The Summit the Sun - Climb for Kids event on Maui in September will be postponed indefinitely due to lack of time to get in proper training required. With less than 4 months until the big five-oh I just could not in good conscience try to collect donations toward my attempt, knowing how little time I've got to prepare.
With Summer rapidly approaching and the kids wanting more time in the great outdoors it would be terribly selfish of me to only focus on on this one goal.
So I say postponed - and I mean just that; I've got too much invested to give up on this completely. It would've been ideal to do this on my birthday (50 year-old climbs 50,000' in America's 50th State), but it's still an objective that I think is still possible within the year.
The good news is that I'll be able to focus a bit on attracting some more sponsors, most of which had already set their giving budget for 2008 by last fall. With the way the economy the way it is plus competition from the Beijing Olympics money is pretty tight to come by. So hopefully I'll have more luck attracting companies toward this next year.
Stay tuned.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The bird...
Not the same as the finger!
Driving to work this morning a pigeon swooped right down in front of me as I traveled north on I-5. This particular bird was doing 60+ mph fro at least a minute, which would equate to at least a mile (hey I'm not self-disclosing on my speedy driving habits) right in front of my bumper.
So I got curious - how fast do pigeons normally fly and was this an anomaly? See http://www.speedpigeon.com/ .
I also found out that specially bred pigeons race and are capable of finding their way home from a distance of over 1000 miles away flying at speed in excess of 80 mph.
So as I doubt I was drafting a racing pigeon, but my garden variety guy was probably just winging it out to the local prominent statue or freeway underpass to hang and poop with his friends.
Driving to work this morning a pigeon swooped right down in front of me as I traveled north on I-5. This particular bird was doing 60+ mph fro at least a minute, which would equate to at least a mile (hey I'm not self-disclosing on my speedy driving habits) right in front of my bumper.
So I got curious - how fast do pigeons normally fly and was this an anomaly? See http://www.speedpigeon.com/ .
I also found out that specially bred pigeons race and are capable of finding their way home from a distance of over 1000 miles away flying at speed in excess of 80 mph.
So as I doubt I was drafting a racing pigeon, but my garden variety guy was probably just winging it out to the local prominent statue or freeway underpass to hang and poop with his friends.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
366 days
At 1:04PM & again 2 minutes later the twins officially enjoyed ringing in their first birthday. With a full day of activities ranging from from arts & crafts with various food groups to stumbling about the driveway and lawn - everybody had a day to remember.
Little boy is walking on his own (the past 3 weeks) while younger sister still has a need for some guidance. Though I doubt for very much longer. Both enjoyed tumbling on the bed, climbing on big sisters indoor jungle gym, and trying to go in as many separate directions as possible on the lawn while only Dad was trying to contain them from dropping off the hillside or wandering up onto the culdesac.
Multiple family well wishers calling on the phone - but only the bad harmonizing of their Father and big sister actually singing to them Happy Birthday in person - they didn't appear to be very impressed. No candles were harmed in the process of today's events.
Little boy is walking on his own (the past 3 weeks) while younger sister still has a need for some guidance. Though I doubt for very much longer. Both enjoyed tumbling on the bed, climbing on big sisters indoor jungle gym, and trying to go in as many separate directions as possible on the lawn while only Dad was trying to contain them from dropping off the hillside or wandering up onto the culdesac.
Multiple family well wishers calling on the phone - but only the bad harmonizing of their Father and big sister actually singing to them Happy Birthday in person - they didn't appear to be very impressed. No candles were harmed in the process of today's events.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Life at the airport
Some observations:
1. A direct flight is not the same as a non-stop flight. Non-stop is self explanatory, point A to point B. Direct means the same flight number & thus usually the same airplane (though not guaranteed), and may have 1 or more stops until you get to your destination.
2. Non-stops flights usually (but not always) cost more than direct flights.
3. People that complain the loudest or demand the most have paid the lowest price for their ticket.
4. Those same people are usually not wearing their Sunday best; nor have they used a comb or brush lately.
5. No matter how wide the terminal walkway - a group traveling together will always manage to walk side-by-side obliviously negating any chance of getting to your connecting flight on time.
6. Want to have a slow walking contest - go to the airport.
7. Where's baggage claim? I swear half the herd is illiterate. It's not that complicated - unless you're the first one off the airplane - follow most of the rest of your fellow passengers. Then go outside baggage claim and light up with the rest of the illiterates in the posted no-smoking zone!
8. Unless you're flying Southworst - there's absolutely no need to que up for the boarding process at the gate with your line overflowing from the plane door (or actually the seat row where Uncle Joe is trying to shove his overpacked carry-on into the overhead bin because of the horror stories of all the lost baggage) all through the jetway and spilling into the terminal and further disrupting the flow of foot traffic.
9. Rows numbers on the planes always begin with 1, 2, 3 at the front. This is usually First Class. Last Class is in the back - mooo!
10. Seat letters always begin with "A" at the window seat on the left side of the plane (just like looking at the alphabet on the wall in your elementary school classroom); except usually now since you board facing the wrong way "A" is on your right (but that's still aircraft left).
Bonus - Free newspapers & magazines - get your leftovers at a gate from which a flight just left (prior to the cleaners coming through), or upon deplaning from the seat or seat back pockets from the folks who sat in front of you. How do you think the crew gets their reading material - thank you very much!
1. A direct flight is not the same as a non-stop flight. Non-stop is self explanatory, point A to point B. Direct means the same flight number & thus usually the same airplane (though not guaranteed), and may have 1 or more stops until you get to your destination.
2. Non-stops flights usually (but not always) cost more than direct flights.
3. People that complain the loudest or demand the most have paid the lowest price for their ticket.
4. Those same people are usually not wearing their Sunday best; nor have they used a comb or brush lately.
5. No matter how wide the terminal walkway - a group traveling together will always manage to walk side-by-side obliviously negating any chance of getting to your connecting flight on time.
6. Want to have a slow walking contest - go to the airport.
7. Where's baggage claim? I swear half the herd is illiterate. It's not that complicated - unless you're the first one off the airplane - follow most of the rest of your fellow passengers. Then go outside baggage claim and light up with the rest of the illiterates in the posted no-smoking zone!
8. Unless you're flying Southworst - there's absolutely no need to que up for the boarding process at the gate with your line overflowing from the plane door (or actually the seat row where Uncle Joe is trying to shove his overpacked carry-on into the overhead bin because of the horror stories of all the lost baggage) all through the jetway and spilling into the terminal and further disrupting the flow of foot traffic.
9. Rows numbers on the planes always begin with 1, 2, 3 at the front. This is usually First Class. Last Class is in the back - mooo!
10. Seat letters always begin with "A" at the window seat on the left side of the plane (just like looking at the alphabet on the wall in your elementary school classroom); except usually now since you board facing the wrong way "A" is on your right (but that's still aircraft left).
Bonus - Free newspapers & magazines - get your leftovers at a gate from which a flight just left (prior to the cleaners coming through), or upon deplaning from the seat or seat back pockets from the folks who sat in front of you. How do you think the crew gets their reading material - thank you very much!
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