Tell Tales of the Larsenosters

Paradise Found...

2009-12-18T07:33:00.000-08:00

So, Kim and I went South of the Border for a few weeks, Caribbean-style. Our friends won a sailboat charter at the boat show last spring, so I offered to get them trained so they could skipper their own bareboat. We were looking at chartering in Tahiti or Antigua for my 40th. We ended up just glomming onto their party and spending the three weeks prior to the trip doing sailing classes.

They found a condo on Virgin Gorda for cheap (off season rates) for the week prior to the charter. We wandered all over the island, went to The Baths, Bitter End, The Mineshaft for Kim's birthday (where I presented her with a titanium winch handle and a poem). We hit the local beach to cool off and fly the kitecam. It was a pre-vacation because the fun was yet to begin.

Here's a user-friendly version of the ship's log/journal that I kept while underway:

Day 1/8 = 12/04/09
Road Harbour, Tortola
1600 Engine hours = 2992.0
1600 Cast off from BVIYC Base after provisioning with the McDowell's. Dropped McDowell's off at Sunsail Base around the corner in Road Harbour on an empty dock. Backed down fairway to keep dinghy painter from fouling (still getting used to dinghy), and almost got rammed by a large cat. Extricated ourselves and motored out of Road Harbour at 1630. After consulting the chart, we decided to risk running down to Soper's Hole for the night. 7 nm at 7 knots would put us on a mooring in just over an hour. We're not supposed to sail after 1700, but we got a late start and wanted to make it happen. Unfurled the jib and motored downwind at 2500 rpm while watching for W 64* 42.5' to turn North into Soper's Hole. Wind was steady at about 10 knots, large cumulus clouds lit by sunset. The sun was setting behind the USVI, so sunset came earlier than expected. We could see the saddle to Frenchman's Cay prior to making the turn. We had averaged 7 knots and Kim saw 8 while surfing. The roll wasn't too bad. We doused the jib as we turned upwind into Soper's Hole. The saddle doesn't provide much of a windbreak. It was definitely dusk as we grabbed the second mooring ball (the first one didn't have a pennant). Kim was at the helm while I tied a bridle through the thimble and we're here. We dinghied over to Pusser's and got our second passport stamp of the day (first was in Road Town at lunch). We then dinghied over to Jolly Roger Inn for a beer and a t-shirt. Dinghied back to the boat for sliced turkey, brie and crackers with a few rum drinks in our new mugs. We had a few squall lines blow through, so we read and did crosswords until showering and bed.

Day 2/8 = 12/05/09
Soper's Hole, Tortola
0700 Engine hours = 2994.2
Squalls blew through, but left wind at about 15 knots. Couldn't start stove so dinghied ashore for coffee, then' we'll sail to rendezvous with McDowell's at Cooper island.
1000 Radio check. Sailed upwind all the way to Cooper Island. Long day of beating.
0400 Grabbed mooring ball at Manchioneel Bay. Dinghied ashore for happy hour and geocache. Skipped dinner.

Day 3/8 = 12/06/2009
Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island
0740 Engine hours = 2995.8
0800 Cast off.
0900 Grabbed mooring ball in Lee Bay on Salt Island. Snorkeled Wreck of the RMS Rhone.
1000 Cast off Lee Bay. Motored directly to Marina Cay. Kim was hung over. Having battery charging issues. Have to use start button in engine compartment.
1110 Grabbed mooring ball at Marina Cay. Had lunch, met up with Panacea crew (McDowell's & Tuckers). Got Pusser's passport stamped again (#3).
1335 Photo booth at Marina Cay fuel dock, will look on internet for our pics.
1400 Cast off Marina Cay
1430 Blew 5 short blasts at Moorings boat who dropped sails right in front of us without checking for traffic first.
1530 Lost kite overboard = MOB drill jumped in dinghy. Kite was too deep. I should've dove in after it. Sigh... Glad McDowell's have spare rig.
1810 Grabbed mooring Saba Rock, Panacea in Leverick Bay and on different VHF channel' so plan got fouled.
Dinner was cheese & crackers again.
Tomorrow Anegada. Prearranged radio check at 0800, castoff 0900. Will sail together as true flotilla next 2 days.

Day 4/8 = 12/07/2009
Saba Rock, North Sound, Virgin Gorda
0730 Engine hours = 3000.8
0745 Kim deleted all photos & video and had a meltdown. She figured out how to undelete, so all is good. She started a WiFi upload of all pics.
0800 Cast off to go to fuel dock on Saba Rock. Big cat beat us and took their time.
0815 I grabbed mooring ball single-handed at Saba Rock, waiting for fuel dock.
0845 Karen decided to go geocaching on Eustatia Island instead of leaving for Anegada as planned. Supposed to cast off at 0900.
0930 Cast off for Anegada, finally. Had nice reach. Couldn't see red buoy, so dropped sails and motored East until we sighted it. Motored carefully into lagoon through buoys. On the way across, Kim sailed to halfway point, then handed helm over to me. I dropped sails while she motored us in. I suggested we motor through mooring field. Guidebooks don't mention another set of buoys inside the lagoon to get to second mooring field.
1215 Ran aground in sand inside lagoon because we motored around mooring field and didn't see red/green buoys until it was too late. Kim tried to reverse, then power forward with wheel hard over, then she swung me out on the boom, then I raised main to get us off unassisted. Nice couple came over in dinghy to help, but we thanked them off.
1235 Grabbed mooring ball in Anegada lagoon, right in front of Neptune's Treasure. Flew kite off Potter's dock while others went geocaching. Took taxi to other side of island to do some snorkeling. Had lobster dinner at Potters. Signed roof (All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by - Masefield, Where the hell is our boat? - Kim & Chris).

Day 5/8 = 12/08/2009
Anegada
0930 Engine hours 3004.0
Charted course for North tip of Guana Island 230M 16.5 nm, plus 6 nm around to Cane Garden Bay. Will sail to 40', then turn to 180M. Dinghied in to Neptune's Treasure to pay for mooring.
0845 Radio check
0900 Cast off mooring. Motored safely out past entrance (N18* 42' 47.8” W64* 23' 46.8”)
0930 Hoisted sail. Rolly reach down to Guana Island. Some waves 6 foot high. Kim sailed for about an hour then gave me helm for rest of the trip.
1220 Changed course to Sandy Cay
1300 Headed up towards Cane Garden Bay at N64* 40' we changed bearing to 180M.
1330 Grabbed mooring ball in Cane Garden Bay. 27nm in 4.5 hours = 6 knots. Max 8.9 knots
Dinghied ashore, did Callwood distillery tour, took tire swing pictures, bucket of beer on beach, and provisioned. After happy hour, cooked steaks & lobster pasta. Phenomenal.

Day 6/8 = 12/09/2009
Cane Garden Bay
0800 Engine hours 3005.9
0900 Dinghy ashore to provision. Saw magnificent rainbow illuminating Sandy Cay and a sailboat.
1020 Cast off. Motored to Sandy Spit mooring field while squalls blew through. No wind.
1100 Grabbed ball off Diamond Cay in Manchineel Bay. Saw topless girls grab mooring ball. Dinghied way over to Sandy Spit. Flew kite, but had to run back to boat for part. Squall blew through so we ran back to the boats.
1315 Cast off and motored around to White Bay. Very shallow and mooring balls are limited. Wave trough caused us to bump our bottom on reef. Motored back to Great Harbour and found a ball recebtly vacated by Valiant.
1430 Grabbed ball. Called Panacea to say that we're staying put. Dinghied in and had a few drinks at Corsairs. Met Vinny, who told us to help ourselves at the bar, he'd be right back. Nice. Walked down to Foxy's, saw the boat preservation society sloop & donkey. Talked to ASA guys from Seattle and a couple of British guys. Came back to boat before dark. Had cheese & crackers and watched TV show on USB stick.

Day 7/8 = 12/10/2009
Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke
1220 Engine hours 3011.4
0830 Radio check with Panacea
0840 Cast off from Great Harbour, motored to Little Harbour to check it out. Plotted Little Harbour to Thatch Island Cut 190M, then to Pelican Island 130M. We motored along Tortola until we could reach to The Indians. Tacked West of Norman Island, then again to sail into The Bight. I asked Kim if she wanted to pick up a mooring ball while under sail. She declined. W 64* 38' = Due N or entrance to Bight. Watched local skipper pick up mooring under sail. Sigh...
1050 Grabbed Ball in Soper's Hole. Had drinks, grabbed WiFi, and provisioned.
1210 Cast off Soper's Hole and motored past bay just West of Nanny Cay. Sailed approximately 175M to Norman Island Bight.
1450 Grabbed mooring ball in The Bight. Dinghied out to Treasure Island caves and snorkeled. Stinging plankton. Dinghied back to Pirate's Bight bar and had beers chatted with charter captain and paid mooring fees. Dinghied back to boat for happy hour, then dinghied over to Panacea.
Dinner was chicken curry with saffron rice, excellent. Panacea crew went to Willie T.

Day 8/8 = 12/11/2009
The Bight, Norman Island
0855 Engine hours 3012.4
1100 Engine hours 3013.1
0905 Cast off The Bight, raised sail and sailed 030M from Pelican Island to Road Harbour.
1045 Tied off at BVIYC. They had me dock the boat by the fuel dock, that was only 15' longer than the 2004 Beneteau 323.
Kim filled out grounding report, so we got tagged with $1000 deductible, plus $75 for diver. Hopefully, no damage. Good thing we didn't tell them about White Bay. Took taxi to Ferry landing and grabbed lunch at Pussers, waiting for 1430 ferry to St. Thomas.

Refueled with 22 gallons = approximately 1 gal/hour.

EOT...

We took the ferry over to St. Thomas and a taxi to Bolonga Bay resort where we repacked our stuff for the flight the next day. Hit the pool for happy hour and made sure we had ear plugs for Mr. McDowell.

Next morning, chilled out around the resort, packed up and taxied to airport. Bought a bunch of rum at duty-free shop to check as luggage. Nice. Flights home were brutal. Got home at midnight local time, but felt like 0400 to me. Woke up at reasonable time to start a new day back home.

Overall, a lovely trip. We learned enough to start our charter company (www.pirateheadsailing.com). Kim told her friend Robin about it, and next thing we know, we've got one whole week booked in Dec 2010. We're doing one week charter, one week vacation, and another week charter to make it more fiscally feasible. Wish us luck. We're either adding Antigua or The Grenadines next year.

Start Spreading the News...

2009-12-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

So, Kim and I went to the City that never sleeps at the beginning of November for a cousin's wedding. It was a lovely Jewish ceremony on the Chelsea Pier, right on the Hudson. As we were sitting there, the first sailboat we saw striding by on the ebb tide was a Valiant 42 (one of the boats on our short list). The reception was awesome and we all waddled out of there stuffed and buzzed.

Having gotten the family duties out of the way, we did our usual whirlwind tour of the Big Apple. We walked 25 miles around Manhattan in three days. We saw Anthony Bourdain's restaurant, Times Square, Central Park, Tavern on the Green, the Empire State Building, Pete's (the oldest continuously operating bar in NYC), The Bridge (the oldest drinking establishment in NYC), Battery Park, NBC Studios, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Trinity Church, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, The Gugenheim, and a whole lot more. We were so exhausted by the time we got to the Met that we kind of just staggered around aimlessly until closing time.

We originally planned our itinerary so that we could skip NY, NY when we cruise the East Coast. We know now that there's no way we can bypass I [heart] NY. We didn't get to see the Museum of Natural History, or a million other sights. We did get a slice on the street, but we didn't get a dog or a bagel. Thanks to Aunt Marion (the librarian), the cost of the trip was very reasonable. Luckily, Kim didn't see any celebrities to molest. All in all, Gotham was a lot cleaner than we expected. It even smelled better than San Francisco. As we were tooling around, I couldn't help but think about the documentary we saw where the guy was mapping out the new sea level when the oceans rise just three more feet. It went right through Wall Street. It was a great trip, and I got over my phobia of big cities, which is good because we're going to hit a lot of them on our way around.

One Under My Belt...

2009-10-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend, I taught my very first solo Basic Keelboat 1 class. I had four students on a Colgate 26. My prep work Friday afternoon was put to good use. At the end of Sunday's Day 2, I was asked to step out while there was a nervewracking debriefing by one of the Club Nautique staff. In the mean time, the Director asked me in for my own debriefing. This was the instructor I audited the class with last week. He was very encouraging, gave me some great constructive feedback, and said that I had a great future with the school, so I felt a lot better. They even forgave that a rather expensive part on the boat was broken on my watch. I won't let that happen again. Everyone, both staff and students, seemed very happy with the way I ran the class.

They've booked me for another BK1 in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to polish my technique. They want me to add additional classes to my portfolio, plus they asked me to teach any number of "Winter Wednesday" topics I want (i.e. splicing, diesel troubleshooting, coastal navigation, etc.). Some have the course materials already made up. I would be making up stuff for any new class I might add to their repertoire. I also get to audit classes with Arnstein Mustad, the guy that taught my captain's class and whose list for yacht deliveries I'm on. All in all, I'm pretty excited about this new career. With that being said, after dinner and a TV show, I crashed hard.

Day One...

2009-10-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, I "audited" my first class with Club Nautique. The class was being taught in Sausalito by Jim Hancock, the Director, so I was in pretty heavy-duty company. Auditing is basically a way for a new instructor to observe one of the pros to ensure that they teach the Club Nautique way, which I totally understand and respect. I also picked up little tidbits here and there about general sailing knowledge, Sausalito, and Colgate 26's, which is the boat they teach "Basic Keelboat" on. It was exhausting, but very rewarding as a fledgling sailing instructor for the biggest Offshore Passagemaking school in the US.

Jim was obviously extremely knowledgeable and great to work with. Over the two days, he had me teach small segments and work with the students. We sailed a 26' daysailer out into the Slot in SF Bay, which is no small task for anyone, much less a boat full of newbies.

I gained a lot from the exercise and I will be putting it to good use on Saturday morning when they turn me loose with my own class. Only this time, it will be out of the Alameda base. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow, Kim and I are taking out a SailTime-SF boat on our own for the first time since Lisa bought the base, and we're very excited. It's Fleet Week, and the Blue Angels are practicing. We'll be on the 36 footer out of Emeryville with front row seats, without all of the hassles of being out there on the weekend with the other 500 boats. Thanks Lisa!

Be Careful What You Wish For...

2009-09-30T08:36:00.001-07:00

So, last Saturday, the crew from SailTime-SF went to a diesel mechanics class at KKMI (one of the biggest boatyards in the Bay, where Team Oracle & Alinghi both set up shop a few years ago during the America's Cup races in SF). It was a five hour class that covered diesel theory, troubleshooting, etc. I was blown away by the amount of information they imparted on us.

While we were at KKMI, Discovery Channel was setting up to do a commercial about a documentary they've made on Zac Sunderland. Evidently, there's a sistership, with the same canvas color, in KKMI's boatyard. We didn't stick around long enough to see if Zac was actually going to be there, but it was still an interesting thing to experience.

To make matters more interesting, the 36 footer in Emeryville had some problems last weekend. I ended up replacing fuses in the lazarette locker and replacing the starter ON THE DIESEL ENGINE... It was incredibly difficult to get to some of the bolts, and I did bust a couple of knuckles. When I got home, I told Kim that if this keeps up, we'll have a bona fide diesel mechanic in the family. It's great experience if not a lot of fun.

Oh, thanks to Lisa's suggestion, we pulled the 100 pound batteries out of the bottom of the boat with the man overboard block & tackle system, greatly saving wear & tear on my back. I'm going to run the batteries up to KKMI for charging & stress testing in an effort to understand why this is the second starter we've blown in three months.

I can't wait for the boat electrical systems class this Saturday!

Another Part Time Job!

2009-09-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday, I finalized my employment with Club Nautique, the largest offshore passagemaking school in the US! They do flotillas to the Farallones and Hawaii. I'm already setup to audit a class and take the US Sailing Basic Keelboat Instructor class in October. US Sailing is the "other" school vs. America Sailing Association (ASA) that we're starting with SailTime. As a result, I have to work my way up through the certifications with US Sailing just like I just did with ASA. My pay rate at Club Nautique will ratchet up as I go. One of my employee benefits is taking classes for free, so I'll be signing up for the next celestial nav class, so I can finally figure out how to use my sextant. They're an awesome club and they seem genuinely glad to have me on board. Hopefully, things won't slow down too much, since I'm joining at the alleged end of the sailing season. Between West Marine and Club Nautique, it looks like I'll have my weekends pretty much booked from here on out. It's a good thing we can go sailing on a Tuesday!

Tahoe Baby!

2009-09-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

So, a couple of weeks ago, Kim & I, Chuck & Lisa, our new friends Chris & Karen, and the Pelotes (Kim's friends from "Family Tree Maker") all went to Tahoe for a long weekend. Chris & Karen wanted to go wine tasting on the way, so we stopped and got a few pics of The Twins in gold country. The wine was pretty mediocre. We finally got to our campsite that afternoon. I had booked our campsites in Emerald Bay State Park based on the 2D map indicating it was close to the water. In 3D, we were 300 feet above lake level and a quarter mile hike to the water. No rolling The Twins down to the beach.

We setup camp and Chris opened a huge can of chili (good thing the restrooms were right across the street). The other two couples showed up after dark (probably to miss dinner). Chuck's Jeep's caliper actually caught fire on the way up, so they were ready for a cocktail when they got there. Pelotes brought their kids, so they joined us in a libation too.

Saturday morning, we took Chris & Karen and the Pelotes crew sailing on the Twins. We had a bit of trouble finding a launch. We were already seriously overloaded and had to leave Chuck & Lisa to their own devices. We slogged about the marina on the south end of Tahoe and just as we were about to give up and head back in, the wind picked up. We wanted to get the geocache on Fannette Island, so we headed northwest as close as the wind and ballast would let us. I kept having to head out into the middle of the lake to make any kind of northerly progress against the NW wind. While we were out there, a rental boat full of obviously foreign tourists was heading toward us. At first, I thought they were just coming over to see the pretty boat. When they started to get a little too close for comfort, I yelled at them. The guy in the bow turns around, sees us, and runs back to the helm. He veered away just in time to miss us by about twenty feet. That obviously freaked everybody out a bit, but we escaped unscathed. Factor our near-miss with the fact that we weren't heading toward Emerald Bay anymore, and we decided to turn around. I was able to sail through the mooring field and place The Twins right on the beach where we launched. We put the catamaran back on the trailer and headed back to camp. The Pelotes seemed to enjoy our slightly extreme daysail and I learned to never overload the cat again, for safety reasons.

Sunday, we hiked a part of the Rubicon trail and saw the highest lighthouse on navigable water in the world. We also picked up several geocaches along the way.

Chris & Karen opted to stay an extra day, so we did some more geocaching after packing up the campsites. Kim and I hiked down to Vikingsholm so that we would actually see Emerald Bay. It was pretty cool looking, but a killer hike. Kim and I decided to head home after that. All in all, a great trip, even though we didn't make it to Fannette Island. Kim jokingly refers to it as my qixotic windmill. Next time, we'll have an inflatable dinghy and an outboard to get to that damn island.

Part Time Job

2009-09-07T08:22:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, my buddy Chris McDowell came over while I was working in the shop and asked me to take a ride with him to Sausalito to look at his buddy's 1973 52 foot Ted Brewer ketch. I thought what the heck, dusted myself off and jumped in the car. With the Bay Bridge being closed half of that traffic diverted to the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, which made quite a little traffic jam. Luckily, Chris makes Kim seem introverted, so we didn't lack anything to talk about.

We finally got to Sausalito and there was a Art & Wine Festival right in front of the marina, so we had a bit of trouble finding a place to park. We finally met up with Dan, the owner of the boat and he took us down to his magnificent boat. It obviously needs some TLC, but she's build like a brick you-know-what. And you obviously can't say much about the design other than having an opinion of ketches.

While Chris and I were taking pics of every little nook and cranny, Dan was telling us all the stuff he wanted to do to the boat. We talked about a lot of nautical stuff and bandied thoughts back and forth. I was just making conversation because I appreciated the boat so much.

When the tour was done, Dan said that he'd pay us as we go along, or give us a hefty slice of the commission when he sells her. At this point I realized that Dan wanted Chris and me to do the work that we had been talking about for the last forty five minutes. He also said that we could use her anytime, once we get the mechanicals squared away. I thought, "Wow, what a great opportunity". Then I thought, "Wow, I'm already busy". Then I thought, "Wow, I better check with Kim on this one".

I thanked him for his offer and told him I'd have to think about it. On the drive home, Chris and I talked about the pros and cons. I think I'll take Kim on the shakedown cruise and see what she thinks. It's an unbelievable opportunity, but also a major committment. If I spend a year working on this boat and we get our boat next year, that means that I'll have to dive right in to another huge project. Another option is possibly purchasing the ketch, but that's not really what we've been looking for.

Payback!

2009-09-06T09:05:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday, I had my very first official, paid captain charter (the day after my 40th birthday!). Lisa with SailTime San Francisco scheduled a gig with a family down from Napa. After making sure we weren't on a low tide, we took the Hunter 36 in our fleet out from Emeryville and sailed over to the San Francisco city front. It was blowing 25 knots (almost 30 mph), so I was heavily reefed, using the in-mast furling main. Because they wanted to see the City and we only had four hours, I fired up the diesel which allowed us to point much higher. We were able to get to the City in an hour and a half, which gave us time to buzz up and down past the Ferry Building and Pier 39 while dodging ferry traffic and other boats.

By then, it was time to head home. We had a nice series of jibes (with the main sail centered) to get back to Emeryville almost dead downwind. The fog had built so thick that everything north of us was a whiteout. Berekely was invisible as we dodged barges in the mooring field east of Treasure Island. We got the boat put back in the slip safe and sound, and after the family left for their next adventure, I put the boat back shipshape for the next member. We had beers at Chuck & Lisa's place and talked about the day. All in all, a very satisfying experience. I was also able to make my captain pay rate finally! Only twenty more charters and I should have my license paid off! Thanks Lisa!

Saturday Sail

2009-08-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday we were able to go out for a recreational sail on one of the SailTime boats. It just so happens that the Kiteboarding World Championships was Saturday on the Bay. It was mind-blowing to see all of those kiteboarders so close. It was pretty hazy, but the wind was blowing through the Slot as usual. We carved over there from Sausalito and kept our distance. The above pic is from Latitude 38.

After a leisurely sail over to Belvedere, we anchored in front of the Corinthian Yacht Club and watched the start of the race to Vallejo. We had a nice dinner and motored home. Our friend Nancy from Austin was on board and was not used to the somewhat extreme nature of sailing across the Slot. Lake Travis, TX is much more placid (when there's water in the lake).

It's Official!

2009-08-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, Kim ran down to the store to get some green onions for our stir-fry last night, and a few minutes later, she pulled back in. I said, "That was fast." and she said she forgot something. A second later, she's handing me an official looking envelope with an expectant look on her face. It was my Merchant Mariner Credential (captain's license)! My eyes started to well up because this has been such a long, drawn out ordeal.

I can now start teaching legally for Lisa @ SailTime and Club Nautique. CN is a US Sailing school, where Lisa's is an ASA school. As a result, I've got to go through another round of classes at CN to become certified out the wazoo with them. This should keep me busy for the rest of the year.

I've decided to scan the passport looking license and archive it, just in case. BTW, I was officially qualified for "Master Near Coastal 25 Gross Tons w/ Sailing & Towing Endorsements". That should be sufficient for just about anything short of operating a ferry or a cruise ship. I may very well go for the Duck Boats next summer if I decide to get my CDL.

Arts & Crafts Fair

2009-08-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday morning, we drug Nancy (our friend visiting from Austin) to the annual San Francisco Arts & Crafts Fair. This was something I've been looking forward to for months, practically since last year's show.

I saw a Limbert Lamp Table #238, which is the companion piece to the #240 that I'm currently working on.

We also saw a Stickley Sideboard #818, which is the three drawer version of the #802 that I've already done my research on in anticipation of building it to go with the dining room set I'll be working on soon.

We bought a MacKintosh rose fridge magnet, but couldn't justify the expense of the embroidery kits we wanted, so I'm going to make them from Joanna's fabric. Kim bought a Montana del Oro tile, which is really nice (and it's a great place to hike).

On the way out, we dumped $10 into raffle tickets for a $100+ tile of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is pretty cool. Sunday, while on lunch at West Marine, I received a call notifying us that we won. I've never won anything. The downside is that we're rapidly running out of wall space.

Brush With Fame

2009-07-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

So, Lin and Larry Pardey came into West Marine on Sunday, asking if they could film some stuff in our store. I graciously helped them get setup, but was unfortunately too busy with customers to actually be in their film, as they requested. One of the girls that was supposed to work that Sunday took off sick. Sigh... They were there for a few hours, taking up the entire book aisle (or is that isle), but whatever. The funny thing I found was that they pulled up in a big truck with a nice, big camper shell on back. I guess that's how they cruise by land. Kim asked why I didn't ask them to sign a book. Sigh...

Talk About Fragile...

2009-07-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

So, Chuck and I babysat Yes for their Rockline interview. During two-thirds of the show, I was running three blocks to pick up Sauvignon Blanc or creamer for their tea. They refused to sign the albums that Kim and I had purchased at Amoeba Records in Berkeley. Chris Squire was too busy pounding wine and waiting for his cab. I don't know what Steve Howe's problem was, but Carl Palmer was pissed there were no ELP albums. It was a Yes/Asia show. Sigh... Anyhoo, had fun and helped Chuck out of a jam. I told him on the elevator on the way down that at least it makes a good story. BTW, I now get a bad taste in my mouth when I hear Yes on 107.7 The Bone...

You Know How I Know You're Gay?

2009-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

"I beg to hear your wonderous stories..."

So, thanks to our good buddy Chuck (THE Lisa Chapin's boyfriend), I've got an incredible opportunity coming up on July 1st. If you're a big fan of "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Asia" you'll get the above reference. I thought it only fitting, considering San Francisco's "Pride Parade" this weekend. I'd hate to see the tan lines on those ass-less chaps, but I digress...

Anyhoo, as some of you may not know, Chuck is the head engineer for a bunch of Clear Channel radio stations out here. On Wednesday night Yes & Asia are going to be on Rockline. These are some of my all-time favorite bands, and I've been listening to Rockline for 25 years, since the days of KSHE-95 Real Rock Radio in St. Louis, MO.

He's going to take care of all the technical stuff like piping it from the studio in SF to New York, then simulcast it back to 107.7 The Bone, one of his radio stations. I'll try not to be a blithering idiot and pester them with trivial minutae. I can't promise to not have them sign a t-shirt for me with a Sharpie.

Thank you Chuck, I hope this is the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial collaboration between your technical expertise and my willingness to do just about anything to hang out with the band.

"You're leaving now...
There's no denying it...
It's in your eyes..."
It really comes as no surprise...

Summer Sailstice

2009-06-22T18:04:00.001-07:00

So, Lisa and I took "A Vela", a Hunter 38 from Sausalito to Clipper Cove (separates Treasure Island from Yerba Buena) for the Summer Sailstice at 0700 Saturday morning. BTW, Kim might be working on their website next year. We did the SailTime-SF thing, which is why we've been killing ourselves to get the boat detailed over the last week (Lisa did 3x the work. It was a relatively small show, compared to Strictly Sail, but we had some good leads. Lisa hosted a cocktail party after the show which was a HUGE success.

Besides the SailTime leads, we made friends with Pam, Jim DeWitt's daughter. She is also interested in custom framing.

I glad-handed with the guy that taught my captain's class and my future boss at Club Nautique (they were giving sailboat rides all day). I also met a couple who had been sailing on Stockton Lake in Missouri the previous week. They sent sailing on the very first Slovenian sailboat produced in that country that was imported into the US. I told them I was very interested in the story to publish as an article in Sail Magazine. They have already contacted me saying they have passed my contact info onto the boat owners.

Sunday, Kim and I went to the NorCal Pirate Festival in Vallejo. It was pretty small compared to TexRenFest, but pretty cool. It's only their 3rd year. We got to chat with the models on PirateMod.com. Kim and I will be purchasing our t-shirts and pirate license online.

Sunday night, we had Chris & Karen over for Thai and to discuss our pending trip to the British Virgin Islands this Fall. It looks like we're glomming onto the vacation they won at the boat show. A week on Virgin Gorda, followed by a week on a 32 footer in the BVI. I'm hoping we make it to Anegada this time. In the mean time, sailing lessons will continue. Oh, Chris says he's got a friend who won a ketch in Sausalito in a lawsuit settlement.

ASA Certifications

2009-06-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, today I finished my final round of classes to become an ASA Certified Instructor for Lisa and SailTime - San Francisco. Yesterday was a presentation on tide books, followed by teaching docking on the boat, followed by an old USCG Six Pack exam (which was pretty tough). Today was a presentation on Mediterranean Mooring (Med Moor), followed by actually doing it on the boat while instructing the students on the process, followd by a 20 min lecture on diesel troubleshooting while pointing at a Volvo Penta. After that, back into the classroom for an exam. I had to get 90% or higher on all exams to maximize my certifications.

As of now, I can teach 101 (Basic Keelboat), 103 (Coastal Navigation), 104 (Bareboat Chartering), and 105 (Advanced Coastal Nav). SailTime sometimes holds these classes in the British Virgin Islands on their "Novice to Captain" trip. Hopefully some Caribbean time will come out of this. I couldn't have done this without the unwavering support of Lisa and Kim. Thanks!

Up next, US Sailing certifications! Yeah!!! All these classes are making it difficult to get business cards printed up...

I've Been Framed!

2009-06-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

So, I sent Kim to pick up some glass at the Framer's Workshop, a nice, 30 year old framing shop in Berkeley. The glass is for the new frame I made for her Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival poster we got last Fall. I was in the shop cutting the backer board for it when my phone rings. She's at the Framer's Workshop and has chatted up the owner about my woodworking. The lady needs a local, dependable source for custom, Craftsman-style picture frames (Dard Hunter) who can deliver in less that six weeks for less than $300-$400. Kim finds out that they're a Motawi tile deaaler, so she tells her about the Greene & Greene frame I made after we visited the Gamble House a couple of years ago. The lady expresses her interest in talking to me, so Kim runs home, picks me up, we grab the tile frame, and we head over there. After about 20 minutes, we shake hands, and I've got a homework assignment. I've got to make four different styles of picture frame corners (the kind you see velcroed to the wall). We'll see how it goes from there. This could be a pretty lucrative side job. I jokingly told Kim that now that I'm making money sailing and woodworking, the only thing left is to become a porn actor and I'd have the ultimate trifecta.

After that, we ran over to Live Oak Park for the annual Arts & Crafts fair. We got Yoshiko Yamamoto to sign one of her prints for us.

After that, I had to run home and finish studying. I'm taking ASA 203/204 this weekend (Basic Coastal Cruising & Bareboat Chartering). Hopefully, after this next round of certifications, I'll be able to help Lisa with her SailTime school. Wish me luck!

While You Were Out III

2009-06-05T18:30:00.001-07:00

So, we put some stuff on the mantel after the finish cured. Notice the ASS Hunt trophy (a major award) on the right...

While You Were Out II

2009-06-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

So, Kim went to band for the last time this season, so I took the opportunity to hang the new mantel. It's the first major woodworking project since the accident. I can honestly say that turning the table saw back on was an exercise in willpower. Anyhoo, I think it looks pretty good. It's my own design from ideas that I got off of LumberJocks.com. The finish is Danish oil - Red Mahogany. It gives it a nice, rich, look with just a hint of red. The wood is quartersawn white oak that I had earmarked for the night stands (the project I was working on during the accident). I'll get back to that after I knock out some smaller projects and get my courage back up. We're going to put our ASS Hunt trophy, and a couple of other knick-knacks on it. I hung it with a french cleat so it's easy to take off the wall. I think I'm done in the living room for a while. Next stop, Kim's frame for the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival to hang over the piano. It's one of the only blank spots on the wall left.

Santa Cruise/Half Moon Bay Rally Pic

2009-05-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

From a fellow rallier about 40 yards off the starboard beam:

We may have found this year's Christmas card...

I'm Almost Official!

2009-05-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

So, the other day, Kim and I ran over to the local TSA office that is under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security to pick up my TWIC card (Transportation Workers Identification Card). It's basically $130 card that says I'm who I say I am and that I'm not a terrorist. The office in question looks like a fake office setup for a sting. They took an unbelievable amount of time while I'm sitting in a folding chair to process me and to pick it up. For an office that processes mostly men, I found the array of Oprah magazines disenchanting. They had a survey asking how my experience was. I filled out very unsatisfactory for everything. I'll probably get picked up for subversion. Don't you feel safer now?

Santa Cruz'in

2009-05-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, Lisa Chapin signed up to do the Santa Cruz Rally with Club Nautique (who I'll be teaching for in a few weeks). She asked us to join her on the Hunter 380 in Sausalito to sail the 75 miles down the coast. We were really excited, and I did a ton of research for the trip and I brushed up on my coastal navigation. We got to the boat Thursday evening, did some work in the boat and shoved off at 3am to catch the ebb tide under the Golden Gate Bridge by 4am. I didn't sleep much due to excitement. We were the first ones out the Gate because we didn't want to dilly-dally in the commercial traffic lanes. Lisa reported all the commercial traffic we did see to the rally organizers and she reported the thirty five sailboats doing the really to Vessel Traffic Service, which was the captainly thing to do.

Kim's brother Jon immediately got seasick, even though he had a scapalomine patch on from the night before. That made Kim sick, so they ended up going down below for most of the day. Lisa and I were doing OK, even though the ebb tide was fighting the south westerly breeze. We had eight foot waves for most of the day. Since the wind was from the wrong direction, due to a low pressure system out in the Pacific, we ended up tacking way out to the traffic lanes, then back to within a mile of the coast. On each roll-call, we found that most of the boats were making considerably more southerly progress than we were. We decided they must be motor sailing.

We noticed that our reefed sails had cut our tacks from 90 to about 50 degrees, making our southerly progess even slower. I had been carefully logging the latitude, longitude, and time of all of our tacks, so I was able to plot our course on the chart. Over the VHF, we heard that a lot of boats were giving up on Santa Cruz and were ducking into Half Moon Bay for the night. We decided this was a good plan for us too. We finally started motoring when the headland of Half Moon Bay came into view because of the shoals and rocks on the approach. We called into the harbormaster for a guest slip and backed her right in. There were several ralliers there on the dock to help us. Once we got the boat put away, we had our congratulatory cocktail and headed into town to give the folks with seasickness a little stationary footing for a change. We headed into Ketch Joanne's for a drink before heading back to the boat.

I plotted our course and reheated the mostaccoli I made last week while everyone took a nap. We then crashed pretty hard after dinner.

Saturday morning, we checked out Half Moon Bay after deciding that Sant Cruz was too far for a SSW wind. We knew that the ralliers that had motored down there were coming back to Half Moon Bay for the north leg of their trip, so we'd just wait for them to come in. Half Moon Bay is a lovely little working port, so we got to see a bunch of fisherman working on their boats. I grilled sausage and marinated chicken for dinner in the cockpit.

Sunday, after a great breakfast at Ketch Joanne's, in true cruiser fashion, we bummed a ride down to Half Moon Bay proper and checked out all of the shops and caught the bus back to the marina. Very relaxing. I messed up reheating our dinner, so we ran back to Ketch Joanne's for dinner. We knew we would be getting up early to leave, so we all crashed.

Monday, the seas were about six feet, but the wind was light and of course to the north, directly in our path, so we motor sailed at 7 knots NNW. I had overdosed on the seasickness medication accidentally, so I spent most of the day down below. We got back to Sausalito pretty early, fueled and pumped the boat out, gave her a good cleaning inside and out so she'll be ready for the next SailTime member, and had a beer in the cockpit. Kim and I headed home to shower and pickup the dog. Teri, our faithful dog-sitter came over for dinner, sparing us having to make a run out to Fremont. I cooked the dinner we were supposed to have on the boat Sunday night, curry chicken and stir-fried rice, and crashed early.

Kim and I slept in a bit and then have been playing catch-up all day. My hopefully last hand surgery is tomorrow at 6am, so wish me luck. I've also been horribly remiss in wishing my best bud Mike Maloney and his twin sister Mindy in St. Louis Happy 40th! Miss you guys! I'll post some pics of the last few weeks ASAP...

I forgot to mention that it was about 55F the entire trip.

37.45°N 122.41°W

Austin City Visits

2009-05-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

So, Kim and I spent 10 days in A-town. We had a blast, even though it was a whirlwind tour. We flew in on Thursday night. We were supposed to hook up with a good friend, Jeff Barger, but our plane was late getting into DFW, so we missed our connecting flight. They practically shut the door in our face. We chilled with a drink and got into Austin an hour later. This caused our reunion with the Dreher's and meeting Lyla to be postponed because it was too late on a school night. We took a cab over and borrowed Eric's Jeep. We crashed with Robin Millings and realized we had left some luggage in the Dreher's front yard. The next morning, we drove back down to Circle C and met Lyla, reacquainted ourselves with Miles, and got our luggage. Back to Robin's for a shower to get ready for our big business meeting.

Kim had a meeting with her big client with a presentation. That went very well. The meeting was followed by a cocktail party for all of the people involved with the startup. We hit it off really well with all of the folks, and I helped tend bar. We will definitely be heading back to A-town for more face time with them.

After the cocktail party, we ran over to one of Kim's band friends to see their new house. It was very large and lovely. They recently were married and it looks like they're off to a great start on their new lives together. Best of luck to Brenagh and Jodi.

The next day, we met Ben, our circumnavigator friend, to hang out with him on his Tayana 42 Vancouver. Mostly we wanted to hang out with Ben, but part of us wanted to test-drive the boat. It was very large and comfortable, and after a lot of discussion, Kim and I have decided that it will be on our short-list when we're ready to buy a boat in a year or two. Thanks Ben! Oh, we brought him a BB gun to dissuade the grackles from spackling Gypsy Soul.

After we said our goodbye's Sunday morning, we headed down to Wimberly to hook up with Kim's folks down there. It was very relaxing as usual. I love just wandering around their home, looking at all of the Stickley stuff they have either bought or Joe has made. Joe's been a huge help with me in my woodworking career. I brought a table saw insert pattern, and we made a bunch out in the shop, since we both have the same table saw. He also showed me his blade guard system he purchased after I cut my finger off. It works pretty well and is of course pretty expensive (but not as much as emergency medical care). Monday, we tooled around Texas, visited Luckenbach, etc.

Tuesday night, we gave our presentation to the Austin Sailing Society meeting held at Darin's brother's restaurant Planks at Parmer and 35. Excellent pizza! The presentation went pretty well. We got a lot of comments. There were a ton of people there. Kim worked the projector while I worked off of my outline. It was great seeing everybody.

Wednesday, we hung out with our good friends, the Dooley's. We met their new daughter and Adam showed me all of the cool stuff he's building in his shop. He does special effects for movies, so he had a bunch of creepy sculptures laying around.

Thursday night, it was parrothead time. After a short stop at C Hunts for a beer with Lynn and Meaghan, we headed over to Sam's Boat to hang out with all of the folks we haven't seen in a year. It was cool, there was a good turn out, and several people sounded interested in our new business venture, skippered catamaran charters in the British Virgin Islands. We stayed up late partying with Kevin and Stella who were nice enough to let us crash at their new home.

Friday, it was the standard Vino 100 stop, and catching up with Diemos, a very cool dude. We ran over to Gino's, the best Italian food in Austin.

Saturday morning, it was the ASS Hunt, our annual scavenger hunt. We sat on the boat while waiting for the rain to let up. It was supposed to start at Starnes, which was five minutes away, but they moved the start to Anderson Mill, which instantly made us an hour late. We got over there ASAP, and huddled under a pavillion, waiting for the rain to let up. Luckily, there was a keg donated by BB Rovers (where we normally have our monthly meetings), and a ton of brisket being smoked by one of our newer members. Awesome TX BBQ! The rain finally subsided enough to launch the Hunt. We had to take a bunch of pics of stuff around Lake Travis, so we got a good bit of sailing in. One of the items on the list was a pic of a tornado, so we zipped back over to Dodd Street Marina and got Kim's laptop out of the Jeep. We took a pic of the tornado we saw when we moved to California a year ago. HA! Anyhoo, we came in second because Meaghan did a pole dance on the forestay, so I can't complain about that. All in all, an excellent day on Lake Travis.

Sunday night, we hung out with the Dreher's all day. Eric and I got our shop time in, Eric smoked some yummy ribs, and we headed over to Mel and Loren's, more woodworking friends. They had made a huge batch of chicken enchilada, so we got caught up while stuffing ourselves again.

Monday morning, drop off the Jeep and head to the airport. I can't tell you how nice it was to see everyone again. It was almost a year to the day when we left. Everybody was so generous with letting us crash with them. Can't wait to see all y'all again soon.

Back on that Horse...

2009-05-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

So, today I did my first woodworking in the shop since 10:45am on September 19th last year. I installed the splitter (device that keeps the wood you're cutting on the table saw from kicking back, which is how I cut my finger off). It only took five minutes. As my fellow woodworkers know, it's a huge pain. It's in the way when you try to measure the width of every cut (so I'm resorting to using the tape on the saw), and it can only be used for cuts greater than 1-1/2" wide (otherwise the push stick won't fit through. I've yet to see how it works with the dado blade (table saw blade that cuts from 1/8" to 3/4" wide groove).

Anyhoo, the project I'm working on is a small, removeable mantle for our fireplace. I'm using an aluminum bracket to mount it to the wall (french cleat). It's 5' wide, and an L-shape that's 8"x8". I'm going to use a box joint to glue the two pieces at right angles (think interlocking fingers) all the way down. There will be a bracket on each end to lend strength and support. The panel against the wall will be a panel in the true Arts & Crafts style. Here's my drawing:

To give you an idea of what it's going to look like, here's my buddy Schroeder's from LumberJocks.com mantle. Mine will be sort of an upside down version of it.

Strictly Sail Boat Show Part II

2009-04-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

So, we survived the boat show. Whew! It got hotter every day. My cumulative sun exposure has given me a tan almost equal to what I would've had in Texas by now. Nothing terribly interesting to report. We talked to several hundred people about SailTime. Some of them even seemed interested. I think Lisa will be fielding a lot of phone calls in the next few weeks. We even had some interest in people buying a new Hunter and putting it into our fleet. That would be great for growth. Lisa made sure to lock in the entire Bay when she signed the franchise agreement, so we're almost unlimited with growth potential.

We made some friends by kabitzing. One couple even won a seven day charter in the British Virgin Islands at one of the vendor parties. We had already invited them over for dinner.

I received some splicing information from New England Ropes (West Marine's "parent company"), so I can get independently certified. The rigging shop that shares our building in Alameda is never hiring.

Kim has decided to move "The Twins" to Alameda, where we'll be able to use it more conveniently. It looks like I'll be moving them today to Alameda Marina. They've got a ramp around the corner that we may be able to use while leaving the mast up. We'll see.

I might be taking a friend of ours, Doug, from the band that plays at Quinn's every Thursday, sailing on Friday. That afternoon Drake's brewery has a parking lot BBQ in back, so we might check that out while we're there.

Speaking of moving boats, Kim came up with a brilliant idea: move the Precision 21 to Tahoe. It's a perfect boat for the lake, it would be in fresh water, we'd have a place to stay cheap, and it's only three hours away and very beautiful. I might just do that.

I'll make sure we post some pics & vid...

Latitude 37° 46" 36'
Longitude -122° 14" 49'

Strictly Sail Boat Show Part I

2009-04-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

So, we helped Lisa get the boat over to Jack London Square on Sunday, hung the banner on Wednesday morning, and helped out a little on Thursday. Wednesday, I also had to get my USCG physical and spent 8 hours at West Marine for inventory. Thursday, we wanted to see the boat show while we could, so we wandered around for a few hours. It was amazing to us how many people in the sailing industry we already know after being out here eleven months. We had a difficult time even walking down the sidewalk because we kept stopping and chatting with people we knew.

Under one of the big tents, West Marine was setup. Galen, the District Manager, and the guy I interviewed with for the Oakland Store Manager job, pulled me aside, slapped an inflatable life jacket on me and called all the people in the general vicinity to gather round. "One, two, three..." WHOOSH! I was suddenly in an inflated cervical collar. Fun was had by all, and Kim got a video of the whole thing.

On the other side of the same tent, we ran into the parents of one of Kim's ex's at the Seven Seas Cruising Association. Very nice people, who remembered Kim from across the way, even without seeing her badge. We had a nice chat. It came up that I'm a captain (it's on my badge), and they said they needed help delivering their Pacific Seacraft 42 from Ventura, CA to the Galapagos and said they couldn't pay much. I assured them that the pay rate wasn't an issue. After Kim and I were walking away, we were quite blown away by how small the world is and the opportunities that just randomly pop up.

I stopped by the New England Ropes booth (part of the West Marine family) and inquired about doing some splicing and having them test it so I can get certified. I'm looking forward to that notch on my belt, even if I never work at the West Marine rigging shop.

After saying goodbye to Lisa and Delilah who still had a couple of hours of boat show to work, we ran over to Oakland Yacht Club, where John Guzzwell was the guest speaker. John was one of the first people to circumnavigate back in the fifties, and he did it on a twenty foot, handmade boat. He held the record for several years. He was featured prominently in Miles Smeeton's book "Once is Enough", about their sailing disasters in the Southern and Pacific oceans. He also wrote a great book "Trekka Around the World", talking about his circumnavigation. It also happens to be the fiftieth anniversary of his return. Ironically enough, we saw John's wife in another boat he built back in September in the locks. We got our book signed and a picture. He's quite a guy and he gave quite a presentation. To give you an idea of the kind of people we hang with now, when we signed in at the front table before the lecture, they asked if we were circumnavigators. We said "Not yet." and moved on. If you say "Yes", they give you an "I've Been Around" button. As we were waiting we noticed that a very large percentage of people were wearing buttons. We were also just about the youngest people in the room. We drove off very happy that we decided to do such a cool thing, which is possible out here.

We headed over to Quinn's for dinner and a few drinks, and to say "Hi" to the band. Kim was recruited by some swingers, which resulted in a rather amusing e-mail exchange this morning. All in all, a great day at the boat show. Tonight is the Latitude 38 party, and tomorrow is the Lats & Atts party. We're going to grill on the dock tonight for dinner after working the boat show all day. Wish us luck...

Pics & video to come ASAP. I just wanted to get this off my chest before we find out what happens to our heroes in the next exciting adventure. BTW, Lisa is doing great and already has a few really good prospects for new members. She's only owned the SailTime base for two months and here we are at Strictly Sail - Pacific!

Latitude: 37° 47" 34'
Longitude: -122° 16" 26'

While You Were Out...

2009-04-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

So, I pulled another fast one on Kim. While she was at band on Wednesday night, I busted out the ladder and paintbrushes and decided to add a little "Craftsman" touch to our new place. I'm planning on building a removeable mantle in the Kevin Rodel style to go under the nautical print. Just thought you guys might like to see it.

Road Trip!

2009-04-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, Kim and I decided to head up the coast yesterday. It's high on our Excel spreadsheet of things to do while we're here. It's the only day off I'll have for a while. We left early and went over the Bay Bridge, then the Golden Gate into Marin County. We got on Hwy 1, which winds up the coast. We could see the Sutro tower receding in the distance as we progressed. We saw a neat Steep Ravine Campground near Stinson Beach. We thought Stinson Beach would be a cool place to launch The Twins and camp on the beach overnight.

We then headed up to Point Reyes and Tomales Bay. We found Tomales Bay Oyster Co. where a lot of people had setup picnics and grills to do up giant shellfish farmed right in the Bay. We were unprepared for this and they only took cash, so we got back in the car. We stopped in Bodega Bay, where there was allegedly a Fisherman's Festival, but we couldn't actually find it. We looked at a few boats in the marina and headed East.

We stopped in Santa Rosa for lunch at Russian River Brewing Company where they are evidently a victim of their own success. The service was slow and sarcastic, which is not necessarily a bad thing. We were surrounded by locals that evidently have a frequent drinker program. Being quite full, we ran over to the Charles M. Schulz Museum which was pretty cool.

We then headed home for a peaceful evening watching downloaded torrents. All in all, a great day in NorCal. I can't wait to go even farther north to the Mendocino/Fort Bragg area and check out College of the Redwoods. Maybe this fall after the sailing season starts to die down.

Gettin' Ready for the Boat Show

2009-04-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

So, Strictly Sail - Pacific is next week. Ironically, they've also added a Powerboat Expo right next door. Lisa and I ran down to Pier 39 in San Francisco proper for two days last week to detail "The Other Woman", the Hunter 41 that she's bringing to the boat show for SailTime - San Francisco. Lisa did all of the stainless steel, and I waxed the boat with my cordless buffer. Wow, that's a lot of acreage! My shoulders are still sore. A seagull kept trying to pilfer our stuff on the dock, and the surge in the Bay makes the boats move back and forth, which makes it rather difficult to wax the hull. We kept smelling burgers/fried shrimp/Chinese, depending on which food stand the wind was blowing past. The first day, the wind was blowing 20kts with gust around 25kts. We could see shredded whitecaps over the seawall. It's a very picturesque marina, but it's a hassle dealing with the surge and the tourists while carrying boat stuff. BTW, parking is normally $7/hour! Luckily, Lisa gets a discount.

P.S. Someone asked Kim what I was doing the other day, and she said,"He's waxing The Other Woman." Evidently they misunderstood...

Check out Nantucket Bagg!

Latitude: 37-48'26'' N
Longitude: 122-24'12'' W

ASA 201

2009-03-31T10:55:00.001-07:00

So, in order to help Lisa with SailTime, I had to get my ASA 201 certification, which lets me teach ASA 101 Basic Keelboat. Lisa and I both signed up for a class with Capt. Mary. The first night, we graded our 101 and 103 tests that we took prior to the class. Friday, we did presentations on various topics. Mine was Figure 8 Crew Overboard drill. Everybody got shredded. Friday afternoon, we had to singlehand an old Ranger 26, a boat most of us had never been on before. We had to do an obstacle course where we had to tack between bouys, jibe, wing on wing, heave to, reef, and the man overboard thing. Because Capt. Mary was so negative and hypercritical, we were all on pins and needles and making silly mistakes. I did pretty well considering, but she still was overly critical of my tacking. Anyhoo, we did a post-mortem Friday night and got out of there after 9pm. Saturday, we finished our presentations (I had to do mine again because she made me so nervous). We then took a watered-down version of the Coast Guard exam. I had an unfair advantage as I just took that class a couple weeks ago. We then headed back out to the boats to perform as teachers with a class. All six of us crammed onto the Ranger 26 and Capt. Mary was so critical of us, I almost told her to do it. She criticized my tacking, but I couldn't swing the tiller because there were people in the cockpit. We were out there until sunset, and headed home after everybody got a turn being the instructor. I was starting to be a little punchy with the tension release, since we were almost done. When we got back, we graded the tests. I got a 95% and got out of there ASAP. As we were leaving, Capt. Mary signed our ASA log books, and she also qualified me for ASA 103, which means I can take 203 ASAP. Poor Lisa had another class to take the next day, and I had to work at West Marine. Kim had some friends over for a dinner party, and when I got there, they were watching bad 80's videos on YouTube. All in all, a negative experience with the class. I'm deciding whether to write ASA a letter about Capt. Mary's teaching technique.

My First Attempt at a Diagram
(Capt. Mary tore it apart)

Captain's Class

2009-03-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, since I told you about the interviews, I thought I'd tell you a bit about the classes I've been taking. The first class was the 100 Ton Master's Near Coastal with Towing & Sailing endorsements. This was a two week class class that culminates with a rather tough standardized test. Kim and Jon ponied up the cash for the class, for which I will be forever grateful, from BigMop proceeds to invest in my education. This gave me a great incentive to give it everything I had. I even stopped drinking in the evenings because I had so much homework.

Anyhoo, Arnstein Mustad, a sailing bigwig out here, taught the class at OCSC, just down the road near the marina in Berkeley. I was a little nervous going in, but the material was presented in a straightforward way, and the class built on itself. We had daily quizzes over the previous night's assignment, so you could really gauge your progress. We covered Rules of the Road, directly from the COLREGS, we covered safety, fire fighting, deck and boat handling, seamanship, weather, aids to navigation, charting, etc. I of course loved anything to do with the charts and math. We covered dead reckoning, set and drift of tidal current, three line of position fix, running fix, etc.

At the end of the first week, I felt things were going along nicely, although I was overwhelmed with the volume of material we were being held responsible for. I was looking forward to a break over the weekend to decompress. That's when he gave us homework for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! I also had to work at West Marine on Sunday, so I did my Friday homework Friday night, and took nine hours on Saturday to do the other two day's worth. Whew! Friday's class was also Hawaiian shirt day, so I pulled out my most obnoxious Parrothead shirt and shamed the whole class and got a Maritime Institute hat for my trouble.

Monday we hit it hard again, and Friday's test started to loom. We covered another week's worth of stuff and the test finally came around. Thursday night, he suggested we not study. There was no homework. If you didn't know it now, it was too late. I did just a little bit of memory work to keep sharp, and we relaxed. I felt in good shape for the test because my daily quizzes hat hit 100%. I took my time during the test, and felt very prepared for the material. I was actually the last guy in the class to finish. Nice and slow, since it wasn't a timed test. It felt like forever for him to grade it, but he finally said, "Congratulations Captain Larsen." Whew. I actually got the hightest cumulative grade in the class, with 100% on Rules of the Road and Charting, 93% on another section, and 96% on the other.

I can't tell you how happy and proud I am of having had this opportunity. It had been a goal of mine for many years to accomplish before I turned 40. It has also opened a lot of doors for me in the sailing community out here and has prequalified me for several job opportunities. I'm looking forward to getting all of the paperwork finished and taking down to the Oakland USCG Regional Exam Center. I just received my drug screening, I've got all of my letters of recommendation and sea service documentd. The only thing left is the American Red Cross Adult CPR and First Aid classes, which I'm currently working on registering for. Once I get my ticket, I'll start at Club Nautique. I'm actually certified to skipper a boat that can have up to 320 passengers. Scary, huh? Thanks for all the support from everyone!

What To Do Now...

2009-03-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

So, in order to make use of the rather expensive captain's license, I've been diligently looking for work in the sailing milieu out here.

All last week, I'd been trying to get an "interview" with OCSC, the school where I took the captain's class. It looked like a top notch organization, so I wrote up a resume and cover letter and sent it in. The CEO e-mailed me back and said he'd like to get together for a test sail when the weather was conducive (meaning 15+ knots). I was basically on-call for the entire week, constantly checking in to see what the wind was like in Berkeley, and constantly waiting for the CEO to call me back. In the mean time, I built shelves for the garage to free up space for the shop. Of course, the CEO wanted to get together on Thursday afternoon, but I already had a job interview at Club Nautique scheduled.

Thursday afternoon came around, so I headed over to Club Nautique, a US Sailing school on Alameda. I got dressed up in my California interview clothes, which consisted of a Tommy Bahama shirt and dress slacks, and went to their office. We had a nice chat and he asked if I had time for a sail. Since I'd had such a hassle with OCSC, I said, "Sure", donned a moldy orange life jacket, and we headed out to a Colgate 26, a boat I've never sailed before. He told me I was to act like I was the instructor and he was the student. I pretty much nailed everything but forgetting to bring the fenders in. There were some interesting philosophical and terminology differences between my experience and a US Sailing school, but they just provided fodder for discussion. I also nailed a fender overboard drill first time, using the Figure Eight method, so I was pretty happy about that. Once he put me through my paces, he shook my hand and said, "You know your shit." Then he reiterated that as soon as I get my license in hand, they'll get me on the water. We had a nice sail back into Ballena Bay Marina, and I drove home slightly mussed and sunburned, but feeling very positive about the experience and Club Nautique.

Friday, the CEO was finally able to fit me into his schedule. I ran over there in the afternoon. He told me to check out a boat and set it up, he'd be down there in a bit. It was a J24, another boat I'd never been on before, so I did my best. He kept me waiting for almost an hour after I had the boat as ready to go as possible. When he did finally show up, he had on over $1000 worth of foul weather gear on, compared to my shorts, jacket and PFD. We looked at each other and I knew we were philosophically very different sailors. Then we discussed how I'd rigged the boat wrong. Come to find out, the jib halyard had been pulled to the top of the mast, so I could only use the spinnaker halyard to rig the jib. We sailed out of the slip and he put me through some serious maneuvers (i.e. tacking every five seconds until he said stop). I think I did rather well on a boat that is considerably more performance oriented than anything I'd ever sailed before. He said that I was knowledgeable, but I wasn't ready for a J24. I thanked him for his time and we sailed back in. He let me put the boat away too. I did my best, considering it a test of my character, thanked him on my way out and drove home feeling like I'd just failed an Olympic tryout on a boat I'd never sailed before. I vented for a while when I got home, and we decided I didn't want to work at a place like that anyway, we're cruisers not racers. He should've spared us both by determining I had no racing experience on a J24, which is all they evidently care about, not about my ability to teach sailing. I'm glad I had the previous experience with Club Nautique, or I would've been pretty dejected.

Saturday, we stood in line all day at the Oakland Parks & Recreaction Job Fair. It was rather obvious from the demographics that not many were there to apply for the sailing instructor position with Lake Merritt Boating Center. Unfortunately, we all had to stand in the same line. For the same reason, it wasn't difficult to deduce who the other sailing candidates were, so we ended up getting grouped together and chatting. During the conversation, it came up that one guy had taught at Lake Merritt before, one guy was an Eagle Scout, one guy had sailed on the Chesapeake, and I had my captain's license. Once I said that, Mr. Chesapeake said, "I guess you'll get the job then" and promptly stopped talking to me. Finally, four hours later, I got to my interview with Captain Sarah, the lady with whom I'd been e-mailing with about the CraigsList ad. She apologized, saying this is the worst she'd ever seen it. I thought to myself, "Oakland has 11% unemployment, what did you expect?" I told her the last job fair I was in was 1986, and I just walked up to the booth for the job I was applying for, a much more efficient method than what I'd just experienced. Anyway, she was very cool. I told her about my licensing experience, that I was getting ASA 101 Instructor certified this week, and that I had a job waiting for me at Club Nautique where I'll get US Sailing Instructor certified. I mentioned that I was interested in their "Science of the Bay" daysail offering. She asked if I had a science background. I promptly replied, "I'm a Mechanical Engineer from the Missouri Institute of Science & Technology, I'm all about the science." I also inquired about the overnight trip to Angel Island, which I thought sounded like a fun thing to do with a boatload of munchkins. We shook hands, and she said it would take them a couple of weeks to make their call list.

Yesterday, I took my whiz quiz for my captain's license, which was quite an adventure. The "clinic" was a hole in the wall in downtown Oakland. When I gave the doctor my "sample", he spilled it all over his desk while pouring it into the "go-cups" (pun intended) that are sent off to the lab. He didn't seem perturbed about this. I neglected to shake his hand upon exiting the clinic. Also, they only took cash.

I then ran over to Club Nautique to take the US Sailing exam, which is part of their hiring procedure. I got a 99%, and was miffed that the one I missed, I had waffled on. They congratulated me on my score and said they wished I had my license, as they needed me to work this weekend. I assured them that I am diligently working on my checklist for the license. I forgot to mention that the other day, when the CN guy saw my resume, he wanted to get me on the fast-track to instructing as advanced classes as I could handle (their pay scale is commensurate). I assured him that I was interested in advancing as far as I could and I told him I was currently working on an online Intro to Celestial Navigation class. He mentioned that they're developing their own online school. I promptly mentioned that Kim does large websites. Club Nautique takes several boatloads of their students out to the Farrallone's and down to Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay for multi-day offshore classes.

Today, I'm finishing up my preparations for my ASA 201 class tonight with Lisa Chapin. She's doing 201 and 203 so she can open up a school and we can certify SailTime members. I'll eventually move up the ranks in ASA, just like I plan on doing with US Sailing at Club Nautique.

Last night, we had some excitement. Kim hired a new cleaning lady, so they went through the place yesterday pretty thoroughly. After Kim had gone to band, I went to work on my captain's license stuff, but my folder was gone. They had inadvertently thrown it away because I set it on top of my trashcan. So I got to spend a half an hour digging through our dumpster. Today is trash day, so if I hadn't noticed the missing paperwork, it could be at the dump by now. Whew!

Next week, it's finding an American Red Cross approved Adult CPR and First Aid class, my California driver's license, and helping Lisa get ready for the Strictly Sail boat show. Other than that, not much going on out here...

Who's Your Captain Now?

2009-03-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

So, after two weeks of HELL, I passed my Master's 100 Ton Near Coastal US Coast Guard test yesterday. I actually got the highest score in the class. It was pretty difficult, but well worth it. I can now skipper a vessel with 320 passengers or up to 100 gross tons of displacement (Length x Beam x Draft x 0.5)/100. I also got the Sailing and Towing endorsements, so I can do that for money too.

In CA, you need a captain's license to teach sailing. I've already talked to Club Nautique, OCSC, and Lake Merritt Boating Center about teaching positions. Captain Lisa, Miss SailTime - San Francisco, is probably going to have me do some teaching for her members, once I get ASA certified as an instructor.

We've also talked about having me skipper a 41 footer for daysail charters on SF's Pier 39 for tourists during the week. That would be a pretty cool gig if it works out.

The Captain, Arnstein Mustad, who taught the class does a lot of yacht deliveries, so I'm now on his list to crew for him. He's a big wig out here in the sailing community and starting one of the popular lists. I found out that I can also teach the OUPV class now that I'm licensed. The down side is that getting a DWI in a car will cause you to lose your captain's license, as well as a 0.04 while on the water, so it's a big responsibility.

In addition to the ASA certification for SailTime, I need to get US Sailing certified also to teach in some of the schools mentioned above. The ASA class in later this month, so I'll be back in the classroom. Fortunately, it should be a cake walk after what I just went through. Also, much cheaper.

Anyhoo, sorry for the lack of blogging. Once I got my hand working again, we've been REALLY busy. The next blog will be about the new place we just moved into in the Oakland Hills.

Duck and the Woodpecker

2009-02-12T14:56:00.001-08:00

I played this solo with the Contra Costa Wind Symphony last night. Solo starts at the 3:30 mark.

Muppet News Flash

2009-02-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

I know I'm terribly far behind on blogging. Seems like life has just gotten in the way of writing about our lives, but I wanted to share this somewhat important event. As you probably well know, I've been looking forward to getting a six-figure medical bill from Stanford University Hospital for my reimplantation surgery back in September. Today, I got a letter in the mail that says they wrote the whole thing off, so I got MY BAILOUT! The rest of the bills are fractions of that and are on the payment plan, so it looks like I won't have to be declaring bankruptcy for an amputated finger. Frodo out...

Hawaii Trip - Oahu (Part II)

2008-12-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Sat - Day 4: This was the first day with Mom, so we did some shopping. We hit Hilo Hattie (which was pretty cool), bought chow family-style at Costco, and hit a giant Asian owned grocery store called Don Quijote which had tons of cheesey Hawaiian stuff. I of course found some Captain Morgan board shorts I couldn't live without for $9. Kim and Shelley spent half an hour going through all of the Hawaiian Christmas ornaments. Grandpa waited outside and made a comment about being in there long enough to buy the whole store. Shelley found a hotel with sharks, so we went over there for a drink. It was really cool. They had several hammerheads that caused a ruckus and I got splashed. We watched the fish while sipping mai tais served in frozen pineapples. Otherwise, we just kind of chilled that day, as all of the other days had been so jam packed. Jon was our driver throughout the week, and the construction on the strip made it a rather long trip between Grandpa's hotel and ours.

Sun - Day 5: Pearl Harbor Day! Grandpa wanted to be there early, so we left Waikiki around 6am and boogied over to Pearl Harbor. Grandpa had a VIP pass, so we got good parking and walked under the covered hangar where the ceremony was to take place. It was a long and drawn out, somber affair, appropriate for the occasion. Grandpa got to sit behind the Pearl Harbor survivors as a member of the USS Tennessee and Missouri and a survior of WWII. There were some really nice native Hawaiian touches. There was of course a lot of brass present and accounted for. One of Doolittle's Raiders was the keynote speaker(Doolie & Co. pulled off the almost impossible raid on Japan immortalized in the film "30 Seconds Over Tokyo"). Oh yeah, Alec Baldwin played Doolittle in "Pearl Harbor". The first successful offense against Japan by the US after Pearl Harbor, and an incalculable boon to the morale of the Americans all over the country. After the proceedings, we did another stint on the USS Missouri, where Jon gave Kim and me a behind the scenes tour of the battleship. We were also lucky enough to be invited to the opening of a new wing of the museum because Grandpa had donated so many cool things (e.g. a ring filed out of a stainless nut).

We also toured the very well done USS Oklahoma memorial which is a stylized representation in steel and marble of sailors lining the railing of a battleship as they pass the USS Arizona memorial. Since we had the VIP pass, we were able to get into areas of Ford Island that are normally off limits to civilians. We drove past the rusting hulk of the Utah, but they were having a service there for a lady whose father had died on the Utah while trying to deliver her twin's ashes to US soil. She had two loved ones' remains to mourn on the Utah, so we respected her privacy and came back after lunch. The ironic thing was that the shuttle bus driver told us about the twin on Friday, and she was sitting right in front of us at the ceremony a few hours earlier.

Kim found the last authentic Tiki bar on Oahu, which also happens to be attached to a marina. La Mariana Sailing Club is nestled between several boat yards and across the street from the only West Marine on the island, so of course we had to check it out. The owner recently passed away, and the whole kit and kaboodle was for sale temporarily for $3M. We inquired within, and it was evidently willed to the estate. The good news is that it's going to remain operational. They made wicked good mai tais. Jon joined us for a zombie before we headed back to the hotel(s). We of course bought t-shirts.

We fired up frozen pizzas in our room that night as part of a Sunday night family tradition. Everyone retired early to pack, as most of us were heading for Big Island in the morning.

To be continued...

Please check out all of our pics here.

Hawaii Trip - Oahu (Part I)

2008-12-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

Wed - Day 1: Get up at the butt-crack before dawn, finish up last minute packing and load the truck. Kyle came over to drive Kim's truck back home, so to thank him, Kim backed into his car and destroyed his fender. Kim's fender is pretty gashed too. Oops! I guess we should've wiped the dew off the morrors and windows. Who says FJ's are hard to see out of, and what happened to the backup assist alarm? It evidently doesn't work for cars off to the side that you cut the wheels into. Kyle groaned, Kim didn't freak out, and we made sure Kyle's car was driveable. After exchanging insurance information, we got on the road.

The five hour flight went pretty fast. I read Latitude 38 and did the airline mag's crossword. Not much to see out there. We landed in Honolulu and met up with Jon, Shelly, Haydon, and Grandpa. Kim got a lei for Shelly, which Haydon promptly turned into mulch. Jon picked us up in the rented minivan and we all went to go check into our three respective hotels (don't ask) on Waikiki beach.

We all got back into the van and ran out to the Punchbowl National Cemetary, which gets its name from being the crater of an extinct volcano. I'll let Kim describe what it's all about, but it's a wonderful memorial to our fallen soldiers, including the bodies recovered from Pearl Harbor and the Challenger disaster.

After that, we ran down to the Waikiki strip and had drinks and dinner at Dukes. The mai tais were excellent as we watched the sun set next to the Royal Hawaiian (where mai tais where invented). We watched the charter catamarans head out for their daily sunset cruise. Kim chatted up the waiter for local things to do, and Grandpa filled up on the salad bar. Jon got a much needed cocktail while Haydon chased birds. All in all, a lovely dinner. Kim and I walked down the strand after dinner while everybody else jumped in the minivan. Our hotel room was really a one bedroom apartment, so we stocked up on staples at one of the two ABC stores on Jon's hotel lobbly (they're on every block) and went up to the room for a nightcap. Because of the two hour time difference (vs. PST) and getting up so early, we were tired early and fell asleep watching cable after trying to figure out the air conditioner.

Thurs - Day 2: We all hopped in the minivan and ran up to the North Shore. O'Neill was having their World Cup surfing competition near the banzai pipeline. We stopped where some guys were warming up on fifteen foot waves. Further up the road, we saw the real spectacle with the custom painted RV's and banners. The North Shore was having spectacular surf for the competition. Shelley wanted authentic Matsumoto's Shave Ice (not shaved) so we stopped where they invented that too. We also stopped at the Dole Plantation. I never knew you could make so much stuff out of pineapple.

Other than t-shirts, the only souvenir I really wanted was an authentic fish hook pendant. We saw a burned out city bus on the side of the road with a "Bone Carving" sign out. We turned back around just to check it out and met a really cool guy who inherited the bus from his dad, so he setup a carving shop/studio in it. He had really nice stuff that he made (cha-ching) and the cheap stuff he bought from China. I agonized over what to get and finally settled on an off white one (they get dark with your skin oil anyway). He customized the length, we shook his hand, and we were off to L&L BBQ for lunch.

We also stopped at the beautiful Byodo-In buddhist temple that was built without a single nail, where Haydon got to chase more birds and Grandpa and I talked about koi ponds. We drove back down to Honolulu/Waikiki and met Mike, the curator of the USS Missiori battleship museum, for dinner at Gordon Biersch. Yumm! I may actually get to like real beer. After that, we all went back to our respective rooms.

Fri - Day 3: We had to get up early because they only hand out so many free passes to the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor, and Grandpa wanted to be first in line. It was quite touching and all I kept doing was visualizing this beautiful island covered in smoke, fire, death, and destruction. There were many Japanese tourists there that some of the older generation didn't quite cotton to, but I felt it was a wonderful testament to the healing powers of 63 years of forgiveness and cooperation, on both sides.

We then headed over to the USS Missouri, where Grandpa is a rock star, and Jon is the prodigal son returned (Jon works on the USS Iowa, the Missouri's sistership). Grandpa likes to sit in the Officers' lounge and when he comes on the History channel documentary that they play constantly, he looks around to see if anyone recognizes him. He was in a lot of pictures that day. We stopped by the Pacific Aviation museum after eating lunch in their cantina.

We joined Jon on his balcony for a beautiful vantage point overlooking the bay and the Friday night beer can races at the Waikiki Yacht Club. I even saw a whale breach next to a sailboat illuminated by the last vermillion rays of thesetting sun. Kim and I ate pizza from Wolfgang Puck's across the street and Jon and I went to go pick up Mom.

To be continued...

Please check out the rest of our pics here.

Lat/Long:
21D 16' 24.18"N x 157D 49' 16.77"W

Hand Update

2008-12-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

So, it's been more than a while since our last post. Sorry about that. I had my finger amputated on Nov 19th, we went down to San Luis Obispo for Thanksgiving, got home and packed for Hawaii, got my stitches removed the day before we left (Kim's birthday), and spent ten days in Hawaii. Whew!

It was really close timing with the surgery, because the stitches had to wait ten days afterwards for removal. The doctor released me to do anything I felt like, which is great since we planned on kayaking over to Captain Cook's monument. They gave me little plastic torture devices to strap on to get my fingers to bend again after being pinned for two months. The doctor said I might need another surgery to release my index finger's tendon, but I'm going to see if I can do it manually. Yes, that will hurt. The stump/nubbin/whatever has healed nicely. It's extremely sensitive on the scar, but I'm using the hand as much as possible and even wearing ong sleeeved jackets again. It's been difficult to get my boo-boo all the way down the sleeve with the scabs stickiing out.

Anyhoo, here's some pics. Snorkeling in Hawaii was great for sloughing off the scabs. My physical therapist was elated with the progress I made over the vacation, so to celebrate, she made me another set of torture devices. How's that for reinforcement?

My thumb was pretty well trashed by the saw blade, in fact there's a scar where the blade zipped across the pad. Half of the pad is numb scar tissue, and the other half is hypersensitive. I'm babying the thumbnail so it'll stay on as long as possible, but when wet, it gets a little flippy.

I gave Kim's mom the little middle finger (aka LMF) the other day, which made everybody laugh. I hope I'll be getting back into the shop and participating in sailing soon. I'm not looking forward to modifying my sailing gloves.

Thanks again for all the calls, e-mails, gifts, and well-wishes. It's really meant a lot to me. BTW, I'm typing this with two hands. I just keep stumbling over C, D, & E for some reason. Things are slowly, incrementally returning to normal. I even cut my meat witha knife and fork the other night!

What's going on...

2008-11-25T07:09:00.001-08:00

I realized a couple of days ago that it's been a while since I've written anything out here, mostly because what's been going on with Chris has been foremost in both of our minds. But, I thought a quick (or as my grandfather says "to make a long story short") update is in order.

Seems that every Thursday we now go to Quinn's Lighthouse for some chowder and to listen to Skip Henderson and Starboard Watch croon some sea shanties. We've gotten to know the band real well over these last few weeks, especially since Chris has shared his ordeal with them. They always dedicate the Pirate Parts song to him, and all of them come sit with us during break. It's been a nice feeling of "home" every Thursday.

For Halloween, Chris and I were invited to a friend's house here in Livermore. I'm sure this will come as no surprise to any of you that we dressed up as pirates. Everyone was in good humor when they realized they had "finger food" (literally, pieces of dough with long nut slivers as the fingernails). And for even more humor, Lisa took a picture of me hacking at Chris' hand with a machete. Something about laughter being the best medicine...

I've continued playing in the Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and as an added special bonus, I was asked to play Eb clarinet (the "piccolo" clarinet) in a wind ensemble for a church fundraiser. This wind ensemble was a group of 45 musicians from almost every community group in the area, and was a VERY good group. We rehearsed twice and then performed, though probably didn't need to rehearse at all. The group was so good, most of us had played the music before, so for the most part just sat down and read through the pieces like we were a well-rehearsed group. The program included a bunch of music I'd played in my past, including some Holst, Shostakovich, and yes - one Sousa march that I'd played last year with Austin Symphonic Band. I made a lot of contacts in this group, and have since been asked to play in the Livermore Symphony as well as a couple of other smaller groups. The following weekend after that, I played another concert for my "regular gig". If I had wanted to be a musician, I would have stayed in music... but still, it's been a good way for me to destress from everything else going on.

We've been sailing almost every Friday on a Beneteau 32. The wind is less here during the winter and the temp is warmer. Still, the "slot" in the bay blows 10-15. It's been nice sailing a larger boat, but I realize that when we get back to Austin and sail on a "smaller" 25 or 27, it's going to feel "small". The 32 out here is a "small" boat. Some things we've seen/done include:

$725 will buy you a ride to go shark cage diving. We saw the boat where the people were lining up to do that. No shark diving in Austin!
Motored into a mooring field near Angel Island to discuss how to grab one of the mooring balls. You can moor or dock here and rent bikes or Segways and ride all over the island. One of these days...
We've figured out where we can dock all over the bay to avoid having to use the head on the boat. If we use the head, we have to pump it out, and none of us want to do that. So, we can dock in Tiburon (which we actually did do, used the bathrooms and left, though the place looked like a Sam's Boat with a nice view). We can dock at Pier 1.5 in the city and use the bathroom at the Ferry Building.
Sea lions, large fish (mammals?) with dorsal fins, and lots of sea birds.
The sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge from the water makes the bridge look black. Plus, the haze, smog, and marine layer make the sunsets look like a painting.
I'm learning more about tides and currents than I ever thought I would. I was at the helm heading downwind from the Golden Gate Bridge, near the tower, sails are full, and we aren't moving forward. We weren't slipping, but we weren't going anywhere. And, when the tide is out, the bay really does get shallow... ask me about that one and a 5' draft!
Finally, you can buy Lone Star at the BevMo here. I never drank it in Austin, but man... there is something about sailing next to San Francisco and downing a Lone Star.

All in all, we're both very happy we're finally sailing regularly again. It's been one of the few sane things in the last couple months of insanity.

As this year draws to a close, I'm anxious for 2009 to start. 2008 will go down in the books as the year that needed Prozac, with all the ups and downs we encountered (tornados, missing Austin terribly, Tahoe camping, bad-ASS catamaran sailing, St Louis, Seattle, Vegas, the finger). Moving here was difficult, but we've experienced so many wonderful things. I'm looking forward to the final trip this year to Hawaii - it's much needed. 2009 should bring a lot of great things to our lives (at the very least, a long weekend trip back to Austin).

I hope all our friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We miss all of you very much, and hope you can find the time to come visit us in sunny and cold Northern California in the coming year!

Recovery

2008-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

So, I wiggled my stump yesterday. I was given a series of exercises (stump wiggling not being one of them) to gain strength and dexterity in my two-month-immobilized hand. I can still feel my middle finger as if it was wholly there. I accidentally flexed it and I could feel the stump wiggle inside the heavy gauze bandage that mummifies my hand. It left a faint ache, but not the sharp pain I would've expected. My hand is structurally sound now, so I'm pushing the exercises as much as I can. I'm working on making a partial fist so I can grasp a paddle when we kayak over to Captain Cook's monument in Hawaii in a couple of weeks. It's good to have goals. I've got another physical therapy appointment today, and a follow-up with the surgeon tomorrow before we head down to San Luis Obispo for Turkey Day.

Mission Accomplished

2008-11-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

Everything went well. Lots of pain and grogginess. Had to lie about peeing to the nurse to get sprung. Am going to bed now. Didn't sleep well last night for some reason. Thanks again for all the support. At least I can make some forward progess now. Sorry this isn't as glib as my usual posts. We've got lots of activities planned over the next month to keep my mind occupied. Will probably get my first look at my hand at my physical therapy appointment tomorrow night (before going to Quinn's - how's that for fuel economy). I hope I don't get all misty or anything.

Love y'all,

Chris

Thanks!

2008-11-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

For all the well-wishes, support, e-mails, and attempts at levity. It means a lot to me.

789...

2008-11-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

So, tomorrow is my last day in base 10 world. Remember that old joke: Why is six afraid of seven?

Have you heard the new kid's album by Bare Naked Ladies? The first track on that is awesome!

Nine is a very important number:

It used to be the number of planets in our solar system

It's the third square number

Six recurring nines appear in the decimal places 762 through 767 of pi (this is known as the Feynman point)

9 is the atomic number of Fluorine

Human gestation lasts nine months

The Star of David has nine points

Dressed to the nines

Being on cloud nine

Dante's Hell had nine levels

Cats have nine lives

Frodo also had nine fingers (thanks to Gollum) & there were nine rings of power - hence nine Ringwraiths

Cat-o'-nine-tails (pirates!)

Any multiplication of nine adds up to nine

OK, enough of that. You get the picture. Further submissions would be greatly appreciated.

It's a Small World

2008-11-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you that get Good Old Boat magazine, the Beneteau 320 that we've been taking out (thanks to Lisa) is named "Santorini". It's in the background of the photo on page 31.

Chris Larsen is...

2008-11-16T11:53:00.001-08:00

Looking forward to my little procedure Wednesday!

Oops! Thought I was on Facebook...

Good News, Bad News...

2008-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday we made an appointment to have my finger amputated. We met with Kaiser Permanente's hand specialist, Dr. Hoffman, and as soon as he saw the x-ray from Monday, he said "That doesn't look good." He said that at least two more surgeries, months of physical therapy, and possible permanent damage to the other fingers due to immobilization would net me a stiff finger. I asked when we could cut this sucker off so I can get on with my life. On the 19th, exactly two months after the accident, I'll go back in for an out-patient procedure where they'll remove the finger where it joins the hand. They'll save a flap of the padded part underneath (which is thankfully intact) an fold it up and over to cover the gap. This will unencumber the other fingers and hopefully accelerate the physical therapy. The doc said that dropping things through the gap and an ouchy spot are the main drawbacks. He said that they could remove the structure inside the hand that supports the middle finger, fanning the hand smaller, and essentially closing the gap, leaving me with a Mickey Mouse hand. I suggested we wait and see how bad the gap issue was because that's a pretty major surgery. I asked if I could keep the finger in a jar. Evidently there's some health codes involved and they consider that biohazardous medical waste. The doc also said that I should get my grip strength back. The nurse apologized when she said the surgery will have a $200 copay. Kim and I just laughed. We still haven't gotten a bill from Stanford yet, so maybe, just maybe they've written it off and I won't have to declare bankruptcy. We're already on a payment plan with the ambulance company or they were going to send me to collections.

It's funny how easy it is to deal with an amputation that happened in a nanosecond out in the shop, and how much trepidation I'm having with a premeditated procedure in ten days that will set me free. Skip and the band dedicated the "Pirate Parts" song to me last night. I didn't expect yesterday's blog entry to be so ironically poignant.

The good news is that this will all be over much sooner that rehabbing the current configuration. Very little bone growth caused the doc to surmise another six weeks of pinned finger unpleasantness. I'm looking forward to using the gap as a pool cue guide.

I'm also dealing with the fact that I asked Stanford to amputate it seven weeks ago. When asked why Stanford did the reimplantation, Dr. Hoffman was understandably reticent to bad-mouth another doctor who "successfully" reimplanted my finger. He did mention something about saving what can be saved and about reimplantation being a young doctor's game. I've read the Hippocratic Oath, and it's just as vague about reimplantation as the Constitution is about gay marriage. He also mentioned that some doctors to expensive and unnecessary surgeries expecting to get paid by the insurance company. HA! We totally punked him on that one.

I was going to take pics of my right hand and do some Photoshopping, but I figure I'll be seeing the real thing soon enough. Oh, more good news - I'll be having the stitches removed the day before we leave for Hawaii (Kim's B-day), and the doc says I can go surfing and swimming with the dolphins if I feel up to it.

Before the doctor's appointment yesterday, I took the personality assessment test for West Marine. I hope I have one. There were a lot of redundant questions about my energy level, how uncluttered my workspace is, etc.

Kim had an interesting take on the fact that there are two candidates vying for two store management positions in the Bay area that I hadn't put together - there are two finalist for the Oakland position. There's a very good shot that the other applicant will get the Pleasant Hill one. Interesting... Of course the smaller store pays less, but I think there'll be much less hassle. We're already looking in Benecia and Crockett for a rental that has a garage and accepts dogs that behave more like throw rugs.

Thanks again to Michelle...

Chris' New Theme Song

2008-11-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an ear;
It drips down your neck, and it falls on the deck,
Till someone shouts, "Oy, what's this 'ere?"
You can't wear your glasses, you can't poll the lasses,
Your friends have to shout so you'll hear;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an ear.

But it's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be, you can't be)
With all of your parts;
It's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be a pirate)
With all of your parts.

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an eye;
It stings like the blazes, it makes you pull faces,
You can't let your mates see you cry.
A dashing black patch will cover the hatch,
And make sure that the socket stays dry;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an eye.

But it's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be, you can't be)
With all of your parts;
It's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be a pirate)
With all of your parts.

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a hand;
It spurts and it squirts and it jolly well hurts,
Pain only a pirate could stand.
The fash'nable look is a nice metal hook,
But now you can't play in the band;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a hand.

But it's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be, you can't be)
With all of your parts;
It's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be a pirate)
With all of your parts.

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a leg;
It hurts like the dickens, your pace never quickens,
Hopping around on a peg.
Ask your sweetheart to marry, but too long you've tarried,
'Cause now you can't kneel down and beg;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a leg.

But it's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be, you can't be)
With all of your parts;
It's all part of being a pirate,
You can't be a pirate (you can't be a pirate)
With all of your parts.

It makes me quite irate -
It hardly seems fair,
You can't be a pirate -
If you are all there!

Yet Another West Marine Update

2008-11-05T13:01:00.001-08:00

So, I'm getting ready to leave for my interview with the District Manager for the Pleasant Hill Store Manager position this afternoon and I get a call from the Oakland store's DM. He told me I'm one of the two finalists, so he's sending me WM's corporate management personality profile test thingy link. I guess it's a take-home test. Maybe I'll drink some tequila beforehand so I come across as management material. I think it's looking pretty good either way!

Historical Perspective...

2008-11-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers.

Without the middle finger it would be impossible for the English soldiers to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore incapable of fighting in the future.

The famous bow was made of the English Yew tree and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" or "pluck you".

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won the battle and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French and saying "We can still pluck yew. Pluck you".

More Updates...

2008-11-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

So, I worked at West Marine Alameda on Sunday & Monday. I took off at noon on Monday to go to our inaugural visit at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. It took us a while to figure out the parking situation (they had valet parking). We navigated the maze of hallways and immediately were processed after I swiped the card for my copay. No waiting for six hours here! I actually felt rushed. I didn't even get to do any reading or people watching. Oh well. The Doc walked in within seconds of us taking a seat in our little examination room, plopped down on the stool and told us he wasn't the right doctor for us. We sat there with quizzical expressions on our faces as he told us that the people in Administration didn't match up the specialty with the case, they just filled the time slot. He said that he does things like dislocations in the ER, not follow-up on finger reimplantations. He helped us get x-rays and an appointment with the doctor we were originally referred to two weeks ago. With all that being said, he looked at the x-rays and wasn't too happy with the way the bone is mending (actually, none of us are). I told him that I originally asked to have it amputated. He said that it was a distinct possibility and proceeded to tell us that it was only the middle finger, not the index or thumb (this didn't make me feel much better). He wished us luck and on the way out, we asked him to write us a refund note for our copay. We get to go back Thursday to talk to the right doctor. Sigh...

I was a little bummed as we were walking back to the car, and the rain didn't help, so we decided to go to Quinn's for a beer. A few beers and a couple of bowls of clam chowder later, we were somewhat cheered up. Kim braved the squall and picked me up in the car and we headed home. Kyle and his friend came over for Kim's french chicken and I fell asleep trying to deal with possibly having the finger amputated after spending six weeks rehabbing it and watching the rest of my hand seize up, after asking them to amputate in the first place. Sigh...

This morning, I had an e-mail in my Inbox, asking me to meet the West Marine Districit Manager for an interview in Pleasant Hill, so maybe something good will come out of this before the holidays. The good news is that I was able to function at West Marine pretty well, just a little slow making change.

Lisa's booking slots at Tradewinds, Kim just sent off the largest estimate she's ever done, we're checking out rental property on CraigsList, and we've got a week's worth of doctors' appointments, so things are in their normal state of upheaval.

Either way, I'll still have one good finger to flip off power boaters.

Another West Marine Update

2008-10-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

So, I heard that the Pleasant Hill store will most likely be losing its Store Manager in a month, and it has a different District Manager, who I've been told I will get along great with. The money will be less, but so will the hassle. The Pleasant Hill store is closely analogous to the Burnet store, so I will feel right at home. Another selling point is that we could move anywhere on the North Bay: Richmond, Benecia, Walnut Creek, etc. These are very quaint communities with lots of waterfront and marinas. The Tradewinds base is in Richmond, and we really liked the Brickyard Cove and Marina Bay areas.

At least now I have some options. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks around here. Keep your fingers crossed. I hope that's not hypocritical...

Lat/Long:
37 58' 52.20" N x 122 04' 01.13" W

Kim's Reality Tour(a.k.a. We're not at U-Flote-Em Anymore, Toto)

2008-10-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, Kevin & Stella come into town Thursday night from Austin for a long weekend. They're really good friends that we know via Robin Millings and Lisa Chapin, respectively. They ended up getting together about a year ago, through no fault of our own. Kevin was a photographer in Iraq, and Stella is a librarian, so they're interested in seeing a lot of the same stuff we are. Touring "The City" with a photographer gives you a whole new perspective on things.

Thursday night, we went to Quinn's Lighthouse, a favorite spot for dinner, on the Estuary. We serendipitously discovered that they've had a band, Skip Henderson & the Starboard Watch, playing upstairs for over fifteen years. They sing sea chanteys and one of their songs is in one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. What makes them even more interesting is that they arrive via sailboat. We only caught fifteen minutes of their set, but they played a Great Big Sea tune. We're going to be regulars on Thursday night. We also found out about a pirate party at a german restaurant Friday night, so we may get our Octoberfest fix while wearing puffy shirts.

Friday, we went sailing with Lisa Chapin on her first excursion as a fully licensed Captain. We took out a Tradewinds Beneteau 32, which was nice and new. The Bay was pretty calm, as the summer heat-induced gales have dissipated for the most part. We sailed as close to Angel Island as the wind would allow and were very thankful that the fire only burned the western third of the island. We motored though Raccoon Straight and then over to the Ferry Terminal to get lunch in the gourmet shops there and pick up Chaz Bulle' (Chuck Bullet when he's not on a Beneteau), Lisa's "friend". We were quite blown away by the dichotomy between what we were doing and tying up to U-Flotem on Lake Travis to pick up beer and chips. We saw a bunch of beautiful boats tied up to the piers, checked out the Giants' ballpark, then sailed around the south side of Treasure Island. We had to motor through the construction of the new Bay Bridge, but were treated to some excellent sailing from there to Point Richmond, where the wind promptly died. We motored into the marina at sunset through glassy water. We even had to take a small freighter port-to-port in the channel, another huge difference sailing out here. Lisa was spending the night on the boat preparing for her excursion to Half Moon Bay the next morning. Maybe we can get her to blog about that. We opted out of hitting Forbidden Island on the way home a just grilled steaks.

Saturday was a trip into The City. We parked in our usual garage and walked over to the camera shop so Kevin could pick up a charger. We toured China town and got our usual lunch at Potstickers. It was time to walk over to the Go-Car rental place (little yellow go-carts that you see tourists cruising around in), where Kevin had made reservations. After not having enough power to pull away from the curb, the GPS not working, having a mirror pop off and explode, and almost getting killed by various SUV's, we decided to call it quits. Five minutes after leaving, we pulled back into the rental place and Kevin creatively requested a refund while wishing luck to the couple in the process of renting a car. Since we now had some free time, we boarded a cable car and shot over to the waterfront. I had a one-handed deathgrip on the handle going up and down those hills while Kim chatted up the driver. We had the best Irish coffee in the universe at the Buena Vista, then we walked all the way back to the parking garage. All in all, a great way to see The City. We topped off the evening with an excellent dinner at Strizzi's in Livermore (the best Italian I've had since St. Louis).

Sunday, we piled into the car and headed for the coast. We stopped for coffee in Santa Cruz and checked out the beach. Then we went hiking in Point Lobos State Park. Tuckered out, we zipped down to the Bixby Bridge to get a taste of Big Sur and drove over to Monterey. Beer and excellent appetizers finished us off, so after touring a few t-shirt shops, we crammed back into the car and headed home. We will definitely be going back to Monterey Bay. Our table was overlooking the beach and we saw sailboats heading back in through the sunset-gilded fog.

Monday, we decided that Alcatraz would be too much of a time crunch, so we did the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory tour, which was surprisingly interesting. Properly hopped-up on freebies, we ran over to West Marine, thinking we would meet Lisa Chapin at Heinold's First & Last Chance Bar in Jack London Square (the ultimate dive bar, for all of you who survived the Burnet Road Challenge), but it was closed. We settled on Quinn's again, which wasn't too harsh, and also gave us closure. After lunch we dropped the intrepid explorers off at the airport with the requisite hugs and promises of visitation, and raced the traffic home. We were so full from lunch that we skipped dinner that night.

Overall, a great weekend with good friends from Austin. The best of both worlds.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow" - William Shakespeare

Angel's Afire

2008-10-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, Angel Island caught fire and burned burned burned. We didn't see it, but it was all over the news. We'll for sure see it tomorrow when we go sailing. Anyway, I was forwarded this picture of the island with the Maltese Falcon in the foreground:

The pic taken by George Dapsevicius. Don’t know anything about him although I do know he was in the right place at the right time!

P.S. We dropped a lunch hook off Angel Island when we first got out here.

Lat/Long:
37D 51' 43.29" N x 122D 25' 42.67" W

West Marine Update

2008-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

So I went into Oakland for my interview today. It went pretty well. I was a little nervous because this means so much to us. I answered the District Manager's questions like a Presidential debate: started answering his question and eventually shifted the subject to my strong points.

Afterwards, he told me that they had narrowed it down to myself, one other WM employee and three outsiders. Now I just have to wait and see. He'll call me either way within two weeks.

I have to take a psych test to determine if I'm management material, but that shouldn't be a problem. Anyhoo, I just thought I'd keep y'all updated. Thanks for all the well wishes. We miss everybody.

Bay Area Traffic!

2008-10-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, I was getting ready to leave to head into Oakland for my interview for the West Marine Store Manager position when I saw I had a voicemail. The WM District Manager saw that a tanker had caught on fire on 880 (right where I had to exit), it melted the asphalt and they closed the highway. This in turn jacked up the entire Bay Area traffic. He called to reschedule for tomorrow, since he's coming from Santa Cruz. BTW, the job wasn't the slam dunk I was led to believe it was, but I do have a strong endorsement from my boss. They are evidently looking at several applicants. I wrote a new resume specifically for this gig, so wish me luck.

Hands On Experience

2008-10-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

So this morning, we went into Oakland (Alameda County Hospital) at 7:15am, and took our place in line with the rest of the cattle. By 1:00pm, I had gotten my x-rays, had three of the four pins in my hand pulled (without any pain-killers - the middle finger still has no bone structure), and setup an appointment for a new doctor/hospital in November because of the insurance situation. The pin removal was as excruciating as I remember from messing up my other drinking hand 4-5 years ago. I just bit the bullet as he twisted and yanked with his little doctor's pliers. There were a few Q&A sessions with the hospital staff like are you in pain? "Yes" When did the pain start? "Ten forty-five on September 19th, when I cut my finger off with my table saw". As you might be able to see in the x-ray, some bone growth has occurred in the middle finger. I thought the Doc was going to break my index finger trying to remove the screws.

Anyhoo, I survived and we tooled on over to West Marine to do our usual meet-and-greet session. While we were there, my Store Manager Dan pulled me aside and offered me the Store Manager position at the Oakland store a few miles away. I was flabbergasted, very much honored, and I told him I'd have to think about for a few days. It's a temporary, interim position, until they find a permanent SM, but it could definitely lead to much more if I wanted it to. Kim and I have already discussed the very real possibility of me having to get a real job, and this might be the ultimate opportunity. I'll have to talk to Peter @ WM-Austin to get his feedback on the whole situation. This might necessitate us having to move to Alameda, but I'm OK with that (closer to the Bay), or commuting from Livermore for a while. Funny how the Lord giveth and taketh away sometimes. Maybe I could sponsor the Hunt this year!

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!

2008-10-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, a week ago Sunday, we decided to get out of the house and take a little hand-friendly road trip. We've built a list of things we want to do/see while we're in the Bay area. Checking out Gold Country is on that list. Most of you probably know that James Marshall found a gold nugget downstream from the sawmill on Sutter's creek in January of 1948. This was the start of the California Gold Rush, the reason San Francisco grew into a major US city, and the 49'ers football team.

Well, we decided to check it out for ouselves and see what all the hubub was about. It was a couple hour drive into the hills. Very pretty scenery surrounded us on all sides once we got out of the valley. Sun-dappled roads with "Windy & Steep" signs was the standard. We saw a few quaint small towns that had tried to preserve the "Gold Rush" feel, but the Wells Fargo banks were considerably more modern. We stopped in Columbia, where they just happened to be having a Harvest Festival going on. Everyone was wearing their best "Little House on the Prairie" outfits and we saw some cool stuff. We almost bought some beeswax candles and vanilla lotion, but I was more intrigued by the lumber recycler. He had Eric's shaving horse setup, which caught my eye. We stolled through his booth and saw some gorgeous quartersawn black oak. I will definitely be ordering some from him for dramatically figured picture frames with grain that really pops. We watched the kids panning for gold in a trough, which didn't seem to have a high chance of success.

Kim then took me to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Yes, there were frogs everywhere around town, and a lot of Mark Twain references. They still do the races every year. Anyway, the park was truly majestic. You think you're seeing a bunch of really big trees, then you tun a corner and see a tree whose trunk is the size of a two car garage. A bunch of idiots in the 1850's cut one down. The stump is 24 feet in diameter and has 1200 growth rings (I didn't count them, the Park Ranger told us). For those of you keeping score at home, that means that tree sprouted when the Holy Roman Empire was founded, Charlemagne was running around, and King Arthur was supposedly commissioning a round table. It was pretty chilly at that time of the afternoon, at that elevation, and surrounded by all that vegetation, but we hiked one of the trails anyway. Once agian, the sun beaming through the trees was like a 3D Serenity Prayer. The air was fresh and brisk with a touch of pine. The wind in the heights made a white-noise soughing that sounded like we were approaching a waterfall. A wonderful experience, but really chilly camping. I know it sounds trite, but pics can't do the size of these trees justice. They're so much larger than we're used to, they look like props for an amusement park.

We headed back to civilization by driving into the sunset. Kim showed me her aunt & uncle's place in Copperopolis, a really small town. When we crested the last ridge and started down into the valley, we could see Woodward Reservoir reflecting the sun down below. I always get a kick about having been places I see from afar or on TV. That's one of the best things about travelling with Kim. We've been told firsthand that there is still gold in them thar hills, but it's probably on someone else's property.

You Know You’re from TEXAS if...

2008-10-13T17:04:00.001-07:00

1. You measure distance in hours. (like Lubbock is 8 hours from Houston- who knows how many miles it is)
2. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
3. Stores don't have bags; they have sacks.
4. Stores don't have shopping carts; they have buggies.
5. You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it, no matter what time of the year.
6. You use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go to the store.
7. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, or animal.
8. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
9. You carry jumper cables in your car ..for your OWN car.
10. You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are.
11. You only own four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco.
12. You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
13. You think sexy lingerie is a tee shirt and boxer shorts.
14. The local paper covers national and international news on one page but requires 6 pages for sports.(high school football is of utmost importance)
15. You think that the first day of deer, duck, dove, or quail season are State holidays.
16. You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
17. You find 90 degrees F "a little warm."
18. You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas.
19. You know whether another Texan is from southern, middle, or northern Texas as soon as they open their mouth.
20. There is a Dairy Queen in every town with a population of 1000 or more.
21. Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past-time known as "goin wal-martin" or off to "Wally World."
22. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chili weather.
23. A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop ... it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor.
24. You understood and laughed at these jokes.

(Thanks to the Doolage for sending these along... made my day in frozen-ass California!)

Frankenfinger

2008-10-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's about time for an update. The hand is mending. It hurts all day, especially at night, when I'm trying to get to sleep. I'm taking the bare minimum dosage of Percocet, just to get by. I've been having only one cocktail a day, in the late afternoon/early evening. I think I'll stick with this pattern instead of my former habit. I even got to be designated driver last night after going out for sushi with Teri.

Kim got a Garmin chip and a GPS antenna from Cathi for her new phone. It's pretty cool, and we can even use it while walking around the city. We joined Tradewinds under Lisa Chapin, so we'll be sailing Beneteaus, Ericsons, Dufours, etc. in the thirty-plus foot range for a while. My boat is safely in storage. Lisa might be making a daysail run down to Half Moon Bay (at the south end of the peninsula) with some Tradewinds friends, so once she's checked out, we'll be able to go out the Gate. She knows of some others that are sailing out to the Farallone Islands, which would be a great daysail, with lots of whale-watching potential. It looks like we'll be starting to get that blue water experience we moved out here for. Lisa has been the great catalyst we knew she would be. We can always launch the Twins on one of the free public ramps on Alameda too. It's not any colder in the winter on the Bay, because the wind dies down considerably during the winter because the valleys don't heat up as much. Sailing over to Treasure Island is high on our list since we missed the Hobie Around TI race a few months ago. I'll be interested in seeing how my hand performs.

As you might be able to tell from the pics, they shortened my middle finger about an inch because of the missing bone structure. It will most likely be permanently straight, with some flexibility at the hand knuckle. This means that a large percentage of my grip strength will be gone. We might have to check out electric winches.

I've been too bummed on a daily basis to work on the captain's license much over the last few weeks. I've been mainly escaping into sailing books. Kim's been busy all day, every day working on the insurance and financial ramifications of all this. I couldn't do this without her. It's too personal for me, and she's being very professional about the whole thing. I've been doing some coding for her, but my days are pretty open. We ran over to Woodcraft the other day to get a new finish to try that I found online. I went out into the shop and did a test piece, which may be the finish I use on some Morris chairs or the dinette set. Beemer's food stand will be the first piece I try it on, and it's been half-way done for three weeks. I'm anxious to get back into the shop, but first I'll be installing some safety equipment. Kim's Dad Joe, and Eric have been really helpfull with research and sending links for safety options.

I've got a doctor's appointment on the 16th where they'll be removing most of the pins and stitches. I think I'll try to find some Vicodin for that trip. As you can see from the x-ray from last week (see dark spot under middle finger pin), I've got a lot of bone to grow back ("That's what she said"), even with the shortened finger.

As you can tell, not much blogworthy going on out here. We're resisting the urge to say screw it and move back to Austin. Lisa's at the Annapolis Boat Show, looking at boats nobody can afford. Maybe we can get her to guest-blog when she gets back. I guess that's all for now. Later.

The Falcon Has Landed

2008-09-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday we bundled Chris up, loaded the car with food, drugs, and chairs, picked up Lisa Chapin, and headed to Fort Point in the city to watch the Maltese Falcon sail in under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an amazing day in the city with the temps in the mid-70's, no clouds, and it seemed like every sailor in the Bay Area was out on their boat. After sitting in traffic for almost 1.5 hours, we made it to Fort Point. Traffic karma paid off and someone was vacating a VERY busy parking lot as we were pulling in.

After getting the chairs all set up and prepared, we waited about 15 minutes at which point I saw the biggest mast I've ever seen on the outside of the bridge. The sailboats were swarming around, a fire boat was out, someone was rowing, and as the Falcon passed under the bridge, every sailboat jibed and all sailed on the same tack right next to the Falcon.

The Falcon is 289 feet long and the mast height is 190 feet tall. The bridge height above the water at low tide is 220 feet. It really was amazing to see regardless of that boat being a monstrosity of nature. Most of the boats sailing around her were 40+ feet long, and they looked like toys.

Lisa shopping for her new boat
After 45 minutes, we needed to get Chris back in the car and drugged up again, so we drove through Pacific Heights and head back over the Bay Bridge. We drove around Yerba Buena/Treasure Island, managed to drive right under the new part of the Bay Bridge they are building and into a Coast Guard check point (clearly, we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be).

It seemed no matter where we drove that day, we could see the Falcon. It loomed over the horizon, looking like tall buildings off in the distance. It finally anchored for the night in Sausalito and will be moving to Pier 35 in the city for some work and lots of private tours. I wish we could get on her, but no can do... you have to know Mr. Perkins, and as many people as I know, I don't think I can make it happen. I'm working on it though.

Another fine example of something fun to do in the Bay Area that was free (with the exception of the gas, which still cost us probably $20 all in all).

Does this mean I'm over the software hill?

2008-09-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, last week I decided I was going to try to install my new copy of Vista Ultimate on the media server hooked up to the TV. I figured if it sucked it wouldn't affect much. So, I'm looking at the box, which is beautiful packaging by the way, but there's no obvious way to get into the box. I start pushing, pulling, unlocking what looks like tabs, untaping things, etc... still no movement on this box. Just when I was about to get a crow bar to pry the thing open, I decided to Google "open Vista box". Click here to see what I saw. 569K hits... something is wrong with this scenario. I'm not the only retard out there having trouble figuring this out.

I did finally get it open, but Microsoft needs to have focus groups on their packaging from now on. Even Microsoft has instructions on their site on how to open the box.

Advanced Digititis

2008-09-27T18:33:00.001-07:00

It's been a much quieter end of the week than it was the beginning of the week. It's been a lot of work running around, making sure my patient is fed, doped up, keeping the house clean, cooking, and trying to cram a little work in between the lines.

Chris had an allergic reaction yesterday to the antibiotics he was on, so he's not taking those anymore. We have a follow up appointment to check on his hand tomorrow, so should have a few more tidbits to report. He seems to be doing okay though - I would guess a little tired of having his hand up in the air. We went to Goodwill on Friday to outfit him for the next few weeks with some shirts we can hack up, and the chick behind the counter saw his hand and started saying "GNARLY DUDE, that is so GNARLY, I wish I had my cellphone, I'd send everyone pictures." I mean, it was just so WEIRD to have someone react like that. For the most part, people either ask what he did, or they look like their going to hurl. Either way, they don't make a big deal of it. The hand looks worse than it is. It's bad, don't get me wrong, but we have to keep ointment on it too. So, it has that ooze thing going.

Friday night I managed to break the 2nd toe on my left foot (I swear, I was not trying to steal the spotlight from Chris). It's all bruised up and swollen, but I can at least walk on it now. And Chris, not to be outdone, managed to break HIS left pinky toe on Saturday morning.

All I can do at this point is sit back and laugh, because it keeps getting better and better... :)

Pelagic Dreams

2008-09-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sea-Fever
by John Masefield
(1878-1967)

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life.
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

So, the other day Kim popped an unexpected question on me while I was sitting there bored out of my skull. "Have you thought about studying for your Captain's License while you're out of commission?". No, actually I hadn't, but it semmed like a damned fine idea to me. I've always wanted to take care of that before I'm 40, and I don't really have anything better to do in the next month or two while my hand heals. I told her about the big book by Charles Wing, "Get Your Captain's License", and that the filing fees are only a few hundred bucks if you just take the test, not the $1,250 for the full class and exam.

Next thing I know, Lisa Chapin drops the book in my lap and they're both grinning at me. I thanked them, shook my head, and set the tome aside to peruse at a later date. Two days later, after I had become more accustomed to the Percocet coursing through my veins, I cracked the 800 page book. The first chapter covers eligibility requirements. It looked to me that because of my tenure at SailTime, I might actually qualify for Inland Masters < 100 Tons. This is an "academic" notch above the standard Six Pack, requires the same sea service and the test is only 20 more questions for the same amount. After checking with my old friend Captain Greg White, he said to go for it, so I've loaded the software and aimed it toward that heading.

While watching "White Squall" for the twentieth time last night, I was touched by the notion that they had to turn around and go home. Being still kid enough, I completely empathized with the disappointment of that concept. I then realized that that's the beauty of doing a circumnavigation, you never have to turn around ang go back. If you're lucky, you just cross your path. So we're aiming toward that heading too... West.

Chris Larsen
(1969- )

9.5 out of 10 isn't bad

2008-09-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

Chris asked me to post this on his behalf to the blog (and all I did was edit this, he diligently typed the whole thing with one hand):

"Virgil Briggman is back on the air...", "Good morning Vietnam!", and all that crap. So, I'm sitting here waiting for my double-dose of Percocet to kick in, I thought I'd sneak in my first blog in a while. As you may or may not know, I had a little "industrial accident" in the shop Friday morning. That roughly translates to cutting my middle f'ing finger off (I'm already qualified to be a high school shop teacher). Luckily, it was still hanging by a little flap of skin, so I didn't have to go through the agony of looking for it.

I was in the process of milling 2" legs for the matching night stands that will complete our bedroom suite. Anyhoo, I was doing something relatively safe, and something I do all the time. I use 4/4 stock to do all my glue ups, since thicker stuff is more expensive, and I think it's a little more environmentally responsible. I'm modifying the plans to beef up the leg thickness to give it a much more substantial, antique look, that worked really well on the dresser. So Friday morning, I was ripping my blanks to 2+ inches, so they could be jointed and planed down to their finished thickness/width. I was actually thinking about safety as I was pushing the 4+ inch wide, 2+ inch thick board along the rip fence. Halfway through 4+ the board I grabbed the push stick to finish the cut with my right hand safely out of the way. For some reason, at the very end of the board, maybe I torqued it by not having enough lateral force fom the push stick. Whatever the cause, I don't have anti-kickback rollers or a splitter installed, so that's my bad. Anyway, the board shot back toward me, missing my ribcage (thank god I always allow kickback clearance) and somehow drug my hand back with it. With the way my hand had contorted because of the kickback, my middle finger took the brunt. I thought my ring finger got compressed and was broken, but it turned out that my index snapped. There's also a nice gash on my thumb that took my thumbnail off, along with the bone tip. All in all, a pretty gruesome sight. I haven't had the guts to look at any pics (which I was thoughtful enough to insist on) or the x-rays, which we might've actually stolen. Always thinking about the blog!

After emitting a scream that elicited from the depths of my soul when I saw my finger flopping loosely, I calmly took control of the situation by clamping my right hand around my wrist and getting Kim to stop doing her decapitated chicken dance. We put the remains of my hand in a bag of ice, and tied a tea-towel around my wrist. Kim managed to beep the car and I was able to just barely crawl into the passenger side before blacking out, which would've been a major problem for Kim to get me into the car by herself.

There were typical communication issues with the various medical personnel we encountered. Somebody asked where my finger was. I said "In the bag".
The discrepancy caused Kim to have to go home and look for more parts. They kept changing their minds on which digits were involved. The shots into the base of each digit were excruciating. They kept asking me silly questions like name, age and pain rated from 1-10. Some bookkeeping yutz came out and immediately started discussing financing options, while I was mentally preparing myself to be an amputee.

Another ambulance ride, and I was in Stanford. I won't bore you with any additional details, but some of the highlights were "F**k Seth Thomas", regarding how slow the minutes were during the nights they wouldn't let me sleep more than an hour. When the nurse who had just given me a suppository (the size and shape of a rifle bullet) asked if I needed anything else, I said, "Hell, I was going to ask you out to dinner!". The same nurse, upon removing my catheter, told me that if I didn't pee in the next six hours, it would have to go back in. I leaned over to Lisa Chapin and said, "She gets me. Incentive through implied threat". I dutifully spent the next two hours trying to pee into an empty jug, something I used to do all the time when driving between Austin and Houston. On a side note, I'm still "farting" out my peehole, which is something I've never experienced in all my 39 years, and certainly wasn't on the list (way down from three-way with twins). It doesn't get much better than that, though. I can certainly tell you that much.

Well, I'm kind of tuckered out after this, so I'm going to watch TV through a narcotic haze. "Hi, I'm Chris Larsen and I've been sober for five days..."

And in a split second...

2008-09-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

...it was all over. Sort of. So, our first full day at home. Yeah... actually, I wasn't sure about how it was going to go when I woke up at 5:37am. Around 6 I woke Chris up, fed him his drugs, and proceeded to just get on with my day. He stayed in bed, a little woozy, but eventually as regular morning came, he stood up out of bed, and started wandering around. He sat in the chair in front of the TV with his monstrous Carter pillow and watched CNN Headline News with me (sadly for Chris, this week is a non-Robin Meade week). He spent part of the day sleeping in bed and part of the day sitting in the chair. At one point, he even sat at the computer and checked his email and surfed the web with one hand. I guess lots of guys do that kind of thing anyway. (Yes, that was my one shot at Larsen humor, and I think I failed miserably). Generally, things are much much better than yesterday this time. Amazing how much being non-home means.

Lisa came over tonight and I managed to have a real meal since I finally had to cook for someone else. I called Chris' manager at West Marine and had him "employee purchase" the book for getting a Coast Guard Captain's license (Lisa picked it up at WM before she came). I figure if Chris is going to be hanging for a while, it's not a bad way to get one of those things that is important to him out of the way. Lisa also brought a lot of coastal navigation maps, so he can study the things he loves the most.

Lisa just "checked out" on some 30+ footers at a local Sailtime type of place, so she's joining and hopefully we'll be getting a lot more experience on some bigger boats now with Lisa Chapin at the helm. Good thing Chris taught me how to sail... he can kick back and enjoy the sailing, and Lisa and me can do the work. I love hanging out with smart and independent chicks.

So a few learning lessons (feel free to add your own):

1. When you move to a new place, find the local emergency room. You never know when you are going to need it. I had Chris in the car and we were driving who-knows-where when I had to call Cathi in North Carolina to find out where the closest place was.

2. When the dog runs off in the middle of a major trauma, let the dog run. She will come back. She knows where home is.

3. Take a second and hold your left hand out and your fingers out straight. See how your middle finger is longer than all the other ones? You probably use that one more than most of the other ones, right? Chris' left middle finger is now 2 inches shorter than it used to be. Tonight, he called it his "Hobbit" finger. Appreciate that you have a middle finger that can extend, it works, bends, and can pull the clutch of a motorcycle if you needed it to.

4. Realize that in a HALF OF A SECOND, your life can change for the rest of your life. Most of us take weeks to make decisions, thinking that it's a huge deal and it will affect the rest of your life. Yeah, really not that big of a deal honestly. The BIG DEAL are the decisions that are made for you that you have no choice over.

5. Appreciate that when bad things happen to you, it really CAN be a lot worse. It could have been your whole hand, or your head, or a piece of wood shot through your stomach. That pretty much would have sucked.

6. Know that the movie that you play in your head is different than the one the other guy is playing in his head. Just because you HEARD the accident doesn't mean you experienced it. He actually remembers it, can relive it, and watched it happen in person. Perspective changes everything.

7. Always keep $20 in reserve in your car somewhere. When you have to pay to park at a hospital, and they ask for $12 while you are exiting the garage to go pick your patient up at the main entrance, and you have $3 in your wallet, at least you will have another $20 sitting somewhere in emergency in your car (and the best part is, there is no need to panic when you have money in your car to cover those things).

8. Finally, appreciate those around you that are kind and giving and good family and friends. You don't know who they really are until your world changes. Those are the people that are there for you, no matter what. You'll know them when you see them.

Okay, that's my soapbox for the day, and all the things I've thought of in the last couple of days. I'm sure more are coming, but for now, kiss your middle finger for me and hope for another great day!

Chris is HOME!

2008-09-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

As promised, I put the picture of his current state of hand HERE. I'M WARNING YOU, DON'T LOOK AT THIS IF YOU GET WEIRD ABOUT BLOOD OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. Seriously...His fingers are okay. He can feel them all. And really, that's all that is important.

Chris came home this afternoon. I arrived at the hospital about 10:45 this morning, and around noon the doctor came and said he was going to discharge him. I had been having my doubts before that he would even come home on Tuesday since he wasn't eating much and generally miserable. Hadn't been out of the bed yet. I was starting to "nag" him about eating or they wouldn't let him out. Anyway, doc says they are letting him go because there isn't much else they can do for him, and Chris has said he just wants to go home. I experienced a serious wave of anxiety, because I was ready on Tuesday for him to come home, but it just didn't seem right to me. Lesson learned, no time seemed right looking back.

As soon as they said he could come home, he immediately chippered up (if you can call it that).

I ran down to the pharmacy and filled his 6 prescriptions before he left the hospital. And then, we finally left Stanford at 3:30p. Typically, it would take a little over an hour to get back to Livermore, but thanks to Bay Area traffic, it took about 1.75 hours.

He's pumped full of narcotics, so he's in and out of sleep. I'm trying not to bug him every 1-2 hours like they did in the hospital. I'm going to grill up some chicken and broccoli tonight and hope he eats some of it. He kind of has to for the antibiotic stuff. Narcotics are a funny thing... he said to me that he has never been happier not being home, and it confused me, but he explained that this isn't him home (well, in some ways it isn't, but it's the only home we have). He also woke up a couple of minutes ago, was staring at the ceiling, and said something about thinking about the tables and the guys that make peanut butter. I remember being in the hospital myself and seeing monkeys and pigs climbing on the walls, so hey - peanut butter and tables seems completely appropriate.

Personally, I'm really nervous about the coming month. I have never had children, I don't think of myself as the best "caregiver", and I'm afraid to completely screw something up. The entire drive home, I was afraid to get in an accident, and then what. Talk about anxiety. I'm now half a bottle through some Fenestra Tempranillo, so my anxiety has waned a bit.

Arriving back in Livermore felt like we'd been gone for days. There was all the dishes from Thursday night's meal that I hadn't put away because the dishwasher was full. I had a full load of laundry to do, as well as Chris'. So, as soon as we got back, I got him situated on the couch (where he said he wanted to be), and I took off to start my work.

Ahhh.. just took off about 2 hours ago, and finally back to the email. Chris ATE a banana and drank a "cocktail" of cranberry juice and 7-UP. He's now in bed, bathed, and ready for a good night's sleep. He's taking his drugs and seems to be doing better. He mentioned something else about the peanut butter and tables, so I'm going to have to ask him about that later.

I'm sure this is long-winded by now, and you are ready to be done with it. Sorry about that - you all know how much I talk. I'll be doing some work tomorrow, and Lisa Chapin is going to be heading back down here to spend some time with Chris. That reminds me that I wanted (once again) to put some special thanks out to:

Eric & Lisa - for fielding my panic calls, emailing my dad, being another stoic voice of reason. Eric, you and Chris have a lot in common. We love you guys so very much.

Teri - for putting me up, and putting up with me. You made this last weekend bearable for me in so many ways. Your friendship (once again), your patience, your kindness... thank you so much.

Lisa - for loving Chris and being his sister, and being there no matter what. For bringing me rum in the ER (that's a story that we'll tell in 10 years). Between you and Teri, I don't know what I would have done.

Kyle - for showing immense sensitivity for a situation that was so completely jacked up. You are an amazing 21 year old, and I'm proud to say that I know you.

ASSers - thanks all of you for calling and emailing. We miss and love you guys. We'll go sailing next year on Travis. Promise.

Bartab - once again, my parrothead friends that I first found in Austin came to my emotional rescue. Despite the distance, I had a "family" I could rely on to e-listen to me.

And finally, certainly FIRST in my list, my mom and dad and Carl and Lynn and my brother Jon, who all care for and treat Chris like their own son and family member. You all helped us both through this (he just doesn't know it yet). Thank you all for being awesome parents and family members. You guys are the best.

Let the recovery begin...

kim

Have you met Lisa Chapin?

2008-09-21T20:39:00.001-07:00

Lisa Chapin has been through this with us all along. I called her when I left for the Pleasanton hospital, and she met us there telling everyone she was Chris' sister. Lisa has come and stayed with Chris here in Stanford (tag team girlfriending), and Lisa has called and checked on me. Lisa brought me a diet coke with rum in it at the Emergency Room in Pleasanton because I was wired, anxiety-ridden, and needed a shot. Seriously.

Everyone needs a Lisa Chapin.

Kyle

2008-09-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Kyle is Cathi's 21 year old son. I've known Kyle since he was around 7 years old. Kyle now lives a mile away from us in Livermore.

The other day, when I thought Chris' finger was not attached and was back at the house, I went back to look for it. I couldn't find it, though wasn't really thinking that it would have flung anywhere. I called Cathi, and she had Kyle go over to the house to look for it. Kyle and his friend patiently sat in the garage determining trajectories based on the angle of the table saw blade (no surprise on this, since Kyle is brilliant). We realized somewhere in that time frame that he still did have the finger, and Kyle could stop searching.

Later that day while Chris was en route to Stanford, I went home to shower and called Cathi again. Cathi told me that earlier that day Kyle had said to her that he didn't want us to come home to the mess that was there. Cutting arteries has that effect. Anyway, Kyle cleaned it all up - there is not a trace of blood in the driveway or anywhere in the garage.

We were both quite touched by Kyle taking care of this and his reasons... so thank you from the bottom of my heart Kyle. I will always remember that.

Electromagnetic Radiation is a Wonderful Thing

2008-09-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all y'all.

I want to reiterate again how much it's helped me over the last couple of days to hear from all of you. I'm doing everything I can to be the non-freakout Kim that Chris needs me to be.

I left yesterday morning for a while, and went back to Livermore to check on everything. It's a little over an hour from here to Livermore, so I called Teri to see if I could crash at her place until this was over. Teri is an old old friend of mine from 1994 time frame, and has always been one of those friends that you could rely on with your life no matter what. I wasn't sure I would be able to get in touch with her, but I also knew that if she was away, I could just move into her place anyway (she confirmed my suspicions also). Teri also has a dog, part chow part black something-or-other (wasn't there a Yorkie in there at some point). Teri also loves the B, and B loves Teri. So, it got me within 20 minutes of the hospital in non-commute traffic, I'm with someone that I've known for a long long time, and I feel like I'm with family here. Teri took a lot of the stress I had been having off of my shoulders. I packed my clothes up, the dog, and moved into Teri's.

I stayed at the hospital yesterday through about 8:30, but I was really having a hard time staying awake. The adrenaline was finally wearing off, and it was becoming increasingly important to get some sleep (I didn't realize until later yesterday that I hadn't slept in almost 36 hours). I also hadn't been eating. It's the little things in life you forget I guess. So, I left and had the ultimate comfort food that I haven't had since I moved to California, and won't eat under normal circumstances... CARL'S JR #3! (There isn't an In-n-Out on the way home). Let me tell you, that was damned near one of the best comfort food meals I've ever had. Had a nice couple of hours with Teri before I fell into a forehead first snooze into the back of the couch. I packed enough pants and shorts and undies to get through to next week, but apparently forgot that I need shirts to go with the pants. Space out much?

Lisa came over here this morning and sat with Chris from 8 until noonish. We're BLESSED... Lisa loves Chris like a brother, and would be there for him at the drop of a pin. *I* have 2 women here right now, September 21, in the Bay Area that I could rely on with my life that are like sisters to me. I got here at noon, brought flowers to try to brighten up his room (but I really wanted a pirate balloon, and had I been able to find a Johnny Depp poster, I probably would have found a way to tape it to the wall). On Lisa's suggestion, I brought a bowl of halloween candy for the nurses, so they come in here to get candy, check on Chris. So far, I don't think the little ploy is working, but then again we are in an ICU type of unit, so I'm not surprised. The food delivery chick came without a banana though, I offered her candy, found out that Chris ordered a banana, told her, and the chick came back with 2 bananas. Maybe I'm wrong about the manipulation part. I also brought the nurses a container of cookies. Always fun to give a bunch of skinny chicks sugary stuff that I don't eat myself.

Chris is doing better today, though I would guess it's hard to tell to anyone that didn't see him the last 2 days. He did finally lose the catheter. We're out of the 24 hour window for finger rejection now, and the finger appears to have not only survived but Chris can feel his finger tip (Allysone, our AWESOME nurse, has said he's the first one she's had with this injury that can feel the fingertip). He's eating a little bit, and drinking water. I think he's still in pain, but it appears to be not near as bad as it was yesterday. I can tell that's he's definitely getting tired of people being around and prodding him all the time.

I finally opened the X-Ray CD that I ganked from Pleasanton. I asked for the images, so when they brought the image folder, the technician dropped a CD in there and gave us the eyeball like "here's your CD, just grab it while you can." So, I grabbed it and stuck it in Lisa's bag. I loaded it a couple of minutes ago, and I'm thinking that they didn't want us to take it (but I have it now, and not sure I really want to admit that I have the thing). Loaded it up, found the image I wanted, and had to do an alt-print screen to get it out of there:

Finally, tomorrow the Occupational Therapist will come and unwrap his hand and make a full splint for him to go home with. For those morbid friends of ours, I'll be taking pictures of the unwrapped, newly reconnected and regenerated, hand. I promise, I will not post them openly.

Thanks again to everyone. We have wonderful friends and family, and this has made me miss all of you so much. Not that I wasn't already missing you, but DAMN I really miss you now. We love all of you very very much.

Sense of Humor

2008-09-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

So, I've been on the phone with about 30 people today. I thank ALL of you for calling, for your concern for Chris, your concern for me. He's in constant pain it seems, and I'm doing everything I can to just hold myself together for him.

Wouldn't you know, Chris is still cracking jokes, almost constantly, regardless of his pain. And as expected, our friends are showing their wonderful senses of humor too:

(Thank you Michelle Scarisbrick for that new bumper sticker)

And from the Casatis:
Q: What should Chris name his boat now?
A: Tempus Digit
(to which Chris replied "Digits Fly???"

Thanks for keeping the humor going... it means a lot to us.

Bent and Broken

2008-09-20T00:13:00.001-07:00

Chris had a fencing match with his table saw this morning, and the saw won. It was about 10:45am, I was sitting down for work, and I heard the typical buzz of him cutting wood in the garage. Next thing I heard was something cutting not-wood, he screamed, and I ran as he was yelling at me that he cut his finger off. In typical Kim Paternoster fashion, I freaked out. In typical Chris Larsen fashion, he stayed stoic, calm, told me how to tourniquet his arm and how to fill a bag full of ice so he could stick his hand in it. He told me to unlock the car so he could sit down, and thought HE was going to have to drive ME to the ER. (Note to self: I really have to work on that panic thing, but geezus who has the time...)

NOTE TO READERS: This was actually a boo boo... turns out, you should NOT stick a severed anything directly on water or ice. You should stick it in a bag, then stick THAT bag in another bag full of ice. As the skin dries out, it shrivels, and it can make it so things can't be reattached.

ANYWAY... I have pictures, Chris asked for them for the blog. IT'S NOT PRETTY. Really, if you must, they are HERE, but do NOT email me if you end up having nausea.

I want to thank Amy (you were a bright light in a dismal outlook and did a fabulous job taking care of my best friend, and seriously... let's do a beer, you are walking distance from our house, we owe you a few), Ryan (funny guy and thanks for helping us deal with the whole pee in the bottle thing), and Chris (you are the reason we are at Stanford Hospital, and without YOU, Chris would have lost the finger). I hope all of you went home and had a beer or three tonight.

It's 12:16am here at Stanford Hospital, and he's just come out of surgery after 5+ hours. He should be here within the hour. They were able to reattach the middle finger, despite how it looked. It's been a very long day, and looking to be a long 3-4 month recovery for him.

I can't wait to see him, even though he's going to be completely out of it (somehow I'm thinking it may not be much different than some of those nights on Sometimes Island). It's really hard when your best friend is going through so much pain, and there's not a thing you can do about it. It's even worse for him, but I'll tell you one thing - Chris Larsen is one of the strongest people I've ever known. "On a scale of 1-10, where's your pain", and he can actually SAY 10, and you know he means it... and he's SAYING it. Think about that.

Keep him in your thoughts. The rest of you woodworkers... get a damned blade stop mechanism. The money spent is a hell of a lot better than what this could end up being.

By Popular Demand, the Redneck Smoker

2008-09-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of people asked "how do you build a redneck smoker?" So, here's the rundown, and the recipe for pulled pork that follows.

Qty Size Description
2 14" Azalea Pots
1 13" Weber Grill Grate
1 8" HD Aluminum Baking Pan
1 750W Hot Plate
1 6' Indoor Extension Cord
2 16AWG F Spade Connectors (sometimes can be found in mixed pkg).
2 16AWG M Spade Connectors
1 large diameter analog cooking thermometer that goes well over 250F
1 digital thermometer with probe (remote style recommended)
wood chips
meat

Carefully remove knob from rheostat on front of hot plate.
Disconnect leads from hot plate to rheostat.
Make sure to remember color coding on leads,
you will need to reconnect them properly later.
Cut ends off extension cord and strip 1/4" off all 4 conductors.
Crimp M spade connectors for hot plate leads onto one end of extension cord
Crimp F spade connectors for rheostat terminals onto other.
Inert M ends of extension cord into hot plate leads.
Reassemble hot plate as needed.
Set one pot on spacers to provide circulation under pot.
Set hot plate down into bottom of pot, leading hot plate plug &
rheostat end of extension cord through bottom of pot.
Connect rheostat to F end of extension cord, using proper polarity.
Set baking pan onto hot plate.
Sprinkle handful of wood chips into pan.
Set grill into bottom pot (make sure to wash off packing oil).
Set top pot upside down on bottom pot.
Insert analog thermometer into hole on top pot (when cooking, not for test run).

Smoker will maintain 250F on "High" (9:00).
We have smoked a whole chicken in 2 hours (probe temp 180F).
Smoker will maintain 215F on "Med-Low" (4:30).

Silicone gloves or some kind of removable handle is
recommended when checking meat, as pots get hot.

I recommend firing up your smoker on high for an hour after assembly
to check that everything works before risking dinner, and also to let
plastic warm up fully, and to finalize any offgassing from plastics.
This also has the benefit of infusing all materials with smoke.
You should see tons of smoke pouring out of the hole in the top.

And here's the recipe:

Pulled Pork Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Brine (note my changes in parens, since Alton's is quite salty, so I
combined Alton's and Emeril's brine):
8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses (KP: 1 cup molasses)
12 ounces pickling salt (KP: 1 cup salt)
2 quarts bottled water (KP: 1 gallon water, tap is fine)
6 to 8 pound Boston butt

Rub:
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
1 teaspoon whole coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon paprika

Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart Lexan. Add Boston butt
making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in
refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal. (KP: We use a
small cooler for this)

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine.
Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and
paprika.

Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry. Sift the rub evenly over the
shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as
possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex
gloves during the application.

Preheat smoker to 210 degrees F. Place butt in smoker and cook for 10 to12
hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F. Begin checking meat for
doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness.
Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done,
remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart
with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing as desired.

(KP: Meat should be 195 degrees internally when done if you want it to just
fall apart. I also read that if it hits a plateau at 160-165 and you are
within 2 hours of eating dinner, you can remove it from the smoker, wrap it
in foil, and stick it in the oven for 2 hours on 250. Apparently past 6
hours or so, the meat doesn't absorb smoke anymore. I don't buy it, but it's
definitely a thought)

Taste of Texas

2008-09-16T21:31:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, I rebuilt the redneck smoker that we hauled halfway across the continent. There were some burned out parts, but for a few bucks and a few minutes, we were back in business. Kim brined a pork butt overnight, and I soaked the mesquite chips I picked up yesterday, and this morning at 9am, we fired that mother up. An hour later, Cathi said "It smells like something's burning", so I raced outside as she protested that she was just kidding. Once we found the balance point for the new rheostat, we were cruising at 215F. One nice thing about living in CA is that you keep the windows open, so the whole house smelled like Salt Lick. Nine hours later, we pulled off a lovely little crunchy bundle of delightfulness and tooled over to Cathi's boyfriend's house with it, where I proceeded to shred it with a couple of forks. Some of it actually made it onto the serving platter (which I was quite proud of). So here I sit, all packed from another big dinner. Kim and I are going on a diet tomorrow, unless we think of something else good to cook.

Follow-up on "Seattle Birthday Bash"

2008-09-15T20:46:00.001-07:00

While leafing through my back-issues of "Good Old Boat" while sitting in the "library" (thanks to Spices 3), I came across an interesting coincidence. The boat in the article "Trekka begat Dolly..." in the July/August issue of this year (which coincidentally has my letter to the editor published in it on page 6) is the same boat we saw going backwards through the locks. Evidently, John Guzzwell's Polynesian wife Dorothy was at the helm (we originally thought she was Asian, for obvious reasons). For those of you that may not know, John Guzzwell solo-circumnavigated in between 1955 and 1959. He also featured prominently in Miles Smeeton's book "Once is Enough" as a very able-handed crew member. The irony is that this is such a beautiful boat, built by a very accomplished sailor, which was handled very poorly in what could've been a very damaging situation. Since I obviously couldn't narc on Dorothy (aka "Giggles") via an e-mail to "Good Old Boat" or to John directly, I had to blow off steam here. The fact that we saw a boat with such a pedigree being completely mishandled bothers me immensely. Please do not derive any ethno-centric or sexist commentary from an objective observation. Kim handled tacking "Cariad" much better than I could've. This coincidence totally smacks of the "Cariad Connection" we had with Valiant Owner's Newsletter article about the boat named "Cariad" that won the Swiftsure this year and Kim talking about hooking up with an old friend on Facebook with a boat named "Cariad"...

Lat/Long:
47D 39' 56.36 N x 122D 23' 48.72" W

Boat Shopping

2008-09-15T09:36:00.001-07:00

So Saturday, Kim and I went into Oakland via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), a commuter train that comes almost all the way out to Livermore (I think they're looking at extending it). Anyhoo, it's great people watching, and I loved the coffee stains under the "No Food or Drink" signs. We disembarked in downtown Oakland, and Lisa Chapin pulled up a few minutes later to take us over to Jack London Square. This is a touristy place on the north side of the Estuary that separates Oakland from Alameda. It's got a Barnes & Noble, a bunch of restaurants, Jack London's house and his favorite bar, Heinold's, but more on that later.

Lisa had already been to the boat show, so she was able to direct us past all of the powerboats to the sailboats (of course you can just look for the masts). We gave a cursory glance at the Island Packet 46', and made our way to the end of the dock to the grand dame of the ball, the Valiant 42'. This is the new version of the '94 vintage boat we just sailed in Seattle last weekend, so we were already fairly familiar with the boat. The broker/owner was characteristically nice, and while Kim and Lisa engaged him in over an hour of boat-related small talk, I poked my head into every nook and cranny in the boat. I checked out engine access, bleeder valves, drip loops, wire runs, bilge access, keel-bolted mast step, bonding, cabinet joinery, etc. The two most noticeable differences in the two were this one had an option cabinet in the galley, which provided much-needed storage, without blocking the view of the saloon, or more importantly the flat-screen TV. BTW, we've decided that our 42" LCD is a bit much for the bulkhead. The other difference, and this is a biggie, is that there was three more inches of headroom. On the '94, I just barely cleared the liner, and I could see myself evolving into Quasimodo after any amount of significant time on the '94. The additional headroom made it feel quite spacious inside. I sat back and envisioned Kim and I trying to get around each other in a humid, equatorial anchorage, and it seemed totally possible (as long as we stock up on deodorant). After my survey, I sat down and joined the conversation (where I could get a word in edgewise), but concentrated my attention on the feeling of living aboard something 300 square foot range. At $432K (boat show sale price), that boat was not an option, but I did run home and e-mail Valiant, asking when they bumped up the head room.

After the boat show, we were all pretty thirsty, so we strolled over to Heinold's to have some water and refreshments. It's basically an ancient shack, that has almost completely been absorbed by the condos being build directly behind it. It even has a protective structure built all the way around it due to all of the construction. As you step into this dark hole, literally because the floor is tilted about ten degrees due to a little earthquake they had in 1906. The walls and everything that has been around for more than a year is completely coated in creosote. I can totally smell a hundred years of cigars that are no longer allowed to be smoked inside. We had our drinks, precariously seated on the slant and exchanged good-natured banter with the Asian bartender who made comments about immigrant wait-staff. They had a pretty cool t-shirt, but I've got to start drawing the line somewhere. We paid our tab (cash only), and headed over to Alameda for some marina shopping. My Precision 21' sailboat has graciously been sitting in Kim's brother's warehouse (thanks Jon!) since we pulled into town, so it's time to stick it somewhere a little more useful. Alameda Marina has dry storage, a ramp next door (which requires you to drive through someone else's parking lot), and a trio of cranes. If your boat has an eyebolt, bolted to the keel on the balance point, you can move your backstay out of the way, and lift it off the trailer and right down (15') into the water. If not, there are slings and stuff. I didn't really cotton to that idea too much, nor was I terribly keen on the quarter mile drive with the mast up to get to the ramp. I also thought about the hour it would take to motor down the Estuary to get to the Bay and thought we might look elsewhere, but it was an interesting exercise.

After that, we had to get home in time for dinner, so Lisa dropped us off at the BART station. We grilled some steaks and Kim tried a new recipe, horseradish au gratin potatoes. YUMMM!

Sunday, I had to go into West Marine, so after that, Lisa, Kim and I ran over to Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge for our Painkiller fix and ran into the people we had dinner plans with, Kathryn and Soren. Kathryn is an old motorcycle riding chick friend from Kim's past who also happens to be deaf, so with her no-holds-barred sarcasm and the inherent communication difficulties, she's always a blast to hang out with. She came to visit us for a few days last year in Austin. We finally got to meet her boyfriend Soren, who does light-rendering for Sony movies (he's worked on all three Spiderman movies). They are big Tiki bar freaks, hence us running into them. We then drove over to Spices 3, a Thai place that is famous for their zesty fare. They certainly lived up to their reputation, and there were a lot of jokes about dreading the morning's constitutional (which unfortunately turned out to be an accurate prediction).

We said our goodbyes and headed home and went to bed. At about 11pm, I jumped out of bed due to a weird vibrating feeling and said "I think we just had an earthquake". This morning there was 2.9 in San Ramon at the same time, but everyone assures me you couldn't feel that from here in Livermore. In four months, I've never had that feeling before, but who knows. BTW, we missed a 3.7 the morning we drove to Seattle.

Lat/Long:
37D 46' 41.97" N x 122D 15' 04.88" W

Isaac's Storm

2008-09-11T21:38:00.001-07:00

Y'all be careful down there, y'hear?

Seattle Birthday Bash

2008-09-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

The ENTIRE ALBUM of the trip is here.

So, as previously noted, we headed up to Seattle for the weekend. We drove North for 14 hours, taking pics of every mountain we came across (i.e. Shasta, St. Helens, Hood, Rainier, etc.). They were all breathtaking. It was pretty cool to see St. Helens live and not on CNN as I did in my youth. Anyhoo, the Pacific Northwest is pretty freaking cool. Each bend in the road opens a new vista where you can totally see someone (ourselves) building a log cabin and doing woodworking all winter long while you're shut in. I don't think that's a bad way to live.

We got to our destination (Alex's house, an old friend of Kim's from high school, recently reacquainted via Facebook) late evening on Friday night, just in time for Alex's two sons' bedtimes. Let me tell you that two strangers showing up at bedtime was not conducive to a 7 & 5 year old's sleepiness. After the ruckus died down, we decided what we were doing for the weekend and when.

Saturday morning we all loaded up into two vehicles after splitting up the kids so they could take turns riding in Kim's FJ cruiser to and from the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Alex and his father Phil are exceedingly bright people (Alex works at Microsoft, and Phil is a brilliant civil engineer who couldn't tell me what he did in Panama or he'd have to kill me). We actually discussed fusion vs. fission reactions along the way.

The trip across Puget Sound was really cool, literally, and we drove up the magnificent Olympic Peninsula through several very quaint towns. We spied Port Townsend because of all of the masts, secured parking and moseyed into the festival. There were woodworking booths/schools/demos/vendors everywhere. As you might well imagine, I had a "woody" because of the synthesis of two of my deepest passions. Kim was very understanding as I ambled along like a hormone drunk zombie from booth to booth.

We toured a nice schooner ("Adventuress") that was used for education and preservation purposes. We checked out Charlie's Charts and got Margo Wood to autograph the Polynesia chart book (did I mention we're going to Tahiti next year for my 40th?). We just missed Brion Toss' lecture, so I didn't need to buy the "Riggers Apprentice". I'll get it next weekend at WM.

After an hour of walking the docks, all of the wooden boats started to look alike, kind of like a Hawaiian Tropic bikini contest. They're all awesome, but I'll never have one. Too high maintenance. We strolled into town and checked out the nautical crafts, which were really cool. We chatted with locals and almost convinced ourselves that this would be a cool place to live, but then I remembered Seasonal Affective Disorder. Maybe we'll just visit a lot. Did I mention the weather was spectacular? 70's without a cloud in the sky.

We rendezvoused back with our host and family and made the trek back to Seattle proper. Kim and I loaded up on some really cool swag, which wasn't cheap, but will last us for years.

"Cariad", 2008 Swiftsure
Sunday dawned bright, clear and with the wind whispering among the pine tree tops, so after coffee and croissants, we headed to the marina. Alex has a beautiful Valiant 42 (which is on our short list). We got the boat ready, and while the shore power was charging the batteries, he gave us an owner's tour of the boat. The boat is exceedingly well-designed, and Alex had made some really smart mods (e.g. custom yet easily replaceable instrument panel). We let him school us, took pics, tried to ask intellient questions, you know the drill. Once Alex deemed the battery was charged, we cast off and motored out into Puget Sound.

The wind was blowing 16+ knots, but Alex is a racer, so we soon hoisted the main, staysail, and genoa and were clipping along at 7+ knots. The Valiant 42 is one of the most well-respected pelagic cruisers, and "Cariad" (Welsh for "love") settled into her groove. With a nice bow wave on the leeward side, we rapidly approached the Olympic peninsula and had to tack. Tacking a cutter was an interesting task. Alex explained that if you tack the genny, the staysail will help it across without getting fouled. That tack took us back to north Seattle, so it was time to head home. Being a rather successful racer (Alex won the Swiftsure this year in his division), we hoisted the spinnaker and headed downwind. After ironing out a few technical problems, mostly because we were the newbies on board, we gybed and were back in front of the breakwater at the marina all too soon. All in all a glorious daysail. We put the boat away properly, took some pics, and went back to the house.

Alex had rock band practice, so we drove off to find more Seattle sights. We toured the Hiram M. Chittendom Locks, which separate Puget Sound from Lake Union. We were lucky enough to watch a rather comical (because nobody or nothing got hurt/damaged) transit downstream. It may be difficult to tell from static pics, but the two sailboats we witnessed were actually going backwards (yes, rudder forward) as they got caught bass-ackwards in the lock's current. The Corps guys have a saying "lake line last" meaning that because of the current, you want to release your bowline first, then your stern line. If you don't do it that way, the stern gets caught in the current (especially the keel that is mostly aft) and you'll start heading downstream backwards.
One guy tried to maneuver his boat, but didn't have the turning radius. The Asian lady in the gorgeous wooden boat just giggled and steered backwards straight down the fairway. This was all accompanied by much commentary from the peanut gallery on the observation walkways. I guess keeping your boat in fresh water with access to Puget Sound is worth all of the hassle of transiting.

Sunday night culminated in a fire in the backyard, Kim playing piano, and plank-grilled freshly frozen salmon from the Alaskan boats that hit Seattle every morning. It was undoubtedly the best salmon I've ever had in my life, and there wasn't a speck of seasoning on it. Another round of get the monsters to bed ensued and we all crashed hard for the night.

Monday, we got up early, hit West Marine, the Microsoft store, said our goodbyes and headed East. Snoqualmie Falls was spectacular and a rather brisk hike. After exhausting ourselves, we got in the truck and headed south for several hours until we were well South of Portland, in Oregon's capitol of Salem. A rather mediocre dinner, based on the hotel clerk's recommendation, and we crashed hard in the hotel room after playing catch-up with the online crossword puzzles.

Tuesday we drove home. Cathi had dinner waiting for us when we got home. After exchanging anecdotes from our respective weekends, I sat down and started my requisite blog (THIS one). Kim will do her usual polishing and embed a few of the dozens of pics we took. I'm looking forward to finishing my dresser and starting the next project on Cathi's house, which will probably be her master bath. If all goes well, I will be able to finish the project while she's in N. Carolina visiting her son (who has just come home from Iraq) and his new daughter.

Lat/Long:
47D 40' 44.75" N 122D 24' 26.66" W

What I Did With My Tax Relief Check...

2008-09-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

For a long time now, I've been living out of one of those damned Rubbermaid dressers from Wal-Mart. It's made me feel a little white trash, so I took a couple of weeks off from working on Cathi's house and bought some quartersawn white oak for some plans that I've had for years. Six hundred dollars later, my truck now popping a wheelie up 680, I unload a couple of hundred pounds of QSWO, poplar and plywood into the garage. The dresser is called a gentleman's chest, and is a standard Arts & Crafts piece of bedroom furniture. I really liked the asymmetrical look and the flexibility of the cabinet opposite the smaller drawers.

I started cutting out the parts of the case (which gives the frame rigidity and reduces seasonal wood movement, which would cause the drawers to bind) being extremely careful to cut them as perfecty square as possible. Taking the time to make these parts perfect will yield serious dividends later on. I cut the dadoes in the case for the intersecting parts, making sure they all aligned perfectly. Any error would be noticeable and interfere with drawer movement. Once all of the parts for the case were made, I glued it up in stages, according to the directions and went to work on the oak. Carefully selecting the wood for optimal aesthetics. The medullary ray flake/fleck is one of the most striking aspects of quartersawn white oak. Ironically, Gustav Stickley used ammonia fuming on his furniture to subdue the ray flake to give his pieces a more homogenous look. Most woodworkers today take great pains in formulating their finishes to celebrate this effect, which in certain light and at certain angles is actually reflective.

I cut out the dozens of pieces of QSWO to the dimensions in the plans, labeled each with a part number and the "show" side, then starded applying the parts to the case. I had to cut wide slabs of QSWO into thin panels using a technique called resawing, which means holding the board on edge and running it across the band saw (the $200 band saw I got off of CraigsList in Austin for $80 because the guy didn't want to have to put it together). That was first for me and required me to make a special jig for the bandsaw to align the board properly. Luckily, I was able to plane the panels down to the proper thickness, which means I didn't get off center too much. The panels were prestained so no unstained edges might show. The sides went together first, then when cured, they were applied to the case. This formed the inside dimensions I needed to apply all of the oak to the plywood edge, thus hiding the plywood and making the entire dresser appear to be of solid oak.

The top got glued up and all of the trim pieces were applied. It was starting to look like a piece of furniture. Camping and sailing got in the way, but when we got back, I dove back in, finishing the case. It was now time to make the drawers.

Following the directions, I planed $100 worth of 3/4"+ poplar down to the 1/2" in the plans. Since the large drawers were taller than the poplar was wide, I had to glue them up. The next day, when picking up the cured 1/2" panels, they snapped off on the glue lines. Quite bummed out, I went and bought more 3/4" poplar and started building the drawers without planing it down. I reasoned that it would be much beefier than the flimsy 1/2" stuff. Unfortunately, this caused a whole slew of modifications in the drawer dimensions. When it came time to cut the drawers' lock joint, I setup the table saw for the original 1/2" thickness and proceeded to make the first set of cuts on all of the applicable boards. When I realized I had made a mistake, I then had to figure out how to salvage the drawer stock. I settled on a symmetrical "T" shaped joint, which was necessarily thinner than the sturdier "L" joint I should have had, but there was nothing I could do at this point.

I also have to mention that I originally had planned on making my dresser with dovetail joints, but after messing with the $200 dovetail jig I bought for the occasion, having the spindle come out of my new router (which is an all day repair job), and finding out that Stickley pieces have a lock joint, I settled on what I thought was going to be the lesser of two evils.

When glueing up the drawers, I realized I had made another mistake. The back of the drawer should be shorter than the sides, so the drawer bottom overlaps the back for nailing purposes. I had made the back of the drawer the same height, cut the groove for the drawer bottom in the back, and had cut the drawer bottom short enought to fit into the back groove. The drawer bottoms should've been 1/2" deeper. Because drawer bottoms are loosely fit to allow for seasonal wood expansion, they aren't glued in. As a result, my drawer bottoms are completely loose, captured in the groove on all four sides, instead of nailed/screwed in the back, so they have a nice, loose sound. I hope that when I pile my tidy whities into the drawers, the weight and muffling will compensate.

When fitting the drawers, each drawer had to be numbered and paired with each opening in the case, based on a best fit trial and error process. There were slight differences in the opening dimensions and drawer sizes that seem to me almost unavoidable, considering the care I took. Each drawer was custom sanded to fit into it's respective slot.

When I was happy with the fit, it was time to make the QSWO faces for each drawer. Once again, the required height was taller than my board width, so I broke out the glue once again. This time, everything went well, and I had some nice looking boards with glue lines that were mostly inconspicuous. The medullary ray flake was spectacular on the board I saved for these parts, and the front of the dresser is a writhing exploding celebration of QSWO. Each face was custom fit into its respective drawer, then double stick taped to the drawers with shims underneath to center them in the opening. Gingerly removed, making sure to keep the tape from slipping, the drawers were screwed to the faces from the inside. These screw holes indexed the faces to the drawers, so I was able to remove them and put several coats of hand-rubbed polyurethane on them, which really brings out the luster of the finish (which is TransTint Reddish Brown #6003, thanks to Kim's dad Joe). I still have to disassemble everything and put several coats of poly on the case, but otherwise, it's a done deal. It weighs about 200 pounds, so getting it into the house is going to be interesting. It exactly matches the headboard I made before we left Austin, so I'm on my way to a complete bedroom set. I looked online, and comparable dressers are going for $2,000-$2,500, so I think it was a good investment. I'm looking forward to it being in place, loading it up, and moving the Rubbermaid dresser out into the shop for tool storage.

Laborious Woodward Reprise

2008-09-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday, we took the The Twins to Woodward Reservoir as our first catting experience with "The Lisa Chapin". Traffic was bad on 120 because there was a slow truck with stuff piled up over the cab. You know the type. We finally made it by noon, paid the entrance fee, drove around the lake with tent cities everywhere. We could see the water being churned up by all of the powerboats and jet skis. As we wound around the lake to the part we were familiar with from the last trip, we saw a Hobie sail in the near distance. We were very cautious to avoid the Fleet 20 meth heads we were stuck with a few weeks ago, but evidently they had the weekend off (probably because of the powerboating idiots that come out on Labor Day). We drove around, looking for a place to beach launch, but the entire shoreline was jam packed. We finally decided to check the ramp out. We managed to setup and launch between smokers. Unfortunately, the ramp is at the very downwind end of the less windy side of the lake. As a result, we spent an hour tacking back and forth, making maybe fifty yards of windward progress on each tack. At times, it looked like we tacked back over our previous track. On top of that, there were several of those monster powerboats with the horizontal exhaust pipes blasting out 150 decibels all around us. The smokers kept doing donuts in front of us or upwind, so we got to enjoy the aroma of burnt dinosaurs.

We finally made it up to dam, and rounded our "race buoy", which is just the leftmost "NO BOATS" buoy along the front of the dam. We skimmed along the dam and basically did beam reaches across the lake, making sure to stay as far away from everyone else as possible. It was kind of like avoiding a hundred rubber duckies in a tub. We saw some interesting things like a small ski boat with nine latinas dancing. We tacked past them, and Kim did a little pole dancing on the shroud which really whipped them into a frenzy. Unfortunately, we also saw a skier get hit by a jet skier. We cruised on by the authorities as they were taking the victim to shore for medical care and towed the impounded jet ski. We suspect that alcohol may have been involved.

All things being considered, we actually had a nice sail. The wind was light and variable, but it was a perfect temperature, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The wind built a little toward afternoon, then started to drop off. Since we didn't want to have to scull the two miles home, we headed downwind for the ramp. We were able to sail right between the ramp fingers, and we put the boat up around 4pm. A windy drive home heralded a cold front that relieved the 100+ F temps we'd been having all week (which made my woodworking shop more of a sweat shop). Wed' closed the house up, intending to turn the AC on, but forgot the latter part, so the house was nice and toasty when we got back. Fortunately, the 70F wind cooled the house off in a jiff.

Lisa stayed the night and drove me into West Marine on Alameda the next morning, since Kim was coming in too and we didn't want two vehicled in town. Sunday, after work, we hit the Tiki bar while we decided what we wanted for dinner. The Zombie had five stars on the menu, and the last star was drunk (literally). We checked out a Thai place (Toomies), based on our waitress' recommendation. Toomies turned out to be awesome. We strolled the streets of downtown Alameda for a while, then headed home.

Sorry no pics, we're waiting on our waterproof camera case.

Lat/Long:
37 51 08.38 N 120 51 17.52 W

GOP Convenience?

2008-09-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Political Warning (a.k.a. don't read this if you are a McCain supporter):

Okay, so there are a few things that occur to me this morning as I'm watching CNN coverage of Hurricane Gustav. CNN reported that the GOP Convention is being truncated, and Laura Bush and Cindy McCain are both going to discuss hurricane relief. Did the Republicans buy a hurricane? It has to be the only explanation after McCain's retarded VP pick from last week... not that Palin is retarded, but I CERTAINLY wouldn't want this woman running our country in the likely event that McCain can't be the President anymore (he's 72 and doesn't look like he's in the best health IMHO).

I saw an article a couple of days ago that said "Does McCain think American women are idiots?" He chose Palin in hopes that he would capture the women that wanted Hillary in office and aren't overly thrilled with Barack. I don't think McCain counted on those women having brains. I don't care if Palin is a woman or a polar bear, I'm not voting that ticket.

The one interesting thing I am thinking out of this election is either way that wins is going to be a first in this country. We'll either have an executive woman in office, or (crossing my fingers and doing everything I can to help this along) we'll have a non-white man as president.

In the news that started this whole discussion, I'm thinking of all my friends in New Orleans who chose to stay there after Katrina and rebuild. I'm happy that Gustav appears to have lost a lot of strength on it's way across the Gulf, though it does look like the Crescent City is on the back-side of the hurricane unfortunately. Y'all hang in there.

2 other things:

As of 11:13am PST, the storm surge hasn't hit NOLA yet, though the water is already breaching the Industrial Canal in the Ninth Ward. Just about 2.5 years ago, Robin and I drove through the Ninth Ward. In 2.5 years, the place still hasn't fully rebuilt. In fact, recent pictures I've seen still make it look like the war zone I'd seen with her in person. It was tearjerking to drive through 20+ miles of neighborhoods that had just been utterly destroyed. Now, it looks like with the storm surge coming, it's going to happen again. I'm starting to think that in our lifetime, NOLA will cease to exist.

And... this morning Palin announced her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Is this what "family values" means to Republicans? They spout anti-abortion sentiment, and now there's going to be yet another child bearing a child in an overly populated world. They spout anti-gay marriage, but Cheney's daughter is openly lesbian. Is it all hypocritical? Do they even know what they sound like?

It Wasn't a Heffalump

2008-08-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

My apologies for these being a little out of sequence. We went to SLO 2 weeks after our return from Lake Tahoe, but the trip to Tahoe was... interesting... so it took some sitting on to figure out what to write (and to find out that Chris just didn't feel like writing about it).

Tahoe was beautiful. It was my first time camping up there (actually my first time really doing tent camping at all), and I did enjoy myself. The drive is about 3.5 hours from here, taking you up through Sacramento and over Donner Pass, home of the infamous deaths of the Donner Party. The irony of the day was seeing a grocery delivery truck next to the Donner Pass sign with "Celebrate Food. Celebrate Life" and "Let's stay in for dinner" plastered all over the side of it. It made for a good picture.

"Donner, party of 4... 3... 2, your table is now ready."
We stayed at the Sugar Pine Point State Campground, located on the northwest side of Lake Tahoe. We had it made, as we were meeting Cathi's family who had set up camp a week prior to us arriving and were taking down camp a week after we left. All we had to do was set up our tent, our porta-pottie (that little thing off of the boat sure came in handy to dodge bear in the middle of the night), and our sleeping bags. As soon as we pulled into the campground and left the car, Cathi said "come here, there's a bear here." I didn't believe her, since we'd joked about there being bears all over the campground. But, sure as hell, there was a bear about 15 feet from me sniffing the garbage MID-DAY... and it was bigger than The B. It scooted off after a little Cathi Family yelling at it, but what a way to start our camping trip.

The next day we decided to drive around the lake all the way looking for a place to launch The Twins, and in the process we saw the entire lake. Emerald Bay was our favorite place, mostly because the water was as brilliant green and it had castles on the shore and on the island.

We brought The Twins with us in hopes of doing some serious lake sailing. I had seen wind advisories on the lake from the previous week of 25-30kts and 2-3 feet waves in the center, so we were sure we were going to get slapped around a little bit. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case... the following day we trolled up around the north side of Tahoe to King's Beach, launched the boat into what was already a lower-than-average lake, and proceeded to scull out to where we thought was a wind line. After 500 feet of sculling, and it not looking like there was any more wind than where we had been, we decided to scull back to the shore and wait for the wind to pick up. We waited... and waited... and waited, made a few Getaway sales for the local dealer (lots of people interested in our boat), waited some more, and then finally gave up 4 hours later, disappointed and sun-soaked. Seems the highlight of the day was watching the idiots try to get their truck out of the lake after they'd backed it so far into the water the lake was now over their headlights. Guess they missed the sign "Low Lake Levels, Launch at your Own Risk". Duh.

All in all, it was a good time. We had great dinners while we were there, enjoyed our new tent, saw some wonderful stars, and enjoyed conversation and wine around the campfire. Chris and I are hoping to relive the Lake Tahoe experience again in October, perhaps with Lisa Chapin and some cold weather sleeping bags. Plus, more bears maybe.

Lat/Long: 39D 4M 42.95S N 120D 9M 33.83S W

SLO Sailing...

2008-08-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

So, we took "The Twins" down to San Luis Obispo this weekend to visit Kim's mom for her birthday. We've perfected the mast crutch, so it doesn't rotate any more while we're trailering, and it doesn't poke the tramp. We packed a wine barrel stave with 2" holes drilled part way through it, and loaded it with glass votive holders and cabernet flavored candles. I stained it with Classic Oak, and it looked very nice if I do say so myself.

We pull into SLO, and have to park the boat across the driveway because it can't be parked on the street or across the sidewalk, as this is against the HOA (who are quite fascist). We chat with the outlaws until it's too late to go wine tasting. Sigh... The next day I help Carl with some stuff around the house, and we head out to the beach. We stop in Avila Beach to rent a wetsuit for Carl, and we have a devil of a time finding a ramp or a beach where we can launch. We're borrowing some Cat Trax from Jeremy, so we have more options than just the ramp launch. After asking, we find a ramp that ends right into the sand on the beach.

Avila Beach, where we launched The Twins
We drive down the ramp, after bragging about how well the truck did in Bolivar last New Year's and get stuck in the soft sand at the bottom of the ramp. To make matters worse, we're blocking the ramp. Several younger guys with 4WD Toyota pickups help push us out of the sand. We didn't even have to deflate the tires. We turn around on the harder sand that gets covered at high tide and launch the boat. After gunning the truck and racing across the soft sand to get back up the ramp, I make it to safety (almost skidding into the breakwall). I park close on the shoulder of the road and we proceed to launch the boat on the beach.

Let me say that sailing a catamaran on the ocean is an exhilarating experience. The wind gradient made us sail quite slowly out of the mooring field in Avila Beach, but as we got farther out, away from the cliffs that surround the beach, the wind picked up. Kim steered us out from between the boats, and soon we were tooling around within the breakwater. Due to the shape of the cove, the direction of the wind and waves, sailing inside the breakwater was pretty uneventful. After gaining some confidence and being able to go upwind as much as we wanted, and several successful tacks (something that was always difficult on Del Valle Reservoir), we decided to head out into the open ocean. The swells and waves increased along with the wind. Soon we were shooting across three foot waves, with a pair of rooster tails behind each rudder. We sailed out about three miles and back in to where the wind started to die several times. We surfed down the small waves for several minutes on each leg, back upwind/inland, then back out into the big stuff. Someone suggested we sail down to Pismo, and since we'd been making such good progress upwind, we gave it a shot. It looks like we sailed about five miles down to Pismo and back, with each starboard tack a roller coaster ride. We never felt unsafe, but it was certainly all the excitement I could handle for our first outing.

We saw a bunch of seals, several of which were just as interested in us. After making it back from Pismo (where Bugs & Daffy get zapped by the genie), we head in, only to be becalmed by the clocking afternoon wind. Just at the edge of the mooring field, we have to start sculling. It's pretty hard work, and we've still got several hundred yards to go to get back to the beach. Kim and I discuss the wisdom of not having paddles on board. After ten minutes of sculling and not making much progress past the buoy, Kim says she feels wind coming from the SW, which is a 180 from the wind we'd been enjoying all day. Sure enough, I trim the sails and we start tooling into the beach. I had originally made a decision to be as far upwind from the pier as possible to leave us the most possible seaway between us and a pretty messy lee shore. If the wind hadn't picked up, that decision would've left us several hundred yards further from our beach. Thank the wind gods! We were able to safely navigate the mooring field and beach it like we knew what we were doing in front of a beach full of spectators. I waited as the last wave picked us up and launched us onto the beach while Kim screamed "You knew it was going to do that!" I gave her my best "Who me?" Maybe next time we launch at Avila (before the outlaws sell their house), we'll head up to Morro Bay. We could see the rock from Avila.

This time, we only backed the truck down to the end of the concrete ramp, staying well away from the soft stuff. The tide had come in, so most of the beach was gone anyway. We used Jeremy's Cat Trax to roll the cat the few yards to the ramp, tucked the boat away, and climbed into the truck, bringing most of the beach with us in the process. We peeled off the tops of our wetsuits to finally get some air, dropped Carl's wetsuit rental off, and headed for home. A long rinse in the driveway for both us and the boat completed the day's adventure. Carl finished the day off with some of his famous Sunday night pizza and we regaled Kim's mom with our story.

Monday, we ran down to Buellton (see the movie "Sideways") and did some wine tasting at Roblar, Foley and Melville Wineries. Tuesday, I made Kim's mom mostaccioli for her other birthday dinner and we drove home Wednesday morning.

Kim and I have decided to get drysuits for sailing out here, as the wetsuits were still pretty chilly. The experience gave us a much better idea of what we'll be facing in Santa Cruz, a much less protected coastline, and a few degrees colder to the north.

My apologies for letting our blog readers down over the last few weeks. Kim will handle the Tahoe blog, but it was kind of a disappointment, so I was doing the "if you have nothing nice to say" thing. I've been really busy on my new dresser, which will definitely have it's own blog posting here in the next few days, ala http://treefrogfurniture.blogspot.com. Then it's off on the next project for Cathi's house. I'll try to be more diligent about blogging, even if it's not that exciting. Thanks for staying tuned...

Lat/Long: 35D 10M 40.79S N 120D 44M 54.34S W

Mountain... Mohammed... Whatever.

2008-08-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

We're heading to Lake Tahoe this morning, so we'll be out for a week. We had to buy a new tent since the little one's zipper stopped working at the White Trash Lake, plus we need to be able to put the B into the tent at night. We put the tent up in the backyard a couple of days ago, and we could literally live in it. I guarantee 8 people could sleep comfortably in this tent. We're also taking The Twins and our 5mm wetsuits with us and planning on doing some fun sailing on the cold cold cold cold lake up there. I read a wind advisory about that lake the other day... 15-20mph winds with 35mph gusts (sometimes this is Lake Travis weather) with the waves up to 3 feet in the center of the lake. CRAZY. I packed the VHF just in case... HAHA!

We'll take lots of pics!! Have a great week!!!!

It's Like a Lake in the Middle of a Farm

2008-07-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have rednecks here in California too. You just have to head a little bit east over these hills, and the entire landscape changes. I hate to admit it, but my brother lives over there. I'm wondering if you are going to be that redneck, you might as well just keep going and move into Texas. It's cheaper down there.

But, this isn't the point of this post...

One of the local Hobie fleets has "Fun Sails" once a month, so we loaded up the truck and took the 2 b's (the boat and the Beemer) to Woodward Reservoir a couple of weeks ago. We had already been warned by my sis-in-law that the place was home to a wide variety of meth-heads and Hispanic parties. She wasn't kidding, but at least the little area we were camped out in wasn't home to either (well, if you don't count the loud Mexican disco music just south of our campsite).

We met a wide variety of people there, many of them from Modesto, and many of them with some teeth ("some" being the operative word here). The temperature hovered around the high 90's most of the time we were there, with the requisite California cooling-off later that night. After setting up our tent (we were the only ones there not in a gigantic RV, bringing back to mind the quote "it's not really getting away from it all if you are taking it all with you"), we set up the Getaway on the beach of the campsite and took off for a sail. This lake is warm, definitely has steady wind, and we were able to spend significant time on one tack, getting the feeling of the boat and how it reacted to gusts and traveling and sheeting the main. After our first sail out, we were informed by the "commodore" of the fleet that we needed to go out and race in the "Toilet Paper Regatta". Being the non-racers that we are, we really didn't want to, but we succumbed and surprised ourselves by coming in 2nd, only to the commodore who was by himself on a very fast Hobie 17 racer.

It dawned on me shortly after we arrived that the womenfolk were minding the campsites and the breadwinning men were the ones doing all the sailing. So, it shouldn't have come to my surprise (but it did) when I hopped on the catamaran, Chris got ready to push us off, and the "vice commodore" (fully decked out in his old swastika tattoo from his Korean War gig) said to Chris, "why don't you hop on the boat, and I'll push you off." Chris told him that I had the helm and we were all set. The guy looks at me, looks back at Chris, then says, "she knows how to sail?" I think the guy was really shocked.

After sailing for about 4 hours, it turned out to be a very long night. The group gathered around the fire, sang songs accompanied by the guitar-playing of the local "professional musician", and roasted marshmallows. I had flashbacks of YMCA camp from my childhood only without the Kum-ba-ya. We hung out because we felt like we had to, but shortly afterwards retreated to the safety of our small tent. We woke up the next morning hearing cows mooing. I'm not kidding.

The highlight of the trip was when we were presented with our 3rd place "trophies" for the Toilet Paper Regatta. We would have come in 2nd, but we didn't participate in one function. The trophy is a piece of wood with an inkjet-printed note glued to the top of it. It's unfortunate that the trophy probably won't make it to my next place of residence, but it's proudly displayed behind my computer at the moment.

A VERY PROUD MOMENT FOR US

All in all it wasn't a bad experience, but it was very strange. I had to start seeing the humor in everything that was happening or I would have lost my mind. We will go back to the lake to go sailing but not likely with that group of people.

We did hear through the grapevine that the "commodore", who owns his own wood building business of some sort in Stockton, built a bomb a couple of years ago and blew up his competitor. He spent 2 years in jail for that one and recently arrived back in the general public again. We concluded that this must be why his kids refer to him by first name.

Would you like a sample while you shop?

2008-07-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just a note to all of you within driving distance of an HEB:

You have it good. That's a hell of a store. Appreciate what you have.

And between me and Lisa D: They don't do samples out here... what's up with that.

Well Blow Me Down or The Twins Ride Again!

2008-07-24T17:01:00.001-07:00

So Wednesday, Kim and I took our new Getaway out to Del Valle Regional Park. We started out low on gas, so Kim was anxious about getting home. When we got to the park, we had to get checked out for mussels (those would be "Quagga Mussels", the same little bastards they checked for at the checkpoint when I was towing Tempus Fugit - T.G.) or something. We had to pay an inspection fee, and if we wanted to come back without paying another inspection fee, therefore not going to any other body of water, they were going to zip tie the boat to the trailer to ensure it hadn't been launched anywhere else. We were a little bummed about the additional charges and the delay, but made friends with the Park Ranger dude.

We rigged the boat in a relatively short while (especially compared to the H17), and launched it with only a slight difficulty (mainly because I didn't rig/raise the main properly at the dock). We took off like a shot once we cleared the dock, and Kim was impressed with the speed of the Getaway. Kim took the helm, and I took the jib sheets, and we practiced tacking all the way up the lake (upwind due to canyon effect). We got to the point where we gave up on the H17 in a third of the time, and proceeded farther up the lake. We saw white caps in a wider area, but were undaunted.

Sure enough, something went wrong, we hadn't gone over how to depower the boat, and the windward hull started to rise like a great white whale out of the sea. Kim un-assed the boat like a Navy Seal diving off of a Zodiac, so the boat continued to go over. I ran uphill to try to flatten out the boat, but the god-damned 303 sunblock I had sprayed on the tramp acted like Teflon, so off I went, stopping suddenly while straddling the submerged shroud.

I made sure she was alright, swam the mast back into the wind and clambered up onto the boat. I told Kim that she'd need to be up here too to help me and said she couldn't climb up. I helpfully grabbed her life jacked and hauled her up onto the bottom hull like a gaffed fish. The other hull was just above us, so we grabbed onto the righting line and leaned out. Splash! We fall in. Meanwhile, we're drifting into the shore, the boat sticks in the mud, so I stand in the water and lift the mast up over my head, into the wind. She's finally back up and we take a breather.

We sail off the muck, and do a few more tacks until I'm ready to go downwind. In ten minutes, we're back at the docks, so I take my turn at the helm and totally botch it up, especially considering I've had a Getaway before. Sigh... So we decide to beach her for another photo op. We have a cocktail and plan our attempt at the docks. Evidently talking things through helps, because we sailed right into the dock, with a little bump on the hulls and I stepped off like I knew what I was doing.

We put the boat back on the trailer, took down the mast and got her ready for trailering, had the worst wraps ever for dinner, and limped home with no gas.

All in all, another great day. We made a lot of mistakes, disscussed things, and learned a lot, and lived to go sailing another day. Kim and I certainly need more practice before we tackle anything like the the Bay (that would be next year or the year after, especially after I get a wet suit - T.G.). We're hitting Woodward Reservoir this weekend with Hobie Fleet 20 to get schooled. Lisa Chapin (a.k.a. "The Lisa") will also be out here in a few weeks to give us some more hands on training. She evidently raced cats in Miami a few years ago.

Some Assembly Required...

2008-07-24T16:51:00.001-07:00

So, Tuesday, Kim and I went down to Santa Cruz mid-morning to meet Jeremy of Surf City Catamarans. After picking up some beer and coffee (depending on your drothers), we started opening large cardboard boxes that evidently had a 2008 Hobie Getaway inside of them.

We glued the aluminum mast to the Kevlar reinforced fiberglass comptip (which reduces attracting lightning, and allows more bend for sail shape). While we let that cure, we slid the crossbars into one hull, slid that assembly into the other hull, and laced up the trampolines. We then attached the wing seats, Hobie Bob, and various parts of the trailer. All the pictures of building the boat are here.

Six hours later, we had a fully assembled Getaway on the trailer, ready to go. We had polished off a twelve pack, and I think Jeremy was pretty happy with us as customers and potential friends. He has practically required us to do the Santa Cruz to Moss Landing Race (which I call the "Half Way to Monterey" race). We've been talking about doing just that, only if we do the race, we'll have safety in numbers, namely chase boats. Kim and I definitely need more sailing practice before we tackle something like that.

So we bid farewell to Jeremy after doing some paperwork, and hit a seafood place he recommended (i.e. "Rock of the Sea"). It turned out to be a mediocre Mexican place, but we passed rush hour in fine style. Kim took us the "scenic" way home, so 2 1/2 hours later (with one end of a sail bag crammed into my crotch), we pulled into Livermore. All in all, a great day...

I've Been Everywhere Man...

2008-07-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Neat video that was forwarded to me about The Republic of Texas. I've been to a lot of these places myself.

Deck: Done Deal!

2008-07-15T17:03:00.001-07:00

The first project Cathi had me work on was her rotted out quarter-round deck on the back of the house, facing the pool. We rented a dumpster, and I spent two wonderful days demo'ing the old deck. Cathi was intrigued by the Trex composite decking, so we ordered a bunch of that and a pile of treated lumber to be dumped onto the driveway about six weeks ago. Working in the Livermore heat has been educational (I actually got a tan through my shirt). Kim has a photo gallery of all of the pics I took as I wrecked and built the deck. Most of which were taken from similar vantage points to give a webcam feel of my progress.

For those of you who might be considering Trex, it's a pretty interesting material. It's made of recycled plastic. It is very dense, gets pretty hot in the sun, and is quite flexible. It's also considerably more expensive than wood. You also have to vacuum up all of the sawdust from the machining operations, as it's plastic. It comes in a variety of colors (gray, redwood, etc.) with more coming out all the time. It has a smooth side and a faux wood grain side, depending on how old school or contemporary you want your deck to look. The good news is no splinters for the munchkins.

I forgot to mention that one of the major design considerations is that the new deck fit perfectly where the old deck was as the previous homeowner poured concrete right up to the wood deck. I think I achieved that pretty well. Cathi wanted more ventilation, since rot is what caused the premature demise of the old deck. She also wanted some lighting, so I strung rope light under each step. The effect at night is pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to dining out on the deck again (we ate out there several times when we first got out there). I'm also looking forward to the first pool party. Several visitors have commented favorably on the deck already.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-07-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, Kim and I are sitting around talking about things we need to do while we're here. The fact that Kim spent all of the Summer Sailstice sitting on a Valiant 42 has been weighing heavily on my mind. She's been promising me that I'd get my chance. Several weeks ago, Kim found a friend, Alex Weinert, an old High School friend, on Facebook and pinged him. Come to find out, he lives in Seattle and owns a Valiant 42 (made in Texas, BTW). Kim pumps the conversation, and soon we're invited to come up and go sailing "someday". I find out that the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival is Sept. 5-7, which Jeff Barger has inspired us to attend. I thought, "What a great thing to do for my birthday this year." Kim tells Alex, and he's all like, "Let's go!"

In the mean time, I've been reading the Valiant Owners' Newsletter I received a few days ago, and Kim mentions that we should go sailing on "Cariad", Alex's Valiant 42. My jaw drops, and I reach over and hand her the printout that I read while I was having my morning coffee the other day. The front page of the Newsletter is Alex's article he wrote about winning the Swiftsure, Division D this year! Alex said we're going to hit Port Townsend on the first day, go sailing the next, and then we can cruise Seattle. Evidently, Alex is doing quite well at Microsoft and has a house on Puget Sound, with his boat in his backyard. Not a bad setup. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about my birthday (9/4/69) this year. This will definitely require a follow up blog. This is why we moved out here. Did I mention that the Valiant 42 is on our short list?

Driving in Hawaii is Cheaper

2008-07-12T08:37:00.001-07:00

This is the sign posted on 7/10/08 from a gas station in San Mateo California, here in the Bay Area, right off of 101/92 and El Camino:

What Happens In Vegas...

2008-07-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

Other than the three-way, getting the clap from the midget prostitute, the narcotics possession charge, waking up in the dumpster, and the trip to the ER, it was an uneventful trip to Vegas...

Carpe Vino

2008-07-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

We picked up 2 wine barrels at our favorite winery, Bent Creek Winery yesterday. The directions from the winemaker had us going through the vineyards down a dirt road, take a left at the creek, and the 2 barrels could be picked up there. They are made of gorgeous french oak. We'll be dismantling them to do some crafty kind of things with them (if you are one of our closest friends or family, you'll know soon enough!). It was cool driving through a vineyard and then driving across town with the wine barrels in the back of the pickup truck. I'm hoping they will let us volunteer at the winery in exchange for the barrels (might as well seize the opportunity while we have it).

Homecoming

2008-07-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention (because of lack of sleep), that the night we went to White Castle, at 4:30am, the front desk called our room to help us settle our "movie" problem. Evidently, some other room was having trouble and we were dialed instead.

OK, so after the last entry on Friday morning, we ran over to the Art Museum. Once again we were afflicted by people yelling at their brats to be quiet in the museum. We even left the Stickley room, it was so bad! We waited until the heat of the day to stroll around the Zoo. It was really nice, and they have added a lot of new attractions since the last time I was there (like a giant rhinocerous beetle that I could wrangle):

Once we found a beer stand that sells "pounders" (16oz), we were in heaven. Fortunately, there was no auto-eroticism or feces flinging going on (I got enough of that in Texas). The St. Louis Zoo is rated the best free zoo in the US. We ran out of time to hit the Botanical Garden, but we checked it out first thing Saturday morning. I really liked the Japanese gardens and the koi lake. It was a very soothing way to start the day. We even gave some herb-growing advice to some fellow visitors. We capped off the day by hitting Rigazzi's on The Hill.

For those of you who may not know, The Hill had most of the five star Italian restaurants in the United States. The Catholic church there is so powerful they made the state of Missouri build crosswalks across I-40 since it was built through the middle of the parish. Also, Zia's Tutto Mare (seafood pasta) recipe is to die for if you're not shy about heavy cream sauce.

We then went over to my old high school buddy's house to stay for the next few days. Mike has an awesome Victorian in the Maplewood section of St. Louis, near where I used to take Aikido and sword. There also happens to be one of the few Penzey's stores just down the street, so Kim and I stopped in and bought several bags of what might appear to be drugs to a TSA agent. Kim took a big whiff of dried jalapenos and about had a seizure.

From there, I gave Kim a tour of my old haunts in St. Louis, Cedar Hill, Rolla, and all points in between. We stopped at St. James Winery, "the largest, by volume, winery in Missouri". Evidently, they're focusing on quantity instead of quality. The "pourer" didn't actually pour. We had to pour our own while he stood behind the bar with his hands behind his back. I wonder if TABC has a branch in Missouri... Check out the fine crystal we were drinking out of! For a while there I didn't know whether to pour wine or whiz in the cup. I think the end result would've been about the same.

We also found out that my college, University of Missouri at Rolla (UMR) has been changed to Missouri University/Institute of Science & Technology (MST, MIST, or MUST, we couldn't figure out the real name). It seems to me they're trying REALLY hard to sound like MIT. We had Imo's pizza after we got back into town:

Sunday took us, including Mike and his son David (aka "Buddha") to Grant's Farm, a really cool petting zoo run by Anheuser Busch. The great thing about Grant's Farm is the free beer you get at the end of the tour. Afterwards, David was ready for a nap, so we dropped him off with his mom and headed on over to Anheuser Busch for the brewery tour.
The best thing about the brewery tour is the free beer you get at the end. It was kind of a theme. Mike made some orange roughy italiano, and we headed on over to Ted Drewe's, quite possibly the best ice cream stand on the planet.

Monday, we went out to the Museum of Transportation. It was mostly a kid kinda thing to do, but I'd been there several times as a kid and wanted to show Kim some of the quintessential things to do in St. Louis.

We then ran over to Schlafly Brewpub to meet Eric, Lisa, their son Miles, Eric's sister Heidi, and her family for lunch. Since we took the scenic route, we were running a little late. Miles immediately recognized us and we sampled a few of Schlafly's finest. From there, we went to go check in to our hotel, the Millenium (which I think used to be Stouffer's Concourse). It's directly between the new Busch Stadium (2.0) and the Arch.

We walked over to the Arch, but the lines were long, and we had Cardinals tickets, so we regretfully left without going to the top. Kim made me promise we'd do it in the morning, so with a much lighter heart, we tooled on over to the game. The Cards spanked the Mets 7-1, so we were in high spirits. I definitely feel the need to mention that the beer prices at the ballpark more than made up for the free beer we had on Sunday. We ended up ordering Imo's pizza delivered to the hotel room for dinner that night, and washing it down with beer from the bar on the first floor. All in all, I think we spent over $100 for the equivalent of a twelve-pack, and it was only Bud-Light!

Tuesday, Kim and I ascended the 630 feet to the top of the Arch and saw a large chunk of Missouri and Illinois from up there. I was pleasantly surprised that our elevator didn't smell like the previous tenant's flatulence, an uncommonly rare occurrence.

Having satisfied almost all of the stops on our itinerary, Kim and I decided to start making our way to the airport, via Gus' Pretzels and the Planetarium, which is evidently now called the Science Center. Kim got some pretzels and hot mustard to take home with us and we ended up running a little late at the airport. We also realized that some stuff we bought at Penzey's and the mustard could not go with us on the plane. Damn terrorists! So we made a charitable donation in order to not be strip searched, thus making us miss our flight.

We arrived safe and sound in San Jose, via Santa Ana and ran over to a local pub to grab some grub instead of fighting the evening traffic. All in all, it was a great trip. It was great to show Kim my roots (not that she can't seem them already), and hooking up with the Drehers made it all worthwhile. Ironically, we're off to Vegas to meet up with Robin on Sunday. Since what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I can't promise a blog on that one. Kim talked with our Hobie dude, and our new baby should be here on the 10th, just after we get back, so I'm sure we'll be heading back down to Santa Cruz to commission her and bring her home. You can expect a blog on that one. I wonder if Kim will name her "The Twins 2.0"...

kim here: Chris forgot to mention we went to West Marine in St Louis, for those of you following our West Marine travels:

All of our St Louis photos are HERE!

Loves to Travel

2008-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Chris here. We spent all day on planes (subjected to other people's brats), or in airports (women in LAX were all wearing high heels). Regardless, beers were $6. Got into St. Louis after midnight CDT, and asked the rental car shuttle dude where the closest White Castle is. We scarfed our belly bombers/sliders comfortably nestled amongst P Diddy, Tupak, Fitty and the rest of the gang, which prompted Kim to ask if we were in a bad neighborhood. I replied that most of St. Louis is a bad neighborhood. The hotel room has that "smoked in" feel. We're off to tackle today's itinerary (i.e. Art Museum, Botanical Gardens, Zoo, etc.), all remnants of the 1904 World's Fair. Since we've already hit Whitey's ahead of schedule, I'm thinking it'll be Imo's pizza today. Will post some pics later. Kim did her usual research and it appears we've added Rigazzi's to the menu, home of the frozen fishbowl beer and the best toasted ravioli in town. It's much easier to buy them than make them from scratch. Have already scheduled the colonoscopy at Kaiser Permanente when we get back.

It Was a Valiant Effort

2008-06-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting my portion of this blog (sorry about that). This day happened before Santa Cruz on Sunday, so please adjust accordingly.

On this past Saturday, Chris had to work at West Marine, and Lisa and I had decided to go to the annual Summer Sailstice on Treasure Island. This event was started by someone here in SFO, and is a global effort to appreciate all there is about sailing. Since it was started here, it's a pretty big deal here (not so much in Austin).

Lisa and I head out early that day, stopping at West Marine in Alameda for our daily visit, then on to Treasure Island ("TI"). TI used to be a Navy base and is now just an abandoned chunk of land in the middle of the bay; it's also the end of the Bay Bridge on 2 sides (ask later if that doesn't make sense). Upon arrival at the TI marina, we saw a lot of larger boats moored out of the marine, and a huge number of them inside the marina. After entering the "event", we stopped and looked at the Boat Building Contest but I was really interested in looking at the big boats that were already built. Lisa spotted the Valiant 42 while we were walking in, and since this is a boat that Chris and I both are interested in living on, I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to see one up close.

The first boat at the marina was a ginormous Beneteau (had to have been 50+). The width of the stern on this boat was at least 14+ feet. There was a Jenneau and a couple of other boats I don't recall, then the Valiant (tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). BEAUTIFUL, all $432K of her (not including taxes and registration).

We went down into the salon, and the broker offered us both beer (it was 10am, but okay if you insist). Gorgeous wood everywhere, and we found out later that it was NOT Bristol Finish, but simple Minwax rub-on Poly. Same stuff Chris uses on his furniture. Both berths were comfortable for me, definitely okay for a 6+ footer (fyi - Rob - note to you). After spending a couple of hours on this boat plus a few minutes pretending I was actually doing something in the galley, I think I could live on this boat, no kidding. Seems that when you get used to living in a small space, any small space will do. This is a very nice small space. And if that weren't enough, the Valiant Sailboat company is located near sunny Lake Texoma (just a little slice of home).

If you have the means, I highly recommend spending some time on a Valiant 42!

After getting off of the Valiant, I said to Lisa I was interested in seeing the Sailtime Hunter 41 that was right next to us (not that I would ever want to have one of these, but Hunter makes product that looks really nice on the outside). As it turns out, the people that were on the boat were the Sailtime base owners in San Francisco, and the same people that gave us the go-ahead to take the big boat out 2 years ago which enabled us to cross under the GG Bridge. They remembered Chris and me and said they would love to take us out sailing. Very cool to run into people you kind of know, but not really, but kind of, but really not.

After leaving the show and walking past the Hanse 50 (this one had a "garage" in the stern where you could park your dinghy), we drove around TI, stopped and watched the current come in (including some sailboats that were sailing up-current but not moving, and those that were sailing down-current and hauling ASS), went back to Jack London Square for lunch, and then wandered towards home. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day with one of my BFF's. Definitely beats shopping, ANY DAY!

Mind If We Smoke?

2008-06-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

It's been REALLY smoky out here, and not in a Texas BBQ kinda way. My bike had ash all over it, and it's been smelling like a neighbor burning trash. Those of you in Bastrop are probably familiar with that. Kim finally figured out why it's been so smoky we could barely see the mountains around here.

Postscript: It's 10:09pm PST, and I heard a bunch of fire engines driving by. Normally I wouldn't care. This time...

Santa Cruz'in

2008-06-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

So, the day I decided to take off this week, we ran down to Santa Cruz. Getting lost last weekend in Santa Cruz really helped, as this weekend, we knew all of the screwey intersections in this little beach community. We ran over to a quaint little Hispanic grocery store and got beer for the day, cash for parking, and some ancho chiles for many of the various recipes Kim makes. We drove directly to the parking lot of Surf City Cats, got our parking ticket, then got tagged for additional parking (evidently, parking is a premium on the weekends in Santa Cruz). We moseyed over to the tent where Jeremy was hanging, waiting to do a couple of deliveries, which means he has to take several people sailing on their new cats. We didn't want to monopolize his time, and he'd already assuaged our concerns about Hobie's delivery problems, completely unprovoked by us. We were just conversating, to get into the whole beach scene. He told us that he only does 2" receivers on the Hobie Getaway trailers, so we'll be good to go on both of our trucks with regards to the Precision & the Getaway.

After that, we tooled on over to the beach, where we saw a bunch of bikini clad wenches, many of whom you wouldn't want to see unclad. We saw a one-class fleet of 5-5's rounding the upwind mark and flying the spankers behind the lighthouse on the beach. We saw a few cats that had launched on the ramp in the parking lot, sail out of the cut into the bay and take advantage of the soft breeze.

I can tell you that it was a sun-factor-10 day on the beach, and that the sky was so blue, it looked dark to us. We could see Monterey in the distance, which made us think of a daysail to Monterey. Come to find out, it's a good 30+ miles, which would mean a good clip on a cat, but it was quite visible across Monterey Canyon (NOAA #18685). It looks like a totally doable daysail, especially when you consider the speed of a cat, but 30 miles is a pretty big deal on a cat. It's 44 miles on Google Maps, by road.

Anyhoo, the sand was hot, the wind was cool, and the water was cold. Factor in the locals considered it a heat wave, we're definitely getting wetsuits to sail Santa Cruz. We talked about beach wheels and Wednesday night beer-can racing on 46 foot sloops with one of the locals in the parking lot. He said he'd hook us up.

We watched a couple of Hobie dudes launch through the surf, then tooled across the beach for a while, then got back in the car, confident that we'd made the right decision to buy a Getaway and hit the beach scene.

We decided to take a more scenic route through the Santa Cruz mountains on the way home, saw a bunch of REALLY big trees and stopped at a mediocre winery. Kim promised much better fare the next time we strolled through. I could only think about towing a catamaran around a highway that makes 2769 on the way to Dodd Street look like a major thoroughfare.

We got back home in time to help with din-din and relate our tale. All in all, it was a great day to not spend at West Marine or building a deck, if you don't have a functional boat within striking distance.

ASS Hunt 2008

2008-06-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Today is the day before the Austin Sailing Society's annual Scavenger Hunt, and this is the first time EVER that we aren't going to be participating. Funny this is that Lisa Chapin is here visiting us, and she was part of our Italian team last year. I had a dream last night that we were sailing past Arkansas Bend and there were no power boaters. I hope all of our Austin sailing friends have a lot of fun tomorrow, and while you are out there dying of heat and guzzling your Bud Light, we'll be thinking of you from the annual Summer Sailstice on Treasure Island. Pictures to come from what's looking to be a very fun weekend for us!