Pictures!!!!

I've been slacking on my writing... but hey, a picture is worth a thousand words and I've got plenty of pictures to make plenty of stories. I'll skip my normal dragged out style of writing and just make comments every few pictures:

Haircut Donation Pictures (Before and After)

William Before Hair Cut (I was going for the Homeless Guy Look - Success!)

William After Hair Cut

Surfing

Although there was a recent death of a tri-athlete who got bit (and promptly died) by a great white shark in San Diego, everyone's still hitting the beaches. I got a chance to use my new (to me) surfboard and wetsuit. Hey, I know that some might consider it gross to buy a used wetsuit, but think about it this way: "It automatically gets washed everytime anyone uses it!"

Surfing uses a lot of muscles that I normally don't use so I'm trying to build up my 'spring up' ability by doing some pushups everyday. I normally do about 3 sets of 25 pushups. Despite the training, I have yet to stand on the board for more than a second. Thankfully Adrienne didn't get any pictures of me going under or getting smacked by my board after a nasty and unexpected second wave.

Rock Climbing

This is one of the older set of pictures lying around. Adrienne and I haven't gone rock climbing in a couple months and I'm really looking forward to the next time. I'm actually terrified of heights, but love scaling walls. (Climbing down is another issue) There's a great feeling when making a great dyno or figuring out a difficult problem. Here's Adrienne doing the beginning traverse and me playing around the padded bouldering section at Vertical Hold.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend Adrienne and I decided to visit my parents up North in my hometown of Reedley. It's easily a 300+ mile drive one way from San Diego to Reedley. To break up the monotony, we visited a few friends along the way. We visited some of my college friends and even one of the our Peace Corps Trainers from the Kingdom of Tonga, who just happened to be in Long Beach!

It's always great to see my family too! :)

Scooter

Gas prices are up, world food prices have increased dramatically ever since we started doing all this research for alternative fuel, and our environmental issues now include this giant plastic clusterfuck that's somewhere in the Pacific. Sure there's growing demand in India and China that's causing food shortages, but we're also to blame for creating this demand. Why?

Ignorance; we just don't think about the global welfare (just in case people didn't get the clue when we invaded another country for their oil under the false pretense of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism). Anyways I disgress. We don't think anything past the number at the gas pump. We don't think about the food riots happening across the world when families cannot afford the doubled price of $.57 for the pasta that's necessary to feed their families. Our gas guzzlers are creating this shortage of grain and people are buying gas because they simply can. I wish people would try to find an alternative means of transportation, EVEN IF THEY CAN AFFORD THE INCREASED GAS PRICES! Try public transportation, try carpooling, try... scooters?

Today I bought a Buddy 125cc scooter. It gets 90+ miles per gallon and it's orange. What's there not to like?

125 cc Genuine Scooter Buddy

Yum, beer!

When Adrienne and I backpacked through Europe, we tried as many different, local beers as possible. There's no point in traveling without experiencing the rich culture that each country has to offer (and by culture I mean especially their beer).

Now there's so many beers out there and so little time to try and rate each one according to categories from best stout, pilsner, etc. I wanted to keep my rating system simple. I rated them all on a 1 to 10 scale based on one factor "After I have this beer, would I want another?". This is a quick breakdown of the scale and my findings based on my limited time traveling:

1: Do not ever drink this again...
1.5: Drink Listerine for the alcohol% instead
2-3:Coronas, Budweisers, etc. (American Beer)
4-5: French Beer
7: German Beer
7: Guinness
8-10: Belgian Beer

Now Belgian beer won hands down. The sad part is... I wrote all the beer names in my little black book and I somehow misplaced this precious information! I forgot exactly what great beer it was that I had in Bruges, Belgium!!!

That's why when we went to a Belgian Beer Tasting this weekend, I was hoping that I could be reacquainted with the mysterious beer whose name has escaped me. Sadly, we did not find it, but still had a great time. Thanks to Adrienne for suggesting this! I <3 her so much :)

Offices Wars!

So I inadvertently started an office prank war. It all started with April Fool's Day when two of my coworkers stepped away from the office.

I took a PrintScreen (PrtSc button) of their desktops. I opened up Microsoft Paint, pasted the picture, saved it, and set it as their desktop picture. I then hid all their desktop icons into a temporary folder. This way, they see a picture of their desktop, but the icons aren't actually clickable.

When they came back and started clicking on the desktop icons, they noticed that something was wrong. Another coworker and I played ignorance, but I'm so bad at lying. I ended up laughing and they finally caught on.

They fought back. They retaliated with blue tape. Let me explain; I share an office with one of the coworkers that I played the first prank on (technically, she's my immediate boss). As a joke, she used blue tape to separate the room between 'my office' and 'her office'. I slowly moved the tape inch by inch and 'my office' slowly grew larger.

It got to the point where our Executive Director, who was more than happy to abide by our 'office rules', finally pointed out that my office was much larger than my boss'. I confessed to moving the tape little by little.

I came to work on Monday and the tape on my side barely covered my desk. I didn't even have room for my chair. In fact, my chair was gone too. My boss hid my chair and in its place, there was a piece of blue tape with black text that said "STAND HERE". I laughed a hearty laugh while my mind raced with revenge schemes!

The pranks have gone on from taping the light to always on, a pretend Earthquake, taping a laser mouse so it won't move, and a lot of emails with fake complaints using an automatic complaint generator using http://www.pakin.org/complaint

On the latest prank I called in to the newest hire and told her I was sick. It also happened to be the day that we pulled in all our agency administrators so I could train them. I said she had to cover for me. She's really nervous about public speaking so she panicked. I walked in a couple minutes later. She was not happy.

The new and old Executive Director is on their side as well; they've been changing my seat height and unplugging my computer. I need to watch my back... and make allies fast... because this is WAR!!!

P.S. I have a secret weapon: They all drink coffee and I drink tea... someday, if push comes to shove, the coffee maker will be held ransom!!!!

Motorcycle Class

What do you call a doctor that passes medical school with all D's? We still call them a doctor.

That's how I feel about me and my motorcycle class. After I completed the course, the Department of Motor Vehicles says that I know the basics of how to operate a two wheel vehicle with a 50cc or larger engine. Even though I passed their test, I really don't know why they let me; I AM NOT SAFE ON THE ROAD! I'm not even remotely close!

Throughout the riding portion of the class, I kept stalling my Kawasaki. I never learned how to drive manual on a car and let me tell you, riding a motorcycle is much tougher. Not only is there this 'clutch' and 'shifting' required, but you also have to worry about balancing a 350 pound bike.
I had no previous concept of balancing the clutch, throttle, or how to manually shift. Throughout the first day of riding, I was easily the worst guy to be around. I kept stalling whenever we stopped and my engine could always be heard roaring above the other motorcycles since I hated switching to higher gears. My foot kept missing the shift and in order to reach a higher gear, you have to tediously switch through neutral to get to second. Everyone was very patient and by the end of the day, I was doing all right.

We learned and practiced everything from the basics of starting up a motorcycle to advanced topics like how to brake while cornering. The one that had me a bit nervous was when we rode over large pieces of wood on our bikes.

By the end of the course, I had seen my first motorcycle 'accident'. It wasn't what I expected at all. I expected someone to take a spill on a sharp corner where the motorcycle and driver goes scraping against the asphalt across several yards and finally rolls to a dead stop. (And partly I expected that person to be me)

Well, it turned out to be quite the opposite (and thankfully not me). I was behind the unfortunate student on an exercise to practice quick motorcycle braking. The guy revved up his engine, started zooming along a straight line, shifted to second, and quickly braked hard when the instructor gave the sign.

The bike abruptly stopped similar to a car slamming hard on the brakes. The only difference is that the car has four tires to stabilize itself, whereas the bike managed to fully stop, yet the balance wasn't maintained. As if in slow motion, the bike fell slowly to the left. The rider extended his foot, but the power of the stop must have caught him off guard as he and his bike slowly hit the floor. (The student had bought motorcycle armor so he walked off fine; it was also a very slow fall)

Our final test started with a couple tight U-turns in a small box, swerving and changing paths, quick braking, and basic cornering. Again, all of us passed, but I don't know how. I easily rolled outside the box while doing the U-turns and if it were a real life situation, my abrupt stopping speed would likely land me into another car's rear window. Hmm.. maybe I'll check out scooters.

When we left the course, I saw the guy who had fallen and dropped his bike. The reason why he had motorcycle armor was because he already owned a motorcycle and that's how he got to class...

I guess it's no joke that California let's anyone get a license.

100% Hippy?

Despite the hair cut, I still feel as hippy as ever. Since we moved here, Adrienne and I have made it a tradition to visit the local Farmer's market every weekend to support the local farmers and to buy inexpensive, good food. Farmer's market is only a few blocks away so there really is no excuse for us not to go.

Last week I tried a large spicy beef gyro that reminded me of when we went backpacking through Europe. This week I got a little carried away and tried a hearty British chicken curry pie, a well seasoned and beautifully grilled chicken kabob, and some sweet Thai coconut milk pancakes (rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and salt). Along with tasting the prepared food, we also bought basic ingredients that Adrienne's been turning into fancy delicious meals throughout the week! :)

Ok, maybe Farmer's Market isn't really that hippy, but it sure makes me happy. Whenever I pass by the makeshift tents, I get a certain sense of peace that's attributed to the stereotypical carefree and stressless hippy. Shortly after putting our groceries back home, we walked over to Balboa Park to celebrate Earth Day with 50,000+ of our San Diegan neighbors. Since Balboa Park was only a mile away from our house, it was only a simple walk for us. Within traveling two blocks, we immediately saw congested traffic and were once again thankful for where we lived.

The event was already gathering crowds of people and throughout the rest of the day, Earth Day sent two very different messages. The large signs, the laminated pictures, and the text on the brochures claimed how organization X was protecting and saving the environment. However, when one just looked past the messages and looked simply on the ground we stood on, you could see an entirely different message of empty wrappers and discarded fliers.

Now I'm not saying this is the fault of the organizations. No, I just find it sad that some San Diegans don't manage to see the true meaning behind Earth Day. They either picked up information packets knowing full well they wouldn't read them when they got home or they somehow couldn't connect Earth Day to recycling the wrappers from the food that they just bought.

They seemed too caught up with trying out meatless BBQ ribs or visiting the familiar Ben and Jerry Ice Cream stands located every 30 feet apart. Before I could create more judgemental thoughts, we met up with one of Adrienne's friends (and her parents) to explore the rest of the park. With the good company, my mind didn't dwell on the negative thinking.

We witnessed everything from pure electrical cars to organizations focused on saving our wildlife foundations. There were rock to reggae concerts, food courts, people simply lying around, and even some that were boldly and publicly celebrating 4/20 in true 420 style. There was one thing that I didn't expect though...

Just past the Clif bar stand and right before the political activists tents stood a large group of people holding picket signs. I walked in for a closer inspection and read the large billboard "WARNING: Protect Your Children - Gruesome Images Ahead: The following protesters are not part of Earth Day and have refused to leave".

Hmm.. who would put up gruesome images at a public event? Heck, just 30 yards away, there were Jedis and Stormtroopers putting aside their petty differences to pose for pictures with all the kids. Can you believe that; even Stormtroopers, representatives of the evil Galactic Empire, had a heart and thought about the kids first!

I walked over to see who was holding up the signs. There were people holding up pictures of half aborted children and even a group claiming that all worshipers of Islam were part of a political movement and that Islam is truly not a religion. I didn't even know what to say so I'll just type a bunch of dots...........................................

I wish I could describe their lack of respect or their ignorance better, but I really have trouble coming up with articulate words. I really think there is no hope for those people so let me throw in a few more dots...

As we were walking home, I decided that I wasn't a true hippy. I might have stopped looking the part after my hair cut, but even before then I knew I was way too judgmental of others. I'm definitely all for peace and loving, free speech, and anti-government, but at that moment when I saw the protectors holding up their ignorant signs... I would have no problems looking the other way if someone slapped some sense into them.

Hair - A world apart

"Hey, he could cut hair." Trevor pointed towards a Tongan walking by his restaurant. "Malo e lelei, fefe hake?" I asked. The Tongan turned around and responded "Sai auptio!" After some small talk, I finally asked if the person wouldn't mind giving me a hair cut then and there at Trevor's restaurant. He happily agreed. Luckily Trevor had a pair of scissors and a comb handy. That was my last hair cut, which was well over a year ago...

That is until this past weekend. I measured my hair; it met the 8 inches minimum necessary for donation. I decided it was time to get a hair cut! Besides, the weather was warming up, not to mention the fact that I was finding enough leftover hair around the house to suspect a small phantom dog was hiding somewhere. Adrienne must have noticed my 'shedding' because within minutes, she had a list of salons nearby. A quick call later and I found myself sitting in a salon with my hair tied neatly in two long braids.

As the remaining pieces of my hair fell, I had the opportunity to view the bustling and very fashionable salon through its reflection. Even though it was my first time in a salon, it wasn't the hair wash, the massage, or the facial that fascinated me the most. I still couldn't believe that last year, I pulled a random stranger off the street to help me cut my hair...

Love Adrienne!!!!

Hey! I love Adrienne. She's so hottttttt =)

Note: This may or may not have been written by Adrienne