Paella-palooza

Our good friends Pam & Tom host an annual Spanish themed part at their beautiful home in Paso Robles. It's an awesome event. We get to make the leisurely drive south to Paso, do some wine tasting/buying and then enjoy a great party with a bunch of wonderful friends. The weather was gorgeous all weekend long and we had a spectacular time.

This year the ante was upped to 60 guests so the food got blasted into overdrive as well. A fantastic collection of tapas was created including; Spanish Tortilla (egg, potato & onion frittata with garlic aioli) by my darling wife Kathy & home made chorizo sauteed in Spanish wine by John.

Then for the finale, Mike, Vince, Tom and I each produced a Paella to share with the crowd. Just for laughs we decided to costume up like the encierros of Pamplona.

L-R Mike, Yours Truly, Vince & Tom....special thanks to Vince for masking my boiler.

Blast! Foiled By Facts Again!

In the wake of the shootings in Newtown CT the Obama Administration did what many populist political machines do. They attempted to capitalize on the tragedy to forward an agenda and in so doing convince those less given to critical thought that "The Government is doing Something to make them safer." You'll recall President Obama and Joe "Double-Barreled-Shotgun" Biden's dog & pony show complete with appropriately multicultural juvenile stage props wherein the President signed a series of Executive Orders related to gun control and gun violence.

Among those Executive Orders was the commissioning of a study on Gun Violence and the efficacy of various strategies to curtail it. Now if you are over 40 as I am, this should sound like a song you've heard before but we'll get to that in a minute. The first point I wish to touch on is the fact that you are likely NOT aware that the study is complete and has been published. One might be inclined to ask, "Well why have I not heard of this?".

You'd think that the Administration , armed with a raft of new info would be trotting in astride their white horses waving about the results of the study that they commissioned to support their effort to reduce gun crime/violence.Well, they would but for one teeny-tiny little thing........

The study in large part debunks the key elements of the "Gun Control as a means to curtail gun crime/violence" agenda.....well, that's awkward isn't it?

High Alpine Hunting Prep, CA

Recently, a friend of mine and I began our preparation for this years deer season. The first step was to evaluate water and food levels in the area's we plan to hunt and look for signs of deer traffic. We spent a very long day at rather high altitude and despite the low snowpack this year found a fairly robust food and water supply in this location.

Beyond that, we simply had a great time exploring a very remote part of California.

Conifers at this altitude take a beating from wind and snow loading. These trees were quite stunted in height, but super thick at their base.

25hrs Of Thunderhill 2012 Photos

This post is so late....like six months late. But here goes anyway......

In December of 2012 I once again had the good fortune to participate in the 25hrs Of Thunderhill in Willows, CA. This time I was invited to crew for Prototype Development Group and their home built Factory Five GTM-R. The team is owned/managed by Richard and Yvonne Migliori and if there is a kinder, more big hearted, more salt-of-the-earth couple on Earth, I've not yet met them. They both work for the public school system in Stockton California, Richard as a Vocational Studies teacher (his previous career was as a General Contractor) and Yvonne as the Director of Nutrition Services.

The GTM-R was built and is raced in honor of their late friend Dan Lawson who had purchased the car but was killed in a racing accident and was never able to complete it. In the six years the car has been finished it has continued to evolve, improve and become increasingly competitive at the 25hr race. Outside of the 25hr it has been very succsesful in the Western Endurance Racing Series with 58 podium finishes in 66 races.

Below are my favorite photos from the 2012 race and a bit of information here and there. As you'll see, the variety of cars in this race is pretty mind boggling. Everything from factory racers such as the 997 and TT-R, one-off prototypes like the GTM-R and RCR Eagle, purpose built tube-frame cars like the Panoz GT, club level racers such as Miata's and E-30 BMW's, and the occasional vintage car as well.

Pre-Race, the Prototype Development Group GTM-R

Secret Court Order Hands Over Verizon Phone Records To Obama Administration......

Canoeing Iron Canyon Reservoir, Shasta County, CA

We had a pretty mild 2012/2013 winter in CA but the spring has been equally mild and kept the snow pack in the Sierras (limited as it is this year) from melting. All of a sudden in the end of April and 1^st week of May the weather turned and the high-country began to give up its stored melt-water and the lakes began to fill.

Without actually having eyes on the lakes it’s difficult to ascertain when this begins to occur. You can try calling marinas, if they exist at the lake you are interested in, or you can try calling Ranger Stations, if you can get someone on the phone who has a pulse but neither of those methods are particularly reliable. I use an online resource provided by the California Data Exchange Center to track water levels in the lakes I am looking to visit http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/staSearch (select the radio button for “Station ID/Name” and enter the name of the lake in question).

I’ve had my eye on Iron Canyon Reservoir for a couple of years now. Iron Canyon is in Eastern Shasta County and is rather remote. It’s a 25mi drive SE of Lake McCloud (which I visited last spring – CLICK HERE ) and 22mi North of the intersection of Big Bend Rd. & CA 299 (Intersection is 37mi East of Redding). The lake sits at 2,660’ altitude and was created in 1965 when PG&E erected an earthen dam impounding Iron Canyon Creek and feeds the James Black Powerhouse which incidentally is one of the larger hydroelectric plants in PG&E’s system. 

Lies, Damned Lies and (Gun Control) Statistics

Anyone who has been a sports fan for any length of time knows how statistics can be used to make a false argument about a player or to find “hidden value” in a player that by appearances might seem less attractive to a team. A great example of the former would be a Pitchers Win/Loss totals or in football, the Quarterback Rating. Neither of which by itself is a reliable metric of a player’s value. There are some examples of the latter found in modern “Advanced” statistics such as WAR, BABip etc that can show a player to be of greater or lesser value than he seems to the naked eye.

In sports as in many other areas of “debate” statistics can be very useful. Provided the data set is of sufficient size to provide a representative sample, provided the statistic actually measures what is being evaluated and provided the statistic is being accurately represented. Equally, statistics can be used to distort the truth - particularly if the above provisions are ignored or not met and that is the topic of this post.

The post Sandy Hook Gun Control debate rages on in many states but has thankfully due to cooler heads prevailing, lost steam at the National level. There were two widely repeated statistics used by the Anti-Second Amendment crowd that I’d like to discuss.

40% of all gun sales are completed without a background check.

90% of Americans (including gun owners) support background checks.