Life, Communication, and updates from the foothills of Santa Barbara

So, the lung condition (read below for more details) seems to be abating, and I am no longer sitting in a state of pitiful fatigue - Yeeee-Haw!

This has been a learning week for me - allow me to share some thoughts that have rumbled thru my mildly unfogged mind this week -

1) I have regularly communicated w one of my oldest friends via iChat video since moving the west coast - no-one else in my social group (All technical people mind you!) made the hurdle to chat via some form of video teleconference. This week, I started chatting with both my father and my lovely ex via Skype video. These are two ne0-luddites - which to me means that skype really is bridging the gap between the technically capable and Joe-Six-Pack masses in terms of mass video communication. While the quality isn't fantastic, the video is more than adequate for communicating, and the voice-portion is fairly reliable. Hard to complain with free while it is such! So, what's is the excuse of the rest of the techno-elite nerds in my group? hrmm. good question!

2) I love my new gun club! I received my membership card on Friday, and today I took some time to hit my new home range! Here is a far too small panoramic image of the facility area:
Gorgeous facility, and the site has some of the most incredible views that I have seen in the region!












3) I must be turning into a hick, because I'm really digging Hank Williams III. Here are some lyrics from one of his more brilliant songs

Smoke and Wine

Well, I have got no money but I am doin' fine. I'm just a hillbilly hell-raiser; I'm tryin' to kill my time. An' I'm lookin' for that gal, about five foot ten. An' I'm gonna take her down that road of livin' a life of sin.

Because I'm drinkin', druggin': I'm havin' lots of fun. I always carry round my loaded shotgun. If I think I'm gonna have a bad time, I got a little bit of smoke an' a whole lotta wine.

Taste my pain! Perhaps my upcoming trip to Chicago will save me from turning into a bucolic weirdo!

some old pictures of v-town

and that's about it -- I found them, and decided that they are worth posting in a dedicated slot as opposed to being thrown helter-skelter into a disposable instance of flickr -- meanwhile back at the bat-cave the beasts are barking running amok in a freespace that is about-- oh, 10 sq ft. fantastic.

This is one of my favourite spots on Ventura Beach @ sunset.



The following shot isn't all that exciting, but after having been here for little over a year I still enjoy watching the waves flow in the early evening...
Even though I love living on my mountain of solitude and power, V-Town really is a great place be -- nice people, good vibe and all that jazz.




Here's the last pic worth sharing, a surfer closing up shop after a day of hitting the waves with the Channel Islands in the backround.

Peacocks!

stepped out of my cottage this morning - and I saw this peacock keeping it real !



wow! Ah the foothills of Santa Barbara are pretty damn cool.

& the best part is that you can see two of them wandering off into the brush!

Supposedly during the mating season (this winter) the males will start showing off their plumage to wow the females -- who for the record look like wild turkey's.

DosArmas? Nah, DosPeacocks!

IRA, Roth IRA, Roth401k

Egads! Researching these topics late this evening, and wondering if my organization will be offering a Roth 401k come this October. From what little reading I've done, it would appear to a turbo-ninja hardcore version of a Roth IRA ---

On August 17, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Pension Protection Act of 2006. This law made permanent increased contribution limits to IRAs (including Roth IRAs) that would otherwise have expired after 2010. It also made permanent the Roth 401(k), which would otherwise not have been available after 2010.

On May 17, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 into law. This tax bill included a provision dealing with conversions of traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs. Starting in 2010, the existing $100,000 income test for converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA will no longer apply. Conversions that occur in 2010 will be able to have half of the taxable converted amount taxed in 2011 and the other half taxed in 2012.

if anyone who actually checks out this page has useful 411 about these topics, please post or contact me via email.

White Trash Mythology

WTF is this non-sense? At what point did it become cool to be a hick?
well my gut tells me it was sometime around 1993 when Brad Pitt starred the cooter "Early" in Kalifornia and it was only downhill from there.

Bands like Nashville Pussy hit the scene espousing pseudo-country-cooter drivel nonsense about the good life of fried chicken, wild sex and cocaine. At least the women in the band had some sex-appeal...


But empowerment thru ignorance? huh? what? what did I miss? when did I miss it? Where's my John Deere hat? Anyone else out there still mildly confused at this cultural conundrum? IT'S NOT REAL! Y'ever been to the south? driven thru backwater Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, m-I-ss-I-ss-I-PP-i or Louisiana? There aren't many hot belles ala ---->Ryder Suys or Karen Cuda, and the men are nowhere near as groomed as Brad pitt.

All that being said, I still happen to love Johnny Cash, and I'm
developing a hankering for Hank Williams III but I do have the understanding that THEY are not exactly the unwashed Appalachian masses...

Where did the Myth of the Savory, Sultry cooter come from?

So I woke up feeling less than stellar....

this Saturday. so be it, a really cool rumbling lawnmower had taken residence in the bowls of my lungs, and you know - things just happen. so be it. whatever. allergies. right? right. however I hadn't coupled that rumbling with fact that my energy levels had been dwindling over the past few weeks....

so, some dizziness, some fever, body pain and a really tight slinky sexy cough later - I checked in with my Dr this am who said (prepare for my magnificent paraphrasing)

"Seems like walking pneumonia...but that's ok. It could be worse."

"Huh?"

"Well, it might also be a tumour or perhaps tuberculosis. Lets get you an X-ray."

"Hrmm. I'm on it."

I'll be that Zake Wylde doesn't get this bs pneumonia. In fact,
With all that brown liquor flowing in his black label veins
every microbe passing thru his system is assured certain death! Mycoplasma can never take residence in his Whisky saturated lungs!

Alas, I am not he, and I am not protected by the mythical properties of Johnny Walker and his blended creations.


Without my 10 day supply of Zithromax, I will likely face a fate much like my little lamb friend found.


NOTE: This lamb died from pneumonia. The area of the lung at the tip of the knife is affected lung. The area above the knife tip is normal lung.


For those who are having a moment of care:

"Pneumonia simply means inflammation in the lung. It can be caused by microorganisms, viruses, chemical irritants, or foreign bodies. The phrase "walking pneumonia" refers to a group of pneumonias that, even if untreated, would not confine someone to a hospital, or even to a bed. They can, however, make someone feel miserable with a severe cough, fever, chills, headache, and abdominal pain."

So, with the right meds, all 5 different handfuls + inhaler that I'm taking, all will be well in short order. Well, about 6 weeks until all coughing should subside.

Funky new old-skool power lift

Today was one of my first days at my new weight lifting facility! Oh hell yeah!
Despite a nagging illness (cold, flu, allergies, who knows) I ventured into the gym preparing myself for the worst: turbo-ninja-powerlifters, women dressed to be seen, and a whole lot of people competing for my squat rack! While I did find all of this, I saw something quite interesting - a man who had a fighters build was doing some kind of whacked out lift that was absolutely wild, contorted, and looked like it required extreme balance and a generally well rounded and powerful physique to pull off. It looked something like what you see below




(yes, I'm lazy and didn't care to reformat the alignment in the html. get over it.)
Naturally I asked about it, and learned that it was known as the bent or screw press and was 19th century strong man's exercise. Sweet! I now know an awesome old world strength training motion! However, I have no clue how in 1906 Arthur Saxon managed to lift 386 lbs over his head w. 1 arm.....