Mr. Hi de Hi de Ho

So the Kern County Fair started last week and like most years, I didn't think anything of it.  I didn't really have a plan for going and thought it would just pass this year like it did all the other years, without me knowing or even caring about it.  All of that changed though when I found out that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was coming.  I knew that would be a concert that I HAD to go to.  Now you probably know that I'm not really good at dancing, and, if it's swing, people usually get hurt.  All that aside I went and just planned on enjoying the music.  They played an awesome show and twice, Nikki actually braved the dance floor with me and we tried to swing.  We weren't that good compared to some people out there, but that's ok, we had fun.  She also didn't get smacked in the face either.  It was actually a surreal experience, having listened to them for quite some time.  I know that it would've been something that my dad would've loved.  If you ever get the chance to go see them, do it.  You won't be disappointed.  I'm actually already planning on going to see them again in 2 months or so! Good day.

Here comes the night...

So the past week or so I've been staying up later than I normally do.  I've been able to get some good night pictures in, see a movie on a parking structure and even see homeless people as well as downtown bad a's walkin around.  While the homeless I deem harmless, I won't press my luck with the others.  It's also an easier time to get to know other people, especially with my picking season work schedule.  Time well spent, especially when I'm only tired when I first get up and then when I get home.

One a side note, my late night antics will continue this week as we're doing the monthly ritual now of going up and looking at the stars while telling some weird stories.  Rough life eh?

It was always so easy...

Back by popular demand, my next 5 posts will not be featuring any pictures.  This post does not count towards the 5 non picture posts. 

Marvelous...

So it's been a good month or so since i've posted anything.  Not that anything too significant has happened in the past month or so, but I'll give you the highlights anyway

The last weekend in July, my friend Tim and I went up to the Sequoia National Park and hiked Alta Peak.  it was roughly 14 miles round trip that started out at 7000ft and ended around 11203 or something like that.  I'm already thinking about other hikes to go on for next year when I have the weekends off again.  Half Dome up in Yosemite is on there for sure and i'm also thinking of doing the Panorama and Four Mile trail.  I might go up there during the winter too.  Looks to be a great place year round.  If you have any good ideas for hikes, let me know.

On friday the 13th, me and some friends decided that we needed to scare a bunch of girls on the river at night.  didn't go as planned, but we still scared them.  The end result was good enough for me.  Time for horse-head.


For a few weeks I started to look for a new car.  I've been looking at Tacos and 4runners.  Much to my surprise, I couldn't find too many of them for sale with 4wd.  Although I had a nice 4runner lined up last week, I opted not to get it.  Maybe later, but man, it would've been nice.  Maybe i'll get around to posting some pictures too.

It's true what they say...

So it's been a good month since I've posted anything, so I guess it's time for an update on my adventures.

A few weeks ago I went up to the Sequoias with some friends. I hadn't been there in a number of years. We didn't leave until 10 in the morning and didn't get back until around 2, but it was a fun day trip. I even went to the crystal cave, which I hadn't done before.



Last weekend I made it up to Yosemite again. I knew my time to hike El Cap this year was winding down. Picking season is almost here so my Saturdays are going to be nonexistent. I went up with 3 other friends this time and we left bakersfield around 3:30am and didn't get back until just after midnight. I was able to get to the top of El Cap and made pretty good time about it too.

Other Random things...

I got an 8mm Fisheye lens for my camera.

I'm really getting into night fotography, especially astrophotography, but it's hard to get good star pictures here in bakersfield, however, not as bad as the normal person would think.

One too many...

I'm a nice guy, I like to help other people.  Today I would like to let everyone know that if someone asks you "Am I your girl?", that's what they said and you should probably leave it at that.  I don't care if what you heard was "Why am I a girl?"  Very different reactions... At least it's good for a laugh though, right?

Summertime...

Even though summer hasn't officially started, but we had the annual summer party at the Neville's on saturday.  The theme for this year was "The Oasis".  Here are some pictures.

There and Back again...

     Well Yosemite finally came and went.  It was by far the most memorable trip up there that I've ever had.  That isn't too hard to accomplish seeing as how the only thing that I remember from the first family trip up there was our campsite and some teenager who always said "no D".
     We left Friday afternoon and with stops in Fresno and Oakhurst, we arrived at our campground just after 10 pm.  We set up camp real quick and then got to bed.  Despite my best effort, I didn't fall asleep until well after 12, woke up various times at night, and then woke up for good at 4:30, only to have to sit and wait until the alarm went off at 5:15.  We get ready for the day and eat a quick breakfast and then we were off.  We had a 30 minute drive or so to get to the actual trail head from our campground, but it wasn't bad at all. 
     Yosemite is a very beautiful place, especially when you don't have all these people around.  I've always liked pictures of scenery a lot more than pictures of people.  Anyway...
     The hike up wasn't that bad.  I actually thought it was going to be a bit worse, but that's probably because we waited every so often so that we could all relatively be together.  I hiked with my camera around my neck just so I wouldn't have to get it out whenever I saw something.  I knew I'd be taking a lot of pictures so I saved myself some time.
     After we get roughly halfway to El Cap, (at Upper Yosemite fall), we chilled and had lunch.  After a nice break we kept on hiking.  We were told that there would be snow, so it wasn't a surprise to see the snow there.  I was kind of surprised to see how much snow there was though.  I went looking for the trail for about 30 mins and came up with nothing.  It's amazing how well knee to waist deep snow can hide a trail.
    That being said we decided to go back down into the valley and do some other short trails.  Those consisted of the Lower Yosemite fall and Vernal falls. 
     We made it back to our campground, made a great spaghetti dinner and had a decent campfire, which consisted of Emerson discovering his new favorite campfire treat... roasted star-bursts. 
     While I didn't get to the top of El Cap, I got a season pass to Yosemite and WILL conquer that mountain, hopefully before picking seasons starts.

El Cap at 7 am.

Emerson, Berlin, Ken, Janna and I right before we started the hike

The group with U.Y.F. in the background

U.Y.F. from the top

Janna and I from the U.Y.F. look out.

Snow!

The snow that stopped us from reaching El Cap

Half dome and other parts of the valley from the Y.F. trail

Mr. Blue Bird

Vernal Falls

Once you're lost you never will be found...

Well I guess I better report about the last few goings on in my life.  About a month ago or so I went down to Disneyland with some of the kids from the Institute.  We did one of those service project days (made blankets) and got tickets to whichever park we wanted.  I hadn't been to Disneyland since Grad night '01.  It was fun and we got to ride everything that we wanted to.  We even had the chance to be in the VoluntEARS parade.  Something they do to honor the volunteers right before the big parade comes out.

Here's a link if you should so desire to see a clip of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ3bFcGBUWY

I also went to the Blue Bayou, the restaurant on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  The BEST food at Disneyland... that's for sure.

I also finally decided to get a DSLR camera.  My brother Eric found a pretty decent deal on a T1i with a couple of lenses and seeing as how I've been casually looking for one for the past year or so, I jumped on it.  It's still not here, but I'm sure I will enjoy it when it comes.

This coming weekend I will be heading up to Yosemite to go hike El Capitan with some friends.  I can't believe that it's already here.  The past four Saturdays we've tried to go on small warm up hikes.  The past two Saturdays Ken and I have gone and done as much of the Millcreek trail as we could.  It's a trail that's just over 7 miles one way.  The first time we did about 10.5 miles round trip.  I had to be back in Bakersfield for a wedding reception later that night.  Even as it was, I was a bit late.  The trail isn't too wide, probably 1.5-2 ft.  We made it up and down with nothing noteworthy to report.  This past Saturday wasn't the same though.  We got a late start (4:30), but at least we came prepared with snacks and a flashlight.   On the way up I actually flicked two fleas off of my arm and hand.  That was the first time I'd seen ticks before.  around 7:20 or so we decided it would be a good idea to head back.  The trail back was an eventful one as I tripped over a piece of wood sticking up out the ground, Ken stepped in cow crap a number of times, we ran into a herd of cattle (15-20 cows with some calves) and Ken getting a tick embedded in his hip.  If only I would've brought my camera on the 2nd trip...

All in all, I think I'm as ready as I'm going to get for this weekend.

The Thief that lives inside of your head...

So earlier today, while I was at work, someone was looking at the used car lot (aka our parking spots).  Said individual saw something he liked in my truck and came to the conclusion that it would be far easier to just smash my window and try and take my stereo instead of just coming in and asking me for it.  Aren't some people weird?  At least this time they didn't take my ipod or camera that I happened to leave in there.  Boy am I glad that I have an alarm and that my stereo was well installed and secured.  Despite getting my window smashed, center console jacked up, and a screwdriver taken to my gps stereo system... I made out like a bandit!  I guess the window was karma for shooting dad's truck window out with a bb gun back when I was 6 while I was aiming for the mailbox...

I'm on my way...

So I've been doing all this healthy stuff and working out for the past two weeks, give or take a few days.  All the time we hear these stories about how when you eat healthier and exercise more, you'll have so much more energy.  So far, that's a big fat lie.  Do I feel at least a little better? Sure, but it's not like I was way out of shape anyway.  I did more than double my running regimen.  I go from running twice a year to twice in one week!  I'm not too concerned about running though since hiking is what I'm going to be doing.  Besides, who can really say that they like running without lying to themselves?  I'm sure in the coming weeks I'll be probably the most physically fit and healthy than I have been in quite some time, if not ever.  So as challenging as this hike is going to be, I think the real challenge will be if I keep up with what I'm doing now.

If you're wondering....

Just in case any of you were wondering... it is NOT a good idea to mix V8 juice and Orange juice...  I just thought I'd save all of you the trouble of waiting to discover that mistake on your own.

At least i'm in good company, because there's no one else around,..

Well for those of you who don't know me, and for those of you who do, you know that I'm not really a big hiker type of person.  This next part might surprise you.  The other night I got in bed and for some reason I had the strongest desire to go hike El Capitan.  I was up for the next 40 minutes check stuff out about it.  It's located in Yosemite and is a 3000 ft. chunk of granite.  I don't have a good reason for doing this other than the sudden desire and now determination.  Better yet, I plan on doing this in roughly 6 weeks.  It's roughly a 17 mile hike that takes about 10 hours give or take.  We'll see how I do.

Stories to tell...

Well it's been yet another while so I think i'm just going to compact a few stories and pictures to give you the sum of my activities as of late, dating back to around valentine's day.  On feb 12th, I got a group of friends to go down to an LA Kings game when they were playing the avs.  Before the game we went to a dumpling house by the name of Din Tai Fung.  It's a dumpling house out of Taiwan and the one in Arcadia is the only one in the U.S.  So every time I head down south I try to make a pit stop.  Kings beat the avs and then I headed back home.

A few weeks later I went down to Newport to see a buddy of mine get sealed.  I got up early on saturday morning and headed down.  I've never been a big fan of driving in church shoes or sandals, so I cruise down in my skate shoes and bring the dress ones to change into when I'm ready to head into the temple.  Surprisingly I get there with 40 mins to spare.  With all the extra time I decide to roam the grounds and take some pictures.  While I'm walking around, I look down and see my shoes combined with my suit and I say to myself, "man... I'm the epitome of class..."  After the wedding we hit up ruby's on Huntington Beach and then I cruise on up to Din Tai Fung!

The following week I head up to Utah.  I got a few days off of work and I wanted to see my family as well as my nephew Bryson.  I was lucky and it snowed on my way up.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it looked like the light speed star wars extravaganza going up.  

I also got to have dinner with my cousin Krisina when I stopped in Cedar City.  I got to spend a lot of good time with my brother Kevin and even got some skiing in.  I've learned that skiing in icy powder chunks on steep slopes isn't really my thing.  After the short little trip I had to head back.  Now just in case you didn't know, I'm a big fan of driving in the snow.  This is the first time that I was actually nervous about doing so.  Here's a picture to prove it to you.

This past week my Blackhawks went on their west coast trip and stopped in LA.  Naturally, I was all over that.  I got some great seats right on the blue line 10 rows from the ice.  The 'Hawks fought their way to a 3-0 shutout.  I actually got a girl to go with me too! We were thoroughly entertained by the game as well as some of the drunkards there.

After the game we decided to walk around downtown and see some of the sights down there before we headed back home.  We saw the various skyscrapers and then decided to drive around until we found the famous city hall.  Not to be out done, we stopped by the Disney Concert Hall. 

That my friends is what has been transpiring in my life the past month or so.  Cheers!