Curry Seasoning Mix

2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons whole cardamom seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds, toasted
1/4 cup ground turmeric
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne
Grind and bottle, should last with full flavor up to 6 months. Add more heat as necessary.

It becames my passions

The craft from Brendan Inkognito on Vimeo.

Who needs Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers

Goals for 2010

I like the word goal as opposed to resolution. Goals can be big or small, they can lead to other goals. Resolutions are a decision to do something or not. It's important to make attainable goals that end in a resolution. I always make resolutions for the New Year, but I end up changing them or breaking them down into smaller goals. I don't always, like many, attain those goals.

I am a huge procrastinator, just ask my wife. Here are the overall goals.

1. I will try to do at least one thing on a daily basis. It doesn't have to be on my to-do list, but more days than not it should be related to the to-do list.
2. Stop putting off my runs until afternoon. This will allow me to be more consistent and get my mileage up. It will also allow me to lose a few pounds, get back to my ideal weight, de-stress and become a better person for those around me.
3. Start running trails, I have amazing trails just blocks away.
4. Crunches/planks and light weights 2-3 days a week.
5. Get enough water in each day.
6. Get more carbs from vegetables than from pasta.
7. Eat more fruits and vegetables, and do less farming. Farmville people will understand the last part.
8. Put more effort into writing and blogging. I'm an engineer and need to be more "whole brained".
9. Be more concise in how I work, work smarter. Spend less time with the busy work.
10. Be less of a pack rat and lighten the load.
11. 
    

What are your goals? How will you attain them?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy New Years everyone. Happy Birthday to me and everyone else who were born today. 01/02/2010

National Run at Work Day

It doesn't matter if you run 1 mile or 10. Run people! Besides it's good for you.

Run Tellman Run!

Visit runtellmanrun and watch as Tellman runs barefoot from New York to Los Angeles. He is trying to raise $1,000,000.00 for homeless youth and Virgin Unite.

National Running Day

Whether you run, walk or crawl, grab a friend and get out there. Running make you look and feel good. Running done consistently will provide a lifetime of health, stress relief and quality time for yourself. That allows you to take on life's challenges. What are you waiting for, get going.

Bay to Breakers

It's too late for me, but not for you.  The Bay to Breakers is this Sunday and should be a blast.  The expo, which runs today and tomorrow, looks to be an event in itself.  Get out, join in, and enjoy the great weather.

Funny

Why can't US television have better adds like this.

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Happy New Year, a couple of days late

2009 looks to be an interesting year. A new president coming into office, the economy in the tank, and a whole lot of unrest in the Middle East. I'm optimistic things will turn around. Hopefully sooner than later.

I had a great New Year's Eve, and then turned 46 which was good too. Now that is behind me I'm ready to see what 2009 will bring, and I'm ready to get my butt running. Have a great 2009!

Tennessee Valley

Tennessee Valley is a popular hike, is relatively easy except for one hill, and on the weekends you will want to get there early for parking. Otherwise you will need to park on the road along the hill which can extend your mileage a bit. From the parking lot and back it's ~3.5 miles.

From the 101 take the CA 1/Shoreline exit and go west. After about .5 of a mile take a left onto Tennessee Valley Road and the parking lot will be about 1.5 miles. The start is to the right of the horse riding area, next to the bathrooms.

Head down the paved road about .75 miles and it will turn into dirt fire road to the right. Follow the main fire road, don't jog to the left on the single track today. As you round through some trees you will come to a fork in the road, you want to stay left. Going uphill to the right is the Coastal Trail and is a beautiful, longer and harder run. Stay on this road for a little over a mile and you will end at the beach. Take a break, play in the sand or turn around and get ready for a challenging hill. Follow the fire road back to the paved road and to the parking lot.

Ring Mountain

Ring Mountain is a very nice, short (~2.75 miles), trail run in Corte Madera. There are many ajoining trails to expand on but this run should get your feet wet.

From Hwy 101 take the Paradise Drive/Tamalpais Drive exit and go east on Tamalpais Drive. Stay in the right lane and it will turn into San Clemente Drive. Follow San Clemente to the stop light and stay to the left onto Paradise Drive. It's about 1 mile to the trail head, if you get to the Montessori School you've gone to far, by about 500 feet. Parking is on the side of the road.

From the trail head follow up the path. You will come to a trail marker, go to the left on Loop trail. This will go up for a while and you will pass a large boulder, eventually hitting some pavement which you will follow up the hill until a dirt trail appears on the right. If you run past a water tower go back. Follow this trail until you see a sign for the Phyllis Ellman Trail which will take you back down to where you started. It's a great hike and a fun short trail run.

Enjoy the Run

This is a general purpose page that will be updated periodically

Races - 2008
----------
Marin Human Race 5K 5/9
Running America 9/13
Bridge to Bridge 10K 10/5 1:24:39
Golden Gate Presidio Trail 5K 11/9 30:38
Hark the Herald Angels Run 12K 12/13 54:50

Races - 2007
----------
US Half Marathon 11/4 1:49:26
San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon 10/14 1:40:03
Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon 7/15 1:40:06
San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon 6/3 3:36:29

Running America 2008

Today I got to run 12.75 miles with Marshall and Charlie in their quest to break the record of running across the United States in under 46 days, ~70 miles per day, 3100 miles.  Check out Running America to sign up to run with them and check out their progress.  They are running not only to break a record, but to support the United Way.

More lost time or am I just a loser

More time has gone by, Rock 'n' Roll Marathon June 3rd (3:36:29) 1st marathon, Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon July 15th (1:40:06) 1st half marathon. Went to Jacksonville FL for a change of command ceremony for Evan, with Grant on July 12th. It was nice to see Evan, Nancy, Taylor, the new baby and Evan's family. Talking with Grant was good, looking forward to his wedding in DC in December. Otherwise, hot, humid, miserable.

Coming up: Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Oct 14. US Half Marathon in SF 11/4. Avia OC Marathon 1/6/08. Napa Valley Marathon 3/2. Big Sur Marathon 4/27. I'm thinking about San Diego again, the SF Marathon and the California International Marathon also. Maybe a bit ambitious, we'll see.

We went to San Diego for vacation in Ocean Beach Aug 1st. Interesting place, but not somewhere I would want to live. Next door neighbor said it best, last white ghetto in San Diego. It was fun, but we'll explore more area's in SD (we go there yearly and pretty much stay in Coronado, why go anywhere else right). We went to the Opaque opening in SD on the 4th, which was our anniversary, dining in the dark. It was interesting and you get a sense for just an hour or so what blind people go through. Very interesting, and worth doing once for the experience. The food was good, but as a fine dining experience there are much better.

Saw a couple good concerts, Chris Isaack w/Ron Thompson at the Mountain Winery. Squeeze w/Fountains of Wane at the Mountain Winery. Huey Lewis w/English Beat at the Ironstone Winery, long drive but great concert.

It's been a pretty low key summer, the kid's are back in school and fall is upon us. My favorite season is over. My New Years resolution is to blog more, good thing I've got a couple of months to procrastinate on that one : )

Where does time go?

It's been a month that I last blogged. Easter and Sopranos, groin pull, taxes.

We went to the Meadowood in Napa for Easter brunch, mom and the girls got to dress up. Beautiful place, it would be an awesome place to stay and the golf course looks good too. The Sopranos started the same day and it's a good season, too bad it's almost over.

I pulled a groin muscle running and had to take off almost two weeks of running. I missed a 20 mile long run (90+ miles total), but got my second in yesterday and my next one is Mother's day weekend. It's weird, but the more running I seem to do, the slower I get. I'm not doing any speed training though and I do have my good days, but what happened to the casual sub 8 minute miles I was running. I guess the miles take a toll on the legs. Once the marathon is over I really need to work on speed again.

Taxes, say no more.

Had a physical this month, last one was 5 years ago and before that who knows. Good health overall. Two words, prostate's fine.

Planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and strawberries, yum!

It's been a real busy month. I've gotten some household items checked off the list, not as many as I should have. Work has been really busy, some good, some not so, but that's life. It's only going to get busier over the next few month's until we ship.

It's starting to warm up around here and that means cocktails by the pool, sun, swimming and BBQ. Once the wind dies down of course.

I guess it's more than possible somebody might stumble across this blog. Sorry, but this is the jet setting lifestyle I live.

Happy Birthday Grant.

20 miles and more

Today I ran my first 20 mile run, 2:59:33. The legs definitely gave out before my lungs, heart or will. I blew off the run yesterday, so with the short run I did Monday I'm 12 miles off plan for the week. I need to move forward and not beat myself up about it, but I've been pretty upset with myself none the less. Move forward, move on. I ran 20 miles, that's worth something.

Yesterday started with the vet, Hayley, Maddison and Chuckie. Hayley has some bacterial infection on her back, Maddison got her shots and her anal glands expressed. Disgusting. Chuckie, just a checkup since he's getting to be an old man. Then the baseball game with the Marlins. The kids had a good time, made a few plays and pretty much everybody hit.

Went down to the marina yesterday for the annual spring BBQ, we've been there for 3 years and we thought it would be good to show our faces. Nice to show up, but no friends made. This is what I skipped my run for. We skipped the BBQ at the tennis club, probably would have been much better. I did end up seeing the new cushions in the boat though and they do look good. There is definitely more work to do on the boat but it's coming along and is starting to be presentable. I hope we get some good use this summer, need to get a dinghy too.

Dinner at Maria Manso. I had the seared Ahi, it was good. The mashed potatoes it came with were good but nothing to write home about. The sauce was different but good, not the normal ponzu sauce but then again this wasn't an Asian or Pacific Rim type of restaurant. More of a World Cuisine. We also had Ahi as an appetizer as well as crabcake which could have been better. Overall I liked it, but some things could be better. The space is nice, small and comfortable but upscale.

The weather has been nice lately, it's warming up and most days are hitting 70's I think this is going to be a good summer. I need to finish of the inside projects and start the outside projects very soon, Memorial day is upon us and the pool area needs to look good. It's only been three years since the pool was built, I need to finish the job. Cocktail hour deserves a good yard, more importantly so does the wife. Yard that is. She likes a good cocktail too, don't get me wrong.

Weightless in Wenatchee

Ok, I don't live there but I used to when I was very young, for a very short time.

Last May/June I finally got motivated to lose weight. There were various reasons leading up to it, but mainly the death of my MIL. A very unexpected death that put my life into a bit of perspective. I didn't start gaining weight until about a year after the birth of my 2nd daughter, I'll call her Bella. It was also the year I found my calling in red wine, and we moved from our condo into the house we currently live in. I stopped running after the move and settled in with the wine. Fast forward about 7 years and we are up to last year and about 50 pounds.

While to some a 50 pound weight gain is not a lot. I hit 200 and others are pushing 300 to 400 hundred pounds so big deal. Well, go read their blog then. For me it was too much and diet number 4346 wasn't going to work. The wife was also looking to lose weight and her 40th was approaching, but we weren't really in sync yet.

I had been watching what I was eating for a few weeks, was researching how I was going to lose the weight and thought about finding a website to track my food. I had been running off and on, but I had broken my left foot over the last 6 or 7 years twice. I knew running had to start slowly and work up from there. The wife was looking over my shoulder one day and asked what I was doing, and I told her about the diet etc. Turns out she was doing something very similar and had been testing out a trial of an application called Calorie King. I downloaded it and started trying it myself and really liked not having to have internet and reload pages when searching for foods. I bought a license for both of us the next day and started tracking my food and exercise. That was June 6th.

I figured I could lose the weight by the end of August, however it took a bit longer than that. I planned on losing 43 lbs, I wanted to be in the normal BMI range, and did so by late November. My second goal was to lose another 3 lbs so I had some wiggle room during maintenance and that happend about 3 weeks afterwards. The loss happened quickly at first and then slowed to a more healthy loss of a pound, sometimes two, sometimes nothing, a week. While looking at calories and portions during the first month, I came to realize that a diet simply would not work. The changes I was making to lose weight needed to be made permanent or else I would simply start gaining again once done. That was the hardest thing about the diet, but after a few weeks of feeling better about myself and enjoying foods I lost a taste for due to a high fat diet I soon accepted this realization.

Limit your portions for two weeks, then start limiting your calories. Doing both at the same time will cause you to get too weak. Eat your vegetables and fruit, limit fat and white flour, eat whole grains, eat fish, be creative with food and try new things. Indulge now and then in moderation, after a good workout.

Running really helped me. You can't just eat better, you need to make changes to all facets of your life. Becoming less of a slug and building off of that is key. I went from running a couple of miles a week to 20 and 30 miles by December. It not only helped with the weight loss, but with maintenance and stress relief. Any cardio/aerobic excercise will do for weight loss though. Working out with weights is best for long term and should definitely be incorporated, but cardio/aerobic exercise can help burn a ton of calories on a daily basis and during the weight loss process that is the goal. Walk, ride a bike, do something you will enjoy. Most importantly though, increase your excercise time and push yourself every few weeks. You want to get to 60-90 minutes of excercise a day. It sounds like a lot, but if you enjoy it then it's not so bad.

The things I learned over the last year. Health is important. Exercise is important. Fast food, high fat foods are not. The amount of food we eat is too much, we can live on smaller portions. You have to really want something to make it work. Just because you think something would be nice does not mean it will happen. Change is scary, but change is good.

Weight loss is a process, it takes time to lose the weight and even more time to wait for your body to change. Be realistic about your goals and understand that it will get easier, but it's a lifetime commitment. Enjoy yourself.

Desperately Seeking Shorts

This last week I threw out my 34's, 33's, and 32's, and realized I have no shorts now. What is cocktail hours at the pool without shorts. Am I suppose to wear big boy pants? I think not. Sure I have running shorts that moonlight as swim shorts, that will work most days.



Anyway, long story short ( no pun intended ), I went to Banana Republic and tried on their offerings. Nice shorts, but a little too long for my taste. I prefer knee length or above, ok at 5' 7" maybe I'm a bit short and on most they would be a good length. I blame my mother for drinking Margarita's while breast feeding. True story, she told me about it. She wondered why I slept for about 24 hours when her friend Sally brought up the breastfeeding/Margarita thing. I digress. J. Crew had the cargo shorts I was looking for. I looked at Gap too, so it's not as if I didn't look around. No we don't have a Walmart, and Target's shorts are all too long.



My point is this. I found shorts and they are a 30 waist. It's been a year this May I was squeezing into my 34 jeans and shorts, feeling very fat. Today I tried on the 30's and they felt great. Maybe a tad loose, but a washing should make them feel like a welcome addition.



The 18 miles happened yesteday. Tough run but I felt good. Little League Opening Day was yesterday and that went well, the kid's had a good time and everything came together. You can't beat that. Corned Beef and Cabbage happened, but Guinness didn't, sorry. I fell asleep a quarter into Borat, I was laughing in my sleep though. I was just too exhausted after running.



Yeah, life is interesting around here. Remind me to bring up the weight loss and the boat. Oh yeah, the Mexican Military and M-16s on the beach after the Rosarita 50 Mile Bike ride in 1986, I'm lucky to be here.