What started as a sunny, clear, crisp 45 degree Xmas Eve day in Eugene turned into a rainy Xmas Eve night, perfect for cozying up next to a warm fireplace! A wonderfully uneventful day today...just like Xmas Eve should be...relaxing with the family, watching a few movies, prepping for a traditional prime rib and yorkshire pudding dinner as well as checking out a few of the Xmas light offerings around the neighborhood:

Palm trees and reindeer...oh oh oh!

Ah, there's the warm fire I've been looking for...with a beautiful Xmas tree next to it...can't wait to watch family and friends open gifts tomorrow morning:

It was a long month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a long month. The pre-holiday, pre-vacation work rush was quite taxing on the mind, body and spirit. But alas, the hard efforts of the end of the year crunch is behind me and ahead of me only holiday and vacation divindends forthcoming. First stop on the road, the beautiful pacific northwest and Eugene, OR.

Here's a shot of the stair climb to the top of Skinner's Butte, overlooking the city of Eugene:

Out of the woods to the top of the butte:

While the weather this time of year is cold, rainy and often overcast, these grey overtones are offset by the numerous shades of greens, light and deep from the multitude of foilage that flourish in this beautfiful state year around:

Here's a shot of the city from the top of Skinner's Butte:

Here we have a local top-of-the-butte resident, snacking on some leftovers...curious

I few days ago I left the warm Santa Monica weather, heading NE to Salt Lake City to visit family and friends for the Thanksgiving Holiday, as well as to sneak in some long overdue relaxation (and by relaxation I mean not dealing with any work related issues...although, that's always a lofty aspiration that never quite seems to come true...). Upon my arrival I was fully prepared to a "normal" November in Utah, which means temperature highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s with a better than 50%chance of snow. To my pleasant dismay, I stepped off the plane to temps in the low 60s...almost unheard of conditions in these parts this time of year! So, what did we decide to do on a blustery 61 degree afternoon yesterday...visit the zoo of course!

Hogle Zoo is located in the north east section of the city, near the Emigration Canyon foothills, as seen below:



Above is a playful black bear chomping on an orange...not too far from his locale was a hungry cougar, devouring what appeared to by some very tasty raw meat!:

Next we have a few shots of elephants, rhinos and tigers...always feels strange seeing Serengeti Plain animals in Utah...

And lastly we have a few shots of my favorite animal, the bear! The super-predator Grizzlies, Polars and Kodiaks are my favorites, but the zoo didn't have any of those amazing creatures in residency...what we have here are their "smaller" cousins, the black bear...still a pretty awesome animal none-the-less:

Saturday the 10th, 7am. It appeared an ordinary San Fran morning, slight fog hanging in the air as the sun struggled through the clouds. A chill was in the air for the participants in the San Francisco Triathlon (formerly known as the Treasure Island Triathlon), but this was due to the unfortunate events of earlier in the week when the side of a tanker collided with the Bay Bridge, spilling thousands upon thousands of gallons of oil into the bay. Among the many able to claim a direct adverse impact were the triathletes who came to race that morning as, for obvious safety reasons, the swim portion of the event was cancelled. Even more unfortunate, becuase of time constraints and the priority needs of the ITU pro divisions (as this was a points qualifier for the Bejing), the amateurs' 3 sport race was mitigated to a 2 sport, bike-run only.

Below is a shot of T1, athletes prepping for the race, the mood is somber, the day's hopes tainted by the bay spill:

The Bay Bridge and the oil-soaked waters below as the sun rises...this is where the swim leg would have taken place, alas not to be:

Another shot of the transition area, flags of the international field softly fluttering in the morning's quite breeze:

For me, the race was not to be. The swim was cancelled by force majeure, but it was the bike course that truly reared an ugly head for this racer. The course, 6 loops around Treasure Island's roadways was challenging, but not in the traditionaly sense of difficutly level, but rather as a result of road dangerous road conditions comprised of old, worn concrete and uneven asphalt peppered with rocks and debris everywhere. By lap 2.5 I had my first flat! After what seemed like a never ending 9 minutes I'd fixed the flat and jumped back into the race...by lap 4, rounding what was just about the first mile in of said lap, flat number 2 put me out of the race! Most race days are packed with adrenaline filled excitment...this day was the antithesis of all that could be...but sometimes, those are the breaks.