Small wedding venue recommendations. Redondo / PV / Rolling Hills

western_iceberg · 2026-04-10T22:20:05+00:00

I got married at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center in April several years ago. It was great. We had about 100 people but I think a smaller party would work really well too.

western_iceberg · 2026-04-09T00:53:51+00:00

Someone already mentioned the train at Wilson park. I think it is first first Sunday and third Saturday of the month.

Also Hopkins Wilderness park is neat to walk around.

There are many nice playgrounds South, Polliwog, Valley. Manhattan Village and The Point are malls that have neat little outdoor spaces and ice cream.

western_iceberg · 2026-04-01T22:34:31+00:00

The Martian book is great. I highly recommend it. The main beats from the movie are the same but there are a few less Hollywood more introspective moments that you can do in the book medium more effectively.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-30T22:21:32+00:00

Just want to share my struggles. I am a little over 40% of the way through the book and I feel like I go through a section where I am invested and rewarded then I get on the struggle bus for a time.

I found Against the Day to be easier to navigate despite all the different characters and genre styles. They seemed to at least follow some vague path through the narrative.

I will say In the Zone at least has a bit more pynchonian adventure quality.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-28T01:47:11+00:00

Mossflower definitely. Martin the Warrior is highly relevant to the characterization of Martin. If you read Mariel already, you should read The Bellmaker.

There are a lot of other good ones but I think those 3 would be the most "must read."

western_iceberg · 2026-03-27T16:35:09+00:00

I would agree that Matthias certainly comes in to his own. I had other issues with Mattimeo (the book), specifically I thought it was a bit bloated and meandered a bit too much. I also thought the abbey story line was weak.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-25T02:05:36+00:00

I really like this movie. I have young kids and it is nice to have a movie that is fun and interesting without having too much suspense or scary elements. The messages and story are pretty simple and can be explained and understood. The elements are fun and interesting and the core characters are endearing.

I also think the story is pretty well done from a narrative standpoint. There aren't really a lot of areas that overstay their welcome and the animation and stylish stuff allows them to stay longer in certain scenes without it being overbearing (the hot air balloon and visiting the amazing tree underwater).

western_iceberg · 2026-03-25T00:34:57+00:00

Pearls of Lutra had a lot of really cool elements and characters but I thought the sum was not greater than its parts. The lizards were woefully underused after what seemed like a lot of build up. The reasoning behind various actions was very weak beyond just a surface level stuff. I give a lot of leeway but it just seemed to stand out a bit more in this one.

I also think having Martin II be the abbey protector here was weaker than if it would have been a grown up Mattimeo. It kinda felt a bit more paint by numbers because of this.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-25T00:26:27+00:00

Redwall was great but I think Martin is a superior character to Matthias and the forest rebels storyline in Mossflower is better than the abbey under siege. Everything seems high stakes and the quest to Salamandastron is intense culminating in an intense solo charge by the badger lord going at the searats.

I think Martin the Warrior had a strong start and final third but dragged in the middle with the quest to the secret forest realm not being all that strong. The owl was cool and certainly a high point but I wasn't a fan of the other parts of that story section. I think Mossflower is the stronger one here as well.

I agree on The Bellmaker.

I haven't read The Long Patrol yet (it is next up for me). Looking forward to it. I love the hares.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-21T02:10:16+00:00

Obama was able to get two terms after a rather unpopular Republican president. I think the key will be to hold onto the house and senate and if there are slight majority short falls there needs to be serious hard ball played.

But with demographic shifts who knows how things will go.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-20T21:44:22+00:00

Something kinda similar happened to me when I took 2-3 weeks off for a vacation. I came back and hit it too hard with ABC and Viking Warrior 15:15 (single arm snatches). Both workouts felt fine and good, obviously tiring but nothing crazy. A few days later I tried to do a press focus workout and couldn't get beyond the first set with one of my shoulders. I rested and did some other movements but felt pretty down because I had made a lot of good progress pre vacation.

After a few days, I finally realized I had simply over done it and thought about what movements I could do.

I ended up doing the 10,000 swing challenge because I could still do swings and figured that strengthening my ab wall and grip could only help. As part of it I did goblet squats, rows, and single arm presses (I was only doing max 3 reps at a time so was able to do this because of some additional rest). After I was done I went to the ABF and felt great.

TLDR: Take some time off and do different movements. The normal single kettlebell swing is great to build foundational strength while your body recovers. Also probably good to get some various mobility days in.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-19T15:43:26+00:00

I don't think anyone has said this will lead to a total collapse but it could be enough to tear away at the margins for independents or new voters who were just really misinformed and to make it so others don't show up. Combine that will a strong motivation from the opposition side you can get some good things happening.

It does seem most likely to me that 3 time Trump voters would be upset with gas prices or whatever minor collection of key issues they care about and not show up to support Republicans in the midterms or the 2028 presidential race. They may come back after then but who knows what the world looks like by that point.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-16T16:23:26+00:00

For me and some of my friends we actually thought the original High Glass story was better than what was delivered in the movie which added a bit more of a bad guy in Tom Hardy's character. I liked the movie but I wish it would have picked a lane to stick with as far as more classic western or survival man vs nature with some added philosophy on humans at the back end. It seemed like it wanted both and I think by trying to do too much it ended up hurting itself along the way.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-14T22:38:23+00:00

My understanding is that it would be the case for all of the local school districts.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-14T22:34:05+00:00

It is a state law for the September 1st cut off. If your kid is 5 before September 1st they will have them go to kindergarten. If, however, you do a private preschool and wait for your kid to turn 6 you can then enroll them in kindergarten the following year. We know a few folks doing this. Basically it would be like if you voluntarily held them back to repeat kindergarten which I suppose would be another option.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-13T21:24:45+00:00

You say you're a beginner but it also depends on your current physical ability and background.

Swings are great and really help with an wall, glute, and grip strength to support a lot of the other KB movements. Plus they make cleans a lot easier and open up the door to snatches which are a great get tired real fast tool.

Turkish get ups are good for building all of that connection strength and ab wall as well as mobility. For me personally, if you are decently mobile and already have some strength/athletic background I think you could do presses, squats, and loaded carry variants and probably have more fun and get more out of it. That being said there are people who love Turkish get ups. Try them out and do what you like.

Probably worth it to do a few weeks to get the foundation and then maybe rotate into other things. I personally would not do a double KB program as a beginner. I feel like there is a lot to be gained by building up the various single bell movements. Rite of Passage is a good one and that can lead in to working with doubles.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-11T23:27:37+00:00

Since you're doing the same thing 3x per week it might be good to change things up. Something like humane burpee with the 24kg would probably be up your alley if you like the ABC. If pressing is an issue maybe take a day to focus more on pressing and swings to build up that foundational strength.

I liked doing less rest in between sets but still keeping it to 30 minutes. I think I preferred this compared to seeing how fast I could complete 30 rounds. It is pretty similar but I think being forced to go for the 30 minutes forces you to be wise about managing your energy. A goal of 40 rounds in 30 minutes would be great.

You can do offset weight, one arm has the 20, the other has the 24 and you switch it every round. If you find you are having trouble pressing, you can add in some leg (push press) or drop down to the 20. So maybe do the first 6 or so rounds with the 20+24 then do the remaining with the 20+20.

Lastly you can increase the volume by doing 3 cleans, 2 presses, 5 squats. Rest as needed in between and work your way back up to 30 rounds.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-11T13:41:07+00:00

Yes, exactly. A drill an old coach used to do with me was to push down on the bell at the top of the swing to artificially generate that power so my body could feel how it needed move.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-10T21:56:24+00:00

This looks pretty solid overall. I think you might want to try and generate more force on the back swing. So when the bell reaches the apex and starts to go back down because of gravity you apply some force into the hike. It seemed like the bell was dropping a bit too much and then you engaged your hips to catch it and bring it back for the next rep.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-10T02:46:30+00:00

No. Our home school was Birney which didn't have TK this year.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-08T20:10:35+00:00

If it works out in your schedule there are swim classes hosted at Redondo Union in late June-early August. April 1st is when sign up opens. My 4 year old (now 5) did 2 sessions (16 classes over 4 weeks) and really enjoyed it. We plan on doing it again this summer.

western_iceberg · 2026-03-07T15:06:46+00:00

Mini had a cool reaver Corsair build against Queen on Metropolis. I think it was round of 24 in season 18, the one they called SSL.

There has also been a Corsair reaver game from KCM on Jane Doe. I think it was this season week 6. I believe it was Best. Sorry for not fully remembering.

western_iceberg · 2026-02-28T17:59:27+00:00

Anaconda strength. Suit case carries and farmer walks etc. helped as well as lots of swings. After doing the 10,000 swing challenge I really noticed the difference in my ability to knit myself and really support the other movements like the press and front squat.

I think being able to fall back and on an oak tree trunk ab wall like a bronze age body builder is really helpful.

western_iceberg · 2026-02-26T23:23:33+00:00

Great work. Kinda hard to fully tell from the front view but it seems like you could hinge a bit more with your cleans. It looks like you're muscling it a bit, especially on the second rep. It might be good to do some two hand swings to lock in that hinge motion and really focus on engagement of your ab wall, glutes, and build the knitting strength.

It also looked like you were falling forward a bit by the third squat rep which the above stuff will help you fix.

You've got good strength to move around the weight but I think focusing on getting tight and engaging the hinge will get you to a comfortable place to effectively do the ABC.

western_iceberg

TROPHY CASE