DanaPellerin.com

No I don’t mean “Hot” like “Hey bro, there’s so much going on this weekend, it’s going to be hot!”. I mean it like; “Hey bro, it’s freaking 103° outside. That’s WAY TOO HOT!!!”. I’m sitting here at 6am finishing part 3 of our studio video series and it’s already 75° outside. It’s going to be a scorcher today. One good thing though, it was 102º yesterday and I rode my bike to work. I thought I was going to be miserable on the way home, but it actually wasn’t too bad. As long as you keep moving on the bike it’s usually tolerable. So that’s a good thing. I was afraid I would have to wimp out and go back to driving the car to work. Oh the shame!

So Michelle and Deanna are going to visit Mom this weekend so I have the house to myself. Which sucks. But after riding 1700 miles last weekend, I don’t really feel like driving 4 hours to see my mother-in-law. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great lady, and excellent drinking buddy, but that’s just too much traveling for me. So I’m going to stay home and figure out something to do. Maybe I’ll lay out and tan this ghostly white body of mine. Or maybe I’ll ride up to Bass Lake where it’s a little cooler. Or maybe I’ll go see Iron Man and Speed Racer. Or maybe I’ll just drink beer and smoke cigars all day. Who knows? The possibilities are endless I suppose.

Anyway, as I said earlier, Part 3 of our little video series is up and you can watch it by clicking here. I didn’t get to get into the studio for the final recording which I’m a little bummed about, but I was exhausted last week. Paul sent me a rough mix of it though and WOW, it sounds incredible. I’m sure he’ll be posting it as soon as it’s mixed down.

Hope everyone has a great (and cool) weekend!

1700 miles. That’s how much ground we covered on our Great Northwest Bike Tour. 4 days of nothing but riding, from dawn to dusk, though some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet.

I took off right from work on Friday. Fully wrapped in black leather, I hit Hwy 99 to Sacramento. A boring ride, but I had no choice. It was already late in the day and we were hitting the road at 8am the next day so I didn’t have time to take a more scenic route. I got there in one piece and slept in my brothers granddaughters room. I was tempted to stay up and play with her new Hannah Montana playset, but I needed to get up early. Next time.

The next day we got up and met the rest of the guys for breakfast. We filled up on omelets and coffee and hit the road. The ride up was our longest ride day, over 500 miles, but it was beautiful. We took smaller roads through the mountains instead of the highway in order to see some scenery. We wanted to go through Lassen, but the road hadn’t been plowed yet, and so we had to backtrack and cut around the park. around Shasta, we hit our first snag; One of the bikes broke down. One guy stayed behind and the rest of us continued into Oregon. Unfortunately by the time our buddy got his bike towed, the Harley shops were closed. Since bike shops are normally closed Sunday and Monday, the poor guy spent the entire trip in a hotel room with no bike. Major bummer.

Sunday we spent the day riding around Oregon. We explored several small towns that were really neat and rode everywhere from the valley floor to the tops of the mountains which were still covered in snow. It was a great time and we saw some outstanding countryside. Oregon really is a beautiful state.

Monday we once again got up early and headed back to California. This time we headed toward the coast, stopping in Crescent City, Eureka and ending up in Fort Bragg. This is some of the most awesome scenery I’ve ever seen. Amazing redwood forests, breathtaking coastal views, and perfectly smooth, twisty roads. Honestly, I’m amazed that places like this aren’t swamped with tourists. Yeah, it’s May, but you just don’t get views like this in many places and every time I ride through country like this, I just dread coming back to the city.

I think that’s the best thing about these road trips. It’s just a time to be disconnected from our crazy society, with it’s mixed up priorities, and just really enjoy being one of God’s creations and exploring this world he’s put here for us. Honestly, as I was riding along, I was fantasizing about selling everything I have, putting the money in the bank and just collecting the interest. I’d camp in national parks every night and ride from dawn to dusk, meeting interesting people along the way. I’d spend the summers riding through the north, and winters in the south and wouldn’t own a thing but my bike and the clothes on my back. And my iPhone. That would be the life.

Ah well, maybe some day. But I had to work today, so I rode from Fort Bragg back to Fresno yesterday and got home in the early evening. It was nice getting home because I really missed the family. It was a fantastic ride though and we’re going to plan another one for the fall. I can’t wait!

Check out the pictures by CLICKING HERE.

Well, it’s been a whole week of commuting on my motorcycle. Actually, I’ve only driven my truck twice all week and that was once to go to the gym and once to take my daughter to get a fishbowl at the pet store. So I think I’ve done pretty good. I gotta say it’s been pretty fun overall. It’s nice getting up in the morning, throwing on jeans, and jumping on the bike. It’s like a short little adrenaline rush every morning and afternoon.

There is a downside though. Changing at work kind of sucks. And the commute, while enjoyable, is more stressful. Most of my leisure rides are off the beaten path; up in the mountains, over at the coast, or in the desert. Weaving through busy city traffic is a whole different ball game and requires a lot of attention and concentration. The other day I nearly dumped it after riding through a puddle of stagnant gutter water. The back wheel slipped right out from under me but luckily I kept her up. Then today I got a scare when some gal in an SUV coming out of a Carl’s Jr pulled out right in front of me. In a car these things would be no big deal, but on a bike, everything takes on new meaning. If you wreck in a car, you’ll usually be shaken but OK. If you wreck on a bike, you are GOING to feel pain.

Anyway, it’s been good and now there’s about 6 of us in my department commuting on our bikes. So it’s fun to see all the bikes lined up outside the office and chat about gear and crap with the guys.

Do you have to give presentations? Like the kind where you stand in front of a group with a projector and a laptop with PowerPoint on it and entertain people for 30 minutes? That’s what I had to do today. We have these things called Cookies & Learn, where the company buys plates of cookies and then somebody has to give a presentation on something they’re working on to the entire department. Today was my day.

I’ve been working on a large project for the past 6 months and we’re ready to go live in 30 days and so I had to give a session, in front of about 50 people, on what it is and why we’re doing it. Honestly, I really don’t like doing stuff like this. As soon as I start talking my throat dries up, my hands shake, and everything seems to go WAY faster than I had planned. The last thing you want in a presentation is not having enough to say. Luckily for me I only had 30 minutes and so it wasn’t too hard to fill.

What always amazes me though is that I should be really at ease with this stuff. I mean, I’ve played drums in front of audiences of thousands, and felt no jitters at all. But something about the quietness of the room and everyone staring and waiting…. and having to talk to fill the time. it’s miserable.

At any rate, I got through it just fine. Nobody hijacked me with crazy questions. Nobody heckled me. I didn’t throw up. Thank you Lord for watching over me!

For the last several months I’ve been agonizing over my new tattoo. A while back I got a large cross on my right bicep and since then I’ve been thinking about how I could flesh out the design to cover most of my right arm. I wanted something colorful, and I wanted something to fit with the general “Wonder of God” theme I had floating in my head.

Well, our bible study group has been reading “The Heart of the Artist” and so I did a quick search on the net for bible quotes with regards to artists. The first page that popped up had a partial verse that really kind of struck me in a cool way. It’s actually the first half of the very first line of the bible. “In the beginning God created…”. God is an artist! How cool is that?

So I went looking for images that show off God’s artistic side. After looking at thousands of paintings, tattoos, and taking into account the specialty of my tattoo artist (asian designs), I came up with the following sketch. I have two weeks to nail this design down, or postpone my appointment, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. Check it out.

Oh and since I’m feeling artistic today, I posted some of my more recent designs on my Flickr page.