08.10.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Road Stories, College, Education at 1:58 pm by Administrator
day two of of our uc tour was to uc davis. it was due east of the bay area and seemed real close to sacramento (15 miles?). i always thought davis was further north myself.
the surrounding are looked like kern county foothills with a few more trees. the university wasnt that impressive looking but we did like davis. it looked like bakersfield’s westchester/downtown area with a lot more trees and bikes.
i could see leaving my son here to go to school. the place was mellow and very non-threatening. felt like home but nicer. it seemed to a place that would be easy to go to school. maybe a little dull but definitely not crazy like berkeley..
then since it was on the way home, we headed to uc merced.
dont make the same mistake we did. there is no reason to visit uc merced. it is really sad. first off it is miles from the freeway and the town. second, it looks like frontier high school. no offense to frontier but a high school shouldnt look better than a UC
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08.03.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Road Stories, College, WTF, Education, Worst Person in the World at 9:00 am by Administrator
what started out as me doing the san francisco marathon ended up being a tour of the northern califiornia’s universities. after i survived the LA marathon, i thought “why not san fran” but after signing up i realized i didnt want to do five hour training walks in the summer heat, so i decided on doing the half instead.
at first i was going to do the trip alone but i ended up taking two oldest sons. we took the coast route up and it was beautiful. saw lovely coastlines, surfers sailing with kites and enjoyed the cool fresh air.
after eating in santa cruz, i decided to visit uc santa cruz. i havent been there since i was in college. my sophomore year, the all uc meet was in santa cruz.
i went to uc san diego, so we got to fly to the meet. sadly, i had never flown in a plane so all summer i trained hard to win my seat to the meet. i remember having to take a physics mid-term and then jumping into a van and barely getting to the airport on time.
my first flight was uneventful and the takeoff and landings just felt like a cheesy carnival ride for the most part. it was nice getting to san jose in so quickly though.
i barely remember the race except that it was hilly and there were a lot trees. the best part of the trip was getting to hang out at stanford with my old high school friends and going to a stanford football game.
now 20 plus years later, i am touring uc santa cruz with my teenage sons. the campus sits on a hill with a nice forest of trees. the campus is in the forest. it looked like a nice place to go despite their banana slug mascot.
then my mind changed forever. to leave campus, one must go down a very steep and long hill. wouldnt you know but santa cruz’s finest sits on the bottom of the hill.
i had my foot on the brake the whole way and i have never received a speeding ticket in my life. but they got me, i dont think i was speeding but they say i was. heck, they could have stopped everyone that goes down that road. when i left they had three of us. Read the rest of this entry »
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06.02.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Schools, Championships, State, Road Stories, Track Meets, Bakersfield at 8:15 pm by Administrator
our driller state trip started right after graduation on thursday night around 9. all the coaches were there at 9 but no athletes.
remarkably, the first athlete to show up was isiah griggs who sang at the graduation. isiah is our sophomore high jumper who improved from 6′2 to 6′6 this season with help from coach alex (csub jumper).
slowly but surely the rest of the gang showed up. emanuel turner, brandon gooden and johnny norwood who had just graduated and now were heading to state.
we all piled into the vans and headed to cerritos and were in are hotel rooms by 1 am and tried to get some sleep before friday’s prelims.
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05.03.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Road Stories, Friends, Mr. Mu, Business, Noise Flash!!!, World Records, Darkstar Records, Outer Limits, Front Porch, Benefits of Massage at 10:53 pm by Administrator
i have a chug and he likes to go for walks. today we left our home and headed downtown. first, we had to get across 24th street and then we were on our way. often crossing 24th street is like a game of frogger.
then we went past a house with a rubber sidewalk. it was made from used tires and was really nice to walk on. i need to find out if they could build a running track at beach park out of the stuff. it would be nice to have a half mile loop underneath the trees at the park and not have to worry about the squirrel holes.
next we walked by the benham’s house and the bakers and saw sally. then we headed to the post office to get my mail. if you ever want to send andy noise something our address is:
po box 2625
bakersfield, ca
93303
after our post office visit, we stopped in to check out the new world records location. pat evans (the owner) was there working on the shop. at first, he was wondering who this bum with a little dog was but then i said my name and he remembered me.
way back in the 80s, i worked for pat. of course i looked a lot different. we talked for awhile and i will have a page up on my site in the future featuring world records.
our next stop was front porch music. artie (the owner) has a cute little dog who really wants to get to know my mr. mu but he wont let here. we talked about dogs and my son nick’s music career. nick is looking for bandmates btw.
next we stopped by and saw alex at gigantic vintage. alex runs the record dept. and he has a real job. so i never see him because he comes in on the weekends and evenings.
by now mr. mu was getting tired and hot. when it is cool we can do hour long walks but he doesnt like the heat. but i needed to go visit another friend’s new record store.
my friend dan (kuzz/crystal palace and wedding dj) finally opened the record store of his dreams. it is across the street from rabobank arena in those cottage looking buildings on truxton. he just opened the place a month ago and it looks like it has been there forever.
he has a lot of great product (cds, records, books, photos, movies, dvds, toys and more). the place looks like a person’s home almost. lots of cool things on the wall and it reminds me of someones study.
you feel like you are at the home of a person who loves music and has taken much time and effort gathering and displaying his treasures. the only difference is that you can buy the stuff from him. so go checkout darkstar records. they are open from 9 am to 6 pm mon- sat.
i will be making a page on this site for his shop too.
i almost forgot that before we visited dan, we went and saw my friend lisa at benefits of massage office. it is behind dan’s cottages. she had a client so we just did a quick howdy.
now the mr. mu was really tired but i wanted to visit my friend joey at his skate shop outer limits. as usual the place was busy and joey has tons of product. my son nick loves the place (he also likes front porch) and has been wearing the clothes he got there lately.
i plan on doing a photo shot there (as well as at the other stores) and putting up a page on my website soon. though with the track season heating up, i may wait till june to do the pages.
anyways after all this excitement, it was time to go home, mr. mu was beat.
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03.01.08
Posted in Invitationals, Yada Yada, Road Races, Coaches, Info, Road Stories, Results, Upcoming, Videos, Clubs, Race Walking, Road, Bakersfield Marathon Walkers, Cause To Run at 6:02 am by Administrator
I am a member of the RunSFM Youth Outreach Team team.
About Cause to Run:
The program started 4 years ago in conjunction with The San Francisco Marathon™. They were approached by many small charitable organizations who wanted to organize their own running races to raise money, but the costs to organize such an event were prohibitive. In order to address this need, The San Francisco Marathon™ created Cause to Run. Now partnering with over 30 organizations a year, The San Francisco Marathon™ helps these organizations raise millions of dollars each year.
last year, i walked over 2000 miles in preparation for the LA marathon. my gps watch really motivated me to walk at least 40 miles a week and i even got in a couple 60 and 70 mile weeks.
on friday, my marathon really began. LAM doesnt mail you your number or let you pick it up the day of the race. you have to go to the expo at the staples center. so friday, i took my kids to scholl and headed to LA.
the traffic sucked as always but by 10am, i found a free parking space and hiked over to the expo.
i cant stand to pay for parking like george from seinfeld:
“You don’t understand. A garage… I can’t even pull in there. It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?”
- George, looking for a parking spot, in “The Parking Spot”
i got my number and my shirt and then got out of there. by now it was 11am. so i raced over to the bicycle casino to try and pay for my trip.
i played for an hour and made $60 despite losing with trip kings, two hands in a row. i won most of money after losing with my cowboys, by playing 68 offsuit. i turned a straight and crushed the table.
then i was back on the parking lot i.e. freeway. took forever to get out LA but i made it back to town just in time for practice. now it is 5am and day two of my marathon begins.
the eb invite is all day today and by the end of the day i will be very tired.
well the eb invite was great. the drillers took home the sweepstakes trophy and won the boys varsity team award too. our girls team got second.
i got home and uploaded all the eb invite photos and videos. then went to bed at 10 pm.
at 2 am i was wide awake so i got ready, got gas and got on the road by 3 am.
too be continued …
2008 marathon videos HERE
2008 photos HERE
more photos HERE
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11.18.07
Posted in Yada Yada, Profiles, Coaches, Road Stories, Sports, Friends at 1:05 pm by Administrator
Travel Tales: Bicycling down California’s coast
By JIM COWLES, Contributing writer | Saturday, Nov 17 2007 4:00 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Nov 16 2007 1:35 PM
It is not about the destination. It is always about the journey. It was a bicycle journey of 15 days and 1,087 miles of California coast from Oregon to Mexico. It was a journey of deepening friendships. It was a journey of understanding interdependence.
From the beginning to the end, the most lasting impression was of the kindness and encouragement of the people at home and of those we met along the way. Another impression was of the abundant natural beauty of our state. A third was the pleasure of the companionship of a group of wonderful fellow travelers. We are: Rick Hixson, at 55 years old the youngster of the group (the rest of us are all in our 60s); Judy Reed and Marvis Friesen, the two most fit and experienced riders; Paul White, who was celebrating the third anniversary of his heart attack; John Rous, the biking Buddha (“Don’t force it. Let the hills come to you”); and me, Jim Cowles, the navigator. (I can find a bakery in any town in California.) Stan Friesen, who stayed with us for the first six days, was our much-needed and much-appreciated support driver, mechanic, shopper and cheerleader. Read the rest of this entry »
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08.04.07
Posted in Yada Yada, Road Stories, History, WTF, DTL, Driller Noise, DTC at 6:04 pm by Administrator
The Hoovers wear orange, and sport “HCG” tattoos, standing for Hoover Criminal Gangster.
click HERE for more info.
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Posted in Yada Yada, Training, BHS, Road Stories, High School, The Colonel, DTL, Driller Noise, DTC at 10:46 am by Administrator
well our trip started like many and ended late.
da boys and i got to bhs before 7 am and there was transportation issues.
we had the vans but they didnt leave the keys. half hour later, we were on the road.
our first stop was griffith park where we checked out the pony ride and train ride and then did a 40 minute run on the shaded horse trail.
then we took off for the beach. we ended up at dockweiler beach and spent the day in the surf and sand. then it was time for another run.
we ended the day with a stroll through the venice canals and the boardwalk. venice isnt as wacky as it use to be but it was still entertaining.
then we headed home.
click HERE for photos.
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