Camping at the Colorado River

I have been going camping at Picacho State Park on the California side of the Colorado River for a few years now with my boss and others from work. It is a great place but you have to drive over an 18 mile dirt road from the I-8 near the border of Arizona to get there. This weekend I went with Blayne, Julie, Rosie, Wendy & Jim.


Normally we ride in Blayne's boat that he keeps in storage here, but Jim brought his new ski boat. He was eager to get his boat in the water and we took Blayne for a pull on his single ski. This water is great for skiing because the river flow keeps the chop down and you can get some very glassy conditions. Blayne can really get some deep carves.


This river's sand banks shift all time and sometimes they are in different spots each time we come. We were pulling Blayne far upriver and we hit a shallow sand bar going about 30 miles an hour. We came to a pretty abrupt stop and Blayne almost ran into the back of the boat. We were stuck pretty good in about a foot of water. Normally it is fairly easy to push the boat off into deeper water but this time it took about 10 people and a ranger boat to help pull us off the sand.


The days at the river are so relaxing and fun. We set up a spot on a sand bar and spend the day relaxing in the sun and taking turns on the boat, skiing, wakeboarding or getting pulled on innertubes. It is fun as well to get dropped off up river and have a nice float back down on inflatable rafts with a couple of beers.


As the sun starts to set, we go back to our camping spot and eat dinner, drink and chat around the fire. Each trip, we also have a night hike up to the arch.

Sailing to the Coronado Islands, Mexico

Julie has a friend who belongs to the yacht club down at San Diego Harbor and she invited a group of us to go sailing with them this weekend to the Coronado Islands south of San Diego. They are four small rocky islands in Mexican waters off the coast of Rosarito. I had been there before in 1995 for the last ocean dive of my scuba certification.


It was my first time on a sailing yacht. We had a nice wind behind us and we traveled the 13 miles to the islands in straight line. Normally I get seasick fairly easily in medium size fishing and diving boats, but I was fine on the sailboat. I think it is because sailboats have a heavy keel which sets them deeper in the water so there is less bobbing on the surface.


We anchored in the tiny bay of South Coronado Island. There are a couple of buildings on the barren hill that houses a Mexican Navy garrison. On the shore of the bay is an old group of pylons that used to hold a casino from the days of Prohibition.


The captain and I went snorkeling around the yacht. The water was very cold but it was a beautiful sunny day. We had a nice lunch and relaxed in the sun until it was time for us to raise anchor and head back to San Diego.


The sail back was more exciting because we had to tack back and forth against the wind. I really enjoyed riding in the boat that was sailing at a sharp angle to the water. The return journey took allot longer and it was dark before we reached the harbor. It was cool to see the lights of San Diego bright against the dark ocean. I was allowed to steer the yacht for awhile as we were coming into the harbor. It was a great day.

Algodones Sand Dunes in Imperial County, CA

Jeremy and I went to the Algodones Sand Dunes off of Interstate 8 at Gray's Well, CA about a half hour's drive from the Arizona border. This huge dune field is one of the locations where they filmed Star Wars scenes for Luke's planet, Tatooine.


The dunes here are beautiful with big bowls and high ridges. We went for long rides on ATV Quads. It is a surreal experience being surrounded by hills of sand as far as the eye can see.


During the heat of the day, we ended up swimming in the canal that carries water from the Colorado River to the large farms of Imperial County.

New Tattoo!

I got a tattoo after Thanksgiving. It has tribal bands and an intricate design weaving through them that looks like waves or a storm or a nebula depending on how you look at it. It wraps around my right arm like a band. It is big, about six inches at its widest. My brother, Jake, drew it custom for me and used his own tattoo gun that he has in his bedroom.


It took about fours hours over two separate visits. It hurt a lot, like a miniature sewing machine going over my skin. It really hurt on the tender skin on the underside of my arm. My brother did it for free, but it would have cost about 400 dollars in a tattoo parlor. I may add some color to it next year.

Sensory Overload - Part I

I love science-fiction novels and I read at least 500 during my teens and early twenties. After reading a pretty lousy book early in 1996, it finally motivated me to try and write one of my own. It seems like perverse logic, but all my favorite sci-fi novels written by talented authors only intimidated me from trying to write one myself. The crappy books though, at the very least I could write one this bad, I thought.

Also lingering in my head all this time was a seed planted by my twelfth grade English teacher, Richard Cunningham, that I had the ability to write a book someday. I had scoffed at the idea at the time, but it never left me.

I started writing my book on May 13th, 1996.  I had no clear direction at first for my story but I was in the last year of my Army Reserve service so I latched onto a idea about a soldier being medically discharged from the military after being injured on a dangerous mission. Since the Cold War during my youth was over, I decided to place the story in the aftermath of a war against a alien race.

As a test for myself, I started out with a prologue of that final disastrous raid and I told myself that if I liked it well enough, I would continue writing.

After some positive feedback about the Prologue, I ended up slowly writing 7 chapters that dealt with the aftermath of the mission and the main character's discharge from the military. In those chapters, I developed the synopsis below.

Mini-Synopsis:

The Great War between the Terran Race and the alien Durmir is finally over and the newly formed DùrMan Confederation has created peace for the first time in a generation.  For an elite soldier like Jâk Silvestri who spent his whole life fighting in the war, his special forces unit is now tasked with hunting down former war profiteers and crime syndicate leaders.  After a freak brain injury on a mission that also killed his best friend, Jâk is medically discharged from the rapidly downsizing military and sent out into the civilian world he has never experienced.  While avoiding the crime syndicates who recruit former soldiers like him, Jâk vows to go after Tan Sipter, the man he failed to capture on his last mission.

I am currently stuck around 150 pages and I don't know where to take the story next. Hopefully, I will figure it out soon.

Cabin Trip to Big Bear Lake, CA

I went with Jeremy, Chelsea and the rest of the HopStar dancers to the San Bernardino Mountains for the Big Bear Swing Camp. We all stayed at Valena's family cabin right on the lake in Big Bear. It was a big place. The key didn't work so we spent the whole weekend entering and exiting through the dining room window.


Jeremy, Chelsea and the rest of the HopStar troupe are really good swing dancers. They move so fast and perform amazing aerials. I have only been taking lessons for a little while so I can only handle the most simple steps. It is real fun though.


We had a great time hanging out, cooking big meals and playing different games at the cabin. We played one card game where the loser had to lick chocolate syrup off the belly of the winner. Guess who won?


On our last day, we rented three small fishing boats and went cruising around Big Bear Lake. The water was pretty chilly but a few of us went swimming. I have been to Big Bear many times, but this is the first time I have ever been out on the lake.

Big Bear City on Dwellable

Surfing at Pipes

I took this picture last Sunday when I went to the beach with Jeremy and Forest to go surfing.


The waves were pretty small at Pipes that day but I like this photo.

Trip to New York, NY

I went to New York at the end of March to visit Mary Ann's sister and mother and visit all the places that she told me so much about before she died.


I went with Mary Ann's sister, Michele, into Manhattan for the day. It was my first time to New York City. Mary Ann had always told me how great it is and how she wished she could live there. Michele and I rode the subway downtown and went to the top of the World Trade Center. It had a huge elevator that rocketed to the top at an amazing speed.


We had hotdogs from a cart at the base of the Twin Towers afterwards. It was delicious. It was a beautiful sunny spring day. We walked and rode the subway all over the city visiting Wall Street, Trump Tower, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Central Park, SOHO, China Town & Times Square.


Besides the city, Mary Ann's sister and mother showed me around her home town and we visited with her other family members throughout the states of New York and Pennsylvania. I am so grateful for Mary Ann's family for their hospitality.

Rock Climbing in Idyllwild

Rock climbing last Sunday on the West Face of Tahquitz Rock was really fun and a little scary. I took a few pictures. We climbed about 500 feet straight up, stopping for a lunch break half way up on little ledge, conveniently called Lunch Ledge, with a great view of the surrounding forest and Suicide Rock across the valley.


The hardest part of the climb was the Fingertip Traverse, a long section with only a small shallow crack to hold with my fingertips right on the edge of a 200 foot vertical drop. Good thing I was wearing a harness connected to a safety rope. The tricky part in the traverse was when I had to unhook from the rope briefly to get around a small bush that grew out of the crack half way across. My calves started to ache trying to grip the rock face with my sticky rubber shoes and my palms were sweaty when I reached the other side.


I felt great when I reached the top of this 5.3 rated climb with Tom and Julie. I love heights and it brought back memories of climbing tall trees as a kid.

Last Day with Long Hair

After growing my hair long for 2 years, I cut my hair short today. It was nice to have long hair after spending six years with it short for the Army Reserves, but it is time for something new. Snip! Snip!

Mary Ann Bailey

My girlfriend, Mary Ann, passed away at the end of January a week after we got back from our ski trip to Whistler, Canada. She suffered from an eating disorder and got very sick at the end. Her parents and her sister flew out from New York to see her before she was disconnected from the life-support system and to attend her memorial.


It was a beautiful service held on the cliff above Fletcher's Cove in Solana Beach. We played the video from Mary Ann's skydiving jump because it was a great capsule of Mary Ann's life and personality. As the sun set we had a moment of silence that held until the sun disappeared completely below the horizon. The mayor of Solana Beach told us that the next town hall meeting would be held in her honor.


The absence of Mary Ann from my life is intense. She was the first person that I ever loved and she was an amazing person. We lived and worked together so we were together all the time. I was barely able to eat for two weeks afterwards but my family and friends, especially my father, were great in helping me deal with the immediate aftermath when my life seemed like a blur.

Ski Trip to Whistler, Canada

Mary Ann and I just went on a week-long ski trip to the Whistler Blackcomb Resort in Canada. We almost didn't make it into the country because Mary Ann didn't have her regular driver's license (she only had a temporary paper license) but I think the border officer took pity on us, because she finally let us through.


We flew into Vancouver and took the Whistler Express bus up to the resort in the Coastal Mountains. It was a very scenic trip and we knew we were in for a good ski trip when we hit falling snow at low altitude. We arrived and checked in at the Glacier Lodge. It was a nice place and it was right near the ski lift at the base of Blackcomb Mountain.


This is my second trip to Whistler Blackcomb. I came here before for one day to ski with Jeremy and Peter as a side trip to our Seattle cabin trip in 1994. We barely had a chance to explore this huge ski area in such a short time, but it had made me extremely excited to come back. Whistler Blackcomb is actually two separate mountains right next to each, connected by ski trails and lifts with Whistler Village right in the middle. The place is huge with over 200 trails and tons of lifts. You have to take three separate chair rides to get to the summit of Blackcomb.


I am more of an experienced skier than Mary Ann so we would ski together on the easier trails until lunchtime and then I would go off and explore some of the more difficult terrain for a few hours while she went back to the lodge to relax. There was a lot of heavy powder on this ski trip which we don't see in Southern California. It was pretty difficult to get used to so I had to stay off of the black diamond trails until I got the hang of it.


After a week of skiing, I decided that Blackcomb was my favorite of the two mountains. It is the highest at 7,494 feet and I think it is more scenic with tree-lined trails instead of the huge open bowls of Whistler. Blackcomb also has the glacier at the top which is fun to ski on. I got a chance to ski down the backside of Blackcomb which had been closed for most of the trip due to heavy snow fall and high winds. I happened to be at the summit when the back trail was opened for a brief window of time, so I took off my skis and hiked over the ridge with a small group of people. It was a long fun run starting with a large bowl filled with deep fresh powder and then a winding trail all the way to the bottom.


Mary Ann and I would have fun in Whistler Village after we finished skiing. It was full of restaurants, bars and clubs, even a movie theater. Mongolian Grill was our favorite place to eat. It was a cool place where you pick all the ingredients you want and put them in a large bowl and the cooks would fry it up in front of you. It was delicious.

Tandem Skydiving in Perris, CA

Mary Ann and I went tandem skydiving on the 13th this weekend in Perris, CA. Mary Ann had wanted to go skydiving ever since I told her about my earlier experiences jumping from a plane. She was super excited when I got her a gift certificate for Christmas.


I was really looking forward to the tandem jump as well. I have jumped out of a plane six times previously but because they were solo jumps my parachute was pulled open by a static line attached to the plane. Static-line skydiving was great, but I didn't get to experience much free-falling as I jumped out at only 3,000 feet and I'd only get a few seconds to enjoy the free-fall before the chute jerked open.


The instructors were really nice up in Perris and because we were doing tandem jumps we only had to take a short half-hour class before our flight. The plane at Perris was big and held a large group comfortably, unlike the small Cessna I had experienced before. We boarded and the plane climbed up to 12,500 feet before leveling off. Mary Ann was at the other end of the plane with her instructor and cameraman and was chatting and laughing so I wasn't nervous for her.


Mary Ann went out of the plane several minutes before I did and she handled it very well. Normally, I have major butterflies before jumping out of a plane by myself, but with an experienced instructor strapped to my back I was worry-free this time. The cameraman assigned to me climbed out the door before us and hung onto the side of the plane and jumped at the same time we went out of the door into the wide open sky. The free-fall lasted 45 seconds which doesn't sound like very long but seems like an eternity up in the sky. We did a few spins and interacted with the cameraman before I pulled the ripcord and we took a long leisurely ride down to the ground.


On the ground, Mary Ann was smiling from ear-to-ear as she described her jump to me and how she and her instructor had gotten off-course and had to land in a nearby field. We waited around awhile to watch the videos of our jumps and get our film before heading home. Mary Ann fell asleep in the car on the drive back. I was not surprised, the adrenaline rush of skydiving really drains you after the first time.

Static-Line Parachute Jump Post

Trip to Denver, Colorado

My company sent me on a business trip to Denver to learn some new software from our office there. Mary Ann came with me as well and we had a great time checking out the city, visiting the downtown restaurants and shops as well as Coors Field. I have always heard about the effects of the altitude here in the Mile High City, but I never understood it until now. It made me feel as weak as a kitten.

Mary Ann and I also visited her favorite cousin who lives here in Denver. He is an inventor of mining equipment and he showed us around his cool-looking shop. He then took us for a drive around the city and into the nearby mountains to visit the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It is an open-air amphitheatre which has hosted many famous bands and televised concerts. Large natural rock formations jut out on either side of the seating area to give the amphitheatre it's perfect acoustics.

Mary Ann's cousin is a geologist as well and he gave us an interesting overview on how the Rocky Mountains formed and its effect on the surrounding landscape. He also showed us some cool dinosaur tracks that are over 150 million years old. They had been very well preserved because the rising mountains had pushed the tracks in the ground into a protected vertical position. We also checked out the Coors Brewery in Golden which is the world's largest single brewery.

p.s. On the news one night in our hotel room, I was shocked to find out that Phil Hartman had been murdered by his wife. He is a comedic genius and played a hilarious character on my favorite show, NewsRadio as well as Saturday Night Live. I will miss him.

Army Reserves - Honorable Discharge

I am now formally out of the Army as of March 10, 1998. I have received my certificate in the mail for an Honorable Discharge after 8 years in the Army Reserves. After six years going to weekend drills and two-week annual training, I have spent the last two years as a member of the IRR (Individual Ready Reserve). As a member of the IRR, I didn't have to go to drill any more but I was still in the computer in case I had to be called up in the case of war.

Short Story: Spider

The alarm went off. The incessant beeping jarred me awake. I scrunched my shoulders and gritted my teeth against the noise as I jumped out of bed and hit the snooze button with a practiced slap. The clock read 5:50 am as I climbed back into the small twin sized bed with Mary Ann. I clambered under the thick comforter and snuggled up against her body for warmth.

“What time is it?” Mary Ann asked, raising her head.

“Huh?” I mumbled, already half-asleep. “Oh, a little before six.”

“I should go,” she said placing her chin on my arm, sitting half up.

“Yes,” I responded before promptly falling back asleep.

I was nudged awake. “There is something crawling on me,” Mary Ann said in a frantic voice, She brushed at herself as she lay face down on her stomach.

“Yeah,” I responded without understanding. I saw her faintly in the early morning light through my squinted eyes. But my eyes closed and I was immediately asleep.

“I killed it,” Mary Ann crowed, reawakening me after only a few seconds. “I smashed it on me and brushed it into the crack between the wall and the bed.” I raised up on my elbows as I tried to comprehend what she was talking about.

“Good thing the light was off or I would have been too scared,” Mary Ann continued. “It felt big and hairy.” She readjusted the pillow for her head preparing to lie back down.

“My hero,” I said blandly, teasing her. I gave her a hug.

Mary Ann burst into laughter, squeezing me back. “My hero!” she repeated back, giggling, as I joined in. We laughed together for a few moments.

I drifted quickly back to sleep and decided I shouldn’t tell her about the black hairy spiders with the yellow spots on their backs that I often saw cruising around lately.

The loud alarm went off again a few moments later.

Cantamar Sand Dunes in Baja, Mexico

Mary Ann and I went down to Tijuana, Mexico in her car to do some shopping. The driving in TJ is always a little freaky but Mary Ann was fearless and aggressive as any of the city's taxi drivers. I was very impressed. After hanging out a bit, we decided to explore further south and headed towards Ensenada. The coastline scenery along the windy toll road was great as always.


We were heading south of Puerto Nuevo (famous for its lobsters) as the sun was going down and we saw a large sand dune field alongside the road. We decided to check it out, so we exited onto the free road at the little village of Punta Cantamar and parked at the edge of town. We left our car and went through a metal gate onto the dunes. This is the first sand dunes I had seen since visiting the dune field in France. I had a fun time there with Greg, but I am still bummed that our pictures from there were lost when our camera was stolen.


The sand dunes were beautiful but there was lots of broken glass so we had to be careful where we stepped as we explored. Near the beach, we found a nice a little spot away from the people riding motorcycles and ATV's. We had a fun time jumping off the side of dunes into the soft sand below and watching the sun go down.


We were hungry when we got back to the car, so we decided to head back to Rosarito which is 15 minutes north of Puerto Nuevo. We walked around the Rosarito Beach Hotel and ate a nice dinner before driving home.

Road Trip to Northern California

I had two weeks off from work in August and I was able to drive up to Northern California. It took thirteen hours to drive there from San Diego with my 15-year old brother, Jordan. We stayed at a friend’s house, out in the woods. We spent most of our time swimming in the river that went through the property and cruising around on a golf cart. Pretty boring sounding, but it felt good to relax. We visited the Lava Beds National Monument, the site of an old lava flow near the border of Oregon. It was fun clambering around in the icy and pitch-black caves with just a flashlight and a helmet. I spent most of the time crouched over and walking on my hands and knees in the low-ceiling tunnels. We saw only six of the fifteen caves, so I wouldn’t mind going back some day.


My brother and I stopped in San Francisco on the way back and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was my first time traveling there. You could see the old prison of Alcatraz Island from Pier 39. Alcatraz was a lot closer than it appeared in the movie, The Rock, with Nicholas Cage. It looked like it wouldn’t be that hard to swim the distance between them. From San Francisco, we took the coastal route and stopped in Pismo Beach around twilight. We took a swim in the ocean and I ended up diving forward over a wave right onto a rocky reef hidden less than a foot below the surface. I was lucky I wasn’t hurt, but it was pretty funny. Besides San Diego and LA, I hadn’t seen that much of the California before now. I have wanted to take a road trip for awhile now.

Princess Diana died, I was watching CNN when they said she was injured in the car crash. I can’t say that I knew that much about Princess Diana before, but I’ve learned more in the last two weeks about the English Royal Family than I ever wanted to know in my entire life. Actually, I thought that the funeral was nice, but a bit too much of a public spectacle. They have been playing Elton John’s song non-stop on the radio. Mother Teresa’s death has almost been lost in this.

I have started school for the fall. I am taking it very easy. Only a creative-writing class and volleyball for fun.

Summer of 1997

I have been hanging out with a girl from Hungary named Edina, showing her around San Diego the last few months. Recently, we went to the new Stephen Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. It is a great aquarium displaying the ocean life of the California coastline. The best exhibit is the giant kelp forest tank. The large back porch with the tide pools has great views of the La Jolla shoreline and Scripps Pier.


Afterward, we down to La Jolla and checked out all the beaches, La Jolla Cove, the seals at the Children's Pool and the famous Wind'n'Sea beach right by the beach house I worked at a few years ago. The waves have been fun lately and the water is pretty warm. That makes for some crowded conditions out in the water, unfortunately. Last weekend while surfing, a pod of dolphins swam close by me about fifteen feet away. I always consider dolphins as a good luck sign while out in the water, don't have to worry about sharks.


A few weeks ago, my friend, Matt, had his birthday. We had a limousine for seven hours. I had never been in one before. It was huge. We had nine people inside and we went to fancy Japanese restaurant, a nightclub, and then down to the beach. There was a lot of alcohol in the Limo and we all got pretty toasted.

I saw the movie, Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. Mike Myers was hilarious. During one scene I laughed so hard that I had to wipe tears from my eyes. I saw The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis. It had an original spin on a old storyline with a good sense of humor. I thought Milla Jovovich was very hot. The director, Luc Besson, also did the French films, Nikita and The Big Blue, which I thought was very good. I thought The Lost World was a bit of a disappointment on the plot side. I saw it up at the Edwards Spectrum up in Irvine. BIG SCREEN!!


I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, last weekend. My friend, Greg, and I went because of the new ride, Superman, The Escape. It traveled 100 miles an hour along the track and then shot up a tower that is as tall as a 41-story building. We sat in the front row and it was very exciting. I took a picture at the very top. It was hard to hold on to the camera because we were traveling so fast. My sunglasses flew off of me and out of the roller coaster at the top, but they fell back into the coaster at the bottom as we shot back down. It would have been even more amazing had one of the lenses not broken off when they landed.

Fiji Pictures

Here are the rest of my Fiji pictures on Facebook from my 1997 surfing trip.

Here is the link:

Fiji Pictures on Facebook

Fiji Trip

My surf trip to Fiji with my friend, Jeremy, was awesome. I have wanted to go there since seeing "Endless Summer II". There was some great waves, but there was a bit too much wind on two of the days. It was a very different sort of wave in Fiji as there are very few beachbreaks. I'd never surfed a reef break before where the waves form when swells come from the really deep water to the shallow reefs surrounding the islands.


Big John would have to take us out in his little boat to Namotu (a nearby island) and we surfed a spot called Magics. The boat would anchor in a deep ocean channel outside of the island's coral reef, so it was a long paddle over to the lineup. It was a little scary jumping off the boat the first time because of the fear of sharks and no land close by to reach if necessary.


There was a powerful rip current out at the surf break and we had to paddle endlessly to stay on the peak in the lineup. We also had to be careful when we fell (trying to fall flat) so we wouldn’t hit the sharp reef with our bodies. The long paddle back to the boat after a long surf session was brutal, felt like my arms would fall off. It least the current flowed in that direction. There was more than fifteen people out there each time we went, very crowded for Fiji. Jeremy couldn't get the camera to load a new roll of film, so I missed out on getting pictures taken of me catching any waves. Bummer!


One of the night's we got to participate in a Kava drinking ceremony. Kava is a native drink made out of the root of the Kava plant that has an euphoric effect. To drink the Kava, we had to clap once, drink the entire cup with both hands, hand it back and then clap three more times while saying, "Maca". It tasted like the earth and it made our tongues and mouths go a bit numb.


Jeremy and I went scuba diving and snorkeling in the warm waters of the island, Malolo Lailai, we were staying on. We also did a bit of kayaking and I tried windsurfing once. It's impossible. I don't think I ever went more than a foot. Maybe if I knew the basics of sailing I would have figured it out. It seems like allot of technique.


We didn’t get much sleep on this trip. We had to go surfing at 6:00 in the morning to catch the high tide and we would stay up late partying and dancing in the bar at the Plantation Resort. We mostly hung out with Darren & Karen from Australia and Georgie and Laura from Great Britain. It was rainy season in Fiji but it only rained on our last day of the trip. A tropical cyclone was supposed to hit the islands the day after we flew back to Los Angeles.


Here in San Diego everything is nice and sunny. Perfect weather, actually. After Jeremy and I got back from Fiji, we found out that we were having a ‘Red Tide’ at the beaches here. It was an amazing contrast coming from the crystal clear waters of Fiji to a deep rust color of the water back here. At night the ocean would glow and the waves would throw off sparks created by the electrolytes produced by the billions of plankton massed along the shoreline. It only lasted a few days and the ocean is now back to its normal green. Two friends of mine were stung pretty badly by the jellyfish that had come to feed on the plankton.