Ride of Silence

Last Wednesday Minh and I participated in the Ride of Silence. The purpose of the Ride of Silence it:

• To HONOR those who have been injured or killed
• To RAISE AWARENESS that we are here
• To ask that we all SHARE THE ROAD

I had heard of this ride before, but had never taken part. It’s definitely a different experience, riding for an hour with no talking. Quite moving to see another a hundred.or.so riders.spread out along the street with police escorts. I can onlyp imagine what the drivers stopped at the intersections thought when they saw us rolling past.

[Will update with pictures as soon as I can find some]

Video by Jim Bishop:

27 Years… and counting…

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes… and THANK YOU MINH!!! for a wonderful day… as always.

The day started with a road ride in the cool, drizzly morning. We were heading out to Seal Beach in search of OC’s Best New York style pizza (by the slice). The ride was great since we timed it just right to get mostly a tailwind for the majority of the ride.

Seal Beach Pier

Meet Slick.. the Seal Beach "seal" (actually a sea lion)

Red Car "Museum" (not open) in Seal Beach

Coffee break! (look at those cute mini cinnamon rolls!)

Poor man's "lock" = intertwining our helmet straps (forgot the real lock at home)

Lunch at Slice of New York Pizza

On the ride back, we noticed tents set-up at the Huntington Beach Pier and stopped to see what was going on. Ends up that this weekend is the Annual Duck-a-Thon at the pier. We didn’t stay to watch the ducks get released, but I’m sure it was quite the site.

Little duckies ready for a swim...

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, watching TV, and an early-ish dinner with friends. Overall, very low key, but a very good birthday. Here’s to hoping that rest of my birthdays are just as enjoyable.

It’s Just Hair…

It’s been YEARS (since June/July 2007.. I think) since I’ve done anything dramatic to my hair. Not that I’m known for doing dramatic things with my hair (besides chopping it all off before starting highschool and getting mistaken for a boy during BOTH freshman and sophomore year), but that’s a long time to go without a change. I was originally going to keep it long until a special event happened… but WHO KNOWS (::cough:: Minh ::cough::) when THAT will happen. I’m tired of it being long.. so it’s time for a change.

BEFORE: Very long, damaged hair

AFTER: Short, healthy, and all one color!

It’ll take some getting used to, but in the end, it’s just hair. It’ll grow back! Luckily for me, four years of growing it out with only minor trims once in a while made for some pretty long tresses. I chopped off enough length to donate to Locks of Love. Hopefully, they can salvage the good from the bad (sun + chlorine + perm + no maintenance = really bad split ends) and make something nice for the kiddies.

AFTER: Back and side view

Thanks Michelle Talbot for the wonderful new ‘do!

Minh’s Corner: Weekend Pictorial Recap

Tran and I work on a farm…

We also proved that 20” wheels are way more fun than 29” wheels!

Around OC: Stanley Ranch Museum

If you head north on Euclid Avenue through Garden Grove, just before you hit Chapman, there’s a little parking lot off to the right with a sign for the Stanley Ranch Museum. Thousands of people drive by this place everyday, and very few probably know what it is. I was one of those people. Minh and I always said that we should make a point to check it out, but we never had time to get around to it. Also, the Museum is only open for tours on the first and third Sunday of the month.. Luckily for us, we did come upon a Sunday where we had no plans and decided to check it out. I didn’t have huge expectations for the tour, mostly because I thought it would be a lot like the Irvine Ranch Historic Park (post forthcoming), which has a lot of buildings that aren’t restored and you can’t go inside them. But the Stanley Ranch Museum, nestled on Strawberry Lane and home to the Garden Grove Historical Society, was different.. and is definitely worth an afternoon trip.

Tours of the Stanley Ranch Museum are conducted on the first and third Sunday of the month at 1:30PM. The suggested donation for the tour is $5 per person, which is well worth the few hours that you’ll spent learning about the history of the area. If you have some time before the tour, I would suggest taking a trip to the Farmers’ Market, which is held on Main Street every Sunday from 9AM to 2PM. Grab some lunch and pick up some non-perishable goods (or perishable goods if you happen to have a cooler with ice in your car) to make for a truly “local” Sunday.