Checking out Austin’s Place

Today, I got to visit my friend Austin Kino for a surf session out in front of his school at Point Loma Nazarene. Austin is a Resident Assistant there (his floor is themed ‘North Shore’), and I was reminded as to why he goes to one of the best schools you can go to if you want to surf.

Exhibit A: His Dorm

This is an unassuming building in nature, until you look to Exhibit B: The view from the parking lot…

A quick walk down a steep cliff, and you are at the ocean.  Not only is the beach right there, that particular beach holds 3 quality surf spots.  The worst part about the whole thing though, is the view that Austin gets to wake up to every morning from his dorm room:

But alas, amid all the jealousy, at least now I get to surf there with him, and we had a great time today.  I surfed today on my new board.

I got this board while looking at an apartment the day before yesterday (I ended up not choosing to sign the lease), I spotted a surf board in the room of the person showing me his apartment.  He was trying to get rid of it before he moved, and I got him to lower the price down to $15 (typically used boards can run from about $80 to $300).  Now, the board is not great, and it’s nose has clearly been broken, and put back together, but it’s a start.  Plus, now I don’t need to rush into making a board purchase that I may regret because I was too hasty in choosing the board.  Now I have some time to make the right choice.

There is a swell right now and I am enjoying my time in San Diego.  I have a meeting or two coming up and hopefully I can make something happen soon.  But if not… there is always the GRE to prepare for. (yikes!)

Tom

 

San Diego Update-and the Cold Hands Classic

It’s been almost a week since the last entry, and here is an update as to what is going on:

I’ve been living here in San Diego exploring all the different areas and looking for different place to live and work.  At the moment, it’s not too exciting, but I have faith that if I just keep up at it, great opportunities will show themselves.

Besides the apartment/job search, I’ve really been enjoying my time in San Diego.

I’ve been able to surf a couple a few times and catch up with some friends including Austin Kino and Dustin Gaessner.
Besides the surf, this morning I was able to race in the Cold Hands Classic with Eric Abbott and Patrick Dolan. (A paddle board race in Los Angeles.)

To do this, we had to leave at 4:30 in the morning.

Eric Abbott lives at the Olympic Training Center, so I had the treat to see what his situation was all about.  Patrick Dolan also lives at the training center wtih Eric.  He came up with us to LA and we all had a great time. (Eric and Patrick are there to train for flat water Kayaking)

We had a great time at the race.

I realized partway through the race that this was the first time that I had been on a paddleboard since I had crossed the Molokai Channel.  :)  It was a fantastic race and I am excited to be able to continue competing.

After the race, we drove back to the training center, and I finally got to see what Eric’s place was like.
Here is the boat house:

We had a great time and I am stoked for what more is to come:

 

On the Road

I’ve just had an awesome weekend.

It all started on Thursday, when I took the scenic route south from Palo Alto to San Luis Obispo.  The drive took the better park of 7 hours because instead of driving along the main inland highway, I took the pacific coast highway for the vast majority of the drive.  It was great.  I took a short lunch break in Santa Cruz, and then heading south from there.  I was able to drive along the ‘Big Sur’ area, which I now know has fantastic camp grounds as well as some hidden surf spots.

After the long drive down, I was greeted by Sevren Smith, a great friend from highschool. 

We had a great evening and I left in the morning.   During my time there, luckily, the farmers market was going on at main street.  We were treated to great food on the side of the street and got to check out a few bands that were playing on the corners of separate intersections.  

After a fun evening with Sevren, and an awesome breakfast burrito in the morning, I once more headed south.  This time though, my destination was to see Goose Moy and Abbie Lin at Claremont Mckenna College.  It was great to see both of them and see what their college was all about.

Here is a picture of Goose and I:

And here below are Abbie and her boyfriend Matt (a fantastic picture if I do say so myself):

 

After a great visit in Claremont, I headed west to get to Redondo Beach to meet up with Eric Abbott and Nica Noradyke. 

We had a great time at a paddling race. It was a bit painful for me, I guess being on the road for 5 weeks straight is not conducive to staying in shape.  But I am stoked to have a starting point that allows for a lot of progress in the near future.

Here are Eric and I: 

And here is Nica:

Eric and Nica paddled together for the short course in a two man outrigger canoe.  I also raced the short course, but I did it in a one man canoe.  Eric, the stud that he is, took a quick breather, and immediately did the long course race right after the short course.  (Short course was 4 miles, long course was 8 miles)

Angie and Mele also came out to cheer us on!  It was great seeing both of them:

I arrived here in San Diego last night and am staying with my friend Dustin for the time being.
Good bye road trip, hello job and apartment search.

It’s been a great trip, and I hope it continues to be one.

More to come…

 

Arrival

I’ve arrived in San Diego.

It is late at night here in San Diego, and I don’t have my camera cord with me, so I will have to delay my full report with pictures of this past weekend.  However, the past weekend has been incredible and I am extremely excited to have arrived.

In the past weekend, I’ve gotten to drive down the coast of california, visit my friend Sevren in San Luis Obispo, visit my friends Goose and Abbie at Claremont, paddle in a race at Redondo Beach with my friends Eric Abbott and Nica Noradyke, and finally have arrived to hang out with my current host: Dustin Gaessner.

 

Driving across the country has been a great odyssey, but I have a feeling that I only just begun.

More to come tomorrow.

 

First west coast surf and the southern expedition

Today I got to have my first west coast surf session of the trip.

As goes with any occasion such as this, Beacher and I had to take a silly picture:(note the hood, it has two benefits: keeping your head from having ice cream headaches in the frigid Santa Cruz water.  It also lets you look a little bit more like an idiot.)

Armed with a spring suit (a small short sleeve suit meant for warmer days), as well as a regular 4/3 full suit (a long sleeve wet suit) worn on top of the spring suit, and a hood (which frankly is a bit much), I was ready to brave the 53 degree winter water conditions.  The surf was pretty good.  There was a small swell, and the conditions were pretty ideal.  I had a small problem though, since I was not wearing booties on my feet, when I stood up to surf, my feet were numb, which was a bit odd.  In the end though, the cold water was way milder than I thought it would be, I even started dunking my head in the water because my body was overheating.

It was odd: my hands and feet were numb from the cold, and my body was overheating, at the same time.  It was quite a change from what I’m used to, but I am stoked to continue surfing in California.  Plus, when I get down to San Diego, which has warmer water, I will be able to think of it as a positive because it will not be as cold as Santa Cruz, instead of being frustrated that it will be colder than Hawaii.

It was a great afternoon.  But, tomorrow, big changes will occur.  I will finally plan on leaving my safe haven of Palo Alto with Wally and will be embarking on my southern journey. 

I start by driving to San Luis Obispo to visit my friend Severn Smith for the evening, then continue down further south to see another friend, Goose Moy at Claremont, in eastern LA.  In the morning on Saturday, I have a paddling race!  Eric Abbott asked one of his friends to let me borrow a boat and I will be able to participate in the race.  I am stoked for the opportunity and am looking forward to more of this kind of thing down south.

 

After the race on Saturday, the plan is to go back for one more night at Goose’s place in Claremont, and then finally head down to San Diego on Sunday afternoon.

Wish me luck!  I am excited to drive down the coast (I will be taking the long scenic route along the coast for a big portion of the coast… which I am very excited about!)

I’ve enjoyed my time with Wally, Tien, and going to down to Santa Cruz to visit Beacher a couple times, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

 

Trampoline dodgeball and more

So after spending a great couple days in Santa Cruz with Beacher, I decided to head back up to Palo Alto to hang out with Walter and get some stuff done.

I really enjoyed my time in Santa Cruz and will definitely return before I eventually head down south.  The winds were real strong and it was real rainy, and I want to see the area during a time with more ideal weather.

Once I got back to Palo Alto, I learned that there was a day full of activities planned out

Wally, Tien, and I first checked out Wally’s Gym and got in with a Guest Pass.  After seeing what Wally’s workout situation is all about, we headed out to Santa Clara to partake in some Trampoline Dodgeball.

The place was called Sky High Sports and was epic.  One of Wally’s friends was visiting from out of town and so we had a group of about 15 to 20 guys all ready to dodgeball it up, while bouncing. (Below you can see Wally representing some Roth dodgeball skills getting ready to victimize someone on the other team)

We both had a great time

After the dodgeball, I enjoyed a great sushi Dinner with a bunch of Wally’s friends and co-workers… but the real treat came when someone mentioned that one magical word: Karaoke. 

Needless to say, madness ensued.  We had people singing Korean Pop hits, Chinese Love songs, and of course, Backstreet boys, Journey, and Meatloaf

(Note the awesome color coordination of the cover they put on the microphone)

 

After Karaoke, a few of us went to Walter’s friends house and played the game Settlers of Catan.  It was great.  I am already a huge fan of risk, and this game is a combination of Risk and Monopoly.  It was fantastic.  And I won (beginners luck, of course).

 

Anyway, it was a great evening, and I am continuing to love California:)

More to come later…

 

Cruising in Santa Cruz

I’ve spent the last two days here in Santa Cruz hanging out with my longtime friend Beacher Schneider and been loving the place.  The place is amazing.
To start off, Beacher lives literally a 2 minutes walk from Steamer Lane.   It’s a fantastic surf spot, and after viewing it on just a ‘mediocre day’ yesterday, I am tempted to brave the cold water, and stay here for a little bit.  But alas, that is a totally different issue.

After spending the yesterday evening at Beacher’s house, today we took a drive through downtown and ventured out to see the northern coast of Santa Cruz today.

While in downtown, I got to get a taste for the feel of the city in Santa Cruz.  It’s real laid back and mellow.  After walking through town and taking care of a couple errands, we checked out a couple of wetsuit shops(I am getting excited to get one so I can finally get in the water!), and then decided to head north to check out the coast.

While we drove up the coast, we stopped of at a couple of very scenic surf spots (bad news: I forgot my camera, but no worries, I will be back) and then stopped at a berry farm for some scones and jam.  While at the shop, we met a few of the workers and their friends and decided to stick around for a couple hours and relax.  It was quite an experience just people watching and enjoying the day, not to mention making a few new friends.

It has been a great stay so far down here in Santa Cruz.  I love the feel of the place and could definitely see myself spending some serious time here in the future.  The only problem is that its really cold, but with a thick enough of a wetsuit, that shouldn’t be too bad of a problem.  Until then, I am still dreaming of my arrival in San Diego… which will happen sooner than later, I promise

 

Making it work without any plans :)

I am nearing the completion of the driving aspect of my journey, and there is still a lot to be done.

My Brother John jokingly told me that I should continue my blog after I get to San Diego, but change the name from ‘drivestrong’ to ‘making it work without any plans.’  I got a kick out of this, because, to be perfectly honest, while driving over 4000 miles, one has the opportunity to start thinking, and then begin rethinking, and then start considering the possibility that what they are attempting to accomplish might not even be a legitimate goal.  Needless to say, during those long drives, it’s easy to get lost, even with a GPS. 

However, after enjoying a day of rest yesterday, my resolve has emboldened itself.  Not only will I make this work, I WILL have a plan, eventually.  But to be fair, I am getting a bit burnt out spending all my time making plans to succeed professionally, I mean, the whole point of coming to California was to add balance to my life and allow myself to enjoy more than just work.  
So, after taking a much needed break from thinking about professional plans, I have now begun realizing how excited I am to actually be in California!

 

Eric Abbott, a great friend, and training partner came out of no where a couple days ago and alerted me to the presence of a paddling race next week.  I am getting really excited about it.  I feel so blessed to be (almost) living in a place where I am able to do what I love on a regular basis.  I love dedicating myself to a goal, and accomplishing it.  But on a more specific note, I enjoy doing that with friends, and in the ocean.  I haven’t paddleboarded, kayaking, paddled, or anything of that sort since I got out of the water when I finished crossing the Molokai Channel… and I am blown away by my current opportunity to really give it a shot to live in a place where I can embrace this aspect of my life, as well as develop myself as a professional, and more importantly, as a life long student. 

 

So with that being said, I am getting excited to continue the journey, and maybe sooner or later make some plans.

 

First day in CA

Yesterday, I caught a crazy glimpse into the crazy life of Walter.

Wally was rocking the office in Palo Alto, and it was great just to observe him in his element.  I got to witness a part of his companies weekly meeting and enjoy sitting in the bullpen all day while I tried to start ‘figuring out the details.’  After surviving the day shadowing him at his office, we left, only to have a great evening in the city. 

 

We first got some great Thai food, then hit up some amazing ice cream crepes for dessert.

The dessert made some scream, others wanted to dance:

For some, this, along with the EPIC toys at the store, proved to be a bit too exciting

We all enjoyed our tasty post-dinner treat…

After our tasty treats, Tien and Wally treated me to a great concert in the city.  This band The Birds and the Bee was playing.
They put on a great show and had on some pretty interesting outfits:

All in all it was a great day, and night and was a great way to kick off my first day in California.
More to come later.

 

The Pacific :)

I have arrived… well, almost.  I have arrived in Northern California to visit my brother in Palo Alto for a few days before I head south.

Today I drove from Reno, the biggest little city in the world, to Palo Alto.  It was about 25o miles, and about 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours on the road altogether.  Reno was a great surprise as a town:

 I had never been to Reno, and knew nothing of what it had to offer.  Besides the almost year round golfing, fishing, rough water kayaking, skiing within a 45 minute drive, and the Casinos, there was a lot on offer. 

My hosts for my stay in Reno were Wade and Denise Johnson.  They were great hosts and showed me a great time.  I arrived a bit late last night (after an 11.5 hour drive), so after an early evening, we all got brunch at a local Casino Hotel.  The brunch was great and it was great visiting with them.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, and at about noon, I continued my journey west.

At about 3:00 it happened.  I came into the bay area and caught my first glimpse of the west coast.  I was pretty excited

After the initial excitement wore off, I became excited to arrive at my brother Wally’s place.  My brother Wally lives in Palo Alto.  He is an entrepreneur and currently works as a sales consultant for a company that develops applications for facebook.  Wally was excited for his first visitor in a while (the camera leash unfortunately got in the way of a otherwise great shot)

So far in the visit, Wally and Tien have showed me their pad, taken me out for some great fish tacos, met one of Wally’s mentors, and overall just spent some great quality time together.  Tomorrow I will shadow Wally at his workplace and hopefully learn a thing or two.

 

I plan to stay here in the Bay Area for a few days before I head south.  While I am here, I want to meet up with some friends, have an informational meeting or two, check out the Organizational Development post graduate degree program at San Francisco State, create correspondence with potential mentors and employers in San Diego, and learn more about what my brother is up to these days. 

When my time is up here in the Bay Area, I will start heading south again, but I won’t make it far.  I plan to head to Santa Cruz next to visit Beacher.  I am stoked to see what his college is all about and hopefully sneak a surf in (if I can find a wetsuit that fits).

After Beacher in Santa Cruz, (maybe even insert another stop in between, but then) Goose and Abbie in Claremont, then San Diego!

 

It’s all becoming so real so fast… I need to start figuring out the details!