iCrew

iCrew Bike Navigation System is an iPhone accessory that mounts to your bicycle handle bar and turns your iPhone into a cycle computer. It comes with a waterproof and easily detachable case. Its rotating attachment allows horizontal or vertical orientation for viewing preference, and can be moved vertical to ground to record your cycling adventures.

Fifty Shades Of Coffee

If you love coffee, and design, Matthew Waldman's Kickstarter project POTHRA might be of great interest to you. This environmentally conscientious designer came up with a brilliant idea to recycle coffee grounds into unique pots by mixing them with a special resin he formulated. I love how different kinds of coffee react differently with the resin to come out of the mold in amazingly different shades of brown.

* Howdy Baldy

Today I learned that Mt. Baldy is exactly that - bald!

My heroic hiking friends R & J, and I started our hike up Mt. Baldy at 6100 feet. Inspired by the movie The Way, I recently watched, I wished everyone "Buen Camino!".

We stopped for a brief break at the ski lodge at 8200 feet, to have some light snacks, and to use the facilities. The tiny building surrounding the hole in the ground looked very cute from the outside:

However, inside this little building lurked the worst kind of olfactory violence monster. It crushed your nose, and your whole respiratory system without pity while feeding your visual tract with one of the most spectacular views through its minuscule window:

The climb up Mt. Baldy was steep and slippery with all the loose rock. I had vivid flashbacks to my Inca Trail Hike with every muscle waking up to the familiar pains, and just at those moments  of pain, I felt the cool breeze of the mountain soothe me just like a mother blowing on your scraped knee while dabbing it with iodine to make it better...

We made peak in slightly less than 4hrs. at 10,064 feet! And, of course, celebrated with Cookies and Beer!

It is not hard to see why this mountain is called "Baldy"; there are not enough plants at the top to even accomodate a combover:

We took a different path to get down, and the large stone steps I encountered on the way once again flooded my head (and my knees) with memories from my Inca Trail Hike. Also, I saw my first California snow!

Most of the hike down was fairly comfortable except for two parts where we had to carefully walk through seemingly narrow paths with VERY loose gravel. It felt so treacherous that one wrong move, and you would be the larger rock rolling in a rockslide to the foot of the mountain.

I was incredibly flattered when someone going the opposite way stopped and said to me "This is not your first time on Baldy, is it?". I must've looked like I knew what I was doing. I guess beer helped create that image of confidence. :)

We finally made our way into the Top Of The Notch restaurant and had giant burgers/sandwiches with much needed french fries. Purchased our tickets for the lift, and took the 10 min. ride down to get back to our starting point.

This lift ride was new to me as well. I had been in bigger and enclosed lifts up the Australian Alps but being exposed to open air felt more exhilarating.

Thank you, my dear friends J and R! I learn so much from both of you, and you make every hike so much fun!

Cheers!

Concrete Retreat

Igor Sirotov's architecture is the perfect recipe with simple ingredients to create complex yet gentle spaces. His formula is a play of delicate balances between the cold concrete and warm wood, neutral spaces and colorful furniture, sharp corners and soft fabrics. He is a master of turning breathtaking views into an extension of the dwellings through walls of glass.

Silence Seems To Matter

I never was a fan of folk music or even folk-sounding music - that is until I heard On And On from Fossil Collective's debut album Tell Where I Lie. This UK band sure does know how to play the heart-strings...

If you have a long drive planned, get this album. You will not be disappointed!

Participatory Journalist

Plimpton! is the biographical documentary about George Plimpton who described himself as a participatory journalist. This very creatively made biography of a man who was an actor, a boxer, a writer, a baseball player, a lover, and many more things in his time, will be out in Los Angeles theaters on June 7th.

Traveler's Pet

If you have a traveler's mind like myself, and are practical, you will appreciate the smart carry-on suitcase Hop! designed by designer Rodrigo Garcia Gonzales from Madrid. This suitcase can be programmed to follow your smartphone via Bluetooth, and you can create a small train of cases if you are traveling in multiples. Your hands will be free to carry your coffee, and passport without any mishaps.