Switching Goals

25. Paddleboard from Crescent Bay to Salt Creek

2012-01-29T21:20:00.001-08:00

This was a lot of work, but pretty rad to be out there in such great conditions. 75 degrees in January with almost no wind; Lina dropped me off at Shaw's Cove and I was on the water by 3:08 and heading south; part of the reason I wanted to do this was to see all the little coves in Laguna. Some of the cool things I saw: girabaldi fish, seals, a pod of dolphins, massive starfish, and a cool place to cliff jump just south of 1000 steps. Perfect conditions and I got some good video on the GoPro. Arrived at Salt Creek at 5:00; plan to do this again.

10. Cook dinner for my family

2012-01-29T21:14:00.001-08:00

Jan 28th is my mom's birthday and a perfect day to cook for everyone. I don't like to cook and I don't do it very often, but this was my chance to do my part. Lina got a case of plantar fasciaitus which is a swollen tendon in her foot from carrying the extra weight of a baby, and a toddler. So she was laid up while I took care of dinner; it was kind of nice to take care of her for a change. I made 5 T-bone steaks, a kale salad with garlic, lemon, and pomegranite seeds, and cubed sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, and olive oil. It was OK, but I'm no Rachel Ray.

21. Take Lina out for a nice lunch

2012-01-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

January 19th is our anniversary, and this year i took the day off to spend it with Lina. We scored a perfect day just like our wedding day: 65 degrees, sunny, and a light breeze. We dropped off Coco at my parent's house and drove to Laguna. Laguna at 12:30 in the middle of the week in the winter is awesome: no traffic, no crowds, just a some old retired people walking on the beach and a couple vagrants here and there. We ate on the patio at the Beach House, had a lobster quesadilla, a burger, and a crab/avocado omelette. Such an awesome day to eat outside. Happy 4 years Lina!

17. Move into a house

2012-01-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

"So I wanted goals

Saw all I needed was a home

With a view of something beautiful

A woman that I trusted

The friends that I grew up with

But that was asking too much

For just us"

-Crime in Stereo

Over xmas break we moved into a house in Laguna Niguel that I don't deserve to live in. But Lina, Coco, and Billy do. I am very grateful for the smart decisions Lina's parents made 20+ years ago, but I think we have the same goal in mind: that Lina and our kids have a safe place to live; Dad will work while Lina raises the fam. And Lina's parents don't mess around: 5 bedrooms, 3 car garage, and a pretty sweet view.

Funny thing, they never lived in this house and have been in it only a couple of times. They bought it as a foreclosure (brand new) through a builder's auction in 1990 and rented it out ever since. But they always had the intention that one of their children would move in and raise their family. So here we are, its great to be home!

18. Get barreled at Gravels before work

2012-01-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

Thursday Jan 5th I finally surfed at Salt Creek for the first time in a year, great timing since I move to Laguna Niguel and it is only 7 minutes from my house. I met up with Matt, tide was high which is good for gravels but the set waves were walled. I almost didn't go out but the in between smaller waves would open up. And gravels freaking heaves barrels, it can be kind of scary first thing in the morning when its still dark. But my last wave was perfect, chest high, I was sitting next to Matt and he was psyched for me. Took off, stalled, and got a 3 second cover up, i love that sound you hear in a barrel, its like a deep, muffled wind sound. Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Man that was fun, and got a quick drive home to take a shower before work. So stoked to live here!

Congratulations Drew Brees

2011-12-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

Today was an historic day for quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. He broke the 27 year old single season passing record held by Dan Marino that niether Peyton Manning nor Tom Brady could reach in their peak seasons.

Drew Brees is one of my all time heroes because of his character, ability to make everyone around him better, and strength to conquer adversity. He brought Purdue to the Rose Bowl his senior year, something they hadn't done since the 60's nor have they done since he left. Touted as being too short to play the position, and after recovering from a career threatening shoulder injury, he is one of the most dominant passers the league has ever seen at only 5'11, a full half foot shorter Peyton or Brady. When his team wins, he ALWAYS makes it about the team, the offensive line, the coaches, and never about himself. When the team loses he takes the blame and works harder than anyone to learn from his mistakes. Married to his college sweetheart with two kids, he embraced the recovery efforts of NO after Katrina through his charity Operation Kids and lives in town near the people that were affected most. A true gentlemen and role model that everybody can learn from. So awesome.

9. Do something exceptional at work

2011-12-22T20:05:00.001-08:00

I never thought I would reach this goal. Sometimes it's hard to notice you are doing something exceptional when you are just doing your job, but it wasn't until today that I realized I have been part of something extraordinary at Oakley over the past several months.

It all starts with one person; the same person that helped me get the job I have now, that taught me how to do it the right way, how to notice trends and to always have checks and balances to verify I am making smart decisions. This person, Bobby Smith, took on a new role as S&OP manager late last year, and has been under continuous pressure to become the savior of our company's long list of supply issues. Several months ago he hired a kick-ass girl named Rhonda, that is smart and diligent and got up to speed with Oakley in about 6 minutes. The 3 of us have been a pretty cohesive team all year.

S&OP is not complicated in theory. Align a sales plan, demand plan, and supply plan as best you can, identify gaps, and make decisions on how fix them. In practice, it is way harder managing those 3 plans down to the SKU/Region level, then wrapping them up in a easy to read package. The S&OP meetings usually suck for me, basically it is a series of executives scrutinizing and criticizing my forecasts: my job, my means to support my family. I take it very personally when I make a mistake and it is noticed, and usually want to kill myself after an hour and a half of being picked apart.

Today was different. At the end of our S&OP meeting, the RX category leader commended Bobby and me for making this category so much more efficient, accurate, and easy to understand. We actually got a round of applause, I was floored and am still high from it. It ALL starts with Bobby, but I'm proud to have been an integral part in making things better. My boss even called me at home tonight and said it was well deserved. Rhonda, I think you can mark this one off your list too.

My WIFE!!!

2011-12-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

November 1, 2004 was Lina's first day at Oakley. I remember when I first saw her I was frozen, speechless (you can tell why by just seeing a picture). After a week I finally got the guts to say hello and I called her Loni. Eventually she forgave me and came out for drinks with me, my sister and some friends. It's amazing how easy it is to be a complete jack ass and avoid common sense all together, I said to her "you still live with your parents, you are so sheltered." She eventually forgave me but then I said "I can't get serious with anyone, I am moving to Tonga to surf my life away." Really, I was an obnoxious dip shit back then. But Lina always saw the potential in me and I always saw her for what she was: smart, sweet, honest, trustworthy, hard working, feircly loyal, graceful, and shockingly beautiful; basically the polar opposite of myself. After 5 or 6 months of mishaps, mostly of me saying stupid things, getting drunk and throwing up on myself, or taking her for granted, I finally shaped up when she told me we shouldn't date anymore. I changed my plans of surfing my life away and starting planning to stay in OC with Lina. I still had to go on my self absorbed 6 week soul searching mission surfing the south pacific, but it was there that I realized I had the best thing in my life at home and knew I wanted to commit to her.

Now, seven years later we have a beautiful 1 year old girl and a baby boy on the way. Think of all the endearing qualities you find in your friends and wrap them into one person. That is Lina. She is the best mom and best wife anyone could ask for. She handles my insane addictions to surfing and mountain biking with a sweet understanding that would make Jesus ask "why are you so nice to him." I remember the day bunker blast wrote that article about me and I came home to Lina wearing an Oakley hat and cheering for me being the best employee ever. Really, I am not that nor half as hard working as she is and just got lucky for doing something my boss asked me to do.

Really though, it is easy to explain. I am really lucky and trying my best to not be a jackass anymore. She is still with me so I must be doing something right...

4. Keep Surfing

2011-12-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Its been really hard to surf before work when the tide is high and the waves are tiny. Why can't every day be like November 29th, 2011. Tuesday dawn patrol at 5:30 AM, low tide, me and Richard were the first two on it and old man John met up with us soon after, recovering well from his prostate surgery. Thanks for the pics John, as always! Pink sunrise and PERFECT chest to head high, lined up walls with a very light crowd. This was one of those days I thanked God that I surf.

14. Get a smartphone

2011-12-14T20:53:00.001-08:00

I am an idiot for not getting one a long time ago. I got an iphone 4 and now I find myself being one of those dousche bags that walks and stares at his phone almost crashing into people in the halls. Oh well, totally worth it to get email at home so I know what I'm in for when I leave for work in the morning.

8. Backyard Enduro

2011-12-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

Words can not express how fun this was. Last year I raced the Lopes Biker Bar Banzai from the top of Santiago Peak to Cooks Corner, over 5000 ft of downhill. BLC was so nervous he took off sprinting, crashed twice and froze up at the bottom of Joplin, so funny. Great concept though and Joplin is no joke, very challenging but very flowy.

I thought it would be a killer event to try for Oakley employees since you can spit and hit the mountain from our office, so I approached my hero Mike Bell with the idea. Mike Bell is the coolest m-f-er on earth, one of the original pro mx racers who is as humble as can be and has the energy level of a teenager; and the coolest scars you've ever seen. He once told me to not put my hands out when I crash but just take it on the shoulder, "if you break your collar bone it heals in 5 minutes." His collar bone is shaped like a pyramid and is probably 3 inches out of place from all the hard falls he's taken over the years.

After 3 months of planning the event kicked off on Dec 9, 2011 with about 40 of Oakley's in house riders with a group climb up maple springs and then a race down Joplin, Santiago Truck Trail, and Luge to Cooks. The race was f-ing chaos with bikes and people crashing everywhere. No one got hurt and personally it was one of the funnest days of my life, i think i was just high from seeing it actually happen. I got 9th. Video and photos coming soon via Hans Arnesen productions, but this was without question the raddest thing i have ever planned.

Xmas pics of our cutie

2011-12-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Lina found a great deal on professional pics. She dressed Coco up in these awesome red Dorothy shoes and the pics are unreal. And today when I got home from work she came running up to me screaming "daddy daddy" with a big smile on her face. I love that.

Lina's New Hobby

2011-12-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

An unlisted goal was to motivate Lina to pick up a new hobby. I bought her a nice camera before Coco was born and it was very worth it. She took a class in Laguna and her first project was silhouettes. She got skills!

22. Keep riding

2011-11-04T21:00:00.001-07:00

Still riding with my cast. Was easier than without it!

7. Take Lina on Vacation

2011-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

2 days in Paso with Coco's cousins and 2 days in Monterey visiting the aquarium, Carmel, and a drive through Big Sur. Super fun and not too far away. I love Carmel and the awesome banzai type trees on the beach.

Ate at a cool place called Baja Cantina in Carmel Valley, great outdoor patio.

3. Take Coco to Monterey Aquarium

2011-11-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

The aquarium is a great place for kids of all ages. The blue water easily catches your eye, even a one year can sit still and stare at the fishies for a while. Fun trip, and Coco seemed to have a good time. 3 hours without one little weep.

1. Teach Coco to Walk

2011-11-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

This one is kind of cheating, because it was going to happen. But it happened so fast. The week before she turned 1, she could take 3 steps and would crash. By the time she turned 1, she was running into the kitchen to open all of the droors. She is pretty independent, and usually throws my hand away when I try to hold it. She is telling me "I got this dad."

4. Keep Surfing

2011-10-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

S0 my scaphoid is still broken, even after 10 weeks. It is the stupid bone in your wrist that never heals because it doesn't get any blood. But with a cast on, I can keep doing almost anything without issue. I haven't surfed this much since I lived in Newport in 2005 when I could see the waves from my house; these days I'm catching better waves and doing it with some good friends. I had my cast removed for a couple days in preparation to get a screw put in my wrist. After I heard my doctor was going on vacation for 2 weeks, I had a cast (my 4th one) put back on so I can keep surfing and keep riding. There is a guy named John that is out at uppers every morning at the crack of dawn; he blogs about his sessions and includes pics of each day. This was one of the best days this fall, September 14th, a cool sunny morning with a light crowd and perfect chest to head high waves. Found out today John has prostate cancer but is having surgery tomorrow (Oct 18) and is supposed to have a complete recovery in about 6 weeks. Good luck John, hope to see you at Uppers soon.

Check out the array of cast colors I have gone through:

20. Get a cool new haircut

2011-10-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

I went to a barbershop called Hawleywoods in Costa Mesa and got a rockabilly pompadour cut. Kind of a classic 50's greaser cut like Elvis used to wear. The barbers name was Eli and he was really meticulous, took an hour to cut my hair and they gave me a Pabst. The finishing touch was a straight edge razor he used to clean up aroundthe ears and neck. Really nice work.

2. Take Coco in Ocean

2011-10-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

There is something about the ocean that does it for me. I'll find myself being the only adult bodyboarding with a bunch of pre-adolescent children and it doesn't bother me. I love the smell and the taste of the water, and getting that salt burn on my tongue. I love ducking under waves and riding the ones that slam me into the sand. I love it when salt water comes out of my nose 5 hours after I got out of the water.

I don't know if Coco will feel the same as me, but the least I can do is introduce it to her; so before she even turned 1 Lina and I gave her the chance to get wet and I think she liked it. Looking forward to spending a lot more time with her in the water.

45. Ride other Downieville Trails

2010-06-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

I went to Downieville and didn't ride any of the "other" trails besides the classic Butcher Ranch to 3rd Divide route. In my defense all of the "other" trails like Big Boulder and Pauley Creek were all covered in snow and the main trail is just so freaking fun.
This trip all began with my neighbor Matt Bettino, whose friend Kurt from highschool works for Rocky Mountain bikes. Kurt goes up to Downieville every June to demo some new bikes and ride the insanely fun downhill run that resides in this part of the Sierras. I tagged along with his crew last year and this year I brought a few of my buddies with me: BLC, Colin, and Johnson. We charged up there in Johnson's dope Subaru Outback XT and we somehow loaded 4 bikes, all our camping gear, all our bike gear, and 4 stinky dudes comfortably for the 550 mile drive up to Downieville. Leaving OC at 4:30 on a Thursday equals getting trapped in stupid traffic in LA. I hate LA! After a nice, long, straight drive up the 5, we finally arrived in Downieville at 3 AM, set up a tent in about 2 minutes in the dark and passed the F out. Woke up at 7 AM to pounding rain, which wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't leave our bags laying outside and the Skybox wide open during the night. It was supposed to be clear and 85 degrees but you never know what you are gonna get in the Sierras. Which is beautiful by the way: pine trees everywhere on endless mountains, a huge flowing river, and still lakes that look like mirrors when the afternoon winds die down.
Lets not forget the mountain biking. 15 miles of flowing, tree covered, bermy, rocky, rolly perfection. And we were booking, I think Johnson hit mach 1 while flying down the buffest single track on earth, the 3rd divide trail. The trails were still pretty wet from all the stream crossing, snow melt, and light rains from Friday. Just epic, and the whole crew loved it. We got 4 sick runs in with no crashes, charged a nice hike to upper Sardine Lake, we got to watch the US lose to Ghana at the only bar in town full of salty locals, and we attended a very entertaining mountain biker raffle give away stocked with strong beers and crazy characters having beer chugging and tire pumping till it pops competitions. We saw a dude with a chin beard that was about a foot long. We also ate 2.5 fire cooked bratwursts a piece that wreaked havoc in our tent later that night. Like I said, 4 stinky dudes.
Another quick weekend come and gone but a lot of fun was had. Can't wait to go again next year. Oh yeah, and Flat Stanley was there too...

Introducing Flat Stanley

2010-05-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Flat Stanley project was a created by a teacher for kids to make connections with other kids involved in the project. Flat Stanley is a paper cut out that kids would take with them to some of the cool places they go or fun activities they do, kind of like the gnome prank from Amelie. I developed my own Flat Stanley for my 50 in 500, and it is my green Volcom hat Lina gave me for Christmas. I realized that I've had it in most of the trips on my BLOG, so I'm planning to keep it that way and bring my Flat Stanley to all the cool places I go and fun things I do. Italy, check.

My boss Todd's Flat Stanley is the rocker horns, which he attempts to show in 99% of the pictures taken of him. Here we are in Venice with our Flat Stanleys.

2. Give Back to Cal Poly

2010-05-06T11:01:00.001-07:00

So I thought about it and figured the best way to give back to my alma mater Cal Poly was not to give it money (6 years of tuition was enough), but instead to share the knowledge I have gained working at Oakley for the past 7 years. I'm sure they would prefer money.
Cal Poly Industrial Engineering Lecturer Karen Bangs used to be my boss's boss at his old company. I volunteered to go back up to SLO and give a presentation about Demand Planning to her supply chain class since he wouldn't be able to go. You never have to twist my arm to go back to SLO for anything, and coupling this with the Wildflower race made it a no brainer. And it gave Lina and Audrey the chance to check out the biggest Forever 21 clothing store in the world!
So I developed a presentation but mostly winged it. I told them I had the public speaking skills of a 13 year old so they're expectations were low, then I blabbed about how being a demand planner is awesome because you are heavily involved in several levels of the business, and you have a lot of control over it's success by developing the proper supply. I think the students understood what I had to say, you never know though as there are always a few kids yawning and sleeping the whole time. I may have gotten a couple dudes interested in mountain biking too, but hopefully some of them want to go into demand planning after they graduate. I enjoyed being in front of the class and it just instills the desire to become a teacher that much more. All in due time I guess. It was also pretty cool to cruise around the school like in the old days, but some of the students look so young. I get older and they stay the same age man.
In addition I got go for an awesome MTB ride with my bro-in-law Robby. He lives in Paso with Lina's sister Tina and their 2 daughters Presley and Piper. We rode this wonderful trail called Morning Glory, that drops from the radio towers on top of Cuesta Grade at about 2500 ft. down at least 1000-1500 feet to the top of Poly Canyon. The trail is the closest thing to a dirt and rock rollercoaster as you can get, with bermed turns, small jumps, and mini rock drops that you can ride 50 mph through. One of the funnest trails in the state if you ask me. Also, you can see the great views from the trails out there, with SLO in the distance behind me. Freaking awesome, and 95% of the people in SLO don't even know these trails are here, I know I didn't while I lived there.

10. Beat 59 minutes at Wildflower MTB Triathlon

2010-05-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

This one was harder than I expected. My training regiment this year included a decent amount of MTB/run sessions during my lunch break where I would ride Whiting and immediately transition to running shoes and do a 2.25 mile run around the Oakley building. I did no swim training which is probably the reason I couldn't break 59 minutes.

Here's how it went down, Wildflower is considered the Woodstock of triathlons, its a big festival with 3 different race lengths and like 7000 competitors. The MTB tri is the shortest and sells out the fastest (1000 competitors) as people that just want to try a triathlon do this one first. While the pros compete in the long course (half iron man) and a lot of amateurs do as well (because they are insane), the MTB race is short and fast and has competitors of all levels. In fact, I finished my entire race, ate lunch, caught up with friends, and took a nap all while my friend Gabe did the bike leg of his long course race (that would be 56 miles of road bike hell). The MTB tri is a .25 mile swim, a 10 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run; sounds easy but isn't when you are trying to sprint the whole thing.

So it was a lot of the same old guys I've seen there the past 2 years, old surfer buddies from college that are doing this for fun like me, and they stay and camp and party all night (not like me). Last year I sucked so bad going 1:03.44, a full 4+ minutes slower than the year before. This year I was more prepared, and I had a sweet 29er hardtail I borrowed from my friend Andy. The bike weighed about 25 lbs and was faaaast, I almost didn't have to pedal. I did the swim this year wetsuit free, which was advantageous in the transitions and the water was not that cold. I felt alright, but was trying to cruise so I wouldn't get too tired for the bike. I was about 40 seconds slower than my first year, but I shaved that time and more in the transition. Then to the bike, I was smoking fools as I was only passed by one guy and I must have passed 500 on my way through the 2 lap course. Thank you Andy. When I got to the transition for the run, the was no one around me, the people ahead of me were too far to catch up to and no one was chasing me down so I cruised the run (I was hurting pretty bad). But with Lina there as my good luck charm, I saw her working so hard to take pictures of me that I was able to pull through and break the hour mark at 59:50. Close enough to my goal to be satisfied, and I placed 4th in my age group and 11th overall and was definitely the fastest out of all my friends (take that!). Come to find out that top 3 get some sweet plaques so I have a new goal for next year: Top 3 whatever it takes!!!

In addition, my sister Audrey tried the race for her first time. Although she was a good swimmer in high school, the open water swim got the best of her and she didn't enjoy it. Then turns out she doesn't like mountain biking as she hates going downhill. Unfortunately, she missed the turn for the 2nd lap of the bike leg and got disqualified. She still did the run, not knowing she missed a lap on the bike and ran it faster than me at just barely over 7 min miles. Turns out she is a really fast runner and plans to stick to running races where she can dominate!

31. Ride with the Laguna Rads

2010-04-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

Although my intentions were to ride with the Laguna Rads on a Wednesday night sprint ride in Laguna, this was a great way to get to know a couple of the guys and ride a new trail out above Rancho Mirage and Palm desert.
The Rads are the original mountain bikers from Laguna Beach. One of the guys, Turbo, built most of the trails I love to ride and some I've never heard of. They meet every Wednesday night during daylights savings and do sprint rides through Laguna and Aliso. I still need to do this.
So this ride we did in the desert was sweet. 6000 ft of decending with 2000 ft of climbing. Normally wouldn't be too hard except it was 90 degrees and we had the best mountain biker in the world setting the pace, Brian Lopes. I think I had my heart rate up to 200 bpm at one point. The ride was sweet, beneath the rocky, dry peaks of Idyllwild mountains with awesome views of the Coachella valley. We had a big group of 11 guys, one of them was even the personal chef for Phil Mickelson, I thought that was pretty cool. The trail was mostly swoopy single track, not too technical but it had some fun ups and downs like a rollercoaster with rocky switchbacks and some steep rocky shoots that my bike handled like a dream, even with a broken seatpost. One of the local guys we rode with basically had only one finger on his left hand. He had both brakes on the right side and was able to grip the left side with just one finger. He freaking ripped, and was basically one handed!! The views were amazing and the ride was really fun, even though a couple of the leaders were going too fast and turned on the wrong trail for a couple miles. The last part was the best as we dropped down a steep technical rock section that had everyone on their toes, except Lopes who was about a mile ahead of us.
Just about everyone ran out of water on this 30 mile whopper in the 90 degree sun, so we were all thirsty beyond all sense. I drank 3 delicious beers like they were water as we chilled on the grass of our tour guide's Mike's house. The best part of the trip, believe it or not was the dinner. Mike turns out to be the owner of Wally's Desert Turtle Restaurant, literally the best restaurant in the Palm Springs area. I had the rack of lamb with herb potatoes and vegetables and it should have cost me a lot more than it did! The whole group was stoked and another cool tidbit, Mike is a big wave surfer that tows into monster waves in Baja. in addition to being a ripping mountain biker at age 57. This dude is my hero. The whole experience was pretty awesome, and the trail is definitely a spot i'd like to revisit... next time in Janruary.

Take Lina to San Diego

2010-04-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's pretty easy to forget sometimes how awesome the beach towns of San Diego county are. Only 45 minutes away are the long stretches of white sand beaches of Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Del Mar where you can get some pretty fun waves without the aggressive strain of young punk rich kids clogging up every peak. Even though the waves aren't as good as my normal spot Uppers (not many waves are), I was able to find a nice stretch of beach that offered some fun shoulder high beach break with a light spread out crowd of old dudes. On top of that, I was able to get Lina away from our house and into some fresh ocean air.
We stayed at a cheap little hotel in Leucadia, named the Ocean Inn. It was OK, but really nothing special. They did have whirlpool tub that Lina enjoyed as she's been wanting to soak in a bath forever. While she soaked the bathwater, I soaked the Ocean water at a spot called Grandview. I actually scurried down the beach for a few hundred yards to a break called Avocado. The scenery was great, old cliffside houses perched on the bluff, all with private staircases down to the sand. Some had katamarans tied down on the cliff, but they were covered in ivy so I guess they were more for decoration. Anyway, waves were fun and the trip was relaxing and it reminds me how awesome San Diego is and how nice it would be to live there.
Check out the pic of Lina, 3 months pregnant and not really showing much yet. By the end of May, I'm expecting at least a cantelope sized stomach!

1. Have a Child

2010-04-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

I can't take this one off my list yet but the good news is we are on our way. On April 12th Lina and I had a first trimester ultrasound. It was awesome! Lina is currently about 13 weeks pregnant with our first child.
The whole experience was pretty surreal. The doctor splattered some clear jello on her stomach and placed a small device on top and presto, we were looking at our 13 week old baby that is about the size of a large Cheetoh. The last 2 months have been tough for Lina physically with all the morning sickness and nausea, but she lit up like a bon-fire when she saw the baby. So proud and excited to be a mommy. Everything checked out normal and healthy so that was a relief, and the doctor was impressed with how active the baby was. Gonna take after its father! We even saw it put a hand towards its mouth, trying to suck its thumbs like aunt Audrey! What an awesome experience this was and we even got a couple ultrasound pictures to keep. This is a goal I will keep updating as the baby and Lina both grow. Wahooooo!

49. Ride Los Pinos and take pics

2010-04-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

Awe man, I forgot my camera! Oh well, I can still divulge the conquering of my 49th goal of riding Los Pinos, a local trail in the Santa Ana mountains. The mountains that stare me in the face everyday on my drive to and from work and just beg to be ridden. There are tons of awesome trails up there that are flowy, challenging, insanely fun, and have the sweetest views of all of southern California. I found a dude's website that had some good pics that do not justify but at least give you a taste of the awesomeness of this trail.
Los Pinos peak hangs at 4510 feet, and it is the 4th tallest peak in the range. We were lucky to have my sister Audrey drive us up and take the car back home so we didn't have come back to get the car when we were done. Although this is a shuttle run, you start at about 3000 ft and have to climb "the wall" for about 1000 ft and then hike your bike for the remaining 500 to get to the top. My buddy Justin and I got an early start, on our bikes before 7:30 AM where we were greeted by 45 degree weather and low clouds flying through the mountain range. It was beautiful, and we could still make out the bigger mountains of the area through the clouds.
After about 45 minutes of hard work, we made it to the peak and were rewarded with great views and the anticipation of an exciting downhill. The trail itself traverses across a ridgeline taking you down and up 14 separate peaks. The pic on the right is one of the hills we had to go up. The trail is filled with loose rocks and water bars that double as sweet jumps, keeping the trail challenging and really fun. My initial thought was this ride would take 4 hours but we mobbed it in 2, swiftly flowing through every downhill with unbroken continuity and slowly pushing up each peak in anticipation of the next run of fun downhill. The final decent ends with some really tight switchbacks and rock stair cases that flow into carpet like dirt all the way into Lazy W. Ranch camp, just .5 miles from where we parked the car at the San Juan Trailhead.
It was an awesome ride and one I want to at least 3 or 4 times a year. It is less than an hour away from my house!

48. Mountain Bike Moab, Utah

2010-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Every mountain biker needs to make at least one trip to Moab. After the first time any rider goes he most likely tells himself he has go back. At least once a year. Or more if he has the time. The only issue is it is pretty far from home.
I had the pleasure of traveling with a really fun crew of rippers on this trip, including BLC, Colin, Johnson, Justin, and Ryan. We borrowed Lina's parents sweet Chevy Express XL van that is about 40 ft. long and can fit 17 passengers more comfortably than a 747. We fit 3 bikes inside, 3 bikes on a hitch outside, all our gear and everyone still pretty much had their own bed for the long drives to and from Moab.
We split the driving all the way there. While everyone was sleeping on the 1-5 AM shifts, Ryan earned some OT pay and drove a double shift through dumping snow near Bryce Canyon. We were cruising at about 40 mph, just trying to keep the van straight while a Mack Truck going about 80 downhill came barreling down behind us. Unsure of what lane he was, really because you couldn't see the lane line underneath the 4 inches of snow, we pulled to the right of the truck 2 seconds before it was about to crush us like a bug. Poor Ryan almost wet himself as most of the crew snored unknowing of their near death experience. Thank you Ryan for saving our lives!
A few hours later we arrived in Moab, and it was cloudy, cold, and wet. But that would not slow us down. After a BOMB breakfast and at least 1 coffee fueled trip to the john a piece, we hit the closest trail to Moab that seemed to have the best weather conditions: Amasa Back. While we were preparing to ride it was about 40 degrees with 30 mph winds blowing sideways rain, splatting us on our bare limbs while we quickly lathered on our warmest bike gear.
We finally started riding and as we hit the trail head all my fantasies of Moab mountain biking were realized within the first 20 seconds of riding: the entrance to Amasa was a playful yet heavy set of ledgy rock rollers leading to a 3 ft. drop, turn a corner to roll down a couple more steep rocks into the beautiful red dirt that makes Moab famous. Awesome! Then the climbing began, all the way to the top of amasa peak in the rain cruising through slick rock (not slick even in the rain) and red dirt (very red especially in the rain).
The ride back down was just a taste of how fun the place is. Rolling rock ledges and small drops that can all be taken at high speeds. Just so fun and everyone in our group cleared the trail like they had ridden here 10 times before. When we finally got back to the van where the cold beer was awaiting, we noticed these funny shaped mud streaks on our backs.

After a couple technical issues we had to hit up a local bike shop for repairs. On the way to the hotel we were unfortunately slammed into from behind by a hopeless young kid joyriding in daddy's truck. No licence but at least dad had insurance info in the glovebox. He f-d up Colin's bike pretty badly so back to the shop for more repairs. Everything ended up OK although it was an eventful day.

Day 2: Porcupine Rim. The trail that made Moab famous was so awesome. High speed rocky downhill filled with short rock gardens and awesome drops and hits all flowing together for 12 miles. Not to mention the first 2 miles were cruising through snow and wet rocks (still not slick) with amazing views of the La Sal mountains and numerous Moab canyons and cliffs. Looked liek the tazmanian devil would be right at home. We spent hours on this trail having the time of our lives and enjoying the scenery. I was following the ultimate ripper Johnson down most of the trail. He has an eye for the best sections of trail and I just followed his lead. It was epic.
After lunch, a couple Pabst BRs, and a chillout session playing our Gorillaz theme song for the 24th time we hit the equally famous Slick Rock trail. Thinking it was going to be mellow, it combined short spurts of insanely steep downhills with even more insanely steep uphills. Mountain biking is taxing and it was truly exhausting to get through this 10 mile loop. But so fun!

As quickly as our trip started, it ended and we had to make the 700 mile journey back home. We made a quick pit stop at delicate arch to take in the awesome scenary of Moab. I am coming back soon, staying longer, and riding more. Woo hoo!!!!

Get Bobby to take cool pics Mountain Biking

2010-01-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Although not technically on my list, this is something my boss Todd and I have been trying to get Bobby to do for a while. Bobby does not having any technical training for photography, but he has an eye for taking great shots; he's a natural and has a sweet camara. He is also a genius that got a 3.0 at UCLA while not attending class, ever (maybe it was a science experiment) and is absolutely fearless while giving presentations to executives at Oakley. The guy is the man.

Anyway, Todd got some buddies together including HSBF Andy, neighbor Eric, Crazy Corporal Steve, and el Jefe Steve. These pictures do no justify how fun mountain biking is. If you haven't tried give it a shot, it's great exercise with an added thrill factor you can take as far as you want!

15. Reorganize my garage

2010-01-10T19:49:00.000-08:00

A boring but easy one, over Christmas I dialed in our Garage. Look at all the room, maybe we can rent it as an extra bedroom.

7. Put new hardware on our kitchen cabinets

2010-01-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Lina and I upgraded our kitchen back in late August when we got new granite counter tops and awesome tumbled tile backsplash. It looks awesome. Not a week has gone by where Lina didn't hint she wanted some hardware installed, I waited so long that it became her number 1 gift on her Christmas list. So while my dad was visiting, he helped me line everything up and install the hardware. Check out the before and after. Merry Xmas Lina!

8. Surf with Dan Crawford and Meet Warren and 12. Surf Rincon

2009-11-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

5:00 AM... Every morning lately has felt the same; I can't beleive I have to get up already. At least this day wasn't for work but for a quick weekend trip up to Santa Barbara and Jalama to camp with my neighbor Matt, meet up with my old college buddy Dan Crawford, and surf, surf, surf.

The weekend starts off with about 15 phone calls to my buddy Kalvin Chalker, who's supposed to be my partner on this trip. I was waiting in front of his apartment complex at 5:45 AM; with each call reaching the same result. No answer. I thought he may have had a late night at the bars so I bailed to meet up with Dan in SB.
Within 15 minutes I get a call from Kal. He slept through his alarm and his ringer was off. I knew this trip was going to be way better with him involved so I swooped back around to pick him up. We had 5 surfboards for 2 people for 2 days of surfing. To be honest, you never know what you're gonna get up there: SB could be 1 ft and Jalama could be 10...

A trafficless drive and we arrive at the UCSB police station at about 8:00. Crawford is a cop for the University; he was still working doing a write-up for a potential drowning in Isla Vista. IV is the best place in the world if you are a drunk college student looking to get an STD, and the worst place in the world if you are anybody else. Crawford has the craziest stories I've ever heard... they are so bad that I'm not going to divulge. Anyway, Kal and I hit up Naples for a quick surf. You have to run across the freeway then hike for about 2 miles to get there, but it's worth it. Dan caught up with us pretty quick and we all caught some pretty fun chest high waves with a very light crowd.

After our surf Kal and I bought a couple tall boys and played a game of Frisbee golf at the local course. We both kinda suck but its a great way to kill an afternoon. We met this stu named Jacob. He was majoring in Religious Studies, Antropology, and Hebrew; any guesses what he's gonna be when he grows up? He asked us if we burn and we both said no. He was pretty good at frisbee golf and schooled both me and Kal. He was a nice Heeb.

After a failed attempt to surf Naples again, we had it in our minds that Jalama was going to be 10 ft and pumping perfect barrels. We both thought Matt was scoring epic waves so we charged up there at about 90 MPH. Jalama! Jalama! Jalama! We finally got there and it was crumbly blown out chest high garbage. I have to say, the landscape on the drive up was nothing to complain about.
At least we had some cool guys to hang out with up there. If you have never been to Jalama, I will tell you it is the windiest place in California. It is perched right above Point Conception where artic currents from the north meet sub tropical currents from the south. This equals 30+ MPH on shore winds at all times that will blow the top off your tent in the middle of the night. I slept about 15 seconds while Kal snored like a bear. He is a more seasoned camper than me.

The next morning we woke up to EPIC crappyness: waist high sloppy onshore garbage. Kal and I met up with Dan and Abby for brekky in Lompoc and I got to meet Warren, his new mini me. Looks just like him. Warren sucked boob, took a crap, and fell asleep all in 5 minutes. Well done young man!

The final stage of our journey was the most unexpected surprise of our trip. We stopped at Rincon on the way home, thinking it would suck since Jalama was so bad. For those of you who don't know, Rincon is considered the BEST wave in California. Even when it isn't breaking it is so crowded you are lucky to get 2 or 3 waves in a 2 hour session. But this was the day. An unexpected windswell was hitting and there were head high sets with only 40 guys. Sounds like a lot, but isn't. I must have caught 20 waves, most of them connecting to the inside passed all the longboarders. There was one perfect head high + set rolling through and I was by myself waiting for it to come to me. No jockying for postion, no sweating someone inside of me, it was HEAVEN! Kalvin was scoring too on his new Bonzer he picked up for $60. He got a nice barrel at indicators then got vibed by a salty old local.

So the weekend ended with a 3 hour session surfing the best wave in California. I wish every weekend could end like that. Now home to my lovely wife. Life doesn't suck.