shinto lights?

Saw this a few blocks over - a "torii" gate covered with Christmas lights. The gate is a Japanese shinto symbol, where the lights are from Christian roots. Does that make it "shintian" or "chrinto"?
私のうちの近くにある店は鳥居がある。その店は鳥居の上にクリスマスのイルミネーションを置いた。辺だろうか？鳥居は神道だ、でもクリスマスはキリスト教だろう。

I don't fully comprehend the sign on the middle. The main character looks like "憩", which means rest. But it is 1 stroke different, so probably not that.
間中な物の意味をあまり分からない。漢字は「憩」 だろうか？

Adrenaline side of sea kayaking

Kayaking is much like mountain biking - you get out an enjoy nature, but there is also a challenge side of it. My last post showed part of the nature side of kayaking, with lots of animals. But many of those pictures were taken from flat water - be like seeing animals from the paved bike path in Yosemite.

So, to show that other side, I made a similar video of the more adrenaline side of kayaking - basically, where the water is not flat.



As with the animal video, there are many more exciting times I was not able to get on video, not for the least reason that I couldn't stay upright while filming in some of the conditions...

A few pics also:

Video of Animals seen while Kayaking

I have posted short clips of animal videos in the past, and some (like the 4 second video of Mobulas/Manta Rays jumping) were very popular. Figured it was worth compiling them into a single video.



There are many more animals I have seen, but did not get on video. A prime example being that I have seen literally dozens of gray whales, but don't have any decent video clips (actually, not even any decent photos) of them taken while kayaking.

Here are some photos of animals...

bike or kayak? / 自転車かカヤック？

I've been asked a few times now basically the same question - if I could only choose 1, would I choose biking or kayaking. People seem surprised when I say I would choose biking.
友達は前に「自転車かカヤックーもし一つだけ選んでどちか？」と聞いた。　人々は答えに驚いて、答えは自転車だよ。

There are a lot of similarities between the two. They get you out in nature. And both can be made more challenging by trying to go over rocks and such. And both can involve a lot of upgrading and equipment purchases...
自転車やカヤックは大体同じだろう。外でする。そして挑戦的だ。両方は沢山高い物を買える。。。

But kayaking has a lot more prep and cleanup involved. With a bike, I can just grab the bike, put my clothes on, and go ride (often right from home). With the boats, I have to get the boats from storage (they are too big to keep at home), get the gear together, drive to launch point, load up gear on boat, go paddle, rinse boat and gear after paddle, drive home, and then put boats back in storage. It would be much easier if I stored the boats at a place where I'd want to paddle, but still would be more work.
でもカヤックの用意や方付けのほうが難しい。自転車の事、自転車を取って、乗る。　カヤックは収納スペースへ行って、車の上にカヤックを置いて、海や湾へ行って、乗る。その後、カヤックをきれいになって、車の上にカヤックを置いて、収納スペースへ行く。カヤックは長すぎるから、家の中に置かない。

Not sure which Sylvia would choose, but after today's paddle, I suspect it wouldn't be kayaking. We paddled from Aquatic Park to Sea Trek (Sausalito) and back. A bit of fog, which increases concerns of getting run over by some inattentive boat. And from Point Blunt (Angel Island) to Alcatraz, we had a slog where we barely made 1.5 mph due to waves and headwind. She was not a happy camper.
シルヴィアさんはカヤックや自転車を選ぶか分からない。でも今日はカヤックを選ばないと思う。今日の旅行はとても難しかったから。

Of course, it is nice to not have to choose...
でも、選ばない事はOkだろう。

Rubber Boa

I went to Tahoe last weekend for some riding and viewing the changing colors of the trees. On one ride, we came across a snake across the trail. I had never seen one like it before, and wasn't able to tell what it was right away. But after I came back, I checked around with others and did some research and found that what I saw was a rubber boa (Charina bottae). Exciting to have been able to see one of these.
先週末タホマウンテン・バイクしたり紅葉を見たりしに行った。　自転車に乗ったとき、蛇を見た。その蛇の一種を見たことがないので、何の種か分からなかった。変えた後調べた。　ラバー・ボアだった。楽しかった。

View out my window today

Sometimes interesting stuff passes by while you are working at your desk. I am glad I have a window to look out of.

Another Mendo trip

I took another trip to Mendocino for some sea kayaking. Excellent rock gardening there, with lots of caves and tunnels. Below are some pictures and a video compilation from the trip.

Bill V. getting close to a blow hole.


A great heron hanging out on the kelp beds.


A couple of oyster catchers, showing off their reddish-orange bills.


Video compilation of some highlights from the trip:

New York City

Went to NYC over Labor Day weekend. Lots of tourist stuff, plus a chance to visit my dad (who lives about an hour north of the city). Had decent weather. Some pics below:

Times Square at Night. I like how they removed a bunch of lanes of traffic and made it into space for pedestrians. Definitely much more tourist friendly.


Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan Bridge in the background - from the Brooklyn side.


Statue of Liberty - looks like her torch is burning the clouds off.


View downtown (towards Wall Street) from the Empire State Building


A WWI Era boat we took a cruise on with my dad.

Went to Mendocino last weekend for a weekend tour/lessons with Eskape Sea Kayaking. We had used them when we first started kayaking, and learned a lot. Now we are going to their more advanced classes/tours (and they are one of the few kayak companies that does tours/classes at this skill level).

Conditions were pretty big for the entire weekend. For non-kayakers, that means the swells (waves caused by storms way out to sea) where quite large. Radio was reporting it as 8 to 10 feet. Made some areas too dangerous to go near, but also made some of the areas protected from the direct effects of swells to be fun to do.

Lots of caves/arches/tunnels to paddle through. They had various challenge levels, from super easy to ones that you needed to time the waves so that you didn't get slammed into a wall (or the ceiling).





I made a quick video showing some of the highlights from the weekend.

Kayak lessons

It has been a while sine I posted - sorry about that.

Sylvia and I attended a kayak class led by Derek Hutchison and Wayne Horodowich, called Beyond the Cockpit (there is also a video out on it, which we also own). Good fun, and interesting to expand kayak skills.

The goal of the class is to teach you that while a kayak at first feels a bit unsteady and you feel you need to keep your balance above the boat, there are ways to let you extend your balance to the side or (with the help of a friend) even stand up in your boat. The picture above are of Sylvia being assisted by Derek Hutchison as she stood up.

That skill didn't have a lot of practical value, but another similar skill does. It was formed by kayakers trying to find a way to fix a damaged boat while on the water. The traditional method would have the kayaker get into the water while the second kayaker would fix the boat, but that would often leave you with a hypothermic kayaker. Derek developed the method shown in this picture that has the kayaker sit on the front deck of the rescuer's boat. Once the second kayak is brought on board, their is amazing balance. When Sylvia and I did this, I was able to stand up without trouble and I don't think I could have flipped Sylvia even if I tried. This skill is useful should you need to fix a boat, get something out of one of the main hatches of a kayak, or just take a break and stretch your legs.

Many of the skills were not as photogenic, but still quite useful. Things like extended paddle brace turns and such. More skills to have in my bag of tricks when kayaking.

England / Ireland trip

Had a great trip to Ireland and London. Spent a few days in Dublin, then rented a car to drive to the south west (counties Kerry and Cork). Then to London for a few days before returning home.

Some things we learned:
- the weather in Ireland is awesome, even though everyone says that what we experienced was not normal. I think they are lying in the hopes that we don't all move there.
- weather in London sucks.
- best not to try to pronounce anything written in Gaelic. For example, something spelled as "Laoghaire" is pronounced "Leery"
- street signs must have been invented in America, as they aren't used in either Ireland or England.
- driving on the left isn't as hard as it looks, though shifting with the left hand felt weird. Only made a full lap around 1 roundabout when I couldn't get to the right exit.
- Irish dog owners are worse than Americans when it comes to cleaning up after their pets.
- Brits are much like the Japanese - public drunkenness on the subway in the evenings is normal.
- celebrities in Ireland can walk around with common folks without worries of being hassled. They may even plop down at the table next to you at a restaurant. Someone like, say, Bono. Without any entourage. Nor sunglasses or hat or anything to try to hide their identity.
- potatoes are served at ever meal in Ireland (except breakfast, which is all meat).
- Ireland would be a great country to kayak in.
- Irish roads are narrower than American driveways.
- the Irish like to take a 28 ounce steel ball and throw it down a road (yes, these same narrow roads, and one that still has traffic on it), then chase after it. 2 people throw the balls, 2 people place clumps of grass for the guy to aim at, and few dozen people bet on it. The betters stand down where the ball is going so they can better see how far it goes, along with test their dodging skills. They call this bowling.
- Heathrow has this way of trapping you there - not very efficient to get through. But it traps everyone, so increases the chances of bumping into someone you know while there.

Some pictures below.

There are stone circles all over Irelend.


This castle has marks from cannonballs


Good scenery


The Irish exercise their racehorses by dragging them behind powerboats


British fort


Sign to remind the tourists


More good scenery


What, no bowling alleys?


Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking


House guest at a B&B in Skibberreen.


Rock of Cashell


View through an ancient island home for monks towards another island.


Puffins are cute


Short video clip of another cute puffin


Not the place to be driving an RV


Lots of these all over Ireland


Christine and Sylvia at a British Pub.

Legalize Pot?

It was interesting to hear Governor Schwarzenegger call for talks on legalizing pot in California. Not something I expected to hear from a Republican's mouth. And a poll makes it seem like the majority of voters agree with this, so maybe it will come true.

Truthfully, the medical marijuana system that is in place is a mess. And I blame the Republicans for this. They have for years insisted that there is no medical benefit to marijuana. But this insistence has also meant they have suppressed or stopped medical studies on the drug.

The population in California has not believed the Republican stance - it was plainly obvious to them that it is a drug that does have an impact on the body. So they have voted in place medical marijuana rules allowing its use. But because it is a kluged together system, it isn't as strongly enforced as drugs purchased from pharmacies. And I think most expect that many are getting pot from the medical marijuana sites for recreational purposes.

If Republicans didn't try the "just say no" response to marijuana, perhaps it would be classified and controlled as a real medical drug, rather than the system we have now.

Strange yacht

I went for a paddle today, and came across a weird looking yacht. It was a catamaran, but each hull seemed very skinny. And the center of each hull was separated (so it looked like there were 2 hulls on each side). This seemed weird, especially because I thought the length of the water line greatly affected efficiency in going through water, so splitting the hull like that would make it more inefficient.




Google has the answers to everything, including this. Found a web site on this type of ship:
http://www.yachtsilvercloud.com/index.html

GPS track of the trip is below. Covered about 11 miles. I was listening to the VHF radio as I went to track ships, so I could avoid them. Found out (after I had gone around the Island) that one of the main passages under the bridge on the east side of Treasure Island is closed to boats due to the construction - the same area I had just paddled through! Oops. Now I know. Will avoid that if I do this paddle again.

Currents in San Francisco Bay

For those that don't believe that the San Francisco Bay can get strong currents, check out this little video clip I took on a paddle last week:
先週カヤックに乗ったビデオだ。サンフランシスコ湾の潮流だ。


Based on the chart, it is about 30 feet deep at this spot. That is a lot of moving water!
チャートによると深さは10メートルぐらいだそうだ。　流れの水は多いだろう。

Under the Golden Gate Bridge and a few other places (like Yellow Bluff) are know for strong currents. Not this location.
ゴールデンゲートブリッジの下の潮流は有名だ、でもその所は有名じゃないだろう。

This is where I was at/私はここにいた:

View Larger Map

Unintended consequences

I have been thinking about unintended consequences recently. First came up with this government stimulus plan, which includes a lot of road work. Roads generally have finite lives (let's say 20 years, for easy math), at which time major repair work would be needed. I wonder if 20 years from now there will all of a sudden be a lot of roads needing repairs, which undoubtedly we wouldn't have budgeted for?

This also came to another one of Obama's goal - universal health care. I seem to have many friends who would love to retire, have saved a bit of money and all, but aren't retired. When asked, the limiting factor appears to be there need for health coverage. So, if Obama does get universal health care of some sort in place, will we have a sudden surge of folks in their 40s and 50s retiring? Will there be so many that it would impact the economic output of the economy?