Tonya and PQBON's WebLog
Tonya and I got back from our vacation Saturday night at 11pm or so. This was not the plan, but most of the trip didn't go to plan. It sure was fun though!
The plan was thus: Leave for anaheim on Monday at 4pm. This would let us see Garden State in La, the only place other then NY it was showing at the time. Then we would hit the hotel and go to sleep. The next day we would go to Disney Land. On the third day we would travel from La to San Diego. On the fourth day we chill in San Diago. On the fifth day we ride from San Diego to Los Altos.
Our vacation started on monday. However, we started in hole. The day we left we got a call from Tonya's friend Kelly saying that we couldn't stay with her when we hit San Diego. So while I finished building the power system for the bikes com system. I was ready about 30 minutes late. We loaded up our bike and ourselves. I put the key in the ignition and turned the key. I looked down and the bike was peeing gas. I could smell and see the fuel like leaking out of the quick disconnect.
I disconnected the quick disconnect and inspected it to see if I could comprehend the problem. I could. There was as small oring that had a chunk missing from it. This was allowing gas to leak out at a high rate. I had no idea what to do. My first thought was to go to Kragen with all the info about the fuel line that I could get. I figured I could either replace the whole line or cut out the quick disconnect and put a permanent splice in its place. I was unable to go to Cal BMW for two reasons. One, it was monday, every motorcycle shop in the world is closed on monday. Two, it was now late enough that they would have been closed.
I was thinking about it and remembered that I had Kari (the owner of Cal BMWs) phone numbers. I called him and explained that I was trying to leave for LA and my fuel line was leaking very badly. I explained that it was just the oring on the quick disconnect not the disconnect it self or hose. He went to Cal BMW and opened the shop just for me and gave me tree new orings. It took about 3 seconds to fix the fuel line. Most of the time was spent cutting the old one off.
It was now 8:30pm. We were never going to make it to see Garden State. We headed out down 101 the iPod blazing and the lights I set up in the tank bag projecting an eery blue glow over the directions to Anaheim. The road stretched and we hauled ass. We took 156 over to 5 and shot down 5 at 90 mph. We made a few stops for food and drink and gas. Our last stop was along the grape vine then we shot into Anaheim at about 4am. We checked in to the hotel and crashed until about 10am. 10 glories AM... Then we hiked out the tram and went to Disney Land. Disney Land was cool.
We spent the day wondering around the theme park and doing things. We went on all the old school rides. We went to island, and paddled the canoe around the stream. We got blown up by the cast of honey I shrunk the kids. We ate expensive lunch and drinks. We went home at 6:30pm to crash. We had two fast passes and the plan for another ride. We were going to go take a nap and eat and come back. It didn't work out. Dinner was in the hotel restaurant. It was expensive but they lost the bill before entering it in the computer so it never got billed to our room. It turned out we got comped our dinner.
The next day started at 10:30am when we woke and packed. We loaded up the bike and got ready to leave. So as not to arrive in San Diego before our hotel was ready we stopped at down town disney the disney mall. It was interesting. We bought ourselves a bunch of crap and ate at the rain forrest cafe. The food was pretty good. The ride to San Diego was pretty good. We used the cool La area carpool lanes. We drove past the huge marine base where I imagined the wonderful act of riding my dirtbikes all over the amazing trails. We cruised into our hotel at just before 3pm. Unfortunately, the room wasn't quite ready so we chilled in the lobby and waited. When the room was ready it turned out to be a handicapped room with a weird shower. It was a nice room and it had a balcony.
That night we went to dinner in the gas light district. On the way to picking a restaurant we found a cool car broker who specialized in older and exotic cars. In the show room they had a handful of Ford GT40s and some other really cool things. They had two bikes there. A classic early BSA that was in great condition and a Ducati 748. We left and wondered around. We finally picked a restaurant and ate dinner. Dinner was good but the name of the restaurant escapes me. It was an italian place and the food was expensive but good.
The trip had two food themes sea food and baby back ribs. Baby back ribs were the only food not from the ocean I ate for a meal the whole trip.
The next day we went to the beach. The beach was pacific beach and it was great. The air was actually a little cool. We had lunch at a little place that served burgers and breakfast and stuff. Then was walked a mile or few down the beach path. On the way back we decided to buy some beach clothing. I figured I would give surfing another shot so I needed something besides jeans to wear in the water. We then tried to find a surf board to rent. We found a surf shop that rented and sold cool boards. Unfortunately, they couldn't find a key to the rental locker. They directed me to a small local skate shop who rented me a huge foam board. It wasn't what I was looking for but it worked and I still had fun. I was out for about an hour and got about 5 real waves. 5 times I was too far forward and got slammed into the ocean when the board nosed in. 3 times I missed the wave due to not being ready. That isn't counting the large handful of waves that just weren't big enough or didn't break far enough out to catch. I came in to check on Tonya and to give my bad leg a rest. I was having a real hard time standing on the board. The quick sudden motion was not happy on my leg.
After that we returned the board and checked out the little skate shop. It was pretty cool. The guy was chill and had a reasonable selection of decks for a store a coffin. After that we walked around and ate some coldstone and thought about dinner. We decided on this crab place that was along the beach where we ate and drank and were happy.
When the day was finally over we headed back to the hotel. We went to sleep knowing our vacation was almost over. We did in fact know that it was almost over. The same way people once knew the world was flat. Or the way there was only 4 elements that made up everything.
We set out in the morning planning on stopping at Disney to return some stuff for sizes that were more reasonable. We left with the plan of getting lunch on the coast. Then things went wrong.
No we didn't get into an accident nor did the bike break down (although it turns out that the iPod feeds a lot of AC back in the DC power causing the intercom to have a lot of annoying noise. You could here the harddrive spin up and the data coming though the heads.) no, we got stuck in LA traffic at 13:00 hours. It was 3:30pm when we hit Malibu where we had lunch. Lunch was nice. We ate at a Hawaiian restaurant (there sister restaurant was in Hawaii). We then got back on the bike and headed out.
Things got worse when we hit Oxnard. Besides being named after the genitals of a bovine creature they have NO IDEA how to build a detour. We followed a guy that was clearly trying to get to the same freeways we were around in circles. It really was insane. They had blocked off 1 and 101. There were no signs for 1. It just ended at a closed off street. 101 had arrows and signs pointing every which way. They routed us around all of Oxnard before we were on 101N again.
We started cruising up 101. We made a brief detour along a false PCH section that later rejoined 101N. Light was fading and we were hungry. It was about this time we hit Santa Barbara. We drove around the city for a little while until we found gas and food.
We gassed up about half a block from a diner style restaurant we had chosen for dinner. I road the bike down and parked and Tonya walked. We met in the restaurant (she beat me but disappeared into the restroom). Then we ordered. While waiting for our food Tonya started talking about not feeling good. He legs were soar her butt was soar, her stomach was upset and she was tired. We talked about it. We also talked about the fact that tomorrow morning we were supposed to go to Steve and Lauren's wedding.
In the end I offered to get hotel room. I called the AAA+ emergency travel service (after calling the AAA travel service because it was closed). A very nice woman booked me a room for 2 at the local Motel 6. This took about 20 minutes. While I was doing this Tonya was sitting at the table watching our food get cold. We ate and I used my cell phone to email Mike Rubin. I asked him to give Steve and Lauren our regrets.
Dinner was OK. We had burgers and real cherry cokes. After dinner Tonya wanted to check out the shopping center for shampoo and such. She didn't trust motel 6 to have reasonable shampoo like the hotels past. While walking around the shopping center we came upon a movie theater. It was showing Garden State!!!!!!!!!!! What luck had we! We figured we had 45 minutes before the show, we would run to the hotel and checkin then comeback.
We drove the motel 6 by using mobil mapquest on my cell phone. (Very cool phone software package. I highly recommend it!) Once there I went to checkin. No luck. They were full and had not had a reservation from AAA within the last hour. I was bumming. I was really bumming. I started calling around. No luck. Everything in Santa Barbara was full. I called the Radison next to the motel 6 they were full as were all the other inns around motel 6.
I made a command decision, rush back and see the movie and enjoy it. We would deal with this crap later.
On the way back we passed a small hotel that had two neon signs. One said sorry, the other said Welcome. The latter was the one that was lit. I rejoiced and into the intercom asked Tonya to remember the name Hotel State.
We parked the bike and jumped off to go to the movie. While running to the theater I call 411 and had them connect me to the hotel state. They were open and had rooms! I booked a room for 2 and told them we would be there in 2 hours. We then proceeded to enjoy the movie. See my entry on Garden State!
After the movie we cruised over to the hotel. It was a quant little place with tiny rooms and common bathrooms. It was really more of a hostel then a hotel but it was clean. This is where we discovered that we didn't even have tooth paste. Tonya figured we didn't need it so didn't pack it at the last hotel. We went to sleep in the little room next to the tracks (train tracks) and rested and enjoyed.
The next day we woke about the time Steve and Lauren were getting married. We repacked our motorcycle bags and showered in the common bathrooms. We checked out and set out for a drug store. The plan was to purchase tooth paste and then find brunch.
We found a Walgreens and got our toothpaste. We proceeded to cruise the street on foot looking for a restaurant with a bathroom (for brushing our teeth) and food that sounded good. On the was an older woman stopped us to ask for directions. I was just about to bust out my std. answer of "I don't know." When I realized I did know. What she wanted to know was simple, where was the walgreens! I told her it was about 1.5 blocks up the street and was happy to do it. Most of the time when someone asks me for directions I have to disappoint them. It was going to be a good day!
We arrived a good looking restaurant just as it was opening. The locals were all lining up outside so we figured it had to be reasonably good. I was kind of cringing expecting it to be on the very expensive side. We sat down and ordered our drinks and looked at the menu. At this point I was confused... Were the prices in english pounds? The meals were all under $10 bucks, the appetizers all under $8. I started to wonder if the food was any good. When it arrived I was amazed. It was great. It was super great given the price. I was happy. Today really was going to be a great day.
We ate and brushed our teeth. We then bid a very very fond fair-well to Santa Barbara. We hit 101N and plowed northward until 1N and 101N diverged. We took 1N. 1 was fun. We slipped up the coast rolling in and out of the nice round coastal curves. We got tailgated for a little while by a Chevy Tahoe. Later we saw them sitting in a parking area still in their car. I think they scared themselves.
As the day wore on and we passed through San Louis Obispo and Big Sur we started to be ready to be home. We stopped in San Louis Obispo and drank and ate and relaxed at a park. The park was nice and it was nice to get some rest.
Eventually we hit the Monterey Peninsula. We blew through Carmel to Monterey where we stopped on cannery row for dinner. We had an appetizer of artichoke hearts deep fried and we shared a rack of baby back ribs. It was good. We watched the sun go down as we ate.
In the end we wound up back on the bike heading home. In the name of expediency we took 68E to 101N. This took us through Salinas and Gilroy then finally San Jose. Due to construction on 101N we got off at 85 and took 280N to Los Altos. At 11pm Saturday night we arrived home. Then we crashed... into the garage or maybe just bed... I don't remember I was too tired.
Zach Braff (of Scrubs fame) made a movie... Garden State. Its a little indie film playing in NY, LA, and apparently Santa Barbara. When Tonya and I got stranded in Santa Barbara we took the opportunity to see it 2 weeks earlier then we other wise would. (Its supposed to come to the bay area in a week or so.)
The movie is a about a son coming home for the first time in years due to the death of his mother. In that time he meets a girl, reconnects with friends from his childhood, and his family.
As a writing directing acting powerhouse Zach pulled it off. The characters were all engaging and interesting. The story had a reasonable flow. It was paced a little slower in the beginning and built towards the end.
I don't want to say too much, but I will say this. See it!
I went to the doctor about my arm this morning. The quick summary, I'm screwed. My right arm will never be the same. Here is a list of things he told me I shouldn't ever do again: (note: This list is not exhaustive.)
As you might notice these restrictions imply many others. They are regardless of surgery.
Last week before leaving for vacation I went for a bone scan. For the bone scan they injected me with radio active dye and watched the particle emission from my arms. This was so my doctor could see how bad things were in my arm. To give him some further info he also took a few xrays on the florascan this morning. The results weren't good. I have both cartilage and tendon damage at the distal radius and ulna joint. My option is to live with the pain and loss of mobility or (as my doctor put it) have my physiology redesigned.
My Dr. has proposed removing an inch or so from my ulna (leaving a gap) and using a scew and bone graft to bond the distal (wrist) end of the radius and the ulna. To add some support to the distal end of the proximal ulna he would bond some muscle to it.
For one month after the surgery my arm would be in a cast and useless. Then over a 6 month period I would get my range of motion back. This time the motion would be pain free. There are risks from the surgery. It would be under general anesthetic which is always somewhat risky. There is also the chance that the proximal end of the ulna would be unstable.
What do people think? (PLEASE COMMENT!)
Harold and Kumar do in fact go to white castle...
I was going to post this the Monday after it came out but wound up not due to laptop and timing issues.
I was not expecting Harold and Kumar to fix the asian stereotypes in movies. Neither was I expecting the works of the great Sir William. Just as I suspected it delivered on neither. However, the movie was very very funny. It was much like Dude, Where's my Car? or Cheech and Chong. It was funny and slightly irreverent. The passing was good, it was neither rushed nor plodding. The movie was set in central/northern New Jersey which I enjoyed having grown up in the area.
Harold and Kumar were funny charecters. They didn't play to any stong asian stereotypes, in fact they were somewhat generic characters. One of the themes of the movie was asian stereotypes so there were some strong stereotypes in the movie to provide a contrast to Harold and Kumar. An interesting side note, Doogie Houser (Niel Patrick Harris) played a surprising large role as himself in the movie.