Author: Michael

Halloween 2018

Cruft Manor has Halloween traditions: Every year, we give out full size candies, made a listing of all costumes, and make a timelapse movie.

~200 Full Size Candies, ready for the trick or treaters!

I let the kids choose their favorite candy themselves. This can sometimes lead to a prolonged choosing process and debate. The moments of “OMG” and “wow” are wonderful as they realize the candies are full size.

Michele carved pumpkins and made this one in honor of the new bee hive we are keeping in the backyard.

As has become tradition, I made a timelapse movie of handing out candy to the kids. This year, I started when the first trick or treaters appeared a little after 6 PM.

The time-lapse takes place over a little more than three hours that is reduced to just over ninety seconds for your viewing pleasure. My old GoPro is still shooting 4×3 and I need to move to 16×9 next year.

When people come to the door, I ask every person what they were dressed as and wrote down their answers. I am careful to ask what they are, accepting their answers rather than interpreting what I see.

Cruft Manor ready for visitors

This Halloween makes it 14 years of data to compare, though 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Here are the top ten costumes for the last fourteen years compared.

Wonder Woman took the top spot this year. Fairly generic costume versions also stayed high, with variations on zombies and skeletons popular. As I saw last year, there we literally no politics oriented costumes this year. Not a lot of standout stuff year that stuck me as a new trend.

Here are few of the fun costumes I saw this year.

Miguel from Coco & Floppy Man from Car Dealership

UPS Box

Inflatable Green Suit

Our total number of visitors was a little down, well under 200. Several families nearby had their lights off and probably lead to lower traffic to our house.

This year’s complete costume list of 157 people:

5 Wonder Woman
4 Pirate
3 Devil
3 Skeleton
2 Clown
2 Harry Potter
2 Skull
2 Unicorn
2 Werewolf
2 Zombie
2 Bee
2 Big Bad Wolf
2 Bunny Rabbit
2 Captain America
2 Chuckie
2 Cow
2 Fortnite Skin
2 Incredible
2 Iron Man
2 Myself
2 Princess
2 Purger
2 Spiderman
2 Superman
1 “payday”
1 50s Girl
1 A Bush
1 Air Force
1 Angel
1 Anna from Frozen
1 Annabeth Chase
1 Ariel
1 Ash (Pokemon)
1 Barbie
1 Bat Fan
1 Batgirl
1 Batman
1 Beanie Baby
1 Belle
1 Bike Rider
1 Black Panther
1 Bob Ross on a Dinosaur
1 Bumblebee from Transformers
1 Cat
1 Charlie Brown
1 Chubby Baby
1 Cinderella
1 Danny Zuko
1 David S. Pumpkins
1 Daygo — anime
1 Deadly Knight
1 Demon
1 Día de los Muertos
1 Dinosaur
1 Drug Dealer
1 Elena from Avalon
1 Elf
1 Flapper
1 Flash
1 Floppy Man from Car Dealership
1 Foxy the Pirate
1 Frankenstein
1 Furby
1 Gangster
1 Gingerbread Man
1 God
1 Goddess
1 Grim Reaper
1 Gryffindor
1 Harleen Quinzel
1 Harley Quinn
1 Hermoine Granger
1 Huntress
1 Inflatable Green Suit
1 Kevin from Up
1 Killer Clown
1 Koala
1 Little Red Riding Hood
1 Little Soldier
1 Massaba Bella
1 Max
1 Michael Meyers (with soundtrack)
1 Michael Meyers Jester
1 Michael Phelps
1 Miguel from Coco
1 Minnie Mouse
1 Monkey
1 Monster
1 Panda Bear
1 Phantom
1 Police
1 Princess Jasmine
1 Princess Leia
1 Pumpkin
1 Puppy
1 Queen of Hearts
1 Ravenclaw
1 Rosie the Riveter
1 Sad Dodger
1 Scarecrow
1 Scary Skeleton
1 Shark
1 She-Hulk
1 Shredder
1 Skater
1 Skeleton Bride
1 Skull Trooper
1 Slappy from Goosebumps
1 Spaceman
1 Star Lord
1 Stitch
1 Supergirl
1 SWAT
1 Taga — anime
1 Television Set
1 Tinkerbell
1 True from Magic Kingdom
1 Unicorn w/ Wings
1 UPS Box
1 Vampirina
1 Wolfman
1 Yoda
1 Yukata
1 Zom”bee”
1 Zombie Cinderella
1 Zombie Princess

157 Costumed Visitors

Tips for Friday

I posted these practical tips on Twitter. 

Might as well share them here where things are not so ephemeral.

Do not leave ferrous metal items outside in the rain.

Clean your knife after each use.

Righty tighty, lefty loosey.

Check tire air pressure before leaving on a long car trip.

Use canned air to clean electronics with fans inside at least once every 3 months.

Butter is better for baking in almost every case, except pie crusts, for which lard is best.

When making sausage, keep the meat and fat as cold as possible during the grind process.

Hold the door for others.

Leave no food out overnight in your kitchen or campground to avoid trouble from insects and animals.

Keep a fire extinguisher and work gloves in your car at all times.

Let dogs smell the back of your hand before attempting to pet them.

Always say hello to crows. They are intelligent and will know who you are.

Men should carry a handkerchief in their back pocket at all times.

Lawn & yard waste should be cut into pieces less than a foot long before putting into a trash barrel.

Print out your boarding pass for a flight, mobile apps slow the process for everyone.

Check your luggage, do not carry on.

When in a new town looking for a place to eat, find the place with the most local cars parked in front.

Have your package addressed and ready before going to the post office.

Have a flashlight with you when you travel.

Backup all your computing devices to the cloud.

Keep your passports & important documents in a fireproof, waterproof safe or container.

Always use synthetic motor oil.

Whenever you have the chance, be charging your electronics. ABC — Always Be Charging.

Do not keep your phone in the room your sleep in overnight.

Always read the instructions.

Halloween 2017

Cruft Manor has Halloween traditions: Every year, we give out full size candies, made a listing of all costumes, and make a timelapse movie.

~300 Full Size Candies, ready for the trick or treaters!

This year I had sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan options just in case.

I let the kids choose their favorite candy themselves. This can sometimes lead to a prolonged choosing process and debate. The moments of “OMG” and “wow” are wonderful as they realize the candies are full size.

As has become tradition, I made a timelapse movie of handing out candy to the kids. This year, I started when the first trick or treaters appeared a little after 5:30 PM.

Michele had done a great job of prepping the house and the set up was easy.

Cruft Manor pumpkin carved by Michele

My daughter Zoe and her friend Danny were here to help out while I was away from the door, but they mainly watched Strange Things.

The time-lapse takes place over a little more than three hours that is reduced to just over ninety seconds for your viewing pleasure.

When people come to the door, I ask every person what they were dressed as and wrote down their answers. I am careful to ask what they are, accepting their answers rather than interpreting what I see.

This Halloween makes it 13 years of data to compare, though 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Here are the top ten costumes for the last eleven years compared.

Nerds, out of nowhere topped out the list. Most were the stereotypical glasses with tape and suspenders version. Evie from the Descendants movie was popular and one of the newer costumes I saw. Strangely, there we literally no politics oriented costumes this year.

Some great work put into the costumes with great make-up and even some EL wiring handiwork.

Poop Emjoi had me laughing

Sriracha Doge was a wonderful meme mashup.

Tiny Deadpool

Our total number of visitors was a little down, under 200. Maybe the cooler weather or the World Series game keep a few families inside.

This year’s complete costume list of 193 people:

7 Nerd
5 Batman
4 Cat
4 Evie from the Descendents
4 Pirate
4 Superman
3 Baseball Player
3 Batgirl
3 Elsa
3 Ninja
3 Skeleton
3 Vampire
3 Witch
2 Black Suit Guy
2 Cheetah
2 Dragon
2 Fox
2 Frankenstein
2 Mal from Descendents
2 Minnie Mouse
2 Police
2 Rosie the Riveter
2 Snow White
2 Spider-Man
2 Stitch
2 Stormtrooper
2 Supergirl
2 The Flash
2 Zombie
1 80s Girl
1 Alice Through the Looking Glass
1 Anakin Skywalker
1 Antman
1 Assassin
1 Banana
1 Bank Robber
1 Barcelona Soccer Player
1 Beaver
1 Belle
1 Black Cat
1 Bumble Bee Boy
1 Bumblebee
1 Butterfly
1 Butterfly Princess
1 Captain America
1 Carebear
1 Catwoman
1 Cinderella
1 Cleopatra
1 Clown
1 Count Olaf
1 Cowgirl
1 Curious George
1 Dead KISS Member
1 Dead Seeker from Watchdogs 2
1 Dead Ugly Ninja
1 Deadpool
1 Death Trooper
1 Deb from Dexter
1 Dexter from Dexter
1 Día de Muertos
1 Dodgers Fan
1 Dogman
1 Dragon Ninja
1 Dwight Schute
1 Egyptian
1 Error 404: Costume Not Found
1 Ever After Doll
1 Georgie from IT
1 Ghost Clown
1 Ghostbusters
1 Grim Reaper
1 Harambe
1 Harley Quinn
1 Homeless Man
1 Hulk
1 Huntress
1 Irrelevant
1 Jack O Lantern
1 Jawa
1 Jerrod
1 Jester
1 Jigsaw
1 Joker
1 Juggler
1 Killer Clown
1 Kitty Cat
1 Kubo
1 Lemony Snicket
1 Leonardo — Ninja Turtle
1 Leopard
1 Little red Riding Hood
1 Luigi
1 Mario
1 Max — Where the Wild Things Are
1 Mermaid
1 Michael Jackson
1 Miley
1 Moana
1 Monkey
1 Ninjago
1 Optimus Prime
1 Owl
1 Pajama Girl
1 Panda
1 Peter Pan
1 Pigeon
1 Pikachu
1 Pirate Skeleton
1 Poop Emoji
1 Princess
1 Princess Elena
1 Pumpkin
1 Pumpkin, Scary
1 Raccoon
1 Rainbow Fish
1 Rapper
1 River Vixen from Riverdale
1 Scary Clown
1 Scream
1 Sexy Man
1 Sheba
1 Skeleton Knight
1 Slytherin House
1 Snow Princess
1 Sonic
1 Spidergirl
1 Squirtle
1 Sriracha Doge
1 Star Trekky 60s Alien
1 Thomas the Tank Engine
1 Tigger
1 Tinkerbell
1 Totoro
1 Unicorn
1 Waldo, Where’s
1 Wednesday Adams
1 Werewolf
1 Willy Wonka’s Corpse
1 Wolf
1 Zombie Gas Mask

193 Costumed Visitors

Riding Pacific Coast Highway

Last year, my friend Syd and I began planning a bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to celebrate our birthdays, each a day apart. We looked a how to ride between the two cities for a bit, and then the winter rains came.

The rains were wonderful for drought stricken California, but for our bike ride, not so much. The storms wreaked havoc on Pacific Coast Highway, the jewel of our route.

PCH Closures

The area closed off by bridge collapse and rock slides is literally the most enticing part of riding the coast.

In May, Michele and I went to Cambria to celebrate our anniversary and ride up as far as we could the coast. We enjoyed the quiet and open roads north of Cambria, sharing it with deer, elephant seals, and turkey vultures. We were hooked.

We stopped at Ragged Point, where the road was closed, smiling from ear to ear from this kind of ride.

I need to suck in my gut for photos

Our planning for a birthday ride changed, and we switched to several looping rides from towns along the coast. We had heard that there was a way to ride the closed off section of PCH by entering near the top of Big Sur at Pfeiffer Big Sur Park. We didn’t have exact details, but various cycling blogs were mentioning that the ride was doable and amazing.

By July, were locked in with a plan. On the birthday week, Syd, his wife Kate, Michele, and I rented a giant Sprinter van and headed north to Carmel.

Bike touring, the easy way

Brian, my college roommate, met up with us in Carmel. Early on Sunday morning, we rode out without a lot of detail toward Big Sur, hoping to find our way.

After a bit of riding in circles, looking at maps, and stressful conversations, we found the entrance to trail up to Big Sur.

Hiking the trail up

The trail up is switchbacks with stairs in places with about 800 feet elevation gain over a mile. Not a huge hike, but carrying bikes made it hard work.

We got to the top with no real idea of what we were going to find. After a few miles, we rolled past the remnants of the hiker crowd and were alone on the road. The fog was in and we couldn’t even see the sea. Only the road ahead of us.

Big Sur Coast

With 5 more days of riding ahead of us, we were leary to head too far and turn the day into a sufferfest, but the hook had been set. Riding PCH without cars was unique opportunity.

The next five days we spent riding in Monterey, Paso Robles, Solvang, and Los Olivios, returning home to South Pasadena tired and happy.

Michele and I knew the window was closing on riding PCH again, as CalTrans was making a huge effort to build a new bridge and re-open the road. The estimate we heard was re-opening by the end of September.

Building the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge

After July’s week of riding, Michele and I couldn’t stop discussing PCH and made plans to make a special trip for it for her birthday. This time, we’d be ready and ride as far as we wanted.

Ready to drive to Carmel

The sky was drizzling Friday night when arrived in Carmel and we hoped for good weather, as this was likely our last real chance to ride PCH before it re-opened.

We headed to Pfeiffer Big Sur Park, parked, and began our adventure.

All smiles before we begin

The weather was cooperating and we were below the fog, able to see the Pacific Ocean.

Repairs from the slide at Big Creek

Looking back toward one of the bridges

The highway has a lot of ups and downs, so we went back and forth from dramatic, enjoyable descents to slow, arduous climbs. We made it to Lucia, which is basically a wide spot in the road with a small gift shop. Lucia is 20+ miles in from where we hiked up onto the highway. Other cyclists were here as well, refueling. We sat down, ate the sandwiches we had brought, and smiled.

Coca-Cola makes all things better.

We decided to turn around here and head back. The actual edge where the road stopped was another 12 miles down. This would turn an already long ride into a painful 70+ mile ride. We opted for fun instead.

The road sign leaving Lucia

The ride back was uneventful, drama-wise. I had prepped with extra tubes, chain breaker, patch kit, etc., but never got a chance to use any of it.

The sun came out and our views got even more beautiful. We stopped to look and listen to the elephant seals. Climbing out, we rested several times after the longer climbs. I daydreamed about eating a chocolate bar. Michele daydreamed about jumping into a jacuzzi.

Looking back at the Big Sur coastline

After the ride back, we hiked down the path to the campgrounds, slowly descending back to civilization.

Crossing the creek in Pfeiffer Big Sur Park back into the campgrounds

Back at the car, covered in sweat salt & dirt, we were nothing but smiles.

It’s unlikely we’ll get the opportunity to ride PCH without cars again and I’m glad we made the effort. If you can squeeze a ride in before the highway re-opens, DO IT.

Still smiling

Today I turn 50 years old.

Today I turn 50 years old.

A good milestone from which to look back. I am a lucky man, surrounded by friends and family, wanting for nothing in life.

At my advanced age, people begin to exhaustively share generic platitudes about life.

I will share a few things I have learned the hard way. These are the things I would tell my 25 year old self. Twenty five year old me wasn’t dumb, but keeping these things in mind would have made for an easier road.

Take good care of your body — You underestimate the tie between the mind and body and push your body in stressful ways, counting on your will to keep moving forward.

The human body is amazing, able to endure most everything your mind asks of it, but you can push it too far.

You’re not getting enough sleep. You’re eating a lot of crappy food. You’re in shape, but you’re not getting a lot of exercise. As a result, often your brain is not operating as well as it could.

As dull as it is to say, “If your don’t have your health, you haven’t got anything.” You were not smart about this, and you once ended up in the ICU with double pneumonia and sepsis. Doctors told your wife to “prepare for the worst”, but you were very lucky and survived. It was a tough lesson to learn.

I’m not saying you need to get crazy and exercise three times a day and eat kale and coconut oil at every meal. I’m saying that you need to devote some thought and willpower toward keeping your body healthy.

Life will be stressful, in ways you cannot imagine, and you will need your body in those hard times to support your mind.

Have good manners and be polite — It’s not hard to engage in the simple formalities of life, saying hello, holding doors open, saying please and thank you. The payback is enormous.

You are not a mean person, but always remember that everyone wants to be treated with respect. Being kind and pleasant with people helps almost any interaction you will have. Be nicer to assistants than to the executives. Say hello to people you walk by, whether a gardener, a cleaner, or a powerful executive. When dealing with people on the phone, never yell or curse. Never threaten or deride.

Whether it’s people in service roles or people who have decision power, being seen as a respectful person makes a difference.

Small things are often what people remember most. Remembering an important date or giving an honest compliment are sometimes more memorable than an expensive gift.

You will gain power and agency, so it is even more more important that you treat others with respect and kindness. Arrogance is repulsive and destructive to relationships. You will see bad behavior all around you, but you must not participate.

Humility is the goal.

Shut up and listen — Stop talking so much and focus on listening to what other people are saying. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.

You don’t have to prove you are smart by talking a lot. People will not question your intelligence, but they will question your judgement.

Effort is required to actively listen to another person, but its benefits are manifold. It strengthens your relationship with others, because people know when you are really paying attention and when you are simply waiting to talk.

At work, it is important to be quiet and understand the dynamics going on around you. Arguments often have nothing to do with what’s being said and everything to do with what is unsaid. I know you desperately want to throw in your two cents to make sure everyone knows how smart you are, but it just makes people roll their eyes.

You should spend more time talking with individuals and understanding what’s really going on, quietly behind the scenes, rather than showboating in group settings.

Don’t lie. Don’t insult others. Don’t write emails you wouldn’t want read by the entire company. Everything will leak one way or another, and your character will be judged.

Those are the big things, here are a few more specific things I wish I could tell tell 25 year old me:

  • You were right about New York and Boston sports fans, they are the worst.
  • Save more money.
  • See more Grateful Dead shows. It’s not the same after Jerry dies.
  • Spend more time with your dad. You will miss him dearly.
  • Logos on your clothes are worthless. Let your wife choose your clothes.
  • Therapy is worth the pain.
  • Being a geek turns out to be cool. You don’t have to hide your passions.
  • Don’t worry, your daughters turn out wonderful.

Today, I wonder what 75 year old me would say to 50 year old me. Maybe it’s “be welcoming to the AI overlords” or “brain implants are fine, listen to your daughters”. We’ll find out.