Blondemonium

Honestly, the things people will do to win stuff! There I was, minding my own business, enjoying the music of Green River Ordinance (the warm-up band for the warm-up band for the Goo Goo Dolls ) at the Greek Theatre last night, when one of the band members said something about "we're giving away this guitar" and "send us a tweet and you could win."  So I figured, there's not that many people here yet, how many could possibly be tweeting?  Turned on my phone, looked up @GRO on twitter and found mucho tweets on the page, all saying something lame like "guitar, please" or "will bake brownies for guitar" or "entry for Greek contest" yada yada -- you get the idea.  In between songs, one band member mentioned that they'd been together for 10 years and started playing in high school.   Then he said something about all of them being bad at sports so their parents bought them guitars.  So, I promptly tweeted to @GRO "You guys...

As it turns out, some days I am able to pull off this morning person thing, especially if I have partners in crime.  Leaving the house at 4:45 a.m. to be at the trailhead by 6:00, 8 of us (including 5 and 7 year old kids plus one labrador retriever) embarked on a 10 mile hike to the Bridge to Nowhere.  This being August, it was a good idea to leave at that time.  It was already in the high 70's by 6 a.m., so you know where it goes from there! Our only salvation from the heat was knowing we would be crossing the San Gabriel river at least 8 times each way (maybe more, it was just too much trouble to count.)  At the first crossing, we attempted to keep our feet dry: By 11:00, on our way back, our river crossings looked more like this: And this: And this:   In between, we were treated to a really great hiking experience.  It was long, that's for sure, but the elevation gain was minimal and so was the cardio factor.  Still, my HR monitor ...

\well, the first two legs of our journey are complete, and \i find myself sitting in \london \Heathrow airport - in the British Airways lounge to be exact, and I think this may be the only time \i have a few moments to write for awhile.... when we get to Rome, we hit the ground running, so to speak -- as we have only given ourselves a day and half to see the necessary objects before moving on to a little slower pace and five nights in \florence. I just have one question\:  Why is the \ & | key where the shift key is supposed to be on a |British keyboard?  Along with the necessary £ and € keys, in addition to the $ key -- (how very international of them!) it looks like my keyboard at home, and yet |I seem to be typing just one key removed for some words. For illustration purposes, |I'm going to forgo my usual need for typing perfection just this once, as I am sleep-deprived and it's just too much work, for one thing... for another thing - I think it's funny. \...

Those last minute adventures, vacations, dinner plans, whatever... always seem to be the best, don't they?  On Monday, the weather looked like it was holding to be a beautiful Tuesday, so plans were confirmed to join my friend (GFS) and her boyfriend (BFC) & GFS's son to fly to Mammoth for the day!  Hard to pass that one up... N even played hooky from school and got someone to cover her work shift so she could join us.  We arrived at the Corona airport at 6:30 for wheels up at 7:00, and had a beautiful flight up the Owens Valley to arrive at Mammoth-Yosemite airport an hour and a half later.  After driving that same route a few weeks ago, leaving at 4:45 a.m. and arriving around 11:00 exhausted and attempting to ski the rest of the day, I can see how you could really get spoiled if you had the option of flying your twin engine Cessna instead! Seatbelts on & passengers are ready for takeoff!! Speeding down the home turf runway... Amazing views all th...