Mauweeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

That's right, confirmed!! In just 30 days I'll be sitting on one of the most perfect islands in the world. It has the perfect balance of exciting outdoor activities like snorkeling, hiking, surfing, jungle, desert and awesome drink specials like $1 mai tai's. What better place to hang for a week than in Lahina on Maui. Not to mention that I'll have an awesome supporting crew with Party Corby and Rach22.

The other cool thing about maui is that as soon as you step off of the plane and into the rental car there is a Walmart and Costco to stock up on "supplies" and any items you may have forgot on the "cheap".

I am soo looking forward to losing myself in the ocean and gazing at all the beautiful fish, turtles and rays swimming in the reefs. Snorkeling hotspots I'm hoping to hit up are Hanalua bay and mystey bay at the south tip of the island on the lava hike. Also, I'm kind of hankering for some of that freshly baked banana bread served up at Halfway-to-Hana.

Mahalo!

-Knut

**photo from 2003, hopefully this trip will be much more enjoyable

Random pics from my phone from the last month

Tuesday night, Stage side to Bon Jovi! So much fun.

One of my first tapes I bought was "Slippery when Wet"

Since it was such short notice I didn't have time to get all big hair80's!

My Bro at the Speisekamer! after the China Camp 10k! Mmmm....German Beers.

the boneyard at all-u-can-eat Rib night #1. Han is the Rib champ with 15th. Caroline and I were well off the pace with 9. We agreed to only go once every 2 months.

The view from my chair, enjoying my post-surfing good feeling in Santa Cruz.

The beautiful view of SF from the Marin Headlands. I finished my first 1/2 marathon in 2hrs25minutes and it had 2000ft. of climbing in it.

Well... that's it for now.

Would you like a slice or the whole thing?

The rebirth of Singletrack!

What happens when you live somewhere for about 4 years and then one day happen to find a park with about 5 miles of trails within a 5 minute bike ride from your house?

You dust off the mountain bike and go for a ride. Park X is just by my house near the intersection of Norris Canyon and Bollinger. It's a very isolated park and appears to be used by very few. It's a place where the fire roads are becoming singletrack , The cowpies grow mushrooms, the Turkeys hide from Thanksgiving, and I was served a giant helping of humble pie!

In a 1:15 minute ride door to door, I climbed & hike'a'biked 1300' and the descents were crazy fun. Maybe I'll get my climbing legs back just in time for fall. Prepare to be victimized!

-Karl

Let me tell you something you already know.

Sideline reporters, Gotta lov'em.

They're right there in the thick of the action. For 20 seconds each quarter providing you with valuable insight like my favorite Eric Dickerson of a few years back who said something like, "the team at the end of the game with the most points will win"

But my all time favorite had to be Drunk Joe Theisman being interviewed by a Suzie Kolber on the sideline. In his own words, " I want to kiss you". How insightful.

There's really no point to this post except getting a little dumber on a Friday afternoon.

-Karl

"What's the deal with corn nuts? Is it a corn or is it a nut"

-Seinfeld

Foo Fighters

Why is it that I'm willing to pay full price to go to a Foo Fighters show when all I really want to do is see the opening act AGAINST ME!. Damn them, when they toured in December they played Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa on school nights. Hello, what about a show in Oakland or SF?

As a sucker I'm paying twice as much to see them in an arena rather than in a small club. Oh yeah, The last time I went to a Foo Fighters show was to see WEEZER open up for them. So I've never really gone to a Foo Fighter show with the intention of seeing them.

-Karl

"Just as I can't be afraid to ride the Spiderman roller coaster at Magic Mountain when it's time, I can't be scared of writing things that I really feel. There are a lot of things that I kept myself from saying over the years."

-Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

It's been Five years......

Straight outta Ziggy Stardust.....Not Compton you fool!

Yes, On January 31st I will have been gainfully employed by the Clorox Corporation for 5 whole years. "Yes indeedy", as the brilliant Ned Flanders once coined the phrase!

Five years of employment by one small corporation relative to the big bad giagante of P&G. But in reality I've had a great time working for great people. My favorite person has to be my ex-boss Lynda. She has been a good friend and an influence on me and I have learned many things over the 5 years of our friendship.
thank you.

-karl

FYI-on a random note, I was able to pick out a present for my 5th anniversary for working at clorox. I chose a Globe and had the option of having a customized nameplate added to it. I chose to name my globe "Sir Edmund Hillary", this happened on Monday. Well, to my dismay Sir Edmund Hillary Passed away today Thursday janurary 10th. He was the first to conquer EVEREST!

"When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself'"

-Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Epiphany! (but not really)

Wow...I just finished watching the mediocre Cleveland Cavs beat down the Dallas Mavericks in "Dallas!". The Dallas Mavericks are officially the New Sacramento Kings of early 00's, who were the Golden State Warriors of the Early 90's (aka runTMC) , who were the Portland Trailblazers of the late 80's..

Really good but unable to "get over the hump"....

-karl

A few carrots...

There's this Blog where a 29-year old woman is doing something everyday until she turns 30. Well I found this about a month ago and it's too late for me to do that for an entire year but luckily yesterday December 26th is exactly 6-months until I turn 30. I've decided to give it a go for 6-months. So the last few days I've been thinking about events and things I want to do in 2008 and I came up with 5 physical challenges I've wanted to do but never have.

New Thing #1:
Yesterday, I signed up for my first 10k run which happens to be at my favorite mt. biking spot, China camp.

karl's Event list for the first half of 08'
8-Mar China Camp 10k run (signed-up!)
6-Apr Marine headlands 1/2 marathon or 7 mile (signed-up!)
26-Apr Lemurian shasta classic 26 mile mtb race
???-May Hike to top of half dome16 mile
22-Jun Mt. Diablo Hill climb road bike ???mile

-Karl


"I'm just a happy kid, stuck with the heart of a sad punk"

-NADAsurf

Maybe I'm easily amused...

Today I Put together my first Aquarium. Ok, this is truly my second, Sorry Woodstock, he was my first, a free goldfish from K-mart that lived about two weeks. This is my first full effort having an "Real" aquarium. I've always loved fish and being in the water. In 2001 I went and bought a few books after returning from a trip to maui. I was so amazed how fun it was snorkeling through the reefs and seeing all of these beautiful fish and how much fun it would be to look at them all the time. Well, after I read the books I realized how much is involved in keeping a saltwater fish aquarium that I decided to put it off for a while.

Well, last week I decided that there was no better time than now to attempt my first fish aquarium. My first stop was the pet store, needless to say that aquariums are cheap but the stands and everything are the real expensive. So I headed to craigslist. Luckily, I found a sweet lady in Danville that was upgrading her 55gallon aquarium to 200gallons. So I ended up saving around $200 buying a used aquarium instead of buying new. Whew! I just finished setting it up and it looks awesome, except there are no fish in it. With saltwater you have to wait a few weeks for the environment to grow. Now I'm looking at an empty aquarium dreaming of what fish I will stalk it with.

Patience is a virtue!

-K

The big "O"!

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about negative people and how much of a downer it is to be around someone who just complains all the time. Then a few days later I came upon this article on CNN.com about the , "Venting diet", where you stop complaining and start doing something about it. I'm not one to jump on the latest Oprah bandwagon but I really enjoyed the article.

The question is, how do you get a chronic complainer to read this?

Article: Why you should stop complaining!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/12/03/anti.complain.campaign/index.html

"shit or get off the pot!"

-K

Smoking Lady

Would you let this lady touch your food? Well, I'm ashamed to admit it but I did. Last week I attended a local bay area chain of Hot dog eateries (the one that starts with a K- not a C-). As I'm approaching the front door of the "fine eating establishment" there's an older wrinkled woman smoking and with her rough whiskey voice rumbles, "I'll be there in a minute". As I'm slightly grossed out by the sad sound of her it dawns on me that she will soon be handling my hot dog (no pun intended). By this moment I'm feeling slightly nauseated as I peer at the menu. Soon after smoking-lady enters the room and walks behind the counter and in her best whiskey voice mumbles, "what can I get for you hun?". I stood there like a deer in the headlights pondering should I run, should I order, Is she going to wash her hands? I decide that If 1. she washes her hands I'll stay, 2. if she doesn't I'll run. Well I keep pausing and finally she heads to the sink and starts washing her hands with soap and water. So, I decide to order the usual cheese dog but I get it to go. During the ride home I ponder whether I will eat it or not and since I'm weak, I end up eating it. But it was the worst hot dog I've ever eaten. During the whole experience I'm envisioning this woman smoking and wispering in her whiskey voice. After this experience I am officially a changed man.

Gone Hemingway....

Grad Skool....It's like you have to not only show up for class but also do the work. So tonight I'll be pulling an allnighter getting my first Mid-term Paper completed for my Market research class. Damn.....I'm recalling my glory daze of undergrad where you could just float by. Now I actually have to work. Pity party for 1 in La Paz.