Stan’s Obligatory Blog

12/27/2008

Turnbull Canyon and a ‘longcut’

Filed under: — stan @ 9:57 pm

Today’s ride was the “Turnbull Canyon plus Temple” route. My camera is still traveling with Susan, so I have no pictures from today. If you want pictures, have a look at the last time we did this ride.

When we got to the temple, we skipped stopping. Gene wanted to experiment with a different route back to Whitter, so we headed up Hacienda Blvd to the top of the hill, where we turned off and rode on a bunch of little winding roads through the hills there to get back to Colima Rd in Whittier. It was quite a bit longer than the regular route, but it was fun. So we told the others that we’d ‘taken the longcut’ to get there.

In Whittier, we stopped for snacks before heading home. It was a very pleasant ride.

56 miles.
cycling

What I did this afternoon

Filed under: — stan @ 6:32 pm

Watching the Delta Airlines flight-tracker.

12/26/2008

Mary’s Market

Filed under: — stan @ 3:31 pm

Today I went for a bike ride with Gene from the Sunday morning group. We did the “Mary’s Market” route that he made up recently. This is a meandering route that goes all over, but nowhere in particular until the end. Because we had no time pressure today, we added a few miles by making a loop through Santa Fe Dam and Azusa. This added about 10 miles to the ride. Then we headed up the canyons above Sierra Madre to visit Mary’s Market. I’d never been there before, and it was kind of a remarkable place. We were just a little bit above the suburbs of Los Angeles, yet it felt like we were far up in the mountains. The climb up there was steep at times, but I managed to make it without having to use my lowest gear. It was a fun ride. But there are no pictures, since my small camera that I usually take on rides is off in the wilds of upstate New York with Susan. I gave it to her so she could take pictures when she went there to visit her mom. So no pictures for the bike rides this weekend.

50 miles
cycling

12/25/2008

Perhaps this is getting out of hand…

Filed under: — stan @ 4:19 pm

I’m making a cake to take along to dinner tonight, and I was just checking my supplies. In my pantry I have:

  • 15 pounds of sugar
  • 15 pounds of all-purpose flour
  • 15 pounds of bread flour

Did I mention that I like to bake, and that I do it a lot?

12/21/2008

Neon lights for the holidays

Filed under: — stan @ 11:54 pm

Tonight, Susan and I went on the Museum of Neon Art’s Holiday Lights tour. Being that it’s December, and the tour was after dark, it was cold by L.A. standards. We dressed warmly and brought along a couple of blankets, since the whole tour is conducted from the upper deck of a double-decker sightseeing bus.

It was a tremendously entertaining tour, but sadly, it didn’t transfer into photographs well. To take good photos at night, the camera has to be on a rock-solid platform to hold it steady enough. And the upper deck of the bus just wasn’t a steady enough platform. So if you want to see the lights, you’ll just have to take the tour. But it was certainly Great Fun.

San Dimas and points south

Filed under: — stan @ 3:59 pm

Today’s club ride was Gene’s “San Dimas South” route. The last time we did this one was on a gloomy day in April. Today wasn’t gloomy, but it was cold by SoCal standards.

We took a picture at the start, since Gene and I both had decorated our bikes for the holidays.

Along the way, we saw some amusing decorations on houses, including the big tree decorated with big ornaments. And at then end, we saw a small harem of peahens in Arcadia.

I skipped the snack stop, since I had to get home a bit early to pick up Lucinda, so it was a relatively quick ride. But it was nice.

48 miles.
cycling

12/20/2008

“It’s been a hell of a ride”

Filed under: — stan @ 10:27 am

In today’s obituary pages, Majel Barrett Roddenberry has died.

Roddenberry, whose pre-”Star Trek” acting career included guest appearances on series such as “The Untouchables” and “The Lucy Show,” had no idea she was establishing a career path in science fiction when she took her first “Star Trek” role.

After “Star Trek” became a phenomenon in the ’70s, she continued on, appearing in both “The Next Generation”, and “Deep Space Nine”, as well as several of the movies. And she provided the voice of the Enterprise computer in most of the movies. And hence her assessment:

“It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Read the whole obituary here.

Our first holiday party of the season

Filed under: — stan @ 9:51 am

Last night, Susan took me to the holiday party for the Pasadena Athletic Association. This is the big bike racing club here in Pasadena. I remember them from my racing days back in the late ’70s. At the time, my impression was that they were a small local racing club, and not a huge force like they are today. The actual party reminded me a lot of the party my old club in New Jersey used to hold at the end of each year. But when I went to that party, I was 16 or 17 years old. And now I’m one of the ‘old guys’. It’s always novel to see things from the other side.

It was a nice evening.

12/18/2008

Deck the office – Part 2

Filed under: — stan @ 7:15 am

Last summer, Susan ordered some special Christmas ornaments for us. She has one at her house, and I have the second one in my office.

12/15/2008

It’s that time of year…

Filed under: — stan @ 12:30 am

I’ve sent out all my Christmas cards, so I put my Christmas letter up on the web site…

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