Amy and I live in Santa Cruz. Actually, we live right across the street from Catalyst Night Club.

The headliner tonight is Good Charlotte — one of my all time favorite bands… and we are going!!! Santa Cruz is their first stop on the tour and their 1st time to play in over a year! The Catalyst is a medium sized venue about the size of the famed Metro in Chicago (way too many memories) but definitely off the beaten path — heck, you have to take Hwy 17 to get here!

Here’s the best part. It’s 5:55pm PDT and I can hear them doing a dry run of their play set… from my office! The window is wide open, I’m working hard on the eve of end-of-quarter, and the sounds of my favorite songs are carried across the street! Life couldn’t get better.

I want to thank Leon Chism for introducing me to great pre-popularized bands back in 2001/2 such as Less Than Jake, Good Charlotte, Blink, (and… the list goes on) while working at Orbitz. And I want to thank Tim Oakes for keeping the dream alive that, while at 31, I can still hang with the mosh pits, get drenched in sweat, and throw fists in the air to the songs of my favorite bands.

This week I am consulting in Bellevue WA and staying downtown Seattle, only a few blocks from the Needle.

On my way from the airport, I passed a nearby airfield and saw the most enormous airplane I’ve ever seen [takeoff video]. It turns that there are only 3 of these planes in production and they are used to transport the fuselage and parts for the 787. Yes, this cargo plane carries.. another plane.

Tonight was my only “free” night for this trip. I got back to the hotel early, around 4pm, and spent a few frustrating hours trying to understand why Rails requires you to have a database to unit test Model classes… even if your entire website doesn’t use a database… very frustrating. I’ll post on this later. Tired of programming for the evening, I retired for a sushi dinner at Shiro. I had dinner here almost 3 years ago to-date for my 28th birthday. Though, in the past 3 years my palate for great sushi has become very discriminatory… and tonights dinner was a disappointing 7 out of 10. To date, my all-time favorite japanese/sushi restaurant is still Starfish in Chicago… yes, Chicago. I miss Chicago.

Last night I violated rule #1 of mountain biking. Never. Go. Alone.

I went out for an evening (6pm) ride at Nisene Marks State Park [map]. The park is awesome. It’s a quick 15-minute drive to the entrance and it offers over 30 miles of semi-wilderness terrain spanning 2,600 vertical feet. From the southern entrance, you can ride a closed-off fire road until your legs fall off. Last night, I rode for 85 minutes before turning around.

7:35pm. Dusk was setting in. I had 15 minutes remaining in my mostly downhill ride before arriving at the parking lot. The park closes at 8pm. By then, it is dark outside, and near pitch black under the canopy of trees.

7:36pm. I ran over this. A two inch, rusty nail punctured my rear wheel and it deflated entirely within 3 seconds. Knowing I was a short bike ride home, I was not discouraged and simply set off to hike back. Three bikers passed me and offered assistance. I stupidly declined figuring the hike would be a good time to reflect on personal thoughts. Looking back, I wish had asked them to drive back and pick me up.

For an hour, I hiked. Keep in mind that this is cougar territory and signs are posted. I could hear rustling in the background. Bushes were moving. Ok, probably not a cougar, maybe a field mouse or squirrel… but still, you never know. I quickly took out my 4-inch survival knive and held it in my left hand. The bike was having a hard time rolling so I cleverly attached my backpack to the frame, hoisted the entire bike on my back, and proceeded to briskly but cautiously hike out. Darkness fell quickly. For the last 30 minutes of my hike, there were many patches of pitch black darkness - I couldn’t see my own feet. I was confident that I’d arrive safely… but occiasionally, I was concerned that I could be spooked and slip into the adjacent ravine or be attacked outright by a ravenous beast of the night.

Long story short - After an hour of hiking, the first passing motorist of the evening stopped and offered a ride. They were a young couple, kind, and sincerely concerned about me hiking that late at night. Cautiously I took their offer… and 8 minutes later, I was back at the truck.

Looking back, I was prepared. But not enough. I always bike with an emergency kit, survival knife, fire starter, compass, food, and water. If I was 20 miles in and had the same flat tire, I would definitely be spending the night. Next time I’ll be bringing spare long pants & long sleeved shirt, spare tire, pump, and a headlamp. Next time.

Never. Go. Alone.