15k SOB

Gene and I signed up for the 15k Siskiyou Outback Trail Run. We decided after not finishing our last race to try something a little more manageable.

We have trained harder in some ways, and yet we had not as many endurance type runs, so I was nervous about the race.

There were two races being run that day. The 50k which took off at 7am and the 15k which began at 8:30am.

We arrived an hour and half early and the wind was blowing pretty good and making it very cool. I wished I had slipped some training pants on over my shorts and even considered wearing my jacket, but I knew once I got moving I would be warm.

We took off running and ran quite a ways before I began to walk up some of the steeper areas. Soon I found myself quite off the pace of most of the field. The scenery was beautiful. At one place you come out onto a meadow with Mount Shasta in the distance ahead of you and Pilot Rock off to the side. Of course one cannot spend much time appreciating the view as the trail requires you to pay attention for rocks and roots. After coming up the steepest part of the trail I found Gene and a photographer waiting for me to get up there. Gene took off again and when I rounded the next bend I saw him getting up after taking a fall.

At the turn around we headed downhill on a mountain road. We ran for quite a distance. As we neared the finish line I waited to hear our names called. Over the loud speaker I hear "We have the first of our 50k finishers coming in! It is a new course record! Erik Skaggs has completed the 50k in 3 hours and 39 minutes!"

Erik rushed quickly by us and all attention was on him (rightly so). A woman placed medals around our neck and after some time our names were announced.

I congratulated Mr. Skaggs and then told him "way to steal my thunder". (I think he wondered who the crazy lady was.)

It was a great race and it was great to experience the thrill of victory instead of the agony of defeat.

July 4

We spent July 4 with family and friends at our place, as usual. Chase called the day before, because he was going backpacking and would not be able to call us on his birthday.


While we were out front watching the fireworks, our neighbors grandson, Kallen was there. As I watched him interacting with his parents and grandparents I missed my own little boy.


I recently read a quote: "When raising young kids remember: The days are long, but the years are short." - Jennifer B., Mission Viejo, CA

So true.

Sharna's Daddy was taking her fishing....

For Sharna's birthday Eric surprised her with a trip to their friends cabin on Lake Siltcoos on the Oregon coast between Reedsport and Florence. The cabin is situated such that one can only get to it by boat. Sharna and Eric traveled down on Friday night and invited Gene and I to join them on Saturday. It was a very nice, low key weekend.

We fished a little, with Gene catching the only fish. The fish was what the consummate fisherman Victor calls a hog (the bait was almost as big as the fish).

After fishing for a while Sharna and I tooled around the lake the in little boat and Eric prepared a nice dinner. I had brought along a cheesecake I had baked for her birthday. I need to perfect my cheesecake baking skills, as I was not impressed with the result.

Later that night we watched a little racoon venturing around to see if we would break the house rules and throw it some food. No comment.

We hiked a bit the next day. I wanted to hike to a secluded beach that is supposed to be littered with sand dollars, but it involved wading across a river which we had not prepared to do, so we will have to hit that hike another time.

Happy 29th birthday Sharshee! (and good job Eric).

LA Visit

Catching up on some of my blogging....

Last month we went to LA and picked up Arlene for a visit. While there we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Valencia (thanks to the great price I got on Priceline.com). Gene and I checked in on a Friday and the next morning we jogged through the neighborhood. It was very nice (although a bit tricky getting from our hotel to the sidewalk), but once on the sidewalks they were wide and had large parking strips to keep you away from the ever present traffic. After jogging I went for a swim and then we head to....you guessed it....Cupid's. We bought our tradition three dogs and enjoyed them sitting on the tailgate of the pickup (so Gene could enjoy his with a beer). Then we went to Olivera Street - a shopping area reminiscent of Tiajuana. We bought some margharita glasses and a couple of trinkets for the girls. Then we went to an outdoor Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a nice lunch, complete with Cervasa (not sure if that is the correct spelling) and Margharita and a couple of gentlemen playing guitars and singing Mexican songs. It was very nice. We picked up Debbie and went to Arlene and Juan's place. Jen was there with Tony. That evening Ingrid, Juan's girlfriend came home and her mother came over with a delicious soup. Juan showed us photos of the trip he and Ingrid had taken to Guatamala, where Ingrid was born. What an awsome place to visit!

The next morning, Gene and I hiked up Towsley canyon. There were quite a few people hiking and parts of the trail were quite steep. When first taking off, there is quite a bit of noise from the freeway. Then, not too far in, the path curves around the back of the mountain and there is only the blessed sounds of nature. It is amazing how nice it is the not hear traffic. I wonder how often Angelinos go somewhere where they are not continuously bombarded with noise. I was feeling pretty good about my progress up the hill, then I see a woman wearing ankle weights! Talk about shooting a person down. To climb while purposely adding additional weight!!! On the way down, we pass a group of people hiking down the hill, having obviously taken the same route as us, but one of the young women has a baby about 5 months old tied to the front of her! Again I was amazed at the strength some people exhibit. (the baby's father was carrying her hat - way to pitch in).

We finished our hike, showered, and went to Juan's. Gene and Juan went golfing and Debbie, Arlene and I went to Jen's and then went downtown. We went to a very busy restaurant - Portas. It is not the type of place I would normally have frequented, and the large crowd was a bit intimidating for me (and for Arlene), however Jen professed "That is how you know it is good!" She was right, the food was very good, and I realized that I has never thought of it in that way - usually if there is a large crowd and it will be difficult to get a table, I leave and find somewhere else. We shopped for a while and I bought Sharna and Kylie purse hooks. We stopped back by Portas on our way back to Jen's and bought a raspberry cheesecake that Arlene had been impressed by. It was very delicious. Gene and Juan met us at Jen's and we hung out. While taking Debbie back we had her take us by the dragon house, which Gene and I had tried on previous trips to find from vague directions provided by Debbie and by Juan. I teased Debbie that the proof would be in the pudding, because her directions in the past had not taken us to the right place, but of course she lead us right there. She knows San Fernando like the back of her hand. That night we went to the Elephant Bar in Valencia.

On Monday we went to Ikea and visited a bit more with the family and had dinner that night at Chili's.

All in all a nice trip south.

Letter to the Editor, Political Rant, Ponzi Schemes, etc.

I sent a letter to the editor of the Mail Tribune and it was published last night.

I do not like politics, politicians or most anything political and yet I feel it is my duty to try to stay somewhat informed - and I always vote - mostly to maintain my bitching rights, because I feel you really cannot bitch if you did not even bother to cast a vote.

That all being said, here is my letter, which had to be submitted twice because my first letter exceeded the 200 word limit.

“$800 million tax increase needed to make up for revenue shortfalls”. What is not said is that there was a proposed alternate that would NOT require a tax increase. The Back to Basics Budget Plan (http://www.leg.state.or.us/senaterepublicans/budget_brief.pdf) was based upon the 2007-09 budget. Two types of additional funds were included : $941 million in federal stimulus money and $436 million in Rainy Day Funds. It would also use $500 million from the ending balances of agencies that receive “Other Funds”. On June 30, 2009, those accounts are projected to have balances of more than $2.5 billion. The Back to Basics Budget would increase spending on education and fully fund the new Oregon State Police Troopers, phased in during 2007-09. It also increased spending on human services by more than $500 million to compensate for increased caseloads based on the economic downturn. The current leadership in the house refused to allow it on the floor for a vote. If we want good jobs, Oregon must become MORE friendly to business. When asked, I will sign a petition to bring this to a vote in November and I will remember who did and did NOT vote for these tax increases.

Now I am sure that were the republicans in charge of the Oregon legislature, they would not allow most of the democrats bills to come up for discussion either - but that is my exact point - it is time for most of the political BS to stop and to have open discussion and debate.

And when will legislators understand that if you spend $x in one budget period and you plan to spend $x+20% in the next budget period but instead you only budget for $x+10%, you did not really cut spending - you only reduced the increased spending. In our house, we have had to spend less this year. Period.

I recently attended the Western Roofing Expo in Reno. The keynote speaker was Mark Sanborn, author of the book The Fred Factor. I recently reviewed some of his blog and was particularly impressed with his blog dated February 26, 2009 -

"The American Dream has needed defending in the past against attackers from outside our borders. Today it is coming under attack from within. Some of the attackers are those we elected to protect it.

People from around the world have immigrated to America for the freedom to create and pursue opportunity. This morning a Canadian woman told CNN she moved here with the hope of getting rich. "Being rich isn’t bad. Money represents opportunity."

She’s right. The current commentary from Washington suggesting class oppression is wrong. Those who made money legally and ethically did nothing wrong; they took risks and worked hard. Those who made ill-gotten gains hurt everyone, the rich as well as the poor. Nobody is trying to protect them.

The rich are already taxed disproportionately. And today our President says they must be taxed more. My wish is that Washington would reread the story of the golden goose, because irresponsible and oppressive taxation and spending are about to kill it.

The rich are those who don’t chip in $25 for the expenses of their kid’s softball team; they buy the jerseys for the entire team. Wealthy people don’t contribute money to the church or synagogue building project; they underwrite the lion’s share of the cost.

"Not all rich people are so generous!" you say? True, but current legislation is aimed at America’s wealthiest, and that includes the generous as well as the stingy (and poor and middle class people can be generous or stingy too.)

Have no empathy? Then consider this: spending money that Washington doesn’t have mortgages your future and makes it harder for you to live and American dream by taking away the incentives of hard work and success and burdening the system that enables you to better your situation. Are you willing to trade short-term and uncertain security for long term opportunity? That is a choice being made for you by legislators right now.

The threat is two-fold: current thinking and action by our leaders wants to first further penalize the wealthy (the most productive sector of society) who have done nothing immoral or wrong and second create a tenuous safety net–not an opportunity–for those with limited means.

Don’t buy into the something-for-nothing talk coming out of Congress. Money comes from somewhere; in Washington it comes from your wallet or purse not just now but in the future. Congress wants to spend money you and I haven’t made, and money our kids will someday earn. That’s not hyperbole, but fact.The growth of the deficit is on a scale never before experienced much less contemplated.

As a trained economist, I assure you that even if there is some measure of success from the current stimulus package–and despite my disagreement with the means, like you I want to see it succeed–the price will be future inflation that will be economically crippling.

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, rich, poor and middle class, we are all the beneficiaries of the American Dream. When it is diminished so are our opportunities, both now and in the future. To keep it healthy, we must focus on creating opportunities for all, not taking the easy and expedient route of spending money we don’t have."

It is time to begin to really fix some of the problems in our economy and in this country - and to find ways to do it that do not involve mortgaging our children's future.

Bernie Madoff and Alan Stanford have made lots of headlines recently for running Ponzi schemes - however the biggest Ponzi scheme in history is being perpetrated by the American government - it is called Social Security. Now it is not quite a Ponzi scheme - because the definition generally states it is an illegal investment scheme where "early investors are paid off from funds raised from later ones". Presently it is predicted that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2042. One would hope that a solution can be found within the next 33 years, but lawmakers have known this was coming since I was in high school and I graduated 29 years ago.

I would feel a little less weary about Social Securities impending problems, and save for my own retirement - but where? All of rules we were taught about stocks and bonds are now being rewritten and I cannot figure out who it right and who it wrong. That being said, today I invested in a Bear Fund. So for now I am trying to be a happy person with a bearish investment policy. We'll see how that goes....

Astoria

I have been a bit remiss in my posting, but for a change it is because I have been busy (instead of mopey).

We made our yearly pilgramige to Astoira in search of sturgeon. Unfortuneately, Doug and Tammy were not able to attend this year. We traveled with Ken and Rosa and made some stops at wineries along the way. The next morning Rosa and I dropped the boys off at their fishing dock and took off for the days adventures. We drove to Fort Stevens state park in search of the Peter Iredale shipwreck. We had viewed some of the items rescued off the ship when it wrecked in 1906. They were at the maritime museum in Astoria. I am sure Rosa was a bit concerned, considering how far we had to walk the last time we were in seach of a shipwreck. However, this one was right next to the parking area. The wreck was a large rusted steel hull in the sand. Then we found some sand dollars. As we were walking the beach I noticed a speed limit sign and we decided to take the truck onto the sand. I have never driven on the beach and we had a blast. Then we visited some of the batteries at Fort Steven state park.

Afterward, we went into Astoria and had lunch at a local brewery. One item on the menu (of which we did not partake) was the sausage sampler.

After shopping around town, we picked up Gene and Ken and went to view Gene's 57" sturgeon (measured the old way - now they are measured differently - but the important thing is that mine was 58 inch)!

It was a very nice weekend, as always.

Priceline!

We are leaving for LA this Friday and will pick up Gene's mom and drive back. When in the LA area we usually stay at the Comfort Suites in Stevenson Ranch. It is a nice, 2 star hotel. The best rate I could get for this hotel, before taxes was $86.82 (average).

I decided to try Priceline. Since you cannot pick your specific hotel, I was a bit concerned. To provide a bit of insurance, I decided to request a 3 star hotel and put down a bid price of $60 per night. It was accepted! With taxes we are paying $70 and staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Valencia Six Flags. There is a restaurant and lounge, room service and a swimming pool.

I am so thrilled! Hopefully the hotel will live up to it's billing.

Frugal is the new black!