The boys and I are going to Yosemite in a couple of weeks. To prepare, we went on a hike last weekend up to the top of Mt. Baldy. Doug E and his son Adam joined us as our official tour guide. Mt. Baldy is one of the tallest peaks in So Cal at about 10,100 feet. We started at about 6200 feet and climbed up and back down in about 7 hours.
Here are some pictures of us along the way.
Here we are about half way up. There is a cabin with a nice stream running by it.
Here we are near the top. Note the change in the terrain as we are well above the tree line. Still another 1000 feet of climbing left.
Here we are at the top of the mountain!
The walk back down went a lot quicker. A couple of more long hikes and we’ll be ready for Half Dome!
I was in Geneva last week and it was in full throttle tourist mode. All of the lakefront hotels were booked solid by the Saudi princes and their entourages.
Here is a picture in front of the Kempinski Hotel with “his and hers” Rolls Royce. Behind the Rolls is a Bentley convertible. Note that all of the cars still have their Saudi plates on them. These are not mere rentals, but rather, the cars are shipped in on the Saudis private jet(s). Geneva must have special arrangements for them.
Here is another picture in front of the Woodrow Wilson Hotel. This one is of a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.
Our $5 per gallon gasoline is fueling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in the history of the world. This rising bill for imported petroleum lowers our already anemic savings rates, adds to inflation, worsens the trade deficit, and undermines the dollar.
Wake up George Bush…. it is time to have a comprehensive energy policy!
On Thursday night, Anjali and I went to a concert at the Pacific Amphitheater. The opening band was the Psychedelic Furs. I remember listening to this group back in the early 80’s. Their claim top fame was “Pretty in Pink” which they saved until the very end. A couple of other songs they played that made the charts included “Ghost in You” and “Love My Way”. Their performance was mediocre at best. The lead singer must be in his late 50’s now and his voice was not quite what it used to be! He also doesn’t get around quite the way Mick Jagger does! Lucky for us, it was sunny, warm and quite relaxing as we watched some of the characters dancing all around us!
The headliner was a group called Yaz (or Yazoo at one point). Their lead singer is Allison Moyet and she is supported by her synthesizer player Vince Clarke (formerly of Depeche Mode and afterward at Erasure).
Here are Anjali and I enjoying the concert.
By the time Yaz started, the concert had filled up. This was their final stop of the tour, and probably the final stop of her career. Allison Moyet still sounded awesome. Unfortunately, she has ballooned up over the 200 pound mark and doesn’t look like her former self! At one point she remarked that her rubber soled shoes don’t let her move around the carpet as well as she would like.
Anyway… enough commentary. Her singing redeemed the night as she banged her way thru all of her classic hits. These included “Nobody’s Diary”, “Good Times”, “Sweet Thing” and “Don’t Go” . She came back for a two song encore which included “Only You”.
Here is a clip from “Don’t Go”. By the way, his entire synthesizer mix was on his Apple laptop!
For the 4th of July festivities, we went to Tustin High School. In order to get parking and field level seating, we got there around 6:30. We had Subway sandwiches for dinner along with crackers, hummus and white peach sangria. Thanks to Bobby Flay for the sangria recipe!
About an hour before the fireworks started, the field filled up.
I took about 20 shots of the fireworks and only one came out pretty good!
Last weekend (both Saturday and Sunday), Nikhil ran at the Junior Olympics Association Meet in Gardena. On Saturday, he ran the 1500M and on Sunday the 800M. He got close to his PR’s on both days but the caliber of the other kids in his heats was outstanding.
Here is his Equalizer team for an end of the year shot.
It was a great season with a lot of learning (for both of us) and a huge improvement for Nikhil. He will start up again in August for Cross Country and be back next year for another season of Track.
Today was the State Meet in Downey at Warren High School. There were about 600 kids from the Bay Area all the way down thru San Diego county. Nikhil ran the 800M. He got another huge PR improvement to 2:45 – a seven second improvement over his time from the County meet last month. He placed 4th overall for his age group. The full meet results arehere.
Here he is at the final 100M chasing down the 3rd place finisher.
Here are Nikhil and his teammate Anthony, sharing their medals and matching icees.
Next weekend is the Junior Olympics Association meet where he will be running the 1500M and the 800M. Stay tuned.
Nikhil has had a few more meets since the SCMAF County meet. Two weeks ago he participated in the Pasadena Running Roses meet. This had to be the worst organized of the season. All of the Equalizer runners were incorrectly grouped – I think intentionally. The meet organizers should be ashamed of themselves. Despite that and 95 degree heat, Nikhil did well in the 1500M and 800M. He PR’d his 1500M by 7 seconds to a 5:43.
Last weekend over Memorial Day, we went for a two day meet up in LA sponsored by the LA Jets Track Club. This was a very competitive meet with runners from all over the West Coast. Nikhil ran his first 3000M meet on one day and a 1500M on the second. He ran a bit too conservatively in the 3000M and had too much left over at the end. Now he has a PR to beat and learned about how to better pace the race.
This weekend he has an 800M at the SCMAF State Championship meet. I’ll let you know how it goes.
On the second day of our Zion trip, Doug, Denis and I took a hike along the lower Subway route. This is about a 10 mile hike that took us a little over 7 hours round trip with a lot of climbing in and out of the canyon.
Here we are at the start of the hike. You have to read to the end to see why it is called the Subway!
The entire hike is along an ancient riverbed with steep canyons along each side. We saw some dinosaur tracks part way thru the hike.
Here are Doug and I getting our feet wet.
Here is a picture of one of the sandstone overhangs.
Finally, here is the Subway. This water carved formation extends for about a 1/4 mile and dead ends in a deep pool of water that requires rapelling gear to continue.
This is the end of the trail for us!
Here is Doug climbing through the canyon.
And one last look at the awesome Subway!
After that, it is another 5 mile hike back to the top of the canyon.
Nikhil had three more meets in the last couple of weeks. He had a meet last Sunday in Hawthorne (1500M and 800M), one yesterday (400M) and one today (800M and 400M).
At the Quiet Fire meet last weekend in Hawthorne, he improved on his times considerably and ran the 1500M in 5:50 and the 800M in 2:55. Both were PR’s.
Yesterday, he ran at the Long Beach Sprinters meet in Cerritos and ran a 76 second 400M, another PR.
Today, he ran in the SCMAF Orange County finals. The top four finishers in each age group move on to the state meet. Nikhil improved his 400M time to 75 sec and his 800M time to 2:52. Again both times were PR’s for him. The latter time qualified him to represent Orange County in the state championships in June!
Here he is at the start of the race.
And here he is with his 3rd place medal:
There are now four weeks remaining until the state meet in Downey on June 1. Looks like we’ll be doing a lot more practice between now and then!
Terry and Kriss came down from Seattle this weekend and hosted a fun evening at the Wine Cellar in Irvine. It is actually a wine storage building that we used for our private party. The Bordeaux was flowing from about 5pm until closing. Following are a couple of pictures from the evening.
Here are the 3 birthday girls: Joy, Kriss and Kim.
And here are the Real Housewives!
It was a very fun evening albeit a bit chilly in the 57 degree temperature controlled wine locker but a wonderful relief from the 90 plus degree temperatures in SoCal this weekend.
The boys had their 11th birthday this past week and we celebrated by taking them out to Champagne Bakery (their choice). They ate strawberry crepes for dinner.
They also had a sleep over with their friends and had homemade chocolate fondue (again their choice). Are you sensing a French theme here?
They then stayed up and played video games until two in the morning!
Nikhil is continuing with his track workouts during the week and has started participating in meets on the weekends. This is his first season of track and field.
Last weekend he participated at the Swift Invitational Track meet in Gardena. He ran his fastest 800M at 3:09 (in his second meet) and his first 1500M at 6:20.
On Friday, he ran at the Newport Beach City meet and ran a 400M and 800M. His 400M time was 86 seconds and his 800M was 3:12. He placed third in both of his heats and qualifies to run in the SCMAF (Southern California Championship meet) in June. Lots of time to practice until then!
Khare Family Adventures 
Petrodollars Buy Rolls Royce(s)
August 2, 2008 by Shree Khare
I was in Geneva last week and it was in full throttle tourist mode. All of the lakefront hotels were booked solid by the Saudi princes and their entourages.
Here is a picture in front of the Kempinski Hotel with “his and hers” Rolls Royce. Behind the Rolls is a Bentley convertible. Note that all of the cars still have their Saudi plates on them. These are not mere rentals, but rather, the cars are shipped in on the Saudis private jet(s). Geneva must have special arrangements for them.
Here is another picture in front of the Woodrow Wilson Hotel. This one is of a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.
Our $5 per gallon gasoline is fueling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in the history of the world. This rising bill for imported petroleum lowers our already anemic savings rates, adds to inflation, worsens the trade deficit, and undermines the dollar.
Wake up George Bush…. it is time to have a comprehensive energy policy!
Posted in Commentary | Tagged Autos, Cars, Ferrari, Gasoline, Lamborghini, Oil, Petrodollars, politics, Rolls Royce, Saudi | 1 Comment »