So A Funny Thing Happened On The Way From The DMV

You might recall last week that I got on my trusty singlespeeder “El Naranja” and undertook my first road ride of 2013 by pedaling to the DMV in Glendale and back to purchase a copy of the California Vehicle Code required for my present public safety training module. What I forgot to relate was the …

Rapt Raptor

I’ve been pretty lucky in the number of visual contacts I’ve had with Cooper’s hawks, but for most of us, seeing one doing anything other than circling or streaking across the sky above is a bit of a rarity. The reclusive birds aren’t known for being comfortable in the proximity of people. So you can …

In Defense Of The House Centipede

I understand: You wouldn’t catch up and release the creature shown below, like I did yesterday. You’d probably run screaming from the room that you saw one of these scurrying quickly across, possibly to retrieve a shotgun with which to dispatch so seemingly an alien invader (click it for the bigger picture): That’s where knowledge …

Improvement

After getting my scores last month for the “Work Standard Test Battery” (WSTB), comprised of five timed and scored physical events,  I proudly wrote about the progress I’d made between the 17 months that transpired from when I first took it. Event August 26, 2011 January 26, 2013 99-Yard Obstacle Course 19.4 seconds (179 points) …

Timelapse: Glendale DMV Ride

In what’s only my fifth ride of the entirety-to-date of 2013 (egad!), I tripped on over to the Glendale DMV to pick up a copy of the latest edition of the California Vehicle Code. There’s something fulfillingly off-kilter about biking to the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is exactly why I did it, in this …

Book ‘Em: Search Complete

When I discovered a book review last week about “The Searchers: The Making of An American Legend” by Glenn Frankel, I was already ordering it before I read whether the reviewer thought it was good or not. My motivation wasn’t just my unconditional adoration of John Ford’s 1956 masterpiece, starring John Wayne. It was also …

Adam-12 In Echo Park

Not sure why, but back when I was growing up I was always so much more an “Emergency!” kid, only occasionally watching the landmark “Adam-12” series (1968-1975). Thanks to Netflix over these last six month or so, I’ve methodically marched my way across every episode of the first five years, and am about three or …