Three Weeks of Cycling Thrills

Will it rain? Will cows cross the road? Will there be nasty pile-up crashes? Will anyone dangle their musette too far out? Will Bob Roll talk with his hand motions? Will any commercials be funny? Will I drop out of society for three weeks? Will I be aware of any other world news between tomorrow and July 23? Will there be amazing views from a helicopter of fields of sunflowers? Will I run out of questions? What could be more fun than the Tour de France during hot summer days?

Weather accused of doping as Tour set to begin

Because the weather could never be this good on its own, it is suspected that doping has had a part. Clouds and rain are expected to pull out of the tour voluntarily but would have been banned by the weather authority anyway.

Bicylcing News about Daniel Wilson

The Jr. Men's race results are in and posted at SCRNA showing Daniel Wilson in 5th place with 8 points.

Daniel shares his learnings and strategic thinking for next time at DW's Blog.

And the next race? looks like this Sunday, July 2, 2006 at 8:16 AM at La Mirada High School. From the flyer (its a .pdf download), it looks like a whole day of exciting racing. I think I'll be there.

Cindi's Birthday Dinner

We celebrated Cindi's fifty first here. It is the Napa Rose Restaurant at the Disney Californian Hotel. Hope we can enjoy a meal with you there some day.

Yummy!

Recipes anyone?

did someone say freedom fries?

Saturday is almost here!

And that can only mean one thing. French toast! French fries! French roast coffee made in a French Press.

Is it Bastille Day? nope not yet.

Whilst Lance is battling another round of accusations about doping from the French press, the real world will be watching to see the men who would be king in the Tour de France.

So, get your TeVo ready--oh, wait. It should be on all day everyday on OLN. Think of the dear and the trout whose lives will be saved by this international sporting event.

Ok, this post should move that lovely picture of hamburger down a bit. Hope that helps anyone who has this as their home page when they launch their browser.

wear your helmet kids

i'm okay though. grandma took care of me.

doris' beautiful hydrangeas

grandma and i took a trip out to the driveway to see her proudest gardening moment to date, the lovely hydrangeas that are blooming pink. happy first day of summer everyone!

Cedars-Sinai Grand Prix

Has anyone heard from Daniel? Is he racing in this race on Sunday, June 25? He referred to it a while ago on his blog, but I haven't heard any more.

800

yes!!!! first i got the 700th blog, then i got the 800th entry as well!!! i am so awesome!!!!!!!!! we'll all have to celebrate when we hit 1,000 posts. that'll be something, won't it?

Manuscript Submitted

I mailed a manuscript to a children's publisher for the first time yesterday. I sent my manuscript, "The Bouncing Booger," based on a true event from my days in the 4th grade classroom, to Hyperion Children's Books in New York. An editor from Hyperion presented at a Writers' Day event that I attended in April. She said Hyperion only looks at work submitted from agents, but she offered us as attendees and members of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) the opportunity to mail her one manuscript within two-months of Writers' Day. So, I made the deadline. I revised and revised and revised my manuscript and broke through a personal wall and mailed it to the editor. I anticipate rejection. Well, I anticipate never hearing anything about it. That is the norm. I am just pleased to have sent it out in the world, instead of holding it safely at home with no fear of rejection (and no chance of progress!). A friend suggested the teacher's name in the story..."Ms. Sacamoco." That means something like pick your nose in Spanish. Perfect! Well, if you are not totally disgusted by this time, share my joy in this next step!

Over the Hedge

We saw the summer animation feature from DreamWorks last night, "Over the Hedge." I really enjoyed it. I am a fan of animated features and this one met my criteria. The animation, to me -- the untrained eye, was fascinating and flawless. The plot was a whimsical adventure and parody on human life that made me just laugh at life. I loved the characters, especially the turtle. Fun cast of animal characters with celebrity voices. I appreciated the tenderness expressed toward having a family of friends. Plus, I laughed aloud enough to make it worth the price of the ticket. I recommend it. I'd see it again. Light hearted and fun...if you like that type of thing.

higher education

today i went to cal state fullerton, without a fundamental goal really, but i got a few small things accomplished. i found where NOT to park, i found that to do so was not cheap, i purchased a course catalogue for the fall, i found the "LH" building, where most of the communications courses are taught, and i just sat in the middle of the campus quad feeling really small. does anyone have any stories about going to/getting into college that might make someone feeling really insignificant feel like college isn't going to make me feel misplaced? i feel like i could use some help, but at what, i don't know, and by whom, i know not. it is amazing to me that kids at the age of 19 and younger can navigate their way through this process with little or no assistance.
i'm supposed to register in mid-july, and i can't wait to do so. hopefully one semester through will break off some of the icicles.

Too bad about the Noreaster!

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

World Cup Soccer, Day one and 2

Sweden against Trinidad and Tabago (their first World Cup ever) today. England already beat Paraguay 1-0 earlier today.




For me, World Cup is mostly a social event. I like to say something that sounds intelligent to people who are really into this. Went to friends house last night where I thought we'd watch some of yesterday's games that they had recorded. Instead, they sat around debriefing on the day's game activities, alternatively complaining and complementing the various teams and players.

One and a half billion people will watch. Is that a lot of people?

Rained out in Boston

One of the structures at Mystic Seaport.
Sitting out the rain on Hanover Street in Boston.
We are in Plymoth and that is a replica of the Mayflower.
A restored Mill in Sandwich on Cape Code.

We left New York and drove to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. We got there later than we had planned on but still had time to look around. Interesting place with a warm staff who seem immersed in their avocation. They played music and sang sea shanties. One of those places we all would return too. That was the refrain of each day. Too much to see in the time we had on this visit.
After leaving Mystic Seaport and Groton, CT we made our way to the Cape Cod. What a lovely area to visit. The northern shore is picturesque. Along the way we met some nice people and had a great lunch. We drove around and spent time in Chatham shopping in the small stores. Beth walked out and put her foot in the water. What a brave woman given how cold the water is there.
The next day we rode the subway into Boston. Our plan was to walk the Freedom Trail. It was "snotty" in Boston as an unseasonable Nor-easter was making its way through. We had to hide in an Italian restaurant from the rain, tough place to hide because of the calorie intake. We did dry off enough to continue on our way to the subway and visit Jeff, Glen's friend in Cambridge. He had a house full of people as it is graduation week for all the colleges in the Boston area. It was nice to meet him after hearing so many things about him from Beth.
On our way back to New Jersey Thursday we stopped in Salem. Didn't see any witches but when we hit the traffic in New York I thought I was cursed. One hour to go ten miles. Finally made it to the subway stop and rode to Times Square one last time. Eat at Carmine's on 44th. Ask Beth about the size of his portions. We were having such a good time we didn't get to our hotel until midnight.

riding in turnbull canyon...

... i came across this 2-3 foot long serpent. looks like he had some rabbit stew, and it seemed to be very unconcerned that i was approaching at mach 3 speed from down the trail. i snapped the photo and turned around, because it might ruin my day if i get bitten by a snake. this snake was nowhere near as big as the one mom got to see in the garage in p'ville. yikes.

World Vision Advert banned in England

If you are in the advert business (as the call it in the UK) you would be glad that your work gets attention. It is just hard to imagine what the British Advertising Clearance Centre’s (BACC) ban on the airing of World Vision's new TV advert would accomplish.

Aparently it was found to be "unfair to football." You can read about the advert here, and see it here.

It is good to work with the likes of these controversial people.

Rob, is this it?

Last day in New York

We started the morning in line at the Empire State Building. Up two elevators and we were on the 86th floor. What a view. Then off to ride around uptown through Harlem and around central park. Two hours at the Met is not enough. So much to see in so many rooms. Had to pick and choose. Then we road the hop on hop off bus to brooklyn. So many views and a variety of sights. Dinner in downtown at Joe's Pizza. After three days we still got confused in the subway. Another full day of sights and sounds of New York.

New York Day Two

We rode the Hop on Hop off bus around town until the sky open up. It rained hard in the afternoon. We did get to Time's Square, Rockefeller Center, and 42nd Street before it got really bad. Waited in Starbucks drinking coffee until it was time to see Matthew Brodrick and Nathan Lane in the Odd Couple. Laughed and laughed, lots of fun, worth the time to see them perform. Had dinner at O'Lunney's Irish Pub. Had a nice time and road the "PATH" subway back to New Jersey. One more day left, more stuff to do.

New York, New York

We spent the day visiting the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the World Trade Center site. We entered the subway through the rebuilt station at that site. We started at 51st street and Broadway. We used the subway to go "downtown" and saw the building that houses the New York Stock Exchange. It is raining and there are flood warnings on the television. Guess the Mets - Giants game may be rained out. We are just glad to be here after our three hour delay in Chicago. Beth was not surprised at our delay, guess it is normal.

Counting the Daze...

6 more days of school...well, official school days...11 including the wrap-up record-keeping -- yahoo!
1 month until the start of the Tour de France 2006 -- yahoo!
3 months until our trip to Alaska -- google -- I mean yahoo!
I'm giddy, so giddy-yup, ya'll.

Ursprache wins it

The big spelling bee thing was on tonight and the girl who won, spelled ursprache correctly.

So, can you use it in a sentence?

retarred streets. (say it out loud)

i've been riding my bike a whole lot lately. i realized my recreational bicycle from target would not hold up to the amount of trail riding i've been doing pretty much daily up in turnbull canyon, so i bought a more durable mountain bike. it's a trek. it feels really awesome.

it was nice to see my relatives this past week, and have three gatherings at glen and cindi's backyard bistro, although, after a week that featured a whirlwind trip to king's canyon to see my eldest brother, then a wedding in monterey, followed by various graduations, funerals, final exams, birthdays, three day weekends and all the other fun family stuff of last week, i can say that i began to feel a bit "partied out."

i started growing a mustache, because they won't let me grow a beard at polly's. i'll show them, by growing a ridiculous mustache, that many have casually commented that it makes me look french. pass the freedom fries. peace out.