Recap Time

Used SuperPhoto on a photo to make this awesome watercolor.

I'd thought about possibly trying to do a monthly recap here but just going back a few days of my G+ posts makes that kind of unfeasible. So I think maybe I'll do a recap of the best posts from the last week or so, give or take.

In honor of Alan Rickman's untimely death the other day, I watched Dogma (full movie on YouTube) last night for the first time in years and it was still very funny (though, as noted by a friend, a little too clever for its own good).

Politics
Netflix Founder Drops $100 million to Join Billionaire Crusade to Privatize Our Public Schools 

I went to a Donald Trump rally and saw a man wearing a plastic bag as a shirt. (with images, tweets) - this is both fascinating and really pretty disturbing and doesn't even include the newest addition to the Chucklehead Sideshow that is Trump 2016, the Freedom Girls (warning, link is to a YouTube video I can't help but believe is performance art but is apparently real)!

MMA/UFC Links
Nik Lentz issues "non-negotiable" demands to BJ Penn

The Conor Ultra Super Mega Hype Train Rolls On - Coach: After 'warm-up fight' against Rafael Dos Anjos, Conor McGregor could make a run at the UFC welterweight belt. Conor will get destroyed by RDA and any dreams he has of multiple titles will be pounded out of him. And, for the record, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar both have fully legitimate beefs with the UFC capitulating to McGregor's bullshit demands. Defend your new strap or give it up.

And, lastly in mma news, Chris Weidman is 'really happy' he lost to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194

IKEA Kura double decker playhouse - epic makeover time!

Ned Overend is the Champion Cyclist Who Never Grows Old - a great article about a guy who was kicking butt on the trails when I was a kid and is STILL kicking butt on the trails today! The article includes some good training tips (HIIT yo!).

New Word:
Testimoney - paid for testimony, duh!

New Recent Videos:
Heavy Surf Pounds Its Beach
Washed Out Stairs to Its Beach
SUP Surfing Fall and a Not Fall
Some of the Big Swell Hitting Santa Cruz
A Coupla Waves in Cowells

Videos I've watched:
Santa Cruz Tsunami Up Close 2011
Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Conan Help a Student Driver
AK-47 Underwater at 27,450 fps
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Carp Attack [Carpe Diem]
Lego Mindstorms Bridge Layer

See ya in around a month or so!

Living in Paradise Means Lots of Paradisaical Photos

Here are some recent photos I've taken in the Santa Cruz area. Most have been tarted up in Snapseed or by Google's Auto-Awesome.

We had our first really wet weekend of the year with heavy rain most of Saturday morning and then another storm on Sunday morning. It made for good indoor playtime, we played video games, Lego, Minecraft, watched movies and ate party food!

Also, the three SUPers in the harbor? That's my buddy, Sean and his daughter (her first time!) along with Trudi, the lady who owns the SUP Shack.

The boys had almost no complaints about the weekend and I got out yesterday morning to take some photos of the storm and enjoy a little chaos!

Looking at the World

I live in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. This is not by accident, this is by choice. I could live in Podunk, Iowa for a third of the expenses I have here but well less than a third the quality of life. And what is the point of that?

I took this series of shots last week at the midpoint of a ride after work. This is the view looking back towards the Boardwalk from the cliff between Seabright and Main beaches in Santa Cruz.

It is one of my favorite places anywhere and I love that it is a mere 3 miles by bike path away from my house.

Another shot from about the same time, maybe even the same evening stopover. For some reason I really like the bird dominating the frame, the gulls love this spot too because of the hard winds. They get to fly all matrix-style with hovering, flying backwards and doing wicked wingovers, even the big ol' pelicans get into it!







Another recent shot from down near the river mouth. Took this yesterday afternoon while out riding bikes with my boys (tail wind out and head wind back does NOT make for a happy boy!).

We are in the final stretch of the school year which is good and bad. Looking at summer activities and things to do is fun.

And there are always the projects, the side projects, design projects, websites, parodies and all the other things we do to keep ourselves too busy! But more on those as they gel up more.

A California Kind of Sunday

There are moments, minutes and hours that, for me, pull together all of the various threads of my life and gather them into one neat bundle. After a busy Saturday with my boys including working on the deck, setting up the tent in the backyard and having a campfire complete with S'mores for the family, Sunday was a bit more low key to start with.