other talented david and marta duos

in the process of troubleshooting an issue with our website i entered davidandmarta into the google.com search engine. our website was the #1 hit, but much to my surprise i found some hits for other david and marta pairs. they seem to be as talented and likable as we are.

the video of these youngsters is entitled "Concierto David y Marta Piano"
(click on the link, not the image below)

the video of these hipsters is simple entitled "David a Marta"


it would appear that david and marta duos are doing great things all over the world.

bags of hair are disgusting

did you misplace a bag of hair this weekend? did you leave it on our front porch, perhaps? why are your hair clippings in such a perfectly round ball?

we have our suspicions about who you are. we also have the evidence, and it is disgusting.

this appears to be a copy cat crime. you won't get away with this. (devi, beth, and rodrigo, we're talking directly to you).

easy for you

this morning marta and i had the stetson cologne jingle stuck in our heads, which brought me to the youtubes to watch an old commercial from my childhood.



these two are so in love that they have chosen to ride on a single horse despite having two. stetson does indeed make it easy for you.

i was shocked to find that stetson has modernized their commercials.



how could something so classy and tasteful evolve into something so trashy and tasteless? this thing is horrible for too many reasons to list. since when is the image of a rugged gentleman riding a horse through snowy fields with a gorgeous lady an insufficient way to move cologne off the shelves. why is there no jingle? why is tom brady being so cheesy? his whole attitude makes me uncomfortable. i think stetson would be well advised to go back to their advertising roots. the "easy for you" song is still stuck in my head 15 years after i last heard it. that has to be worth something.

elephant seals and fried smelt

saturday was filled with life from the sea.

we joined chris and olivia at the año nuevo state park for a long-awaited walk amongst the mating and fighting elephant seals. it was pretty awesome. elephant seals are monster sea mammals which come to the california coast every winter (males weigh in at 5000 lbs, and females 1500 lbs). the females arrive pregnant, and give birth within 10 days. the pups are weaned within 6 weeks (after gaining some 300 lbs). the males arrive at the same time and vie for mating privileges. when alpha males have asserted their dominance, they will mate with a harem of 50 females. no one but the pups are eating during their time on land, and the males will lose up to 1000 pounds during this 2 month period. the females leave in early spring to return to the deep pacific to feed, while the males leave soon thereafter to feed near the aleutian islands in alaska. the weaned pups hang out on the beach, learning to swim and forage, and finally head out alone. the following december, they all come back to the same beaches and do it all over again.

as a storm brewed just off shore and blew sand in our eyes, we stood atop dunes to watch the daily activity of hundreds of elephants seals. we saw mating and fighting, heard male elephant seals' deep loud roars and the little monkey-like chirps of the pups, and felt threatened when a male elephant seal charged toward us. our fearless docent, bob, protected us with wisdom and clever jokes.

here are some pictures.

an alpha male surrounded by his harem. the huge seals in the background are other non-alpha males looking for an opportunity to slip into the harem unnoticed. good luck, pal.


a male seal who has not earned the right to mate this season hangs out in the dunes, making loud and low noises that sound like a harley davidson starting.

an alpha males sports a winning look in old rain pants and new binoculars. yes, that is duct tape.

here is video showing three males angrily chasing one another around the beach, bellowing as only a male elephant seal can, and then suddenly collapsing with exhaustion after their short aggressive sprint. the staccato sound of deep hollow rumbling (as if a large pvc pipe is being repeatedly assaulted) is the noise the males make when feeling feisty. the big proboscis plays a role in this noise-making. that's all we know. and, no, they don't "initiate it by biting the neck."


here is a photo of the whole group, looking satisfied with the morning at ano nuevo.

after all this wildlife observation, we headed inland for lunch in pescadero. we stopped at the storied duarte's tavern. we highly recommend the cream of artichoke soup and the fried smelt.

bwpa #2

beard

i decided a week ago that i was going to shave my beard off and go with a more sporty and youthful look. the timing of the shaving event was selected based on a trip to tahoe that was planned for this weekend. i thought that the beard would provide useful protection from the high alpine elements, and that i would shave it upon our return to temperate santa cruz. due to my bicycle accident last week the trip had to be canceled. there is just no way my wrist is up to gripping a ski pole in its weakened state. despite the cancellation of the trip, i held onto the timing of the beard shave.

based on a comment from j_bone_tx on a recent posting of ours i decided to enact a new tradition when performing major beard removals (see photo below).


i think george washington and abraham lincoln would be pleased with my new plan (today is president's day for those of you who didn't know). interestingly, my last major hair removal was also on a patriotic holiday, the fourth of july. no better way to celebrate america than with a zip lock bag of beard whiskers.

beached whale pale ale

david's injury (see crash boom bang post below) meant we weren't going to tahoe this weekend. no skiing, no snowshoeing, no sleeping over at kate's. once we recovered from our disappointment, we realized that we had time to bottle our pale ale.

we brewed up some pale ale in the kitchen 2 weeks ago, and by friday, it was ready for bottling. this evening, we undertook the first homebrew bottling of our young lives. sterilizing the bottles without chemicals is a pain, but we finally boiled the living...stuff...out of all the bottles we've been saving for a few months. steam burns were suffered. unhappiness reigned.


then the bottling began, and we were happy again.

the brown liquid in the "ale pail" actually looks and smells like beer. it turns out that neither one of us thought to taste it before capping all the bottles. perhaps we'll remember that step next time.

in ten days, we'll open one of the bottles of beached whale pale ale, and we'll let you know how it is. we've got our fingers crossed that it will be delicious. well, i have my fingers crossed; i'm not sure post-bike-trauma david's gimpy fingers are capable of crossing.

crash boom bang

why is it that when you slip, trip, or fall the first thing you do is quickly spring to your feet and look around to see if there were any witnesses? is embarrassment really that much more powerful than pain or concern for you own well being? before even determining if you are injured you will tell any onlookers that you are totally fine, and try to move on about your business as if nothing happened. at least that is what i do.

in fact, it is exactly what i did this morning when i fell off my bike.

before i go into the details of my fall, let me just say that i am totally fine. no major injuries to speak of.

here is how it went down. i was riding through campus, and coasting down a gentle hill, when up ahead there was a girl waiting at a crosswalk. she had the right-of-way so i began braking with both hands to allow her to cross. she couldn't tell that i was braking, so i reached up with my right hand to signal that she should cross. lifting up my right hand left only my left hand on the brakes. those would be the front brakes. the front wheel seized up, and i went over the handle bars and onto the pavement. the bike continued over me. in the end, both the bike and i were on the pavement having done complete flips over each other. luckily the car behind me was far enough back that they could stop.

there was no video footage of the incident, but had there been it would have looked a bit like this:


as i said before, i sprung to my feet as fast as possible and declared that i was alright. i looked around to find that there were only 50 or so people that could have seen the whole thing happen. i immediately scooped up my bike climbed back on to continue the 100 feet or so to where i lock my bike while at work. during those 100 feet it became quite apparent to me that i was in a decent amount of pain. a visual survey revealed that nothing appeared to be broken or bleeding so i proceeded to lock my bike and limp into my building. i decided to take the elevator instead of the stairs since i still wasn't 100% sure of my condition. the elevator also seemed like a pretty good place to hide my wounded ego. who did i encounter in the elevator? none other than the girl who moments before was politely waiting to cross the street when i did a face plant into the pavement at her feet. it turns out she works on my floor. she was very nice and apologetic about the whole thing, even though it was 100% my fault (or 50% my fault and 50% bad luck). upon arriving at lab i did a full survey of my injuries to find that all i had were some scrapes on my hands, a bit nastier scrape on my forearm, a slightly sore knee, and a more than slightly sore wrist and elbow. nothing broken and nothing too badly hurt, although i am typing with only one hand right now. seeing as the sore wrist and elbow are on my pipetting hand (right hand), i am struggling to get done the work done that i had intended to do today. you will be happy to know that in the name of science i was able to perform the majority of my work with my nearly useless left hand. now i am just writing the post while i wait for my valentine to come pick me up so i don't have to ride that death machine again. at least not until tomorrow.

gut check america?

i found this slogan and image on msnbc.com. what in the world does it even mean? it was the header for a web page where individuals can write in and tell msnbc, "what keeps them up at night." "stand up and be counted", sounds like voting, but what does that have to do with "gut check america?" the guy with the overalls and flag actually looks like he might be out of some old school communist propaganda images like this one:
but i doubt that was what they were going for.

anyway, it sounds like msnbc thinks you are getting soft and are in need of a "gut check." so take that for what it's worth.

i think i need to add msnbc.com to the list of news websites i no longer go to.

hot off the presses

if you didn't happen to read the santa cruz sentinel this past saturday there was a bang-up article on the new women's center at a community health clinic in watsonville, ca. i highly recommend checking it out (yes, that is marta in the picture).

If you get pregnant in Watsonville, there's a good chance you'll visit Salud Para La Gente -- nearly a 50-50 chance, in fact.

Salud's doctors and nurse practitioners provided prenatal care in just under 1,000 of the 2,200 births here last year.

To better serve its female patients, Salud has converted former administrative offices at the back of its East Beach Street clinic into a women's health center.

The center, gleaming new and painted in earth tones, includes five new exam rooms, five offices for one-on-one patient education, a viewing room with four flat-panel televisions for watching health education programs and a waiting room off the Trafton Street entrance.

And Salud, which is well on its way to recovery after running into financial difficulties last year, isn't done expanding. Dr. José Chibrás, Salud's chief executive officer and chief medical officer, is planning on opening a small pediatric clinic in a building it owns next door.

"We're increasing access," Chibrás said. "We're optimizing patient care."

Chibrás said the additional examining rooms in the women's center give the clinic the capacity to see 3,500 more patients, some 10,000 more visits, each year.

The nearly 30-year-old nonprofit clinic sees more than 100,000 visits a year now, Chibrás said.

Nurse practitioner Marta Staple said patients are more comfortable in the new female-friendly surroundings, and they're less at risk of coming into contact with sick patients.

Pregnant women not only get prenatal care, but also learn about breast-feeding, nutrition, CPR, even the use of car seats. And if they don't have a car seat, Salud can help them get one. Staple said 95 percent of Salud's patients take the information about the benefits of breast-feeding to heart, and not only try but succeed. To compare, she said, less than 50 percent of Latino mothers nationwide breast-feed their babies. "It's the most thorough prenatal care I've ever seen," said Staple, who left a private practice in Los Gatos to join Salud last May. "It's solid." The center also offers preventative screenings, such as mammograms and pap smears, and steeply discounted specialized services such as ultrasound through partnerships with other agencies. And while it's separated from the family practice, pediatric, eye and dental clinics in the rest of the pink building at 204 E. Beach St., having all the services under one roof -- unique among county safety net clinics -- is an advantage as well. Staple said if her patients have an eye or dental problem, she can help them set up an appointment on the other side of the building. And it facilitates the transition from prenatal to pediatric care.

and the winner is....

david! well, the kind of second place winner!

last sunday, we ran in the santa cruz superbowl sunday 10k. it was cold and rainy, but we had already paid and wanted the t-shirt. so we ran it, and david took 2nd place in his age group. he's a hero.

check out the results.

here is the t-shirt logo from the run. notice the general lack of reference to running, and the dominance of the superbowl helmets. it's kind of like we just had some t-shirts made up to celebrate this year's superbowl.

cheerios?

what if honey nut cheerios were called buzzy-bee oat circles?


just kidding. that doesn't make much sense at all. i was just very pleased with the sizable response to the nutty nuggets post (a few down from here) that thought i would try to replicate that kind of enthusiasm with an even less well photoshopped cereal box.

steroids in professional sports

roger clemens is going to testify before congress today about whether or not he took steroids, and whether or not he lied about it.


nobody asked me, but i see this as a huge waste of time. we should just let these grown men pump themselves full of whatever they want, prance out onto the field in their colorful uniforms, and compete in sporting events for our entertainment. the faster and stronger they get, the more pepsi and life insurance we will purchase. a win-win situation.

our government stinks!