Pedroza's Place

Having a Relief Society President as a wife has a lot of positives. You know as long as she is in that calling you are safe from any calling of serious responsibility yourself. You know that you will be invited to some really nice dinners. Unfortunately, you also know that if there is a blood drive in town your going to be donating. That is exactly what Denise did today. Actually she had both a blood drive and a clothes give away at the church today. Attendance was good, in all she got 27 pints of blood today.
If your interested in donating blood yourself it is a fairly simple procedure. All you have to do is find a local blood donation center, register, answer a few questions, and then you can donate. It does hurt a little bit when the needle enters, but it goes by fairly fast. If you have rare blood or A+ blood they might even pay you for it. Usually it is just by donation though. In today’s case I did get a coupon for a free pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream.

Ok, so last month I wrote about how we went to see the Gamble House. I really didn’t talk about our visit to Little Toyko. It was fun, but it wasn’t really eventful. Or at least that is what I thought…

 Ok, first I will fill you in with the boring stuff. Little Tokyo is a favorite haunt of mine. Located in the center of LA it is a mecca for every Japanophile in California, that would include myself (John). I visited Japan once when I was in high school and I have studied it ever since. Unfortunately, I don’t have money to go back there, but luckily in California we have Little Toyko. Any Japanese thing you want is there. My favorite noodle house there is a place called Daikokuya.

It’s a small place, but it has these interesting old Japanese ads there. The wait can be long at times, but the food is good and the price is right. The headliner is ramen, and it is the best you can get int he states. You have to understand that this isn’t like the ramen you buy in the supermarket, it is very different. My mom likes Japanese food, but unfortunately she found out she doesn’t ramen, so I have to say it is not for everyone.

Anyhow,  that is the boring part. I really like Little Tokyo, but I wasn’t going to just blog about ramen. Have you ever had one of those moments you didn’t realize it was a big deal, but then afterwards you were like “Oh, that was a big deal.” I have been trying to improve my home movies. I can’t say that I will ever be good, but I want my videos to be at least a little more interesting. So while I walking through Little Tokyo I was taking what is known as “B roll.” Basically “B Roll” is just filler film that you can use later when bridging a gap in your film.  Here is what I shot:

Nothing really exceptional, just a little stroll through Little Tokyo, a quick pan of a few shops, a street performer in the background. Or so I thought until I saw this: (go to 33:38)

Yep, that was my brush with greatness. I met Arthur Nakane and I didn’t even know it. I should of know he was famous, my son really liked him. In fact AJ liked him so much we listened to three of his songs. I wish I would of filmed more of him. Had I known I was watching someone who would go onto America’s Got Talent I certainly would have. The guy is entertaining, but the competition is stiff so I don’t think he is going to win, but if this guy does go on to win the competition, we will be able to say “we saw him before he got famous.” I wish I would have gotten an autograph.

(Click on the images to expand)

About a year ago I described my encounter with my cousin who lives in this alternative universe. In this alternative universe people walk in beautiful settings and campout under the stars.

<— A view towards Lake Silverwood from about 3 miles up the trail.

A view towards the 15 and a place called Horse Thief Canyon:

That is the good part of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).  The PCT has always been a mesmerizing thing for me. Living so close to the PCT in Crestline it is almost in my backyard. Recently my Scouts decided that they wanted to get their hiking merit badge. To do this they have to hike one 20 mile and 5 10 mile hikes. I wanted to help them with this so I planned what I thought would be a 10 mile hike.

Me at the Cleghorn road:

A simple plan really, camp overnight at Lake Silverwood and then hike a one-way hike to the McDonald’s 10 miles away. Unfortunately, I made two major mistakes. First mistake was that I used Google Earth to map the route. It lied, it calculated it out a little over 10 miles. After redoing the calculation after the hike it turned out our whole route was actually 14 miles. I did not do this entire 14 miles because at about 9 miles I realized my second mistake. That of not getting a topographical map. I had a good map, it showed all the required landmarks well, it just didn’t show the altitude change. If it had, it would of told me that out of those 14 miles, only three of them were downhill. The rest had various levels of incline. After seeing the third (and last peak) I knew I knew I wasn’t going to make it. My ankle was swollen, my knees were sore and I only had a quarter of a bottle of water left. It was time to evacuate. Lucky for me this trail has a lot of “off-ramps.” When I did realize I couldn’t make it, I doubled back and went onto Cleghorn Road. Since I didn’t know how my ankle was doing I tried to hitch a ride back to the 138. I didn’t get a ride, but two people did give me water. It was slow go, but I did make it to the 138.

This is where I ended up:

A  AWD staging ground.

It wasn’t all bad. First of all my Scouts along with the Scout Master made it to the end of the trail. The wild life was pretty impressive. I saw lots of flowers and beautiful little streams. I can’t even count the number of lizards that I saw (lots of different types).We also saw a black bear cub, luckily we never found his mother. It was good hike, no one got hurt, and we met the requirements for the merit badge. Crazy thing is some of my Scouts decided to go on later and do another 6 miles so they could do their 20 miler, I wish I had that energy.
Here is a map of what I walked(the red is what I did, the green is the trail, the goal was to get to that big yellow line called the 15):

If you don’t know the band America all I really have to say is “A Horse With No Name.” This is not their only #1, but now you know what I am talking about. They are my favorite music band. I have pretty much known America’s music all my life. I grew up listening to their easy going melodies ever since I was born.
I always dreamed of seeing one of their concerts but by the mid 80s they were out of favor. All I had was a America’s greatest hits album (which I ended up buying three copies of because I wore them out from soo much use).
This was good, but then in the early 2000′s something wierd happened. I was visiting my Aunt in Santa Rosa, CA and she told me that she had just gone to an America concert. An America concert in the 2000′s, very wierd. It turns out America was starting to write again. In 2005 there was a concert in San Diego, but I didn’t have enough money to go. More missed opportunities.
Then this last Saturday, May 9th, 2010. America came to Riverside, CA. This was too close to home and too close to my birthday to miss the oportunity. Mixing together money from several holidays past along with a birthday budget boost Denise and I were able to go out and see America at the Fox Theatre in downtown Riverside. Which is also wierd because it has been closed for the last three years.
The concert was fun, America has definately changed over the years, but they are still entertaining. First of all the trio is now a duo. They are however writing new songs. The voices are definately lower, but that is expected I guess when your 59 years old. The sound however is just like it has always been, highly acoustic with emphasis on the rhythm and soft melody. My favorite song from their newest album is a song called “Chasing the Rainbow”:

Also at the concert was Firefall. I have to admit I didn’t know who these guys were untill I heard the following song:

What was cool about them was after their set I bought a CD and all three members of the Firefall band signed my CD. They were very nice people to talk to.
In all the concert was a blast. Definately, was a memory I will remember for a long time. If you are interested in seeing this band in person this is time to go. You can check out their website for future concert dates. They are going all over the world doing 100 concerts, so chances are good they are coming near you too.

Scouting is actually something that is not new to me. Scouting to me actually started for me in the early 80s when I joined the Cub Scouts. I continued through to Boy Scouts and reached the rank of Life Scout. The last time I did anything of any real substance with Scouting was back in 1991. Then about a year ago the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric came up to me and said “you are the Assistant Varsity Coach.” I remember filling out an application and I went to the Teachers (14-15 yr old boys I advise) and told them I was their new Varsity Coach. They told me they were not interested in Scouting. I was ok with that, so I did nothing about it. Time passed by and my Teachers got older and left me. When the new ones came in they told me they were Stars and they wanted to become Eagles. Furthermore they had discovered I was their Coach. I told my new Teachers that I was their Coach, but I didn’t know what to Coach them to do (some Coach). Anyhow, I told them that I would figure it out. Luckily, they just called a new Scoutmaster who it turns out actually knew what we were supposed to be doing (he used to be an Eagle Scout). Having the motivation of the new Scoutmaster I signed up for Varsity Basic Leader Training. Actually, what I learned was that before I could even sign up for training I had to do a bunch of online tests. The first one I did was Youth Protection (a class about how to protect youth from sexual predators). Then I had to take “This is Scouting” (a three hour online course to teach you the importance of Scouting). If that were not were not enough I also took: Fast Start for Boy Scouting, the Troop Committee Challenge, Unit Coordinator training, Fast Start to Unit Coordination, Climb on Safely, Physical Wellness, Safe Swim Defense, Safety Afloat, Staffing the District Committee, Trek Safely, and Weather Hazard Training. Three days later I had passed enough online quizzes to show up to my first Basic Leader Training course. The first part of the training was Indoor Leader Training. This was an all Saturday class that taught us the basic organization of the Troop (in my case it is called a Team) and how to get a bunch of teenagers to run a well organized program. It surprised me how much training I needed for a program in which is really run by the boys, not the adults. We are there to make sure a catastrophe doesn’t happen and to teach, but the leadership is all on the boys. Anyhow, that done we then had a two day overnight training called Outdoor Leader Skills. It was like a very intense First Class Board of Review. We had to basically demonstrate we could do everything a First Class Scout could do (first aid, knives, lashings, cooking, plant and animal identification, knot tying, ten essentials, etc.). I was a little rusty on some of my skills, but I had reread the Scout Handbook prior to the course so I was able to do ok. The reward for all this learning was the following three cards and a patch that says “trained.” Anyhow, next time you see an adult Scout leader and you see a trained patch you now know a little of what they did to get that patch.

Weeks to the Half: 11
Weight: 305
Longest Distance Run: 7 miles
As you can see I am not doing so well on the whole weight thing. Not that it is a valid excuse, but Playas de Tijuana was really tempting. The taco you see here is a Marlin taco and it covered my whole plate. It cost me $1 dollar. Too much good food for too little of a price equals disaster on the waist line.
On the bright side however I did manage to do some walking while I was in Tijuana. Playas de Tijuana is a very off the beaten path in Tijuana. You don’t see many tourists there. The main reason for this is that Playas de Tijuana is the southernmost tip of Tijuana. You can take a taxi to get there, but it is going to cost you about $15 dollars. Which is not expensive in the US, but in Mexican terms it is a lot of money. The neighborhood is not really designed for tourists. I think there are only two hotels in this area. There are also not many “tourist attractions” in this area. The main one is the bull ring, but it is open only half the year. If you do visit Playas de Tijuana your main point of interest is going to be the beach (Playas means beach). When I was there I didn’t see many people in the beach, but it was kind of windy.
Here is a video I made while walking in Tijuana:
(video here)

We walked about 3 miles. Denise stopped in the middle of our walk and got a haircut while AJ, my dad, and I continued walking to the beach. The streets of Playas de Tijuana are not very well kept, but as you get closer to the beach the scenery does improve. I particularly enjoyed looking at all the daisies in bloom.

When I told my friends that I was going to Tijuana my friends told me I was crazy. In the San Bernardino Mountains Tijuana is known as a dirty, drug invested town that is the birth place for wannabe illegal aliens and drunken Americans. Knowing this one would have very little reason it seems to go to Tijuana, but here we are. The question then becomes why are the Pedrozas in Tijuana, Mexico?
Ok, here is the deal. I work for a local city government. When it comes to my paycheck I make very little, but when it comes to insurance I have some of the best in the state of California. I went to my dentist in the USA for my regular checkup and I was told I have 5 cavities. Metal fillings are completely covered under my insurance. Problem is metal fillings to me look horrible. I could go with white resin fillings but they are only 50% covered with my insurance. With the 50% insurance coverage, white resin fillings were going to cost me $200 each. With an extra discount my US dentist was willing to give me, my total was going to be $800.
After mulling over my problem for awhile (talking to friends, searching the Internet, etc.) I started to find myself drawn to the multitude of dentists found in Tijuana, Mexico. In Tijuana the going rate for white resin filling is between $40 and $75 US dollars. After doing some more research and a little bit of email negotiation I settled on going to a place called Sam Dental in the historic center of Tijuana.
The quote I got over my email was $275 for the 5 fillings. Saturday morning came, and after buying some Mexican car insurance, we found ourselves at Sam Dental in Tijuana. I picked this place because it had a lot of good references, it had the latest equipment, and it looked very clean. The first thing the dentist did was look at my teeth and say, “I see some cavities there, but they are really small. We better take some x-rays.” She took the x-rays and she said that she saw the cavities, but they were so small that they were not worth worrying over. In the end she filled one tooth that need two surfaces done and took out an older metal filling and filled it with resin. Total cost was $100, which according to the representative I spoke to at the IRS is completely deductible as a medical expense since we have a receipt. The whole visit took an hour and half. As far as the procedure goes it went fine. The teeth look good and the only thing I felt was a slight prick when they injected the anesthetic.
Something is wrong in the US when I can get better dentist work in a foreign country for 1/8th of the price in the US. I think there are various things contributing to the discrepancy. The major one is malpractice insurance. While doctors and dentists in Mexico have to carry insurance, the laws are much different over here when it comes to malpractice liabilities. In doing my research I found out that if something goes wrong with a procedure it is very difficult to sue in Mexico. The other thing I found is that here in Mexico doctors and dentists education is majorly subsidized by the government. Basically, if you can pass the entrance exam, the government here will pay for your University degree. There are other contributing factors as well: less overhead costs, lower staff costs, and lower maintenance requirements.
Anyhow, we are now here in Tijuana and we will be staying here until Monday. We have decided to make a little vacation out of it. Over the next few days our hope is to show you what we found.

California is world renowned for its citrus industry. It all started back in 1870 William Saunders, a horticulturalist at the United States Department of Agriculture, sent Eliza Tibbets a navel orange tree he had received from Bahia, Brazil. The tree got to Riverside in 1873 (not exactly speedy delivery) and it started California’s citrus industry. According to the book, A History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, three tree were planted. During the first year they were planted, one got trampled over by a cow and died. Later President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 transplanted another tree to the Mission Inn Hotel. According to the hotel management that tree died in 1922 (where was the CCC on that one??). In order to protect the last tree the City of Riverside moved it to the corner of Magnolia and Arlington (which back then was the outer limits of the city) and surrounded it by a big fence.

This last tree is still surviving today. In fact on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 we went to go see it. Sure enough, over 100 years later this tree is still doing well. In fact, when we saw it there were plenty of oranges on it. Can you imagine? Over one hundred years and it is still bearing fruit. We cannot say if the fruit was good or not, the fence is still there. No hundred year old oranges for us!
We did make a video however:

There are also some grapefruit that was planted there in 1958, but let’s face it, who cares about 50 year old grapefruit when you can look at 100 year old oranges…

It was 5:15 AM and I heard the alarm clock go off. Thinking it was Saturday I ignored it. At 5:30 AM I remembered that AJ and I (John) had a race to go to and so I had better get up. Two bowls of oatmeal later (one for each of us) we were on our way to Riverside. The course was described in the literature as a beautiful run with easy lifts. It was beautiful, but there were two hills that I wouldn’t call “easy lifts.” I suppose it would have been easier had I remembered to check the inflation levels on the stroller tires. Oh well, that will be next time. For our $20 entry fee we got a bib with a number on it and a long sleeved t-shirt. The weather was good, it had rained the night before, but this was good because it made it nice and cool for the race. Along the way we got to see many sights. My favorite sights were the houses that surrounded the parks.

After the race we meandered about the little fair they had setup. AJ was happy because they gave him a granola bar. Anyhow, if you are thinking of doing this race I would tell you it is a very fun course to run through. It isn’t the fastest course out there (no PB’s on this course), but it has really good scenery.

Every few months or so we make a trip up to Bakersfield, California to visit Denise’s parents. We always have a good time with Denise’s parents, but the highlight for me is to visit one of Bakersfield’s many ice cream shops. A dying breed, the ice cream shop is still alive and well in Bakersfield. The oldest and arguably the best of these shops is Dewars.
Dewars started in 1909 when James Dewar moved his candy making business from Ventura to Bakersfield. James Dewar’s claim to fame is the peanut butter chew. Unlike normal taffy, these chews have actual peanut butter inside of them (no artificial stuff at this place). The chews cost about .25 cents apiece (less if you buy in bulk). In addition to peanut butter there is peppermint, caramel, almond, and chocolate almond (peanut butter is still my favorite). If you want to try to make them at home you can, the recipe is no secret. They even offer tours of how they do it:

Although I have to say I doubt yours will taste the same…
In addition to the famous chews there is the ice cream. The star of the show is the Dewars Black and White:

The Black and White will set you back about $5.75, expensive but it is really big and really good. In addition to the black and white they sell all the popular flavors, plus something called ice milk. Ice milk is basically ice cream, but without the cream (think low-fat milk). I wouldn’t call it healthy, but it is not as fattening as regular ice cream. Here is a small video of our experience with Dewar’s ice cream. As you can see in the video I went with the legendary Black and White:

Anyhow, if you happen to be in Bakersfield I would highly recommend you go to this California original. They have two locations in Bakersfield but you have to go to the original one across from the high school at 1120 Eye St. Yes, there is only one table and you will probably have to pry yourself out of your barstool when you are done; but you will leave with a smile.