After waking up with a sinus headache, I didn't feel good most of the day. It was hot, my left leg ached from a muscle pull, and I was generally bummed about life anyway. What better way to deal with a day like today than car racing.
The kids and I started the day early with the European Grand Prix from Germany. Next was the Indy 500, which took all day to get in around the rain. We finished up with the Nascar race.
A relaxing, wasted day.
TMTOWTDI - There's more than one way to do it
The Headache page now includes calendars of the previous and current months. Days where I needed prescription medication are highlighted in blue.
In the past, I found it difficult to give an accurate answer when asked how often I get migraines without some kind of record. Since April 23, 2004 I've been adding an entry to the Links weblog every day, with a brief description of any headaches that day, using the Headaches category. If I took an Imitrex, the entry also gets assigned to the Imitrex category. The Headache page lists every entry in the Headaches category; the calendar highlights only the days which have an entry with the Imitrex category assigned.
I heard this year 20 times each day during jury duty.
Jury duty is over. There's good news, and bad news.
The good news is that it was pretty interesting, and I found I liked most of the people. John, the screenwriter, was someone I could be friends with, and Rene in front of me was always fun.
The bad news exists on several levels:
On the way downtown for jury duty, my car was stopped in the fast lane of the Pasadena Freeway just before the I-5 overcrossing. This lost shoe needed a photo.
Photos from my motorcycle ride up PCH to Carmel in May, 2004
Breakfast was another time to re-invent a memory (see day 1 for an explanation). Potato pancakes and a blueberry muffin at the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo. Now when I remember the Apple Farm Inn, I'll have today, and can forget the past.
Tepesquet Road was very cool - I decided I like it a little better going north to south. Foxen Canyon is an old favorite from bicycle rides of long, long ago.
I grabbed a sandwich and gasoline in Carpinteria, and went the 93 miles home without a stop. Traffic got messed up between the 405 and 134, which worked out okay when I got a chance to stand-up and stretch during an all-lanes stoppage. I reached home around 3:30, to find Michael in town for a couple of days. It's always nice when Michael stops by.
It was cold and overcast Saturday morning, and I debated going inland first, but decided to risk hitting the coast first - with a great payoff. The 46 was seriously fogged up, but cleared up at the last pass before PCH. I was rewarded with clear skies all the way up to Big Sur.
I didn't see a gas station at San Simeon. Taking the no-gas-worries approach, I stopped a a little station/campground/coffee house about 7 miles later, and put in two gallons at $3.61 per gallon - amazing! (Gas at most stations was about $2.30 per gallon for 87 octane.) I made sure to get a receipt, for posterity. (Later in the day, I read a San Jose Mercury News column about gas prices that asked readers to send in the highest prices they'd seen. Here's a PDF with my submission!)
From there until Big Sur, there was clear, beautiful skies and very little traffic. I must have gotten a head start on the normal tourist traffic. The ride was spectacular, as always.
I stopped for a long while at the nice shopping area in Carmel, at PCH and Rio Rd. First, coffee and a blueberry turnover, then some window shopping at the Jazz Store and a nice walk around the whole place.
The road to Hollister was nice enough. After a salad at Jack in the Box, SR-25 was next. Very sweet - long rolling turns, with enough tighter ones to keep things interesting. The cutoff into King City was bleak.
I really enjoyed CR-14 from King City to Lake Nacimiento. Great scenery, interesting curves, very fun stuff.
I got back to the hotel in time to see the Lakers beat the Wolves in game 1 of the conference finals.
My childhood was weird, and I don't have many good memories from that time. Now, most of the happy memories from my married life seem somehow tarnished. When I think of places like Cambria and Victoria, I want new memories I can enjoy and be happy about, without being tied to old memories that are clouded by what I now know was going on at the time.
Instead of dwelling on the one-year anniversary of "the talk", I went on a three-day motorcycle trip up the coast, to make some new memories.
I woke up early Thursday with a headache, and needed some extra time for the Imitrex to work fully. I wound up leaving closer to 9:00am, instead of 8:00 as planned.
The Santa Monica Freeway was jammed from Downtown all the way to Cloverfield in Santa Monica, for no obvious reason. PCH was a pleasant drive, but I'll admit to some pain as I passed Gladstones on the one-year anniversary of "the talk".
I had a nice breakfast at a Coco's in Camarillo, stopped for gas in Goleta, and had a great time on Santa Rosa Road from Solvang into Lompoc. The ride up PCH thru Guadalupe to Grover Beach and Pismo was calm and uneventful.
I found out that in spite of my mapping program, Thunder Canyon did not actually go all the way through to the 46. After backtracking to PCH, I went onto reserve just before the 46, and pushed on into Cambria for gas - this was a vacation, and I didn't need to stress about making it all the way into Paso without running out.
I detoured up Santa Rosa Creek Rd. Afther the long day of riding, I lost concentration on a late turn and wound up in the dirt on the side of the road. No harm, no foul - just a reminder to keep focused.
Like last time, I got lost trying to find the motel. Once I got settled, it was too late for a movie. I had Mexican take-out from the restaurant next door, and made it an early night. The early morning medication and a long day in the saddle left me more tired than I expected.
California DMV Motorcycle Handbook 2003
I got my PDP notice over the weekend. The dealer is still telling me to expect a July delivery.
After Jennie and Janet left on Sunday, I went to see Kill Bill Vol. II at the new Edwards in Alhambra with Jason and Jeremy.
I squirmed a little when Bea crushed Elle's eye ball with her toes. Not because I'm squeamish - far from it - but because we all knew that there were at least two kids in the theater, both 8 or younger, accompanied by their parents.
Why can't there be an R-13 rating: no one under 13 allowed, even with their idiot parents or guardians?
The girl who plays B.B. is fantastic.
Without meaning too, I wound up with a full schedule on Saturday.
Jason's girlfriend Jenny and her mom Janet came in on Friday to visit for a couple of days. We all went out to dinner - and I mean all. We started with Janet, me, Jason, Jenny, Jeremy, Sarah, Justin, and Krisanie at Casa Del Rey, and while we were waiting my sister and Sheehan came in, to make it 10 altogether. Krisanie got recalled by her mother before she could order, but we made due.
Saturday started with eye doctor appointments - one for Justin, and one for me. Justin is doing an visual efficiency test, and goes back to finish up next Friday. I went in for my yearly exam (two years late - oops). I had a few reasons for coming: 1) I needed my yearly exam; 2) from time to time I need to conciously work on focusing while reading, especially when tired; 3) Dr. Liao asked me to check with my eye doctor on my migraine pain, which is always centered in my right eye.
I've enjoyed not needing glasses so far, but time marches on. I need lenses for close up reading and computer work. Growing old blows.
I had committed to the Bowsers to help them put in their new lawn, which cut me out of the Jason-Jenny-Janet trip to the Getty.
I got to the Bowser's about 11:15, and along with Cary, Karen, their friend Doug and a couple others, we worked straight through until 4:30 - gametime for John's last little league game of the season. The transformation was cool, and if you remember their yard when they first bought the place, it borders on amazing.
The concrete is scheduled for pouring later this week. I can't wait to see it once everything's done.
LOS ANGELES
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer
May 13, 2004
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley is using the criminal grand jury aggressively and frequently, enabling prosecutors to obtain sworn testimony in secret proceedings, yet frustrating defense attorneys, who fear that their clients' rights may be violated.
Here's Jason modeling the leather (pleather?) pants that Jenny and Janet brought him:
I made it back home from jury duty and some early evening work in time for to watch the last few minutes of the Lakers-Spurs playoff game 5 with Jason and Justin. With 11 seconds left, Karl Malone set a nice screen and Kobe hit a 20-footer to give the Lakers a 70-69 lead.
The Spurs call a timeout, and move the in-bound to the front court. The Lakers have a foul to give, and Derek Fisher grabs the perfect opportunity to use it with 5 seconds left. The Spurs bring it in to Tim Duncan just to the right of the key out by the free-throw line. The other Spurs are well-covered, so Duncan moves left and throws up a desperation 18-footer over Shag's perfect defense - and drains it, with 0.4 showing on the game clock.
The Lakers call a time-out, and move the ball to the front court. The Spurs take a time-out, then the Lakers again. During this set of three time-outs, Justin announces what's going to happen: "They're going to in-bound to Fisher, who will come left, turn and shoot all in one motion, to win the game."
Then, that exact thing happens, just like Justin told us.
I served on a grand jury during May, 2004 in downtown Los Angeles. On Thursday, May 13th, I walked from the courthouse around Bunker Hill during the lunch break.
Here's the route: from the courthouse at Temple and Broadway, I walked west on Temple past the new Cathedral to Grand Ave.; south on Grand, then through the Water Court and down to Olive; north on Olive past the Omni Hotel to 1st St.; north on Hill to the Flag Court, then across Broadway back to the courthouse.
The stain along the top edge of the closed book is soy sauce, from a packet that went goofy at lunchtime at the LA Mall, during my jury duty on Tuesday, May 11, 2004.
I've spent the last three days in Downtown LA, and have already reached two conclusions:
Needless to say, I can't write anything interesting about my jury duty.
Jeremy needed my car today, so he dropped me off at the Gold Line Station on Madre. I made it to the courtroom in plenty of time. We had a long lunch - I went back to the LA Mall for Chinese, but the orange chicken/sweet and sour pork wasn't nearly as good as the Chinese chicken salad I had yesterday. I had enough pork stuck in my back teeth that I had to buy a toothbrush at the nearby drug store.
I did get to read a lot of my new Sharpe book.
Here's today's pithy comic:
At the Bowsers
Weird streaks radiating from a point northwest of the house.
Easter at the McConnell's house in Big Bear Lake.
I was number 3 out of 25 seated on the May grand jury. I'm scheduled for ten days of service over the rest of the month. There are no sessions currently scheduled for the 20th and 21st, but I arranged with the ADA who advises the panel to be excused on those days in case the schedule gets rearranged. I'm looking forward to my motorcycle trip up the coast on those days.
During a break I was chatting with the bailiff, and we decided that jury service is like a landfill. Everyone knows it has to happen, but no one wants it to affect them personally.
A summons came in the mail last night, ordering me to report for voir dire for Grand Jury service. I'm due downtown at 8:30am sharp on Friday.
It seems somewhat wrong to give prospective jurors only two days notice. It works out alright for me this time, but I can imagine lots of situations where people need more time to arrange their lives.
Photos From Iraq Prison Show We Are Our Own Worst Enemy
By Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2004; Page C01
Original article
Among the corrosive lies a nation at war tells itself is that the glory -- the lofty goals announced beforehand, the victories, the liberation of the oppressed -- belongs to the country as a whole; but the failure -- the accidents, the uncounted civilian dead, the crimes and atrocities -- is always exceptional. Noble goals flow naturally from a noble people; the occasional act of barbarity is always the work of individuals, unaccountable, confusing and indigestible to the national conscience.
I've been searching for a way out of the forest for almost a year now. Yesterday, I found myself back at the starting point - I must have been walking in circles.
When I start out again, maybe I should leave bread crumbs to mark the path...
I was feeling better (enough), the new tires on the V-Star needed some break-in, and the weather was heading for triple-digits. Put them altogether, and it was time for a long ride by the beach. I need to get some saddle time in before the overnighters coming up, too.
The heat was bound to get worse as the day wore on, and I wanted a loop, not an out and back. That meant heading west on the 210/134/101 to Camarillo, then down to PCH back to the 10 and then home.
I stopped for breakfast around 11:00 at a Coco's in Camarilo, at Los Posas and the 101. I read three Sherlock Holmes shorts with my eggs.
As expected, it cooled down nicely as I neared the beach. Traffic was insane from Big Rock to the freeway. My back started to complain around Staples Center - too much time out of the saddle.
I got home in time to see the last half of the Lakers loss to the Spurs. After the NASCAR race from Fontana finished, I even washed the bike!
I headed out at 9:45, heading west on the 210. I wanted a loop, and couldn't get too twisty until the new tires are broken in. I knew the heat would get worse as the day wore on
