Palomar Observatory Tour

I went up to Palomar Mountain to visit the Palomar Observatory with some friends and people from work. Tamara lives on the mountain and arranged for us to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the telescope from her astronomer friend who works there.


The observatory is at an altitude of 5,600 feet on the mountain and it is 135 feet tall. We started out the tour in the large basement below the main observing floor. It is used as storage but it's main purpose is to house the heavy ballasts that support and balance the weight of the large telescope. Our guide then took us through the small offices and showed us the star charts generated by the telescope.

We then went out onto the telescope floor. I had been here before during my six-grade camp but it was much nicer to stand directly under the telescope instead of being trapped behind glass in the small visitor's gallery. We learned that the 200-inch mirror of the Hale Telescope was the largest in the world for 45 years when it first started observing the sky in 1949. We were also told that the observatory was once a listed target for the Soviet Union in the event that they launched a nuclear missile strike. Since it was daytime, the shutters in the dome were closed and the temperature inside was kept very cool to match the nighttime mountain temperature.

The sweetest part of the observatory tour was when they rotated the telescope dome while we were standing on the dome's inner catwalk. The 1,000 ton dome rotates so slowly and smoothly that it appeared to us that the telescope floor at the center was rotating while we stood still. When our guide opened a small door in the dome and let us walk out onto the catwalk on the outer rim, we could clearly see the landscape slowly going past us.


Afterwards, Tamara took us on a tour of the small fire station on the mountain where she works as a volunteer firefighter. We had a fun time checking out the fire trucks and equipment. They are mostly used to fight brush fires.

Scuba Diving in La Jolla, CA

Well, we went scuba diving today. It was great but I am exhausted. The water was pretty clear down at La Jolla Cove. It was crowded down there. Another beautiful day. My favorite part was swimming through the small kelp forest as the kelp stocks rose around us to the surface above. Lots of Garibaldis were checking us out. They are the California State Fish. They are bright orange and they are afraid of nothing. It is illegal to hunt them. It would be too easy to kill them because they never try to escape.

They put a lifeguard tower on my beach this summer. It is a good thing if it saves lives but at the same time it feels like they put a leash on the beach. Not so wild anymore.

Update: 8/26/01

I went scuba diving again with my friend, Chris. It was fun even though the visibility sucked a bit. About 5 feet! It is very peaceful and such a strange experience. I saw a couple lobsters inside a hole in the reef. Chris wanted me to grab one of them because he wasn't wearing any gloves. Yeah, right!!!!!

I had interesting moment. We were following the bottom and I was behind Chris when all of a sudden I felt something big hit one of my fins behind me. I thought, "Oh, Shit!" and looked behind me and saw that we had gone back into the shallow end and a swimmer had kicked me from up above. I wonder who was more startled, him or me. I can imagine swimming and looking down and seeing something big and dark swimming below me that I had kicked. Crazy!

Glamis Sand Dunes Trip #2

I went out to Glamis again for the weekend.


My younger brother, Joel, came out with me this time and he brought his motorcycle with him. He had to put a special paddle tire on the rear wheel so he could ride in the soft sand of Glamis. He normally rides on dirt at Ocotillo Wells so the sand was very different for him. He said it is way more tiring and takes more balance and control.

2000 Photo Journal Project

In 2000, I started a project where I would take at least one photo a day for a whole year. I was almost successful for the entire year, but after my third camera broke due to excessive wear and spending lots of dough developing countless rolls of film I ended my project after 10 months.

Here are a few of my favorites.














The rest of my photos are at the links below at Yahoo Photos.

2000 Photo Journal - Part 1

2000 Photo Journal - Part 2

Glamis Sand Dunes Trip #1

I finally made it out to the desert again this weekend. This time it was the sand dunes at Glamis. It was further north of the spot we went to last time, but still part of the same Algodones dune field. Chelsea and Forrest came with Jeremy and me this time.


The weather was perfect and it was very beautiful, especially at sunset. We went on a night ride and it is quite an adrenaline rush dropping into steep bowls barely illuminated by small headlights. I also went on a fun dune buggy ride. The driver was a maniac and we ended up blowing an axle going up a steep dune. It was great but we had to push it a ways back for the tow.


My boss, Blayne, bought rainbow flags for his ATV quads, not knowing that they can stand for gay pride. (The quads have flags on tall sticks so others can see you coming over the top of dunes sooner to prevent head-on-collisions.) Anyway, I noticed the flags but didn't say anything because I thought maybe I was wrong about what they meant. My friend, Jeremy, and I were out cruising and we stopped to help push a stuck pickup out of a hole when another truck came speeding by. Some asshole stuck his head out the window, flipped us off and screaming out that we were fuckin homos and should get the hell out of here. We thought, "What the Fuck!" but then we realized that they had seen our rainbow flags and thought we were gay.


We had a good laugh later, but it sucked that people are still so bigoted out there. It's funny that the only time people are like that is when they are in big groups or speeding by. Cowards!

Cactus Stock in Mexico

Cactus Stock was a blast! Rosie had a gig with the band, Skanic, as one of their back-up singers so I went with her and Jeff down to Mexico for Cactus Stock. It is held south of Ensenada in Baja California about 20 minutes from La Bufadora (The Blowhole).


There is a windy dirt road the last few miles with some shear drops and sharp turns as you cross over the rocky ridge to get down to the Kennedy Ranch. It was very scenic spot with jagged cliffs rising out of the ocean and the weather was perfect. We set up our tents and joined the party.


A few bands were playing on the cliff stage with people hanging out or going into the ocean. I went ocean kayaking with Jeff, but I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses when we capsized while catching a wave into the beach. Bummer! At sunset, we all hiked up to Crow's Point with the rest of the crowd to cheer as the sun dropped below the horizon.


At Crow's Point, I met a cute girl named Liza who I hung out with for the rest of the night after she invited me to have some dinner at her friends' campsite. After a while the bonfire started and more bands started playing on the main stage. Everyone started to gather around the fire and on the dance floor.


Rosie did a great job singing and Skanic had a fun set. After the Belly Up, it was the second time I had heard her sing with them. I got pretty plastered on Tequila through the night. I drank three-quarters of a bottle of Hornitos. I had never had it before but I really like it. It is very smooth. Not as good as chilled Patron, though.


I was so dehydrated in the morning that I got two really bad hamstring cramps in the same leg when I tried to get out of my tent. I was writhing on the floor in pain for awhile. Heh! It took till Wednesday for the soreness in my right hamstring to go away.


After a morning hike, Rosie, Jeff & I had breakfast burritos at Estella's Cantina before packing up to go home. On the trip back north, we stopped for lobster in Puerto Nuevo.

2000 Mission Bay Triathlon

Well, I finished my first triathlon yesterday in Mission Bay with my friend, Robert. It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes, but I won't know my official times and splits until they mail them to me. It was a sprint distance triathlon with a 500 meter swim, 15k bike & 5k run.


I did pretty well on my swim, but it took a little time to get used to the crowded swimming conditions. It threw me off my stroke and messed with my breathing. I actually bumped into Robert right near the end and we exited the water together.


I sucked in the transition area where I switched to my bike. Robert was gone in about thirty seconds but it took me about 3-4 minutes. Because I was still wet, I accidentally ripped my number off my singlet when I was struggling to put it on over my head. I had to re-safety-pin it back on. Next time I'm not going to wear socks or a singlet until after the bike section.

I did okay on the bike but there are a lot of very fast guys out there. I passed about five guys, but I was passed by about thirty while I was in a higher gear.


The run sucked. My legs felt like lead weights after getting off the bike. I took me two of the three miles for my legs to start feeling normal. I don't want to mention how many people passed me. I definitely need to practice on the bike and then switch straight to a run. I was able to sprint to the finish, passing a guy who was twenty-five. I was able to tell because we had our ages written on the back of our calves with a permanent marker. Each age group starts in 5 minute intervals after the professionals start. You know you are doing really bad when someone in their forties passes you.


Robert finished in one hour and four minutes (this is his twelfth triathlon) and the pros who started one minute before us finished in about fifty+ minutes. It was really fun though and I am definitely going to do it again. I definitely think I can improve.

Hangliding at Torrey Pines

My friend, Greg, and I went to the Torrey Pines Glider Port on Sunday. I had given him a Tandem Hangliding Gift Certificate for his Birthday. It was beautiful day and there were allot hangliders and paragliders up in the air over the cliff face. Greg went first because he only weighs 145 pounds, but I got to take pictures on the edge of the cliff with him as he took off with the instructor.


The instructor let him control it for most of the time as he flew around for about twenty minutes over Black's Beach. I ran over to take a picture as he came in for a landing. They overshot the landing area and I had to dive out of the way as they came in too fast. They ended up landing in the gravel area and nearly hitting a crowd of spectators.


The wind started to die so they told me I would have to wait for it to pick up for my turn. After about a hour of waiting, one of the smaller hangliders in the air came too close to a paraglider (looks like a parachute) and spun out of control. He crashed into the cliff and the lifeguards had repel 200 feet down to rescue him. He was alive but had major injuries. Because of the accident they cleared the sky of flyers, so I will have to go back there again for my turn.


Even though I didn't get to fly, it was a pretty exciting day.

San Dieguito High School - 10 Year Reunion (Class of 1990)

I went to my 10 year Reunion for the Class of 1990 from San Dieguito High School on Saturday, August 19th. It was held Downtown San Diego on the "Berkeley", an old steam ferry originally from San Francisco Bay, permanently anchored in the harbor next to the "Star of India".


I hung out with Bobby and Julie and it was really fun seeing all the people I haven't seen for 10 years. I had kept in touch with a few people, but it was nice to see my friends, like Michael Clarke, who I had gone to school with since 3rd grade. I have a bit of a bad memory, so it was so nice to have so many memories come rushing back to me as I saw faces from the past.


It was a fun night with good food, lots of drinks from the bar and plenty of dancing. I just wish Mary Ann could have been there. I know a lot of people who dreaded or want to avoid their reunion, but I had a blast.


I was voted "Most Changed" during the awards ceremony. The prize was a engraved wine glass. I took a picture of the large gathering as I returned from the dais. Too bad they didn't give the type of awards that Homer Simpson was so proud of winning at his reunion on The Simpsons, like "Oldest Car", "Lowest Paying Job" or "Traveling the Least Distance to get to the Reunion". I might have grabbed one of those as well. Just Kidding! Heh!


After the reception at the "Berkeley" ended, I went with Yancy, his wife and a large crowd into the Gaslamp Quarter to the dueling piano bar called "Sing Sing" on 4th Street. There was a sizable group of us even after the place closed with people not wanting to end conversations with friends they hadn't seen for a long time. I ended up walking back to my car around four in the morning.

San Dieguito High School Graduation

Laughlin, Nevada Trip

The past month has been very busy. It continued when I went to Laughlin, Nevada for a few days last week with my friend, Chris and several of his friends. We drove there and stayed at the Flamingo Hilton.


This is my second trip to Laughlin. It is fun to walk down the boardwalk along the Colorado River lined with casinos. There is a intense contrast between the hot desert air outside and the chilly air-conditioned casinos as you pop in and out along the walkway.


Chris towed his jet boat out which we put into Lake Mohave. The boat was a wild ride that gave the feeling that it would flip at high speeds. It was very crowded at the main boat launch the first day, so on the second day we drove further north to a more secluded launch area. We found a nice sand bar to hang out on.

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