everyone agreed, there is no such thing. Apparently the City of Fontana is the only one in the area that offers year round public lap swim. Both Yucaipa and Redlands have well supported aquatic programs, but none of them offer lap swimming to the public.
Yucaipa Swim Team does have a Masters team, but that requires a monthy membership commitment. I just want to be able to show up, pay a few bucks, and do my swim workout. I was hoping to get another workout in, but I guess it's not going to happen. :( -- TS
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Today was a perfect day! The weather was beautiful, so I decided to go outside and enjoy it. I spent the afternoon working on the Imp and Bug, moving them out, cleaning them, and tinkering on a few things to get them running again. I was able to finally get the rear drums on the Imp. I don't know what stopped me before, but without too much effort, I was able to slide the drum on and get the axle nut on snuggly. I wasn't able to get the axle torqued properly, as I need a large guage extension cord for my small compressor. The power receptacles in the car port are not able to handle the draw of the compressor, so I need to run it off of a receptacle in the washroom.
This evening I finally was able to grill the yellow tail I got from Chad. The verdict? It was tasty! I grilled it, placed it on a bed of arugula, with a serving of Israeli couscous. It was delicious and healthy!
Ok on to something that's been bothering me. I have to take a moment to vent and educate everyone. I enjoy Facebook as it allows me to stay in touch with family and friends. It's allowed me to respark old friendships, and get to know my current friends better.
A lot of people are complaining about the changes that Facebook has done to their user interface. People seemed lost because things aren't in the same place as it was before. My reaction is "so what?!", it's adapting and once you're familiar with the new set up, I'm sure it will be better. I don't know what the complaining is about, it still works in a straight manner. I guess some people are not a fan of change.
Secondly, what inevitably happens when FB does stuff like this, the hoax about Facebook is going to start charging. It's not true folks! I've had to share with too many of my FB friends that FB would be foolish to charge users like me. They would lose money; we are NOT their customers, we are the commodity. FB's customers are the advertisers. They attract us to join the site and become regular users. We enter our likes and interests, and they use that data to sell advertising space to businesses. That's why the advertising you see on FB is tailored to your interests. As a guy, I don't adverstising for feminine hygiene products, but since I mentioned computers and technology in my profile, I get advertising about that.
The moral is don't pass on this hoax about FB charging us, the users. They need us to see the ads, and that's the truth. -- TS
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One of my fellow teammates from the Masters swim team is an avid deep sea fisherman. Chad shared that he will occasionally go out on a boat trip to escape from his studies (he's a grad student) and usually comes home with a lot of fish. Last week he asked if I'd be interested in some of the fish. Of course I told him "Heck yeah!". Fresh caught fish for free, I'm definitely interested!
Anyways, Wednesday night after practice walking to our cars, he asked if I was still interested in the fish. I responeded with an enthusiastic "Yes!" He then opened up his trunk and pulled out of an ice cooler a large bag of yellowtail filets. I'm looking forward to enjoying that fish. :) -- TS
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Days like today are just plain sweet! 
This afternoon was the Yucaipa High boys water polo game against everyone's rival, Redlands High. Anyone who's gone to high school knows that Redlands High seems to be everyone's rival. It was true when I went to high school at FoHi, and it's still true at work.
As long as I can remember, Redlands has always had a strong aquatics program that is well supported by the community. This community support isn't shared with the aquatics programs in other communities. Sure, there is a small group of supporters that do what they can, but the fact most resources (money and energy) are funneled into more mainstream sports like football, basketball and baseball.
Well, that's why today was so sweet! This afternoon, the YHS boys came out the victors in their first league meet up! Our TBird boys were able to keep the RHS boys from scoring and controlling the game, as they usually do. Great job to the YHS boys!!-- TS
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When I started swimming in March, I was surprised that I was able to swim a mile(1650yds) that day. I thought for sure it would take me a while to build my strength and endurance to that kind of yardage. With every subsequent swim, I tried to increase that mileage, but the magic two mile mark seemed a ways away. Well, I'm hapy to report, that is no longer the case!
Tonight I was able to complete the posted workout and that pushed me over the two mile mark. In fact I pushed myself farther along than two miles and ended up at 3650yds. It feels so good to be at this new level, but I don't foresee myself getting to the three mark any time soon. I will eventually get there, but I just don't have enough pool time to do it. We only have less than two hours in the pool and with my current fitness level and speed, three miles isn't going to happen. But that's not going to discourage me, it's my next goal. :) -- TS
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On Thursday I heard an advertisement on KVCR radio (local
NPR radio station in San Bernardino) for a restaurant in Fontana called J & M
Cafe. Seems like a really nice restaurant with more upscale & healthy
options, something not usually found in the old end of Fontana. I'm eager
to try it. -- TS
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Another boys water polo home game, this time against Eisenhower. 
It
was obvious that the Eisenhower team isn't as experienced as our team,
so the game was easily ours. This game was an opportunity for the non-starters
to get some playing time in.
Today the sun decided to make an appearance during the
game and it's apparent in the photos. If you look at the photos from yesterday,
you can tell the difference the sunlight makes on the photographs. The
difficulty with shooting in sunlight is the reflection from the water,
the washing out of lighter colors, and shadows on faces. In spite of these
challenges, I was able to get some photographs that I'm very pleased with.
Check out my Picasa photo
gallery for this game. -- TS
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This afternoon was the first boys water polo home game
of the season. 
I
forgot to put it on my calendar, so it caught me off guard, but I was able
to get the lf2.8/70-200mm VR lens for the game. The more I do these games,
the more I wish I personally owned one of these lenses. It's so versatile
and so sharp. The photos I got are just amazing.
This game marks the first time shooting with my new D7000 body and the f2.8/70-200 VR lens. I think this photograph illustrates how it worked out. The photos I was able to get were just striking. At 400 ISO, I was able to get the water droplets to stop and to get the players perfectly in focus and exposed properly. My photograph gallery from this game. Wow!!
After the game I headed back up to the school and stayed
late to get one of my computer labs ready for tomorrow. I had intended
to get it done yesterday during the school day, but constant distractions
kept me from getting the systems updated. Mike and I started the imaging
of the lab as I was leaving for the game, and I came back this evening
to finish up the installation. It's been a long day! -- TS
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This morning my friend and co-worker Linda attended the
2011 VW Treffen. 
The Treffen is a vintage VW car show held at the Phoenix
Center in Anaheim. The Phoenix Center is a German cultural center, with
a beautifully maintained grounds and facility. The menu included many German
favorites like schnitzel and sauerkraut.
As for the VWs and the show, I have to say it was impressive! The show includes some of the nicest vintage VWs and Porsches around. I took my camera with me and took pictures of the cars that caught my eye. This cabriolet Karmann Ghia was absolutely stunning. Check out the rest of the photos on my photo gallery.
I also spent the weekend house/pet sitting for my dad and
step-mom in Redlands, doing my weekend escape from home. I know their dogs
like to have someone around, though Penny is a little upset it's me and
not my step-mom. -- TS
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I made it! I've
reached the first milestone for Go
The Distance challenge! This milestone was my first goal with the swimming.
I have to thank my teammates who stopped their work outs and cheered me on for the final 110 swim that pushed me over the 50 mile mark. My coach even made a remark about doing it butterfly, and I probably would have to show my thanks, but I knew I wouldn't last. I did about 90 yds of breaststroke, and for the final ten yards, I gave my coach what he wanted: I finished the lap doing butterfly. It felt so good to get there. I'm now looking forward to getting my USMS/GTD swim cap.
I've also analyzed the numbers and if I continue the weekly
yardage I'm currently doing, I should be able to make the second milestone,
100 miles, in less than three months! Not bad for a guy who weighs as much
as I do! -- TS
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Tonight was the final exam for Math 212, my last class
of the summer! I think I did well. I didn't blank out on any problems like
I did on the midterms, so I expect something in the high 80% or low 90%.
Now it's time to relax and enjoy the free time before the fall quarter
starts. At least it won't be as chaotic as summer school. Taking that summer
school class and working 40 hours a week was just insane! -- TS
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I am working on my second post on swimming blog. I've decided
I'm going to make a weekly workout summary post rather than trying to post
every time I swim. By the time I get home and eat something, I just don't
have the energy to do that. I'll
try to post them by Saturday or Sunday sometime.
For those of you who are curious, I'm currently at 45.4
miles for the Go
The Distance challenge! I should make the 50 mile mark this week.
I am so excited about making this milestone. It's the first swimming
goal I made for myself, and I'm going to make it. My coach and teammates
are also excited and the coach told me to tell him how much yardage I
need and he'd make sure I got the workouts to make it this week. -- TS
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Really quick college update: I got an 87% on the second
midterm in Math 212! 
Yes!
I'm very pleased with that score and it sets me up for getting a good score
on the final next week.
I also started my own swimming blog at the USMS web site.
If you want to follow my ups and downs of getting back into swimming and
losing weight, stop by there. The blog is called "An
Uber Clydesdale Swimmer's Journey". I'm using to share my progress,
learn more about my workouts from my fellow swimmers, and maybe inspire
someone else who's struggling with their weight to join USMS and make
swimming a part of their commitment to becoming healthier and thinner.
-- TS
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Not much going on this week. It's been a week of work,
college, and swimming, and there is going to be a lot of that in the upcoming
years. It
feels good to be busy and to be making progress on my goals of getting
my education and getting healthy. For the first time in many years, I am
now making positive progress towards both goals.
Speaking of the swimming thing, I have to share a tidbit of information I found out tonight. Apparently the management at the Fontana Parks Aquatic Center (the pool where I swim at) is now considering putting together a Masters water polo team. The word is they would practice on Sunday, I'm definitely interested. It would be so great to once a week to get some time in the pool playing water polo, a sport that I think is definitely undervalued. I will definitely keep you posted on this.
Tonight's swim practice now places me at over 41 miles
in the Go
The Distance challenege! I just need another nine miles until I get
my USMS/GTD swim cap. Yes! :) -- TS
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It's been a LONG week this week. I started the week with
our first midterm in Math 212. I
don't think I did as well as I would have liked, but then I would only
be content with a 100%. I'm sure it's a A or B, but I'll have to wait until
tomorrow to find out how I did.
Wednesdy marks my return to work. It's always hard to go back to getting up at 5AM when you're used to staying up late and sleeping in. It usually takes me a few weeks to get my body adjusted to the early wake up times. So in spite of getting up before the sun that morning, I somehow swam 3000 yds at practice, making a new personal best. The two mile mark is 3450 yds, so that's my goal to do in one evening.
Last night's swim practice now places me at 37.3 miles
in the Go
The Distance challenege. That means that another 12.7 miles until I
get my USMS/GTD swim cap. :) -- TS
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I swam 2500 yds last night at swim practice. One set we
did was to get our time for a 50 yd freestyle. I
swam a 0:35, my best since I started back at swimming. The last time I
was timed, I did a 0:46 and back in early May I did a 0:41. I can tell
you that I'm very pleased with my progress and am now making my goal a
0:30 seconds in the 50 free.
Thanks to my Twitter posts after each swim practice, I've
recruited a new person to the swim team. My buddy Jay from high school.
Jay is one of my few friends that actually uses his Twitter account regularly
and my tweets about the swimming intrigued him. He came out last night
and joined us in the pool. It was great to finally see him since probably
our high school graduation. We ended up talking in the parking lot of the
pool for a few hours, getting caught up on how we got there. -- TS
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Thanks to the "wonderful" financial aid department
at CSUSB, I'm not on line to get financial aid for the my time at CSUSB. It
seems that they are withholding financial aid for me because of my poor
performance 15 years ago!!! I couldn't believe it! ARGH!
One thing that I have to supply them with is a total plan
of the classes I will be taking and when I plan to graduate. To do this,
I had to meet with my academent adviosr again and map out my whole time
at CSUSB. We've now got it all figured out; it will take me five years
of taking 2-3 classes a quarter and the fifth year will be my student teaching.
It's going to be a long time at CSUSB, but I'm excited to do it. I just
need to get the university to help me to pay for it! -- TS
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If you've been following TCO this summer, you'll know that
my co-worker Mark Watkins is returning to YHS and that he and I are working
together to make the YHS web site even better. 
Well,
Mark invited me to join him and our YHS auto shop teacher, Chris Weleff,
to attend an automotive that up until this weekend I had only heard of.
The event is the infamous "Cars
And Coffee" in the city of Irvine, CA in Orange County. I had
heard it was a crazy informal "get-together" with some really
rare and exotic cars from all over the world. Believe me I wasn't disappointed!
We saw some really crazy cars and some really expenisve cars. Of course
I brought out my camera and took some photos of the cars. You can see my
gallery from the show on my Picasa web gallery.
Following the show, we headed to this great place for breakfast and to relax a bit. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Mark and Chris, talking about cars with two fellow gearheads.
The Orange County expedition was fun, but my day was just beginning. That afternoon my friends Catrina and Baber were having a birthday party for their Nathaniel's 1st birthday. In spit of being up at 3:00 AM, I made it to the party and hung out for a while.
My day wasn't over yet! That evening my dad and step-mom
had arranged for a family dinner for my Dad's birthday with my step-sister,
her daughter, and her boyfriend. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone
but it was a LONG day for sure! -- TS
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My friend Karen posted on my Facebook wall, asking me if
I was planning on swimming at the November
6th USMS meet at Mission Viejo. After some thought, and encouragement
from my teammates, 
I'm
going to make that event my first USMS meet and my first swim meet in over
22 years! It's a 50 meter pool, so that will be first for me. I'm kind
of excited, but also nervous about the meet. It's been a long time since
I competed in an organized swim meet, but I think we will all have a good.
The saga of the swamp cooler continues. This morning my
neighbor called and said my evaportive cooler was leaking. After donning
my boots, I trudged out to the backyard and did some investigating, I surmised
that when I was working on the cooler a few weeks ago, I must have tweaked
the float arm just enough to make the water basin jet to continually fill/flood.
A simple tweak of the float arm fixed it. Love those easy and free fixs!
-- TS
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Last night was the final exam for Math 211. I
think it went well and I'm curious to find out how I did on it. Since calculus
is a series of classes, I'm moving on to the next class: Math 212 Calculus
II. This class will focus on integration, I hope I can do well with it.
Today is also my Dad's 65th birthday, so after class I
met with him and my step-mom for dinner. We ate at this restaurant in Rialto
called "Corky's
Kitchen and Bakery " on the I-210 and Riverside Ave. It's right
on my way home from school, so it make a good spot to meet them. Last weekend,
during a regular visit to Barnes
And Noble to browse the books, I found this book called "Surf
Beat". It's about the stories behind the classic surf songs from
Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, and other classic surf music
artists. -- TS
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I'm finishing the month recuperating from a late night with family. This weekend my family from Arizona is visiting, so last night my cousin Todd and his wife Debbie hosted a large party and they invited me. It was my opportunity to hang out with my aunt, step-uncle, and two cousins who all live in the Phoenix area.
Even though my cousin Todd lives in nearby San Bernardino,
it has been a long time since I was last over to his house. This meant
that when he saw me walking up his driveway and greeted me, he made sure
to share his latest project, a red Meyers Manx dunebuggy. Todd has long
talked about building a buggy like this, and he's 99.9% done with it. There
are a few things that he's still got left to do, but it's looking good.
:) -- TS
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Today makes the day six years ago that my Mom passed away.
This day is always a hard one for me; my mom and I were close, and watching
her suffer with her body failing from cancer. I hope that a day soon comes
that we can eradicate cancer and we will no longer have to have people
suffer the pain of cancer. -- TS
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Just when I thought my air conditioning was fixed, I discovered
this evening that my fan belt on the evaporative air conditioning (we always
called them swamp coolers) had stretched too much and it wasn't pushing
the volume of air I need to cool the house. 
As
was the case with the water pump, I discovered what I needed and headed
to Home Depot to get a replacement belt. It went on with no problems and
I'm basking in a cooler home. :)
This evening I watched on TV one of our assistant principals from work, Christina Pierce, win on a ABC game show called "101 Ways To Leave A Game Show". She won $50,000 in the end and will be using some of her prize money to start a scholarship at work. Very cool Christina!
Last but not least, we have a winner for this
year's Tour de France! The Land Down Under can now lay came to being
the home of the 2011 TdF winner. Australian Cadel Evans ended up winning
this epic race. It's always great to see a non-European win this race.
:) -- TS
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I hate butterfly! I did some I.M. (individual medley) sets
tonight and rediscovered my distaste for butterfly all over again.
On a positive note, I've signed up with U.S. Masters Swimming and their "Go The Distance" program. I went back into my Twitter feed and input the yardage I had already done. So as of right now, I've swum 24 miles this year. My first goal is at 50 miles; when I get to the 50 mile mark I get a free USMS swim cap.
On work related news, I met Mark Watkins for lunch at the Five Guys Burger in Redlands to discuss YHS web site. Mark was the YHS webmaster before he left for the new YCJUSD middle school a few years ago, on the promise that it would eventually become the second high school. The district has since changed their minds and it will always be a middle school. With the retirement of our graphic design teacher last year, Mark seized the opportunity to come back to YHS.
Mark wants to make the web site a team effort. We are going
to pool our talents and sweat to make the site even better than it was.
Mark is very talented with graphics and multimedia, an area that I'm not
so good at, so I'm looking forward to the cool things we can do with the
site this school year. Stop by the
site and check it out! -- TS
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Yesterday started well. I had to run to work for something, so instead of having dinner with Dad, we met at A.J. Barile's, right down the street from the school. After lunch, I headed up to CSUSB and took my second midterm for this calculus class. I felt good about how I did on the test and this afternoon my final score confirmed that fact: I earned a 93%! Woot woot!
After finding out that I did well on the midterm, I was feeling good. Things were going well that day. That was until I got home. It's been HOT this summer, so when I walked in the door, I immediately headed to the swamp cooler to get it going on cooling the house. As I cranked it to "Cool High", I noticed that it was pumping out the air but it wasn't getting cooler. So I headed around out back and inspected the swamp cooler. A little snooping revealed that the water pump had died and it wasn't getting the cooler pads wet.
Well that meant an evening trip to Home Depot. I took
some measurements, analyzed what I had, and headed over to Home Depot.
The water pump was the culprit; it's replacement start spraying down the
pads and I instantely noticed the difference inside the house. It was getting
cooler! Ah..... -- TS
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Sunday is usually my day to do running around, like grocery
shopping, home repair supplies, etc. 
As
I was out and about, I had the opportunity to spy three really cool cars.
The first car was a Hudson "Jet" I spotted in a Del Taco parking lot. I've never seen a Hudson Jet, but based on the body style, I'd guess it be an early to mid 50s model year. This particular one seemed to be great shape.
The next car is the one pictured here, a Meyers Manx SR. The SR was Bruce Meyers big attempt to offer a more sophisticated kit car based on the VW Bug floorpan and mechanicals. This particular one was in decent shape, but it did need some work. How I'd love to get my hands on one of those. :)
Finally at Target this afternoon, as I was checking out
the HotWheels and Matchbox cars, I spotted a must-have for me: a VW Brasilia.
The Brasilia was a car designed and built by VW of Brazil for their country.
It's a simple hatchback body, with front end styling from a VW 412, and
the floorpan/mechanicals of a Type 1 Karmann Ghia. These cars pop up every
once in a while at the VW shows or in the magazines, but since they were
never sold here in the US, they are a rare sight. -- TS
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For the last week I've been house sitting for my Dad and
step-mom. They were visiting some friends in central California, so they
need someone to watch over the house, the dogs, and the plants. I took
this opportunity to make this stay a "mini-vacation". In between
classes, I met up with friends who live in this area and got caught up
with everyone. It was nice to have a "change of scenery", but
I'm now back in Fontana. -- TS
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Thanks to a former YHS student, I have now secured an invitation
to Google+. 
For
those of you who aren't familiar with Google+, it's Google's latest attempt
to break into the social network business. Right now they are developing
it, so they only allow a small group of people to use it, so the only way
to join Google+ is to secure a invitation from a current member. Lucky
for me, I knew someone who was and they were kind enough to send one my
way.
Like I mentioned below, I've joined the smartphone crowd.
I've also learned that a lot of my friends have also joined the Android
crew, so I decided to share a list of my "must-have" apps as
a note on Facebook. The response was pretty positive, so if you have any
suggetions for an Android app that I need to try, let me know! -- TS
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Yesterday I took my first calculus midterm. 
I
haven't taken a calculus class in over 15 years, so I was a little nervous
going into it. I did my best to study for it, but I felt confident that
I would do well. Our instructor handed back our midterms today (I was surprised
he got them back so quickly!) and I earned a 95%!
I added a new "toy" into my arsenal, a Motorola Droid 2 Global cell phone. It's actually a "smartphone" with the Android 2.2 operating system, a 1.2 GHz processor, and a lot of memory. My experience playing with an HTC Droid Eris, I knew the basics of getting around with the Android OS.
Right now I'm spending my time exploring the phone and
getting it set up the way I want and the way it works for me. I'm putting
together a list of my "must-have" apps, and I'll try to share
them when I can. -- TS
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Today (actually this morning) makes the beginning of this
year's Tour de France (TdF)! Every
year this epic three week long bike race on some really crazy mountainous
routes. These cyclists race through beautiful countryside of France (and
neighboring countries) and then ascend the peaks of the Pyrenees and the
Swiss Alps. I can only imagine the strength and stamina required to do
just one of these stages, and to survive three weeks of it commands my
respect and admiration.
It's always amazed me the TdF isn't a bigger deal here in the US. It seems that the average American doesn't view bicycle racing as a serious sport; they tend to watch the American staples of baseball, basketball, and football. In the rest of the world, events like the TdF pack them in and inspire a lot of activity along the roadside.
Oh well, I'm going to be reading the updates each day
and see who comes out on top! -- TS
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On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have some downtime between
the end of my Math 211 class and my Masters swim practice. 
Even
though I live in between the university and the pool, I'm just far enough
that I'd be spending too much time driving home and then driving to the
pool. I decided that instead of wasting that time, I'd make better use
of it and use it for studying.
That's how I began my the ritual two days a week of stopping
at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf by the pool. It gives me a nice post-class
1.5 hour chunk of time to do homework and review my notes from that day's
class. I've decided to also partake in their beverages. Right now I'm trying
their various tea lattes, on ice, of course! -- TS
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This morning I drove over to help my Dad with some above
ground planters that he built for my step-mom. 
We
drove over to the local Home Depot, picked up 20 bags of soil for the planter.
If it wasn't for the cost, I'd build some planters for my place. It's so
nice to have the planters up higher so that you don't have to bend down
to tend to the garden.
After I left my Dad's place, I drove up to my friend Linda's house. Her friend Heidi had just upgraded her computer with a brand new iMac, so I was picking up her old eMac. The eMac is an older PowerPC based Apple computer, so for most people it's too "old". For me, it's a chance to play with MacOSX 10.5 and get more experience with it. I'm looking forward to using it.
After leaving Linda's house, I decided that since I was already out that way, I'd stop by my friend Johnny and Kristine's house. Their house always seems to be the social gathering point of Mentone, so I was surprised to find them not there. There was a young man there working on his Baja Bug, so I introduced myself and inquired about Johnny & Kristine. It turns out they were at another house in Mentone but a quick phone call to Johnny got the directions, so I spent the rest of the night hanging, talking about VWs, life, and even meeting up with some friends who I haven't seen in years. It was a good time.
As Johnny and I were talking, he got a phone call. Apparently
a '64 VW Bus (21-window) sold that afternoon at the Orange County Barrett
Jackson auction for almost $200,000!!! Johnny and I discussed what this
could mean. It could mean that the prices of all early Busses are going
to artificially inflate. Every person with a pre 1968 Bus is going to expect
some astronomical price for their Bus. It's going to push people out of
the hobby, or keep people out of the hobby. I hope I'm wrong and cooler
heads prevail in the market, but right now only time will tell. . -- TS
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This afternoon, before I left for class, I helped my friend Linda pick out a fabric for the upholstery in her Type 3 Karmann Ghia. Linda is having my friend Kristine stitch her up some seat covers and a few interior odds and ends to make her T34 more show worthy.
We went to J & J's Auto Fabric in Rialto on Kristine's suggestion. She told us to find the material she wanted to use and how much to buy. One of the owners greeted us as we walked in the door, directed us to the general area of the store that had the type of material we were looking for, and said he was going to let us look around. He emphasized that if we had ANY questions, that he was eager to help.
Linda and I spent about an hour in there, looking at all
of the fabrics, along with their memoribilia. It was a fun afternoon and
now Linda has the material for her next project of the T34. That car is
getting better looking everyday! -- TS
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Wow, today was it. It was my first class meeting for Calculus
I class I'm taking this summer. It was strange to be back in the classroom
as a CSUSB student, but after a while I became comfortable. -- TS
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Today is the day to celebrate the great men that helped
to raise us and who, 
to
this day, give us guidance and provide a moral compass. Yep, it's Father's
Day and this year we celebrated with a small Slider get together. My step-mom
and step-sister, along with Dad and I, met at the BJ's Restauarant in Rancho
Cucamonga.
I'm very lucky to have such a great Dad. We try to get together once a week for dinner and spend an hour or two chatting about life and how we're all doing. Sometimes we have to skip a week, but our weekly dinner is a priority for both him and myself. This is just one thing that I adore about my dad.
So to all of you dads out there, Happy Father's Day! -- TS
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It's days like today that I wish more of my family, specfically my cousins. My cousin Cynda, who used to babysit my brother and I when we were younger, was actually in California this weekend. Part of her iteniary weekend to get together with me and do some catching. The last time I had talked to Cynda was at my wedding back in August '08 and a lot of things have changed for herself and myself.
We spent most of the day just talking, getting caught up
on what's going on with our lives, and sharing. It was really enjoyable
and we're looking forward to seeing each other whenever we can. -- TS
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Today was the VW Classic and this year's Classic was a
little different for me. 
My
friend Randy and his girlfriend Michelle came in from Florida for Randy's
family reunion yesterday and today they were going to be hanging out with
me at the Classic.
What makes it even memorable is that Randy and I have been friends for about 10 years now and we've never met. We've been emailing and message board buddies, so we were finally able to meet face to face and spend the day checking out the cool VWs at the show.
The bad news of the day was that I screwed up and photographed
the show at 6400 ISO and with spot metering. The result: horrible photos.
I'm not happy about the photos I took, but I did manage to put together
a few good ones and posted them on my
Picasa gallery for the day. -- TS
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I was able to get an appointment wth Dr. Williams for today
for advising for the upcoming school year. He's
given me a lot of great information and guidance. We've worked with my
PAWS report (the report generated by the records department that lists
your completed work and what you need to graduate) and we think we've got
a plan laid out for the upcoming school year.
He told us on Saturday that every fall the Math department
puts a registration hold on it's majors, and the only way to get it removed
is to see a staff member for academic advising. The good news is that Dr.
Williams offered to use this advising session as satisfying that fall advising,
so I don't have to go back during the fall quarter to do this again. -- TS
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Today is the first day of vacation and I was up at 5:00AM!
What was I doing getting up at that hour when I could be sleeping in and
enjoying my vacation. 
Sleeping
in wasn't any option today as today was my mandatory transfer student orientation
(called SOAR) at CSUSB. Check in started at 7:30, so I had to be up and
on the road to allow enough time to get up to the school.
So you're probably curious how it went. The first half of it was really boring. It was kind of a "congrats to getting in but now you are in the big leagues" type of pep rally. Whatever, I've been here before, I know what I have ahead of me, I just want to do it.
The best part of the day was when we branched out with our fellow subject majors and got to meet a staff member from our department. I am a mathematics major and lucky for me, our staff presenter was the math department chair, Dr. Peter Williams.
After our tour of the math classrooms, computer labs, and
staff offices, I was able to briefly talk to Dr. Williams about my situation
as a CSUSB returning student and what I should do about my calculus classes
there in '96. He was very helpful and gave me some great advice. I think
I'm going to contact him and schedule an office visit with him to get some
more in depth planning of my time there at CSUSB. -- TS
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Boy did I pay for that water polo session! Later that day I discovered that I also got one heck of a sun burn. My arms, shoulders, and neck were all red and hurt! My muscles were so sore that I could barely move about in my small house. I was bathing myself in aloe vera, but it didn't help much. Trying to sleep that night was pure torture. I would try to sleep but the pain was too intense and I would just lay there and scream. I finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion at about 4AM.
It's taken almost a week, but my sunburn is healing and the intense muscle aches gone. I haven't started to peel yet, but I'm sure it start soon. :)
Today also marks the end of the school year. Yes, another
school year has come and gone for YHS. This year was a particularly busy
year for YHS. We welcomed the 9th grade students and staff to our campus,
along with earning our accreditation with WASC. We managed to get it all
done and we are ready for what we hope is a little bit smoother year for
the class of 2012! -- TS
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Oh how this morning's activities did not go the way I expected
them to: things turned for the better! This
morning I got up, throw on some clothes, grab my swim gear, and headed
to the pool for my Saturday morning swim. I got there and to my amazement,
in spite of being the first weekend of the pool being open for the summer
season, there weren't that many people there. I got my own lane (which
is a luxury I think I may lose as the summer gets hotter) and did my workout.
Swimming next to me in the deep end was a mother and daughter doing their swimming. After I was done with my workout, they were already out and lounging by the deep end. As I was gathering my stuff, I got to talking to with the mother. We got to talking about water polo and I shared that I love water polo and that I played in high school. She introduced me to a couple of gentleman who arrived while we were talking.
Apparently they were sticking around afterwards for the "drop in water polo" session. They all invited me to stick around and join them for the water polo. Of course I expressed my concerns, as I hadn't been in the water playing water polo in over two decades. They reassured me it was low-key and they were just hanging out and going to be shooting at the goal.
So how did it go? It was a blast! I had so much fun! The guys were really talented polo players and took turns in the goal. We tried lined up at about 7 meters from the goal and gave the goalies our best. It was a blast.
I know I'm going to be sore later, but was all worth it!
I'm looking forward to coming back next time. -- TS
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Today is the day to tell the world that you are proud to
be a geek; it's Geek Pride Day. 
I'm
always very pleased to see that things like this are gaining acceptance
and popularity in our culture. For some many years, people hid their "geeky" tendencies
in fear of being ridiculed by "normal" people. Lucky now we are
redefining the definition of normal and it's now becoming acceptable to
admit you play D&D, or that you have a large Star Wars collection.
All I can say of this is this: it's about time!
Today also marks the anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars movie. Many years later it's name would be changed to include "Episode 1: A New Hope". This great movie was released in 1977 and it's had quite an impact on my life. I still remember seeing it for the first time in the theater and being totally blown away by it. Of course it didn't hurt that George Lucas was brilliant and launched the toy franchise that continues to this day to make him bucket loads of money. My brother and I had so many of those toys, but we didn't have them all.
Anyway, I'm off track. It's been 34 years since those words
scrolled across the screen "In a galaxy far, far away...". I
will forever be a SW fan and tip my hat to Lucas for sharing this epic
vision with the rest of the world and igniting the imagination of so many
people, young and old. -- TS
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The "Rapture" didn't happen.... what a surprise.
It seems that an individual predicted that the Rapture would occur yesterday. The "Rapture" believers stated that the "true believers" were going to ascend to "Heaven" and that the rest of the Earth would pay for the sins committed there. This premise seems like something from a "B" movie.
Of course the believers are now saying that the Rapture
is going to happen later this year. We'll see, but I'm sure that we'll
hear the same double-talk then too. :) -- TS
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One of my daily news stops on the Internet is a web site
called Slashdot.
It's
primarily concerned with topcs of a geeky nature, including Linux, open
source software, and anything else people like me would find interesting.
Today I found this article: Apple
causes religious reaction in brains of fans? This gave me quite a chuckle!
It's no secret that I'm not an Apple fanboi; I think Apple does make some
great products, but some of their business principles leave me a bit apprehensive
about getting locked into their products.
Every one has litte pet peeves, something that drives them
crazy with frustration. One of mine are Apple loyalists, the kind of fan
who buys anything and everything that Steve Jobs has deemed to wear an
Apple logo. They can't be reasoned with that an Apple product doesn't suit
the needs of everyone; it works perfect for them so why shouldn't it for
you. This is the person that this article is about, the Apple loyalist.
Read the article and enjoy! -- TS
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For the next month there is going to be road work done
on Cedar Ave., the street I take to go home. 
As
I got off the freeway this afternoon, I realized this and decided to take
an alternative route and see some areas of Bloomington that I've never
seen before. The fun part of doing this is that I sometimes find some interesting
things that I would have missed otherwise. This was one of those days!
As I was exploring my new route, I spotted this car. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I had a suspicision it was a Ford Anglia. I don't know why I thought this because I'm not that familiar with the Anglias. It just looked cool!
I immediately pulled over and took out my camera. Lucky for me the front gate was open, so I was able to get an unobstructed photo from the streeet. It looked like it was in great condition, including the four-bolt chrome spoke wheels (like Cragar SS's?). Excuse the quailty of the photo, as I was shooting a distance away, through the windows of my car.
I got home, uploaded the photos to my computer and went directly to the Wikipedia page for the Ford Anglia. Looking at the photos on the page, I found exactly what car this mystery car was: a Ford Anglia 100E.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Anglia, they
are a line of sedans built by the British division of Ford Motor Company.
They are not sold here in the USA, so some how this Anglia was brought
over by a private party from the UK. This particular one looks like it's
in great shape and I really like the color and suspense stance. Kudos go
to the person who restored it, it looks great! -- TS
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Today was some playtime with two pieces of photography
equipment I've never had the pleasure of 
using
before. I just love playing with new toys, even if they aren't mine!
First off, I finally was able to get my work to pay for a dig SLR camera for my use. The camera, a Nikon D7000, is a newer model that's received a lot of praises for performance and features. Among the features is a 16.2 megapixel sensor, battery charge life of approximately 4500 shots, 1080i video recording, dual SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slots, 6 frames per second shooting, and the option of the MB-D11 battery grip to give it a second battery. The camera is a nice piece of machinery! I'm looking forward to getting to know this camera better and explore it's potential.
From my buddy Scott, I borrowed for the weekend a very specialized lens, a Nikkor 60mm micro lens. What makes this lens so special is that it can focus on an object very close to the lens, like less than an inch away. It allows the photographer to get some really close up and detailed shots. I've been wanting to play with a "micro" lens for a while now, as a "micro" lens would allow me to shoot some great photos of various VW related items and show maching marks and wear patterns.
Armed with my Nikon D70S and the 60mm micro lens, I headed over to the Fontana Memorial Rose Garden off of Sierra Ave. in downtown Fontana. I've been wanting to shoot the roses there but I've never really gotten around to it, so it made sense to try out the lens shooting the roses.
So how did it go? I have to say I was impressed. The lens did what it was supposed to do, and I have the photographs to prove it. One thing I did learn when using this lens is that you, and the subject of your photo, must not be moving. This is Fontana, and for those of you who are familiar with Fontana, so you know there was a breeze. It would come and go, but I was able to get some really interesting shots duration the time that the winds died down.
I've posted a few of the photographs I took today on my
Picasa gallery. Check them out! -- TS
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Mother's Day is always a hard holiday for me. My mom has
been gone for almost six years now and every Mother's Day is a reminder
that she is gone. This year instead of Mother's Day being just another
Sunday, my step-sister, Geoffie, invited me, along with her mom and my
Dad to her house for a Mother's Day dinner. It was a good day and I had
an enjoyable time. I also enjoyed the time I spent as Uncle Tom and playing
with Geoffie's daughter Maddison. -- TS
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Jury duty is officially over. 
I
am now free to talk about this case and my experiences on it. Let get right
to the finding. The jury found both of the defendants guilty of 1st degree
murder, guilty of two counts of attempted murder and of the allegations.
I won't go into all of the details, as it would be a long write up, but here are the basics. The two defendants were charged with 1st degree murder of a young lady in Rialto, near the intersection of Jackson and Willow. One defendant basically set up the shoot and the other brought the gun and shot at the intended targets, two members of a rival gang.
Apparently this area is known for gang activity and violence. The victim and her friend were visiting her friend's aunt on Jackson St. As they stood by the victim's car, listening to the car stereo, talking and dancing, five shots rang out. One struck her in the hip and she ended up dying from that wound.
The two attempted murder charges were brought against them because they were shooting at two rival gang members. The shooter was not able to hit them, hence the attempt charges. They both were charged with allegations of the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime and committing a crime for the benefit of a street gang. The shooter was found guilty of both allegations, and his aider/abettor just got the allegation of the benefitting a street gang.
Now that I can do some investigation of my own, I found this article on pe.com about the arrest of the the two defendants. I found this trial, like every jury I've served on, to be an educational experience. It's interesting to see how the American judicial works.
It's always tragic when someone loses their life. I feel
for the victim's family and I send them my thoughts. The jury's finding
doesn't bring their loved one back, but at least they know that justice
was served. -- TS
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For the last three years, my friend Linda deBaun (who's
an English and drama teacher at work) and I meet at my house and we head
to the VW Bug In car show. 
The
Bug In is an annual car show that takes places at the California Speedway
here in Fontana. The event includes a car show, swap meet, vendor marketplace,
and my favorite: VW drag racing!
The last two years we drive into the event in one of Linda's pride and joys: her 1964 Type 3 Karmann Ghia. It's a rare car anywhere in the world and Volkswagen of America didn't even sell it here in the US.
Of course this relative obscurity led us to some difficulties getting into the show this year. Apparently the guy who was letting the VWs into the show and directing the non-VWs to the parking lot doesn't know much about VWs. We had to explain it to him that this car indeed is a VW. He seemed to think it was another manufacturer. Apparently he didn't see the VW badges and Karmann Ghia script on the car.
One particular fun happening this year was that one of
our YHS seniors had her Bug in the show this year! Yes, a young lady by
the name of Hayley had her purple '70 custom Bug in the show. She and her
friend made it a point to come by and see us. I suggested to Hayley and
Linda we get a picture of the both of them with their VWs there, so that
afternoon when we were getting ready to go, Hayley brought her Bug around
and I took a picture of these great ladies with their VWs. I think it's
a cool photo, eh? :) -- TS
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This morning I woke up to the Santa Ana winds howling. Those winds are the winds that I remember of Fontana growing up. I got my swim stuff together and headed to te pool for my Saturday morning swim. Along the way I saw trees down, traffic lights blown over, and cars sturggling to stay in one lane on the freeway. Dodging those obstacles, I safely arrived to the pool complex. I approached the entrance and they said that due to the winds, the pool was closed. Damn, I could have stayed home and slept in. :(
This evening we were having a dinner at my step-sister
Geoffie's house, so it was a great opportunity to leave Fontana early and
stop and get lunch at the Five Guys Burger in Mira Loma. If you remember
from my trip to Colorado for the holidays in December, my brother Chris
turned me on to Five Guys and their great food. I discovered there is one
in Mira Loma, right off the I-15, so I stopped in and took in a very delicious
lunch. For those Five Guys fans who are curious what I have on my burger,
I get a Jr. Cheeseburger with lettuce, grilled mushrooms, jalapenos, and
hot sauce. Couple that with an order of Cajun fries and I'm in food heaven.
:) -- TS
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Unless I get called up to perform my duties as a substitute
juror, I am through with jury duty. Yep, this afternoon the trial concluded
with evidence presentation. Since I could still be called up, I can't go
into the details, but I will try to post the general facts of the trial
after jury comes back with finding. -- TS
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This evening, as I was doing my workout, I asked one of
the lifeguards if they could time me for a 50 yard swim. I've
been trying to do it myself, but a). the clock is on the otherside of the
pool, b). I swim in the dark, c). my eyes aren't what they used to be,
and d). you don't get an accurate time doing the clock yourself. I've been
wanting to get times on my swimming, as it's a good way of measuring my
progress.
The young man I asked I think is an assistant pool manager or someone like that. He was more than happy to do it, and since he already had a stopwatch around his neck, we did it right there and then.
He told me he'd start when I took off, so this time would account for my reflex time from his start. I went all out and during the first lap I starting getting cramps in one leg. I approached the wall and decided to go all out with a flip turn. I executed the turn perfectly but as I pushed off of the wall, my other leg cramped up. Argh! I guess I need to do some kick work. :)
About a third of the way into the second lap, I started losing my swimsuit! I guess I was really clenching my stomach muscles, so I had to quickly pull the suit back up and secure it into place. I contemplated letting it go, as I do swim with a Speedo on underneath the regular swim trunks. Call it security. :)
As I approached the wall, I worked it hard and finished hard and fast. Looking up at the guard, I asked him "Well?!" and he says "41.1 seconds".
I am very pleased with this time. For a guy of my size
(~400 lbs) and who is woefully out of shape, it's a respectable time. The
next time I get timed, I'm planning on being under 40 seconds. :) -- TS
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I've been on jury duty long enough now that it seems weird
to be going back to work for one day. Everyday for most of this month,
my job has been to go to court and do my part for our justice system. Well,
for a reason I can't go into quite yet (and I won't be able to explain
until after the case is over), we have both today and tomorrow off. Lucky
for me, tomorrow is a school holiday, so I get to enjoy the three day weekend.
-- TS
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A few things to report on. This week I was seated as an
alternate on the court case, so for at least the next few weeks I'm going
to be calling the Fontana Superior Courthouse my work. Unlike
most of the people I know, I actually enjoy jury duty and find it a learning
experience. I can't anything about the case right now, but I will be sharing
the details at the conclusion of the case. Stay tuned!
After my doctor's appointment this week, I've decided to up my swimming workouts to three times a week. My doctor says as long as I feel good doing it, he's leaving me with the decision of how much to exercise. I really want to do the Masters meets next year, so I want to ramp up my workouts and this week I've added a Saturday morning workout to my weekly activities.
I also decided to see how fast I was currently. Since I'm not ready for an all out 100+ yd swim, I decided to start small with a 50 yd sprint. I went all out for the 50 and as far as I can tell, I did about 40-45 seconds. It's not really fast compared to the younger (and much lighter) swimmers out there, but for a guy my size and in the shape I'm currently in, I'm very pleased with it.
The reason for the uncertainity for the time is that I'm
near sighted and the clock is placed a distance from where I swim, so it
takes my eyes a second or two to focus in on the clock, especially right
after touching the wall. I guess I need to add a waterproof watch to my
shopping list of things I need for my workouts. A new kickboard is on that
list too, as the adhesive used to hold the board together seems to be dying
and the board is coming apart. I'm also going to see about getting a pull
buoy to use to my pull work sets. -- TS
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This week has been quite a week. Monday evening I completed
about ¾ mile swim at the Fontana Parks Aquatic Center because I
got a late start. I
was on the phone with my brother Chris, talking about the things that brothers
talk about. In spite of feeling quite sore the next day, I'm enjoying these
swim workouts and I'm looking forward to competing in the US Masters Swimming
meets next year. I may not be the fastest swimmer out there, but I'll probably
be the one with the biggest smile! :)
Tuesday I had jury duty summons, but this time I got the courthouse I wanted: Fontana. Yep, I have a whopping ½ mile drive to the courthouse from my house. It was so nice not to have to drive to the San Bernardino Courthouse. The Fontana Courthouse is a smaller facility, so traffic and finding a parking spot is quite easy. I ended up getting into the jury pool for what the judge says in a month long (20 work days) trial, so this jury selection is probably going to be a long process. We had to return on Wednesday to continue the process and at the end of Wednesday, we were told to report back on Monday. That means that I'm getting some days with a SHORT commute and that's great for the pocketbook, especially now that gas is over $4.00/gallon! !
Wednesday afternoon I met up with my longtime friend Stacy. She had a Disney magazine with a lot of information on the TRON franchise, including information on the new Tron: Legacy movie, and she saved it for me. She knows that I'm a big fan of Tron, both the original 1982 film and last year's sequel. So we chatted awhile about life, how each of us is doing, and just catching up.
Last night was swim workout number two. I have to say this:
it was cold! The weather has shifted here and the thermometer really dropped
last night, along with the rain and the Fontana winds. Getting into the
pool and swimming weren't bad, it was just really cold when it came time
to get out, get my stuff, and get into the locker room for a hot shower.
I was able to get a full mile completed tonight and even changed the workout
to include a few more pulling sets. -- TS
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Last Thursday started the 2011 Redlands Bicycle Classic,
a multiple day bicycle stage race. 
The
community of Redlands has made this a large and very important bicycle
race for the professional road bike racers in the Unitied States. It's
not uncommon to have previous Tour de France riders or future Tour de France
riders competing in this event. It usually kicks off with a time trial
race on Thursday, followed with a long distance (100+ miles) on Friday,
a criterium on Saturday, and another road race to finish the event on Sunday.
By the most exciting event to watch is Saturday's criterium, as it's held
in downtown Redlands, and the racers have a fixed course that they must
continually race along for many laps. This allows the spectators to see
the racers multiple times and cheer for their favorites. As a fan of road
cycling, it's a lot of fun to watch!
Saturday morning also includes races/rides for the general public. There are age appropriate races from the youngest fans to the oldest fans. This year I was lucky enough to know many people competing in this event. One of them included my friend (and co-worker) Nate Westwick. The last couple of years Nate has been gradually getting into road cycling and this year he decided to see what he could do at this race.
I was able to borrow a Nikon Nikkor f2.8/70-200mm lens from my buddy Scott and headed out Saturday to the race to watch Nate's race. I decided to take advantage of the event and suited up with my bicycle gear and brought my Klein Pulse Pro mountain bike to get me around the event. Of course this worked well because parking at large events like this can be a bear. So with my Klein, my D70S armed with the big lens, and my well equipped camera backpack, I was ready to cheer on Nate and take some shots!
Nate's group was merged into the other adult men's races, so he was going to be racing against all of the men aged 18 and up! He was going to be challenged that's for sure. As Nate was walking onto the course, I discovered that my buddy Doug Earnest was also going to be racing in that very same race, so I spent the whole race trying to capture good photos of both of them. They both did very well and I commend them both for doing as well as they did.
I also added another model to collection, a Mil-24D 'Hind'
helicopter. Used coupon to get it cheap. Also Hobby People had a few must
adds, including a MiG-25 Foxbat, MiG-17 PFU Fresco E, B-1B Lancer, Bell
X-1, OV-10D Bronco, XFY-1 VTO "Pogo", and a MiG-21PF. For one
reason or another, these are all airplanes that I'm eager to add to my
collection. -- TS
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Last month my buddy Doug Earnest contacted me about an idea. His daughter is a senior this year at Yucaipa High and is a member of the varsity girls water polo team, so Doug and I have gotten to be friends from hanging out at the games. Doug is a free lance sports photographer, so we always ended up standing next to each other, chatting as we snapped away at the games.
Anyways, back to Doug's proposition. He wanted to give the senior girls a framed 5x7 photo of themselves playing this season. He wasn't able to make many games this year, so he wanted to know if I would be willing to supply the prints and he'd supply the frames. I figured "Why not?! It sounds like fun!"
Tonight was the team's post-season banquet, so Doug and I met in the parking lot to put the photographs in the frames. I want you to realize this is the first time I've printed any of my water polo photography, so I was nervous to see how they looked. They ended up looking really good. They would have been better, but since I currently shoot with a D70S, which has a 6 megapixel sensor, I lose a lot of pixels when I do the necessary cropping to get the image I want. Some of the photos would have been sharper and more detailed if I had a 10 megapixel or larger camera.
The girls all loved the photographs. We had 10 seniors this year, so I didn't know all of the girls, but the five I did know made sure to thank me personally, including a hug from one. It's my hope that they will cherish that photograph of the fun times they had their senior year playing water polo. It's a great sport with great people and great fans. I'm lucky enough to have been a player and now am a fan.
I didn't go home empty handed though: Coach Perry handed
me my 2011 YHS Girls Water Polo t-shirt. The t-shirt is the teams (coach's)
way of thanking me for donating the photographs I took that season. The
t-shirt looks sweet and is a welcome addition to my wardrobe. I'll wear
it with pride as a water polo booster. -- TS
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Today's swim work out brings my spring break swim mileage
to four miles! I
swam four workouts at the Fontana Parks Aquatic Center this break and boy
does it feel good! I'm looking forward to keeping up the one-mile work
outs, twice a week, for a while, and when I'm in better shape, I'm going
to increase the frequency of the work-outs and increase the mileage. This
is the first step in meeting my goal of swimming the US Masters Swimming
meets in 2012.
After my workout, I headed back home to the next fun part of the day. My friend Wilt and I worked out a system where he was going to leave his car at my house and then ride his bike to today's stage of the San Dimas Stage Race. Today's stage is the uphill time trial on Glendora Mountain Road in the city of Glendora, so it's was about a 40 mile bike ride there.
Anyways, the deal we worked out was I would drive his car to the race and meet up to catch the start of the professional for the time trialers. The way things worked out, I was there way before Wilt, so I found a place to park his car, grabbed my backpack and started going up the street to find the start gates for the time trial.
Well, it was uphill the whole way, probably about a mile, but I found the gates and hung out watching the women start first. Wilt made it about 20 minutes later, so we hung around, watching the riders take off for an uphill sprint, and chatted about bicycling, the riders, and the bikes. I even got a change to check out two VW Type 3 Squarebacks that belonged to two racers there. It was very cool to see these Squarebacks decked out with Yakima racks at a bike race.
It was a very enjoyable day and it makes time off so cherished.
:) -- TS
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I decided to take advantage of this time off and made some plans with friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Today I had lunch with my longtime friends Brent and Leann, along with their twin boys. They suggested Outback Steakhouse, so I was up for that, as I haven't eaten there in at least three years! It was really great to see them, to see that their family is doing well, and do some catching up. All three of agreed we have to get together more often!
After lunch, I decided to swing by Best Buy and see what they had. As I was perusing the video games, I saw a promotional sign that tomorrow is the debut of the third LEGO Star Wars game, this time based on the Clone Wars. I am really excited to get my hands on that one, but I'm going to hold off buying it until I can get a Nintendo Wii.
As I browsed the store, I found a Blu-Ray for $10 that
was a "must-have" for my collection: V For Vendetta. Yep,
they had a sale on some Blu-Ray movies and one of my all time favorites
was included. Needless to say, I grabbed the last one from the shelve and
now have a Blu-Ray disc but no Blu-Ray player, but that will change in
the future. :) -- TS
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For about the last month, I've been using Google Docs to track gas mileage on my car. I used to carry around in my car a small accounting ledger, and every fill up I'd note the v information. It allowed me to track how many miles in a month I drove, what kind of gas mileage my car was getting, and how much per mile fuel costs were.
This time I've decided to go to the "cloud" and store this information in a spreadsheet on my Google Docs account. Right now every time I fill up, I use my cell phone to record the information about the fill-up (in a "Notes" app). When I get to a computer, I take that information and import it into my spreadsheet. I just enter the raw data; the spreadsheet does all of the math, including the gas mileage for that tank, costs per mile, miles traveled, etc.
I'm hoping in the next 6 months to have an Android smartphone,
so that way I can enter the data right after I fill-up. If I can enter
the data directly into the spreadsheet using the cell phone, the spreadsheet
will always be up to date. It's always a matter of having the right tools
and using them to their potential. :) -- TS
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Well this morning I woke up and as expected I was sore,
but not as sore and I had anticipated. 
It
feels to good to know that I've taken this first step. In fact I spent
sometime today checking out the US Masters Swimming membership and their
local events. Yep, I'm actually considering getting back into the competitive
swimming scene.
Now I know what you've thinking: "Those other swimmers weigh a fraction of what you do! You'll finish last.". That doesn't matter to me. I want to do those events to help keep me motivated and to give me goals to increase my health and to help shed the weight.
The southern California area is managed by the Southern Pacific Masters Association (SPMA) and they hold events all over the southern California and even into Las Vegas. I found out that I can race as "unattached", basically as an independent, because I will not have a team to be with.
My friend Karen races in these SPMA events as unattached,
so at least I'll have someone cheering me on! -- TS
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I am a list maker. I like to make lists of everything.
Shopping lists, to-do lists, etc., everything is itemized and analyzed. 
This
time off from work was another opportunity to make a list of things I'd
like to get done during these two weeks off. One of the items on my spring
break to-do list was getting back into the pool. Today I can cross that
off of my list.
As I said in an earlier entry here at TCO, I went and scoped out the Fontana Parks Aquatics Center in northern Fontana. It's in town, but it's on the other side of town. If you've been to Fontana recently, you know that Fontana covers a pretty large geograhic area.
Anyways, I got out my swim bag with my swimsuit, goggles, hand paddles, and kickboard, and headed up to the pool. I have to say it's a nice facility. I went into the locker room, changed into my suit, and headed for the pool deck.
The pool was impressive! It's not as nearly as large as the pool at Crafton Hills College that the Yucaipa aquatic teams use, but it's close. After finding a nearby spot for my stuff, I headed for the pool. Instead of easing my way into the pool, I asked the lifeguard if it was ok if I dove into the 7 foot deep end of the lane. He gave me an "OK", so I dove in, mustering my best racing dive entry. :)
After an hour of swimming, I had swam a mile, or technically 1,650 yards. I feel great and like I've accomplished something. I expected that with my time off from swimming, I'd probably only do a half-mile, but even with my sore back, I was able to do a mile. I'd expect I could do more when my back finally heals.
So now I'm waiting to see how I feel tomorrow morning.
I'm expecting to be sore, but it's a "good" sore. A sore that's
the first step of my rekindling my love of swimming. -- TS
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Today is the first day of spring break for me, and I'm
lucky enough to work for a school district that gives two weeks off for
spring break. 
I
know some of you know that if we get two weeks for spring break, that means
we don't have as long as summer break. True, but with the daily high temperatures
in this area that are consistenly above 100°F, I rather enjoy having
an extra week off when the highs are only in the 70°F range. It's so
cool and refreshing!
This afternoon I drove over to Redlands and helped Dad with some wood he needed to buy from Home Depot. He's building three garden planters for my step mom Mau. We drove over to Home Depot and spent some time in there looking for the things he'd need to do this project. It was really enjoyable, and as always I learned a lot from him. He showed some things to look for when you are purchasing wood and how these items can compromise the integrity and durability of your wood project.
As a thank you, Mau made us a Meatless Monday dinner. See
knew that I was still trying to follow a vegetarian diet of Mondays, so
I appreciated thinking of me. Apparently they've tried the meatless "meat" crumbles
and they enjoyed them. Tonight's menu was taco seasoned meat crumbles in
fried wheat flour tortillas, a bean soup, and more fried tortillas, this
time coated with cinnamon and sugar for dessert. It was delicious! -- TS
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The back muscle strain that I got on the bike ride with
Scott just doesn't seem to want to go away. It's made it difficult to do
much at home, so last week I made an appointment with my doctor to have
him look at it. That appointment was today, and after listening to what
happened and doing some checks, my doctor agreed with me that I did indeed
strain the back muscles. He said that it will heal in time but he gave
me a muscle relaxer to help with the pain. I hope this thing gets better
soon, I'd really like to get back my life back to normal. -- TS
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For almost a year now, the staff, students, parents, and
community of Yucaipa High School has been preparing for the accrediation
review from Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The
accrediation lets colleges and other education organizations know that
YHS takes it's students success seriously and that they are provided with
a comprehensive and valuable education.
These participants (the persons mentioned above) were divided into groups and tasked to evaluate the various areas of interest to the WASC committee. It's this part that's the most time consuming, as these groups collaborate, discuss, debate, and finally give their finding to the school's administration. From these findings, the campus wide report is written and submitted to WASC.
The final culmination of this process is the WASC committee's visit to the campus. These individuals visited our campus for four days, becoming familiar with the campus, talking to all of the participants, and trying to understand the culture of the school. Based on this visit and the submitted report, the WASC committee gives it's recommendation for accrediation and sets a duration for the accrediation. From what I've been told, the maximum the WASC committee can give is six years.
So guess what the WASC committee's findings were..... Yucaipa
High School earned six years of accrediation! What made this all the more
rewarding as we did this during the merging of our campus (grades 10-12)
with the YHS9 campus (9th grade only). Our campus is now serving grades
9-12, so you imagine the difficulties we encountered with increasing our
students and staff by a 33% AND having to do this accrediation. In the
end they've both worked out fine, but it's been a busy year! -- TS
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Yesterday morning, as I was doing the grocery shopping for the week, I got a call from my buddy Scott Kennedy. He wanted to know if I was interested in getting together for a bike ride this afternoon. I didn't have anything concrete planned, so a bike ride with Scott seemed like a fun time. He rode to my house, and from there we headed from my house to the Pacific Electric Bicycle Trail (PET). We rode the PET from Maple Ave. to Almeria Ave. then back.
The ride was going well until we came to the end of the PET at Almeria. As I came up to the street, I discovered that I couldn't release my cycling shoe cleat from the left pedal. So I unlocked the right foot and Scott and I assessed what the problem was: one of the bolts that holds the cleat to the shoe had fallen out and the cleat was free to rotate. That meant that I wasn't going to be able to unlock the cleat with having to manually releasing it. Scott was able to use tire levers to pry the pedal locking mechanism open and release my shoe.
As we were trying to get the cleat removed, I must have twisted a muscle in my back. I didn't notice it at first, but I noticed some stiffness and pain in my lower back as we rode back to my house. I didn't think much of it, but after I laid down on my bed for an hour, when I got up to meet a friend for dinner, I discovered that my back was in a massive amount of pain. It took everything I had to make it to the bathroom, as the pain was excruciating.
Lucky for me, today is a holiday, so I've got an extra
day to relax and hope my back is better before I go back to work tomorrow.
-- TS
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I was out, running a few errands on this cold and wet day.
I decided to stop by the Fontana
Aquatics Center. I
wanted to find out about their lap swim times and the cost. If you live
in the area and have never seen this pool, let me tell you that it is a
nice facility.
The front desk person was busy with another patron, so I stepped into the lobby and perused the fliers and postings. It was there that I discovered that the City of Fontana is looking for people interested in creating a Masters swim team! YES! This is exactly what I've been looking for: a local team to practice and compete with.
I am hoping that this team is a USMS team,
so I will be able to compete with the team in the sanctioned swim meets.
My friend Karen competes as an "unattached" swimmer (meaning
she doesn't associate with a team), so it would be great to hang out with
her at the meets. I will definitely keep everyone informed.-- TS
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One of the focuses of the bicycling sport is the focus of your bike's weight. The lighter your bike weighs, the less energy you'll use to pedal, especially up hills. This focus on bike weight is pretty serious: you can spend thousands of dollars to buy a bike that is two or three pounds lighter.
In fact this obsession has gotten to the point that the professionals are now required to keep their bike weights no lower than 15 lbs. If you show up at a professional bike race with a 14.99 lbs bike, they will deem it illegal for the race. I guess they've made this rule so that the bikes' safety isn't compromised.
So now that you have this knowledge, I wanted to share what my buddies and I at work did. Four of us pitched in the money and we bought a Park Tool DS-1 dig scale. It allows you to hang your bike from the scale and it gives you the weight of your bike to the nearist ounce.
Of course I had to weigh my Kleins. I'm not really concerned if they are extremely lightweight, I was just curious. My 1989 Klein Quantum road bike (the one I built during high school while working at a bike shop) was 22 lbs 10 oz. The 1997 Klein Pulse Pro mountain bike that I bought years ago came in at 29 lbs 9 oz.
Overall I'm pleased with the weight. I'm actually pleased
with the Pulse Pro's weight, as it doesn't have many lightweight items:
the seat is probably a hefty item along with the pedals. Eventually I will
have to bring in the 1987 Trek 560 and
the 1985 Peugeot PH10LE to weigh. :) -- TS
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Today I met up with my step-sister Geoffie during her lunch time at work. Today is a day off for me, it's one of the president birthdays that we get in the school district. It was really great being able to talk to just spend an hour with her, without the rest of the family around. It's something we've hadn't had the pleasure of.
We're going to try to get together more often. I've got
two weeks off in March (yes, two weeks for spring break!), so we'll get
together for a couple of lunches during that time. -- TS
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I'm trying something new. I've long struggled with how
to share the photos I take. 
Of
course, this being the conclusion of the girls' water polo season, this
meant some place to publicly share my water polo photos. I wanted the site
to be easy to manage yet grow with my needs. My latest attempt, and it
looks promising, is to use Google's
Picasa service. It's tied into your Google account, it's free, and
it's quite easy and robust to use.
Picasa is actually a pretty useful service. The software is available for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOSX, and get this..... Linux! Yep, I can actually run the software on my Linux computers to manage my photos, edit the ones I want to share, and then group the photos into galleries to upload to the Picasa Web Albums site. It's rather easy and free!
So today I spent most of the day going through eight games worth of photos and created a gallery for each game. These galleries are now posted on my Picasa web albums. I've also posted a gallery from the YHS Mountain Bike team members who raced at the Southridge USA race in January that I was able to make.
So check them out, check back often there for new galleries,
and if you like, you can even order prints from many vendors using my photographs.
Just remember where you got them. :) -- TS
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For a few years now, I've been contemplating what to do with my tunacan.net domain. I still use it to hos my VW web sites, but after a server failure a few years ago, I haven't felt right about posting the old TCN web site. It was out of date and it reflected a venture that I was no longer following.
With my recent focus on getting my education completed and securing my future as a secondary math/computer teacher, I'd decided to make my TCN web site be my professional web site. It's some place where I can post my resume, share the professional things I do, and some where for parents and students of YHS can go to view the photos I take at YHS events, like water polo games, swim meets, etc.
Whether or not the site helps me to secure a teaching job
in the future, I'm happy with the fact that I've got a direction for it
to go. Now comes the hard part: creating a page design that is easy to
manage, is aesthetically pleasing, and is XHTML/CSS compliant. -- TS
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RED LETTER DAY!
I will not elaborate any more on this subject, but for
those of you readers who are in the know, I just want you to know that
today is my red letter day. -- TS
Opera/9.80
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Yesterday was just working out to be an ordinary Saturday. 
I
was working on cleaning the house after a week of hardly being at home
when I got a phone call from Tim. He had the afternoon to himself and he
wanted to know if I was interested in bringing the bike down to his place
to hang out and go on a bike ride on the Santa Ana River Bike Trail (SART).
It didn't take me long to decide that: housework or getting in a ride with
my best friend? Of course I put off the housework for today and go for
the bike ride and I'm glad I did!
I got to his house in Riverside at about 3:00 PM. We loaded up his bike and gear into the truck and headed to the spot where we'd start our ride. After getting our gear ready, like shoes and helmet, we headed on to the SART. This portion of the trail was a bit more hilly that the first section I rode on near Tim's house. In fact Tim expected that I was going to have to walk up some of them, but I was able to gear down and really motor my way up the hills. Unexpectedly I discovered that my legs weren't hurting from the hills, it was my lungs. I was feeling twinges of my old childhood nemesis: asthma.
We stopped at two different look out points on the trail and I got experience some great views of the Santa Ana River and the adjacent hills of Riverside. They were both great views and I'd wager they are even more beautiful in the spring when the river is higher and the plants are a beautiful green color. Tim and I even discussed bringing our cameras out sometime on the trail and having a go at trying to take some photos of the views from the trail. You can also count on seeing the photos here on TCO!
In the end we ran out of light before we got much mileage in. Remarkably, with the hills, I was expecting to be really sore in my legs this morning but I wasn't, it was the asthma that's lingered on. In the end it was a short ride at just over 4 miles, but I wouldn't have gone if Tim hadn't called.
We had hoped to get a ride in today, but Mother Nature
has altered that plan. It has been raining the whole day, so now it's back
to the housework. -- TS
Opera/9.80
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Last night was the YHS boys' basketball game and the opponent
was Eisenhower High School from Rialto. Before
each varsity game, there is an announcement presentation and the teams'
starters are introduced by night. Part of the routine is for the starters
to run between two rows of their teammates and then sprinting over to shake
the hand of the opposing team's coach. I've been working the basketball
games for the last three years and this routine is done every game, without
fail.
Well last night we ran through the introductions for the Eisenhower starters and our head coach shook the hand of each Eisenhower starter and wished them good luck. It's a show of good sportsmanship.
When the time came for the introductions for YHS, the routine
went as it should, at least until our players went to shake the hand of
the Eisenhower head coach. Their coach was huddled with his team and ignored
our players. It's this kind of action that shows what kind of person the
coach is are and the way they run their program. Eisenhower may have a
top ranked team, but I lost my respect for their coach and his program.
As the head of the team, one role as coach is model proper behavior for
their team and represent them in the best manner possibe. If this is their "best",
then he shouldn't be the coach. -- TS
Opera/9.80
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I know that there are those of you out there who are not
Facebook users but are TCO readers. 
Not
everyone is comfortable with Facebook and the whole social networking scene.
I know I find it fun and a great way of keeping in touch with many of my
family, friends, and co-workers.
Knowing this, I've decided to share some of the photos
I post there with Picasa. Picasa is a great Google web site that allows
anyone to upload and share photos. So the first album I've uploaded is
the album of photographs I took during my
holiday trip to Colorado. I hope you take a moment to check them out
if you haven't already and let me know what you think! -- TS
Opera/9.80
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This afternoon was the Yucaipa vs. Redlands girls water polo game, this time at Redlands' pool. I was hoping to meet up with a former student, but she became ill and couldn't make it. Hilary is starting a career in photography and she's interested in sports photography. She is also a former YHS water polo player, so I offered to give her some insights in how I shoot water polo games. There are four games that I can make this season, so hopefully Hilary and I can meet up.
On the upside though, I discovered that one of the officials at the game is my friend and former FoHi water polo teammate Chris Belcher. Since I was busy shooting the game and Chris was busy officiating it, we didn't get much opportunity to talk on the pool deck. In lieu of chatting on the deck, we decided to head over to a nearby sandwich shop and get dinner.
It's always amazing how much I learn from Chris whenever
we hang out together. Chris, being a professional water polo official,
is a virtual fountain of information about the sport. We also discussed
the play-off game that we played in our junior year. I always felt that
the win was stolen from us, as I thought that the officials weren't calling
the fouls for us, just against us. It's too bad, we could have gone pretty
far that year. -- TS
Opera/9.80
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Ever since I moved back to Fontana, I've seen some pretty "interesting" sights. 
Today
I've decided to start photographing these sights and collecting them in
a Facebook gallery called "Only
in Fontana...". I find some of the sights around this town hilarious.
This image is an example: the sign makers poor spelling skills make for
a good laugh. Today I started the gallery with two images, but I'll be
adding more as I come across them. It's nice to have a camera in cell phones.
:)
Oh, I forgot to share with you my "treat" last night. My friend Karen (who I went to the hockey game with last week) invited me to have sushi with her and her son Ryan at Sayaka Japanese Restaurant in Colton. In the last few years I've had sushi a few times, but it's cost has sadly not made it a regular occurence. We met at Sayaka's sushi bar and commenced with the first round. I was able to do two of the three rounds before I was STUFFED!
This trip I tried the following sushi: tuna, salmon, yellowtail,
shrimp, and a salmon lover roll for the first round. The second round consisted
of bass, mackeral, scallop, imitation crab, spicy tuna hand roll. Karen
generously let me try some of the sea eel, and I have to say, it was tasty!
It was nothing like what I was expecting! -- TS
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Sunday I was given four free tickets to tonight's Ontario Reign game, so I decided to get ahold of an old friend who I have seen in years but with whom I've been communicating with on Facebook. Karen and I worked together at the Fontana YMCA back in the summer before my junior year of high school. That summer we also found out that our mothers had worked taught togeter, and that Karen swam with one of my friends with the Rialto Swim Club.
So this evening I met Karen and her son Ryan at the Citizen's
Business Bank arena in Ontario. It was great to see Karen after all of
those years, it was great to meet Ryan, and to top off the night, the Reign
won the game! . -- TS
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After spending the break in Coloardo, which was cold and
even some snow, I just had to share this photo. 
Those
are my feet in sandals as I was doing yardwork. It's January and thanks
to southerna California's beautiful winter weather, I'm able to work outside
in shorts and sandals. Gotta love it! .
This evening, with the yardwork done and with dinner cooked, eaten, and cleaned up, I finally got a chance to play my Sega Dreamcast. I've owned this Dreamcast for a while now, but with the moving, I lost the video cable that hooks up to the Tv. It hasn't been a huge priority, but I've been wanting to get another one so that I could play a few DC games, like Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour and a few others that I've acquired but haven't played yet.
Lucky for me, my brother and Jayson found me a cable during
their video game expeditions and had it waiting for me to take home. -- TS
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Saturday mornings are usually a day to sleep in for me.
It's an opportunity to have a leisurely morning, cook some breakfast, and
recharge my batteries from the week. 
This
Saturday wasn't one of those days, but it was a blast nevertheless.
This morning five of our YHS Mtn Bike team racers participated in the first race in the Southridge USA "Southridge Winter Series" here in Fontana. There are going to be a total of five races in the series, with the next one on January 22. These races are held at the Fontana Bird Park.
So anyways, I got to the race early enough to watch the riders take off. Our four boys started first, followed by our lone girl rider. It was a beautiful morning, unlike when I came here to watch Alex, Neil and Jen race in November, when it poured for almost the whole race.
Armed with my camera and the 70-200/f2.8 lens, I found a spot on the course where I could get shots of our riders from three different angles. I was able to get some great shots of all of our racers as they did their best. Our boys finished first, second, third, and fifth in the boys' class, and Jen (our solo women's entry) finished second. The racers all did great and I'm looking forward to their next race that I can go to.
This picture, from my vantage point, is of Jen as she traverses
the rock walls that defined this part of the race course. My Facebooks
agreed with me that it was a cool shot. -- TS
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Well, today was my second day back to work. 
It's
been quite an adjustment, having to get up at 5:00AM, as I was used to
staying up late and sleeping in during my vacation. A guy has to make a
living though!
This afternoon was the first YHS girls' water polo game that I will shoot this year. Today the girls played Rialto's Eisenhower High. The YHS girls won the game and I got some great shots. I posted a few of the nice ones to Facebook, so if you are on Facebook, check them out.
As I was leaving the pool at Crafton, I noticed the beautiful sight of the green grass of the Crafton Hills and the snow capped San Bernardino Mountains. I pulled over on the long driveway and walked across the street to a small grassy area to capture some great photos of the view.
This particular shot contrasts the green growth of the
Crafton Hills with the snow sprinkled San Bernardino Peak. It's one of
my favorite shots now and it makes a good wallpaper for my Android phone
and my laptop. -- TS
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I'm back in California! It's been a long vacation but I
enjoyed every minute of it. 
It
was great to get away for a couple of weeks and get to spend it with everyone
in Colorado. I'd like to thank my brother and Mechelle for shuttling me
around and giving me a place to stay. Skip and Linda Walker also opened
their home for some delicious meals. I also made new friends, Jayson and
Kathy. This was a winter break I will never forget.
Dad picked me up from the airport last night. I got home sometime around 11PM. I was dog-tired, but I wasn't sleepy. After eating dinner (we stopped at Del Taco to get me something to eat), I unpacked my luggage and put away all of my clothing. I also put the videogames I bought in there respective location. I didn't finally crash on the bed until 2:00AM, so I slept through most of the morning.
I worke up this morning, expecting to have to go into work this afternoon to work the basketball game. I called the school to verify that the game wasn't cancelled or rescheduled, and luck would have it, I was able to get a hold of our athletic director. He told me that was going to call me to let me know that he didn't need me for tonight, so now I have the rest of the day off to relax and recover.
Since I the rest of the day off to relax, I decided to
take my "new to me" laptop over to Panera
Bread in Rancho Cucamonga, enjoy lunch, and get some work done on this
computer. It was an enjoyable lunch. Of course any trip out to Rancho includes
a stop over at Barnes & Noble to
spend sometime browsing magazines and books. It was just a quiet day to
myself. -- TS
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My last day here in Colorado. I never sleep very well the night before I fly. I don't know if it's the flight itself, hoping that I don't have any issues with TSA and the security checks, or something else, but the night before I left Caliifornia I slept very little. Unfortunately for me, I can't sleep on the plane either. My flight leaves tonight at 8:30 PM MST, so I'm going to arriving into Ontario late. That means that I'm not going to be getting asleep until late, so I won't be getting up early. I'll need the morning to sleep in and recover from the flight.
Today was the first day back to work for Chris and Mechelle. Samantha also had school today, but Andy's school didn't open until tomorrow, so I spent day with Andy. I've got my laundry done and everything is packed. Chris and I went to Goodwill yesterday after dinner at the Walkers to find a carry on luggage that I could use to bring home my new laptop. Luckily I was able to get all of new games, the laptop, and the rest of my stuff into it. We got lucky and found a carry-on suitcase that fit just perfectly.
It's too cold and wet outside, so Andy and I have spent
the day playing my Christmas gift to him: LEGO Indiana Jones 2 for the
Wii. This kid loves his LEGO stuff, that is for sure. Right now i'm waiting
for Mechelle with Samantha, then all of us will pick up Chris on our way
out and we'll be off to Denver. The next I'll post here, I'll be back in
California. -- TS
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This evening the Walkers (my sister-in-law's parents) invited
all of for dinner at their house. 
It
was a delicious meal as usual from Linda.
After dinner, Mechelle' brother Mike and I had a great conversation about the mining history of the surrounding foothills and mountains of Fort Collins. It was really interesting and I learned a lot about the area in this conversation. Mike has invited Chris and I to join him the next time I'm up there and he'll show us some of the abandoned silver mines. Rest assured, Chris and I will both bring our cameras and we'll be sure to grab some great photos of our expedition.
After we got home from dinner and Mechelle and the kids
went to bed, Chris and I got a moment to play two video game consoles that
I've only ever heard about: the Panasonic
3DO and the Nintendo
FamiCom Disk System. These consoles belong to Jayson and he had brought
them over when he and Kathy came over for New Year's Eve. We had intentions
of playing them then, but it didn't happen. Jayson left them so that Chris
and I could try it out later. . -- TS
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Ok, let's get the pressing business out of the way: HAPPY
NEW YEAR 2011!!! The Sliders spent the day just relaxing and hanging out.
It's getting close to my departure date (on Monday), so I'm relishing the
time with everyone. I'm going to miss these times with everyone up here,
so I'm soaking up everything while I can. -- TS
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Read the older stuff!
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