tried to go fishing but there was a little man who kept pulling on my shorts demanding I give him the rod.

I updated the gallery. It now shows all my pictures from Picasa so you don’t have to go to Picasa and leave the site just to view the pics. Yay.

This was probably the most successful fishing outing since we’ve been coming to Collins Lake. The water level had dropped over 30’ from its capacity and seemed to concentrate fish to offshore structures. No longer could the fish relate and hide in the tree’s and bushes around the Collins Lake shoreline. They were forced into staging on rockpiles throughout the lake. Early on we found our pattern and throughout the next few weeks stuck to that same theory and caught a crap load of fish. Being mid summer, we focused on rockpiles on main lake points but being that the water level was so low, we didn’t ignore the rock islands that tied the main shoreline to the middle of the lake. We affectionately named the offshore rockpiles, the three sisters, and during the course of the next few weeks, we got very familiar with them. Most of the fish were spotted bass, but there were quite a few hefty LMB that took our bait. The mornings were fairly windy until about 730am in which all the wind would die off. Surface baits worked great in the AM when there was a little big more texture on the water. Once it got calm and the water heated up, we headed for deep water and combed the rocks with big plastic worms. Take a look at the link below for some fish catches.

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I got an apple TV for my birthday this year. Whats an apple TV? its a neat little device that allows you to watch your movies, listen to your music, and look at your photos right on your TV. There are plenty of other hardware applications that have this ability. The Microsoft Xbox 360 has many of the same features; however, few of these items can match the clean simplicity and design of the Apple TV. It all started for us when Noah decided that the CD Rack was something he could not ignore and began opening the CD cases and throwing the DVD’s around like frisbees. I started ripping the movies to my HD to watch them on the computer or via our xbox 360. HD space is something that has gotten so cheap, that I wasn’t concerned with how much space each movie would take. Coincidentally each movie is roughly 1 GB large.



For more information check it out here: http://www.apple.com/appletv/

The people at Apple know what they are doing when they suck you in to buy their products. It starts from their cutsie little advertisements.. “Hi. I’m a mac, and I’m a PC,” to their adicting jingles, to their use of the lowercase i in front of everything. I’m sure you can name a few. iPod, iMovie, iMac, iDVD, iLife... They are no different than the big cigarette companies or your local drug dealers. They start you off small and work you till you can’t get enough. It started innocently enough. Nicole called me exasperatingly, with the dreaded words no “techie” wants to hear “Our computer doesn’t work.” My usual replies of “Well, did you try this” or “Are you sure you did that?” got knocked down each time. Frustrated at not being able to help her, and mildly annoyed that I couldn’t fix what I thought was a minor problem over the phone, I hung up the phone dejected. The next morning I tore apart the box and found 1 thing after another broken, or on the verge of breaking. The dollar signs began floating through my head, right next to the annoying jingle that sounded out “Upgrade Time.” And then, like a voice from above, that silly Apple commercial popped on TV.

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Tags: Apple, Mac, Tech

I’m always on Nicole’s case to get a hobby. I suppose one reason I want her to get a hobby is so she stops cleaning the house (or expecting me to do it anyway.) Well it turns out, Nicole seems to be a “natural” when it comes to wakeboarding. During a recent trip she popped up like it was nothing, moved around on the wake and even tried a few little bunnie hops. I’m pretty excited about this cause hopefully she’ll want to do it more and who knows... maybe it will stick. She looks like she’s having a good time... More pictures if you click the link below.


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Noah’s fish finally have a name. Nemo and Sushi. Go figure.

Motorcycles. I love the idea of riding one - The wind blowing through your hair, the open road beneath your feet and the freedom to go where you want. All without a metallic walled cofin strapped to you. Hell, you don’t even need to wear a seat belt, and in todays over regulated world thats a big statement. I’ve frequently thought about purchasing a bike, but being 35 years old and never riding one, I’m sure it would mean my certain doom. In my line of business, they’re frequently described as “donor cycles”, which makes sense because of all the vehicle wrecks we go to - you generally don’t walk away from a motorcycle accident. So - It’s not going to happen. Plus, my wife reminds me that a child seat doesn’t quite fit securely on a bike. How does she know?

Here’s the caveat. Although I really dig motorcycles, I can’t STAND the noise they make. I’m generalizing pretty broadly stating that all motorcycles are loud. In fact, most probably aren’t. Its only those damn Harley Davidson bikes. I don’t care that they are beautiful bikes. They are obnoxious. You could be in your car, with the music blaring, with a fire engine on your ass and the only thing you can hear is that damn Harley sharing your lane. Whats worse than that? I live on the edge of my town which borders a nice scenic drive through a forested canyon. Its a great drive. Its so great, that every weekend dozens of bikers roar through it stopping at the first stop sign before town, accelerating heavily down the next straight away. Its loud. Its obnoxious and it wakes up my kid every time. I guess thats the worst part. It means I have to get up too...

We decided to camp at the beach overnight and settled on site 33 at San Elijo State Beach. I use the word "camp" loosely - as it doesn't quite conjure up images of traditional camping. Instead of majestic mountains and cool streams, you're faced with blue skies, steep bluffs and smashing waves upon the cliff faces. I guess that part would be great, if your camp didn't butt up to two more campsites, one of which had an obnoxiously loud 6000 watt generator running full bore, exhaust aimed in our general direction. It also doesn't live up to the "camping" ideal when Amtrak trains run through the area late at night and within visual eyesight of your campsite. Nevertheless, for those that spend any time at the beach, it provides a nice change of pace from driving break to break searching for that perfect wave. Instead, you can wake up nice and early, brew yourself a nice cup of coffee and look at the waves... all about 5 feet from your tent or RV.

Anyway - We were hanging out at the campsite and we found Noah abnormally quiet - and as all parents out there know, a quiet child is either hurt or is up to no good. I looked around and found Noah in the cab area of the van looking very focused. At the same time, I acknowledged his amusing face and realized he was shoving a quickbooks cd into the van's cd player. I grabbed the cd, in which I though was the nick of time only to realize later that there were 3 other cd's shoved into a single compact disc audio player. Not good.

We spent a good hour or so trying to remove the cd to no avail. I was getting upset and then I realized that he had done exactly what I had done over 27 years ago. Instead of multiple CD's into the cd player, I had inserted toothpicks and paperclips into the ignition switch. So as much as I needed him to learn it wasn't correct, I smiled inwardly remembering he is almost exactly as I was. I can hear my parents rolling around laughing and saying "What goes around comes around..." They're exactly right. Damn.

Decided to go stay overnight at San Elijo SB. That evening, we decided to paddle out for a nice glassy evening session. Noah and I hit the waves again on his GIANT blue longboard. We're off to a good start cause he LOVES it. When he was done for the day, I decided to paddle out and catch some waves on the blue beast. I was pleasantly surprised at how well that big foam pier caught waves and maneuvered into the waves. You're not going to win any contests with the board, but you will have lots of fun. I plan on taking it out on nice small summer days when we're at the beach ALL DAY LONG. There's no wax to melt!

Noah loves fish. One day we were browsing around one of those giant department stores that has everything from fish to groceries, we decided to buy him a small, 5 gallon hex tank. We don't expect him to clean it, feed the fish, or anything. I just get a kick at him watching the fish from his crib exclaiming "BISH! BISH." Maybe I just want to nurture the idea of fish, fishing and conservation while he's still young. Heck, who am I kidding, I like the fish in the house too. Nothing special. They aren't even saltwater fish. Just a couple of fancy tail goldfish. One of them happens to have stripes like Nemo. The ironic thing is we spent a fair amount on a new hex tank with filter/aerator, gravel, plants, & fish food - and the fish were only 1.99 each.

Ok. The pictures suck, but don't blame Nicole for taking them. I had told her I adjusted everything so that taking pictures was as simple as point and shoot. I was partially right, but I forgot to reset the lens setting from Manual Focus to Auto Focus. SOooo.. Everything came out blurry. No matter. Noah and I paddled out for about 4 or 5 waves and he's as good as hooked. Today we were cleaning the garage and he pointed up to the big blue surfboard and said. "Dada! Mine. Dada Beach?" I was proud.

Every year about this time, families across the world step into their vans, wagons, and RVs and head out for their annual family trip. It usually begins with the father loading the coleman cooler and propane stove into the trunk along with the bags of clothes that will go unused for the duration of the vacation. The mom would have packed the car with all sorts of chips & cookies, while simultaneously threatening the kids to behave or else they would just stay home and not go on the trip at all. The latest addition to this tradition has been the induction of the portable dvd player to shut the kids up on the long and tedious drive to the Grand Canyon. Amidst the constant calls of "Are we there yet?", "I got to pee," or "Ed bit me," we still manage to get there and start the cycle over next year. As ominous as this sounds, it does get better and if you play your cards right, your kids will be asking you to go camping with them and their kids. Read More...

We picked up a new 8' soft foam surfboard at Costco today for $99. We originally had thought about buying Noah a bodyboard, but thought it would be best if we rode the white water together. It will also serve dual roles by allowing visitors a chance to surf without damaging my precious other surf boards. I modified the board by installing a "body board" leash to the front of the board so that I can secure Noah to the board in case of wiping out.

We got our sportsmobile. Only 2 years of searching every online forum, every city on craigslist, and even eBay - it has finally paid off. Thank you to the people at Sportsmobileforum.com for helping me find the perfect one for us! What is a sportsmobile? Its a 4 wheel drive, go anywhere, do anything, rock climbing, survival, camper. Its fully contained, completely custom and rocks. Read more about it in our sportsmobile blog.

Today was a milestone in our family. Noah got his first pair of slippers. I guess its not a big thing for most people, except that we live for the beach. This week we went 3 times to play, and two times to check the surf and today to buy his flops at Hansen's. Read More...

Surf fishing is one of my favorite ways to fling a line. It has become a link to my childhood that I hope one day to share with my son. When I was a child, I would accompany my father while he and his friends combed the beaches of the SF Bay Area in the pursuit of Giant Striped Bass. I remember watching my father step into his waders, put on his canvas high tops with the toes cut off, wrap his military style ALICE web gear with his various "mickey mouse" and krocodile spoons and fling a 12-13 foot surf rod way past the breakers. At that time, fishing wasn't nearly as interesting as playing with all the unique stuff he staged on the beach. More often than not, I would either play with my dad's tackle and most likely destroy or make it harder for my father to fish. Read More...

When Nicole first approached me with having a garage sale two years ago, I threw it up there with the rest of her crazy ideas. Who the heck wants to get up at 6:30am and sell anything? Who in their right mind wants to go buy stuff from someone else at 6:30 in the morning? Well, having done this a couple times... many people. Its unbelievable how many people are looking for that one particular thing that is no longer sold in stores. Maybe its someone who is just looking for a deal. The bottom line is -- garage sales work on multiple levels. Read More...

Its spring cleaning time and I'm getting rid of things in my garage. Check it out on the For Sale page. We got everything from surfboards, to guitars, to clothes and purses. Baby clothes, toys, and Misc. tools! Come check out the For Sale page. Stuff added daily.

Joe

Whats new? If you're a 1 year old, everything. Consequently, as a parent of a 1 year old, that makes everything new to you, or at least you gotta start looking through the eyes of a little kid. With two parents working (if you call what we do working,) its challenging to find a balance of quality time with our kid, ourselves and with each other. Read More...