I got really lucky on the Christmas present front this year! Santa (i.e. Clare) gave me a beautiful vintage coffee grinder. I must have been very good this year! Unlike modern electric grinders that hack your beans into uneven chunks and bits of dust, an old-school grinder like mine crushes the beans into nice, uniform sized pieces that make a good clean brew. But the best part about my new grinder is that it looks really awesome and it makes for a nice morning ritual.
Well, the pros came to town this weekend to show us how it's done. The US Grand Prix of Cyclocross had it's season finale here with races on both Saturday and Sunday. I was scheduled to race both days but a nasty head cold sidelined me on Saturday and knocked me out of the race on the third lap on Sunday. Both days we're cold, but Sunday was cold and really windy; not great conditions to race in when you're sick!! Yes, that is a shot of me in the black kit above, minus the beard and my usual green and black kit. I got a big hole in the butt of my shorts when I crashed three weeks ago!
After the crash... Blood and mud cleaned out of the cuts, flapper on my knee cap cleaned out, hopefully it will all be ready for the next race! 26th place out of like 150 or so. Not too bad.
Although Clare and I went to Alaska in August, I'm embarrassed to report that I am just getting around to editing the photos that I took during that trip. We had an epic time up there, visiting friends and family and getting out into the wilds. I started the trip with a little bit of volunteer work for my friend Erica who is running my old research project. We we're catching Kittlitz's Murrelets to put satellite tags on them (see image below).
Yumi Arimitsu and Liz Labunski, two old friends who I had the pleasure of working with again!
Lili, Clare, Andy and Tchau - the pooch. Lili and Andy are two of my absolute favorite people. Just being around them makes me happy, but picking blueberries in the mountains with them is fantastic!
Ammanita muscaria, the magic mushroom from Alice in Wonderland. This one is growing in my buddy Andy Alvarez's yard.
The view from near the Savage River in Denali National Park.
The Annual Cross Crusade Halloween Costume Party/Bike Race was another smashing success this year. I raced on Saturday and did pretty well (24th) despite crashing into the side of a barn on my last lap. I sat out the race on Sunday but I was there to cheer on teammates and dig the costumes on all of the riders. The weather was unseasonably beautiful, the beer was flowing, the races were competitive, and a good time was had by all.
The costumes were really good this year but my personal favorite was a pack of oompha loomphas that I think were worn by the Veloce/Felt team
Well, I've gone and done it! After resisting it as long as possible I have given into the temptation and bought a brand new Apple iMac. I've been a PC user forever, but after struggling with Windows service packs, endless updates, ridiculously slow start up and shutdown time, and all sorts of adware, malware, trojan horse etc. I finally had enough. All I can say now is that I love my new computer. It's the best purchase I think I've ever made...
I went up to the North side of Mt. Adams this weekend with my buddy Jay. We camped out and Stuart and Emily joined up later that night. All I had was my point and shoot camera but I still managed to get a good shot of the mountain. What a beautiful spot!
Clare and I headed up to Olympic National Park for the Memorial Day weekend to camp and hike among the big trees. We had a great time up there! Clare had never been there and it had been years since I had visited that area so it was pretty exciting just to be there. The Hoh Rain Forest was the highlight for sure. That's where we got our hug on with this Mammoth Hemlock.
I headed up to Hood River Oregon today to watch the third day of the Rally-America, Oregon Trail Rally. It is an on road/off road car race that is being held up in the mountains near Mt. Hood. The racing was exciting and the crowds were into it. Car rallying is now an X-games sport so it is pretty popular. Most teams seem to be sponsored by some sort of energy drink! No surprise I guess. 
The cars are pretty incredible. They are mostly Subaru's and Mitsubishi's, with the occasional Ford Focus (don't ask me why), and all are modified with roll cages, beefed up suspensions etc. The cool thing about these cars though is that they all must be street legal (lights, signals, even license plates!).
Shooting pics of these flashy cars was loads of fun. There was dust flying everywhere though so tonight I'm hanging out at home, cleaning my camera!
More images from the Oregon Trail Rally...
Sliding sideways into the turn!
Almost seems too clean for a rally car! 
Clare and I headed out of town this weekend and went camping near Sisters Oregon, on the Metolious River. Despite some persistent drizzly rain we had a great time, and the tent kept us nice and dry. We took a nice hike at Smith Rock State Park, and another hike along the river.
Clare and I had a mellow weekend, staying in town and taking it easy. We spent Sunday afternoon at one of my places in the city; the Portland Chinese Garden. Many of the plants are flowering now and the whole garden was beautiful!
Tonight I'm in Honolulu on my way out to Midway for a week of fieldwork. I'm holed up on the 11th floor of a hotel on Waikiki Beach. The scene is pretty surreal, with pale, sandal shod tourists all over the place. I'm sharing the hotel with a high school band from California that is here for a competition. I hope they don't decide to practice their trombones tonight.
Clare and I just got back from a great weekend over in Sunriver Oregon. We headed down there with Stuart, Emily, Karl and Ann and had a blast. I rented a great house for us, complete with hot tub, vaulted ceilings, and a great kitchen. I was fighting a head cold all week so I took it easy for most of the weekend, but I enjoyed the hot tub to the fullest! We cooked some great food as well and generally had a blast.
