January in SJ

Not much happening this time of year out here. We are kind of getting in a rut doing the same old same old. This consists of work, going home and hanging out on motorcycle forums, and the bed. Same in day in and day out, which some may think would get old. So far it has not gotten old. I enjoy being at home and having time to relax and do a lot of the things that I have been meaning to do.

The weekends are not eventful either with it typically consisting of a couple of motorcycle rides and hanging out with friends. You might say that life is pretty nice. Sure there are always things that you would like to change, but complaining has never done anyone any good.

I can't remember if I described what I do for a living before, but it changes so often and I am to lazy to look back...so I will describe what I do here. When gas stations have tanks that leak I get to clean it up. One of the ways we do this is sucking the vapors out of the ground and burning them in a chamber before emitting them to the air....I know really interesting....not
Here is a picture of one of the Thermal Oxidizer units we operate.

I also wanted to comment on the "Bachelor". Before you get all excited...No I don't watch it, but my wife wishes I did. I saw about 10min of it last night and I .....she......it......Yes I am at a loss for words. These women are complete idiots and it is obvious to me that they are dying to get used. How can any one of these people take themselves seriously? Why are these women desperate? Probably because if you do get to spend time with them in an actual relationship you will see that they have no personality, are totally illiterate, self-centered and devoid of any moral compass. Brenda also agrees the show is dumb, but she loves to watch it. This may be one of the many mysteries of women that I may never find the answer to; why watch a show you know is fake and dumb????? The world may never know.

FYI if Brenda was on that show, instead of gossiping around the pool and looking like an idiot, she would be doing cannon balls and swimming laps.....which is much hotter.

We did not have any plans for Christmas this year and were just planning on hanging out with friends around here, but in a pleasant surprise my parents decided to come down and visit us. They came down on Tuesday and stayed till Saturday. I had to work while they were here...at least some of the time, but we did get to spend some quality time together.

Christmas eve we thought it would be a great time to go out to the ocean and see what is going on out there. There was a lot of surfers at Steamers Lane and they were fun to watch. The rest of the beach was like a ghost town (very nice).
The waves were medium and here at the mouth of the harbour we were treated to a sailboat surfing a breaking wave into port. Chilling at the lighthouse.

Christmas gifts for the rents from the kids were calendars of what is most important in there lives....us...oh ya, and grandkids.Christmas dinner was Turkey and a bunch of other goodness.
This is such a ridiculous picture, to be fair to my wife, I thought I would post it. She is always complaining that I put horrible pictures of here up, so to even it out I thought I would put one of me.Brenda got jewelry from my parents...she wears it all the time now.

Nothing like a 1000piece puzzle to pass the time and keep you frustrated.

Much to my surprise, my mother actually seemed like she would not mind a ride on the silver bullet. I am always looking for an excuse to go for a ride so I of course obliged her. she seemed to like it, but told me no more wheelies after the first light.

Saturday we went to the CV(central valley) to visit relatives and see Kevin and Lyndsay. We stayed the night at their place and had a great time as always. Kevin and I are always getting in trouble when we are together and this time was not different. I think it is because we are so much alike and have wives that we love to push to the limits.

Morgan is as sweet as they come.

Brenda reading to Ethan in the morning. This is the best way to experience being parents without all the hard work and commitment.

Kara and Eric came over with Annika to play a little guitar hero and have some holiday cheer.

Lyndsay wants to play guitar hero 24/7 now......no...not really.

Ethan is growing up to be quite the young man and is about 100x's smarter than his dad already. He can even Velcro his shoes(something his dad is yet to master). Kevin I know this may be a bit harsh, but you can take it, your Canadian...your used to being made fun of.

And finally today. Another nice day although cloudy at first, once we got the the coast the weather was great. A cycle ride down hwy 1 for a few hours is a vital ingredient in the recipe of live....

Until next post (which seems to be less frequent that I would like).

Last weekend (two Saturdays ago) we had our annual work Christmas party. This is usually a great time and this year did not disappoint. Although the venue did not provide a good space to mingle, there was plenty of food and beverages to go around. You may remember I talked about our Christmas party last year and it was a great time with dancing and got pretty late. This year we went to the fish market and rented one of the rooms.

Almost everyone dressed up and it was fun to see everyone in a social situation.

Shue decided to wear a red blazer and green T-shirt. It lightened the atmosphere and he had a great time.

Brenda had to try the double doors.

Lots of talking and general getting to know each other.

Notice Jason in his regular pose. He was seen lifting a few during the night.
Cheese. Emily and Heather are cool co-workers to have.

Cynthia....what can be said about Cynthia. She is always a good time, but it can get a bit crazy if you get her and Brenda at the same table. They decided to sit at the same table...

Saturday this week we went over to a friends house for a general Christmas party. Good...make that... great food was had by all.

Suzie is doing what she and other girls do best...look good. I know many of you thought that I was going to say dishes, but I have grown past that sexist attitude and don't think I will say what I am thinking. I guess I have not grown past the attitude, but at least I have become smart enough not to say what I am thinking........baby steps.
Such a wide variety of worldviews were present and it was great to make connections.

Obviously the women loved the baby...I did to, but that is not very manly to say.

Thanksgiving Motorcycle Trip

Instead of going to Utah camping like we have done for the past few Thanksgiving's, Brenda and I thought we would take advantage of the nice weather south of us and go to Phoenix to visit my sister and then to Joshua Tree NP. We left on Tuesday about 1pm and I hit up a site in Fresno on our way down to Myron and Andrea's. They had a feast waiting for us at the end of our day. Thanksgiving on a Tues???? tasted just as good. Myron and Andrea had enough food to feed an army, so we had a great time as usual.

Dang that is one good looking bike. Brenda and I recently got jackets to help shed the wind off and add a layer of protection in case...well..we would end up using this protection later in the trip.

Andrea and Brenda on the morning of our departure from there to Phoenix. We had about 550mi to go and not a lot of daylight (shorter days and the time change).

Picture of our shadows while driving at speed.
Just north of San Bernardino there was a great highway with cool rock formations.

More rocks

On our way to Phoenix I got this shot. We did not get to Phoenix until about 745pm(local time) and that puts our trip as 9 hours in the saddle with only 4 stops and a total of about 45min. My wife was a great sport and I can't imagine any other woman putting up with such shenanigans.

Before thanksgiving dinner we went on a short walk up these rocks and got this great view.

We had Thanksgiving at the Faber's and it was a great time. There was about 25 people there and enough to get a backyard game tournament going with a bracket an all. Single elimination sent my team to the seats earlier than I would have liked, but it was 1/2 my fault (as there were only two of us on a team).

Later that day we went up to a hill overlooking Phoenix and the sunset and sights were great. Weather down there this time of year cannot get any better.

A saguaro cactus skeleton/remains. They are such a majestic plant.

Brenda was very excited at the top of the hill and the sweet view.

I have about 15 sunset pictures to choose from, but they all about look like this. A Thanksgiving night I will not soon forget.

Some nice guy took our picture at the top. Don't we look happy.

In Arizona they have camera's set up along the road that act like a red light camera...except for speeding. This is total crap. These things are everywhere and take photos of your licence if you are speeding and then you get a nice little gift in the mail. Why do they have cops??? Is this really legal? While I know speeding is not legal, I think this camera this is quite an invasion of privacy and want to people of Arizona to outcry in protest. This is one liberal this that would not fly in CA.

Friday we left Phoenix and were on our way to Joshua Tree. I found d a guy on a message board I am a part of that had a house just north of JT. I gave him a call and his place was free for the weekend, so we were excited to check it out and see what we were in for.

Brenda and I stopped on the way to take this picture. We had to open a gate to get to the spot, but gates are just signs to keep the stupid people out.Brenda actually listened to me when I told her to hug the Cactus. I picked a couple of spines out of her jacket, but she did not get any in her skin.

The Southern entrance to JT.

After a short day (only about 6hrs) we arrived at the house. Sweet place that had everything we needed...including the very important HEAT. Hotels are nice, but it is always an adventure finding alternate places to crash for the night.

Classic appliances in this place.

Saturday we went into JT for some exploring and hiking

GS on the road.

Hike to the top of Ryan Mountain.

It was apparently a bit chilly (never got above 45 on Sat.)

Rain in the distance...on and off showers all day:(

The there was some sleet and snow.

Luckily the roads were not icy.

Here we are on a back road of the park.

Some roads were. I thought we would take this Geology tour road and check it out. It was a little wet, but the sand just soaks it in...or so I thought. We were pluggin along at about 15-20mph and then there was a little muddy spot and bam!

All of sudden we were both on the ground and the GS was on its side. Above are the skid marks and the GS pointed 180deg. from where it was originally pointed. I lifted the bike right away (after making sure my wife was OK). I was fine, as Brenda broke my fall, and Brenda was fine as well. She is one tough cookie.

About 3pm we were tired and went back to the house to relax. After a great nights sleep we woke up to rain...Crap. I hate rain while riding. We knew we had about a 9hr ride ahead and I said there is no way we are going to start out in the rain. All of a sudden we heard drip drip drip.........

The ceiling in the bathroom had a little leak. It does not rain very much in the desert, but when it does you find leaks easily. We got a few buckets and contained the water.

The rain soon stopped and we were packed and on the bike by about 930.

Another view of the house.

Not to may pictures on thee way home as we stopped 3 times in 9 hours and hit a bunch of traffic. Kind of a bad way to end a trip, but we feel very luck to have ridden safely the whole way and not had any problems. Home safe and sound now, so give us a call if you want more details.