They Make Vans Hiking Shoes, Right?

We decided to do a bit of hiking in Oahu last week and this climb to the 1200 ft summit of Koko Head was as bit of a challenge for everyone including JJ -- shown here just a few steps from reaching the top. We started at the baseball field (middle right of photo) and this climb is particularly difficult because you can always see where you're going and it's straight up.  Once there, the views are worth it.  Hanauma Bay Preserve is shown in the photo as well (middle left).

The second hike in as many days was to Manoa Falls, just a couple miles from the University of Hawaii in Manoa.  The challenge was not steepness but humidity and mud.  It was literally a hike through a rainforest and we sweated a lot even though it did not even feel hot.  This photo of a tree root is typical of this hike.

And in both hikes, JJ wore his trusty old Vans skateboarding shoes.  As I was washing it, I was extremely careful to make sure it doesn't fall apart completely.  JJ has this tendency to wear his favorite shoes (and clothes) until they are completely unrecognizable from their original forms.  This was no exception.  Of course, he wore it to the music festival LA Rising last night and he tripped as we were trying to beat the crowds out of the coliseum.  I'm getting him a new pair as soon as humanly possible.

Back To Vinyl

Weird how I virtually stopped buying CDs for several years now, save for a couple releases annually and yet, I'm drawn to these vinyl albums.  There are several perfectly good reasons people buy vinyl from the vinyl-sounds-better argument to the for-pure-nostalgic reason.  Me, I think it's a mixture of several factors but mostly it's for the album artwork.  Nothing like a 12-inch canvas to showcase graphic designs which were considered cutting edge at the time. All that mid-century stuff that is still sooo cool.  Today, we dropped by Rhino Records in Claremont and I bought 5 of these classic jazz albums including the one above -- a Quincy Jones Bossa Nova album.

Like Mother, Like Son

On the left is Sam at the Aloha Stadium Flea Market in 2009.  On the right is Maura roadside in Kapaa in 2007.  Drinking fresh coconut water is a tradition passed from mother to son.

Flatland Cruiser

There aren't too many flat areas to ride a 40-pound beach cruiser around the part of Rancho Cucamonga where we live.  The nearest flat area is across the street at the Day Creek Intermediate School parking lot and looks like we're gonna be spending most summer afternoon there riding and skating.  I sold my track bike a month ago but ended up buying this Fat Tire beach cruiser (made by Schwinn) from craigslist.  This is way cooler than any bike I've ever owned and obviously, Sam and JJ had taken a liking to it. 

(I obviously like Fat Tire beer as well but it'll be a few years before either kid gets to enjoy my private stash in the fridge.)

Postcard

The whole intent was to get a project car, spend a little bit of time and money restoring it, and get something running within a year.  That was the original intent in buying the '69 Corvette on May 14, 2001 from this guy in Ontario, something for Maura to drive around when she did not have the kids with her.  I started on the clutch replacement within a month which required dropping the transmission and keeping the car's four wheels on jackstands.  Well, shit happens and next thing I knew, life just got too busy and soon enough, everything got turned completely upside down and it's December 2010, we've moved from the Pasadena house to Rancho Cucamonga.  And the Vette was still on the same jackstands from 9 years ago.  I finally put the clutch together around November 2010, installed new brakes and decided to get the car painted.  It took it to McJack's in Anaheim until early May 2011 to get the car repainted (along with several other body and engine fixes).  Last weekend, I finally took all my paperwork to the local AAA office to get the DMV transfer of ownership when I noticed the date both on the bill of sale and on the form I was filling out.  Last Saturday, May 14th, I ended up registering the car exactly 10 years to the day Maura and I bought it.  When I took it in to be painted, I had planned on getting the car running in March of this year but the delays that led to these exact milestone dates is just way too coincidental.  Somehow, my gut instinct tells me this is just another postcard from her.

Welcome Home, Baby!

After 4 1/2 months in the shop getting stripped, sanded, primed, painted, all chrome had been reinstalled and today, I finally drove Maura's car around the neighborhood in Rancho Cucamonga.  Didn't go too far since I don't have tags yet but hopefully as early as tomorrow, I can get some temporaries.  She and I talked about getting it running in 2007 but obviously, more important things bubbled to the top of what got done.  She loved this car even though it was a project (non-running) car for most of the time we owned it.

Fat Tire Cruiser

When I sold my track bike to this kid who drove down from Fresno last week, I was really appreciative of the fact that he went well out of his way to get this bike.  Not having raced the velodrome in at least 15 years, I knew I would probably never ride the track again.  However, the law of zero sum game means the bike I got rid of needs to be replaced by another bike.  Enter this craigslist ad from Thousand Oaks for a Fat Tire cruiser.  Yes, T Oaks is 90 miles from Rancho Cucamonga.  But just like this kid from Fresno, I drove all those miles for a bike.  A used one but still in mint condition, sold by a lady who used to work at New Belgium Brewing Company.  This is one heavy cruiser, complete with springer front end, fake gas tank which is actually a compartment for a horn, bike rack and bell with Fat Tire logo.  Not quite Pee Wee's bike but close.  This one will sit in my living room.