Memorial Day Weekend

Well the flight down to Los Angeles was fun. It was bumpy, just the way I like it. Once I got to LA, my friend Lel picked me up and we went to go get my rental car. I ended up getting a Saturn ION and all I can say is that it doesn't compare to my old Saturn SL. This car was junk. After that Lel and I went to my hotel at the Radisson at LAX.

Flying past Mt Rainier after leaving SEA

I was so excited when I ended up on the 11th floor and had a view of Runways 25L and 25R. Well I thought I did. Upon running to my window to look outside Lel and I came upon windows where the tinted window film was peeling and bubbling and it warp the view outside.

My hotel was the one next to the old control tower

Lel and I chatted and then Lel left for home. I tried to get some sleep but all I managed was 3.5 hours of sleep since all I could think of was the EMG. I checked out around 7 am and went to my doctor who took X-rays of my back and told me they did a great job at Overlake Hospital with the surgery on my back. Then came the bad news. That I had Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. He wanted to do surgery within two weeks but I told him no and to please wait till mid summer. I would have to go to LA for surgery and take care of the physical therapy in Seattle.

After that I made a quick stop at Van Nuys Airport to visit my former boss a the Noise Management Office, but he wasn't there, just my supervisor. It was great talking to him and I have to say I sure miss that job.

Then came the EMG. My goodness did I forget how painful that thing is. I'll spare you all the details, but I can tell you all I didn't expect the "taser" part of the test. Because of it I finally know what is causing my fingers to go numb and why I get that irritating and sometimes painful (when it gets really bad) funny bone sensation in my left arm. It is Cubital Tunnel Syndrome and the only way to get rid of it is another freaking surgery. So later this summer I will be back in Los Angeles for about a week for surgery and won't be able to go to work for a month, followed by 3-4 months of physical therapy. Hopefully everything will be fine by winter because I want to give snowboarding a chance, just want to see how easy it is, just want to give it a try. Hopefully this is the year that snowboarding curse goes away and I can finally give try it this winter.

When it was all over I met my close friend Nick and went straight to Starbucks with him to get a Latte. Then Lel showed up along with Mathew a few minutes later. We sat under the final approach for runway 24R and just chatted away. Mathew and Nick had to go and Lel and I hanged out till it was time for me to go. I have to say that the flight back was just one of the most boring flights I ever had. There was no turbulence whatsoever. Watching the sunset was nice and it help me get my mind of my sore arm, but that was it.

Flying past the Channel Islands after leaving LAX

I felt sore and I guess a bit down that night home. I figured going to work would get my mind of things but it never happened. Instead the pain got worse and I ended up getting a nasty cramp and there went work.

Saturday was fun, Leah and I went to the Boulder River to go hiking, and to find some waterfalls of course. Well I found Feature Show Falls easily just like last time I went there a year ago and another waterfall that was further down the hike. What I didn't find was Boulder Falls. I was going crazy that I couldn't find it. Then on the way back I heard the pitch and sound of the river change and I knew I had found it so I bushwhacked my way down to the river bank and I "found it". It turned out when I got back home that I didn't find it, I found a new waterfall that I have no idea how it is not on any topo map, or guide considering that the whole Boulder River gets squeezed by the canyon and drops 15 to 20 feet. Well I named it and I posted a picture on Flickr and on a waterfall group. Now I hope the name sticks. As I have learned, as long as you are the first to document a waterfall and post a picture, the name sticks. I aptly named it Boulder Squeeze Falls.

Boulder Squeeze Falls

Sunday we went looking at open houses then went to see a German film at the Seattle Film Festival called Summer '04. It was pretty good and I recommend it. Monday we went to Folklife. Great music and it's a good place to people watch. My goodness what people will wear or do!

New Home & Back to LA

Well I'm all moved in to my new place here in Ballard, more specifically - Sunset Hill! I'm so excited, but a little sad. When I first moved up to the Northwest, I wanted to move straight to Seattle into Queen Anne Hill, but as we all know my first place home was the Eastside in Kirkland. I felt so far from Seattle; and Bellevue made me sick to my stomach. Bellevue reminded me of Irving down in the OC. Time went on and I started falling in love with the Eastside. It was full of trees, I was close to the mountains to go hiking, and the best part of all - when it snowed we got hit the hardest and I love the snow.

Well this had to change sooner or later, after all my car's license plate starts with "206-" and when I got my cell number changed I got the 206 prefix and we all know 206 is the area code for Seattle.

Now here I'm, in Seattle! I can see the top of the Space Needle and the downtown high rises over Queen Anne Hill. Have a view of Fremont, Magnolia, Bellevue, Lake Union, and the Cascades. If I go outside, there is a view of the Olympics and If I walk for less than 3 minutes, I have a view of the Sound. On top of that, I live 3 blocks from Puget Sound. The Locks are down the street, if I'm hungry I have many places to choose from and if I want coffee or a beer, I have too many choices. Last but not least, I live on a hill! I can't wait for winter again and some snow!

Well here are some pics of inside my place, more pics of my views later.

Now all I need is an HDTV, and to blow up some of my waterfall pics to a nice big size to decorate my place.

Well, Wednesday I'll be back in Los Angeles again for a test I'm freaking out over - an Electromyography or EMG for short (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromyography) I have had this done before and it left me with nightmares. We all know how much I hate needles. I can't even look at one on the television and I have passed out before just getting poked with a needle for something as easy as a Tuberculosis test. Well now imagine me getting poke with a needle and having an electric current running through it as they move the needle through my skin and insert that needle everywhere on my back, neck and arms. Last time I had that done it left me so lightheaded I couldn't stand up for almost half an hour and my muscles were sore and in pain for a few days. All this pain just to see how bad my nerves were damaged or pinched thanks to that car accident. I just want this to end. I can't believe all this has happened because of that car accident, I should be thankful it wasn't worse, but its hard when you can't do what you used to do for fun and have to be careful with what you do.

Well for all of you down in LA, I fly in Wed at 11:20pm at LAX, and I'll be staying at the Radisson Hotel at LAX (yay!), and leave LAX at 7:30pm and get back into Seattle at 10:08pm.

Spring Beak

Well this Spring Break was one to remember. From hiking searching for waterfalls to going to Los Angeles to coming back and hiking, this was a Spring Break I thought was going to go wasted. I'll just dedicate this post on the hiking only and post my LA trip on another post, but I have to say I got call today and something big just happen on my case involving that car accident, more details to follow!

It all started great when Leah and I went off to Deception Falls near Stevens Pass. I was so excited to be able to see the waterfall at full blast from all that melting snow, but when we got there, Deception Falls was closed due to storm damage from the November Storms. However, that didn't stop me, we went up this service road right next to the park and parked Leah's car and headed down to the waterfall. I wanted to walk on the trail even though it was taped off, but Leah wouldn't go so I decided not to go. I took some nice pictures and we headed back home to get ready break Passover at her parents; which was one of the best Passover Seders I have had!

The on Tuesday I decided I was going to find some new waterfalls and go back to Deception Pass. I first went looking for Olney Falls near Monroe, but gave up after I couldn't figure out which logging road to hike to get to the falls. I was a bit disappointed because they were supposed to be really nice, but I decided to come back later and head of and see some other falls.

My first stop was to look for Sunset Falls, every guide had taken off directions to how to get there because to get to a good view you need to drive up a private road and people there had asked to get directions there removed. Well, I found the falls on Google Earth and told myself to hell with the private road, as long as my taxes are paying for repairing the road, then the road is public to me. So I went. When I saw the falls, my jaw dropped. I knew it was big, over a hundred feet tall, but I didn't realize how big it was from pictures and when you see it in person, it hits you that the entire Snohomish River is is tumbling down the cascade. I took my pictures and decided to go looking for Canyon Falls, another impressive waterfall on the Snohomish River. Again, this one was on a private road and their were a lot of warnings not to go see them. Well I went anyways. Lets just say I never got out of my car, I had an idea of where the falls were and when I arrived to the end of the road, just looking at the trailers and cars littered around told me to stay in my car, make a U-turn and make a run for it. I could just picture a bunch Billy Bobs with beer cans coming after me with their riffle if I would have made any attempt to see the falls.

Well then I made my way back to Deception Falls. I decided to go walk the 1 mile trail that Leah didn't want to walk on. I took pictures of Upper and Lower Deception Falls and started heading to the trail to take pictures of Monkey Cage Falls and Crack-in-the-Ground Falls, but I heard Leah's voice in my head telling me not to go there and I told myself, not to risk it, so I left them for another time.

Upper Deception Fall (L) and Lower Deception Falls (R)

Then I headed down the Tye River looking for Alpine Falls. The falls were nice and bigger again than what I expected and I got some really nice shots. Then I was off to find Log Choke Falls. They are supposed to be 35 feet tall, but they look way bigger in person and I have no idea how these falls are not shown on any maps when this fall is way bigger and more impressive than Alpine Falls (I also have no idea how Deception Falls are rated lower than Alpine Falls, I like Alpine Falls, but every review makes Deceptions Falls seem as

they aren't impressive, and none except a website mention Log Choke Falls). So I started Driving up and down US 2 looking for a place to pull over and look over the side of the highway. Well I gave up and decided to find it by the alternative way which is to drive on Old Cascade Hwy and stop 1/4 mile past Martin Creek and go down the side of the road.

Well let me start by saying, that Old Cascade Hwy is just one beautiful road. I have no idea how to describe it. It's just so green and the forest seems to swallow you whole. Martin Creek goes under the bridge and I knew I was close (to me Martin Creek is a waterfall where the road goes over on the bridge). So I started driving up and down and I found a waterfall, and darn nice one too! The only problem is I can't find it on any map or guide. It's looks like something that belongs in Hawaii. It was just beautiful and I spent about half an hour shooting

pictures after having bushwhacked my way down about half a mile alongside the river (another reason I knew this wasn't Log Choke Falls). I backtracked and started looking for it again, got in my car and drove up about a mile back and I found another waterfall. Again I can't believe this isn't documented anywhere and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first to see them. I seen smaller waterfalls with far less power and this definitely had a water show on display, but again, this wasn't Log Choke Falls, so I decided to go try finding it off Hwy US 2 again (I did find campsites back on Old Cascade Hwy and I plan to camp there this summer, who wouldn't want to camp next to a rushing river and a waterfall?).

Well this time I did find Log Choke Falls and it was starting to get dark so the lighting made this perfect for taking pictures. The bad thing was I had to go down the side of the hwy about 70 feet below on a very steep side. Well I did anyways and all I can say is wow. You can't even hear the traffic above you on Steven Pass Hwy and the falls are just amazing, how there is no rest stop or sign posting them is beyond me. I have to thank Bryan Swan for pointing those falls out.

Well the day was over and headed home to get ready to leave for LA and pack.

My next waterfall excursion day was on Saturday. Saturday was the day I was going to find Olney Falls which showed up on Google Earth and I went over Topo maps and decided to go for it. This time I went up the correct logging road which was confirm when I found the falls. but not with out a little sucker punch by Mother Nature! I was already a bit worried that I was on the wrong road, a light sprinkle started coming and I didn't let that stop me, but then I felt something slap me. Then again and again and my hands felt like they were being pinch. No it wasn't a swarm of wasp attacking me as they did 3 tears ago in Oregon, it was hail the size of quarters! I had no where to run and get under shelter and I just kept going. I knew I was close to the falls because I could feel them. All of a sudden I heard a roar and saw a bridge and made a run for it; it was Olney Falls!!! My goodness where they awesome and again I'm shocked not a lot of people know about it, but at that time I didn't care, I made my way under the bridge and waited for the storm to pass. Ate my sandwich and shot away with my camera.

After that, I went off looking for McCoy Falls which also shows up on Google Earth. They weren't hard to find, but they were sure hard to take a picture of! Lets just say I decide to forget I had a phobia of snakes or nasty bugs and I scrambled down the side of a steep, and I mean steep hill in this gorge covered in so much vegetation I felt I was in the Amazon Jungle. It felt dark, but I made it about half way down and my 6th sense told me that was as far as I should go down and if I ever came down here again, to do it early in the day, not at 6 in the evening. I took my pictures and basically had to improvise like Tarzan to make it back up again.

Then I decided to go look for my two last waterfalls before calling it a day. Well I ended up nearby in a park I never knew exsisted. It was Marckworth State Park. My first stop was Young Creeks Falls, they were one of the most unique falls I seeing recently and the lighting was just perfect. Well I got on one of the two huge logs that were side by side spanning the creek and started taking pictures from this nice vantage point, but then I have no idea what happen to me but I ended up getting Vertigo. I have no idea how I got off that log and didn't fall 4o feet to the bottom, but that feeling was scary. I basically just froze and couldn't move or look to my sides other than straight ahead. If I tried as much as take a peek over my shoulder I felt as if I was gong to fall off. It was terrifying. I fought the fear and inch by inch just feeling with my feet kept crawling backwards knowing the logs were straight. I finally hit solid ground and I didn't feel safe until my hands were on that ground too, to make things worse, there were giant slugs on that log and I just kept freaking out. I don't know where or how I was able to block my fear of those giants slugs at McCoy Falls, but here I was just terrified...but you all know me, that didn't stop me from seeing my last waterfall for that evening.

Well it was already about 7:15 or so, but I was so close to Marckworth Falls I had to go see them. So I drove about half a mile and found it going right under a bridge. All I can say was this is the first time I have gotten pictures with that surreal look of water looking like cotton candy swirls. I would have gone under the bridge and taken better pics, but it was now dark (yes I had a flashlight just incase) and decided to call it a day, specially after getting that Vertigo just 10 minutes earlier. I just hope it doesn't appear again. I swear it felt 10 times worse than the vertigo I would get when I would go on the San Diego (I-405) interchange over to the Santa Monica Fwy (I-10) where for almost 2 years I would actually get off the freeway and take surface streets to get on to the other fwy even if my friends teased me about it.

Well till next week when I go on to far less adventures hike to go see Otter Falls which is over 487 meters (for those of you who don't know your metric, that's 1600 ft), Marten Creek Falls, and Big Creek Falls on a 9 mile round trip hike on a very flat old logging road.

Flight Change!!!!

Well, there has been a flight change once again, this time I'm a little annoyed, if not a lot. I was originally supposed to leave on Friday and not come back till Sunday, April 15, but the defendant's lawyers moved my dates around and moved it to Tuesday. Well I looked for flights, and with luck, I ended up getting 3 out of 4 flight on 1st Class on United Airlines. Two of those flights were on 757-222s and my other 2 flights were going to be on planes I have refused to fly in - an Airbus A320 and an A319 (and those of you who know how I feel about planes know that I refuse to fly in Airbuses and know what a big deal it is to me). It was all good to go and the tickets were purchased (to bad they were refundable!).

Well tonight I had a surprise (one of those was my cell phone finally showed up), those lawyers cancelled my flights and decided to have me fly in on the day of the Deposition! So now I'm flying in Wednesday morning on a 6:30am flight and I fly back Friday on a night flight. I'm just pissed! I could have worked on Monday and Tuesday, and so long to my first class seats!

Now you could say they were trying to save money on the hotel and plane ticket, but the tickets I had gotten on United Airlines were $535, the Alaska Airlines ticket is $738! I had gotten reservations at the Marriott at LAX for $60 a night, the hotel they got was $110 a night!

So here is the new flight itinerary:

Alaska 544
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (yuck!)
SEA to LAX
Dep: 6:30
Arr: 9:10

Alaska 279
Boeing 737-990
LAX to SEA
Dep: 7:00pm
Arr: 9:41pm

Yes I did get window seats, I called Alaska Airlines and told them I was claustrophobic and I got airsickness if I couldn't see outside the airplane and I didn't want to use the little brown bag in front of me in the plane, hehehe, and I got my window seats, not first class, but at least they were window seats!

So I really only have Wednesday and Thursday night to hang out with you all in LA and in the Valley. Since one of the Doctors I have to see is in the Valley, I guess when I'm there I'll see you guys on that side of the mountains depending on how the doctor appointment goes. If I'm in too much pain then I'm going back to the hotel. I have to go to that Doctor for that nerve test were they stick those needles and pass an electric current through them. I'm not looking forward to it and as many of you already know, I'm not a needle person. hopefully I don't pass out and I'll be fine!

So now with all this free time between Saturday and Tuesday, I'm going to go hiking every single one of those day to go find some waterfalls. Saturday I'm going with Jane to show her Toronto friends Wallace Falls and Sunday I'm going back there again with Leah to go all the way to Wallace Lake. Monday hopefully the snow has melted a bit and I'll go to Franklin Falls, Snowshoe Falls, and Keekwulee Falls. Tuesday I'll go to Bellingham to go find Nooksack Falls and Ladder Falls.

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.