Go-Kart Racing and Roller Skating (Plus a little fun with Fire!)

Friday morning, we had Fire Extinguisher training during our company's Health and Safety Meeting. Everyone took turns putting out a contained gasoline fire to familiarize the staff with the fire extinguishers in our building. It was fun and I now feel more confident in pulling one off the wall in an emergency.

After work, I went to K1 Speed in Carlsbad for Jill's Birthday. She won the first race and Kenny the second. Even though I came in 4th and 5th, my passing has improved a lot. I squeezed inside four aggressive drivers with only minimal bumping on the turns and no one could keep up with me from behind. My best lap of the night was 29.41, a big improvement from the 32.41 seconds I put up the first time I raced their indoor track in 2007. I was a bit worried about catching the next day at trapeze since my hands and forearms were super sore from steering the go-karts through the sharp turns at high speed. (They were still stiff in the morning, but they didn't give me any problems. Phew!) Since it was getting late, we skipped our third race and headed to Cap'n Kenos for dinner. I have mixed feelings about this place. Except for their spaghetti special, I swear I will only order breakfast items from now on. The place is extremely cheap so I shouldn't be surprised by the low quality of the food.

Tori's Birthday is Monday so she wanted to go rollerskating in Mission Bay this weekend to celebrate. We met up with Jill and Kenny at Bonita Cove on Sunday afternoon and skated along the Bayside Walk fronting Mariners Basin. It was my first time skating outdoors in a long time so it took me a little while to get used to the uneven concrete paths. (I fell only once!) After we circled Mission Point we headed up the Ocean Front Walk along South Mission Beach. Reaching the rough pavement and heavy crowds at Belmont Park, we crossed back over Mission Boulevard and skated along the bay until we reached the Bahia Resort at Ventura Cove. We were tired but not too exhausted after an hour in skates so we went out for dinner at Barrio Star for their delicious tacos.

p.s. It find it funny that out of all the interesting things we did this weekend, Tori and I catching two trapeze classes on Saturday is barely mentioned in my post.

Balboa Park Centennial - California Tower Tour

For Balboa Parks's 100th anniversary, the California Tower at the Museum of Man opened to visitors in January for the first time in 80 years. Closed to the public after the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, the 198 foot tower is most famous for representing the Xanadu Mansion in the Oscar-winning film, Citizen Kane. Since I was eager to check it out, Tori and I booked a tour online a few weeks ago for this Sunday. I had hoped for a sunny day, but we had dark clouds and a prediction for rain as we drove down at 11am.

Since our tour was not until 3pm, we decided to walk around the park and visit The Timken Museum of Art since I have never been inside. Opened in 1965, the small museum was celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year. In one of it's six tiny galleries, they were exhibiting Raphael's, The Madonna of the Pinks, on loan from the National Gallery in London. Back in 2011, I saw the famous Renaissance painter's tomb inside the Roman Pantheon. Out of the museum's collection, two of my favorite paintings were Lovers in a Park by François Boucher and An American Ship in Distress by Thomas Birch. The Timken also has a gallery devoted to Russian Icons dating back to the 15th century.

Since our tower ticket included entrance to the Museum of Man, we decided to check out the exhibits before our tour began. After visiting the new BEERology and Monsters! exhibits downstairs, we marveled at the three Mayan Stelae cast on-site from the originals in Guatemala for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Moving upstairs, we tracked the history of human evolution in their informative Anthropology Exhibit and viewed the mummies in their Ancient Egypt section. My only disappointment was the Indian woman making quesadillas with hand-made tortillas was missing. That was my favorite part of the museum when I was younger.

Fifteen minutes early, we went back downstairs to sign in for our California Tower Tour. We had a full group with 2 guides and 12 visitors. Our first stop as we climbed the tower was the Maas-Rowe Carrillion on the 3rd level. It plays the chimes heard from the top every quarter hour. At noon, a carilloneur plays three songs every day. As we continued up the steep staircases and looked out the narrow windows, our guide explained the history of the tower and it's construction, pointing out the white lines on the ceiling where the builders refurbished the walls with stronger concrete to replace the thicker brick interior. On the seventh floor, we found the original spiral staircase that goes all the way to the top of the tower. Since the 9th and 10th floors are still off-limits, we only climbed it to the viewing deck on the 8th level. Protruding balconies on each side revealed the surrounding park and the nearby dome of the California Building.

Despite the forbidding sky, we had great views of Downtown San Diego to the South and the tree-filled San Diego Zoo to the North before we descended the tower. While rain had been threatening all day, the clouds did not open up until we were halfway across the Cabrillo Bridge. Taking shelter under the eve of a building on the far side, we waited for the shower to stop before walking over to Barrio Star for an early dinner. Tori and I agreed that the tacos had the best corn tortillas we have ever eaten. The Carnitas Taco was my favorite. Very tender and flavorful!

1st Anniversary in San Clemente, CA

I can't believe that it has already been a year since that perfect day in Hawaii when I married Tori. To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we took Friday off and booked a room just up the coast in San Clemente. I have been looking forward to staying there since I have driven through the city so many times in the past without stopping. Leaving work, our weekend getaway began with an especially beautiful sunset. Amid the fading blue sky, the setting sun illuminated the scattered clouds with multiples deep shades of orange and red as we drove north through Camp Pendleton.

We were staying at the Patriot's Motel, a small roadside inn on El Camino Real in Downtown San Clemente. It wasn't fancy but it was clean and we had a huge bathroom. After checking in and drinking a couple glasses of the complementary white wine, we walked over to Nick's for our anniversary dinner. Seated at a nice table beneath the front arches, we ordered cocktails and the crisp, tasty Asparagus Fries. The Buttermilk Fried Chicken on the menu sounded so good, we both ordered it and we were not disappointed. We heard the Warm Butter Cake was amazing so we saved room for dessert. It was so worth it! With a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, it had the perfect amount of baked crunchiness on the outside while still soft and moist at the center. We are definitely coming here again.

Friday morning, we walked over to Starbucks so Tori could try their new espresso drink, the Flat White. She had acquired a taste for Australia's favorite style of coffee while living there. After a quick trip to the Rainbow Sandals Outlet so Tori could buy a new pair of her favorite sandals, we came across the sign for the Casa Romantica on our meandering drive back. While exploring the sprawling cliff side home of the town founder, Ole Hanson, it reminded me of a poor man's Hearst Castle. While Randolf Hearst had to curtail construction on his elaborate mansion during the Great Depression, his contemporary, Ole Hanson, lost the home he built in 1927 to the bank. Designed by the same architect who built Nixon's Western White House on the other side of town, Casa Romantica has seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms surrounding a central courtyard with wonderful views of the ocean from the rear gardens.

After dropping the car back at the Motel, we walked down Avenida Del Mar to the San Clemente Pier. In the cool shade beneath, we watched the turquoise water crash against the pilings before walking out to the end of the 1,296-foot pier. Originally built in 1928, the pier was rebuilt twice in 1939 and 1985 due to heavy storm damage. Below, we observed a cormorant swimming fast under the clear water with it's webbed feet to catch a small fish trying to escape among the pilings. Back at the base of the pier, we stopped for a couple drinks at The Fisherman's Bar.

After our drinks, we walked South along the San Clemente Pedestrian Beach Trail until we reached the San Mateo Rocks directly off shore of Riviera Beach. I have seen those rocks many times from the train that runs right along the beach. They look close to shore but they sit further out than the end of the pier. Strolling back along the beach, we stopped once more at The Fisherman's for fish tacos and to watch the sunset. It was pretty, highlighting Catalina Island in orange light against the skyline, but without the dramatic clouds of Thursday night's sunset. (I also tried a Oyster Shooter for the first time.) On the walk back to the motel, Tori climbed a tree in the park to recreate a fun photo from our Wedding Reception. Next year, it will be my turn. Ha! Since we ate light at the pier, we went out for a later dinner at Duke's. Good Burgers!

Since we were checking out at 11:00 am on Saturday, we first walked next door to the Bagel Shack for breakfast. It was crowded but the bagel sandwiches were very tasty so we bought a couple extra for Sunday morning. Heading south on El Camino Real, we stopped at Rip Curl's Trestles Surf Outlet. Tori bought some clothes while I found a pair of trunks I liked for $30. Cheap! Since I had never been to the famous Trestles surf break before, we parked at the Christianitos lot and hiked down the long path to the beach. Crossing the railroad tracks at Uppers, we found 2-4 foot waves as we walked down the shore to Lowers and Middles. With the San Onofre Nuclear Plant visible around the point, we turned around at the Churches break to head back home to Encinitas. It was only a 30 minute drive from San Clemente, but the empty land of Camp Pendleton creates a nice physiological separation from Orange County. It feels so far away, yet it is so close.

Flying Trapeze - No Safety Lines

Today, I finally performed my first trick to the net without safety Lines.



In order to land safely in the net from a trick, I first had to learn the Face Off where flyers turn their bodies around mid-air to land on their back. After a lots of practice on the airbag, I moved over to the net to attempt my first Splits out of safety lines. I didn't feel too nervous, but it showed when I started turning as soon as I released the bar. On my second and third attempts, I correctly reached out first for the catch before completing my Face Off.

Thanksgiving - Cooking my First Turkey (with Oven Bag)

Maybe because I am now a married man, I volunteered to cook a Thanksgiving Turkey for our family dinner this year. For this first attempt, I decided to use a Reynolds Oven Bag because the best turkey I have ever tasted was cooked with that same technique. At 8:30am, I went downstairs to pull my thawed bird out of the refrigerator and prep it. Since I planned to cook the turkey without stuffing, I filled the cavity instead with chopped onion, garlic cloves, apple and a sprig of Rosemary.

After buttering the skin and sprinkling it with paprika, I slid it into the bag surrounded by five chopped celery stalks and two more onions. I then poured a chicken broth mixture of basil, thyme and pepper over the turkey before sealing the bag. We lost the included nylon tie so Tori cut a plastic strand from the bag to tie off the end instead. After venting the bag and placing it in the oven, I realized that I forgot to add salt but I decided to leave it alone since Butterball turkeys already contain an 8% water solution of salt and spices.

After 3 hours and 20 minutes, the meat thermometer in the thigh reached the desired 180 degrees and I pulled the bird from the oven. While I let it rest for 20 minutes, I re-watched a New York Times video on how to carve a turkey. Learning how to pull the entire breast away from the bone to cut separately on a second board was much easier that I expected. After I finished carving, I added the drippings from the roasting pan to some McCormicks's Turkey Gravy Mix. The gravy turned out great, but next year I will attempt to make giblet gravy from scratch.

Along with Tori's mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts, we took our prepared food over to my brother's place for the feast. We ate on a nice table set up outside in the yard and my turkey was deemed a success. It was very moist and flavorful. Afterwards we all hung out on the hay bales set up around the fire-pit before going back inside for desert. It was a great day!

Trapeze High Show - Catching and Flying

After skipping the Trapeze High Friends and Family Show in 2013 because of my injured shoulder, this year I was prepared to both catch and fly. The costume colors were black and white (with pink accent) so I was finally able to wear the special tights that I had been saving. The show started on Sunday at 3pm with special performances by Chris and Gina on the Static Trapeze, Susan on the Rope and Kenny and Jill on the Traveling Rings before moving back to the rig for the flying trapeze.

Since I am tall, I was assigned to catch the four girls of the Kids Troupe. Except for Vanessa, the rehearsal on Saturday was my first time catching the other girls who normally fly in the Sunday classes. Before the show, I was more worried about the catching than I was about my flying since I didn't want to spoil any of the girls' catches with bad timing. After I caught Charlotte's Birdie, my nervousness left as I caught Evie's Whip, Vanessa's Planche and Leilani's Splits with no problems. During the rehearsal, Vanessa had released early on both attempts, but she was perfect in the show. Normally I don't hear much outside noise during a catch because I am concentrating, but the overwhelming roar of the crowd during each successful catch was amazing to experience. Even though it was only four locks total, my mouth was dry and my body shaking at the end due to the adrenaline.

Chris had a busy day. After performing the Static Trapeze Routine earlier, he caught the largest troupe of the show with Angela, Natacha, Betty, Celeste, Kira, Dia, Cindy, Gina, Sharyn and Rhiannon. It was fun to watch all these talented ladies perform, most of them out of safety lines.

Wayne's Troupe was the smallest with just me, Chris and Didier who is visiting from France. For my pink accent color, I wore a tutu while flying for the first time. After a Warm Up Swing, I threw a Hocks Off to Wayne before finishing with a Man Splits dismount to the net. Next year, I will definitely perform my tricks out of lines. Chris and Didier are really good, throwing a Straight Jump and Layout out of lines to Wayne and returning to the board. They ended the show by dismounting to the net with a Forward Over and Double respectively.

Here are the short videos of me catching the Charlotte, Evie, Vanessa and Leilani.









Here are the short videos of me flying with Chris and Didier during the last troupe performance of the show.