New bed appropriatly attired.

New bed appropriatly attired.
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

I spent the better part of a week "modeling" and building a bed for the king sized memory foam mattress we bought when we moved out here to Fresno. Before this the mattress had just been laying on the floor with a promise to Tiffany that I would "soon" build a platform for it.

4 1x6s, some 2x4s, a couple sheets of plywood and 12 CMUs (cinder blocks for the laymen) later we had ourselves a sleek little bedframe which was elevated 14 inches off the floor, but Lola was unable to wedge herself underneath it. The Lola wedging issue was the major design constraint.

I have performed several flying summersaults while chasing Niki and a large bellyflop to test stability. Rock Solid. But what else do you expect from a Mechanical Engineer who hung out with a bunch of Civils? This ain't no safety factor of 1.01 Aerospace major project.

I also, uh.. on purpose..., made the bed 2 inches to long for the mattress allowing us to incorporate a nicely upholstered headboard which really brings it all together. Remind me to check my tape measure to make sure all the markings are correct before I start the bed side tables.

Hiking in Coursegold

Picnic tree
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Tiffany, the Fur and I finally got out of Fresno to enjoy some of the Sierra Foothills. This hike had been recommended by one of Tiffany's professors. The day started with one of the clearest skies we've had in Fresno... you could actually see the Sierra mountains, and boy were they beautiful!

The hike was wonderful. It followed a mountain stream with small waterfalls and pools. We hiked in far enough to have a little snack while sitting on some sun backed granite overlooking the stream.

I think this little outing is a keeper.

Obama

In a break from self promotion, I would like to just say that America has launched to the highest of heights tonight. In the dimension of time it was a few baby steps ago when Obama wouldn't have been considered more than a field tool in many parts of this country, born a mere blink of Time's eye earlier and he wouldn't have been able to vote. Obama has shattered one of the final great glass ceilings in our country.

Now, if you don't mind, I will post this so I can return to doing my super happy dance.

Our Farmers Market

Looking down the trellis
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

We've been spending a little time on Saturday mornings riding the Vespa down to the Vinyard Farmers Market. It's not nearly as big as the Santa Fe Farmers Market, which might be a surprise since we're in the middle of all this agriculture, until you realize there is a Farmer's Market in almost every part of town nearly every day of the week. In Clovis? That's Friday night. Our area? Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. The tower district, etc.

There are the usual vegetables, there is an apiarist with some killer honeycomb, an italian bakery with bread and cheeses, a Raw Milk vendor, and an old Asian women with the craziest mushrooms I have ever seen. There is also an abundance of grapes.

Tiffany got the coffee roaster talking about his beans, his process, and how he brews Toffee Coffee. His business is almost entirely taking his cart around to all the Farmers Markets in the area and roasting for a couple of small shops in town.

So far we have had some amazing "braided" string cheese, Raw Milk is tasty and doesn't make me all sick, and some wonderful produce. A must stop for anyone coming through town.

Hawaii for a week

We rented a Kawasaki to go around O'ahu for the weekend
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

This week Gary twisted my arm to go to Hawaii and work with one of our partners, Referentia Systems Incorporated to integrate our system with one of their projects. They are building a website for sharing robotics information between researchers, companies, and the Navy. We are providing a recommendation engine so their users can find more information.

The hotel is pretty nice with a view of the ocean off the balcony... but programming 12 hours a day on O'Ahu is much like programming 12 hours a day in an office building anywhere. The perk is drinking my morning coffee while walking on the beach.

Tiffany came out in the middle of the week and did a lot of sleeping to recover from all the moving excitement. Saturday we rented a motorcycle (pictured) and drove around the entire island. We stopped at almost all the beaches and I managed to keep the bike on the road despite getting whiplash from all that beautiful water and surf.

We hung out on Sunset beach for a while, at dinner in a little surf town, watched crabs in the sand, and in general had a blast. It seems in movies when they do some traveling scene and they want to imply being in touch with the culture or the land, it's often on a train or a motorcycle. On the bike it just seemed like we experienced things so much more than in a car, and it's easier to just stop and hop off at every tiny place.

Later that night we went down to a family carnival on the beach. We rode the Farris Wheel, had some funnel cake, played some carny games, and watched a flying trapeze act! What a blast.

Sunday we went out to Hanauama Bay for some snorkeling. This place was pretty amazing despite there being a ton of people. We saw all kinds of fish and coral. I built a sand castle, and we just spent some time hanging on our beach towels. Problem was, that even though we applied sunscreen several times.... we still go brunt, really bad. Made of a really fun flight home the next day.

Despite the sunburns, it was a successful and truly amazing trip.

Moving to Fresno

Hydrating in the Mojave
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Everything that we didn't sell off has been packed into cubes and is on it's way to Fresno. Tiffany loaded the fur up in the car and I got on my motorcycle to make the 940 mile trip in two days. We stopped in Albuquerque for one last green chile fix at "The Range" before really getting under way.

The journey was fairly uneventful until we got to the first Flagstaff exit. The sky behind and above was blue, but looking at the exit I could see a wall of water. Half way up the exit ramp I felt water start to seep in around my neck. Pausing at the light I felt my boots start to get squishy. After some time in a Coffee Shop and walking the dogs around, my clothes had dried enough to get back on the road.

We stopped in Kingsman, AZ for the night right on the CA border. 520 miles down and 320 more to go. Tiffany said that Niki spent most of the trip with her head in Tiffany's lap sleeping.

The next 320, however, were mostly through the Mojave Desert... which made for some warm riding. The picture is me stopped on one of many many hydration breaks.

So we arrived in Fresno Sunday night and took possession of the keys on Monday morning. Before moving anything in we did a little painting to make the place our own. My soon to be office got a red and brown make over and the bedroom/master bath got blue and brown.

Now to quickly settle into the house and then it's off to Hawaii.

Epideral Injection

This morning I went in and had some minor out-patient surgery. I had an MRI done about a month ago which showed that the reason I haven't been able to ride my bike is "Degenerative Disk Disease" in my lower three disks. Basically this means that the jelly between my vertebrae is deteriorating / inflaming and putting pressure on the nerves which go to my legs... leading to cramps and pains which I associated for many years with just riding too hard.

Dr. Hermes and the staff were all wonderful and made me feel very comfortable with the fact that they were going to be sticking needles into my spine to inject Cortisone. The procedure only took about 10 minutes, with the worst pain being the local anesthetic before they put the big needles in. In a couple of days the cortisone should start reducing the inflammation and I should start noticing an improvement in my back and leg pain. However for the next couple of days I'm going to be pretty sore, stiff, and black and blue.

The most excitement came when I assured the checkout nurse that I could feel my toes and would be fine to walk out to the car. Three steps later the local seemed to have been released suddenly into my hip which totally gave out. Luckily I was right in the doorway of the recovery room, so I was able to hold myself up while she pushed the wheel chair under me.

I spent the rest of the day being lazy, watching movies, and fixing a few bugs while laying with my back flat on the coach. Luckily my wonderful wife brought me some Gummy Bears which dramatically increased the healing process. So after not being able to walk under my own power for the first part of the day, I am now moving somewhat zombie like around and able to sit in a chair for short periods of time. Should be basically back to normal by morning.

Enchanted Circle by Moto

No photos for this entry because I forgot to stick the camera in my pocket, which is unfortunate because it was a great adventure. Tiffany and I got on my Daytona 675 at 8:00 and headed out for Taos via "the High Road". The High Road basically runs through all of the little towns which are up in the Sangre de Cristo's rather than the highway down in the valley. There are plenty of high mountain fields, pines, aspen's, and fun twisty roads.

When we arrived in Taos the fuel gauge had been on for about 15 miles, so I was getting a little anxious to find a gas station. There isn't much in the way of retail between Española and Taos, its mostly horses and pine trees. We pulled into the first gas station, got off the bike, took off the helmets, sunglasses, gloves, and stretched. I went to put the credit card into the pump and realized that it was turned off. No big deal, I pushed the bike down to the next pump... which was also turned off. We put back on the helmets, sunglasses, gloves, zipped up the coats, fired up the bike and drove to the next gas station. Before going through all the gyrations, we made sure the pumps were working... no dice, turns out the power in that section of town was out.

We went further into town, found a working pump, and had Italian soda's at The Bean coffee house. We left Taos feeling refreshed and headed out to do "The Enchanted Circle" since this would be our last time and Tiffany hadn't been through Angel Fire or Red River before. The drive was beautiful and lots of fun following a twisty little river and popping out in Angel Fire. We took a tour of Eagle Nest's main street and was surprised by a little black bear dumpster diving in the middle of town in the middle of the day. We watched him for a little while but left when a family of 4 little kids started to sneak up on it to get a closer look.

Over Bobcat pass to Red River which resembles more of a carnival than a mountain town and Oklahoma and Texas plates were the norm. In fact, my bike may have been sporting the only New Mexico plate in the town. We almost stopped at "The Dairy Shack" for burgers, but the clouds were gathering and I wanted to get down in elevation before the daily monsoon moved in. The next stop was a late lunch at "Pizza Outback" our favorite local joint in Taos, and a good place to stretch the legs. After downing some excellent pie and plenty of water, we zipped back to Santa Fe via the low road. There were lots of rafters on the river, and it got hotter and hotter as we dropped elevation.

7 hours, and two very sore bottoms later, we got home. We walked through the door and hung up our jackets just in time for the hail to start pounding the ground in our courtyard.

On the road again

Homemade biscuits
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

After school, exploring town, big trees, and finding a house, we loaded up the car and got back on the road. Tiffany drove while I sat in my early morning stupor until we started heading into the Sierra's and pulled off at this historic cafe. Lots of history from Route 66, feeding soldiers who were guarding train tunnels in WWII, and feeding the local good ole' boys.

Tiffany had one of the best Chicken Fried Steaks I've tasted in a long time and I had "Cowboy Benedict" which consisted of homemade biscuits, large ham steaks, eggs, and some gravy which comes about as close to Dad's as I have ever had.

The other patrons consisted of the local Sheriff reading the paper and drinking coffee, a table full of truckers having an in depth discussion of NAFTA, and the usual first name basis "I'll have the usual" leathery locals sitting at the counter.

This is a must stop for anyone traveling on HWY 58.

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Home sweet home, August 1st

Home sweet home, August 1st
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

So we looked at 4 other places in the Clovis, NE Fresno area of town. Much sought after because of the school districts and shopping, but we would be paying too much for houses that weren't in that great of shape, were built as little hallways with rooms sprouting off the sides, and not great puppy play areas. Basically it all paled in comparison to the Craigslist find.

We went back to take a look at the house again because we were thinking it would be too small, but were happy to find that it was larger than we made it in our minds. Garage, office, big master bedroom, walk-in closet, 2 full baths, an updated kitchen and a gas fireplace. That's just inside. Outside the dog door is a very large dog run with some dirt for hole digging, a big back yard with grass, a vegetable garden, an fruit trees.

The house is also within walking distance of the grocery store, and a quick scooter ride to lots of good restaurants, coffee shops, Whole Foods, etc. And the price it right. We're pretty psyched. There is no guest room though, so we offer up the back yard for tents or for the less adventurous we'll find where the closest Best Western is.

Sequoia National Park

Sequoia group named after one of our favorite short people
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

After arriving in Fresno, we met with a property management person who showed us a house and told us all about the different neighborhoods. I spent Friday and Saturday driving around Fresno looking for coffee houses and doing some work while Tiffany went to class. Yesterday we went to visit a house Tiffany found on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. The owners are really nice, there is great puppy space, and the house is gorgeous. It's a little smaller than we were hoping to find, but we really like it. We have some other appointments setup on tomorrow, so all others will have to compare to this.

This morning we woke up, piled into the car and headed for Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The idea was to do some hiking, but as the temperature dropped (Fresno is 400 ft above sea level and the parks are at 7,000 ft.) and the snow started to fall we decided to take a driving tour and only do the short hikes which hit the biggies.

Being a foggy, snowy, cold, wet day, the park was relatively empty and we didn't have to deal with people. The trees were mind blowing, and the scenery breath taking. This photo is just before the tree you get to drive through and gives some feeling of the scope. Click through to Flickr to see more hugeness.

After leaving the park we had a tasty and way too big Mexican lunch. Tiffany said it was pretty authentic, I say it was pretty yummy. We then wound our way back to Fresno through Kingsburg, Selma, and a whole lot of fruit trees.

Road Tripping to Fresno

California Sunset
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

This morning Tiffany and I woke up early (4:30 am) for our 7:55 am flight. Everything was packed, so quick showers, throw some bags in the car and we were off for the airport. A new Flying Star opened last weekend in Bernalillo, so the idea was to get breakfast there on the way to the airport.

We turned of on 550... and couldn't find the restaurant. No big deal, we'll just hit the one in Corrales, traffic wouldn't be bad because it was just after 6. We got there, got some breakfast and headed back out for the airport, but now we were in morning traffic, but boy was that breakfast good. Good thing, since it started the adventure.

Getting to the airport with "just enough" time we got in line and waited. One older Japanese gentleman was engaged in a conversation with one of the representatives about how much she loved his island. Another representative was handling a family with 4 young kids. One broken kiosk meant there was one representative available for the rest of the line.

We got to the kiosk, swiped the card and was informed that we were too late to check in. I pried the closest rep away from discussing noodle dishes, she looked at the clock and said "yup, you just missed it, pick up the phone" and went back to her conversation.

Looking at the clock showed that we were 2 minutes too late. These times are when I really dislike automated processes, the reps of old would have checked us in and said "best run for it, they start boarding in 5 minutes". After talking to the united phone which wouldn't help, patiently speaking in "Alpha, Lima, Lima, Echo, November" to Travelosity in India, and in general being fed up with "Customer Service", Tiffany suggested we road trip! Whoooo!

A couple of Starbucks drinks, a new "New Wave 80's" CD and we got onto I-40 for 14.5 hours of beautiful desert scenery. This photo was taken as the sun set just past Barstow, CA while we sat stuffed with In-n-Out Burger and 4 more hours of driving ahead.

Paying for all the fun

Paying for all the fun
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Some friends of mine from LANL and I headed up Santa Fe ski basin yesterday for what may be the last day of spring skiing this year. I went up last weekend with Nikki and the snow was pretty rough, and this weekend saw large bare patches and plenty of ice.

We went up to ski the Nambe Chutes, something I haven't done because I've always skied up there by myself (well, with Nikki, but she's not much good at Avalanche rescue). The chutes are 35-40° and were less than ideal snow conditions, but still a whole lot of fun. Call me masochistic, but climbing out with skis on my back was actually almost more fun for me than the bumpy ice we called snow on the way down.

After skiing the chutes we found some decent mash potato like snow in the trees and got brutalized by Sastrugi on the open runs.

Skijoring in Spring

Got some speed up now
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

Tiffany, Nikki, and I went up to Aspen Vista last night for a last hurrah before Tiffany is laid out for a couple of days and severely restricted on her activity for 3 weeks for her Neuroma surgery.

Here are the much requested photos of BOTH Nikki and I skijoring, not just Nikki's butt and a tow line. As always, more at my Flickr site (click on the photo).

We had a grand time until the snow ran out. And to think that Nikki and I were up here 4 days ago with 12" of fresh. Now it is the bottom of the barrel, but still Fun!

Break trail Nikki!

Break trail Nikki!
Originally uploaded by surferdwa.

It has been snowing for the last three days here in Santa Fe, and I have been working 14-16 hours a day. This morning the snow stopped and so did I. I loaded up Nikki, my AT gear, and the skijoring harness to do a couple of laps at the Santa Fe ski basin.

After coming to a complete stop on an particularly icy incline and having to back down the road for a running start, Nikki and I stopped at Aspen Vista rather than trying to push up to the ski basin. We harnessed up and took off up the road. For a while the trail was already broke, but we quickly ventured farther than anyone had that morning and Nikki was breaking trail for us.

We made almost made it to the ski area, but when we got out of the trees (just ahead in this photo) the drifts became too deep and Nikki was too tuckered out to go bounding through them. I tried putting her behind me and breaking trail, but she would have none of that and would just bulldoze along beside me and then she flopped on top of my skis so I couldn't go any further. Probably a good thing because going further would have made it an "Epic" rather than just a nice day out. (Click through to Flickr to see Nikki telling me it was time to go home)

We had some beautiful tree skiing with knee deep powder in most places. I would take 5 or 10 turns and then wait for Nikki to come bounding down following my turns. We got back to the Aspen Vista road and I hooked her back up for the final mile to the car which we made short work of. 5 hours later and we were back home, Nikki passed out on the sunny flagstone and me on the couch.

What a great day.