Yeti style

That's right. Katie does the city of Palm Springs - Yeti style! Here's the PS Power/Chill baseball float at the Festival of Lights parade. And that is our new mascot who does not yet have a name - for now, I'll call her Katie. Haha.

That's been the highlight. Work's let up a bit mostly because I got burned out again, and I've been on a few dates with concert guy. We went to Idyllwild on our day off and it was really pretty up there. We climbed up on a big rock with Scout and took a nap. It was so relaxing. More on that later I guess.
I'm getting stoked for being able to be home for Christmas again. And for turning 23. I won't be doing anything my actual birthday, but the next morning is a triathlon in Hemet and it's game on. Hello, Dairy Queen cake! The next day is a holiday party at my place - barbecue, hot tub and fun.

Be safe and peace out.

The big event(s)

What a crazy week! On Wednesday, a guy I worked with at the casino tracked me down and invited me to a ZZ Top concert that night. We went and had a BLAST. My life-long goal of rushing the stage during the song "Legs" is finally complete, and so is downing a lot of Coors Light. :)

Early the next morning, I drove to Long Beach to hop on a ferry to Catalina Island for the Eco-Marathon. The island was beautiful, and we got to work right away setting up for the event. My boss from KC Sports got me the in, and I'm very grateful because the event was very well put together and I met a lot of great athletes. I was mostly in charge of athlete food and making sure supplies got to aid stations, so that gave me a chance to float around to many areas of race operations. It really built up my confidence and got me excited because I'm finally pursuing my career in event management/marketing. I also got invited back to work at more of the events coming up which is a huge plus. Hopefully I'll get the chance to tackle my own event soon.

Other than that, got back late Saturday and caught up on a lot of errands that I've neglected with working 60-75 hour work weeks. So I think I'm finally on the right page with everything. November has shot right by me though, however I can't wait to put up Christmas stuff the day after Thanksgiving! I'll be San Diego for Turkey Day helping out at a 5K and meeting another race director, who from what I hear is a leading female director in California. Sweet! Power/Chill baseball is going well too, I'm beginning to learn the ropes and make some progress in being their marketing assistant.

On a side note, Cowboy Mouth is playing a concert in San Diego on December 12 - who's with me?

Twirl, twirl, twirl

Friday, Saturday and Sunday by day? Making about a billion smoothies at Jamba.

By late afternoon into night on Saturday and Sunday? Working at the Power/Chill baseball booth at the Pride Festival. Thousands of gays flock to Palm Springs from all over the country for the celebration. It was a strange mix of drag, leather, loin clothes, big hairy bicycle guys, children, awkward gay middle schoolers, a woman wearing a shirt that read "Pussy is a terrible thing to waste", guys dressed like Paul Bunyan, cheerleaders, etc. with a background of rainbows, tents and music.

There was even a parade Sunday morning, which was pretty much a gay Mardi Gras with beads everywhere. It's true - anyone you meet in Palm Springs is gay until proven differently! The whole thing made me realize that my gaydar is still off, there were a few hot boys walking around that could have fooled me.

22nd annual Tram Road Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT - GREG KLEIN 760-324-7069

Nearly 400 athletes from around the country were tough enough to complete the 22nd annual Tram Road Challenge on Saturday.



The 6K run/walk began at 500 feet elevation and ended at 2,643 feet, with the final kilometer being the steepest portion of the race.

The event benefited Palm Springs Police Activities League (PAL).

"This event is very challenging and there were some great times recorded," said Greg Klein of Klein & Clark Sports. "It was nice to see so many runners come out for such a worthwhile cause."

The men were led by Tim Van Orden of Venice at 29:58. Perry Scanlon (30:25) of Desert Hot Springs and Jeff Klemmer (31:21) of
Joshua Tree trailed behind.

The overall female champion was Brigid Freyne of Temecula at 34:54. She was followed by Laura Conley of Woodland Hills (35:06) and Nance Tran (37:02) of Tarzana.

The next event for Klein & Clark Sports will be the Palm Springs Half Marathon/5K on Feb. 17 beginning at Ruth Hardy Park.

For more information contact Klein at 760-324-7069 or greg@kleinclarksports.com.

More information on the Tram Challenge and other events can be found at www.kleinclarksports.com.

-30-

Rawr.

That's all for today.

We hike AND sleep!

Took the JP to Idyllwild on Saturday before work. Definitely calmed me down and tired me out! We had a contest to see what the biggest stick Scout could fetch would be.


Then all day Sunday at Jamba, Monday at KC Sports and at the dentist for TWO and a HALF HOURS (yeah, my mouth still hurts from that one!). After today at work, I needed another day in Idyllwild. JP picked me up from work with Scout and we made our way up again. This time we hiked longer on the Devil's Slide trail. It tired Scout and I out so we slept on the way home.


Awwwww.

More travels...

(Idyllwild)
Last week I went to Idyllwild with Mike before work. I don't know anything that calms me down more than fresh mountain air, trees, good company and coffee during the drive. We stopped a bunch and got to Humber Park with Scout. Not only did she go running wild in the wilderness but she ran up a rock 90 times the size of her and did a suicide jump off of it. Bad Scout!

Saturday was an official travel day with JP and the Scout. We drove to Oak Glen, an apple orchard mountain town with a really old schoolhouse. It's one of the closest places to go to see the leaves change and see that the seasons do indeed change. We took a nice walk and got some chocolate and honeycomb from a tiny shop near a petting zoo. It was tasty and the air was chilly finally. I can't wait until it gets further into October and November since the leaves had barely started changing color and the pumpkins weren't quite ready yet. Last year we went to get apples and I spent the night making apple crisp and damn was it good.

After some doing some convincing we continued up the mountain to Big Bear Lake. I mainly wanted to check out the visitors center and get more information on the town. (Big Bear Lake)
It's about a two hour drive from Palm Springs though, so it'll be awhile unless I find something I can't say no to. But come on - driving home for a couple of hours to hit a lake with a log cabin? Damn near worth it! It's always been my dream to own a cabin on the lake, so some day for sure.

Oktoberfest in Big Bear is going on right now too and I'm hoping to make it to that. I need some celebration - I'm very German, I work way to hard and I haven't had anything to drink since the last party at PS Power baseball, so why not? I'm about due for a knockwurst and beer in a stein. Gemutlichkeit!

Other than that, there are a ton of upcoming events to work - tram road challenge, some stuff with Power and of course, Catalina. Gaudi!

On a side note, this site seems to hide that work at least 55-60 hours a week pretty well, don't you think?

Beverly Hills, baby.

I love driving. And the open road. (That's my new driving buddy, Scout.)

The ability to jump in the car and go see all sorts of things is incredible. Even before I got my license, I was obsessed with the go-kart my family had. When I finally got a car, I didn't have my license yet and my parents said I could drive on the stipulation that I didn't leave the driveway. You'd better believe that every day after school I was in that damn Geo Prism going up and down the driveway.

If semis weren't so abnormally large, I would totally drive for a living. Just drive around the country seeing new sights and meeting new people.

I was in Disneyland for Labor Day helping out at the half-marathon. The boss took me all around the parks to pick up the clocks following the race and I was like a kid in a candy store. People don't understand that coming from the mid-west Disney is sort of a big deal - it's an opportunity saved for the rich or families who save up all of their money for a vacation. Anaheim was pretty sweet, too.

(Heading down Santa Monica Blvd near West Hollywood.)
Today I drove to Beverly Hills. I took the 60 there, so it was a traffic-filled boring drive. On the way back, we'll say I took an alternative route (I got a little lost) and got a chance to see Rodeo Drive, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood sign and the Hollywood Video IN Hollywood. Oh, and I saw a prostitute. Yeah, that's right. A real, live one.

Los Angeles is very weird - it goes from this strange ghetto to all of these cultural areas (Thai town, Little Armenia, this Latino district) to BMWs and Cadillacs and millions of dollar homes on Rodeo Drive all in an instant.