30 Years Old

30 Years Old today I am. It feels great, but weird. That is all.

Fix I-5

A project I have been kinda working on..even though its not my area, is the Fix I-5 project. I have worked our promotional booth about this project at a couple of different conferences already.

To see what we are doing in Downtown Sacramento, check out the following webpages:

Fix I-5 Website (Overall Project Info)


Caltrans Traffic Camera at I-5 and P Street (Best Camera to capture roadwork)

As always, whenever you are in any roadway construction project to please:

Slow For the Cone Zone!!!!

Weird Weather

We have had rain here throughout Northern California this weekend. It has been cooler than normal. So we have not done much outdoor stuff as I would have liked.

Went and saw my friend Tamy, who works at District 2, and her family yesterday. I think all the adults got along great. The kids will probably take time to get to know each other better.

We watched the 92nd Indy 500 and the Coke 600 today. Major props to Scott Dixon getting his mug on the Borg-Warner Trophy. He was the best all month long...I just think his boss is a punk...oh well. Kasey Kahne won an attrition race in Charlotte. Cars left and right were losing their tires at the end of the race and no one wanted to win it seemed.

Hopefully tomorrow will be able to get out. Hopefully a ride on the quads or go to Turtle Bay before I head home.

Its Memorial Day Weekend

Ah, the start of summer. First of all, God Bless and thank you to all those who sacrifice and have sacrificed themselves for this beautiful country we call the United States. Words cannot express the amount of gratitude for your service to this country. Again thank you.

Second, heading to Redding for the weekend. Hope to play outdoors.

Finally, The 92nd running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The Indianapolis 500. I wish I could be there Sunday...hopefully next year. My bottom will be planted in front of the TV starting 8 am on Sunday morning. Hoping Helio will climb the fence and drink the milk for the 3rd time...however, I think Tony Kanaan will finally break through and win it.

Please stay safe this weekend. If you start drinking, immediately hand your keys to someone as soon as you take that first sip.

Busy Times

Its been a while since I posted. I never finished my LA trip, didn't tell you about Squaw Valley and my cousin Ross from New York was out for a week (took him to SF to see a Giants game at Pac Bell...err AT&T park). Lots of work stuff going on (and its good things too, I am being recognized by the higher ups for my good work and they are asking me to participate in a lot of high profile activities and events).

I will try to post more this weekend, but I am also working the Big Sky Track Championships. Oh, BTW, major props to Hornet Softball for finally winning conference and getting back to the NCAA's this year. They are at the Fresno Regional. They opened against FS tomorrow night. Im so proud of them and its been an honor to be a part of the team for the past 10 years as their announcer and part time scorer.

Quick Sunday Update

Sorry that I didn't blog during the week. Each day went really late into the early evening, then needed to get dinner and socialized/networked with my colleagues from all across California.

I had a fabulous time and learned so much about the transportation system in the Los Angeles basin. I got home on an earlier flight on Friday, which was nice because I wanted to see my kids and Dawn and I was exhausted.

Im frantically trying to do laundry, house cleaning and spend time with Evan and Lauren because tomorrow morning I head out to Squaw Valley for the 3-day CalAct conference.

I will try and do a post tomorrow night as I expect the evening to be slow for me. I will catch up and post photos from last week.

Weekend in SoCal

So, I am sitting here in my swanky hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel located on the corner of Hollywood and Highland located in the Kodiak Theatre complex here in Hollywood. I can't believe the state shelled out this kind of jack for these rooms and hotel space for our Field Academy starting tomorrow.

Anyway, flew down on South-worst on Friday night to spend the weekend with my Grandma Marlys. We had a great time catching up. I forgot how quick it is to fly from Sacramento to Burbank. Immediately after you get to cruising altitude, you start decending. I had this 24 year-old girl who sat next to me in the exit row, completely drunk, telling me and the guy next to me how at her age she has sworn off men because of their game. I found it quite amusing and it helped pass the 45 min. flight.

Got to Burbank about 9pm and then over to Grandma's house in Lake View Terrace. It was the first time I have been back since Papa passed three years ago and it was kind of weird not seeing him there. I got some great photos of the valley and I have never seen it so clear there (as well as hot as it was 92-95 all weekend).

Here is a cute photo of Misty, playing out in the backyard:

Those were on Saturday. On Sunday, I took Grandma to the Dodgers game against San Diego. It was a great pitching duel as Greg Maddux got the 1-0 win over the former Brooklyn Bums. I thought it was a great game, Grandma didn't think so.

After the game, went back to Grandma's and grabbed my stuff to then head to the hotel. I then met up with Ron who flew in at 5pm. We got settled, I grabbed a quick shower and we headed out for dinner at Miceli's Italian Restaurant. I had the Chicken Cannelloni and glass of Mezzocoraon Pino Grigio and Ron had spag. Since yesterday was his birthday, I surprised him by getting him his first canoli. He loved it.

After we finished, we headed out and strolled the sights before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.

That's it for now. Will take more photos and fill in more about the trip in the next couple of days.

LA, Hollywood and Some Squaw

Tonight I fly out to Burbank to spend the weekend with my Grandma before attending the Field Academy next week in Hollywood. We are going to go to a Dodger game on Sunday (against the Padres). After that I will check into the hotel (the Renaissance) and catch up with my friend Ronaldo (he and I started the same day with Caltrans in Mass Trans 2 1/2 years ago).

We get to go to a lot of operational places in transportation while in the LA Basin: including one day at the Port of Long Beach/Port of LA. I wish I could stay the following weekend because I would have liked to have gone to the Long Beach Grand Prix (since its now an IndyCar race again), but maybe next year.

I then come home for the weekend before getting up early Monday the 21st and head to Squaw Valley for the 3-day CalAct conference. CalAct is a trade organization for rural and elderly/disabled transit providers. It will be going back to my roots with Caltrans. Over the next two weeks I will get to see a lot of friends I have made since joining Caltrans.

I will be taking my camera for both events and I will try to update the blog during the trips so stay tuned.

All of that means that I will be physically out of the office for two weeks! Wish I could do that all the time, but all of this will help me for the upcoming Associate Transportation Planner exam coming up in a couple of months.

Lauren Turns 2 Today!

Happy birthday to my Lovebug, who turned 2 today. I made her a Luxe card, courtesy of Jen and Pam. Thanks ladies!

Happy Birthday Lovebug!

Season Openers

I love Spring. Tonight is finally the IndyCar season opener at Homestead. The A's opened their season this past week in Tokyo against the junior Evil Empire (Red Sux). They will resume the series with them Tues. night in Oakland.

I love baseball, IndyCar racing and springtime.

I love DST

I love it when we are on Daylight Savings Time. You get that extra hour of sun in the evening where if you are outdoors, you can enjoy more activities longer, or if you are doing a project, get extra time to complete it. The fact that we have four more weeks of DST now means more than half the year is on DST, which is awesome.

For all my Indiana friends who are now in year two of this experiment, give it time (pardon the pun), you will love it.

DST means Spring is here and that means Summer is around the corner. I love it!

Thank You Jerome!

JEROME JENKINS WILL NOT RETURN AS MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

Thanks Coach for 8 great years. You and your teams gave this proud alum something to get passionate about ever since you took over from that fraud that is Abatemarco.

I will personally miss you and its sad that Evan will not be your starting point guard for the Hornets in 2022.

Tagged....

I got tagged by my friend Jen Moody so I'm playing along. Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I love all sports, especially Sac State Hornet athletics and IndyCar racing. The college game has a better atmosphere more times than not than professional sports. IndyCar racing is the fastest and most dangerous of all motorsport. If you touch wheels, forget it, your day is done. NASCAR could only wish they had racing like they do in IndyCar racing.

2. I love M*A*S*H and Home Improvement. There is something intrinsic about everyday life in both of those shows that everyone could learn something from.

3. Losing a parent is one of the toughest life situations you could go through...especially when you are just starting out in life. I miss my dad terribly, yet, I am comforted by his presence everyday.

4. I love Tanqueray Gin Martini's! They are the best.

5. I have never lived in another city other than Sacramento. However, I have commuted to jobs in Marysville, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.

6. I'm a simple romantic. Pure and simple. And its ok to watch chick flicks....especially with your woman.

7. I wish I could come up with something else, but its now 11:08 pm PST.


The only other people besides Jen and Mary (she was tagged by Jen) I know are Nathan and Rachel.

Spring has Sprung!

Spring is here in full force in Northern California and its awesome. Plus, Hornet Baseball and Softball have started. And, we bought a new bbq this weekend and will try it out tonight with tri-tip...yum!

I love my job....

For everything bad that may happen, there is a lot of good that comes with it. Bureaucracy is such a funny institution. Communication is the key to all of society, yet, inevitably, somewhere down the line, it seems to always break down. Communications breakdown in bureaucracy is both funny and incredibly stupid, yet very fascinating.

This Flu.....

SUCKS!!!! I've had it since Friday afternoon. Only now am I starting to feel a little better. Everyone in the house has it or is getting over it.

Germs. Lame!

IndyCar is Unified Once More!!!

I am at a loss for words. FINALLY. My favorite auto racing series is one again!


IndyCar is Unified!

The War is Over....

No not Iraq or our Presidential election. It is one of the longest civil war's in history and it will official end on Friday.


The IndyCar War has finally ended after 12 long years. The Champ Car side finally caved in to their senses and realized Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were right from the beginning.

IndyCar racing is back as one series now....Thank God.

Thank you Tony for sticking to your principles. See you at Sears Point this year!

Super Bowl XLII

Its about an hour and half to kickoff...the snacks are out (and the kids are too).

Prediction:

New England 38
New York 17

Perfection is achieved.

Thursday's Thoughts...The Rain Edition

- It's been raining here all week with very low snow levels (down to Colfax/Grass Valley and the Bay Area hills!). I have to go to Nevada City for a meeting this afternoon regarding Nevada County's Regional Transportation Mitigation Fee program. Im on the TAC (that's tech advise committee) for NCTC (Nevada County Transportation Commission) that helps formulate policy and direction. So I get to be in the snow later on...woohoo!

- The cold is actually a sinus infection and have now been on amoxicillin for a week now. Finally finding relief (and its not spelled R-O-L-A-I-D-S).

- Women's basketball game tonight against Weber State. They are 2-2 in conf. play and they have come a long way. The men dropped another one last night at Weber. I think Jerome is done as our coach after the season. Too bad too because he has really stabilized the program in his eight years as coach. Time for a new direction because 3-15 and 1-6 in conf. will not get it done.

- Missed out on a training opportunity next week in Ventura (which is a bummer). What a free week by the ocean. Please twist my arm. Though I am going to San Diego at the beginning of March for 3 days as I am on the statewide committee (our district's rep) for Local Development Review (also known as IGR).

- And last but not least, everyone has acknowledge that after the Pats-Giants game in Week 17, I said that if the G-men play in the playoffs like they did after that first game, they would get a rematch. And they have. Im going for New England to see history be made.

That's all for now.

Colds=Evil; Dish TV=Great!

Im tired of having this cold. I have had it for nearly two weeks now and it stinks!

On another front, Dawn and I are getting Dish Network. Woohoo, satellite TV. She's says I finally broke her down into getting it.

Now about that XboxI have been wanting (or Wii).....

Im Sick Again and Granddad Dale has passed.

So a few things. First on New Years Morning, Granddad Dale lost his battle with Alzheimers and peacefully went home to the Lord. This past Saturday was his funeral and it was pouring rain during the service graveside. I had a little cough going into the weekend (and if you hadn't heard about the storms we had in Northern California last weekend...where have you been!) but being outdoors in it made it worse...so I am now sick again...possible bronchitis.

Anyway, during the service, the cemetery was supposed to have an Honor Guard for him because of his service during WWII. They never showed up so because of my JROTC training, I ended up folding the flag and presenting it to Grandma Lourdes. A very touching moment.

So, I am here again in bed with Lauren also being sick as a dog. Poor thing...she doesn't quite realize what's up, though she has been a good sport though.