Day 3, no wind

After 2 days of good wind, there is very little left today. Only barely enough to run a race, and it's not fun. Even still, we have plenty of protest to keep us busy. Some are interesting, some are painful. I'm not use to this 12 hours work day and late night dinner. I'm longing to go home tomorrow to see my cat and have some good sleep in my own bed.

Orange bowl regatta again

I considered myself a beneficiary of the affirmative action in the United States. I'm truly honored to be invited back to this world class regatta, working with top sailors and excellent race management. Sometimes, being the ethnic minorities and female and inexperience is not a disadvantage. At last, now the organizer can say, one third of our 6 protest committee member are female,from 4 different ethnic group and with different level of judging experience. The economy is down, but the enrollment for the event is way up, for whatever reason. Could be the weak dollars? Could be sailor all around the world just love the warm gentle wind in Miami? We got perfect 12-17 knots east wind whole day long, ride on a very wet Boston Whaler for couple of hours, only 4 protests at the end. Another day in paradise!

HOT Now

This one is for Walter. Remember we talked about sign for "HOT Doughnuts" when they freshly come out of the assembly line, here you go! I even sampled a couple for you. They're like hot ice cream. Sorry that all the Krisy Kreme in HK went belly up, but they will come back someday. May even have hot sign too.

Little Kenji

Two brothers can be so different from day one. Little Kenji is like a little old wise men who knows everything about the universe. Kiyoshi cannot wait to find out everything about this world. I would love to see how their stories unfold. But, I know one thing for sure, there will be surprise.

Miracle

It's the first snow here in Paducah, Kentuchy these winter. Also the first time little Kenji ventured out since he came home 2 weeks ago. He's so calm and sweet from the very first moment. For friends who don't know about little Kenji yet; he is Kiyoshi's little brother. Another miracle baby. In fact, with the Hasegawa family, I have a few miracle friendships and wonderful memories over the years. Now, with another new member, I expected more to come. Lily well done!

ICE Q

For some people, christmas comes early (or anytime they want). But, not every christmas you get to re-live the feeling of getting your first bike, making new flag for it, wanting to sleep with it, getting up early and ride, being chased by big dog, and go ride some more, and not feeling tired at all. Even the name catch my imagination. Inspired Cycle Engineering - Quick Trike. Sure enough, very nicely engineered.

Beyond Wherever

一連讀了兩本‘不能放手’的旅行日誌。如果你問過 “ 我們還可以用什麼心情／態度去旅行？“ 之類的問題，這書可能可以給一點激勵和啟發。
其實，如果你也問過 “ 我們還可以用什麼心情／態度生活下去？“ 這也可能用得著。
New York Times has a good write up on 'The Naked Tourist'. And if you like 'The motorcycle Diaries', 'Chasing Che' is one step beyond.

Net

The wind is perfect, the waves not too big, sail fast, but safe distance from the sand bar, everything is under control. At least that is what I thought the moment before. BANG! The board stops dead, but I keep going. It's something about physics, I was taught :). The problem is I'm still attached to the boom and the board. So, instead of free flying off, my head smashed into the mast and my knee swung anatomy the wrong way. OK, it's not fatal in this case, but it hurts. The worst thing is, it stays in the back of my mind. It was a net, caught the fin of my board. It reminds me one of National Geographic photo. A dead wild dolphin, since caught in an abandoned fishing net in the middle of the ocean. It gives me goose bump every time I think about it. There's no safe place on earth.

NitroFill

Want it or not, these days you will get nitrogen for free (at least for the first year) when you get new tire. It has been used for decades in Formula One, Tour de France and the Military for better performance (steering/ braking) and longer tread life. BTW, after two decades of driving, I finally picked new tires by myself, with hours of research on the net and study of reviews and calling all dealers in town. After all, I pick the same Michelin to replace the ten years old ones. :)

山中歸來

She comes to visit every dusk, looking for food. Perfectly wild and young.
Georgia mountain range south of Lake Arrowhead.
Still too early for yellow/orange/red.
Reminds me of the animation Ice Age.

Mountain Launch

Mountain Flying

It has been a couple of years since l flew in the mountains. Autumn is a good time for Lookout Mountain Flight Park in north-west Georgia to host the Women's Hang Gliding Festival. I revisited the training hill to touch up my basic foot launch skills in the morning. This time, though, I'm prepared for total wetness from rolling in the morning dew. Then I learned how to deploy a parachute, which is not included in normal training. (Even you must carry one to aerotow, most people don't know how it works. It's kind of like a lot of people buy insurance, but don't actually know how it works when they need it, or will it work the way they expect it to. Being able to try it, and see how it works gives me more confidence.) And then there's more in-depth clinic in launching. We in fact did a lot of running the glider on flat ground. Another observation, if you look up, you will go up. If you look down, you will go down. I hope tomorrow the conditions will be calm enough to do some real mountain flying.

生命中不能克服的事情

看了一部巴西片‘The house of sand’，故事講及三代的女人，多年來都想離開這與世隔絕的沙丘。片中有迷人的連連沙丘，和令人心痛的「生命中不能克服的事情」。但到最後，不能克服的卻變成了習慣，而且不想改變。片中最後的對話；已經是中年的女兒告訴一把年紀的母親，有人上過月亮。母親興奮地想知道他們找到什麼, 卻失望和失神地得知，找到的只是沙。

Studio upgrade

There are two major upgrades in my studio recently. Both involved a bit of work after purchase. A new Samsung window AC replaced the 18 years old Kenmore. Firstly, it took some help of a friend to get the heavy unit out. Then some wood works around the smaller unit. In fact, I almost never use the old unit because of the amount of noise it makes. So, it's a lot of sweats in every piece of my works. :> Second upgrade is from a boomboxes to a shelf system with built in iPod dock. (The remote didn't work, had to get a replacement). Now, I can truly control my environment with my sticky muddy fingers with remotes (in ziploc). What a life improvement after only 300 bucks.

Classic & Modern

The two most important people in the history of animation are Winsor McCay and Walt Disney. Even most kids don't know about McCay, it took Disney a decade to match his works. In this almost a century old collection of silent film, it's the piano music catch my attention. Amazingly classic & modern, composed and performed by Gabriel Thibaudeau.