Heroes

These guys are my new heroes. They are selling the rights to their 9,000 acre property in the Big Island to ensure that it will never be subdivided or have houses built on it. The county approved 500 houses and a golf course, but this will never happen.They could have sold the property fr over $200 million. Instead they sold the rights for $4 million. This will help cover the $3.25 million to be a part of the Stewardship Program.
Here is the original article.

Love?

So somewhere between radiation treatments, watching it rain, trips to the hospital, injecting antibiotics, I came across something interesting. Silphium was a plant that had a seed that looked like this:





I found out that ancient Greeks used Silphium to treat cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, snake bite, "warts in the seat," epilepsy, and a host of other disagreeable ailments. But of all of the plant's virtues, the Silphium was certainly most prized for its pregnancy-preventing properties.
Now imagine that. Here was a plant that was used as birth control as well as to soothe your throat. Of course being typical humans, we ate it all. Preserve your natural resources. Now I am going back to illegally downloading Knocked Up.

What kind of answers?

So I went running and met a couple of cool guys. One was a high school track coach and the other was a physical therapist that was the coach's coach when he attended the same school. Does that make any sense? We ran a few miles together and they told me where all of the cool trails around Pasadena are. Hopefully, I will explore them tomorrow. I got to run by the Wrigley mansion. This is a 17,000 square foot house was built by the Wrigley family after making a few bucks in the chewing gum industry.The high school coach had degrees in psychology and literature. I asked him what most authors really meant. He decided to quiz me instead of answering.
He asked about my tattoos, "What do the stars mean?"
I told him, "Well ya know the standard, something to reach for, never give up."
He said, "What kind of answers are you getting?"
I picked up the pace and said "It is the journey, not the destination."
He laughed and kept up with me the whole time. He also asked about my degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management.
I need to memorize this description of my degree:

The NREM department emphasizes the science and management of natural resources and their links to environmental quality. We provide students with scientific knowledge of the physical, chemical, biological, economic, social, and policy elements of natural resources management. This allows them to understand the principles that underpin productive, sustainable land use, and enhanced environmental quality. Graduating students will be able to solve contemporary resource use problems and assist in sound decision making for optimizing land use and managing agricultural and forestry systems, watersheds, and landscapes in an ecologically sound manner. Graduates will also be skilled in addressing resource policy issues and the needs of diverse clientele and communities including policy makers and planners. Scientific objectivity will be emphasized as an important element of environmental planning. Thus, students will be trained in the use of quantitative models and such tools as decision aids for optimizing natural resource management and ecosystem stewardship.

View.

This is the view from my room. (Thanks iPhone). It is 71 degrees and supposed to be raining. I am going running. Just as soon as I get off the internet.

Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

El sol.

I would like to try this. I have a beard and I am snacking on carrots. The package says that the carrots were packed and shipped from California. I wonder where they were grown. I would rather have my food local than organic.
I just found out about this guy.He has a show called "Living with Ed". I will admit that I have never seen it, but he rides his bicycle on a trainer to power things in his house. I can appreciate that. I will be putting more energy into "off the grid" living in my future. But first I think that I should travel the world...

Los Angeles Arboretum.

These are some "real" photographers. I can tell by the tripod and and their gear. They had extra lenses, filters, and cameras in their cargo pockets. I just had my super cool fanny pack.

This place was amazing

Running

Last night I went for a run. There are some mountains nearby so I thought that I would head towards them. After 3 minutes, I was outside of downtown Pasadena. After 8 minutes, I was the only white person around. After 13 minutes, people were starting to stare as I went running through their 'hood. They definitely aren't used to people running for fun. Every time they heard footsteps behind them the quickly turn around and look to see who is coming up behind them.

At least I saw a few cute girls. Unfortunately, they were all pregnant. I talked to one girl (pregnant) and she told me that as soon as she got into high school she was going to start using condoms. Well that is if her boyfriend lets her. He is in prison. I started running faster as the light started to fade. I ran by liquor stores, pawn shops, check cashing stores, you know the usual ghetto things that you see in movies.
The good thing is that I found a way into the mountains. Hopefully I will get to run in them soon.

Is he French?

One day, Paul Jammin' and I decided to make a movie about our friend Kurt. Turns out, the people that know him are probably more bizarre than he is...

Member.

Michele and I are members of the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. I feel very important. Hopefully, I will soon have a lock for my very own locker. Apparently, there is a weight room and sauna and things there too. Most of you know that I love to get into bench pressing competition with any wimpy dude that happens to be withing 300 feet of me. I will be hitting the weights all of the time now. We got to swim tonight for the first time. We were both very excited to be swimming. It isn't quite the same as riding my cruiser to Kaimana and swimming in the ocean, but it will do. I think that we can run there and really get a workout in. Okay, I am starting to sound like my gym friends. I guess I had better go make my muscle milk super high protein shake so that it is ready for the morning. I need my sleep, tomorrow will be a big quad day. I always need my rest before I do quads. Legs are like so important.

What I have really wanted.

For the last few years, I have been working. Most of these jobs don't allow me to show my creative side. Well they don't allow me to be creative with my hair. The hair on my head or my face. Some of you may remember when I had leopard print hair. Or a big "X" for an XTERRA race.

That was good for a week. But I always had to cut it off to return to work. Finally, I am able to cut my hair (or not) as I wish. So for now, here is what I have.

Tiempo.

I finally got some time to explore my neighborhood. Here is what I found:

If you are lucky you will get to see what I have been working on for the last week. I will give you a hint: It is a beard and a mohawk. Ben, I can't believe that I know you. You are so famous in my mind. You are the most popular pers...Oh wait there goes Hillary Duff, I gotta go.

Trojans, the aggresive kind.

Tonight we went to the USC vs. Idaho football game. What a blast! Great seats, good people and a great football team. I didn't like USC before because they were so good, but seeing how efficient they are is really impressive. I guess being pampered while watching the game helps your attitude towards them. Dad had a fever so he is in the hospital for a couple days.
We were supposed to be on a plane to Sydney right now, but I am glad that I am not. I would be very worried. I feel like nobody else can do a good job, so I need to be here to make sure that he is taken care of. Of course, I just take him to the doctors, and they do all of the hard work. It is only going to get more difficult from here on out, but I will try and focis on the positive things... Please keep reminding me of those things!