I took a little break from my blog, but I'm back! 

I did a trail run yesterday at Angel Island and had planned to share stories and pics about the run -- but I ended up at the run with my camera, minus the memory card - awesome!  Oh well, you can just visualize.  To start off, I highly recommend trail runs - I run with Pacific Coast Trail Runs, and they are a blast.  They have various distances (10k - 50k), have races almost every weekend, and run them all along the California coast.  It's a smaller company so you see the same people, everyone's friendly, and they NEVER start on time :) Culien is my trail running buddy who introduced me to it, and we have had some adventurous experiences!  Our runs always (always, always) start at the Nugget with bagels and coffee... at obscene hours of the day (about 6am).  Angel Island was gorgeous yesterday -- clear skies, great views, perfect temp.  We did the 16k, and in typical Culien and Erica fashion, missed the start time... so as usual, we were in no rush. People-watching tends to be the highlight of our runs -- yesterday, we were graced with the presence of a gentleman who had just rolled out of his tent, with his partner, in a cherry red onesie pajama outfit.  It was awesome. How often do you see grown men in onesie pajamas these days?  We were also lucky enough to have some young hikers cheer us on on our way down, while cheering each other with their beers.  Not jealous at all. The best quote of the day came from a lovely female runner, who was not aware that she had to do two separate loops to complete the 16k.  So as we were at the aid station, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to refuel us through the second loop, her friend asked if she was ready to get going again.  Lovely girl gave her friend the blankest stare I've ever seen, jaw dropped, and said "You mean there's MORE?!?"  She didn't realize she had another loop to go -- classic.  She didn't look so happy after that. 

Other people, on different runs, have also enhanced our running experiences.  One of the most attractive was the elderly man (70+) with jean cutoff shorts with slits up to his hips (hot!). On the flip side, we regularly see a young man, who always runs with his shirt off, with a tattoo covering his back that disappears into his shorts.  We always wonder where it ends, but we never have any intention of asking. And we always see the tattoo because he's always passing us.  There's always girls running in skirts... never got that.  On one run, at Stinson, there was a jovial group at the top of a hill drinking mimosas and cheering runners on.  They also had signs with slogans like "Remember, you signed up for this!" and "You're only 5 people behind first place!" with the 5 crossed out and a 10 in it's place.  It was a nice distraction from wanting to die at the top of that hill.  One frightening experience was when we were running in Pacifica, came around the corner, and saw a couple guys with axes on the trail.  And by "couple of guys" I mean scruffy men with beards and overalls, lots of dirt on them, with bloody toes, missing some teeth... did I mention with axes?  We nervously ran past the first one, then social Culien decided to ask the 2nd one what they were doing.  He gave an answer, we just aren't sure what he said because it appeared to be mountain axe-bearing man talk - heavy on the grunts and noises, but lacking actual words and sentences.  I think our pace went from 10 minute mile to 7.5 minute mile at that point.  But really, the runs are fun!  To sum it up, people from all walks of life... 

And at the end, they serve soup and chili and lots of junk food.  And there's always someplace that serves beer within a relatively close distance, because we always find it.  Below is a pic from Stinson, my first 20k -- good times!

On a completely different note, I would like to update you all on my garden experience.  I have quite a few plants going strong -- my tomato plant is almost as tall as me (ok I know, not a huge challenge), and my squash plants (I think) just keep expanding.  I also have jalapenos and eggplants that are growing, and then a bunch of other plants but I have no idea what they are.  I do know that they are clumped together in groups, because if you remember I opted to take the seeds and toss them into the ground in groups.  Good plan.  It is working out quite well.  

Below are some pics... along with some of our flowers. 

More to come soon! 

Cheers! 

Top 5 Beers

I'm a Brown, therefore I drink.  I consider myself a beer connoisseur... I know various beers fairly well, I enjoy sampling new ones, and I definitely love them for their taste.  There's nothing quite like a cold beer after a long day, a cold beer on a hot summer day at the lake, a beer on the porch in the peacefulness of Quincy, or a beer accompanied by ribs in the company of family and friends.  Beers go great with baseball games, with BBQ's, with pizza, with picnics, with celebrations, with birthdays, and with a thousand other events and occasions.  Different people have different preferences, and different occasions represent different beers -- Coors goes quite well with NASCAR, Guinness is the epitomy of St. Patrick's Day, etc... We all have our favorites.  And many of us have our top 5, which I am quite fascinated by.  I love hearing people's top 5 -- particularly because they often represent very distinct beers.  Unless you're my brother Chad, whose top 5 would be Coors Light, Coors, Bud, Bud Light, and dirty water... I mean Michelob.  Which brings me to this post -- I'm going to share my top 5, at this moment -- these are subject to change at any time.  Please comment with your top 5, I'd love to hear!

 

1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale -- a classic!  Sadly, I cannot remember the first time I had one, but it is a staple in my beer diet.  It has the perfect combination of smoothness and crisp flavor, a timeless beer. Well done Sierra Nevada, well done. 

* P.S. Their brewery rocks!  They have an awesome outdoor patio and great food... check it out. 

Charlie Brown's Liberty Ale -- a sensation for the taste buds! This is a refreshing, tasteful beer with a hint of citrus flavor. My dad is an outstanding home-brewer and this one tops them all (in my opinion).  Perfection in a bottle. 

3. Stone IPA -- solid. I distinctly remember that Tim's uncle Leo introduced me to this beer. 

It has a strong hoppy flavor, the bitterness of an IPA, and the smoothness of a solid beer.  The best IPA around. 

* Cafe Bernardo's serves this on tap... amazing. 

4. Sierra Nevada ESB -- Sierra Nevada does it again.  Their Early Spring Beer has the hops and the spice to make a lovely beer to enjoy on a nice spring day.  It's seasonal, so enjoy it while you can. 

5. Firestone Union Jack -- wowza, this one's got a bite!!  This is a serious IPA, lots of hop and citrusy flavors.  Watch out, could be dangerous. 

 Ok, these are my top 5 for right now.  There are honorable mentions, however.  Firestone Pale Ale, Stone Pale Ale, Anderson Valley IPA, and Sudwerks Dragonfly are all some of my next best picks.  Duvel is not bad either, but not for the weak at heart. 

So many beers, so little time.  Enjoy. 

Welcome!

I've decided to join the blogging world!  Now I'm not certain that I have the most exciting life to blog about but... I would like a place to write about my experiences, adventures, thoughts, and other such items to share with my friends and family.  My parents aren't on facebook (yet!), so here is an easy way for you to stay connected with my daily life! And much easier to figure out -- you just read it!  Now I would like to preface this with the fact that some may say I'm not the greatest story teller (thanks Mom!)... so be warned that this could roll over into my writing abilities.  I'm not entirely sure where to start, either, so I'm going to go ahead and begin with my newfound task -- I hope that this task will turn into an enjoyable, leisurely, anticipated hobby but at this point, it's a task -- gardening.  I received a few (10+) plants from a regular at work... how thoughtful, right?  Right... unless you don't know how to garden and can't manage to keep a cactus alive, let alone something that needs soil, sun, and water.  But when I got them I thought to myself, "ok, I'm not going to let these ones die! I'm going to plant them, keep them fed, and enjoy the wondrous foods that they produce!"  One minor problem: I had no idea what they were.  Some had labels, one of which looked like it said "yellow pimp." I polled my coworkers and they came to the conclusion that they were all cucumbers.  I decided to email the regular just in case... turns out, there were over 6 varieties (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, I forget the rest)... none of them were, in fact, yellow pimp.  Yellow pepper, in case you were wondering.  So I brought them home and thought that first on the agenda would be to go to Target (isn't that always the answer?) and buy the necessary "gardening tools," like shovels and those prong forked things to break up the soil.  Good plan.  I went to Target and guess what, they sold them in a pair -- mini shovel and pick thing!  I also thought that while I was planting plants, I would buy some flower seeds and make a pretty flower garden.  Another good plan.  One shovel, one pick, and 8 flower packets later... I was ready to garden.  I stepped outside at home... and had no idea where to plant the darn things.  There's lots of dirt (errr soil) around my house... how was I to know which was best?  I remembered something about worms growing, I mean living, in good soil... so I tried planting them where I found (and split in half) many worms (they grow back, right?).  So, I now have various vegetables growing in front of my house, on the side of my house, and behind my house.  Next were the flowers.  I always thought that when you bought a packet of flowers you opened it, scattered it around in some dirt and voila... flower garden 2 weeks later!!  Apparently, the directions were a little more difficult.  "Plant seeds 8-10" apart, 1/4" under the soil, press soil on top of seed, best in full sunlight, make sure soil is moist, better if planted indoors first and transplanted at 3" tall..." what?  Do they realize seeds are the size of... a poppy seed? So I opened the packets, scattered the seeds, and am hoping at least 3 flowers grow.  So there I was... 10 vegetable plants and 8 packets of scattered seeds later, and I was done.  I felt so accomplished -- I, killer of all plants, had gardened!  This was Saturday.  I woke up this morning and could hear the wind whipping outside my window, definitely a jacket day.  I stepped outside on my way to work and decided to check on the fruits of my labor.  My plants, my precious plants, were wilted and flattened to the ground... the wind had gotten the best of them.  Maybe I should stick to cactus, they take a lot longer to kill. 

R.I.P. yellow pimp