Monday, March 31, 2003


I had a blast on my Ohlone Wilderness backpack trip despite the fact that I had an extremely sore left Achilles tendon on day two. It is still sore today so it is going to be a week of resting to give it time to heal.


There were four of us on the trip: J., D., R., and I. We met at 9 a.m. at the Del Valle park trail head. We left two cars there and jumped in the other two cars and drove to Sunol. We were on the Ohlone trail leaving from Sunol park by 10 a.m. We had a steep but beautiful ascent for most of the day. The hills of Sunol were still very green from the rainy winter season. The wild flowers were out in force. The weather was awesome: a blue sky, a cool breeze, and a warm sun. We took lots of breaks to admire the views and the wild flowers and rest. We stopped for lunch at the Sunol backpack area. We had another nice stop with a view of Goat rock. R. was having problems with a sore leg and we had to take a break to rest her up about 5 minutes from camp. She was very glad to see camp. Her sore leg was annoying but it didn’t dampen her spirits. She loved everything about the trip except her sore leg. We hiked into our campsite at Maggie’s Half Acre around 5 p.m. in time to set up camp and hike up to the top of Rose Peak to catch the sunset. My sore tendon kicked in on the hike to Rose Peak, but the sunset was great. We hiked back to camp and had dinner as the light faded and the stars started to come out. The stars were beautiful. I collapsed in my tent by 8:30 p.m. and was asleep by 9 p.m. I slept fairly well.


We were all up by 6:30 a.m. We had a nice quiet peaceful breakfast and got packed up and were on our way by 7:30 a.m. We hiked down to a valley first thing and then had to hike clear back up to another ridge top. At the top was a marvelous log to sit on for a rest break. D. gave out chocolate at that stop! Day two was fun if a bit painful for three of us. I was working hard to keep from stressing my left Achilles tendon as much as I could. R. was busy trying to not stress her leg. D. had chronic knee tendonitis to deal with on the down hills. J. was the only fully healthy one among us and he was the oldest! It was sort of nice to have others to share your complaints with though. We hiked along the ridge top for a bit and soon reached Murietta Falls at 10 a.m. We had a nice two hour break at the falls. We admired the view from the bottom for about 40 minutes and then moved up to the top and had a nice early lunch sitting next to the creek near the top of the falls. I soaked my left tendon in the nice cold creek water. We had some naps in the warm sun after lunch and around noon continued our trek to Del Valle. We had steep hill to trudge up after lunch, then a long descent to a creek, followed by another trudge up to another ridge top. Then we had the long long descent down to Del Valle. It’s a killer down hill hike of about 2000 feet over 3 miles. We were all glad to reach the bottom of that hill and shed our packs into the cars and drive back to Sunol to get the other cars we left there. It was a wonderful trip despite the aches and pains!


Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/cdrdash, Ohlone Wilderness album.

Wednesday, March 26, 2003


Over heard this just now in the building kitchen. Two folks were talking about attending meetings and one of them said in a sarcastic voice "you don't want to go listen to the cortical pathology of other people?" Folks at NASA have an interesting way of expressing themselves.


I decided to put off taking my car in to Mtn. View Foreign Car until after the Ohlone backpack trip. I need a car to help with the backpack shuttles this weekend and I think my car will hold up OK. Its just annoying to drive but it does work. It will spend most of its weekend parked where our hike ends.


Tonight I'll get out my equipment and start packing for the Ohlone trip. It shouldn't be too complicated since its just an overnighter.

Monday, March 24, 2003

Well ... this has not been one of my better birthdays. That slightly lonely feeling become a really lonely feeling and now I'm feeling sad and blinking back tears as I write this. My Hobees dinner was OK. It didn't help that Stanford lost to Minnesota in the NCAA tournament game tonight. I could have used a Stanford victory to perk me up. Oh well. Someone remind me next year to not spend my birthday alone. This sucks!


Well .. gotta blog on my birthday. I'm 42 years old today, a nice age. Monday is not my favorite day for a birthday. I do get to go see Stanford play Minnesota in the NCAA womens basketball tournament second round tonight. I'll have my favorite dinner at Hobees before the game. I am going to be way sleepy tomorrow since the game starts at 8:30 p.m. I probably won't get home till around 11:30 p.m. If I get up at 6 a.m. as usual that's only 6.5 hours of sleep about 1.5 short of what I need for a good nights sleep! I am already sleepy and I haven't even stayed up yet. LOL!


I'm feeling slightly lonely today so I spread the word about my birthday to just about everyone I know online so at least I won't be lonely in the virtual world. Kathy from work did say happy birthday this morning and I really appreciated that. I get to sit next to my basketball seat neighbor tonight, Ed. I'll probably let him in on the fact its my birthday. He'll make some joke about what a baby I am since he is almost old enough to be my Dad.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003


My Enneagram (from emode.com URL is http://www.emode.com/tests/enneagram/)


Cathy, you're a Type 1 - The Idealist


Friends, family, and colleagues probably appreciate you for both your high standards and commitment to excellence. They're also apt to know that when they come to you with a problem, they can trust you to be fair and objective. As an Idealist, you're likely to be seen as a wise and balanced person with strong integrity.


Being a member of this type puts you in good company. Jane Fonda with her knack for athletic ideals and commitment to standing up for just causes, and Ralph Nadar, with his idealistic determination as a consumer advocate, are also Type 1s.


This means that compared to the eight other Enneagram types, you have a strong sense of what's right and wrong. In fact, you're someone who is typically committed to doing the right thing and making sure you're as good a person as you can be — no matter what situation arises.

Tuesday, March 18, 2003


I went hiking on Saturday to Diablo State park with John and Dave. This was the day I expected to be donning my rain gear and hiking in the rain but the weather forecasters were wrong and it was mostly sunny all day. We began the hike strolling along a meadow but soon started a long up hill trek. We hiked up past some beautiful water falls to Mt. Olympia gaining about 3000 feet in elevation. Alas, no Greek Gods or Goddesses were on top of Mt. Olympia but there was an awesome view including a view of Mt. Diablo (which is taller than Olympia). We had our lunch on top. After lunch we did some more climbing to a ridge top where we hiked on the ridge a bit to the trail to Eagle Peak. Climbing up to the ridge top was a challenge with a full stomach and more of a desire to nap than hike more up hill. We soon reached Eagle Peak and took a snack break there while enjoying more wonderful views. The rest of the hike back to the cars was all down hill. It was quite a challenge to our knees. I did OK. Dave was suffering a bit and John was his usual fit 60+ year old self and charged down the mountain. The wild flowers are starting to bloom in California. We saw shooting stars, poppies, lupens, yellow wallflowers, blue dicks, and indian paintbrush and more whose names I have forgotten. John was really good at stopping and telling us flower names. It turned out to be a delightful day and a delightful hike. We ended up doing 4400 feet of elevation gain and 14 miles of hiking!


Linda and I headed over the hill on Sunday to hike at Wilder Ranch State park in the hopes of seeing the large surf caused by the rain storms. When we got to Wilder it was closed due to the storms so we headed to Natural Bridges State Park instead and took a walk along the path parallel to Cliff Drive. The surf was large but not as impressive as I had hoped. The weather was again a surprise with mostly blue skies except for a little rain and clouds at lunch time. We hiked to the light house about 2 miles away and saw tents and lots of people just down the coast. It turns out there was a kayak surfing contest going on. We leaned on the fence on the cliff top and watched 3 or 4 contestants surf the waves. It was fun to watch. They did a trick where they would do a 360 turn at the bottom of the wave as they were surfing it. We tore ourselves away from this cool entertainment to head back. We spent much of the hike catching up with each other on our lives since it had been a while since L. and I had been out hiking together. We also struggled to get her digital camera working with no success. Oh well. The cool trees and the neat water fall will just have to be a picture in my mind until I get to Santa Cruz again. It was a very mellow beautiful hike.


This week is busy with meetings. Yesterday I met with my mortgage broker at lunch to refinance my loan to get a 15 year fixed loan and a lower interest rate. The loan application is all filled out and we are waiting for after Greenspan speaks before locking in an interest rate. Today I have to deliver books to Rhoda and then go to therapy. Wednesday I have to be home in the afternoon for Comcast to install digital cable. Thursday is actually normal! Friday I'm off at 9ish for a physical at Kaiser to get my fitness center health form filled out so I can use the fitness center again. Phew. Next week I'll continue this madness and get my car to Mtn. View Foreign car to see if they can figure out why it stalls so much. Auto Repair Specialists had no clue.



Friday, March 07, 2003

Bummer. They are not televising the Pac 10 tournament games on Saturday. I might toddle to the arena to say high to Wen and Ki between games though. I'm sure there is some cool sport on TV this weekend that I can watch -- maybe even a women's basketball game. Maybe I'll go on the GLS hike at Santa Teresa and stop by downtown on my way home. Who knows. I'm just happy not to be leading any hikes this weekend so I can do whatever catches my fancy.

Funny quote for the day: "f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgmmng."


Must remember to select books for Rhoda at the library this weekend. Must remember to select books for Rhoda at the library this weekend. Must remember to select books for Rhoda at the library this weekend.


OK, I have made my big plan for tomorrow: sleeping real late and watching the Pac 10 basketball tournament on TV!!! On Sunday I'm hoping to go out and do some geocaching. Its great fun to wander around in the outdoors with a little computer!


My Yahoo horoscope is sort of cool this March 7th:


"Today should find you continuing to work towards cherished goals, career and otherwise. Love matters may come to the forefront today, dear Aries. If you are currently involved, unexpected events in your life could bring you that much closer to your partner. If you are not involved, you could meet someone exciting, perhaps through group activities of some kind. Also, a longtime friend could suddenly appear to you in a new light. Whichever it is, expect some interesting developments. "

Monday, March 03, 2003


I'm going to be an Aunt again. Dave and Lila are going to have another baby. The baby is due at the end of July and they already know its a boy. The name of the new baby will start with an "M" but they are not sure yet what it will be. They came up with "M" because they had picked out "Molly" for a girls name and decided they like the combination of an "M" name with the last name "Roberts." Sascha will be a big brother. He'll be 5 years old when "M" is born.


I have two well balanced nieces! On Saturday Marlena won the level 6 balance beam competition at a gymnastics meet. Then at the same meet Eva won the level 8 balance beam competition on Sunday. Eva also came in second in the all around. Woo hoo! YAY for my well balanced nieces!