I wrapped up my third triathlon season today with another great event at Bonelli Park. The day dawned very clear and comfortably warm - perfect conditions for the 700+ like-minded athletes who came to work off some of those holiday calories. This was a sprint event (1/2-mile swim, 14-mile ride, 4-mile run) managed by Renegade Racing from the south shore of the reservoir. This location is very familiar to me now, since the Bonelli series earlier in the year runs from the same locale. Renegade has a good thing going here. This is only the third Turkey Tri and each year attendance has more than doubled.

A pall of forest fire smoke hanging over SoCal was insufficient to deter a reunion of the aging instrumentalists of the Virtual Campfire this past weekend. Here's a particularly unworthy sampling of the afternoon's festivities:

Society has a habit of picking on meteorologists. How many times have you heard someone complain about inaccurate weather forecasts? Personally, I believe our weather-folk generally get a bum-wrap in this regard, so I was happy that they got it right this past weekend when forecasting light rain for Saturday morning at Lopez Lake in California's Central Coast region. It may not have been the forecast I wanted, but at least I knew what was coming. The forecast mattered, because I was going to be competing in an international-distance triathlon that very same morning.

Since my recent post celebrating the formal legalization of Tom & George's marriage, they have crafted an Open Letter to all Californians. In light of the looming state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage (Proposition 8), close on the heels of California's landmark decision legalizing it, they wish to explain why this proposition should be defeated. The letter is personal, well-reasoned, factual and compelling. I urge everyone to read it, regardless of your position on the issue, because through it you will gain a very personal understanding of what marriage means to these two loving and committed men; you will see that it is the very same things the rest of us enjoy (or strive for) in our marriages.

Last month, my good friend Tom and his husband, George, took advantage of the recent California Supreme Court ruling overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage and finally obtained an official marriage license. The civil ceremony, conducted on a fine Saturday morning by a judge-acquaintance at a Downtown LA courthouse, was brief and private. I was not there, but my family and I joined the "newly-weds" for a celebratory lunch following the ceremony at a fun Mexican restaurant named Casita Del Campo in the Silver Lake area. We had a most enjoyable time with Tom's parents and a small group of the couple's close friends. The whole affair was very low-key and informal, so perhaps I can be excused for missing, at the time, the "big picture" significance of the event.

What better endeavor on a fine Southern California Labor Day weekend than an acoustic jam with old bandmates? What indeed! It was an acoustic cast of characters, including a few members of the now-defunct Sauce. Here are a couple of clips memorializing the event. The first is a rendition of Sauce's "Moo":

And what happens when you cross the Kinks' "Hot Potatoes" and "Ordinary People"? Let's find out:

This week, Barack delivered an address at the Brandenburg Gate. Recalling the legacy of the historic airlift of 60 years ago, he inspired and challenged all the people of the world to live up to that legacy, much as he's inspired and challenged us here in America to reach again towards the ideals on which this country was founded. Calling upon familiar themes of his own personal history, his vision of hope, inclusion and cooperation amongst all people, I believe he's rapidly establishing himself as an inspiring world leader for the twenty-first century. I urge you to experience the video yourself.

It's a beautiful summer afternoon in south central Oregon. The sun shines high through thin cirrus. The air is pleasantly warm and scented with a myriad of wildflowers. My family and I are relaxing after a few hours hiking in the forested mountains south of Ashland. It is, quite simply, another idyllic experience at one of our favorite destinations. This is our fourth annual visit to the Shakespeare festival at Ashland, but each time feels just as fresh and delightful as the first.

Today I flew my 182 on a familiar trip from Torrance to Chino - this time to have one of my radios scrutinized at Advantage Avionics. I've flown this trip more times than I can count, but something was different today - a subtle difference I didn't really notice until later. Thinking back on it, my first clue was the taxi instructions I got from my hangar to runway 29R. This is at most 75 yards and the controller has always just cleared me "to 29R". Today, he specifically said, "29R via the ramp and Juliet". At the time, I didn't think much of it, simply repeated it back and continued to the runway.

On the weekend of May 2-4, the magic that is Wildflower took hold once again at Lake San Antonio, CA for the 26th time. However, this was my first experience of this legendary event and I can say quite emphatically - I was blown away! It was two days of world-class competition on challenging courses, an eclectic music festival for kids young and old, an expertly-managed event at a beautiful rural location tailor-made for it, and a general celebration of all things inspiring about this amazing sport.