Checkin' In After 14 Weeks

Time to pause and look back on what's been 14 weeks of focus on better health and weight management. When I set out on this mission in early September, my goal was to arrive at a weight of 180 pounds by mid-May of 2010, which represents a loss of 35 pounds. Not only getting there but staying there (and staying healthy) is the real prize.
I'm happy to say that I weighed in today at 200.5, which puts me a half-pound ahead of schedule. Any secrets to this? Not really. But here are some things I'm cognizant of:

1. Do SOMETHING every day. I get a good all-around conditioning workout in, which includes aerobic exercise and light/medium weights, on four or five days a week. The other days might just be walking a couple of miles and/or doing yoga, but it's something.

2. Avoid fried foods and things loaded with fat. But if you have anything like that, limit your portions. This past Sunday I'll admit to having eaten a Burger King Whopper. But it was a Junior Whopper and hence not as tragic.

3. Limit snacking and eating after dinner. When I have been snacking though, we have these great lime popsicles that are around 80 calories each.

4. Don't deprive yourself of everything you like to eat and drink. I haven't given up on tacos and beer, and don't intend to anytime soon.

5. Finally, remember this number: 3500. That's what a pound of body fat equates to in calories. So in order to lose one pound per week, each day you have to somehow dispose of 500 more calories than you'd normally take in when you sustain the same weight. That can be a combination of exercise and less caloric intake. I choose to try and burn approximately 300 additional calories through exercise and reduce consumption by around 200. I'm sure there are factors that make this amount more or less but I find it to be an accurate rule of thumb.

To 2010 (and beyond)!

I Smoked a Turkey (now my lungs are charred)

At first glance, cooking a Thanksgiving turkey for eleven people sounds like a daunting task. And I suppose it could be if I were fighting for space in the kitchen and oven. This holiday was one of those days that I’m really glad that we have a propane smoker.
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I set things up the night before as I had to get things going pretty early on Thursday morning. Cherry wood chips were soaking and the water bowl that produces all of that nice smoky steam was in position.
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Some of the appetizer-eating crowd


We took the thawed 15 pound bird out of the refrigerator at around 6 am and slapped it with some olive oil, followed by a generous amount of Emeril’s Turkey Rub.
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The rule of thumb is that it takes ½ hour per pound to smoke at an in-smoker temperature of between 225 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit. We were looking at around 7-8 hours of elapsed time (followed by ½ hour of setting time) with the goal of having the meat thermometer register 165 degrees at the end.
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By gosh, everything worked out as planned and judging by the comments we heard from our consumers, it was a major success. Hmmm….I just might have to toss a ham in the smoker for Christmas.

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BowlingJoe and the cooked bird: which is the real turkey?

Another Look at Yoga

In March of this year, the staff association at BowlingWidow’s place of employment organized a weekly yoga session. I agreed to attend with her thinking full well that I’d participate for a couple of weeks and go back to watching Monday Night Football. Truth be told, I even blogged about the experience and poked more than a little bit of fun about it.

Well, eight months later I’m still a regular on Monday nights, having learned far more about yoga than I ever thought I would. It’s hard to articulate but suffice it to say that I feel really good both physically and mentally after the sessions, and it’s now an essential ingredient in a portfolio of activities that are contributing to better overall health.

Our outstanding instructor, Paul MacNaughton, recently answered some questions I had about yoga and his approach to it. So here it is, my first ever interview on the BowlingJoe blog. Now if only Paul could do something to cure my sagging bowling average.....

BowlingJoe: In your words, what is yoga?

Paul MacNaughton: Yoga is a re-discovery of things we already know, in the present moment.

The yoga principles, including not harming, not stealing, not being greedy, and so on, are nothing new in themselves. What is new is how we can follow them in this moment. That is never the same twice.

The asanas (postures) remind us of what the physical body is capable, perhaps shapes and movements which we have not explored since we were children, at least not intentionally. In class we re-awaken to our own physical nature. The result is a greater range of awareness and health for both mind and body.

There are also breath disciplines/expansions, and internal focus techniques such as meditation. These are maps and practice guides for exploring the mysteries of living, such as the question "Who am I?", and "What is the source of suffering in the world?", among countless others. Except for a few rather fundamentalist sects of yoga, which try to provide the "answers" to these questions for us, the responses to these questions are newly re-discovered by the practitioner. In other words, rather than a dogma, yoga is experience in the present moment, first and foremost.

Just a few words concerning what I feel yoga is not. Of course, this could be controversial. Yoga is not a religion or a belief system. Some of the terminology and the sanskrit come from the Vedas, but clear lines between categories of things such as religion vs. science vs. philosophy vs. art did not seem to exist uniformly at all times in human history. So, we can say modern yoga is not a religion or belief system. It is a practice.
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Paul MacNaughton

BJ: How long have you been practicing yoga and what was your original inspiration for doing so?

PM: A friend of mine, Jeff Scott, took a TM course when we were in college, and said, "You have got to try this!" The Beatles had been to India recently to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and I figured that if it was good enough for them and Jeff, I should give it a try. With a few lapses, I have been practicing meditation in some form since that time. There were a few very simple postures and breath exercises as part of the TM training, but it was mainly about meditation. For the last 9 years I have had a much-augmented postures and breath exercise routine, and still continue the meditation practice on a regular basis, though I now mostly practice using techniques other than TM.

BJ: There are many different types of yoga styles being taught and practiced today. Which one (or ones) resonate the most with you and why?

PM: The style that I practice most of the time currently is the karuna yoga which I teach. It is a blend of Iyengar-like hatha yoga postures, kundalini yoga, which emphasizes reliance on the power of the core and the breath rather than the muscles, and some aspects of John Friend's anusara yoga, especially the alignment-opening-stabilizing work with loops and spirals, and the 5 elements.

While all styles of yoga have their advantages, and perhaps pitfalls, I tend to recommend the gentle styles. I believe that compassion for our limitations, and the limitations of others, is an essential part of the yogic process. I have heard very famous teachers speak to the contrary. Ultimately, it is matter of exploration and personal choice.

BJ: How has practicing yoga made a difference in the quality of your life?

PM: It is hard to say exactly what is causal in life, there are so many influencing factors. But, I was 50 pounds heavier 10 years ago. I also don't eat carbs or sugar very much, and I try to walk 4 or 5 miles per week. I cannot imagine life without daily yoga. I believe yoga has increased my strength and general health, including mental/emotional stability and equanimity.

Also, yoga has led me to discoveries which help me to see life more clearly. Perhaps that has been its greatest gift for me.

BJ: Prior to becoming involved in practicing yoga I had a rather oversimplified view of what yoga is. What are some common misconceptions about yoga in American society and popular culture?

PM: When we use the term yoga today, most of us are speaking about the postures (asanas). I fall into that trap myself quite often. When I catch myself and say "asanas" instead, most people look at me as if either I have misspoken, or am trying to get technical with them. So I don't usually fight it, unless I am trying to intentionally make a point.

Many still adamantly believe that all yoga is a religion, and some call it a tool of the devil. Of course, for these people, there is no satisfactory response--their minds are made up. Any "open-minded discussion" is really an attempt to paint an inaccurate and unbecoming portrait, and then protest the ugliness. It is about dominance/submission.

There are certain forms of yoga where worship and devotion are involved. That is true. But, in this country, is it not a right to practice one's religion within the confines of the law? Does it say somewhere that others can determine our choice in the matter? A person of any faith or belief system can practice yoga without interference. Almost all yogas do not tell us which God to worship, or any at all, including the forms I practice.

Yoga is about disentangling our body, heart, and mind, from the automatic patterns of behavior which rule us in our daily lives, and opening to our truest, deepest nature, which is always already free, compassionate, awake, and kind.
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Paul MacNaughton

BJ: For those who are interested in initially learning about or starting to practice yoga, where would you suggest they start?

PM: Locally, Kindred Spirit Learning Center, a branch of Sound Holistic Health, above the Sno-Isle Food Co-op in downtown Everett, has 3 yoga teachers on staff. Go to http://www.soundholistichealth.com/ for the schedule. My website, http://creativesourcealliance.com/ also has information. http://yogacirclestudio.com/ is another good source.

Generally-speaking, my recommendation is anusara yoga. But, there are many excellent teachers on almost all of the paths. Trust your own experience, listen to your body, and follow your heart!

They Might Be In Concert

(Note: I have BowlingWidow proofread most of my blogs before I actually post them. She thought that this one had kind of a negative vibe to it. Maybe it does, but it's not because They Might Be Giants were disappointing. Quite the opposite in fact. They were great. I'd love to see them in concert again, as it's one of the best plugged-in band concerts I've been to in years. I can't possibly be turning into a curmudgeon at age 48, can I???)

As time marches on, I tend to not go to nearly as many rock, jazz, blues, folk (or whatever) concerts anymore. After thinking about this briefly, I can boil the reasons for this down to a few:

1. There aren’t that many new acts that interest me. The acts that do interest me are often retired, deceased, or simply no fun anymore since they quit using drugs and alcohol. Some are all three.

2. My bedtime is usually at about the time the featured performers take the stage.

3. Large audiences annoy me. Nothing personal, but the bigger the crowd, the higher the likelihood that there will be some idiot(s) who think that the event is strictly for and about them, and will proceed to misbehave in any manner they see fit.

4. It irritates me to no end that Ticketmaster adds around 25% to the so-called “face value” of the ticket.

But as with most things, we made an exception to this last Tuesday night. The next day was a holiday for much of the country, so Muffinheadedboy and his girlfriend were able to join us in seeing the band They Might Be Giants at The SoDo Showbox in Seattle. This is a small sparse venue with no seats and a concrete floor. It’s kind of like seeing a concert in a wing of Costco or something, but with decidedly better acoustics.
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I won’t blather on with a concert review here since there’s plenty of information on They Might Be Giants and their long careers to be found online. But suffice it to say that their music is fun, witty, and they have quite a following. If you’ve seen the old Fox Network show “Malcolm in the Middle” you may know that the opening theme (“Boss of Me”) was performed by TMBG. BowlingWidow and I discovered them some 15 years ago but this was the first time we’ve had a chance to see them live.


We all stood in line in the rain for over a half hour but were rewarded by being among the first to get into the building. We made it to the 6th row of humanity and were approximately 15 feet from the stage. Nice. Unfortunately the Showbox camera Nazis were out in full force so I wasn’t able to get even a poorly executed picture of the band (I stole the ones for this blog post shamelessly).

At 9 pm sharp the opening act, The Guggenheim Grotto (a worthy but unmemorable acoustical duo), took the stage with TMBG arriving at 10 pm. 10 pm! That’s insane. But we soon forgot about the time and the fact that my back was tightening up like a rope tow after standing for so long. Before we knew it, the second encore had ended and it was 12:15 am.

And, yes, being up way too late I made the wise choice of letting Muffinheadedboy drive home. He’s a college student and hits his stride at oh……1 am or so. I seem to vaguely remember those days.

Halloween: Holiday Lost?

This past Saturday was Halloween. When BowlingJoe was growing up in Port Angeles, Halloween was always a special look-forward-to and must-do event. Twice the urgency when it happened to fall on a Friday or Saturday night. Rain or shine, the neighborhood kids would get together donning white sheets or those cheap plastic masks that became moist from the condensation of your breath after two minutes.

We’d canvass virtually the entire town with pillow cases (they made the best candy bags as opposed to the disintegrating paper grocery bags), returning home only to dump the haul from the first load and go back for more. Guaranteed cavities by the pound.

The really good houses were the ones that gave out full-sized candy bars. None of those unfortunately named “Fun Size” things that they give out today. And every now and then there would be a resident that had the audacity to give out something healthy, such as an orange. Scandalous!

Ah, but that was then and this is now. Some people still speak of brisk crowds of candy-gathering youth on October 31st. But there has been a steady decline in the numbers of them who are ambitious enough to head down our long, dark but accessibile driveway. In fact, let the record state that in 2009 we had just three trick or treaters show up at our door. That’s right, three. And they all came in one group with a watchful parent standing 30 feet back.

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Now THAT'S how big I remember the candy bars being

Assuming that my hypothesis is correct and there are fewer active doorbelling ghosts and goblins, I’m interested in the underlying reason(s) that this is so. Does our society have a collective case of "stranger danger"? We all listen to the news and every now and then a crazy person or two captures the headlines, getting his (or her these days) fifteen minutes of fame and then some. That's gotta enter the craniums of a lot of Gen X-er parents.

Then there are the parties tied to places of employment. Sifting through Facebook entries I learned that there are more than a few parents who transported their offspring to places such as Microsoft who had a party in waiting.

Or is there just so much going on these days that Halloween is on its way to becoming as obsolete as a television antennae? Has it evolved into an adult holiday in which half the neighborhood has gone to a party, leaving the lights out and nobody home to hand out candy?

Maybe someday, somebody will write a book in which all of this is figured out. In the meantime, we have two extra large bags of candy sitting around if anyone is interested. We don't touch the stuff anymore.

Conveyor Belt Sushi: What a Concept

This past Saturday, Muffinheadedboy turned 22 years of age (which doesn’t seem possible but then you can’t argue with a calendar). To help celebrate this event, he and his girlfriend took a break from Fall Quarter at Western Washington University in Bellingham to spend some time with us in the greater Marysville-Smokey Point area.

First, we met them at one of BowlingWidow and my favorite Saturday afternoon haunts, Skookum Brewery (previously blogged about in July, 2008). Much to the young man’s (and our) delight Skookum offers a free pint of ale on your birthday. We all had a nice conversation as we savored the hoppy moments.

We asked him where he wanted to go to dinner. Unfortunately, his girlfriend wouldn’t be able to join us but he picked out a fairly new place that they have been to a few times in the past. Unlike his parents, Muffinheadedboy is a fan of sushi. We headed toward Belt Sushi and Roll. My first thought was that this is a strange name for a restaurant. What do they mean by “belt”?

Upon entering the establishment, that question was answered immediately. The room is fairly small as restaurants go, and there’s a long U-shaped counter that customers are seated at. Just above the eating area are two conveyor belts providing slow-train transportation to small dishes of various types including sushi, shrimp rolls, squid, dumplings, and so on. I counted around 30 different items, including fruit and desserts.

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Scene from a Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant

It’s kind of like dim sum at a Chinese restaurant only without servers and carts. Plates are color coded by price and run anywhere from $1 to $5 each. And if the conveyor concept doesn’t thrill you there’s a small menu to be ordered from as well. Combine all of this with the optional soy sauce, wasabi paste, hot chili sauce, and pickled ginger, and there’s something for everyone waiting to be plucked off the belt.

Is conveyor belt sushi new? Although it’s new to us, it’s hardly new in Japan, where there are more than 3000 of these places, and most large cities around the world. The first one can be traced back to 1958, according to Wikipedia. Apparently (and I have no idea since I don’t know jack-diddley about sushi) the quality of the product is a few notches below fancier sushi restaurants and is given the fast food label by those in the know.

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Scene from another Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant

But fast food or not, the food was good and the experience was well worth an hour of being hypnotized by watching the conveyor belts go round and round, spotting new dishes every now and again. And at 40 bucks for three of us, we got our money’s worth. We left Belt Sushi and Roll happy that Muffinheadedboy chose this place to celebrate his birthday. My birthday is coming up in three months. We just may have to go back.

Here's To Good Health...

After a long and successful run of poor eating habits and inconsistent exercising, I’ve decided that it’s time to take a serious look at losing (and keeping off) some weight and improving my overall health. I weigh 215 pounds. This would be fine if I were six-foot eight, but replace the “six” with “five” and that’s where I’m at. And at 48, it’s not as though my ability to metabolize food is exactly on my side either.

To assist with this, I’m employing a very simple yet potentially effective device: potential public humiliation. That’s right. Every month I’ll be checking in and blogging my weight versus where I think I should be at for that week. I’m taking it pretty easy. At a pound per week, I’d hit my initial goal of 180 (which STILL makes me overweight according to those militant height-weight charts) sometime in May of 2010. You can’t hide behind facts and data. I’ll also be setting up “before/after” numbers for triglycerides, cholesterol, blood pressure and so on.

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So let the record state that on September 9th, 2009 I tipped the scales at 215 pounds. And hopefully I’ll muster up the willpower to replace orders of macho nachos with wheat thins and low-fat cheese.

Update: September 30th, 2009: 210 pounds. So far, so good. Now for the hard part. Continuity.

Uncorked: Al Stewart Live with Dave Nachmanoff

In 1992 Al Stewart and his then-guitar accompanist Peter White recorded a live acoustic CD called Rhymes in Rooms. On the disc, Stewart and White performed eleven songs including “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages”, which were top ten hits in the late 1970s.

Fast forward to 2009: Much to the delight of their fans (and those who might be about to become fans) Al and his current touring guitarist, Dave Nachmanoff, have just released their own unique collection of live acoustic songs that richly draw from Stewart’s vast breadth of work, called Uncorked (a nod to both wine – Stewart is a wine expert - and being “unplugged”).

The first thing I noticed upon reading the track listing is that it’s a set of music longtime fans can truly enjoy. The live versions of these songs consist of material originally recorded from 1967 (“Bedsitter Images”) through 1988 (“Last Days of the Century”). There’s also a rarity thrown in for good measure (“Coldest Winter”). No hits or anything that came close to a hit appears on the disc. And I’m more than good with that.

Lyrically, Uncorked plays to Al Stewart’s strengths. Intelligently written, historically based songs such as “Palace of Versailles”, “Warren Harding” and “Old Admirals” are solid choices. I remember them as examples of songs that sent me scurrying to the library to learn what they were about, in days well before the internet reduced exponentially the time required to do such a thing.

As for the music side of things, Stewart’s voice may have a few more rough edges compared to the “smooth as glass” sound from twenty years ago, but he’s still easy to listen to. Nachmanoff’s nifty guitar work sails through the set adding texture as though he’s been playing Al's songs his entire life. Well, actually that's because he has.

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He handled parts that were once done with a piano decades ago (“The News from Spain”) with his acoustic guitar and didn’t miss a step. On other songs, I wondered how he could get his instrument to make such varied and unique notes (“Midas Shadow”).

Recorded at three different venues during a Northeastern U.S. tour in 2008, the production is clear and crisp, as good as or better than being there in person.

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One of the pleasures of experiencing an Al Stewart/Dave Nachmanoff concert is the witty repartee in between songs. There’s a sampling of that on this disc called “Auctioning Dave”. Having heard a large number of Al’s stories over the years (many of them several times, in fact), I did enjoy the quirkiness of this segment but also wondered whether there may have been another choice that would connect with the listener to a greater degree. (Although there just might be a hidden dialogue track at the end of the last song on the disk, wink wink).

Ultimately, Uncorked is a solid and timely effort both in terms of Al Stewart’s long career and as a showcase of Dave Nachmanoff’s talent as a guitarist. The disc is well worth owning whether you’re an Al Stewart completist or someone who wants a good representation of what it’s like to be in the audience at an Al Stewart/Dave Nachmanoff concert.

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Uncorked can be purchased at www.davenach.com/products.html. Audio samples are available.

Crab Safari 2009

There’s nothing in the world quite like eating Dungeness Crab, conveniently found a short distance from pretty much anywhere in Western Washington. I’ve been going crabbing for years on Guemes Island and fondly remember the days in which one could walk along the shore during a low tide and garner a limit of six within an hour.
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Preparing the Crab Traps
Those days are sadly gone as the season doesn’t start until late July, long after the crab have moved to deeper parts of the water. Also, the size of what’s considered a legal catch has slowly crept larger and you’re now allowed to keep five instead of six.

Still, we make at least an annual crustacean gathering trek, and this time we were joined by our good friends The Johnsons and their kids.

We started things out by baiting the six crab traps that we were to toss into the water. One can use lots of different smelly and disgusting things to do this, from dog food through fish heads. My father in law likes to use cockles whose shells are smashed. It must be the natural way to attract crab.

Our group of four dropped the pots and came back to shore to give the shelled diners a chance to partake in their last meal before they found themselves in the business end of a bucket. We left the traps out for a couple of hours and then headed back out to reap the rewards of a bountiful harvest.
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Michael and Matthew: Anxious to Get Going

Or so we thought. The first trap looked promising as we lifted five keepers out, sending them to their holding cell. Unfortunately, the remaining traps weren’t as generous and we ended up with a total of ten to split between two families. Not bad, but far from the best we’ve seen and about half of what we would have had if we were to hit our limit.

We hauled the critters back to the boiling whirlpool bath that awaited them where they spent 15 minutes cooking. Then came my least favorite part. Removing the big shell and cleaning the lungs, guts and whatever other vile non-white-meat things exist in crab. I know that many parts of the world eat the WHOLE crab but that’s where I get off the train.
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The Crab in Various Stages of Processing

Finally, they were give a last rinse and put in Ziploc bags, ready to be put in the cooler and taken home. Crab Safari 2009 is history.

The Best Tacos In Marysville

You know, the older I get, the more I appreciate the simple things in life. Distractions? They’re a younger person’s game. I believe it was Edie Brickell who once said “throw me in the shallow water before I get too deep." I've always liked her, especially because her dad (Eddie Brickell) is in the Texas State Bowling Hall of Fame. Yeah, I know, he's a lefty but I'm willing to look past that.

Going to eat at a taco truck is probably the most simple of all dining experiences possible and it’s something that BowlingWidow, Joe (the creator of Captain ILL) and I have been doing nearly every Monday night after our yoga session for the last couple of months. And I do say that it’s a tradition I hope will continue for many more Mondays to come.

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BowlingJoe demonstrates proper taco-eating technique
Spicy, authentic Mexican food has always been a part of my life. And it probably will be until that inevitable day when the x-ray machine reveals that my intestines resemble something that looks like Swiss cheese. But for now, there isn’t anything better than two chicken tacos and an order of refried beans smothered in plenty of red and/or green homemade salsa.

The tacos each consist of two small corn tortillas topped with seasoned meat (options include beef, chicken, tongue, brain, and more….I’ll pass on the brain, thank you), onion and cilantro, with optional garnishes of radish, lime and jalapeno on the side. And at a buck twenty-five each, they’re the best value in town, period.

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The El Rey Taco Truck in Marysville
The El Rey taco truck is located (for now anyway) just west of I-5 off exit 199, on the left shortly after you enter the Tulalip Reservation. I think it’s at the third stoplight after you make the left turn at the end of the I-5 off-ramp. But don’t blink, you could miss it.

Blues, Brews (And a Couple of Boos)

I’ll preface by saying that the reason for this event is a worthy one. It was a benefit for the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon, a downtown theater that has bucked the trend of what happens to old theaters and is still relevant in hosting everything from classic films to concerts to plays. In that sense, I feel good that our 20 bucks each went to a good cause. We need to keep more "Lincoln Theaters" alive.

Having said this though, I’m wondering if the organizers of the Porterhouse Brewfest would be able to kick things up a notch in the future regarding a couple of things.

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Some of the action under the tasting tent

First, consider the physical location of the event. It was held on a small street of approximately one block in size. I understand the desire to keep downtown business open for business on a nice Saturday afternoon, but have they considered holding the party at nearby Edgewater Park or another area with more open space?

Next, it would have been nice to have had somewhere close to the twenty breweries that were advertised to have been there. A source in the know told me that breweries are required to donate their product to the event which could explain the low turnout. It could also explain why many were pouring their darker (and too heavy for hot weather) holiday ales in August along with much of their “second tier” products.

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The Alice Stuart Band performs at Brewfest '09

As for the blues end of things, the Chris Eger Band started things off at 2pm. They were decent enough with their covers of tunes such as “Crossfire” by Stevie Ray Vaughan but sagged somewhat when they went to their own material. Local blues legend Alice Stuart and her band followed and sounded great but we had to leave in the middle of the set.

It was a great charitable idea that I can get behind, but unless the festival shows signs of improving its execution I’ll probably be just as glad to give $20 to the theater directly and call it good.

Still Crooked In Kenmore

Around a year ago, when I first started this blog, I wrote about the book group I was asked to be a part of in (I think) 2004. Or maybe it was 2005. The guys are always reading good things and listening to interesting music, which I’ve concluded has added a positive dimension to my life.

Two of many kids who enjoyed the concert

With this in mind one of the guys, Steven, and I hit the concert trail last Thursday to check out a band called Crooked Still at St. Edward Park in Kenmore. But in the spirit of “first things first” I took Steven on a quick tour of a two Snohomish County brewpub cathedrals. First was Scuttlebutt Brewing near the Everett marina, followed by Diamond Knot in Mukilteo (next to the Whidbey Island ferry terminal). We had IPAs at both with some pub grub at Diamond Knot. He agreed that Diamond Knot’s IPA was superior with its hoppy floral qualities and more complete body.

On to Kenmore! It was our first visit to a show there. They have a nifty little free summer concert series in an open field with a minimal but functional plywood stage.

We easily found our way toward the front rows and plopped down on the grass as the surrounding crowd opened picnic baskets while their kids burned off some energy on the expansive site.
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Steven enjoying the scene

Crooked Still, by their own definition, are an alternative bluegrass band. The 5-member ensemble (vocals, banjo, cello, fiddle, bass) mainly play their own material but occasionally dip into some stuff by music legends such as Robert Johnson and Bill Monroe.

The first thing that struck me after they took the stage was how young they looked. Couldn’t be because I’m getting older, right? Right. They are in fact young. Picture bluegrass musicians in your mind for a moment and chances are you’ll conjure up an image of Roy Clark. These kids are in their twenties. In fact, the cellist was celebrating his 23rd birthday that night.

Intermission on the big stage
The music was upbeat and lively after a false start or two with the guy who was at the sound board, the weather was warm but overcast (not that I’m complaining or anything since I’m the kind of guy who’s liable to make his retirement home in Nova Scotia), and the crowd was obviously having a good time even if most weren’t familiar with the band.

The 2 hour performance ended promptly at 8 pm and we were back in Marysville by nine. I’ll have to keep this place on my radar screen for next year, too. Free is good. Free high quality live music in a nice outdoor venue is better. Good on ya, Kenmore.


Here's a sound clip from the show. Unfortunately the sound quality on my Pentax digital camera is severely lacking (hey, that's not what I bought it for though) but I'll post it anyway.

Guemes Island Gathering

Every summer since well-before BowlingJoe’s hair started to turn grey, BowlingWidow’s family has had a summer gathering at her dad’s place on the west shore of Guemes Island, WA. August 1st was the sunny date of this year’s edition and somewhere around 35 people showed up.

It seems like just the other day that we were twenty-somethings going to this event with Muffinheadedboy toddling around. Now many of the grandkids are busy in high school, college and careers of their own. There are still a few tykes running around to keep us “mature adults” amused though.

Activities have changed somewhat, too. Gone are the days of those horseshoe bracket tournaments that were organized. The last few years have seen a guerrilla soccer game break out in the yard by the beach. A sign of the times, I suppose. Kids (under 21) vs. adults. Who won? That depends entirely on who you ask.

One thing is a constant, however. The barbecue grills are always peaking at full capacity during the lunch hour. This year my co-Grillin’ Guy, Earl (known to many as Grey Squirrel) and I put on some salmon filets instead of the usual burger and hot dog combination. It turned out pretty well and, like last year, no cases of food poisoning were reported. Although bear in mind that it’s been less than 24 hours as I write this.

The only casualty that can be reported, in fact, is a sunburn to my neck and face. It seems that the SPF 30 sunscreen powder that my sister-in-law Jill claimed to be effective was little more than foundation makeup. It would have worked successfully if I were filming a scene but was rendered ineffective against those cunning ultraviolet rays.

Here are a few pictures and a video clip from the day. From top to bottom:

Blake (left) and Kick (my father in law, as always an enthusiastic host) pose for the camera…..The Grey Squirrel with everything he needs for a good time…...Group photo of whoever happened to be around at the time…...Soccer video clip.

Forecast: 85-Degrees, Sunny, and a Chance of Strikes

Editor's Note: For the first time ever on this blog.....video clips! They're a bit dark because I had to rely on whatever indoor light I had. Which wasn't much.

It’s the middle of July. It’s eight-five degrees and sunny. So what does a guy like BowlingJoe do on his day off? Why, drive to Secoma Lanes in Federal Way, WA and spend a few hours indoors at a bowling center watching some PBA Regional action, of course.

I headed south mainly to lend support to a couple of PBA friends from the Greater Snohomish County area who were trying to repeatedly send ten pins in the pit in hopes of finishing high on the leaderboard and cashing in on some prize money.

BowlingJoe dispenses valuable pre-game advice to Shawn (left) and Matt

One of the guys, Shawn Minnig, I had the pleasure of coaching during a stint I had a few years ago with the Marysville-Pilchuck High School team. Shawn has since become a great student of the sport, worked on both his physical and mental approach to it and, at the ripe age of 23, is now giving me advice on matching equipment up with lane conditions (and I’m happy to accept it). Smart kid. He has a calm and positive mindset, something that’s really useful during the ups and downs of a bowling tournament. It takes some of us (yeah, that would include me) many years to learn that, if in fact we ever do. I’ve always thought that if there’s any justice in the world, nice guys who are dedicated players would win bowling tournaments more often. And if that’s the case, it’ll be just a matter of time before Shawn cashes the giant cardboard check.

Shawn Minnig: A "brooklyn" strike but a strike nonetheless



The other individual is Matt Surina. Matt has been a PBA member for 30-something years and has a few national titles to his credit, and is still cashing checks regularly on the regional circuit. Back in the 1970’s, I’d never miss watching the Pro Bowler’s Tour on ABC-TV and I’d see Surina on the tube every now and then with Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. calling the action. So I felt fortunate when he turned up at Evergreen Lanes in Everett a few years ago and bought the pro shop. He accurately and meticulously drills my bowling equipment these days. Matt is hopelessly devoted to bowling and also happens to have one of the best (and most cerebral) senses of humor in the sport. His wife, Joyce, was telling me about a time when he called a hotel desk to give him a “go to sleep call” at 9 pm (as opposed to a “wake up call”). And they did it. Stephen Wright could use some of this guy’s material.

Matt Surina: A strike and a pose



The tournament also had some national flavor. Walter Ray Williams Jr., arguably the greatest bowler of all time with 45 national titles, was there to bowl and conduct some clinics. Overall, he had a pretty decent tournament. I think he finished fourth but when I watched one of his games, he shot a paltry 165 and could not stay away from leaving splits on lane 29.

Walter Ray Williams Jr: Ouch, another split



As for my friends Shawn and Matt: The bowling gods didn’t shine on Shawn that afternoon and he missed the cut to sixteen bowlers. And in fairness, he's been battling a hip injury that he needs to overcome. Matt, bowling in the senior division, finished just out of the money. But the silver lining for them both is that, as long as one can stand on the approach with bowling ball in hand, there will be another tournament on another day in which all of the combatants start out with the same score.

The tournament, and a $4000 payday, was ultimately won by lefty (the right-hander's natural enemy) and fellow Boeing employee Erik Hohlbein. If Shawn or Matt couldn’t win, I guess I can feel good that someone who wears the Boeing Blue did.

Clash Of The Tartans

On a hot and sunny Saturday earlier in the month, BowlingWidow and I headed north to Mount Vernon to meet some friends, Jim, Stephanie and their toddler daughter Katie at the annual Scottish Highland Games Festival. Being that (a) I’ve never been to anything like that and (b) my last name of Clark is the fourteenth most common surname in Scotland, it was clearly time to make an appearance.

Stephanie, born a MacAlister, is an experienced veteran at these kinds of things so we followed her around as she basked in her ancestral glory and got her credit card out to shop for all things Scottish.

The first thing we did was to make our way to the tent to look up the Clark tartan. I like the blue pattern. It worked for me and I didn’t need to take it a step further to the MacPherson and Cameron clan tartans which are in some way related to the Clarks.

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The Clark Tartan: Looks Even Better After a McEwan's Ale

There was a lot of music going on at this place. Harps, fiddles and of course bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. If you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed by just a couple of bagpipes you’d want to steer clear of the groups of twenty of them and go get a traditional Scottish meat pie. Which were quite good, by the way.

The “games” mentioned in the name of this event including piping, drumming, dancing and athletics. You’ve probably at some point seen pictures or videos of some muscle-bound Scot in a kilt tossing a large telephone pole-like object. That’s called the caber toss and they were doing that, too.

The highlight of the day for Katie was the inflatable wading pool filled with soapy water that one can use with a bubble wand to float some impressive bubbles. She elected to be a human bubble wand, however, requiring a complete change of clothes prior to exiting the grounds.

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Stephanie, Jim, and Katie at The Highland Games

As we walked back to the car, I realized that I never was able to answer the most important question of all: do they actually wear anything underneath those kilts?

Come to think of it, I’ll let the experts try and answer that one.

All Roads Lead To…..Tacoma???

In a previous blog, I wrote about my growing disdain for fireworks. Not all fireworks. Just the ones that produce extremely loud noises at the most inopportune times. Such as a series of M-80 dynamite sticks that detonate at 5 minute intervals from midnight to 3am at the school playground next to our house.

So we thought, “why fight it?” and decided to head to some nearby downtown area for a couple of days to sit it out and hope we wouldn’t return to a smoldering pile of ashes that was once our house. Going to Tacoma (or "Ta-Compton" as our son says) to avoid gunshot-like noise seems counter intuitive at first glance but we figured every city has something good to see and we’d never given Tacoma a fair shake despite living an hour and a half away.

We stayed at The Hotel Murano (Murano is a Venetian island that’s well known for its glass art). Tripadvisor.com rated it the number one hotel in Tacoma and we were able to get it for a good rate. It’s recently been remodeled and is adorned with glass sculptures. Glass art is everywhere in Tacoma, no doubt inspired by native son, the well known Dale Chihuly.

An artful glass canopy: sorta kinda like being undersea
Pacific Avenue, just west of the Tacoma Dome, is the happening place in town (at least for a couple of late 40-somethings anyhow). On a four block stretch, you'll find The Museum of Glass, Museum of Washington State History and Union Station. There are also some quaint coffeehouses, bookstores and restaurants including The Harmon Brewing Company. We hit the Harmon for lunch upon arrival and were disappointed that they were out of their India Pale Ale (IPA). Not to worry. Not only did they have a perfectly (and lightly) carbonated Extra Special Bitter (ESB), it was on sale for just $1 for a 10 ounce glass. Needless to say, we had more than one to wash down our lunches.

After checking out some sites and a rest at the hotel it was on to another brewpub for dinner, Engine House #9. This place has been around a long time and we remembered visiting 20 years ago before they were actually making their own brew. We ordered IPAs to go with dinner and were underwhelmed. They were average at best with a slightly grainy taste. The chicken soft taco I had, however, was exquisite.

The Harmon Brewing Company: best beer in Tacoma

The next day, July 4th, we headed north 15 miles to Auburn and Emerald Downs racetrack. Enough said here. The horses weren’t in a charitable mood (at least from my perspective anyway) and we ended up making a $50 “donation” to the track. The rest of the waning Independence Day hours were spent rounding up some fast food chow mein and watching a local fireworks display from the hotel room window.

And when we drove back home we were amazed to see our house. Just as we had left it and not burned to the ground.
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Mt. Rainier on a clear day from Emerald Downs

I Was a Middle-Aged Radio Station Intern

It was time to pay up. Several weeks ago, at an exhibition bowling tournament in Lynnwood, I was throttled in a head-to-head bet I made with the sponsor’s host, KRKO radio’s Jeff “The Fish” Aaron. As it turned out, spotting him 45 pins a game (or whatever it was) wasn’t the most brilliant move I’ve ever made. Despite the fact that he was using a bowling ball that was quite literally falling apart, he demonstrated an ability to record strikes no matter how hideous things looked on the pin deck. But in all honesty, I have only myself to blame after posting what was probably the worst 3-game set I’ve tallied in several years.

What did it cost me? Six hours of being his whipping-boy and unpaid intern for his sports and “whatever the hell else he feels like talking about” show 3 to 6 With the Fish. Although I’d never lose a match deliberately, I knew that this was at least a task that would be interesting to me. Back in the olden days of college at CWU in Ellensburg WA, I had a weekly gig on the campus radio station, KCAT. We’re talking vinyl records, carts (kind of like 8-track tapes), and short circuiting soundboards. Those days are long gone with digital everything in these times.

Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of the day:

12:10 pm: I arrive at the lobby of the station in downtown Everett. The Fish is hustling out the door to attend a press conference at Comcast Arena. The Everett Silvertips hockey team hired a new coach and they were unveiling him for the media. I tag along.

12:42 pm: The Silvertips owner talks about what a great place Everett is and proceeds to congratulate Boeing on its upcoming test flight of the 787 Dreamliner. Oops. Apparently he didn’t get the memo stating that Boeing scrapped the flight several hours earlier.
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The Fish's workspace: reminds me of my kid's bedroom

1:22 pm: We make it back to the station. Fish immediately puts me to work writing trivia questions for an appearance he has later that night. He loves the work I did on U.S. State trivia, but throws up on my effort for Wimbledon trivia calling it “boring” and sending me back for more research.

1:53 pm: Melene, the station’s general sales manager, spots me walking around the office and thinks I’m an intruder. She offers me some bottled water, hoping I’m not there to rob the place.

2:28 pm: I continue to write trivia questions and do some research on celebrity birthdays for the week. Former Washington Husky and NFL kicker Chuck Nelson drops by the cubicle area to say hi to the Fish. Seems like a nice guy. The three of us spend a few minutes talking about obscure former pro kickers and how much their names sound like those of terrorists.

2:37 pm: The Fish asks me to make 20 copies of trivia answer forms for that night’s contestants. Two minutes go by and I’ve completely forgotten this, misplacing the originals in the process.
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Josh, the producer of the show doing his thing

3:03 pm: I’m still working on my assignment as the show starts. Given the big hockey news of the day, Fish is in studio right away for a live interview with the new coach, Craig Hartsburg, instead of the usual tomfoolery that ensues during the first half hour.

3:20 pm: After the first segment, the Fish is spotted outside the studio hugging an attractive young lady. A groupie?!?! I think nothing of it and take a couple of pictures of Fish and the new coach for the station a few minutes later.

3:26 pm: I go into the adjacent studio with Josh, the producer of the show, put on the headphones and belly-up to the mike. It turns out that the young lady is someone who is in a tavern dart league with Fish and is introduced to the listening audience only as The Dart Queen.

3:31 pm: Fish introduces me and asks me if I’d like to give The Dart Queen a massage. Knowing that my wife, BowlingWidow, is listening I skillfully dodge the question.
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Maury (left) and The Fish in between segments
3:48 pm: Time for ace salesman Maury "Movies with Maury" Eskenazi to do his thing. He reviews the new Jack Black film "Day One" and "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock. Maury is disappointed by "Day One" but likes "The Proposal" much to the disgust of the Fish who is clearly not a fan of Sandra Bullock.

4:15 pm: I go back to working on all things trivial while the Fish interviews a meth addict turned mixed martial arts star named Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm. Probably just as well that I missed it since I have no interest whatsoever in that particular form of entertainment. In between tasks I chat with Ronna in the sales department and give her the photos I took earlier for download onto Fish's website.

5:10 pm: The Fish makes a point of telling his audience that I screwed up my one day internship by failing to make copies when he asked (see 2:37 pm entry) and compares my work to the rest of the deadbeat student interns that he has to deal with. I base my excuse on age-related deterioration of brain cells.

5:23 pm: I finally get to read my “factoid” on the air, defined for this purpose as a short sports fact designed to impress people at parties and get them to say “gee, I didn’t know that.” It’s a requirement for all of his interns. Mine was:

During a one month time frame in 1965, Jack Nicklaus won the Masters, Willie Shoemaker rode the winner of the Kentucky Derby, the Boston Celtics won the NBA title and the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.

Twenty-one years later, in 1986, history repeated itself as Nicklaus won the Masters at age 46, Shoemaker rode Ferdinand into the winners circle at the Kentucky Derby, and the Celtics and the Canadiens both won titles again.

BowlingJoe and The Fish: November 2005 at Husky Stadium

5:25 pm: Neither Fish or Producer Josh can think of anything insulting to say about the factoid as they do for most of their interns. I consider this a victory.

5:30 pm: We say our on air goodbyes. I point out that I’ll have a shot at redemption at his next bowling tournament. He responds with a terse “don’t count on it.” Game on, Fish!

5:33 pm: The remainder of the show is on tape. Fish sneaks out of the studio to get ready for trivia night. I head for home, glad that I was able to end my career as a middle-aged radio station intern on my own terms. Without getting fired.

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3-6 With the Fish can be heard Monday through Friday from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm (no kidding?) on KRKO AM 1380 from Everett, WA.

San Francisco - Day 4 (5/29/09)

Our final morning in San Francisco, after a quick bagel and coffee breakfast, was spent touring and roaming around Chinatown. At around 1.7 square miles it’s the largest (and also the oldest) Chinatown outside of Asia.

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Frank Jang: Chinatown Tour Guide Extraordinaire
We decided to be a part of a walking and eating tour for a few hours that was organized by a company called Wok Wiz. A strange name for a tour company but they really delivered. Our tour guide (and we were fortunate to be a part of a small tour of eight) was Frank Jang. He gave us some great background and historical information regarding Chinatown that framed the experience for us. Although he now lives in nearby San Mateo, Frank grew up right smack in the middle of Chinatown and also conveyed some very interesting personal stories about his childhood and how the district has changed (as well as stayed the same) over the years.

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Getting ready for the tea cupping at Red Blossom Teas
One thing that was nice about the tour is that we didn’t hurriedly go through the area but instead stopped for several minutes to learn more about the place we happened to be visiting. This was true for a Chinese art dealer, a fortune cookie factory, an herbalist, an acupuncturist, a barber, a grocer, and a tea retailer. There were probably others, I just can’t recall.

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The tour concluded at the Four Seas Restaurant on Grant Avenue for dim sum. This restaurant may or may not have been our choice had it not been a part of the tour. It was certainly decent and we had plenty of the usual things: dumplings, pot stickers, rice noodles, chow fun. And, by request, they even served a plate of chicken feet for me. Tasty, but not much meat.

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A Little Bit of Shopping in Chinatown
After the tour proper, we ventured around on our own for a couple of hours of shopping and looking around. We picked up some ginger candy and a Christmas ornament, as well as some very good oolong tea which we shipped home.

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Grace Cathedral From California Street

Chinatown was more than worth spending several hours at, and with our flight home just around the corner we hopped the California Street Cable Car for a quick visit to Grace Cathedral. This amazingly large city block-sized building was founded in 1849, the year of the California Gold Rush. In addition to regularly scheduled services, a lot of other events take place there as well. While we were there, for example, there was a jazz group setting up for a concert later that night. And several years ago, my friend Dave Nachmanoff performed a concert with Al Stewart that I happen to own on DVD.

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Stained Glass Inside of Grace Cathedral
We headed back to the hotel to pick up our things and take BART back to the airport, tired but happy that we had seen and done just about as much as possible in just a little over three days. We could have easily spent three more and stayed busy.

I’ll close with some thoughts about the city in case anyone will be visiting for the first time:

• Pack warm clothes. Even on a nice day it gets cold at night. I never did change into my shorts or thong (well…except for that time in the Castro District but that’s another blog for another day).

• Use the BART and Muni systems as much as possible (Cable Cars are part of the Muni system, too). And spend the three bucks on the Muni system map. Cars have their place in most of California but don’t bother with them unless you’re heading to wine country or something.

• Fisherman’s Wharf is just another trendy area. And they don’t make Ghirardelli chocolate there anymore. And while I’m on this topic, skip Haight-Ashbury unless you have a burning desire to see where the Grateful Dead lived for a couple of years (710 Ashbury St.)

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• San Francisco has hills. Lots of them. And lots of stairs. Bring good shoes.

• Must see: Alcatraz Island, Chinatown, North Beach (Italian) Neighborhood, Coit Tower (including the stair walk), and the Golden Gate Bridge. And if you’re a baseball fan and it’s spring or summer, AT&T Park.

• Shop around for good air and hotel rates (Entertainment Books, Travelocity, hotels.com, etc.). Our hotel, for example, was around one-third of the going rate when economic times are good.

• The restaurants are generally amazing. To fine tune your choices, consult some good websites with reviews by real people like you and me, such as yelp.com and chowhound.com.

• We found the people in San Francisco (with the exception of one surly bus driver) to be very helpful. More than once, someone asked if they could help us find somewhere even when we simply LOOKED like we needed an answer.

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One Last Ride!

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San Francisco - Day 3 (5/28/09)

The Golden Gate Bridge & The Fog: San Francisco's Dynamic Duo

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On Thursday morning we took a Muni bus to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, ground zero of the Summer of Love, in an effort to “make the scene”. That was all fine and good, but nobody told us we were around 40 years too late.

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A Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Scene

Other than the unique shoe stores, head shops and other memorabilia places, I’m afraid that the only scene to be made there is at the Ben and Jerry’s or the mega-huge CD store called Amoeba. We did, however, manage to land a nice breakfast at a place called The Pork Store Café on Haight Street that used to in fact be a pork store.

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BowlingJoe: Too Late to Make the Scene

We walked a few blocks west and entered Golden Gate Park. This park is huge. Over 1000 acres huge. Our focus would be on the serene Japanese Tea Garden. At least it was serene until the busloads of elementary school students arrived. The garden includes a pagoda, some nice landscaping, scenic bridges and trails. A nice way to spend and hour and a half (provided you can avoid the throngs of 6th graders).

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A Scene From The Japanese Tea Garden

Next up was our most physical challenge as we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Well….we walked to where the land was directly below us in Marin County anyway, and that was a good enough 4 mile trek for us. It’s an impressive old structure (we happened to be walking on it on the 72nd anniversary of its debut) and it’s darned breezy and noisy with all of the traffic whizzing by. We were surprised by the volume of people and bicyclists from all over the world who were with us on an unassuming Thursday afternoon.

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Just Before the Bridge Crossing

After conquering the Golden Gate, we got on a bus to take us back into town. Or at least that was the plan anyway. The driver must have been having a bad day because she was clearly moving in the opposite direction as we were initially told. After a quick exit we got on the correct streetcar to take us back to the hotel.

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The Ferry Building Market Place

Dinner time. BowlingWidow tracked down a place at The Ferry Building Marketplace on the water near the Embarcadero Center. We were too early to go to the restaurant proper of the Vietnamese place called The Slanted Door, but they offered a take-out option with the same food at a place around the corner called “Out the Door”. And it was of exemplary quality as we sat at their small counter and enjoyed it. The spring rolls were fresh and the combination of vegetables, meat and ginger dipping sauce was perfect. The 5-spice chicken with vermicelli noodles was a delicious main course.

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Out the Door: Top Notch Vietnamese Take Out

Chinatown tomorrow!