George Jones

I feel tears welling up. Goodbye George Jones.

I always knew the day would come. I had been dreading it a lot lately.

On Friday morning, just as I was leaving for work, my brother Tony texted me the news. I went to my computer, did a google search and listened to "He Stopped Loving Her Today", the saddest country song of all time. I listened to it a couple of times and just cried. That song was one of my mom's favorites.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the rumbling majestic voice of George Jones. I love rock, I love pop, but I really love country music, especially the classic stuff from the 50s and 60s. I grew up listening to Willie and Waylon, as well as Kenny Rogers and The Oak Ridge Boys, depending on what mood I was in. I was always in the mood for George Jones.

I have never been this sad about the death of a celebrity. I don't fully understand it, but, at times, it feels as if I've lost a close personal friend.

I never had the chance to meet the Possum, but I did get to see him in concert. Twice, in fact. Twice in one week. I shared George Jones with my Auntie Kelly, which made those two concerts even more meaningful.

The concerts were amazing! I have great memories of those shows, and of this picture that I snapped at Konocti the last time I saw him in concert in 2002. I was standing a foot or two in front of him and he was smiling right at me. Wow.

George Jones had a unique vocal style. There will never be another like him. Now I wonder, who's going to fill his shoes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODFOF8rmSE

Thanks for the memories. Thanks for the melodies.

Yabba dabba doo, the king is gone and so are you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6j2YBD--1U

Rest in peace George Glenn Jones.

The Best Ride Ever Ride

This metric-ish century, put on by the San Joaquin Bike Coalition, was named The Best Ride Ever Ride. With a name like that, what could wrong?

Nothing.

It was a perfect morning for a bike ride. A little chilly in the morning but a forecast of clear skies and warm temps were ahead. The best ride took off from Cycles Gladiator Winery on Woodbridge Road in Acampo and headed east toward Camanche. It didn't take long for the temperature to get close to 90. Thankfully, the head wind on the return wasn't as bad as it can be.

Most of the climbs on the way out were subtle, but there were a couple of attention getters, especially for the first climbs of the year.

The course was marked very well and the rest stops were placed in great spots with great volunteers. It was cool that they had Gu gel packs available as well as good snacks.

The post ride meal of pulled pork sandwiches was a great end to the best ride ever.

Definitely doing this ride again.

58.7 miles 3:51:29

Goodbye Sashi Noir

Our beloved dog, Sashi Noir, passed away on Friday. Our hearts have broken. She got sick on Tuesday and, after a trip to the vet, it seemed like she'd be sick for a couple of days and then come out of it. She did not. On Friday, she passed away. She left us knowing she was loved, I'm sure of it.

Sashi joined our family when she was just two months old. She was tiny and full of energy. She quickly got big and always had more energy than a dog of her size should. She behaved daintily as often as she acted like a big girl. She was a great protector and liked to play, especially hide-and-seek and basketball. I will always miss her excitement when I'd come home from work.

There may be more dogs in our lives, but there will never be another quite like you, girl.

Sashi Noir 04/04/04 - 04/12/13

Mud on the Farm, Revisited

Today, Ken and I ran the Mud on the Farm Mud Run at Dell'Osso Farms. For me, it was a return to the place where my running life began. Before last September's Mud on the Farm, I had ran in a few 5k races but would certainly not have considered myself a runner.

I barely survived last year's mud run and it motivated me to start running. Just to be sure I'd keep it up, and because my (11 year) older brother did the same, I also signed up for the Tahoe Tough Mudder in July 2013.

So, this time was great, except for the fact that Makenzy got sick and couldn't run it with me.

There were a couple of new obstacles and there weren't a lot of people in our wave so there weren't the delays at some of the obstacles like last year.

And how did we do?

Well, we both did a lot better than last year's event.

And Ken took 3rd place for his age group! And since he did a hard face plant in the mud at the very end, he earned some time with the medics. Thankfully, he was able to open his eyes an hour or so after finishing the race.

Looking forward to the Tahoe Tough Mudder!

Check out the pics here.

The Modesto Half Marathon

I ran my second half-marathon last weekend, the Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon. The course started in downtown Modesto and went through a residential area before heading out west of highway 99. The weather was perfect and there were a lot of runners; well, considerably more than I experienced in Galt in February!

I got to see Tyre Girl in action, who runs marathons dragging a tire behind her to raise awareness about recycling. (read her post about the SAMM here)

The course, wasn't bad at all until the last few miles, on the straight and very boring return back. After the full marathon split-off the mile markers were off a bit, and many of the runners (including myself) looked a little confused at every mile marker. I didn't mind though... it added about a half mile to my run.

There was Gatorade, not just water, at many of the water stations, and for the last few miles they were handing out Gu (thank goodness!).

My official time was 2:04:05. A little slower than the Tiny Half, but since that course was a little short and this one a little long, I was pleased with the result. Within a couple of minutes of crossing the finish line I received an e-mail congratulating me on finishing and reporting my official time. I was in a lot of pain when I finished. Both of my IT bands were killing me and it took quite a while for me to walk through to the end of the finishing line (or whatever that thing is called).

Like at my first race, it was great to have Dawn and Makenzy there with me. Maybe they'll get tired of coming out to cheer me on (at the start and finish) but I hope they never do, it's nice having someone at the end!

The volunteers were great and the course was fun. There was plenty to do after the race, too. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

The Tiny Half-Marathon

Last Saturday, I completed the inaugural "Tiny" Half Marathon, my first half-marathon.

Having started running late last year, I was eager to run in my first half-marathon.

Right from the start, all of the advice I had heard from my runner friends was to keep it slow...

So I started off slow... or so I thought. I started my time on Strava more than a minute before the race started... so what I thought was a slow pace for the first mile was actually pretty fast. At mile 2 I finally figured that out and dropped my pace a bit.

My personal goal was to finish the 13.1 miles without stopping or walking. Even though I tried to not get a number stuck in my hand, I was pretty sure I could finish in 2:07:00.

The course was cool and interesting. Having seen some of Galt on my bike, it was nice to see it a little slower.

And it was great to see some friends like Frank, Row, and David.

Near the end, after barely getting over the massive climb at mile 12 (the highway 99 overpass) I knew I was going to finish the run but had no sense what my time was. When I turned the corner, no more than 50 meters from the finish line, I saw the time has just passed the 2 hour mark!

I was pretty pumped that I completed the race in just over 2 hours! My official time was 2:00:36.

Stockton, We Can Overcome This

Last night, our city council took the first step toward bankruptcy. By the end of the week, Stockton will be the largest US city to file for bankruptcy protection.

All of a sudden, being labeled "America's Most Miserable City" a couple of times by some magazine doesn't sound so bad.

We ran out of money.

There are many reasons why. Our city leaders made poor decisions during the economic boom. Unscrupulous mortgage lending practices flooded the central valley with home buyers leading to increased property values which swelled the city with the sweet nectar of property tax revenue. We banked on this gravy train continuing forever.

Then of course, it did not.

Now, Stockton's favorite pastime is the blame-game. So many of us want to point the finger at someone.

The police and fire unions, previous mayors and council members, former city manager Mr. Milne, and even city employees themselves have all been the target of someone's blame.

We need to stop blaming. We've already diagnosed what happened so we can be pretty sure it won't happen again, blaming people isn't going to solve anything.

We certainly cannot blame city employees. They did exactly what we would all do. Well, I'll speak for myself here. I would have done the same thing. Even the double dipping. Given an opportunity to advance economically, in a way that seems completely healthy at the time, we'd all do it! Plus, most city employees are hard working people that care deeply about our city.

As are the members of our city council and our Mayor. If you don't like what they're doing, vote for someone else. Otherwise, find a productive way to help. Our council members have a difficult task; I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want that job. I am grateful that some people choose to do it and I appreciate their strength in the face of such adversity.

Facing a budget shortfall of $26 million, and ballooning debt in the hundreds of millions, it seems the city made the best choice.

Now, it's time to get on with making Stockton great. Do we have an uphill battle? Oh hell yes. The likes of which most of us could have never imagined. But we can do it.

We can overcome this.

We know there are many great things about Stockton. Let's keep our cool and not let the stigma of bankruptcy distract us from making our city a place we can be proud of. We need to continue to shop locally and do our part to make our neighborhoods safer and stronger.

Most of all, we need to get involved. Talk to our neighbors. Talk to our council members. Attend council meetings, or watch online. Ask questions. If we spent the last 20 years watching our local leaders as much as we have during the last few months, we likely wouldn't have been in such a mess.

Let's make it great, Stockton! The future of our city depends on it.

With all of the emotion of the last couple of days, this made me laugh.

http://twitter.com/RealDlHughley/status/218192121889435649

My Dad, The Face of Strength

My Dad, Mel Beckwith, has Mantle cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was diagnosed in February after an anomaly appeared in his regular blood work. It quickly progressed from "you'll die from old age long before this gets you" to "you need aggressive treatment now". Well, after two complete rounds of chemotherapy, Dad is still going strong. He's not going to let something like this stop him. Ask him what keeps him going and he'll quickly tell you that his strong faith has prepared him, he's not afraid to die and he knows where he's going. But this doesn't mean he's giving up. Not at all. He still has a lot of fight in him.

He's even fully embraced this new, bald look. And Beckwiths don't go bald. Ever. Well, rock the bald, Dad, rock it!

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The journey to being cured is not yet complete, still some road ahead for him. But it's great to know that Dad's spirit is still strong and he's continuing the fight.

IMG_4572

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I love you Dad.

Can We All Just Get Along?

I am an Apple fanatic. That is no secret. We bought our first iPod back in 2005 and then eMacs, iMacs, Powerbooks, iPhones, iPads and more iPods than you could shake a stick at. Aside from being an Apple fanatic, I am a technology fanatic. I love gadgets. I also really love seeing how people use their gadgets.

What I don't love, however, are the brand snobs. I'm an iPhone guy. So, you're an Android guy... that doesn't mean we can't get along. We can still be friends. We can still play Draw Something and no one has to know we don't have the same phone.

If you're in the Android camp, or even the Blackberry camp and roll your eyes every time someone says iPhone, you are probably a snob. And if you're in the iPhone camp the same thing applies to you. Instead of bashing the other person, ask them to show you their favorite apps. You might just learn something new! And you won't come across as a snob.

Can we all just get along?

2011 - My Favorite Books

I ended 2010 with the insane goal of reading a book a week in 2011. What was I thinking? Much like any thing resembling a new year's resolution, I failed. But I still read some great books in 2011.

In 2011 I discovered that, much to my surprise, I really do enjoy reading books on the iPad and iPhone. I have always said that I preferred paper books. But I quickly learned that e-reading (yuk, that is such a lame term) is awesome. For starters, I can read at any angle, without having the pages fall back down on my face. Secondly, I love grabbing a few pages on the iPhone when I want to. Plus, there's the added benefit of being able to carry a bunch of books with me... and being able to flag and highlight a page or a word... awesome!

Another change in my reading habit this year was the library. You know what those are? The buildings with all the books in them. Yeah, they still exist. And they are awesome. Well, ours are! I can go online and find a book and have it pulled from the shelf for me. Then, I just go to the library and it's waiting for me to pick up. Easy peasy. And get this, it's all free! What a concept.

I can't say that I will get all of my books from the library from now on but I can't imagine buying another physical book. If I must buy, I'll just buy the iBook (nah, don't like that term either).

So, (insert drum roll) here is my favorite of 2011.

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

For the first time, my favorite book of the year is fiction. Yes, I realize it was published in early 2009 but I only heard of it this year. I didn't know what to expect from this book but was mesmerized by the story from the first page. The opening chapter is written in the voice of Aibileen, one of the three central characters of The Help. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the sixties, the world she described could not have been further from the life I knew growing up in northern California.

The story is about a young writer telling the story of what it's like to be an African American maid, from their perspective.

The characters are gripping and so real. The dialog between them is amazing. The pain, anguish and fear jump from the pages to the very core of my soul. I know that's pretty dramatic, but it was truly a powerful book.

I read the book mostly in airports and airplanes, traveling to Buffalo, Sioux Falls and Memphis. I met so many wonderful people that had read or were currently reading the book. I've never been in a book club but it felt like I was in one.

When I boarded a flight home to SFO I met an elderly couple in Salt Lake City that raved about the book. One of the men had just started the paperback and told me how much he, too, loved the opening chapter. The other man, his husband, said he read it on his Kindle more than a year before. The two gentlemen exchanged a look only married couples do and the Kindle husband said "I kept telling him he would love it. He never listens to me".

When we finally landed just after 2 AM I got off the plane and sat alone in the desolate terminal and finished the last few pages. I sat there and cried my eyes out, stood up, wiped the tears from my face and headed out to catch the bus to my car.

The Help made me laugh and cry. But mostly, it made me think about other groups of people that our society treats poorly. It made me hopeful that someday, we would all look back and realize we were all as foolish as Miss Hilly Holbrook.

I did, of course, read mostly non-fiction this year. One of my favorites was The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. I didn't really like his previous book, Crush It, but thought I'd take a chance on this one. It did not disappoint. More than being a book about how smart companies use social media, I read it as a view into what customer service will look like in the future, what it's starting to look like now.

A few of the books I am looking forward to finishing soon:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson No Regrets by Ace Frehely Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick

What was your favorite book in 2011?

Happy reading!