Winding down the College Football Season

We're down to the last two weeks of the college football season, however everything seems to still be up for grabs. We have the Iron Bowl beginning in just about an hour, Oregon vs Arizona and then rounding out the day with Boise St vs Nevada. All of these matchups could help determine who goes to the National Championship and then who comes to see us for the Rose Bowl.
We still have rooms available for anyone needing them over this timeframe and we understand that people will not make their reservations until they find out if their team is coming. We'll be ready for your reservations on next Sunday afternoon, December 5th. Also, go right to www.marriott.com/laxot and you can make your reservations there. Yes, the rate is a little higher, however once you get here, you don't have to worry about driving again. You're only 3 blocks from the Rose Parade and there is a shuttle that picks up from the parking lot across the street from the hotel to go to the Rose Bowl Stadium.
If you're a college football fan, the next two weeks will be super exciting and don't sell yourself short on this excitement. Do I want you to stay at my hotel, of course I do. But at the same time, if you're from Wisconsin or Stanford, this is a really big deal to come to the Rose Bowl and you deserve the best.
Good luck to all of the fans out there...especially Oregon and Boise State as that would be the GAME of the YEAR.

Forecast...Rain...What Could Be Better

Its set to rain this weekend in Pasadena and Southern, California. We don't handle this as well as some parts of the country due to all of the sunshine we get on a regular basis. When the sun goes away, it tends to take away our motivation to move around. But this is when we have to revert back to our Southern California roots.
And our roots tell us to kick back and relax.

And what better time to relax than when it rains. Normally, we can head up and do some hiking in the San Gabriels or come cycling along the foothills, but not when it rains. This is the time when relaxing with a good book, a good football game or even taking in the new Harry Potter flick. Old Town Pasadena has the great new Gold Class Cinema which is an experience in itself and shouldn't be missed. www.goldclasscinemas.com

And then there's the big UFC event on Saturday night that can be viewed at Barney's Beanery, Jake's Billiards or the 35er.

Don't miss the opportunity to relax and enjoy a rainy weekend. There's always more than enough to do as far as chores, obligations and outdoor activities, but not very many rainy weekends. Don't let this one pass you by.
http://www.ehow.com/list_7351214_rainy-weekend-ideas.html

Laps around the Rose Bowl

One of the really great parts about living in the Pasadena area is the free workout facility. Head over to the Rose Bowl ( www.rosebowlstadium.com ) any weekday evening and you'll see exactly what I mean. Lots of people running, walking and cycling. However, I don't have the schedule to stay consistent with evening workouts, so its off to the Rose Bowl in the morning hours. I normally have only about an hour to dedicate in the morning before work, but the Rose Bowl is perfect for it.
This morning I didn't see any other cyclists and just the few regulars walking and running the perimeter. I was able to get in 3 laps and then ride back home, however I got a really good victory in today. I normally exit the route headed north on Rosemont, as that will bring you out on Windsor and then its just a quick trek to get up to Altadena. However that hill getting to Windsor is very much on the steep side. Normally, I put it in the granny gear, and just pedal my heart out, however this morning I decided to take it on full force. I stood up, kept the bike in the high gear and decided to pedal it out until I gave out. I wasn't sure which would go first, my legs or my lungs, however they both decided to give out at the same time, which was at the top of the hill. We'll see if it gets any easier tomorrow.
18 days to the big ride.

Cool Breeze Century

Who doesn't want to do something big to challenge themselves? Probably a lot of people, however the thought most of the times sounds good. After all, Rocky wasn't able to make 6 movies without having a good story line.

Mine is now the Cool Breeze Century. My goal is two fold, as I want to do the Rocky training and hopefully get the Rocky result. The nice part of cycling is that the only person you compete with in a ride like this, is yourself. The ride is on August 21st and my goal is the 100 miles completed in 6.5 hours. That's not 6.5 hours of riding, but 6.5 overall, including any breaks and stops along the way. So, my goal would be three fold, and that would be to not have any flat tires.

My blog over the next month or so will be dedicated to updates with the training. It will start in the morning and go for the next 5 weeks.

The To Do List continued...

Well, the To Do list is still there, however its continuing to dwindle down. However here are the joys of being a homeowner. I successfully completed number one of cleaning out the coils on the air conditioner, however as that one was crossed off, another was added on, of calling out the AC repairman. Can anyone say neverending... :)
But I can't complain, as the weather this week in Southern California is not bad at all. For anyone who may read this and is not familiar with June in LA, we have what is called June Gloom. The marine layer comes in from the Pacific and helps keep us somewhat cool. So this is not a bad week to not have the AC working.

Next week is supposed to be a little more warm which should give our friends attending the E 3 Conference in downtown LA, a more traditional California experience. I've not been to the conference before, however it looks to be all about the gaming industry and what's new and exciting. I have a dartboard in my garage and a couple of board games. Needless to say, if you are fighting traffic next week to get into the LA Convention Center, you will not be fighting me. I will be at home playing darts. And not electronic ones...good old fashioned ones that make holes in the wall.

Okay, along with the darts will be the To Do list. So have fun, those of you visiting for the conference next week, however make sure you get around to see some sights in LA...we're more than just a downtown.

To Do List

Most everyone seems to have a 'To Do' list in some form or another. I notice that as I get older the list gets longer. I have great ideas for home and just don't implement them, it seems. My current list includes items like:
fix duct in attic
clean coils in AC unit
empty boxes in office
empty more boxes in guest room
fix the front yard (there are a couple of holes created by a mole and then heavy downpour)
install cabinets in garage
fix gate going to backyard
build fence around pool pump
fix wood rot on side of house
I'm happy to say that my list of nine things has had several wiped off in the last few weeks...however, it still continues to grow. But this is what I've come up with. When I now see projects that appear, I take the Buddhist path and acknowledge them and move on. I don't want my list to grow as unfortunately for me, this list is a point of discontent. I can't relax while that list is still there.
We just celebrated Memorial Day and with this day off, I worked from 7am-5pm on my list and considered it a great day. At any rate, my list of 9 has been reduced to a list of about 4 and a half as I'm halfway done with that front yard.
If I get to the point of taking vacation days for my list I will, at that point, remove all paper from my house.

Stop and smell the flowers

Its now the third day of the time change and even though its been difficult getting up in the mornings, its really great to have that extra hour of sunlight in the evening. Let's face it, most of us are working until 5 or 6pm and to go home while its still light out is a big motivator to get outside and enjoy the outdoors a bit during the week and not just saving that for the weekend.

One thing that I've noticed this week, and maybe its all the sunlight I'm being exposed to, but Pasadena smells just like a fresh dryer sheet. In other words, you get the aroma of flowers every where, just as if it were the first day of Spring. If you haven't stopped to take a deep breath this week, go ahead and take a moment and it shouldn't be very hard to smell those flowers. I'm not sure what kind they are, but its been very, very nice waking up to that and going home to it in the evenings.

Pasadena is very characteristic of a lot of Los Angeles in that we are exposed to a lot of sunshine, however we build our lives around it and appreciate it. We're not like a New York or a Boston, but seem to have a little more landscape instead of being a concrete jungle. Maybe that's the reason public transportation isn't the greatest here and we Southern Californians will drive to get down the block since we all have cars to get around, but you know what...I'll take it.
Give me a bunch of different cultures, lots of great restaurants, taco trucks a-plenty and as much sunshine and flowers as I can stand.
I love LA...Pasadena to be more specific. :)

Don't you just hate it when...

Don't you just hate it when someone comes up with a catchy phrase that the general population decides to use, but you don't care for it. You obviously would fit into the category of it, but do not like being classified that way. I have a friend from Australia whom I used to make fun of on a regular basis by using the term, 'krikey'. She would always respond with, "We don't say that and I hate it." Which of course this made me want to say it all the more often.

I've come into contact with a term that I don't care for, however it would seem that it will be applying to me soon. The term is 'man cave'. There's not really anything that is wrong with this term, however I get the image of some guy in Malibu, living in a mansion, that has purposely decorated a room or building to have 'man' stuff that he never uses; he just figures that its a macho image and plays with the fact that he's not supposed to have this stuff around women.

So back to, what is essentially, 'my room'. Its not that the rest of the room don't belong to my wife and I, however as she is ruler over the kitchen, I am becoming ruler over the garage. We've established that this is mine to decorate and utilize as I see fit.

My first order of business was to take care of the floor. I don't have to have things to be spic and span, however I'm a big believer in a quote by George Carlin that goes something like make your home comfortable and peaceful because its the place you go to to get away from the world. There are a lot of great George Carlin quotes.

So, at any rate, I decided to put a nice epoxy coat on the floor and start building my room from the ground up. I'm not sure if I'll share pictures of the absolute completed product, however I will share pictures of the floor. You can use your imagination for the rest.

Oh, and if you live in Malibu and just spent a lot of money on 'man-looking' stuff, can I have your old stuff?

Rain, rain, rain...

Day 5 of the rains:
Today is supposed to be the last day of the rains in Southern California, or at least of major rains. Its supposed to do a little something through the weekend, but hopefully we've made it through the worst part. Our local neighbors of La Canada, Lacrescenta and those areas had some evacuations which I can only imagine is heart wrenching and very difficult. My home was only about a 1/2 mile from an evacuation area back in September with the Station Fire. And we all knew that when the rains came, we would be back to possible evacuations.
We are in hopes that all of those folks are able to get back into their 'untouched' homes and go back to living normal lives at some point this weekend. The good part of the rain is that we are supposed to be slightly ahead of pace for rain this year, but I'm sure our good news media will find something negative to say and we'll be right back into drought conditions come next week. If you can't find anything bad to say, then you're not going on the air.

With the rain comes possible challenges in the homefront. I have a skylight at home, which was actually part of what made our home so attractive when we purchased it. Well...those things leak. The first time it leaked, which was from just a small amount of rain, I attempted to repair it. I caulked it, caulked it and then caulked it some more. With the second round of rain, I watched in anticipation to see what would happen. Drip, drip, drip.
Back up on the roof, I noticed some loose shingles, so I got a lesson from the internet on how to install shingles. Well, with this last rain, I headed up to the attic and wouldn't you know it...drip, drip, drip. But the drips were not caused by me and my roofing skills, so I got a great lesson in how to install a tarp. And that has fixed the leak. And it only took me about 20 minutes to install it.
But my wife informed me that we are not in Southern Virginia and will not be living in a house with a permanent tarp installed on it. So I will be right back at it when the sun comes out again...you know, when the sun comes out and there's a forecast for rain. But I don't feel too bad about this as my dad told me its a trial and error process. I think I can live with that. Otherwise, I have my tarp on standby.

Can I tell you something...again

Today is the big day of the BCS National Championship where Alabama and Texas will square off against each other and try to remain undefeated on the season. The hotel, coincidentally, is filled with Burnt Orange and Crimson colors every where and just like last week, there's a great air of excitement all over.
With there not being a parade for this game, people aren't staying quite as long and so our raffle drive for the commemorative football was a lot shorter timespan as well. We had about 24 hours to try and earn as much money for the Pasadena Humane Society, whereas when our good friends from Ohio State and Oregon were with us, we had twice as much time. Well....
our friends from Alabama and Texas didn't let our community down. The drawing was yesterday at 6pm and at about 5:40pm we had a mad rush for tickets and to put their names in for the football. Even with half the amount of time the folks from both teams responded like champions and once again helped raise almost $400. Please keep in mind that this is with one raffle ticket per dollar, so over 400 individual entries.

So with both raffle drawings complete, we were able to raise $800 for the Pasadena Humane Society. We didn't expect that there would be this kind of response to a local organization, however the fans and alumni for all four of these schools should be extremely proud. They are only visiting for a few days, but have helped leave a positive, lasting impression.
To our friends from Alabama, Ohio, Oregon and Texas: Thank You!

Can I tell you something...

I have a friend who lives here in LA, however hails from Boston, Mass. One of my favorite phrases that he uses is to start off a statement or story with, "Hey, can I tell you something." That statement may be groundbreaking and it could be as simple as what a nice day it is outside. I guess I like having something to look forward to and that statement lets me know that something good is coming. So...can I tell you something.
I love the people from Ohio State and University of Oregon. We asked them to open their hearts (which is an indirect way of asking to open your pocketbook) to our local humane society here in Pasadena. We hoped to create a little extra buzz around the Rose Bowl festivities and maybe raise a little money in the process, however the response we received was anything but little. We witnessed people buying 20 tickets at a time to win a pretty great football, however were more interested in helping out an organization which in turn helps out animals who can't help themselves. Even with having to spend a lot of hard-earned money on Rose Bowl tickets, travel to get to Pasadena and entertainment during their trip, they still gave without hesitation.

We ended up raising over $400 for the Humane Society, which might not seem like a lot, but please take note that our hotel only has 314 guest rooms and each raffle ticket was only $1. So this means that we had 400 separate entries that came together.
It is our hope that Oregon and Ohio State return to Pasadena again. These have been wonderful people who both deserve to have their team win today. I hope they know what a difference they have helped make to a community that is their's for only a few days, but that will remember them fondly always.

Go Buckeyes and Go Ducks! The best of luck to you both today.