Merry Christmas

The lola's (grandma's) Christmas Eve.

Tita's (aunt's), Tito (uncle) and one Lolo (grandpa).

Bored cousins young enough to be my own children.

The ironic thing about this blog - set up to show my family and friends the other things that interest me besides my love for my work and my passion for running, is that the pursuit of those things, the time and energy that it takes, leaves me unable to blog about them. There is a saying I have heard in exercise that seems applicable here, "if you can talk you are not going hard enough". Ah well so it goes. I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet however, primarily because my other reason for blogging, the same reason why I kept journals when I was younger, was to keep a record of experiences that I can revisit later in life. It is something to read down the line if I am blessed with a long life or posts to share with friends. My first post is still my favorite. I've shared it many times and will most likely continue to do so.

For now Merry Christmas and since this might be one of those posts I may get to read again later, a note to myself;

Rick you are reminded this Christmas season of 2010 that no matter how old you get or how far you've come, you will always have a place with family. Celebrate them while you are able, while they are still around. It also doesn't matter where you are. You like to talk smack about Corona, CA but deep down you enjoy the company. Oh and P.S., stop hating on Christmas. You hate all the shopping and commercialism but other people enjoy it. Wipe the inner sneer off and get off your horse. Hahaha stop being such a curmudgeon. You will turn into Kirby at 39.

SFMOMA

Two weekends ago I was in Williams, Medford and Ashland, Oregon for a big race. I celebrated another finish by not running at all this past week. In fact this past Saturday I had intended to just lay about the apartment, maybe work on some personal projects, maybe not. However the day was too good to spend indoors. We had blue skies and warm temperatures. Our Indian summer was in full swing, seemed like a shame not to take advantage of it. So after a hearty lunch I took my sketchbook, my camera and went walking around the city. I visited a few places, stopped off for a second lunch and ultimately ended up at the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). I like the gift shop, always fun and entertaining. I like the books, the cool funky gadgets, the posters and the t-shirts. The shirts are great but wow I ain't spending $36 dollars on a t-shirt. As always I like to venture into the interior just to look at the space. As luck would have it I ran into my neighbor who works in the museum. She informed me that if I wanted tickets in the future to just drop her a note in her mailbox. She also told me that the last half hour is always free - something I didn't know. Not much time so I just concentrated on admiring the rooms and interior of the museum. Oh I looked at a few pieces too but it was really the interior that grabbed me this time. Okay, the interior and Alexander Calder's work. While admiring the space I came upon this one thought; what if for just one day we can just admire the space for what it is. I would like to revel in the empty white rooms and hard wood floors. I like art, I'm just trying to imagine the space without it. I do have to admit however that the new rooftop sculpture garden would be quite boring without the sculptures. Anyway it was a great end to my walkabout in the city.

Main staircase inside the museum.

Main staircase inside the museum.

Beyond the glass, the new rooftop sculpture garden, great on a sunny day.

The very top of the museum.

Wedding Time

J.P. and Janet.

The last two years I haven't seen much of J.P. or Janet for that matter. We all met through the triathlon club, served on the club board together. It was Janet who got me into Facebook - "c'mon Rick we are all in here, join in on the fun". It was J.P. who talked me into taking over his spot as the run director as he took on the responsibility of being club president. There were parties, runs, bike rides and lots of meetings. Then Janet left for Kellogg's in Chicago for graduate school and J.P. moved out of San Francisco, back to a smaller place in Marin to save money on rent. For the next two years they traveled back and forth between the two cities every three weeks or so, J.P. more so than Janet. In the end their love persevered. Both are back in San Francisco and I was honored to be at their wedding. Just a feel good story all around.

Enjoy the pictures.

J.P. and Janet.

Groomsmen and their pal Angela.

The Venue.

Two friends I would like to see at their own wedding one day.

Yours truly on the far right. I clean up okay.

The tables were named after trails and bike paths.

The last wedding celebration I attended was theirs. Such goofballs, made for each other.

Thank God it's July!

June was a tough month. I know I hardly post on here but I actually missed a whole month! It was tough because there was a lot going on, more than the usual.

I had a big race in the middle of the month as well as some time scheduled with my mom and relatives in southern California. I was looking forward to all of that but my stepdad, the man who raised me, was also in the hospital and his progress was like the terrain in my trail race - a series of ups and downs. His condition as you can imagine was a source of concern and stress for the whole family. At the end of May I actually flew out to Orlando to be with him for a week. I dedicated my run in San Diego to him, I've never run for someone, and the week after he passed away. It was tough news for the family but I was also thankful that it was not a sudden death. We had time to say our goodbyes and ponder the possibility of a life without him. I am especially thankful to have seen him one last time.

Ah Dad... what else is there to say that hasn't been said already. I am the man I am largely because of you. You are truly missed.

James S. Frederick Sr., my dad.

Music

You know where's a good place to listen to music without having to pay for it, a great place to check out music from artists you are unfamiliar with before committing to paying for an album - YouTube. The 30 second snippets that they give you on iTunes or Amazon is just not enough sometimes.

A good friend, Katelyn Benton, an artist herself, used this song on one of her race videos. Loved it and I finally got the name of the song from her today. Check it out and after doing that you should check out the second video which is Katelyn's. She's pretty darn talented and is a great ultra-marathoner on top of that. I am always surprised at what my ultra-marathoning friends do outside of running.

Video of The Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build A Home" featuring Patrick Watson Live @ The Barbican in London, 2007. As heard on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "To Build A Home" is found on The Cinematic Orchestra's most recent album Ma Fleur

Katelyn Benton, Impossible Love. Winner of the 2009 JPFolks award for BEST MUSIC VIDEO. Off of the EP Once, available at digstation.com Song features Big Head Todd and the Monster's Jeremy Lawton on lap steel and organ and Captain Pablo's Corey Schreppel (drums) and Dave Stephens (Bass). Directed by Brandon Nicholas. Cinematography by James Mann.

Just Incredible

I've heard about him before, forgotten and was reminded this evening. Gotta love Facebook and friends posting their favorite videos. Simply amazing.

And It's Already April

So I finished reading the book. Actually I finished it a couple of weeks ago. Really liked it, I'm still thinking about it in fact. Now I go around looking at dogs and saying "What are you thinking? Speak to me dog, speak to me!" Of course mostly I'm just thinking it. I mean c'mon I don't want to look like a lunatic in the city, there's enough people here who talk to themselves. That's a market I don't want any share in.

Speaking of dogs though here is one I've been lucky to dog sit. Huck is much bigger than this now, they grow scary fast. One day they are a pup, the next day a large dog.

Work is still slow but I'm am so damned busy. It's crazy how I can be so busy without working a full-time job. How did I get anything done when I was working 40-50 hours a week. Huh. My theory is that I'm just faster and more efficient when things are hectic. Just a theory. I run like that. When I'm training I think to myself, "Jeez you are so slow, how do you ever finish well?" But when it's time to boogie, the boogie is in the legs. Anyway till next time.

Huck from Rick Gaston on Vimeo.

My New Book

I read a lot but not necessarily books. I'm always on the internet; blogging, facebooking, tweeting, reading news at sfgate, cnn and other miscellaneous websites. I will be at Wikipedia looking up subjects I've read or learned about from my netflix movies. I've even started using the internet in my bible studies - sometimes my bible is hard to understand but I found a site where I can read passages in all the available translations. I also have a stack of magazines collecting dust. Oh and a small library of audiobooks and podcasts. Nothing like a good book though. I grew up on books. When I was a child I lived in a part of the Philippines where there were only 3 channels and only two of them clear. I was an only child with no toys because I kept taking them apart. So I spent my days day dreaming to the music of my uncle's record collection, drawing and plotting world domination on notebook paper and reading books from the school library.

Last Sunday at a dinner party we talked briefly about a book and it turned out that a friend had it and was gracious enough to lend it to me. It was a gift given to him shortly after his dog passed away. The book is called "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Some of you know I'm big on running so no this has nothing to do with running in the rain. It's about a dog. I just read the first chapter at lunch and now I just want to stop working, pick up a mocha at the coffee shop downstairs and read on my couch. I even forgot the annoying sound of a generator that has been running for most of the day at the building next door while I was reading.

The Camera's Name is Lazarus

I have this Nikon snapshot camera that is about 4 years old. One day it just stopped working. No this isn't the one with the broken screen that is still somewhere in Southern California. I turned it on, the lens came out, the picture on the view finder was blurry, I got an error message, the lens retracted and the camera turned itself off. Not knowing anything about lenses, well really the whole camera, I just gave up on it and bought a new one. These cameras are so cheap it's not worth having them fixed.

I never threw it away. The camera body is scratched, the silver finish is buffed off in many places revealing the light gray plastic of the camera body underneath – this is why they are so light and perfect for running, but I kept it. I just couldn't throw this one away. We had done many training runs together, a couple of triathlons, even a couple of 100-mile races together.

Today I was playing with it; turning it on, waiting for the lens to come out, get the error message then turn itself off. I kept doing this over and over again then once while the lens was out I banged it on the desk lightly. It turned itself off but when I turned it back on, the picture on the screen was clear and no error message. The camera is fixed. Oh yeah an old favorite is back in action. Maybe I take a few pictures and post them here to prove it.

By The Way

I'll be here more often with random stuff. The running thing, still love it, working harder than ever but nothing exciting to talk about right now.

Ginger, It's Not Just For Nausea

I am rediscovering ginger. I hated it when I was a kid but I am slowly coming back to it. It's great for nausea. In these long trail run races that I do, some people get really bad stomach problems and nausea and one of the things that work is ginger. Thankfully I am one of those that has a pretty strong stomach. I'm starting to like it but I don't love it. This evening I found that flavored carbonated water mixed with lemon ginger juice is crazy good and that drink in turn reminded me of a childhood memory that seems so crazy now.

When I was a kid growing up in the Philippines there was a belief in our part of the country that if a fever lasts for more than 5 days a spirit has chosen to dwell in the person's body. The only way to get the said spirit out and end the fever is to call the local witch doctor and have them pray on you. I had these done regularly when I was a kid and I actually enjoyed them which doesn't explain my aversion to ginger... well my former aversion. Basically this person, usually an old woman, will pray on each of your hands and feet. She will have a thumb sized piece of ginger that's peeled and she makes the sign of the cross on each hand and foot with the ginger as she finished each prayer. Then she prays over your head and then blows away the offending spirit by blowing on the top of your head a couple of times - this was my favorite part. Afterwards you had to wear the piece of ginger, bobby pinned on your shirt, for a couple of days. I guess body invading spirits like ginger as much as vampires like garlic. Since I enjoyed these sessions I was always eager to have the procedure done whenever I had a fever. Of course it didn't really help when I turned out to have more serious ailments like the one time I actually had typhoid fever. No amount of prayer, ginger and hot breath on the top of my head helped that one. Typhoid fever... the cure was more painful than the illness.

So yeah kind of random I know. Last week a made a big pot of chicken and rice soup with lots of ginger but no ginger related flashbacks. Today I make a lemon ginger soda and bam, trip to memory lane.

Back to Normal

I think I am finally over the holidays. Yup just now.

I had a fun filled and exhausting running season and so after my last race in the first week of December I pretty much just plunked down on the couch and ate a few bags of chocolate. Rest and reward, but then I also spent a week with my mom and relatives in Southern California during the holidays and the rest and reward thing was taken to a higher level.

Well for the first few days the rest was lacking but great on the reward part. There was 21 of us in a six bedroom house and activities were going on till the wee hours of the night and the kids were waking us up early in the morning. Not as much sleep but the eating was out of control. There was dishes upon dishes of food and saying no was not really an option. You say no to one thing and they came back with something else and once you give in that was it. Once the floodgates are open as they say. It was a really great time though. The last 3 days was spent with my mom at her place, more quiet and I had some time to visit some friends in LA. A roundtrip to LA took 3 hours because of the traffic, so much traffic in LA. It wasn't so bad. Good to see these guys, hang with them in a couple of their hangouts.

When I got home I did feel like I needed a vacation from that vacation and indeed it took me a couple weeks to get back into rhythm. It was tough getting back into running after a four week break but getting back into has really helped me in establishing my usual routines. I'm still wishing I could eat like it was still the holidays though and I miss all the authentic Filipino dishes - homemade or bought. Wouldn't it be grand if all the tastiest things were also good for us?

It's been cold but now that the rains are back not as much. Nice and quiet now too without all the holiday craziness. Good to be back. My old camera is somewhere in Southern California, it has a broken screen but the memory card had 1GB of holiday pictures and videos. Oh well, I do have a new camera though so I'm not too bummed.

My mom and I Christmas Eve.

With two of the kiddies, the two who would wake me up in the morning!

With two of my Tita's (aunts).

Kickin back.

Food and Drink

Carrie, kicking back and chillin'. An afternoon spent at my favorite wine bar with Carrie, Dan and Jessica. It's not for everyone but I find it cozy and I like the wine.

This year I only sent out a handful of Christmas cards. I had been scouring all my photo folders from this year because I wanted to print some pictures and enclose them in the cards. To my dismay I've found that pretty much all of my images were running related; running a race, spectating and volunteering at one. I need to do a better job next year of having pictures from other activities. Now on my mobile phone however, I found a bunch of pictures that made me laugh because most of them were food and drink related. Shows you were my mind is at when not at work or working out. I thought I'd share them here. I haven't had lunch yet and this post made me hungry!

Enjoy the pictures.

Jessica, keeping me away from Bob's Donuts.

At Gitane, the new bar down the street from Cafe Claude, same owners. Great wine from Europe. I don't know much about wine but I know the characteristics I like, know enough to ask the right questions.

Hanging out at the wine bar again. It really is called just "the wine bar".

At Jochen's place for a BBQ. Jochen is a fellow ultra-marathoner who I've come to know more this year. He and his girlfriend Kaori are in the neighborhood too, only 5 blocks away. Grimacing in the left corner is a fellow ultra-marathoner, Beat, who twisted his ankle earlier in the day. He's not happy because he has a big, big race the weekend after.

At a new Filipino restaurant that friends took me too. Like the atmosphere, love the food. Good thing it's not close.

At Asuka Ramen.My friend John Branderhorst is half Japanese, has lived in Japan and is quite the ramen connoisseur. I don't know where this place ranks on his list but it is literally just across the street from my building and I like their Tonkatsu Ramen (ramen noodles in pork broth). It's tasty, hearty and usually what I order. They also have good chicken katsu. This was a day when I was particularly stressed with a project and needed the break, good food and away from the computer.

At Pacific Catch. One of things I miss most about Hawaii is "ahi poke", a raw tuna dish. Pacific Catch's is the best I've tasted here in the city and I go back whenever I get the urge. The sweet potato fries is also very good. Unfortunately my camera things so too, it focused on the fries:)

Mmm...Philz Coffee. If it was closer I'd be in trouble. I would go all the time. Not that far about a 20 minute walk. It's not cheap at $3+ a cup but it's good and the staff, at least in the Van Ness location, is very friendly and helpful. A more welcoming atmosphere than Blue Bottle. I prefer their house brand which is called "Tesora", sometimes I'll have the mocha version which is only a quarter more.

New Volunteer Position

So after a stint as the Run Director for my triathlon club in 06, a failed attempt to become the club president in 07, hiatus in 08 and 09, I am now the Design Director for 2010. What does that mean? Well I advocated for this new position and fulfilled it's duties back in 06 along with my run director stuff. What it means is somebody who is in charge of the club's marketing assets; the logo in all it's various forms, artwork for all the merchandise, creation of brochures, flyers, posters, etc. and a possible help to the web director. It all got started when the Merchandise Director needed to track down the logo and have it resized for stickers and shoe bags. I helped out and was soon creating other design related items for the club. I also played photographer and took lots of pictures which came in handy for more communication materials later. I'm no photographer, I only had two classes in photography during my school years but I take a lot of pictures, do a lot editing and know Photoshop.

This year I plan to help out in the same capacity but I also have a couple of new ideas. I have to flesh them out before our January meeting. Last year's Board of Directors was a successful one and I'm hoping the 2010 board will be just as successful.

John's Campaign Poster/Shirt. It used to say "For GGTC Social Director". He won so now it just has the date.

Dave is our new Bike Director in the triathlon club and a good friend.

Ahhrizona

I was in Arizona onHalloween for a race. I was there to support, crew and pace a friend. I never though I would like the Arizona dessert but this event, the past two years, has changed my mind. I wouldn't want to be here during the summer when it's really, really hot but Fall is good. It still got hot during the day because there is no shade on the course. The night was beautiful though, full moon and the light reflected on the sandy trails. Sunset and sunrise were spectacular. I've also been to the Grand Canyon, ran it in fact but that's a different kind of beauty. I would come back to this event just for more weekends just as we have had the last two years. These pictures were taken at McDowell Mountain Region Park.

Comic Relief

Comedian Louis C.K. talks on Conan O'brien about technology from
Nathan Lunde-Berry on Vimeo.

Love this video. Saw it once before when it made the rounds, saw it again today when someone posted in on Facebook. Take a look if you haven't already. So funny. A little comic relief for your day. Even if you've seen it already it may still be funny, it certainly was for me.

The Whitest Haoles

Jess asked me if I could design a logo for her and Sam. They are part of a local canoe club here in San Francisco and they have come to calling themselves the "whitest haoles". The word "haole" originally meant foreigner in Hawaii but it has come to mean "white foreigner" and not always used in the spirit of aloha. I tried explaining to Jess that you can't actually be a "haole" IN California but she's already sold on the moniker and ain't listening to me.

Hawaiian/Polynesian culture and designs dominate the paddling scene, at least from what I've seen, so I've tried to capture that feeling in the design. I hand drew everything including the letters and it was a lot of computer work once I imported it in to a program called Adobe Illustrator - the whole project took a lot longer than I anticipated but a lot of fun. In retrospect I should have based my letter sketches on an actual font. I work with type all the time but I'm no typographer. I should have either made the letter forms really funky (graffiti like) or traced them from an actual font. As it is, it is somewhere in between and a good designer will be able to spot the awkward not quite right sections in the letters. I needed help with the "O" and the small case "e" and ended up tracing those from an actual font anyway. It was then that I realized I should have worked it that way from the very beginning. It was a really fun project and I learned a lot. It took a long time but I didn't mind so much because I was enjoying myself. Besides I owed Jess and Sam, Jess especially. Jess has been my crew chief for my two summer 100-mile ultra-marathon races - it involves driving around in a car and meeting me at the checkpoints, getting me whatever I needed to keep going and staying up all night until I finished. Sam was my pacer on my last race, running miles 75-100 with me, from about 11am Saturday night to a little after 5am Sunday morning. So you see it was my pleasure to work on the project for them.

I was always taught that a logo should work in black and white first. The coming of web and interactive design has blurred that rule. I'm old school though, I've kept to the original rules that was handed down to me. Even in this day and age we still need these identities to survive in one color applications, i.e. the back of event t-shirts, faxes or a yellow page ad.

The logo in color. Looks a bit washed out, I hope it's just the photo. Image courtesy of Jessica Fewless.

Madison, Wisconsin - Summer 08

I was looking through some old photos and I found pictures from the time I visited Madison, Wisconsin last summer. I was there for a race and after I got back the only thing I talked about and showed pictures of was from the race itself. The pictures from Madison was put aside and ultimately forgotten until now.

At the time my cousin Margie lived in Madison and I stayed with her before and after the race. She and her husband Adam actually now live here in San Francisco. Anyway I arrived a couple of days before the event and took the time to explore the area. Both Margie and Adam were working so I did my own thing for the most part. I really enjoyed it. Food was good and so was the beer. Margie worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Adam was a graduate student there, both are chemists. I returned the day after the race from the Kettle Moraine area, about an hour east/north east from the city, to explore a little more before heading off to the airport.

It was such a brief visit but I enjoyed my time there. I even enjoyed the terrible thunderstorms they were having. Unfortunately they were terrible enough to cause a lot of damage. I ran through two of them during my race which took 21:40, that's 21 hours not minutes. Lots of lightning, thunder, heavy rain, falling trees and everything while tornado sirens wailed in the background. What an experience that was and I truly did enjoy the sound of thunder and flash of lightning even when I was running in the Kettle Moraine trails... well when I was in the shelter of the trees, not so much when I was exposed in the open. I enjoyed thunderstorms as a kid in the Philippines but we don't have them here in San Francisco, we didn't have them in Hawaii either. Good times. I wouldn't want to be there in the winter though, brrrrr!!! I've heard the stories and seen the pictures.

Enjoy the pictures.

Waterfront, Student Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Waterfront, Student Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Waterfront, Student Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Enjoying one of my favorite activities.

Walking to the Museum of Modern Art.

Inside the Museum of Modern Art.

The capitol building.

Margie and Adam.

For more pictures click here

Between 50 and 80

That refers to temperature. When you live in the San Francisco Bay Area your ideal temperature will fall roughly between those two temperatures. Anything above 80 degrees fahrenheit and it's a heat wave and anything below 50 fahrenheit is too cold. Last night I was at a dinner party and I listened to two friends complaining how they have completely lost their tolerance for heat, one is from Texas and the other from Miami. Yup, yup, living here will do that to you. My very good friend Jessica is from Wisconsin where they have really cold winters and these days she can't stomach the cold. Love it here but we do get spoiled with the temperature.

It's 5:30am and I've been awake for the last hour because it's too warm to sleep! I bet I could go running outside right now in nothing but a pair of shorts and feel totally fine. Makes for a spectacular sunset though. The dinner party I was at last night had a great view of the bay and Mt. Tamalpais. Tonight, like last night, the restaurants in the neighborhood will put out tables and chairs outside and it will be a fun time to walk around. Alright time to go back to bed. The heat from my monitor is going to over heat me, haha. It might not be a bad idea to buy a fan, I think we have this weather for a few more days.

Lake Tahoe

My mom loves Lake Tahoe, so naturally I call her whenever I'm up there to make her jealous. Just a little payback for all the times she calls me to tell me she cooked this and that and it's too bad I'm not there to partake of it. You know I find myself falling for the place too. The more I visit the more I love it. Lot's of good memories in Tahoe which includes finishes in the two 100-mile ultra-marathon races held there every summer.

Last weekend was a big one at the lake. It was my friend Jessica's birthday and they were celebrating it again in Tahoe. The last four years she and her guy Jeff had headed up there for her birthday weekend and taking part in the TransTahoe relay. They organize the whole thing; house rental, boat rental, food and drink and swimmers for the relay. It's swimming so technically it's "outside running" so I don't mind posting here. I was just along for the ride, a spectator. While all the other teams used small water ski type boats we had a sailboat, so spectators were welcome and encouraged. Basically 6 swimmers take turn swimming across the lake and the route is about 11 miles long or just under 18 kilometers. Boats shadow their swimmers all the way across. A friend had told me that the lake water is so clean you can drink it as you swim.

Got in on Friday and stopped off at Carson City which was home base for another 100-mile ultra which was also happening that weekend then headed to Jessica and Jeff's house rental. We were up before sunrise Saturday for the swim relay, done by lunch, grabbed a huge lunch complete with margaritas, napped in the afternoon and enjoyed each others company for the rest of the evening. We all need days like this. Sunday was clean up then we headed out for some group activity. Some biked the roads, a couple of folks mountain biked the trails and I went on a solo run with my camera. We then got back together for a short dip in the lake, a quick lunch and then it was back to San Francisco.

The weather was great that weekend, blue skies, a bit on the warm side but better than cold and foggy like we have here. Wish I was back there now. Enjoy the pictures.

Saturday morning in the Lake, headed towards the swim relay start at Sand Harbor. We were the only sailboat in the relay, most were using small waterski type boats. Somewhere to the right is the start of the TahoeRimTrail 100.

Ariel, our star swimmer. Lake Tahoe is one big freshwater pool, surrounded by mountains and a mile up. We are not at sea level.

Blueberries and beer, a quiet moment during the relay. Birthday girl Jessica is the one with the cowboy hat and a beer.

Birthday girl Jessica, getting ready to take over from her guy Jeff.

Late lunch and celebratory margaritas at Blue Agave.

Solo time on the trails Sunday to snap some pictures of the views.

Great views.

More views.

One more.

For the complete photo set, click here.