Auto Loans

I think most people like nice things. I like nice things. I know people that like nice things. At the same time, there have been times in the past where my peace of mind has been destroyed by nice things that I shouldn't really have. It's these same nice things that folks have experienced a lot of grief over in the past couple years and many years to come.
I will say that I have been a lot more responsible with money in the past 4 or 5 years than I have been in the past. I think I am a completely different person in this respect. Its a good thing to. Especially when I am getting emails from my bank like this....

Hello! (love the exclamation)

Our records indicate that you are near the end of your auto loan with us and may be in the market for another vehicle. We would like to invite you to apply for another auto loan today.

Seriously!? I just spent a couple years paying off this loan feeling so excited that it will be done...cleared, and now you want me to jump right back into another one? How many autos should one have? How many relatively new autos should one have? How old should an auto be before one decides ehh, its paid for....lets jump into another loan. I guess different folks answer these questions in different ways but me....I was able to laugh, delete the email and look forward to next month where that financial burden is lifted.

Almost Disney

A few weekends ago we went down to Anaheim for a concert. I still haven't been to Disney Land but the in-laws gave me tickets for Christmas so I think that is in my near future. On the way back we stopped by the Disney Concert Hall to check it out. It was a cool day to go because downtown was completely empty. So empty that a Mercedes commercial was being filmed driving back and forth in front of the Hall.

The pictures ended up being pretty cool.Okay back to work.........

Mammoth

The little lady has been talking about going to Mammoth for pretty much our entire relationship. She spent some of her younger years living there and loved it. Naturally she has been wanting to show it off. That time finally came this past weekend.
We had awesome time. We spent the first full day cruising around, checking things out, and pretty much eating the entire time. I always thought the amount of snow at California mountains was exaggerated but there was truly an amazing amount of snow. We hit the mountain the next day and pretty much covered the whole mountain. Lines were relatively small and we had an early start. The only thing I wish is that it was a little closer. Six hours of driving each way on a weekend is a bit heavy.

Tiling of a Dome

A few years ago I tiled a spa-like bathroom and shortly after I told myself I would never lay tile again....unless it was in my own house. Turns out, I lied to myself. Before moving to California I helped a friend lay tile in his bathroom and NOW recently I have tiled yet again and this job was just as insane as the one those few years ago. It is finally done and turned out quite nice. It did take some time though. I think I was on the roof for just over two weeks. SD was manning the saw. Pretty good system but pretty killer.

The base of the dome is ten feet across and is a true half sphere. This equals out to about 160 square feet of tile and some serious cutting. It works out to be around 4000 2"x2" tiles and I would guess 70-75% of the tiles are cut in some way. This equals 2800-3000 cut tiles! Oh and then there are the red Saltillo tiles below....

Santa Cruz Island

I have been wanting to go check out the Channel Islands for years now and finally the weekend came. The lady got the trip for her birthday and she let me tag along too. The boat ride out was rough going. Swell was sizable from the wind equaling still bodies, shifty eyes, blank stares and nervous grimaces all around. It was a pretty big boat so it wasn't horrible but I did get a little sick.

The water was so clear out there. You could see to the bottom almost everywhere, including fish, sea lions, urchins and plants. A perfect time to realize the camera was in fact finally dead...and not just sick. Other pictures were taken and they may end up here sometime but this is the only one I have from my phone. This is actually looking over a 100 foot cliff even though it doesn't really look like it.Anyway, we had an awesome time hiking around the island, kayaking all over, and just getting out and camping.

Domepiece

The house I am working on has a really cool dome. The original house before the fire had a tower with a dome and so that, along with a lot of other characteristics were carried over. I've never built a dome before but we worked our way through it and it is coming along great. It is now on the top of the tower and is being waterproofed. Next will be the tiling process which should be interesting. Here are some shots of when it was still on the ground.
Ja was added for scale.

Bouldering

Lately I have tried my hand at bouldering a bit. Honestly, I don't think I have ever said to myself, I really want to learn how to boulder. But, I work with a guy who lives for climbing so the opportunity came and I took it.

I didn't get it prior. Why wouldn't you want go higher? No Rope? How much time could you really spend on one boulder....if you made it to the top wouldn't you just move on?

These trips have really opened my eyes to a lot of things. This is really hard, technical, a lot of fun, nice and cool people.

Additionally I have seen some really amazing parts of this area that I didn't even know existed. There is something pretty cool about being high in the mountains, gazing out and seeing the ocean and then the Channel islands beyond that. It doesn't seem right but it is.

The strangest thing about these experiences has been the presence of FEAR. It's been a long time since I have felt that feeling. As I have aged, I have stuck with the hobbies I know and occasionally will experience fear but nothing like this. I am not sure if I like it but its different. I like the sport so far though. I reckon I had the same feelings when I was learning to ride a bike, learning to snowboard, walking alone in the dark, job interviews, talking to girls. Maybe the fear will pass overtime...unless its like job interviews.