Sunday, April 5, 2009

GoPro Video Camera

Have I ever mentioned how awesome my brother is? My sister in law, too. This year for my birthday they gifted me with a GoPro Wrist Hero camera. Fully rigged it weighs just under 5 oz. Has a waterproof housing and audio capabilities. I am now forced to learn how to use iMovie on my mac! There are worse things to have to do in life.

I tried to video the outrigger race yesterday but was having some technical difficulties with the media card. I'll have that worked out for the next one. Enjoy these for now and expect to see more in the future.

My very first video, you can see my torso, Jasen, Lisa, and Doug M.



My second video, Stan has the boat with the red deck, and later in the video you can see Doug M and Sabine headed towards me. I still need to work on getting a more level set up on the rear iako or learning how to level the video in post production.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Introducing Hiwa

I've been without cat love in my life for about 2.5 years now. Dog love is different than cat love, not better, not worse, just different. I have some friends that regularly rescue cats and dogs. Last summer I went to their house to meet a kitty that needed a home. I wasn't ready to take anyone home yet, but she was a very cute little girl. Last weekend I finally decided I was ready to bring a cat into my life. Llelo has been wanting one for quite some time, now.

Sabine & LeAnn had been feeding this black cat since at least last summer and had seen him around the neighborhood for awhile before that. He started out with a bed and food on their from stoop and attacking their other cats at any opportunity. That meant he'd never be able to move in with the others, 4 cats and 3 dogs. As winter progressed he was given a bed in their finished basement. He showed that he was quite cuddly and loved being petted.

They arrived with all his l
uggage around noon on Saturday, litter box, food, catnip socks, and laundry basket bed. He found all kinds of great places to hide and I spent a fair amount of time on hands and knees pulling him out from under furniture. When I insisted he sit in my lap he was quite cuddly. Sabine & LeAnn hung out for over an hour making sure he was going to be ok. They had some concern given his length of time being an outdoor cat.

Over the course of the evening I decided to call him Hiwa (pronounced hee-vah), which means choice, jet black (entirely black, as pigs offered to
the gods, and of a desireable blackness) in Hawaiian. His eyes are a vivid yellow and his coat is short, very dense, and plush.

So, now there are three critters in the house. We are still adjusting and getting used to the change in dynamics but things are going well. More stories to come...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Cinema Paradiso

I watched Cinema Paradiso last night. I know it came out in 1988, but I'd just never made time to see it. I'm glad I finally did. It was a delightful, sentimental movie. IMDB listed the tagline: 'A celebration of youth, friendship, and the everlasting magic of the movies.' I guess when it was first released it wasn't favorably reviewed by the critics, it was too sentimental. When it was shown at Cannes it got rave reviews for it's sentimentality, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury and was also nominated for the Golden Palm. It went on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 1990.

It begins with the main character learning of passing of a dear old friend, whom he hadn't seen for 30 years. It brings up old memories, the film ends up being mostly flashbacks to Toto's childhood. At first I was a little hung up on it being a movie about people watching movies, but then I let go and got swept up into the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I laughed, I cried, I am glad I finally Cinema Paradiso. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Five Rules For Life

I found this blog Saturday. I like it and wanted to share it with you.

Five Rules For Life



Here's an example of a posting there. I think the 'take pictures' is particularly important. Going through all the photos that The Mot
her and Gram had and trying to figure out who is who, was challenging. Thankfully Uncle Leonard lives in Olympia and could go through them all with me. I still have to scan them all and name the files so we won't have to do this again.

Submitted by Stephanie Poston

stephanie poston is a wife of over 15 years and a mother of three children (8, 12, and 14-years old). she is a graduate of texas tech university (b.s. in human development and family studies), a photographer at heart, and a preschool teacher by trade.

Here are Stephanie's "Five Rules For Life":

1.) Take pictures.
Take LOTS of pictures. Document your life. Write about it and leave your family your history and in turn create the start of their history.

2.) Remember to breathe.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take your breath away." - written on a picture frame that hangs in our house.
For me the first moment that took my breath away was when I met my husband. Next was the birth of each of our children; then there was the day they each went to kindergarten. I can't imagine what the day will be like when they go away to college and start their own lives. There are the endless moments I have been fortunate enough to experience through travel; there is nothing like it. And there was witnessing the death of my Father. No one said they can all be happy moments - but remember them all, the good and the bad.



3.) Drive with your windows down and your radio turned up.
Do this often - it takes you back to that first real taste of freedom. You can remember what it was like at 16, before "responsibility" kicked in. You can feel the wind in your hair and hear the music in your heart. Then do it with your kids - watch their faces light up when they see a glimpse of the child in you. It creates a connection with them.

4.) Travel as often as you can.
Go somewhere you have never been. Even if you can't afford a big trip just go somewhere. Take someone with you who has never been there either. Watch their reactions and enjoy your moments together. Go places that take your breath away and give you those "moments".

5.) Be there.
Be there for God, your spouse, your kids, and your friends; it is the most important thing you can do. Get to know them by showing them what's in your heart and learning what is in theirs. Don't hold back. Let them in.

Stephanie currently resides in Hutto, Texas.

Fair Weather Paddlers

This morning I got up extra early to go get my allergy shots before paddling. Nothing quite like getting jabbed with needles before going out for a good, hard paddle. It was cold and raining. You know it's raining hard when Gus is squinty from the drops pelting him in the face. I got down to the beach and the rain had abated, mostly. We had 13 people come down, 12 people seated in the double hull and one person steering from the aft bulkhead. We got on the water rather quickly, the clouds were looking ominious and Sabine said that it was snowing down at her place on the Seattle/Renton border.

We headed out for the Ballard Locks. As soon as we left Waterway 18 the wind hit us full force and the chop was pretty big. By this point my fingers were painful with the cold, the rain was driving down, why were we doing this??? We passed under the Aurora Bridge and then the Fremont Bridge at which point we took a brief break to adjust clothing and get some water. Then we were off into the meat of the workout. One minute active rest, six minutes hard, one minute sprint hard and back to the beginning. Thankfully by the end of the break the blood was again keeping my fingers warm.

Once we were well into the cut (aka the ship canal) the rain was still coming down but it felt like it was coming down harder. Not like more intensity, but physically harder, like freezing rain or small hail. Nothing like little bits of frozen stuff speckling your workout pants to make you wonder 'wtf am I doing this for?!?' And the stinging in the eyes, ye-ouch! But none of that stopped us, we kept on going hard. At our usual turn around/break point Doug just turned the boat and kept us going. Once we'd returned under the Ballard Bridge someone asked if he'd missed the break, I piped up with, there are no breaks during a race! I think we did 5 or 6 sets of the 1-6-1 series. I was definitely tired at the end. I'd entertained visions of heading to the YMCA after practice to do some dips and pull-ups. Between the too tired and too cold after practice, ya, that didn't happen.

We are definitely not fair weather paddlers down here. IMUA!

It wasn't this cold for us, thankfully!

Friday, March 6, 2009

thoughts on the bus

Leaving the house this morning, I was startled by the brightness of the sky. Pushing onto the crowded bus, standing room only, with the weary masses headed to work. The gentle rocking of the bus moving some to that place between asleep and awake, while others were lost in the music streaming into ears via the ubiquitous iPods, from some the volume spilling out to wash over the adjacent passengers thumpa thumpa boom boom. Hurtling down the express lanes of I-5 the bus crosses the ship canal. The clarity of the morning is so sharp it nearly hurts. The water in Lake Union glassy and clear. To the east a lone rower ripples the calm, still waters, inherently trusting the water is clear in their path. To the west the Olympic Mountain range, jagged, and still cloaked in it's winter garb of snow, not yet ready for spring. But, ready or not, spring is on the horizon.


Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Big Things in the Planning

This is going to be a very exciting year. I'm really enjoying my new outrigger club, practices are awesome and we have a lot of races planned for this year. There are three big outrigger races in the northern hemisphere. The biggest is the Moloka'i Crossing, a 42 mile change out race. Then there is Kona or more properly named Queen Lili'uokalani Long Distance Canoe Race, an 18 mile iron race. Iron means not change out, you race the entire distance without a break. And finally, there is the Catalina US Championships, crossing from Newport Beach Harbor across to Catalina Island. It's a 28 mile change out race. Last summer I set a personal goal for myself to do Catalina in 2009, Queen Lili'uo in 2010, and Moloka'i in 2011.

Tonight I had a meeting with Jasen and Sabine to discuss some logistics for doing Catalina this year. Jasen is heading up coordination of our team, Sabine is offering the voice of experience. And what do I bring? Loads of commitment and enthusiasm and willingness to help out where ever help is needed. It's looking exciting, we have a good group that seem interested in participating, we just need to have them commit and get on board with training.

I have lots more I want to share about my race schedule for this year, but the meeting went a while longer than I anticipated (it was over dinner so at least we didn't starve!) and I'm really tired. Practice was kinda tough and I was having trouble breathing, still getting over a cold/sinus infection and I felt like I was gasping the whole practice. Bleh and that was even after a few hits of the albuterol.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Gut Instincts

Do you listen to your gut instincts? Do they generally work out when you do and you feel like a dufus when you don't? I tend to listen to my instincts, I've found like works out better when I do.

I got home from work and decided to take the boys out for a walk around the neighborhood. The sky was greying up and rain was immenent but I figured I had a little time. I got collars on the dogs, grabbed the leashes and the thought of grabbing my rain shell crossed my mind. Nah, won't need it, it's been nice all day, even if it does rain it probably won't be very hard. All this crossed my mind as we walked out of the apartment.

We burst out the exterior door both dogs peeing on the first step off the sidewalk. Then up the stairs to the neighborhood that runs behind the apartment building. We went up the hill and took a right heading in the general direction of the local park. When we were about 2 blocks from the park it began to sprinkle lightly. Hmm, perhaps I should have grabbed the rain shell. Should we continue down the route I had in my mind or head back towards home and have to walk up and down a rather large hill. It's only sprinkling, we'll be fine, we should just finish our walk as I had planned it.

Another block in the rain started coming down a bit more intensely. At this point we were committed to this route and with each progressive step the rain intensified. It was as though someone left the tap on and then someone else cruised by and opened it wider. Sigh. Gus was lagging further, trying anyway, Llelo was trying to pull ahead, you know faster is always better. I tried hard not to hunch down, just walk head held high, rain dripping into my eyes, down my neck, soaking into my jeans.

Finally made it home. Jeans soaked through, socks soaked through my crocs (as if that is at all difficult), my hair was saturated, as were both dogs. Ya, next time I'm listening to my gut!

Friday, January 9, 2009

1st Winter Series Race - Almost

I was supposed to be racing tomorrow in Lake Union but the flooding has postponed the race. The folks from south of Seattle will have a very hard time getting into town for the race with I-5 closed in places, covered with flood waters. On the one hand I'm a little dissapointed but on the other I can really use an extra week to get in a little bit more training time. I have been on my OC1 twice since August, I think. Regardless of the number of times I've been out paddling, it's still fewer than I prefer in preparation for racing.

I've been going out mostly in the OC12, the double hull configuration, with SOCC and Wakinikona folks. When the crew is really synced up that double hull can really move and it's far more stable in the windy winter conditions. It's much less likely to huli and with the cold water and wind chill going swimming is strongly discouraged.

I'll let you know how the race goes next weekend. If all goes well this weekend I'll post a number of photos from all the snow we've been having. I really like snow, but gimme a break, are we done yet?

Communication

Have you ever said something, thought you were perfectly clear as to your intent and then the other person totally misunderstood what you were saying, misunderstood your intent? It's rather frustrating when it happens and really frustrating when it happens over and over again, regardless of how much care you may take. I have two bosses at work and I communicate very well with one of them and with the other it's kind of hit or miss. I can tell when my meaning is not being fully understood pretty quickly, her upper lip puckers up and begins to quiver ever so slightly, she gives the appearance of gotten a whiff of some really powerful stink. At that point I try to back peddle as best I can.

My situation at work isn't one I can just cut loose from. I really, really like my job and my bosses. I realize I need to work on my communication and just try to minimize the mis-communications as best I can. I found I was having similar difficulty with some of the folks over at SSP. One of the tasks I had taken on for the club was the dissemination of information from the folks running the club to the members of the club. It's something that groups can have difficulty with. I found myself venting to a couple of friends with more regularity than I liked about how communication was challenging in general and that I had felt the backlash of misunderstandings and mis-communications with greater and greater frequency. I kept saying, I'll give it one more year and see if things change if they don't I'm going to leave this club. Well, two instances of miscommunication occurred at the end of October/beginning of November and my patience snapped. I found a place to store my OC1 and contacted another club to see if I could join them and then quit SSP.

I have joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC) and have been very happy with my decision. I have no responsibilities other than to show up and paddle, help move the canoe into and out of the water, and maybe bail the canoe, but nothing else. It's nice and refreshing, relaxing even. I was surprised at how much tension I had locked up in my neck that immediately dissipated once I switched clubs. I really miss many of the SSP club members, but they are friends and we keep in touch, we'll have a nice little rivalry at the races this year.

Of course, I am unable to keep from helping out where I see a need. I don't have many other things occupying time in my life, why not throw myself into the outrigger world. Can you imagine my surprise to see my name put forth for the SOCC board position of secretary? I mean I knew that I offered to help out in any way the club could use me, but I was still tickled to see my name on the ballot. As I have seen no other names put forth I think chances are pretty darn high that I will be the new secretary of SOCC. So there you have it, I'm still paddling, just with a different group now.