Forty - cuarenta - quaranta - vierzig - 40

I had a birthday this month, and not just a little birthday, this was the big 4-0.  A few days before my birthday the Associated Press published an article “Things that turn 40 in 2014.” On that list were things like, oh, cel phones, the ATM machine, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album was released…that’s enough to put it all in perspective. 

On the Saturday before my birthday I was heading to Matt and Renee’s house to feed their cats while they were out of town, with dinner planned shortly after that with our friends Mike and Marin.  I pull up in the empty driveway and open the dark house, head out to the garage for the cat food only to be surprised by 25 of my closest friends.   It was all a huge surprise for me, and an excellent one at that.  It had all the makings of a great party…good friends, appetizers, beer and shots of Fireball, ping pong and air hockey, a piñata and just to ensure a successful party, my own taco truck.  Chandos Tacos, one of our favorites at the monthly taco truck nights in Roseville, was sitting in the driveway churning out all-you-can-eat tacos to us happy taco patrons.   I have the best wife ever, she sure knows how to make me happy.  There were some excellent gag gifts too, including custom-made plasti-dipped bi-focus safety glasses, something every 40-year man with a garage needs.  

Sweet new bi-focus safety glasses with anti-loss chain

chili pepper pinata

Not everyone liked the mix of Fireball and Smirnoff Iced Cake flavored vodka. (Who's idea was that anyway?) 

The taco truck awaiting us.

My alternating Fridays off have afforded me some time for some projects around the house.  I helped Stuart add power to his 4Runner in the form of a new TRD Supercharger and he in turned helped add power to my garage in the form of a 240V outlet for a new charging station for our Nissan Leaf.   The electrical service panel is on the outside wall of the garage, so we simply cut a hole in the sheetrock in the garage, pulled some 6 gauge wire from the service panel through the new hole , installed the outlet box and wired the outlet and landed a new breaker.  I had some gutter cleaning to do, which became pretty obvious last week when it rained and all of my gutters were overflowing.  I seam-sealed the driveway, mowed the lawn for the first time in about six weeks, leaf cleanup and finally dove into our taxes, oh joy.

Speaking of the Nissan Leaf, I am thoroughly enjoying this car.  It is such a pleasure to drive and we have used it for virtually all of our driving.  The car keeps track of our driving automatically, and from January 18 (day of purchase) to today February 18, we have logged 1,172 miles and burned 276.5 kilowatts of electricity.  At 10.8 cents per kilowatt, the cost for driving that 1,172 miles would be $27.65, but we have done most all of our charging for free at the public chargers at my office and near Hanna’s office.   Electric cars are the future; I can already see it.

We hiked Hidden Falls Regional Park (must come back here for mountain biking) and an unmarked trail that looks down on the American River from Ponderosa Road out of Colfax.  I also noticed a single track mountain bike trail off Highway 20 just outside of Nevada City that I need to investigate.  (And yes, us 40-year old people need to write stuff like this down so we will remember.) 

2014 already?

Happy New Year!  Now I realize just how long it has been since my last update, and quite frankly, I have no idea what I've done in the past two months.  I recall high-60 to low-70 degree days in January when it should be raining, which enabled bike riding, a hike near Clear Lake, a trip out to Folsom Lake to see historic low water levels, oh, and Christmas and New Years fell in there somewhere.  I usually have a series of on-going house projects but lately all I have done is build a Trex patio extension in the backyard.

A few months back I changed my work schedule from a standard 40 hour work week to 9 hour days with every-other Friday off, which has been really nice.  And recently I went a step further to spend more time at home and less time at work.  I have taken public transportation to work the entire seventeen years I have worked at my job.  Much of that is due to my office's busy location down near the State capitol, and I sort of took my time for granted and accepted public transit as a part of my life.  I finally came to the realization that I was losing an hour each day either riding my bike or driving to a park and ride and waiting for a bus to take me downtown.  Same story going home.  In short, I leased an electric car for the next 3 years to get me to and from work.  It's a 2013 Nissan Leaf, which is not only my first electric car, but it's also my first new car ever.  The car commute means I get home more than a full hour sooner than before.  For someone used to cycling every day and taking public transit, this feels like complete freedom to be able to run errands on my way home or stop and see friends, without first having to come home and change out of bike shorts.

The car is really fun to drive.  It accelerates quickly without making any noise, it handles well, it is so high tech it feels like a little spaceship.  I can set a timer on the car so the cabin is pre-heated for me in the morning before I get in, it has navigation that shows you how far you can go on your current charge, where to find charging locations and it even tells you how many of the chargers are being used and how many are available.  I can check the range of the car remotely on my phone, tell it to turn on the AC or heat if I'm about to head out, but probably my favorite feature right now on these 40 degree mornings is the heated steering wheel.  I still love my bikes, but I love them even more when I *want* to ride them, rather than *have* to ride them.

The Leaf is rated at 129 miles per gallon 'equivalent,' but obviously it doesn't have an engine so it burns no fuel at all.  I can charge the car for free at work and Hanna has free public charging next to her office as well.  I also get to hog the carpool lane with the Prius's and drive like I'm entitled because I'm destroying the environment slightly less than those around me. 

It doesn't look like much; I kind of feel like I need a license plate frame that says "my other car isn't this lame" or "my other car is a truck."

Please note, I didn't buy white again.

Spaceship interior

And finally, if you ever had any doubt whether or not electric cars are catching-on, just take a look at the top of the parking garage at work:

In that photo are 20 Nissan Leafs, 2 Ford Focus electrics and a Chevy Volt (partial electric).  These cars are the future...

Fridays off and new attic storage

Let's talk garages and storage.  I have a two car garage with two cars inside, and it is getting very tight.  Like "good luck getting out of your car with a cup-of-coffee-tight."  The 4Runner has a kayak and those plastic crates from Home Depot full of stuff just inches away from the passenger side, so no getting in on that side without pulling out.   I cleared the boxes away from the other side since Hanna drives daily, but it's a squeeze for her too.


The cat doesn't seem bothered by this at all.

Blogging/social media help requested

I could use some help with my blog and social networking.  I really enjoy having the this blog for several reasons, one of which is the ability to share pieces of my life with my friends and family and anyone interested enough to read.  I enjoy having it for personal reasons, as it often serves as a diary for me to remember things I've done and generally how I spend my time.  I love to take photos, even though I have no talent or skills, the blog is a great way for me to share those photos.  But the downside of the blog is the lack of feedback.  I expect no one to go to the trouble to login to google to post a comment every-time I post a lousy photo or write about replacing door handles in my home, that is entirely too much work.  But I do wish there was a way to know people are reading.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but as much as I HATE facebook, it does have only one really redeeming feature--if I'm traveling and post a photo, I admit it is pretty rewarding to see people "liking" the photos, giving you the simple feedback that people are there and watching.  So how do I incorporate a quick feedback mechanism into my blog?  Should I be using a different tool than blogspot, and if so, what?

Austria & Slovenia photo preview

Here is a link to my photo album of Austria, including Vienna, Melk, Salzburg and Hallstatt.
Austria photos


Here is a link to the album with photos from Lake Bled, Slovenia.  Ljubljana, Slovenia photos coming soon.
Slovenia photo album

Utah and New Mexico road trip, Part 4

Thursday, October 10, 2013
Finally found some time to write about the final leg of our Utah trip.  I know some time has passed since this trip, and we've done vacations since this one, but we had some neat experiences I wanted to share.

We had spent the night in Gallup, NM and our goal for the day was to make it to Albuquerque to catch up with Hanna's brother Eric and his fiancee Serena.  Along the way we diverted off I-40 to check out the Arch at El Malpais.  Guess what we saw there?  Yup, an arch. 

It was incredibly cold at the arch.  We walked up the base, blinked a few times, then ran back to the car.

Back on I-40, the wind persisted and we noticed a massive dust cloud ahead of us.  We soon came to realize that what we had just witnessed was a trail derailment.  I held the shutter down and captured a series of images.

Going, going...

...gone.

We later learned that the train cars, which were stacked two-high, were empty and a strong gust of wind pushed them over while the train was moving.  No one was injured.

We went to the National Nuclear History Museum in Albuquerque, did a hike up Sandia Peak, then on to Eric and Serena's mountain-top home in Placitas, NM.

Friday, October 11, 2013
After spending the night at Eric and Serena's neat southern style home, we woke up early and headed out to a random parking lot in Albuquerque that was the designated launch site for our hot air balloon ride.  The hot air balloon festival has a huge following in the area and as many as 1,100 hot air balloons have showed up for the event.

My Dad and my step-mom Kathy were in the area on an RV trip across the west coast and met up with us to watch us take off.  Eric and my Dad and Kathy all followed the chase van and were able to capture some fun photos of us in the air.  I will post those photos at a later date.
The hot air balloon company unrolled our balloon from the trailer, used to large gas-powered fans to start the inflation process, and finally added the fire to get the balloon upright.

We climbed in, the pilot added a healthy dose of propane, and we were on our way.

I wish I would have thought to shoot a little video from the experience; the combination of flying in absolute silence, followed by the occasional roar of the burners, made for a truly unique experience.  We floated over the Rio Grande River and set ourselves up for a splash-n-dash, where the pilot would guide the balloon over the river, dip the basket in the water, then add fire and get out before we all got wet.

Balloons lining up for a splash-n-dash in the Rio Grande

Our turn...right over the water!

Here is a photo I caught where the sun was directly behind the balloon, illuminating it really brilliantly.

We then did an ascent to just over 3,000 ft in elevation.  When you're looking over the side of a basket at homes down below you, it feels a little freaky.  In this photo you can see some of the fun-shaped hot air balloons, everything from ones shaped like fire hydrants, pets, rockmen, etc.

Our pilot wanted to get higher than all of the other balloons, and as a result, we missed all of our anticipated landing locations.  We drifted over the freeway and started floating through downtown Albuquerque.  This was unplanned, and I could tell the pilot was getting a little nervous about the amount of propane left onboard.

Our shadow on the downtown highrises

  We ended up doing a very sketchy landing inbetween an elevated freeway overpass and a highrise building.

This photo will not even begin to show how sketchy our landing was.  We barely missed two cars in the parking lot as we were skidding and bouncing to a stop.  The balloon was initially wrapped around the freeway overpass and probably causing quite a stir on the highway above.  But as any pilot will tell you, any landing you survive is a good landing.

After we landed a gentleman came running up to us telling us he had never seen a hot air balloon IN downtown.  He snapped a photo of us floating by his 14th story office window, then texted it to me.  The photo below is the one he took of us landing in downtown.

Hot air ballooning was a very cool experience.  I tell all of my car enthusiast friends that it was most fun I've ever had going slow.

Following the balloon ride, the five of us (Eric, Hanna, my Dad, Kathy and myself) took the tramway (gondola) to the top of Sandia Peak to see the overview of the city from 10,378 ft.  We finished the day with some excellent southwestern-style "New Mexican food."

On our last day in New Mexico, Saturday, October 12, we took a drive to see the town of Santa Fe, then out to Los Alamos to see part of the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab where Eric works and do a short hike before heading back to Placitas.

On Sunday, October 13, 2013, we pointed the car west for home.  We ended up doing the entire drive in one day, covering 1,177 miles in 17 hours including stops.

Our final route looked something like this.

Utah and New Mexico road trip, Part 3

**scroll down to read parts 1 and 2 before reading this**

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2013
Today we planned to drive through Zion National Park and ultimately end the day in Gallup, New Mexico as we were to meet Hanna's brother in Albuquerque a little after noon the following day.  We approached the park gate at Zion and were graced with a park entrance completely devoid of tourists. With the park closed due to the federal government shutdown, the $25 entrance fee was waived and the ranger informed us that we were not supposed to stop and get out of our car or we risked a ticket.  But then she went on to say that it was highly unlikely we would be ticketed as long as we didn't take off and go hiking or sit in one place too long.  Cool.

Instead of following a train of RVs and tourists through the park, we basically had it to ourselves and were able to stop and make our own turnouts right in the middle of the road due to the complete lack of traffic.  We certainly took our time and were able to stop and get photos that probably wouldn't be possible on a normal day.  The turnouts had cones setup to discourage you from stopping, but the park service was nice enough to have arranged them in a manner that still allowed us to make quick stops for photos. 

Zion and car-free roads

Tunnels bored through the hardrock

Hanna reacts to the Federal Government shutdown notice

Highway 9 through the park terminates at Highway 89, we then turned south briefly before turning off to visit Coral Pink Sands State Park.

Coral Pink Sands is more of a "quick get out and look," rather than a destination, unless you have an ATV.  Apparently there are miles of trails you can ride and there is a campground on-site where you can stay and ride multiple days.  We continued down Highway 89 until we reached Glen Canyon Dam, where we stopped to look around and take some photos.

Putting the new 10-24mm wide angle lens to use; this dam is huge.

Glen Canyon Dam and the Navajo Bridge

Rafts that won't be going anywhere with the federal government shutdown

And speaking of shutdowns, here is a sign blocking off access to Lake Powell because it is part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

The Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam

We continued over the dam crossing into Arizona and passing through the town of Page before we saw a sign indicating the remaining section of Highway 89 was closed for unknown reasons.  Gee, thanks for the heads-up on that one.  Just like the federal government shutdown, this road closure ended up being a blessing in disguise.  The GPS routed us southeast down Highway 98, then northeast on Highway 160, southeast down Indian Route 59 (I never knew Indian Routes existed, except in the game Oregon Trail--even the GPS was reading out "Indian Route 59"), and south on Highway 191 past Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  The entire route between Highway 98 and up to Highway 191 were incredibly scenic; I found myself shooting photos out the window of the moving car just so I can remind myself to return to this location for hiking and four wheeling.  Once you hit Highway 191, both sides of the highway are littered with Indian residences.  The word "littered" is used quite appropriately here, there is garbage everywhere, and I'll just leave my comments at that. Canyon de Chelly was an absolute treat though, and once again, we were the only people there.  The park was not labeled as being closed, no gates were closed, so we helped ourselves to the view.

I want more of this national park closure stuff.  Look at that parking lot--that white car is ours in the front row spot!!!

After basking in the glory of the lack of people, we decided to leave just in case we were not supposed to be here.  Highway 264 led us to Gallup, New Mexico for the evening.