A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
I have been riding my old 1997 Specialized Ground Control on all sorts of trails for 18 years. It cost me $1,399 back in 1997 when I lived in Sacramento and biked on nearby trails and near Lake Tahoe.. . . . Recently, when it came time to do maintenance, I took it to the nearby Summit Bicycles. The mechanics there told me that my…
Read More: Specialized StumpJumper FSR
I became interested in learning to ride a dirt bike in August and enrolled in the Intro to Dirt class at Garrahan Off-Road Training.. . The two-day class takes place in Hollister, CA, and Brian Garrahan provides all the dirt bikes.. . Day 1 - Saturday, October 24, 2015. . I got up early, around 6:30am, to prepare for the drive to Hollister. My iPhone…
Read More: Intro to Dirt at Hollister Hills SVRA
I have been a big fan of Roku3 and Home Theater PCs for a long time. Although it does not support many video formats, it works well with my Plex server on a Synology DS1815+ NAS. Plex can transcode any current movie/TV format to whatever format Roku (or another front-end supports. . . . . I was excited that Amazon released a Fire TV version…
Read More: Review: Amazon Fire TV and the battery compartment from hell
Dad, or as I affectionately like to call him - Grandpa Neal - first learned of his lung cancer in October 2014, when he was only 72 years old. He had a cough that would not go away, so he went to see his Kaiser Permanente doctor. After doing a chest X-ray, he discovered that he had a tumor in one of his lungs. He…
Read More: Grandpa’s Struggle with Lung Cancer
Wow, this has been a month of many changes. In short, I sold my lovely 2009 Mini Cooper "S" convertible, affectionately named "Chili," my trusty Canon 5D Mark III camera, my MSI GTX 970 graphics card, and my GoPro Hero 3 Black action cam.. . After a few weeks of trying to sell my 2009 Mini Cooper "S" on Craigslist, I tried the Cars.com website..…
Read More: September of Changes
It's been a while since I visited Manresa State Beach - one of my favorite beaches near Santa Cruz. Unlike most beaches, it's relatively close (within a 60-minute drive) and has beautiful white sand.. . . . I hoped for a beautiful family beach day, and the weather did not disappoint. Although cloudy initially, the weather cleared up, and the warm summer sun emerged.. .…
Read More: Enjoying Manresa State Beach
Having seen Phantom of the Opera multiple times before (the first time in Houston in 1993), I was not initially excited about seeing it again at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. . . However, this new Phantom of the Opera production impressed me, and I was thrilled to see it. It was staged differently from the Phantom productions I've seen in Houston and Las…
Read More: Review: Phantom of the Opera (Orpheum Theater)
"Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty", sings Matilda in her second song. It's one of those memorable lines that are not easily forgotten.. . Inna and I finally got to see Matilda the Musical at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco on July 23, 2015. I frankly wasn't sure that I was going to be able to attend the performance, as I…
Read More: Review: Matilda in Orpheum Theater
The drive from Montreal to Mont-Tremblant took about two hours. Mont-Tremblant is one of the major ski resorts near Montreal, and we wanted to see what it looks like and what activities it offers in the summer.. . When we arrived in the afternoon, we did not realize that Mont-Tremblant had a Blues Festival. I was surprised that a small ski town could host such…
Read More: Ziplining on Mont-Tremblant
We were not originally planning to visit the Botanical Gardens in Montreal on July 4, 2015. However, having finished exploring the nearby Biodome, we decided to take a closer look at the beautiful gardens.. . . . . It was around 5:00 p.m. when we arrived, and the indoor garden exhibit would close at 6:00 p.m. We decided to go in anyway. I am thankful…
Read More: Botanical Garden, Montreal, Quebec