Halfway thru 2022...

 I've been very neglectful of this blog... So much has happened since I last regularly posted, and I'm proving to be quite the stellar procrastinator! 

Well... It is July 2022, and where I live in Coastal Southern California you could walk around thinking that the COVID19 pandemic is long over with. Masking isn't even required on public transportation (buses and trains) anymore. I've had 3 shots of the mRNA vaccines, and will have the 4th one when I become eligible. I still mask up going on buses and trains, and when in a crowd. 

Despite all the cycling I do, my immune system is suboptimal, and there is a couple of friends that I visit now and then who have no immune system to speak of (cancer survivors dealing with chronic genetic disease). The last thing I want to do is to bring them that (or other) bug. Sometimes I do get curious looks, but nobody has given me a hard time about it. 

To be honest, it's been difficult trying to post things without adding to the negativity that seem to permeate the air the last few years. There was supposed to be a big relief when the final result of the 2020 presidential election came in, but as everyone knows... that last president we had did his best to screw the whole country over on his way out. It doesn't help that my chief roommate of the last 5 years is a big supporter of his (I live with a family of 5, and their living room TV is on nearly 24/7... tuned exclusively onto Fox News). We don't talk politic in the house, but it's there just under the surface. I haven't been out of my room much when I'm in. All the devious nonsense coming out of that TV all the time is a big deterrent.

Don't get me wrong, I make it a point to rotate my news channel through out the week, one of the seven days being on Fox News.... The last thing I want is to become detached from reality by staying cozy in my own little echo chamber. It doesn't make me a smart cookie, but it does deter me from becoming certifiably delusional. But... Fox News days are just horrendous days where I can feel my limited supply of brain cells dying by the millions. It's hard to believe that the anchor people there can be so determined to turn everything they report into anti-liberal (or even anti-centrist/moderate) propaganda. 

La Dolce Vita by Vincent Figliola

There has to always be this 'us against them' slant... And the 'them' is not some real threats like the more and more hostile to humans climate, the real infectious diseases with high morbidity rate (that render many people unable to return to normal function/work), the Putin-led Russian army that is destroying a neighboring country out of pure spite, the hostile agents that are always trying to hack our various systems, or even the minority faction of Americans who are trying to do away with our separation between church and state in order to turn this country into a theocracy, etc. The 'them' for Fox News anchors are nowadays basically anyone who refuse to grovel at the stinking toes of Donald J Trump. You know it's dire when refusing to side with Trump (even when not siding with his opposites) is regarded as the same as being his enemy. 

Not all cyclists are the lycra-cladded speedsters.

In a way, they remind me of a division in the cycling community these days. Only a small fraction of cyclists are rabid vehicular-cyclists who think everyone should drive their bike the way they drive their car on the street (so that there is no need for bike infrastructure to make separate and relatively safer room for bikes to get around town with), but, oh boy, are they so hugely disproportionally loud compared to the more muted majority. And... they also echo-chamber the heck out of themselves into believing that there are the field leaders that everyone else ought to look up to. 

But they aren't. The not-so-eager-to-make-noise majority is actually more sensible and sane, and not so deluded in some delusion of grandeur (probably why they aren't so loud despite of their numbers)... It would be so nice if they are more compelled to speak up and shatter some delusions when it counts. Like... at election times, or when the various government agencies (like SANDAG or CalTrans) ask for feedback for their upcoming public mobility plans.  

Speaking of which, SANDAG is looking for feedback for their Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan (CMCP) for the Southbay to Sorrento Valley portion. We the public have until July 15th, 2022 to provide the feedback on how they are planning to make this busy commute corridor safer and more efficient for all modes of transportation (automobile, bikes, public transportation, foot, ..., hooves? Anything but teleportation!). The plan can be reviewed and feedback provided HERE. 

Have your say, or forever hold your peace.... Or something like that.

Guest Announcement: San Diego Opera Listening Tour Series

San Diego Opera Announces Listening Tour Series

 

Tour will see San Diego Opera’s General Director, David Bennett, engaging the community to explore how the Company can best serve San Diegans

 

San Diego, CA – San Diego Opera is proud to announce a listening tour series that will bring the Company’s General Director, David Bennett, out into the community to explore how the Company can best serve its citizens as it looks towards its next 50 years. These interactive conversations will take place in four different regions of San Diego County – Central (at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park), North County (at the Museum of Making Music), La Jolla (at The Scripps Institute Research Center) and South Bay (at the Chula Vista Masonic Temple). Using smartphone technology, these multi-media conversations will allow participants to respond to questions in real time and drive the conversation about the future of San Diego Opera.

 

“What is opera? What do you like about opera? What might you want to see different? Is opera too long? Too expensive?  If you were General Director of San Diego Opera, what would you do to ensure the Company was thriving fifty year from now? These are just some of the questions I will engage the community in during this listening tour,” shares David Bennett. “What made San Diego so attractive to me is that the community had taken an active role in the opera’s future, having saved it in 2014. The diversity of San Diego is what makes this city so wonderful, and it is my goal to make San Diego Opera an organization that serves the community. To do this, we are going to do something the Company has never done before: listen to you.”

 

The listening tours are free and open to the public but registration is required and can be made at: http://www.sdopera.org/engage/listen. Refreshments and wine will be served. Participants can also win opera tickets and other prizes. Participants should attend the listening tour with a fully charged smartphone, tablet, or laptop capable of internet access through a cellular network to interact with the questions and real time polls that will be part of the program. In order to better evaluate aggregated responses, participants will be sent a short, confidential questionnaire from our market research partner Q2 Insights to be completed before attending the event.

 

Dates and locations for the San Diego Opera Listening Tour are:

 

Central: Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 6 PM – The Nat (in the Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan Theater). 1788 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101.

 

La Jolla: Thursday, April 28 at 6 PM – The Auditorium at The Scripps Research Institute.  10620 John J Hopkins Dr., San Diego, CA 92121.

 

North County: Thursday, May 19 at 6 PM - The Museum of Making Music. 5790 Armada Dr, Carlsbad, CA 92008

 

South Bay: Thursday, June 16, at 6 PM – The Chula Vista Masonic Lodge. 732 3rd Ave, Chula Vista, CA 91910

 

The San Diego Opera Listening Tour is made possible with support from Q2 Insights. For more information visit us online at: http://www.sdopera.org/engage/listen.

 

The 2015-2016 International Season

René Barbera in Recital                                                                    September 19, 2015

Patricia Racette “Diva on Detour”                                                   November 14, 2015

Tosca                                                   Giacomo Puccini                  February 13, 16, 19 and 21 (mat), 2016

Ferruccio Furlanetto in Concert                                                       March 5, 2016

Madama Butterfly                                Giacomo Puccini                  April 16, 19, 22 and 24 (mat), 2016

Great Scott                                          Jake Heggie                          May 7, 10, 15 and 15 (mat), 2016

Guest Posting: What The Construction of Jamul Casino Could Mean to Local Cycling

I average around 200 miles per week on my bicycle, riding in and out of the city of San Diego. Many of those miles are spent on Otay Lakes Rd, Honey Springs Rd, Lyons Valley Rd and bits of SR 94 in Jamul because they are often the shortest and least hilly way for me to take to go visit Black Jack the perpetually hungry donkey, the adorable Beacon Hill llamas, all sorts of cool mountain birds and flowers and a particularly adventurous and friendly pack of house dogs along Mother Grundy TT. 

The mostly shoulderless Otay Lakes Rd at lower lake.

These roads are mostly sleepy (the busiest of them all, SR 94, is still pretty sleepy compared to anything closer to the coast), but they are all quite unforgiving when anything happens. The more traffic on them, the more chance of things happening, however, and since there aren't many (and in some parts of Jamul, 'any') alternative routes to get to and through the area, when something like a crash or a fire or a stuck giant super semi-truck happens, it really causes problem both for the local residents who are just trying to get home from work (or work from home) and for passing-through traffic like me. 

SR94 east of Jamul Butte.

With the current (and apparently not-very-legal) construction of a casino off SR94 in Jamul that would increase traffic through it and the nearby feeder roads, I have been eying this project with alarm. So many previously cycling-friendly rural roads have been rendered nearly unridable post-construction of a casino (Pala Rd into Pala Mission, Valley Center Rd between N Lake Wohlford Rd and Hwy 76, Wildcat Canyon/Borona Rd, Dehesa Rd in Sycuan area). I wondered what can cyclists like me do about such a project... and so I decided to ask Kim Hamilton, a Deerhorn Valley resident and the editor of the Antlers, the area's newsletter, for a guest blog post on the subject. Here is her response:

  ......................................................................................................  

JOIN WITH JAMUL & SAVE HWY 94 AND OTAY LAKES ROAD

A Chance For Cyclists And Drivers To Work Together

(...What A Concept!)

 

If you have ridden Otay Lakes Road or Rural 94 (Campo Rd) during the last couple of weeks, no doubt you have encountered large numbers of heavy-duty trucks plying the narrow roads. Double yellow lines are no deterrent to wide swings on tight (even blind) curves. In straight sections they push the 55 mph limit in a rush to dump off their tons of rock, dirt, and debris. And we’ve been told to expect this for the next 18 months.

Map of affected area.

The trucks are hauling excavated material from the Jamul Indian Reservation on Hwy 94 and Melody Rd (the Jamul terminus of Proctor Valley Rd). The tribe and their backers have launched a desperate attempt to construct a mega-sized Jamul Hollywood Casino on a tiny 4-acre parcel of disputed land. 

The problems for this big-city construction on this rural site are huge. Most serious for cyclists and drivers are the impacts on two-lane highway 94 (Campo Road) and rural feeder routes like Otay Lakes Rd. 

In a stark turnaround from normal protocol, Caltrans required no road safety improvements before it granted access to Hwy 94 for hundreds of daily trucks along two of the most popular and heavily used cycling routes in South and East County—part of the Great Western Loop that the Campagnolo Gran Fondo, the Olympic Training Center, and hundreds of cyclists use regularly.

One of the casino construction trucks was recently photographed having difficulties staying on the right side of the road on SR94 near Steele Canyon Rd. (Photo: James McElree)

Some history: Over the past two decades, four big-money corporations* bankrolled efforts to build a Jamul casino — to no avail. Tribal members collect monthly payments, but the legal, environmental, and safety issues are huge. The first three backers withdrew, losing millions in the process. The tribe itself is now more than $60 million in debt. A year ago Penn National Gaming came in with some (conditional) financing—and an in-your-face attitude. This is Penn’s first experience in California and they hope the Jamul’s proximity to San Diego might boost depreciating stock prices. So far Caltrans has made sure it hasn’t cost them much: a couple of flaggers and some caution signs. They approved the tribe’s Traffic Management Plan that included not one reference to cycling or cyclists. [*Lakes Entertainment, Station Casinos, Harrah’s Casinos, and Penn National Gaming]

So here lies an opportunity for drivers and cyclists to find some common ground—a chance to prove cyclists and rural drivers can co-exist and share the rural byways. The payoff could be in preserving access and improving safety for us all, and bolstering understanding that roads are for everyone. After all, they are shared public assets.

This Hollywood-themed Casino is no done-deal by a long stretch. San Diego County is suing Caltrans over their approval to allow hauling trucks such unrestricted access to Hwy 94, Otay Lakes Rd, and other feeders. The Jamul Action Committee (JAC) is filing a separate suit, and expects support from the Rural Fire District—with its concerns about increased crashes and a slowed response time to wildfire and medical emergencies. In fact the land itself, JAC argues, was never taken into “trust”— a vital pre-requisite for gambling, and upheld by recent Supreme and lower court decisions. That suit is due to be heard in federal court beginning March 28^th.

I encourage the cycling community to stay informed and lend their voice and actions to this fight.  Rural roads are already the most dangerous in California, and Hwy 94 stands at the top of the list for fatalities and crashes. As the lawsuits wind their ways through the court system, it will take some organized action to keep the public informed. A mega project like this has no business being built without the space and infrastructure to keep roads safe. Period.

Here’s how the cycling community can help:

1) Register for email updates at: http://jacjamul.com. They won’t share your info with anyone else. 

2) Contact your county and state reps and share a cyclist’s perspective about Hwy 94 and Otay Lakes Roads would be impacted by casino traffic.

3) Consider joining together with rural drivers, pedestrians, and others to demonstrate the implications of thousands of trucks, cars, and buses added to Hwy 94.

4) Check out JAC’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JamuliansAgainstTheCasinoJac

 

This needs to be a shared fight with a positive outcome for all travelers, riders, and drivers.

 

Thank you for this opportunity to reach out.

Guest Posting: SDSU Opera Theater Presents 'A Grand Night!'

SDSU Opera Theatre Presents A Grand Night!, a Celebration of Opera, Operetta and the Golden Age of Musical Theatre

(San Diego, CA) – SDSU Opera Theatre presents A Grand Night!, a sparkling celebration of opera, operetta and the golden age of musical theatre on Fri. Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., Sat. Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m., and Sun. Nov. 17 at 3:00 p.m. in Smith Recital Hall, Music Building, SDSU.  The program will feature selections from Cosi Fan tutte, The Bartered Bride, Die Fledermaus, Candide, Brigadoon and Anything Goes, to name a few. 

Tickets for A Grand Night! are $18 general admission and $12 for students and seniors (60+).  An optional $50 Grand Guest ticket for the Sat. Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m. performance includes a pre-performance champagne reception in the rose garden, a tantalizing silent auction, exclusive reserved seating and complimentary parking.  A portion of each Grand Guest ticket goes to support future SDSU Opera Theatre programming.

Tickets can be purchased through the online box office or at the box office window one hour before performance.  More information, a map and downloadable directions and parking options can be found on the SDSU School of Music and Dance website at musicdance.sdsu.edu. 

 

Photo: Ken Jacques

A Grand Night! is conceived by SDSU Faculty members Enrique Toral, Stage Director, and Michiko Lohorn, Music Director.

Enrique Toral has won acclaim across North America and Europe for the beauty and incisiveness of his singing and for his dynamic stage portrayals. He has appeared on Broadway and with the New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Cincinnati Opera, San Diego Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Carolina, New Jersey State Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Opera Tampa, Sarasota Opera, El Paso Opera and with the Music Festivals at Ravinia and Tanglewood. A passionate voice teacher, dramatic coach and stage director, Toral has served on the voice faculty at the SDSU School of Music and Dance since 2006 and served on voice faculty of the MFA program in the SDSU School of Theatre, Television and Film from 2008 to 2012.  As of fall of 2013 he is the new Stage Director for SDSU’s Opera Theatre.

Michiko Lohorn is an active San Diego musician trained as a pianist, vocal coach, choral conductor and musical director.  A graduate of San Diego State University, she works in the School of Music and Dance as musical director of the opera workshop and vocal coach.  Lohorn also serves as organist at First United Methodist Church of Chula Vista.  Her work experiences include elementary school choral instruction, San Diego Opera Education and Outreach, musical theatre productions, and many years of local coaching and performance.

SDSU Opera Theatre is a program of the SDSU School of Music and Dance and appears as part of the School’s 2013-14 season of performing arts offerings.  The SDSU School of Music and Dance presents over 200 concerts, recitals and dance performances each year, many with free or affordable admission. 

Still to come in the season is the brand new SDSU Showcase Concerts on Sat. Dec. 7, 2013 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Patrons will enjoy a music-festival style afternoon, filled with a captivating array of music and dance mini-concerts, interspersed by light bite receptions.  Patrons will self-select the mini concerts of their choice from a menu of delightful offerings including Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Dance, Jazz, Opera, Choir, and Mariachi and Band, then mingle with friends and other music lovers to savor a nibble during short interludes between concerts.  One-price tickets are $25 general admission, and $10 for children 12 and under. 

For up-to-the-minute news and information about all of the recitals and performances SDSU School of Music and Dance, visit the School’s calendar or connect on Facebook or Twitter.

The study of music was an early area of concentration at San Diego State University.  Among the first seven professors hired in 1898 when the university was chartered, was a music professor.  By 1907 the Department of Music at San Diego State University began conferring degrees, and a commitment to excellence in artistic innovation was dedicated.  This commitment fostered a long legacy of educational and musical leadership for the program.  Today it flourishes as the SDSU School of Music and Dance.  For more information visit musicdance.sdsu.edu.

Go out for a car-free town bike ride at CicloSDias next Sunday (Aug 11th)

Feel like going out for a casual bicycle ride in San Diego but don't want to tango with cars? Come out to the CicloSDias, San Diego's version of the Ciclovia next Sunday in South Park. This is a family-friendly low-speed 5 miles ride on closed-to-cars route from Logan Heights (30th & K) to City Heights (Cherokee Point Elementary School) by way of Golden Hill, South Park & North Park.

CicloSDias 2013 car-free route

You can bike or walk or skate part of or the whole length of the car-free route with friends new and old from 10am - 4pm, at a speed that allows you to see and enjoy the neighborhoods. It's safe and it's a lot of fun!

A lot of people would like to go out riding their bike more, but don't feel safe riding the streets of San Diego without 'proper bicycle structures' like bike lanes or cycle-paths. Well, what better way to convince city officials to put in the necessary structures than to turn up in great number at car-free events like the CicloSDias and show them that better bike-friendly streets is what a whole lot of tax-payers want? The more cyclists there are riding around, the more the city is likely to do something to protect cyclists and the more aware drivers will become of bikes on the streets. You don't even have to donate any money. Just show up and have fun!

Happy Pride Weekend!

Hello! Hello! I'm out cycling in the mountains, but since this is 'pride weekend' - so to speak - here's to the my dazzling brothers and sisters everywhere out enjoying their well-deserved life outside of the closet. Happy Pride Weekend, girls


... and boys, too!
Have a great celebration, but keep your wit on, too, please. No drinking and driving and other silly things like that!

Just Musing: Boston Marathon Bombing

Well, everybody must have heard by now that there were bombings in Boston yesterday, two at the marathon and one at the JFK Library. Kudos to the police and emergency personnel (and other helpful bystanders) on the ground for coping with such event as well as they did!

I feel a bit selfish, actually. I knew from the news coverage that 'everybody' wasn't okay, so I first hoped that my Bostonian friends and their friends and family were okay. It doesn't mean that I don't care if the people that I don't know are injured or killed, of course. But that's the way it goes; when things go awry one worries first about the people that one knows... then the strangers.

Lots of folks have commented online on the news of the bombing. Many are commendably thoughtful. As expected; however, there are also some callous morons already making jokes and/or making stupid speculations. It's weird how things like this goes. When you turn on the television and see a scene like what happened at the Boston Marathon you imagine yourself in the scene - safe and clear headed and knowing best what to do - a regular bullets/bombs repellent Superman. You don't imagine yourself laying dazed on the ground missing a limp or two while chaos breaks out in every direction.

I spent last Sunday volunteering at the Gran Fondo Campagnolo organized bike ride in Little Italy bit of Downtown San Diego, most of the time within a stone's throw from the finish line. So had bombs gone off there like they did at the Boston Marathon I'd probably be one of the bloody limp-less folks rather than a bomb-repellent super hero going around rescuing others... And that would really suck, no less because my beloved bike would have probably been totaled by the bomb, being parked in the valet lot right next to the finishing stretch. And I can hardly afford to buy a new bike at the moment.

But that's quite beside the point; whoever set off those bombs did their 'message' or 'cause' no favor at all with such action. They hurt and killed innocent people who were out doing good deeds (much of revenue generated by events like this go to charity, and then there were those out to lend their support to others). Even the emotionless ones amongst us aren't going to care what message you want to send with the bombing. No message can justify such delivery method. Retaliation is what you're going to end up getting instead of any receptive hearing of your complaint. Like democracy, peaceful protest is the worst way of getting oneself heard except for all the alternatives. It is frustrating, but it is the only way!

Oh, before I forget... to the unharmed survivors; I'm glad that you weren't killed or hurt by the bombing, but please stop talking about how 'god' took it upon itself to protect you from harm. Whatever 'god' is or isn't it sure didn't protect those who actually got hurt and harmed by the bombs, and I am quite sure that those victims weren't any less worthy of a godly protection than you are. Peace out!

By the way, if you are in Boston area (or were expected to be at the marathon) and weren't injured by the bombing, please go and register yourself on the Red Cross' Safe & Well list.

Also, here's how you can help with the aftermath. 

Where has all the water gone (from Lake Hodges & Loveland Reservoir)???

I mean...

Loveland Reservoir and Lake Hodges. March 2013.

Really, where has all the water gone? I'm amazed we aren't getting warning of water restriction for this summer yet. There is virtually no water under the Lake Hodges pedestrian bridge at the moment!

Guest post: Palomar Mountain State Park volunteer & donation call

VOLUNTEER LOOKOUTS URGENTLY NEEDED FOR PALOMAR'S BOUCHER FIRE TOWER UPDATE ON MATCHING FUNDS FOR PALOMAR

ROOM WITH A VIEW: VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR BOUCHER FIRE TOWER Did you know that Palomar Mountain State Park has a historic working fire lookout tower --- high atop Boucher Summit --- one of the few remaining in southern California? Ever dreamed of "sitting on top of the world" in a fire tower, enjoying a commanding view --- from the surrounding mountains all the way to the ocean --- while watching over our precious woodlands for forest fires? Volunteers are urgently needed to staff Boucher Tower during this coming fire season. Each volunteer would only need to commit one day per month to this valuable service.  Training sessions for new volunteers will be on April 6 and 13.   Anyone interested can contact Curt Waite at elcariso@yahoo.com. Curt is chairman of the San Diego - Riverside Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA), the non-profit organization that oversees the tower's operation and spearheaded its restoration. The current tower was built in 1948 (the original version was built in 1921) and was operated as a California Department of Forestry fire detection point until the mid-eighties when it was taken out of service.  Over the years it fell into disrepair until there was danger of it needing to be torn down.  An agreement was signed in November of 2011 between Cal Fire and California State Parks transferring ownership of the structure to the park.   Boucher Hill lookout has now been restored to its original 1948 condition through the efforts of Cal Fire, State Parks and the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA).  The FFLA has restored the interior cab (top floor) of the lookout, and will be putting the lookout back into service as a working fire detection center this fire season in partnership with Palomar Mountain State Park and the Cleveland National Forest.  (FFLA also operates High Point lookout on the east side of Palomar.) For details about volunteering as a lookout, please contact Curt Waite at elcariso@yahoo.com

UPDATE ON MATCHING FUNDS FOR PALOMAR This month we submitted a proposal to Sacramento to receive matching funds for Palomar Mountain State Park. The matching funds are to come out of a portion of the money discovered in the Department of Parks and Recreation's coffers last summer, and their intended use must meet certain criteria. Because we have a pre-existing donor agreement with State Parks to keep Palomar open, our application will entail an amendment to our original agreement. We will notify you when we have finalized our revised agreement with State Parks. This will also allow us to establish a target for our 2013 Fund Drive, which we have postponed pending the results of this matching fund opportunity. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Rick Barclay at 951-265-6385 or email Rick directly at rickbarclay92592@yahoo.com.

Thank you! Sincerely, Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park

Friday the 14th...

It's shaping up to be a rather horrible day... much less for me than for the parents and loved ones of those little kids and their teachers massacred by another gun toting youngster in yet another American school.


Not just another American school... Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT. 

How to help those affected by hurricane Sandy

You've probably heard of Hurricane Sandy, that icky nasty supersized storm that hit the US northeast earlier today. 

HMS Bounty replica was no match for the giant hurricane (Photo: US Coast Guard)

If you'd like to help in the relief effort, please consider donating blood at the blood bank near you and perhaps a little money to any of these worthy aid organizations, too:   

 
American Red Cross: Operating emergency shelters, providing medical care, supplies and clean up supplies to emergency areas.

Americares: This organization distributes emergency medical and clean up supplies.

Humanist Crisis Response: Funds emergency rescue and medical operations.
 
The Salvation Army: Provides food and emergency shelters to those displaced by the storm.

Feeding America: Provides food to local food banks.

The Humane Society: Rescues and shelters displaced pets. 

You never know when a freak disaster might strike your town instead of others'. Let's pay it forward and spread some good karma around!

The cleaning up of doping in professional cycling finally commences (I hope)

USADA finally published its evidence in the Lance Armstrong doping conspiracy case yesterday. For many of us cycling fans, it was a long awaited major punch with a real potential to actually do away with the hideously moral-corrupting omerta that has ruled the sport for far too long. 

First off, my salutations and hats off to the likes of Paul Kimmage, Gilles Delion, Nicolas Aubier, Graeme Obree, Christophe Bassons, Scott Mercier, Andy Hampsten, Greg Lemond and other long suffering clean riders that I had never heard of because most of the fame and news coverage they might have earned were stolen from them by the dopers who, some more understandably than others, chose the ends over the means, results and personal gain over moral integrity. 

These guys did the right thing and had to suffer a lot for it for a long time. Most were shunned out of their beloved sport as 'traitors'. Even the successful ones like Greg Lemond; his business was quite destroyed when he voiced his suspicion about Armstrong's doping. I have been riding my bike 200 or more miles a week since the beginning of the year and have made it a point to never run any red light (well, I did run a red light during the Giro di San Diego last month, but only because I was caught in a fast moving peloton that seemed bent on running all the traffic lights along the way. It was a matter of either going with the flow thru that first red light before sneaking my way out of the group or hitting the brake and cause a hideous bunch crash right in the middle of the intersection. I chose the former). It infuriates me when I see other cyclist run a red light and when I hear people generalize all cyclists as 'red light runners'. I imagine it's the same thing (but on a more frustrating scale) for clean pro cyclists when they keep hearing people blithely say that 'oh, they are all dopers anyway, so the field was always level.'

And thanks to the ex-dopers who have reformed themselves and have came or are now coming forward to break the silence. I've read Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride and Tyler Hamilton's The Secret Race and realize that choosing to not dope would have been very costly, perhaps seemingly too costly for them to be a viable option (after all, I've been young once and know how young people often have a hard time looking at things very far into the future). I also understand why a lot of angry cycling fans are now calling for no leniency for those who confess and now tell of theirs and others' doping. I wonder how they (the angry fans calling for life time ban and stripping of all results and prize money and endorsement) think that such a thing would encourage the emergence of any more eyewitness to this doping problem... Real life isn't black and white. A lot of crimes would go unsolved if plea bargaining isn't an option.

With due respect to Bradley Wiggins, Sir Chris Hoy, and other prominent cyclists who are wishing that we would now all just 'look forward rather than back' at this doping thingy because today's peloton is supposedly clean. I digress... Remember why Frank Schleck didn't finish the tour this year? Honestly. It hasn't even been a month since another pro cyclist, Steve Houanard, got busted with a positive test. I have no doubt that PED abuse is rampant in other sports as well, perhaps even worse than in cycling and that cycling is cleaner today than it was in the 1990's and 2000's, but my brain isn't yet quite addled enough to believe that cycling today is now free of doping problem! Frankly, I'm getting suspicious of people who are trying to get people to look away from this exposé just one day after it came out... Is that how people who really want the sport to get cleaned up would act?

On the other hand... no cheer at all to those who still choose to root for team Lance against the world, including all those triathlon event organizers who keep inviting Lance Armstrong, even after his USADA sanction, to compete in their event in order to reap financial gain from his publicity. I don't care if the money they get out of it is then used for worthy charity work. The message they are sending to young athletes and to their audience - we don't care if you cheat and lie and try to destroy anyone who call you out for it as long as you can make us a lot of money - is still ugly and the very antithesis of what a sport is supposed to instill in people. Winning or losing isn't what matter, but how one plays the game. The end doesn't justify the means.  

Related links:
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/nicolas-roche-if-you-dope-dont-blame-anyone-else-its-your-choice-admit-it-3257272.htm
http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2012/10/12/after-the-fire
http://bicycling.com/blogs/thisjustin/2012/10/15/bassons-people-now-see-i-wasn%E2%80%99t-lying/  

Off to ogle at Venus...

Right, I'm taking the two dogs out for a walk before getting on my bike for a wild ride around town that will climax on top of Mt. Helix (hopefully before 3:30PM) to catch the transit of the planet Venus across the sun. 

Alas, my good camera (the one with 10x zoom) fell off the wagon the other day... literally, so I'm left with the not so good camera (the one with 4x zoom and a few dust spots on its lens) to try to capture some good shot of the rare phenomenon with. That, and the eclipse glass I bought from the North Star Science Shop at the Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park, of course (if you're in San Diego and don't have a good #14 welder's shield or don't know (or can't be bothered to know) how to make a pin hole projector to safely watch the transit with, they're selling eclipse glasses at Fleet Sci Ctr for only $2).

And here's a little prayer to Venus...

Offenbach's Helen may be a bit flaky, but she has a point; Venus is a bit airy and hard to catch.... I hope you'll be able to catch a glimpse of the transit, if it is visible in your area. The alignment is so rare that if you miss this one you most likely won't live to see the next one in 2117. If you are in South America or Africa, though, I'm afraid the transit happens at night your time, and so isn't visible... though you can watch the event live via the NASA Edge Program at Mona Kea, Hawaii.

Edit: Well, well, it's nice and sunny outside (I was expecting at least partly cloudy today)... think I'm heading to the beach instead of up the mountain to catch Venus (after all, who wants to ride down wiggly Alto Dr after sunset anyhow? Besides, the sun will look bigger as it sinks into the ocean!).

Just A Thought: When Atheists Are Ugly...

I'm an equal opportunity dissenter. As much as the evangelical/radical Christians irritate me when they do something like ambushing people at the only in/out access to a non-religious concert venue or picketing at funerals of gays or other people whose lifestyle they presume to disapprove of or attempting to force kids in public schools to study their religious creation myth in science classes or using political/social/financial influence to try to force their religious dogma on the general public, etc:

I'm even more irritated when atheists do something like this (the Friendly Atheist's gleeful bashing of Chuck Colson upon learning of his death a few hours before). And that the majority of atheists who turned up to comment on this article are cheering him on rather than calling him out for it only adds insult to the injury. 

No, this spitting on a freshly dead 'enemy' even before his corpse got cold doesn't compare to what many religious people have done on the indecency scale, but since when is it okay to behave like a bunch of morally depraved folks just because you think the other folks would do the same hideous thing or worse? Do what those you condemn would do, and you yield any high ground you might have had on them. Shame.... godless or not.

Earth Day at Balboa Park

Happy Earth Day, Earthlings! Apparently Earth Day is not just a day dedicated to Mother Earth and conservation anymore, but has attained a sort of holiday status among many. I would seriously run out of fingers and toes if I try to count how many time I was wished a 'Happy Earth Day!' today. Not that there is anything wrong with that. If only more holidays could be so universally appreciated (or at least appreciable... After all, there's only one earth we can live on, and we all have to share it!)!

Zoro Garden, my favorite bit of Balboa Park, is having a bloomy green spring!

The big Earth Day celebration here in town is, of course, at Balboa Park. Having a little break in between work assignments this weekend, I hopped on the mountain bike and pedaled over to soak in the scene a bit. The place was already pretty busy at 9:30AM, so I was contemplating finding a place to park my fat wheels before proceeding on foot (lest I run over a baby or a dog while distracted by something else) when I spotted a roped off section of the lawn by the Casa del Prado with a 'Bicycle Parking Valet' sign on it. How cool was that??? The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition volunteers, a really friendly bunch of people, registered my bike, parked it and watched over it (and others) while I went out enjoying the festivities. They even provided area biking maps for free! Gosh knows you can't know too many bike-friendly routes around this town.

SDCBC Valet Bike Lot by Casa del Prado

El Prado, the park's main pedestrian thoroughfare was lined with vendors of various shades of green. It can be a bit dangerous browsing through these. If you don't watch it you'll end up signing a bunch of petitions supporting various green and/or environmentally friendly causes. Not that supporting worthy causes isn't good, but I'm a tad paranoid about giving out my contact info to organizations.

I wouldn't have minded giving my contact info to this free-loving and irresistibly cute Bonita Blue Bin, however...

I mean... look at her. Isn't she the perkiest Earth Day party-er you've ever seen (aside from your own kids, that is)??? She took one look at me and tried to recycle me on the spot (thankfully nobody took a picture of it... wouldn't want a foto of me getting swallowed up by a blue recycling bin floating around on the internet now, would I?). Mesmerized, I felt a sudden mad urge to propose on the spot, but some other old geezer beat me to it, so I went off to pet the stuffed raccoon at the Friends of the Laguna Mountains tent instead...

Alas, it wasn't all happy a celebration. A bunch of evangelical Christians turned up trying to scare the crowd into conversion via threats of hell and eternal punishment.

Compared to the passive and cheery Hare Krishna nearby, they were something of a killjoy, I'm afraid. The Christian leader dude got so carried away drowning everyone out by his amplified preaching that a few unwilling audience took offense and told him to cut it out (I spotted one of them telling the park police about it a bit later). I'm sure even this preacher guy and his crew meant well, but their tactics really didn't come off well. The Hare Krishna folks didn't try to evangelize at all, and drew a much more positive crowd reactions.

There was a parade, of course. I didn't follow them beyond the Plaza de Panama (that big round-about where the Museum of Art is), though. It was already almost noon and I wanted to ride on a bit and stop by to see the Maritime Museum's San Salvador Build Site, so I went back to reclaim my bike and took off.

The First Week of March: Don Pasquale and Other Stuff

Another week passed by like a bullet train! First off, I went to the 2nd performance of Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the San Diego Opera last Tuesday. Alas, it was the end of a very long day for me and I kept dozing off in the middle of it and left at the 2nd intermission.

It was a fun show (well, at least the 2/3 of it that I saw)! I especially enjoyed John Del Carlo in the title role. His voice was commanding and very adept at florid singing, and his acting convincing in every which way. Danielle DeNiese was a physically fetching Norina, and every bit as good a physical comic actress as I expected. Her voice was surprisingly strong, though her high notes tended to spread and her coloratura work a bit smudgy, not that the majority of the audience minded. I was surprised that Charles Castronovo's Ernesto sounded as if he was singing from the far side of the trolley tracks all night, though. He didn't sound like that when he was riveting the house a few years ago as Nadir in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. Aside from that, a beautiful tenor indeed, in every sense of the word, and a good actor. Jeff Mattsey was his dependable self as Dr. Malatesta...

The San Diego Symphony under Marco Guidarini was fine. I wondered if Maestro Guidarini could have reined the orchestra in a bit more when Castronovo was singing (perhaps he was having an off night and wasn't projecting his voice very well). Director David Gately staged this thing as a spaghetti western opera, which worked. I mean, you go to a bel canto comic opera to be entertained rather than to be profound, and this production plays up the fun very well.

Don Pasquale intermission from San Diego Civic Theater's upper balcony

It was a busy week with real work and house work, though I did manage to roam around the internet a bit and found many wonderful reads. The Earworm out in Baltimore did more insightful analysis of operas, this past week she did a series on one of my all time favorite opera DVD, the 2003 Salzburg Festival recording of La Clemenza di Tito. It is one of the Regietheater stagings that actually works well in highlighting all the right dramatic and emotional contents of the story... if you can manage to ignore a few weird oddities that it seems everyone puzzles about (really, what's with those boys in whities on the dinner tables? Anyone solved that yet???).

By the way, at one of my writing hang-outs (I occasionally write articles for AC/Yahoo) an ex-Mormon posted a very interesting article last week about what exactly Mitt Romney must have promised to do during his Mormon temple ceremonies. It is quite an eye-opener. I wouldn't want to hold someone's religion against them when it comes to political elections, but the pre-1990 Mormon temple oath does seem to present some conflicts of interest to anyone running for government office. I mean, yeah, you can take a lot of Bible verses seriously and find things that conflict with government, too, but at least the Christians don't have to swear to any of them under the penalty of death by very gruesome means, you know?

A work in progress

It was a good thing my roommate and I managed to get much of our outdoor yard works done last week, since this weekend has been wonderfully stormy. It rained all day Saturday and much of last night. This morning saw sporadic rain in between blowy wind gusts... I thought we had a good dry window just before noon and took Georgie the 14 yrs old dog out for a stroll...

Hailing on my parade...

...only to be caught by a little hail cloud half way around the block. It was a nasty little cloud! I was grateful that we are in Southern California, though. When it gets windy and rainy and then hail-y this time of year back in Missouri, that's when you jump into the basement and lock the door hatch... It usually hails before the tornado comes.