The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

The last two years of pandemic uncertainty have instilled in me a newfound fear of shrinking opportunities, coupled with the acute awareness that time, experiences and human connection are precious. As the summer of 2022 approached, I found myself unable to say no to anything.

...But, as author Jim Collins says:
"If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any."

I wasted no time saying yes to IRONMAN 70.3 Oregon in Salem. It was a new race on the IM calendar, appearing exactly 20 years after I had graduated college in Salem. How could I pass this up?!

It also provided the chance to redeem myself after the disappointing bike split in North Carolina, a performance that did not seem appropriate to the level of fitness I had built.

Meanwhile, coaching opportunities were rolling in faster than I could keep up with, and I had eagerly booked travel to all the third iteration pandemic weddings and social events that had sprouted up on the calendar every other weekend. June hit me like a freight train, with 14 hour work days and 48 hour whirlwind weekend trips out of town. I squeezed in runs when I could but bike training was impossible with all the time away from home (I did, however, get to try out a Peloton. It was fun). Six weeks of trying to be everywhere at once had flown by and when I finally had a moment to focus on Oregon 70.3, it was only two weeks away ...

And then I got COVID.


Posted by Kimberly 07/15/2022

In December 2001, Nik graduated with honors from Universal Technical Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, with a degree in Automotive and Truck Technology. He made the Director's Honor List 13 times and was named Student of the Phase three times. His final GPA was 3.95.

Nik now works for a boat repair shop on the SF-Bay waterfront in Alameda. He performs maintenance and repairs on all manner of recreational watercraft, including fishing, power and sailboats.

Posted by Dan 01/07/2002

Second day in Bogota today. Yesterday was a blast. I learned how to play tejo, an incredible game that needs to come to the states. It's kinda like bags or horseshoes, but you play with these heavy discuss-type lumps and try to hit little papers filled with gun powder, and it's a delightful amount of explosives! Then I had a GIANT bbq in the hostal i'm staying at - the whole hostal gathered for a feast of deliciously tender steak, grilled chicken, chorizo, grilled whole onions, potatoes, and amazing spicey guac. For $7!


The game of tejo - like horseshoes with explosives.

I think i'm gonna head for the Caribbean coast in a few days. I'm getting antsy. It's gonna be a long haul - about 20 hours on a bus (sure wish I could read on buses). But I just wanna get to the ocean and a hammock and relax.

Traveling in Colombia is much more expensive than I'd planned. Buses are not cheap relative to Ecuador, which is generally $1/hour on the bus. You can get all the way across ecuador for $15 or so. But I'm about to shell out probably 4x that much to get to the coast now. Sigh.


Posted by Whitney 07/09/2011, revised 08/15/2011