Columnists

We’re well into the holiday season now. And while the holidays are joyous, they can also be expensive. In fact, at this time of year, many people make spending decisions they end up regretting. But you can enjoy the holidays and still stay on track toward your financial goals by following a few simple guidelines, including the following:

Hello, my name is John McKay and I am a bicyclist. I can’t ride 100 mile days in ease or climb the road to Henry Coe Park for lunch but I can wheel out my “Designed in Morgan Hill” bike (it says so right on the frame), and pedal between morning coffee and lunch in the same day.I don’t wear spandex tights and can’t keep pace with a group of riders who actually understand and use the aerodynamic advantage of the person in front of them. I can judge my health condition by how easy it is to get over any U.S. 101 overpass, proving I’m no elite athlete.I know that there is a health benefit from bicycling, but it has to be done with a regularity that I cannot commit to; so I treat my rides like little vacations and take anything else I get out of it as a bonus. I ride for the sheer pleasure of rolling around on two wheels in a community that has so much to see and do in such a small area.There is a social aspect to cycling for me. During most of the Monday Lunch rides, there is a mother with her toddler in a hitched-on half-a-bike, making it a family affair. Bicycling is one of those pursuits that appeals to a broad age group.I try to be careful and respectful of others I share the road with, and for the most part those others are very respectful and considerate right back. Few seem to respond negatively to my sometimes slightly wobbling vector down the side of the road.Our community is proving to be so many different things. One of these things is a great place to ride bicycles.There are plans afoot to work on defining the safest bikeways to get from one part of town to another, creating safe places for bike parking if you venture downtown, and generally to foster the safest and friendliest place to ride bicycles possible in our community. There are many partners working toward making Morgan Hill the most bike friendly town it can be. But here again, it is the community members themselves who are leading the charge.I believe the most successful efforts are led by those that care and embrace an effort with passion. Based upon this, I think we will have a very bright future as a bicycling community.Summer is coming, so it will soon be prime time to get out and ride. I look forward to the potential of some organized evening rides for all ages (hint, hint…) and other fun organized opportunities; but I’m personally going to get out and ride as much as I can right now.I was recently challenged when I said that there are a lot of bicyclists in Morgan Hill. I stand by that assertion and I think that most bicyclists in Morgan Hill are just as I described myself above—enthusiastic about bicycling but not shopping for a team jersey just yet…John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

It seems that it’s all about events this time of the year. We’re planning for them and talking about the coming year, all in terms of events.By events, I mean the plethora of fun happenings you can all attend whose co-function is to raise money for some worthy cause. Fundraising events are one of the great “win-wins” of life: you get to have fun, and someone makes money and does even more good for the community with that money. It’s kind of like the “law of conservation of energy,” only here it’s the money you spend that doesn’t lose energy and will come back to the entire community with no noticeable loss in effectiveness.I’d like to take a break from the Amgen Tour of California for a moment and turn your attention to one of my favorite events of the year, and it’s usually the first one too.The Wineries of Santa Clara Valley puts on two major events every year supporting the local wine association and bringing joy to those that appreciate fine wine: the Spring and Fall Wine Passport events.The first one starts this weekend (March 2-4), and it will be the best one yet. Of course, that’s what they always say but what if a two-day event got extended to 30 days, and the kickoff evening event just increased from 16 wineries and 12 restaurants to 22 wineries and 15 restaurants? I would say we have a bigger and better event!This Friday, March 2, that kickoff event will take place at the Coyote Creek Golf Club clubhouse. Since I’m usually working the event I probably pay more attention to the people than most, and all I can say is they have a lot of fun and I wish I could join them.The finest in local wines will be poured, and this is where you can get up close to so many of our local heroes of wine. I’m going to call them heroes because so many aren’t making wine for the perceived fortunes to be made (there is a joke about how to end up with a small fortune in the wine industry: start with a big one…). They are working hard to express their passion in winemaking and help promote this wine region. I can only hope they are feeling rewarded for those efforts.Friday night will also find some of the finest restaurants in the South County showcasing their fine foods. Here too you may get to meet many of the people responsible for bringing their fine foods to you. Regardless of who is serving up the food, it is always impressive and I hope that you’ll find something from a restaurant you haven’t yet tried that inspires a future visit.The wine association is aware that many passport holders tried to visit all the wineries in the old two-day period. It could be a bit much for some so now you have an entire month to make all those tasty visits, because the spring passport event goes from March 3-31.I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it again: make a plan of what wineries you want to visit, and then venture out and enjoy yourself. You can do it often now, so be safe.Kick off a year of fun events and a month of wine tasting this Friday!For more information about Passport Month and the order tickets, visit the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley website at santaclarawines.com/passport.html.

Last week, something awful happened. I got a song stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out. And this was not just any song. This was a super-annoying song. A song that nobody in their right mind would want rattling around their brain. Yes, it was the song from hell.