Surfs up

It's great to be out there early in the morning watching the waves.

Early mornings

Early mornings are not for everyone, but I  enjoy going for my walks at 5am before I wake up, so about half hour into the walk I ask myself where am I and what am I doing here.
Right now, we are staying in Oceanside about two miles south of the pier, so this is my walk, along the beach listening to the calming sound of breaking waves.

Full moon, and the tide is very low

Out there in the distance is where I am going.

I guess I am not alone

Everyone is lining up to catch some fish.

So is he/she just waiting.

Plenty of fish in the sea (mackerels) 

Then there are the professional anglers

And the ones left over from last night

It is a perfect morning for taking great photographs

Like this

If this does not get you out of  bed early in the morning, you must be in a better place.

All went well

The transition from one year to another is sometimes a time to think what was and what will be, even though both are useless for obvious reasons.
Despite that, we had a great year and look forward to the coming one.
I spent a short time taking a walk up a steep hill around were we life, just to see if I could still do it.

Now I know there is an easy way to get up there; a kid was showing me,

but I chose the hard way and got a beautiful view looking back.

While up there, I had a good conversation with a potato bug, a totally harmless, normally subterranean creature.

Then it was time to get our act together for the party at Corina & Chris'.
They have an East Coast New Year Party, meaning our New Year starts when New York celebrates, and we can be in bed by 22:00.
Corina and Chris prepared a delicious spread and installed a huge screen in the yard so we could see the action as it was unfolding in New York.

Henry and Patricia 

Friends warmed themselves around the fire-pit or under the heaters.

Corina and Patricia

Then suddenly there were all this other people; no idea were they came from.

And then it was 

Art in the City

We found this mosaic in someone's front-yard.

Art in the City

As we walk around the University Heights, Hillcrest or other parts of the city, we find wonderful murals on walls and displays in front yards. When you see the Post "Art in the City" this is it, not a lot of words.

This is the foot bridge where much of the art is located.

Go there and see for yourself.

We found it again

We were wondering where the Surfing Madonna went.  She showed up over night a while back on the underpass for the train tracks at Encinitas Blvd - until the council decided it had to go, because it constituted defacing public property.
On our walk today, Patricia and I came across a little coffee shop on 101 near Leucadia Blvd., and there she was in all her glory at cafe ipe .

What a beautiful Mosaic.

It's a bit tucked away, and you'll find it if you look.

Flat Land

At the end of September, we went to Fallon, Nevada to celebrate my mother-in-law's 96th Birthday. While we did have a great time, the only worry I had was that I couldn't find the elevation I needed for my goal of climbing 35 floors per day; each floor is 10 feet in elevation.

The road is dead strait with no elevation whatsoever.

Since there are no hills in Fallon,   I had to play out all sorts of scenarios in my mind of what I could do, like finding a two story building and climbing the stairs, or driving to a nearby mountain and so on.

Do this 15 times and you are out of breath or whatever you want to call it.

As it turned out, I didn't need to worry. On my 5-mile walk to the Assisted Living home whom where Mom stays, I found a sports ground with bleachers about three floors high, so all I had to do is walk up them 15 times, and I was done.
The looks I got from the workman standing around was something else.  Even when I tried to explain what I was doing, they were still in disbelief.  I think I can't blame them.

Pretty good for 96!

And we had a great time with Mom at her 96th Birthday.  If anyone asks her what contributed to her longevity, she will tell them, "lots of walking." So I better keep walking if I want to be in such a good shape at any age.

This really works

On my Birthday, Patricia gave me a Fitbit.  It's a pedometer+ that I put on your belt, or anywhere else, and it counts my steps, the distance I walk, the calories I burn and the floors I climb. I am down from 180 pounds to 154 in just shy of three months.

Fitbit works very well for me.  I like spreadsheets, and I especially like to see what I have done instantly and over a period of time. The only problem is, and there always is a one, Fitbit rewards you with badges when you achieve the goal you/they set for you, and then they ratchet up the goal.

Generally I am not very goal oriented, but if it is put in front of me, and it seems believable, I have no choice but to go for it.  And this conflicts with my basic 'don't do too much' attitude.

I do have to admit that it works very well for me, and the only consolation is that it must work for a lot of people, or they would not have come up with it or be in business.

Here's a screen shot of my site; you can go to this link for a look at my profile.

Then there is today, September 11, 2012 . I did the next goal (Badge) of 400 floors, each floor measured per 10ft.  I awoke at 12:30am thinking it was 3:30, so I got up and discovered only half way through my first walk what time it really was; but I decided to go for it, and that meant walking 20 miles, half of them uphill.
It's been a lifetime since my marathon, and I feel it now.
After a bit over 6 hours I had only burned 1900 calories, though it felt more like 5000.
First thing when I got back home at 7am, I had a cold bath and a two hour sleep, and now I feel I could do it again, well not really.
The next and last badge is 600 floors, so I decided do another 200 today, and then never again, for now.

At the end of today, I did it.