Lehamite

It is far too rare to see a dog in a bike helmet.  But it is truly special when the dog can direct you to exactly the bike ride you are looking for.  If you are going to Sonora, take a look at the rides on Milo’s Expeditions.

While not exactly a beautiful thing, it is rather satisfying to be able to reconnect to the internet, even when AT&T (SBC Global) tells you can’t.

We recently purchased a d-link ADSL Modem / Wireless Router  combo so that we could have both a 4 port Ethernet switch and modem.  This is a requirement for Vonage – routing your pc through the Vonage hub is a disaster.

This modem has a couple of problems:

• AT&T doesn’t support it, so you are on your own
• The wireless range  is not as good as the 2wire provided by at&t

You can set the modem’s connection settings by connecting to it at http://192.168.1.1/index.html.  If you need the password, rtfm.
I called AT&T and they told me they don’t support the modem.  After cajoling them a bit, I got the following settings:

PPPoE, VPI/VCI – 152, 52.

This didn’t work

I tried the modem’s automatic settings:

PPPoE, VPI/VCI – 0/35.

llc/snap

PPP IP

account ppp authentication to att.net email and password

Worked like a charm.

Be sure to delete any old settings from the list.  Check under WAN tab.

Now to figure out how to improve wireless signal strength…

I had one of the best steaks ever in Irving, Texas. The Papas Brothers have all of your desires covered, Steak (Papas Brothers), Seafood, or Tex Mex all in a Texas square block.

Go to Papas for outstanding steak in a beautiful restaurant. Be ready for hasty downright surly service.

The other pick is a bit of a find. Tokyo has many great restaurants. The real action is not there, it is at the mom and pop restaurants called Izakaya. To my surprise, there is a small slice of Tokyo called Ichijo Resturant. Be sure to have the stir fry eggplant and cabbage.

This weekend my Son and I went with another Father and son to Tahoe for the first turns of the year. Saturday we skied Squaw Valley. It snowed and blowed hard, but we all had a good time. The weather kept the crowds at bay.

On Sunday, we Skied Sugarbowl. I know that Squaw is everyone’s favorite, but when I am at Sugarbowl, I feel at home. It helped this weekend that the snow was much better an more plentiful than at Squaw.

My son hadn’t forgot a thing. We all enjoyed steamers, nice powder and open bowl. In the afternoon, I took the kids on Market Street. They did great, nice turns all the way down. I think they will have me licked by the time they are 9.

For the past 8 years, my family has visited Aptos, a hamlet just south of Santa Cruz. It is our favorite week of the year, because we spend time together with our family and our best friends.

We stay at the Seascape Resort, which is the perfect combination of resort and location. We stay on the ground floor,which allows the kids to roam freely to the grass belt just outside.

On Sunday we went to High School Musical, on Ice.  The kids have been waiting for this day to come.  We went with the Hymans x David.  I secretly like the music.   The show was great, although not the choreography you would expect from Disney.  Troy landed at least 1 triple, and Gabrielle did a backflip at the end.

As we were leaving, Darya said “So many memories”.

This morning I hiked before work. It is a first, and what an inspiring one.

I commute down US 280, and am about the biggest fan of the Santa Cruz mountains since Serra himself. I hiked El Corte de Madera Open Space. God’s country.

This was a great 45 minute jog/walk. I entered the park and took an imediate right on to El Corte de Madera creek trail, which plunges you down 300 feet in 1.5 mile. From the bottom of the ravine, it is a nice wind back to the top.

Read Jane Huber’s description for more information I am not sure what nutcase rides up those hills, but it sure looks like fun going down.

Today my son and daughter rode in the Ryan Phua Memorial Ride. The highlight for the community was the attendance. My son’s friend was number 902 – I am sure there were that many riders. The highlight for me was my daughter’s ride.

She decided, yesterday, she was going to take off her training wheels for the race. We took them off and practiced at Roosevelt school. Due to many hours on the Razor and good balance, she got it immediately.

Today at the race she rode like a pro. 1/2 mile with only one bump. Well, it wasn’t actually a bump, it looked more the a 5 year old. She saw that he had crashed. Since she had no experience with someone crashing in front of her, she could not decide what to do. So she stayed the course and ran over the kid. When she got about half way over his back tire she fell off her seat and stratled the frame of the bike.

She is a trooper: after crying for a minute she shook it off and took off again. I wasn’t going to leave her at this point so I ran with her. It turns out her max biking speed is my max running speed. I sprinted the whole thing. She, however, got the ice cream.

My congratulations to the organizers, what a great event. God bless the Phua family.