Good bye, my beard. It’s been three months, but it’s time for me to start over with something new.
50mm – that’s a new record for me!
Monthly Archive for January, 2009
Page 2 of 3
Just got back in last night from YVR aboard AC 047. Had a good first few days on the mountain with deep piles of fresh new snow and lots of unridden, unjibbed terrain features. The clear skies and warmth during the week made snow conditions deteriorate to hideous ice by day 7, but secret Ninja powder stashes, day-long Bigfoot jib sessions, the easy Blackcomb Terrain Garden, and the eventual opening of the Harmony Express chair on our last riding day kept us busy… and in constant pain! …delicious pain!
More later – stay tuned for:
Sushi and more sushi
How many steps?
Snowboard pioneers
Pinocchio’s nose
Die Rektumblähungmeister
Free pants
And more!
The human mind and emotions are a strange thing. Been going through the emotional roller coaster ride. It’s smoothing out, but every once in a while they’ll be little bumps. Early on, the first day I went to visit Mom in hospital, I was pretty ok leaving the house and driving along. I thought to break the quiet to keep from thinking so much I decided to plug in and turn on the stereo and the first song was a song that usually ellicits a happy response for me. Woah damn, that opened the floodgates. I guess when teetering on that fine line, any type of thing that creates an emotion can send you over. I had to pull over into the beach park parking lot as I was having trouble seeing. Had my all out bawl fest there. Wonder if the Korean tourists jumping out of their rental to snap pics of themselves against backdrop of the kinda mucky waters of Maunalua Bay noticed anything. And then sometimes in the middle of a sorrowful moment, my mind would think of something else. Perhaps it’s a way the mind prevents from overloading.
Been kind of running around taking care of the worldly rituals. We’re keeping it quiet and simple, so it hasn’t been to bad. And I’m thankful that everyone we’ve dealt with has been good and making it easy. I can easily see where the unscrupulous can take advantage during a time when you’re so vulnerable.
I can appreciate sybolism and flowers are nice, but we ask if people feel compelled to send flowers, to instead send a donation to Queen’s Medical Center, Att’n. Fund Development Dpt, 1301 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813 and notate on check memo to the Neurology Dept., In memory of Kikuko Nobusawa. We feel that it is better spent on something that can do some good, and the staff at Queens was so good to Mom and us.
And as a final note, the picture above is the last of the osechi ryouri that my mother had made for new years that I ate a few days ago. I should have taken a pic on New Years day when it was in all it’s glory, I had thought about it, but you never think something like this will happen.
“You know we leave this Friday…”
WTF!!!
Fabio came by McBike on Tuesday while I was working on Mitch’s bike and dropped a bomb on me. I knew we were going to meet Kevin and Naomi in Whistler for snowboarding this month, but I thought it was MLK Day week. All those arrangements were made nearly half-a-year ago, so I completely forgot we were going one week ahead. Thankfully I had two nights to pack up my stuff, and my board was still OK after only three riding days in Japan. I packed the park board “just in case”, but the edges are all rock-gnarled and feel like ginsu steak knives! Maybe I’ll drop that one off for a base grind sometime on this trip… All my outerwear and layers were washed and actually were piled up on my suitcase, so packing went rather quickly. I just had to grab some gels, bars, bloks, and drink powders and I was done.
Off to SFO tonight then on to YVR tomorrow morning!
Whoa! Did Fabio get some new burger that instantly fell apart and got sauce everywhere? Nope, this is the newest seasonal offering from Burger King, the Angry Whopper. All the radio spot hype made the jalapenos, angry onions, and angry sauce out to be too hot to handle by a mere mortal, but of course this is just advertising hype. If they really made it as hot as they intimated it was they’d probably get sued. From some of the stuff I’ve seen online while looking for the nutritional information, it appears that this burger launched in the UK and Australia before it hit North America (there are pictures of RHD automobiles, but I don’t care to figure out if they are UK or AUS models). Continue reading ‘Angryburger’
All of you who know me know I am a man of few words. I don’t show a whole lot of outward emotion, but despite the past knickname of Japanese Spock, I am human and have a lot of emotions that roll around in me. So bear with me as I spill whatever jumbles of words onto this page. It gives me something to do and helps to calm the roiling emotions that are tumbling about right now. Continue reading ‘Closing the Book’
WTF?!
It’s Sunday the fourth, and I find myself climbing Tantalus with Ckucke and Scat again.
My recent conviction about enjoying riding comes into question right around the first chicane below the Contemporary Museum. My legs feel better this time around, but the heart rate climbs, and my ability to uptake oxygen maxes out. The sitting area has not yet recovered from the New Year’s Eve ride, and the arms are definitely experiencing the wiggles from not having trained or ridden for far too long. I am pegged through the turns and up through euco. Although I am able to recover heart-wise and lung-wise when it flattens out, I only become aware of the discomfort in my ass, feet, and hands as a result. I essentially ride alone, having been dropped by Ckucke and Scat back when the houses ended. Continue reading ‘First Ride of the Year’
“Oh man.”
“Why am I doing this?”
Not even out of sight of the parked cars did these thoughts cross my mind. Winter had brought the rain to Hawaii, so there had been little as far as bike riding going on for me since the beginning of November. Immediately, my feet and left hip began to hurt. It was New Year’s Eve and I got out of work after half-a-day, so I met Ckucke, Scat, Jeff, Sara, Danny, and Dr. Paul for a spin up Tantalus. Root got stuck at work with the last minute rush, so he didn’t make the start time. The first section up to the stop sign went leisurely. I had gone a little ahead to take pictures of everyone passing, but after putting the camera away, I ended off the back – where I would stay for the remainder of the climb. The lack of recent saddle time and a chili-dog plate lunch eaten only an hour before ride time dragged me down. Continue reading ‘Last Ride of the Year’
Dunkel, or Dunkles beers are Bavarian-style lager beers brewed using a dark roasted Munich malt, and in fact the dunkel was the original Bavarian beer until new brewing techniques introduced in the later half of the 19th century which allowed the preparation of a lighter malt. The name Dunkel literally means “dark” in Deutsche. Although one would expect a stronger flavor from a darker beer, in general, dunkels have a smoother and “maltier” flavor than the other common Bavarian lager, the helles, or pale lager, and have no significant bitter or sweet character from the hopping. This example from Otaru Bakushu Brewery in Western Hokkaido has a mild smoky flavor, but has only a hint of malt taste. The initial mouth feel is smooth but slightly thick with the carbonated “karakuchi” dry bubbly sensation popular in Japanese beers. There is a hint of caramel sweet in the middle from the roasted malt and hopping. There is no significant bitter. The finish tapers to a faint malt flavor. The color is a dark, nearly stout-like brown. The carbonation level is moderate. This Dunkel is easily quaffable. Like the Otaru Bakushu Pilsen, this beer has no objectionable traits, but it similarly doesn’t really have the strong malty beer flavor I would expect from a dunkel. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the “organic” origins of the beer, or if it is due to the brewmaster’s choice. I would almost say that with the hint of sweetness and the light malt taste, this seems more like a bock than a dunkel… Continue reading ‘Beer Is Good – Otaru Bakushu Organic Beer Dunkel-Type Jibiiru’
Mom just passed away this morning. Wasnt there, but nurse said it was
peacefull. When we left last night she was sleeping and my dad
remarked that she looked like an angel. Nurse said throughtout the
night that was how she was. Thank goodness.