The Borg Invasion

Stardate 03202007.1028

This is Captain Mohr from the Federation Ship USS Voyager. The Borg Cube arrived in the Seattle area last Wenesday, about the same time the Borg nanoprobres went into my body and got me sick...and Lity and Tzayde too. I did all I could to not get assimilated by the Borg from coming home late to keeping a watchful eye for any signs of their presence to even turning into a tour guide to show Lity's friend around Seattle while she was sick. Well on the day that those nanoprobes kept me from going to work, the Borg arrived at the Star Station Igloo after having assimilated the residents of the Star Station Bucket.

They arrived with a bang. In the morning, I heard 2 of 4's voice and I knew something was wrong. I took a peek outside my window and there before me was a Borg Cube. All of a sudden I heard 3 of 4 and 4 of 4's voices near my door. All I could hear was: "We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile". I stayed in my bed and called for backup, but Adi's Intrepid Class Starship USS Southwest was in San Jose awaiting permission to depart and engage. Lity was out cold (literally with a cold... of nanoprobes).

I stayed under my bedsheets in my PJ's trying to make a run for it to the bathroom and then head out for safety of my Starship USS Voyager, but I was trapped. I could hear them everywhere. Then I heard the airlock open, I took a peak and saw 2 of 4 go to her Cube to retrieve a bottle of nutritional supplements for 4 of 4.

Then phazer fire erupted in the main deck. All I could do was listen. The little Borgs were everywhere running amok around the Space Station Igloo. Finally they departed around 1200 after having assimilated all they could get their hands on at the station.

I finally was able to get out of my quarters and look for any signs of survivors. There were none. My United Airlines Boeing 777-222 airliner model was destroyed after it fought back being assimilated by those little Borgs - 3 of 4 and 4 of 4.

Adi's Starship USS Southwest arrived two hours later...too late. I did however, manage to stay away and avoid direct confrontation with 2 of 4. Reports are coming in that the Borg Cube battle being fought at the Space Station Bucket is expected to be over by Tuesday, when the Borg are expected to be send back to the Delta Quadrant.

"Computer - End Transmission"

Los Angeles Spring Break Update

Well now it's official, I will be in Los Angeles for Spring Break to meet with the opposing lawyers and their doctors (I can't believe I have to see those doctors a total of 3 times). So here is my flight itinerary:

SEA to LAX:
April 6

United 821
SEA-SFO
Dep: 7:54 Arr: 9:59

United 857 (Yeehaw, a Boeing 757-222!!!)
SFO-LAX
Dep: 11:07 Arr: 12:30

LAX to SEA
Apr 15

United 854 (double yaaayyyyy!!... another Boeing 757-222!!!)
Dep 3:51 Arr: 6:30

So I'll be seeing you all soon! I'll have a rental and a hotel reservation so everything is set! However, the flight itinerary is tentative, my lawyer put those flights on hold as soon as he got a call from the defendant's lawyers.

So this makes my day, I may have missed the Airbus A380-800 "Whalejet Junk" land at LAX today, but I'm so happy I'll have 2 Boeing 757-222s flights.

After this trip to LA, I think I will have reach my Los Angeles tolerance quota for this year!

The Hike Where We Learned Our Lesson

It was a year ago that my my friend Yury and I went on a hike that made all our friends scream and yell at us. Was it because of where we went? No, he and I would go hike anywhere and go into every little canyon and our friends knew we were pretty nuts. It was because of when we came back down from the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu.

We went up a secluded road and park my car to the start of the trail. It was about 14.5 Km round trip and it was hot, but once we got to the top we had the ocean breeze blowing on us. At the top was a lake and Chumash Indian artifacts. There was only one thing we had to be concern with, that was Mountain Lions. We figured since we were hiking in a pair, if there was a mountain lion, it wouldn't bug us and it would keep away. The only problem was Mountain Lions had been sited recently and with increasing numbers. So we kept our eyes and ears open for anything moving in the bushes.

We were so into finding that lake and those artifacts, that we lost tract of time. We forgot the way back down was down the side of the mountain away from the sun so we would have less light to work with coming down. By the time we started coming back down, it was about 6:30 and we would have to walk down almost 9 km since when we got to the top, we made a detour. Well it started getting dark really fast and next thing we know we have barely gone 1/3 of the way down.

We had no flashlights or glow sticks. All we had was our cameras and cell phones. It was pitch black and we couldn't see a thing. So we got our cameras out and started using our flashes to give us light. Then we resorted to using our cell phones and opening them so that the light from the cell phones would gives us some light. We must have fallen and twisted our ankles about 20 times going down. Then the next thing we know, we made a wrong turn and ended up at the end of a steep cliff. Luckily we had been flashing our cameras to catch it. So we had to backtrack to go down the right way. By now, it must have been at least 8pm. Our cell phones didn't work so we had no way off calling anyone and telling them were we where.

As we kept going down the side, we would stop on our tracks because we could hear something moving along with us a few meters away. So we would flash our cameras into the bushes to freak out whatever was following us and I'm sure it wasn't a bunny or a coyote. Another concern, for me especially was rattlesnakes, since it was dark and a bit warm, that is a perfect time for those freaky things to come out and the last thing I wanted was to step on one and get bitten.

Well at about 9 pm we finally got to the bottom. Whatever had been following us, stop about 50 meters from the start of the trail and my car. We still had no cell reception till about Pacific Coast Hwy. Once we got there we both had about 15 missed calls and messages each. When we called back did we get an earful. It turns out not too far away, there had been a mountain lion attack and of course, It was late at night and they hadn't heard from us.

It didn't stop there, we got to our friends house and we got even more harsh words. Well, I can't blame them, what we did was pretty stupid. Plus we had bruising and cuts and scratches from falling down and falling in the thick bushes when we would loose the trail.

I still to this day don't know how we made it out of there that night, but wow, was that a learning experience.

I haven't been yelled at that badly by friends for a hike, but last summers hike up by the Stampeed Pass had some co-workers giving me an earful for having gone way out there near Mile Marker 74 off I-90 by myself where bear sitings are common in the summer (in the winter it's full of cross-country skiers and snowshoers).

Well, as spring is right around the corner and the snow is melting, I can't wait to go back hiking again deep in the woods, this time though, I'll be more careful and try not to loose track of time and do my best to find a hiking buddy.

Picture in Seattle PI

I posted a picture on Seattlepi.com thinking it would get lost with all the others, but right now, my picture (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/myseattlepix/phototopic.asp?photoID=1003849) ranks 5th! If I could only get to Denny Creek I would go and take more pictures, but I'm sure the road hasn't been cleared of snow (plus I don't know if I want to go hiking alone in bear country, especially now that there isn't anybody hiking in that area).

If there is a break in the weather this weekend, maybe I'll go to Twin Falls or Wallace Falls and put my camera back to work after a two week break. Another possibility, snowshoe my way to Snowshed and Roaring Creek Falls. I bet they must look beautiful with all the snow there. If I go though, I better make sure it isn't snowing because I'm certainly in no condition to be putting snow chains on my car right now. Then again, it's probably better to go in late April. Last time I was there other than falling into the creek, it wasn't fun hiking after seeing fresh bear tracks on the side of the trail and constantly looking around me for a bear. I don't think a waterfall picture is worth becoming a teddy bear's snack.

On another note, I finally updated my lighthouse pictures and I put them on Flickr. I added two new lighthouses: the Point Robinson Lighthouse on Maury Island (Vashon) and the Fisgard Lighthouse in Victoria, BC.

How Bad Can We Be?!?!?!?!

I can't believe I just saw the worst game the Kings have played this season against the Chicago Blackhawks. How worse can this season get? We got shutout 3-0 by Khabibulin, the ex-Kings goalie who couldn't stop a beach ball even if it was thrown at him by a 3 year old! His last shutout was when he was a King 3 yrs ago. Chicago doesn't even have a player in the top 10 in any category! We have at least 5 players! Two of them in the top 3!

Now the Kings and Chicago are in last place, but we have such a much better team. How did we loose when they only shot 18 shots at us? I'm getting tired of this. Every year we are supposed to be better, yet the last 4 season we always started off in 1st place for half the season and then the "Injury Bug Curse" would bite us and down the drain we would go out of the play-offs. I want to win now, no more of this rebuilding nonsense.

This was supposed to be a great year, a new coach with Stanley Cups, my childhood idol Ron Hextall as Goaltending Coach along with Bill Ranford, Rob Blake back, all this new talent and a solid defense. I think the only highlight this season is Anze Kopitar.

I'm tired of trading all these great players we manage to get our hands on and then they go off to win a cup somewhere else or to greatness. Want proof? Darryl Sydor and Phillipe Boucher; off to Dallas they went and they won a cup, Luc Robitaille and Mathieu Schneider; off to Detroit and they win a cup, Rob Blake; off to Colorado and he wins a cup, Alexei Zhitnik, Kimmo Timmonen, Ollie Jokinnen, Cristobal Huet, Manny Legace they lead their team or are near the top of their players standing. Then last week we trade Mattias Nordstrom!?!? What the hell are the Kings thinking of?!

The last time I truely enjoyed a season was when we beat Detroit in the first round and and came back from 3 game to 1 down in the playoff and we went off to play Colorado almost beating them in game 7. That was the last time I went to see every single playoff game ( I can still remember Amanda sitting shocked at her Red Wings while all of us in Staples were jumping up and down hugging and screaming in the Miracle on Figuerora Street). That's is what I want to see again.

Hopefully next month when I go to Vancouver they'll win a game. They better, after I drive and come back the same night to see a hockey game across the border!

Oh well, at least Baseball starting next month, hopefully the Mariners start winning...

and Go UCLA Bruins! Just win this championship so I can erase all the heartbreaking games I saw those years there.

February Goes Out with a Bang!

Well this whole week I was hearing about snow coming back to the Puget Sound Area, they all said a trace and mostly at night. Well, what is outside my house isn't exactly a trace, we have over 4 inches of snow since 7:30pm.

We just arrived at the Igloo

I was about to leave home to go to Spanish when I heard a bunch of kids screaming "Yay, no school!!!", I told myself "these kids are nuts, they are being too optimistic". I had just been outside around 7pm and there was snow, but nothing big, maybe 1/2 an inch. However, when I opened my door I could barely see my car about 30 feet away. I soon started jumping up and down like those little kids. I couldn't wait to drive in it! Really, I had no choice, I was going to have to go down Finn Hill no matter what to go rescue Guy since the Infinity G35 Pididimobile can barely go up a hill when there is snow. So I decided to go to Spanish and on the way back go pick up Guy.

So I started driving down really slowly (I went down "Safeway Hill", if you know what road that is you know how steep it is) and made it down, got on I-405 SB and couldn't make out the lanes and could barely see where I was going. When I got between 85th and 70th all of a sudden there was no snow. The drive all the way to Montlake was snow free. I told Guy how bad it was back at the Igloo and decided I would go pick him up after he saw the I-405 web cam.

Around 9:45pm it started hailing in Montlake and we knew if it was hailing in Seattle, it would be snowing in the Eastside. So since two of us in the group live in the Eastside, we decided to call it a night. I drove to pick up Guy after Spanish on SR-520 and right before I hit the center of the bridge it was snowing hard, as if there was a force field keeping the snow from crossing over to Seattle. Traffic came to a stop and we crawled over the slippery bridge. Once I got over I had no idea where the lanes where. Went over to I-405 and I was driving through snow. Made it to the Bucket, picked up Guy made a run for I-405 and the car in front of us on the on-ramp started skidding down into the freeway spinning, I kept my distance and just trusted those new tires (Guy thought I was being silly buying those tires, I think he feels silly now) and my snow driving skills and made it home up Juanita hill with no problem. When we got to our neighborhood, I was the first one to put tire tracks on the snow. My guess is no one went anywhere because all the cars where covered in snow and it must have been snowing non-stop. Even as I write this it's still snowing (and its a nice -2.5 C, or 27.5 F if you all prefer).

I love this weather! It is just great! I think I've just decided I am going to stay and live on the Eastside just to enjoy the snow when we get it.

A longterm exposure looking out my bedroom window. You can see the lone tire tracks of my car

Back to LA

Well I came back from my trip to LA to see two of my close friends get married and all I have to say is that was one draining trip. For one thing I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't expecting any radical changes in LA (was I wrong) and I had no idea what it would feel like to see friends that I hadn't seeing anywhere from a year to 2-3 years.

Like always, I didn't pack till about 2 in the morning, I had to be at the airport by 6:30 am. Had my 4 hours of sleep and off I went. Security wasn't as bad as I expected and I got to my gate with about 30 mins to spare. I got in line at my Southwest Airlines gate (I swear next time I'm going back to United Airlines). I got on a new Boeing 737-7H4 and off we went to SJC. The take-off was nice and bumpy and the views of Puget Sound were beautiful. On take-off I noticed we were heading due west and we were leveling off around 12,000 ft. instead of towards the southeastern corner of the Oregon/California border and climbing to 32,000. It turned out we were flying straight south (ELMAA7 ELMAA FAMUK Q3 PYE LOZIT DUXBY SFO flight plan) to waste time in the air because San Jose was fogged in and flights were delayed up to 3 hours, so taking this route was a way to waste time. Once we past ELMAA the 737 went full power and up we went. The flight was pretty uneventful, just a nice smooth ride.

Puget Sound and the Olympics after Taking-Off

SJC was a whole different story, it felt like all of LAX had being cramped into an airport the sizes of BUR. Flights were delayed and our flight was moved to a different gate. For some reason I had a feeling Jen would be there (she lives there now), it turns out she had been there 4 hours earlier to a flight straight to BUR. After being delayed for one hour we were finally leaving.

We took-off on an old 737-3H4 and headed south on MOONY2 MOONY AVE FERN5 the further south we went the more the landscape went from green to brown. Along with that came turbulence, I had no idea what we were in for on our approach for BUR. We made our turn for BUR at AVE and my, did the plane shake like crazy. The crosswinds were strong and the plane was going up and down and sideways all over the place. This is the kind of flying I love on an airliner (on a Cessna I have to be flying otherwise...)! People were grabbing on to their seats and I just had this big smile on my face. On final approach we were flying sideways and out my window I could catch glimpses of the runway.
I also had a preview of LA, over the LA basin there was a thick chocolate frosting of smog covering the gold landscape. Just nasty, the moment I got of the plane my allergies came back (thank goodness I brought my Allegra) and the temp was 89. So much for winter!

Lel and Nick picked me up and we went to eat in Burbank. I had forgotten what driving was like in LA and looking back, I have no idea how the hell I learned to drive there! Now I know why out-of-state people would drive as if they were scared.

In the evening we met up with Lina, Judy, Susan and Mathew. We went to Westwood and ate at BJ's it just felt so weird being there. Seeing all the old places my roommates and I would eat when we were to lazy to cook and looking up the hill to where I used to live and walk a few blocks to UCLA taking 7am classes after spending the whole night up with Alex watching movies and doing homework. I have no idea how she and I did it, but I guess that's a perfect example of being an insomniac. Unfortunately, it was too late at night or I would have gone to the Bruin store to get a new car sticker for my window to replace the one on my old car (once a Bruin, always a Bruin). However, it wasn’t too late to go to the most famous place in Westwood - Dee Dee Reese! How can you beat a $1 ice cream cookie the size of a Physics textbook (ok, not that big, but big). When I was really bad that would be my lunch at school!

At BJ's in Westwood

The next day I went to Barry's out-of-towners lunch for everyone who had to fly in or lived far. We ate at P.F. Chang's. I hadn't seeing Cindy, Barry, or Jen in a year. When I got out of the car Barry and Cindy were jumping up and down. It was so great to see them. I think I must have gone 12 times to Las Vegas with them over the 3 years they lived there and I must have spent a total of 4 months there. After dinner they went shopping for clothes for their honeymoon and then they took me home.

Well what night was just too exciting! I went to the LA Kings game vs. the Anaheim Ducks. It was great, I couldn't even stay in my seat and like every Kings game I have gone to, I came out of Staples Center without my voice. The only thing missing was Guy trying to hide in his seat while Timmy and I would be screaming at the top of our lungs during the game. The Kings lost, but they are still my hockey team and all I can see is a Stanley Cup in the future.
After the game is when I saw the changes in LA. In front of Staples there were high-rises rising up all around it with cranes everywhere. It looked like Bellevue, but in a much larger scale. I guess after all this building is done, downtown LA will finally be a real downtown like San Francisco and even Seattle where there is life after the evening rush-hour.

Inside Staple during the pregame skate

The next day was the wedding. On the way to the wedding I stopped really quickly to see Ben and Evelyn. It was great to see them and we spend a couple of hours with them.
We left and went to West Valley in the farthest point northwest in the city of Los Angeles. There at the synagogue I saw 2 friends and the next thing I know is I'm in a mob with everyone trying to give me a hug. It was great. Half of my friends there had gotten married and it felt weird. Barry and Cindy looked great during the wedding, and then came the reception. When most were dancing I just sat there and watched with my mind somewhere else. I danced after a friend yanked me out of my seat. After that it seemed like her and another girl where competing for me. That was amusing to watch. On top of that the bridesmaids kept coming over to me telling me to dance with the Maid of Honor, well we all know who that was - Jen, my ex. When it was time for the Maid of Honor and the Best Man to dance, I kept being pushed to go dance with her and I just kept pushing myself back into the crowd. I have nothing against her, she and I are friends now, but the last thing I wanted was to be dancing in the middle of the floor with all eyes on me. Yes there is a shy part to me and dancing is one of them.

Later that evening my friend up in Seattle gave me a call and did that bring a smile to my face. She and I talked for a while and laughed. I was hopping she would start describing what was going on at the wedding and what I was doing and then she would appeared. You can guess were my mind had been all this time. When I went back to my table a friend asked me who was that I was talking to since I had this look in my eyes and I had this big smile. Right after, I caught the garter belt, again.

When the wedding was all over, I said goodbye to all those friends and was the last to leave. Barry, Cindy and I just talked and hugged. I had been there since they first met and we all went through a lot together and here we all stood, except I was the single one.

The next day I flew out of LAX, it’s hard to believe that I was working there at that airport in an internship in which I ended up getting picked out of hundreds of applicants, got recognized by the Director of my Engineering and Technology department at CSULA, and now I was all but a traveler passing through. No security clearance badge to go in and out of the terminals or into the airfield, just a traveler. I went through 4 lines to get into my plane (security is just complete nonsense there now), had a gate changed again and once again departed late for OAK. Got on that 737-3H4 and off I was. Saw LA as I departed and saw my old neighborhood and places I used to go hang out as the plane climbed. Soon we were in OAK and I had to run to my next gate since we were late (next time I’m flying the friendly skies on United, plus I miss flying on 757-222s). We left OAK to SEA and for the first time I was actually happy to be flying back home.

Turning over Malibu

As we flew over the Sound and into Seattle, I knew I made the right choice to move. LA, even though it’s my hometown wasn’t ever really home. I miss my friends, but hey, even they are leaving the City of Angels, pretty soon all I’ll have left is the LA Kings and a few friends here and there.