ipa-and-cabernet

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Find something you love to do that you can make a living doing,

Get really good at it.

Look for and develop additional income streams that are in your wheelhouse.

No need to ever retire. Just offload the least productive things and get more focused on what you still want to do as you get older.

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Hungarian Parliament Building as seen from the Danube.  So beautiful.  There is a statue of Ronald Reagan nearby. 

Budapest, Hungary, photo by Sam Ellis

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Beautiful shot of Prague (Praha) at night. 

Full Moon Over Prague

[ipa-and-cabernet]

A quick random memory while we all remember the greatness of early Van Halen, and Eddie in particular:  If I recall correctly, the Van Halen brothers and Mike Anthony went to Pasadena High.  David Lee Roth went to one of the other nearby high schools - I thought it was Arcadia, but just googled and it was apparently Muir.  My parents both lived in Arcadia when they were teenagers.  Somehow the topic of Van Halen came up when I was visiting my grandmother, and I was shocked to learn that not only was she familiar with Van Halen, she knew who was in the band.  Turned out Roth’s dad had been her eye doctor for years.

Eddie Van Halen & David Lee Roth on trip to Japan to promote the first album 1977

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Golden retrievers are the most mellow, rewarding pets ever.  The top pic really looks like our big boy, Newton.  I know it’s the same dog, but the bottom pic looks more like our girl, Lovely Rita.  I’ve had a lot of great dogs, but the goldens are the best companions ever. 

[ipa-and-cabernet]

I was fortunate to see Van Halen play three times (all with the original lineup).  I was fifteen the first time I saw them.  It’s impossible to overstate the energy of that show.  Their second album had just been released.  I played the first one endlessly.  I don’t know if there was ever a time I was more mesmerized hearing something for the first time than that first album.  I had heard two or three songs on FM radio, probably Runnin’ With the Devil, Jamie’s Crying or You Really Got  Me, but I was completely blown away to hear the whole thing, to include the wizardry on Eruption.  I had a couple guitars but never got serious with it, so I won’t opine on where Eddie stacks up among the all-time greats, but he was damn sure influential, and a joy to watch and listen to.

RIP Eddie.

Eddie Van Halen died I'm heartbroken, we lost a big legend

Rest in peace Eddie, we will love you forever

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Congratulations!   There are very few things feel as great as the accomplishment like completing a marathon.

I’ve done them on and off since my 20s, but didn’t understand until my late 40s that the simple secret to success (for ordinary people) is to just keep increasing your weekly mileage.  You’ll read about speed work, and tempo runs and all kinds of really good training techniques, but there nothing improves performance  like just starting off slow and easy wherever you are, fitness-wise, and then just adding a little bit of mileage each week. Don’t kill yourself early in a training cycle trying to stretch individual runs too far.  Speed comes naturally as your bulk mileage increases.

Just a note

I try to not talk a lot about my real life here (outside of the fact that I own spiders) but today I’ve accomplished something that I want to share with the world.

I’ve ran my first official marathon!

It took me precisely 4 hours, 54 minutes and 13 seconds.

About 10 minutes longer than during my training but for most of the route I’ve been running with a friend who couldn’t fully prepare due to injury earlier this year.

Still - it was very taxing experience. One that I’ll have to repeat next year to get the golden trophy (it’s a part of a three-year running competition).

Image related:

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Truth be told, I prefer the remote areas on Hawai’i to the total tourist zones, but everyone needs to stay on Waikiki Beach at least once in your life.  Diamond Head in the distance is totally climbable if you’re in moderate physical condition.  It’s picturesque, but not high at all.  Less than a thousand feet.  There is a well-established trail with a few staircases to get you over the tough spots, and the view from the top is stunning.

The beach, frankly, was kind of a disappointment.  Lots of lava on the ocean floor to scrape up your feet.  But it’s a beautiful setting overall.  Great strip of a mile or so to walk around, or shop or barhop.  Be sure to drive around the island.  Some of the other parts are amazing.  The eastern face is just jaw-dropping.  Enormous green mountains to one side and the surf below.

Trusting in the repetitiveness of nature by hjl on Flickr

Late afternoon sun shower and a CPL

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Machu Piccu is way high up on my bucket list.

Machu Picchu, Perú

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Best game I ever saw in person, with the possible exception of the 2005 Rose Bowl.  This brief article understates the drama.  I was only seven years old, but I’m pretty sure Oregon scored three touchdowns (and recovered two onside kicks) in the last 2-1/2 to 3 minutes.  Football fans of a certain age will not only recognize eventual Hall of Famer Dan Fouts as the author of these heroics, the Bobby Moore mentioned here is better known by the name he took when he reached the NFL, Ahmad Rashad. This comeback never would have happened today.  Fouts would have entered the concussion protocol when he got knocked unconscious, and would have watched the rest of the game from the bench.

[ipa-and-cabernet]

I believe there are taller trees and wider ones, but its combination of height and circumference makes it the biggest.  This pic utter fails to capture how massive it is until you spot the couple at the extreme bottom left of the pic (blow it up big as you can, the woman has light blue sleeves. The man is behind her) standing in front of waist high fencing.  Sequoia National Park may not be quite as picturesque as Yosemite, but it’s far less crowded.  Wonderful hiking for all ability levels.  Highly recommend it.

The General Sherman Tree, which is located in Sequoia National Park, is known for being the single largest living thing on planet earth.

[ipa-and-cabernet]

Trolltunga (Troll tongue) in Norway is the Number One place I want to take a travel picture.  I’ve read it’s a 3+ hour hike, then you have to wait in line for an hour or two to get your moment on the tongue, then hike back down.  Doubt you’ll get that nice a jump out of me. 

[ipa-and-cabernet]

This blog is like 10 years old

I stopped posting.  Didn’t check it for at least 2-3 years.  All but 4 of my previous posts are gone.  Who knows why.  Maybe I deleted them?  I doubt it.  Who cares.

Anyway, I’m back, just looking to post about living life to the fullest.  Travel.  Entertainment, food, booze, fitness, recreation and investments.  Success.  Random glimpses into a life I feel I’ve lived pretty well, and some suggestions from a guy getting close to 60 about how people in their 20s to 50s can get ahead.  I have no desire to sway anyone’s politics, although it’s impossible to write from the heart without giving glimpses into mine. I’ve learned that always works out however it’s going to work out, no matter how much people yell at each other along the way. I’m pretty damned happy and I’d just like to share what I’ve learned with anyone who’s interested. 

The Good Life, for me, started with work, sacrifice and delayed gratification.  I never had a super income, but I had lemonade stands, and paper routes, and went around my neighborhood offering to wash people’s cars from the time I was maybe ten years old.  Give or take.  I’ve saved and invested pretty relentlessly, and spent a lot of my free time working on productive projects. I’ve been very thrifty along the way.  I’ve bought a lot more used cars than new.  And now, after a half century of that, I look at my investment portfolio and I don’t feel rich, but most people would say I am.  My tastes remain simple, but I can afford to travel wherever I want, within reason.  And I made a TON of mistakes along the way.  I mean, bad personal decisions, bad career choices, bad investments.  I’ve pissed people off when it should have been easy to keep my mouth shut.  And I’ve found America is an incredibly forgiving and nurturing environment if you just keep your nose to the grindstone, live below your means, and don’t worry about what other people have that you don’t. 

[ipa-and-cabernet]

I saw these as a kid, when my grandparents took me to Hawaii.  I googled to verify my memory and it was basically correct.  The only place the silversword grows is on the dormant Haleakala volcano on Maui.  They can live 50-90 years, and only bloom once before they die.

Haleakalā silversword, Maui, Hawaii

[ipa-and-cabernet]

[ipa-and-cabernet]

I went to Yosemite National Park quite a few times as a child.  It used to be my favorite place on earth. I’ve only been back a handful of times as an adult.  I live further away now, and the crowds detract from the beauty.  But if you’ve never been, it definitely needs to be on your bucket list.  Just gorgeous rock formations, waterfalls and scenic beauty everywhere you look.

[ipa-and-cabernet]

It’s bigger than it looks here.   

Frankfurt central station, as it looked this afternoon.

The railroad, I love it so much.