Low Output, High Cadence

Running amok... straight from the oases to your half-marathon...

2009-10-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

So my sister and one of her homies ran the Boston Half-marathon yesterday. This is totally awesome and I'm extremely proud of her. I'm less a fan of doing the event "rogue" (without registering); however, given the circumstances - it sold out in less than a day, back in July - it's understandable, and I am totally sympathetic to and supportive of those who feel the need to abuse themselves without such details as timing chips.

I know well that endurance events affect everyone differently (both physically and mentally) and that the experience one has over the race course is unique from all others. Often people learn something about themselves; be it about perseverance, self-confidence, goal-setting, hard work, handling adversity, or any host of other traits they never knew they had. But not my sister, no. On a course that apparently wound its way through a zoo, she learned that camels can live to be 50 years old. Sweet. How about that for personal growth??

Let's all laugh at the flawed technology!

2009-09-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

My former boss and I are both college football fans, so, naturally, we partook in some goodnatured workplace ribbing at the expense of the other's alma mater. And as Cal freakin' sucked it big-time over the weekend, he didn't miss the opportunity to rub it in. Upon opening it however, i was greeted with an altogether unexpected ad-link. Awesome. Good work, Google!!

Reason the internet is great, #17586

2009-09-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

It allows you to find stuff like this. Bikes and history coming together is truly a wonderful sight. Though it's rather disappointing that nobody crashed.

This is absolutely Sarah's fault...

2009-09-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

Random songs from back in the day don't often pop in to my head, but it happened today. I blame Sarah and the power of suggestion. That's right, bringing back the old-skool jams errant-neuron-style...

So much to express, so little skin...

2009-09-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

I was at the gym this evening and had just gotten out of the pool and into the hot-tub when I was joined by an asian guy about my age. I don't really want people looking at me so I try not to look too much at other people, but i was instantly struck by the guy's tattoos. Also, i figured, if someone gets inked in places that are commonly uncovered, i could afford myself a bit more of a look. Now, lots of people have tattoos these days and generally I find peoples choices in tattoos stupid in ideation and as equally poorly placed. But this guy's tattoos were like nothing I'd ever seen before. Even more than the rather hilariously dichotomous "CELTIC WARRIOR"/Yin-Yang-tramp-stamp tattoos adorning the back of the third fellow now in the hot tub.

I've done my best to make a mock up of what his chest looked like:

Yes, that is a 47 in huge block numbers on top of a dragon/snake. The snake continued down his left arm and that too was covered by a block lettering of VIET-something. And down the back of his right arm he had SUCKA FREE. I have to surmise that the only logical place to put that 47 was right in the middle of his chest, and if it covered part of the existing snake, well, it had to be done. Similarly for the VIET-something down the left arm. Because more than the body part picking the tattoo, it is the tattoo that picks the body part. And as someone with a well-documented disdain for SUCKA's (be they other humans or poorly placed tattoos), tattoo overlap was apparently an eventuality that couldn't be avoided.

So, rock on, overlapping tattoo guy! Because you know that there is no compromise when it comes to the best location for a tattoo!

Diamonds in the rough - mediocre postings, brilliance in the comments

2009-09-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

I don't read Fat Cyclist's blog, but it was linked to on another blog, so I thought I'd check it out. And while today's post was meh-riffic at best (to steal a BikeSnob term), there was an absolute gem in the comments. Thank you, Heather near Atlanta (7:59am), for brightening my day.

What up, rydah? - rapidly losing faith in the quality of Felt Bicycles

2009-08-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

I've never ridden a Felt bicycle, but they've always seemed to get good reviews and they sponsor the quality Garmin-Slipstream pro cycling team, so I've always given the bikes (and the company itself) the benefit of the doubt as far as quality goes. But two issues have come to my attention in the past week that are causing me to question my previous assumptions:

First, this article. Seriously, the steerer is just a tube. In this case an aluminum tube. There is no reason a properly designed one should fail. Carbon fiber, maybe. But not metal. Come on guys, really this should be a no brainer.

And second, there's this gem. Reading through the text you'll see that the Felt's new urban offerings all come with the BEERnuts tool. Sounds handy enough; until you realize you have now presented thieves a "tool mounted to the seat tube [and] attached with wingnuts for easy removal [that] fits the bolts on the rear axle, making theft of your wheels and/or bike simple when you so much as divert your eyes for a fraction of a second… and it has a bottle opener for aprés-ride refreshments so your thief can celebrate the bike you gave him."

So, Felt, I really think you should be doing better.

Status update - I'll be good someday...

2009-06-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Goal, (at 90-95 rpm):

53x17 - 5 hours

Current:

53x21 - 5 hours, 20 min

53x19 - 3 hours, 15 min

53x17 - 45 minutes

Dream bike stable.

2009-06-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

So, I spend a lot of time thinking about what bikes I would own if I had more money and here's the list I've come up with. This list is formulated with a look toward cost and performance (ie, these are bikes I would actually buy).

Road:

Trek Madone 5.2 Pro

General training:

Cervelo Soloist Team

Triathlon:

Cervelo P2 (with Hed tri-spoke wheels)

Around town/commuting:

Surly Steamroller

Trainer/Rollers:

Something red, and old. Maybe a Cannondale to complete the North American quad-fecta

Ah, the Internet...

2009-06-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

... where random folks from St. Louis can unwittingly become a pin-up family in the Czech Republic... stuff like this is hilarious...

Bike trail haikus

2009-05-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

So I was reflecting on my fellow cyclists while out on the bike trail today and for some reason they took haiku form. The mind works in mysterious ways...

Why ride with helmet
On your handlebars hanging
Dome split wide open

Your nog is safer
Encased in foam and plastic
Brain damage sucks, dude!

ps. - i also ran over a snake.

Open letters...

2009-05-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Dear "Angry, impatient lady at the post office",
Perhaps you've never waited in a line before, so let me tell you how it's supposed to work: You stand quietly until the people in front of you have finished their business and then you will be helped by the next available staff person. What I've just laid out for you is the fundamental reasoning behind "first come, first served" customer service. I have to express my surprise that you've never found yourself in a similar situation sometime before you reached your now-looming middle age. Or maybe you have, but were too self-centered to observe how other people conducted themselves and you don't realize that what you did was outrageously rude. Let me point out the glaring flaws in your behavior. First, if someone has a bunch of questions or a complex situation to address, then everyone has to wait - not just you. Just because you're next in line doesn't mean that the people behind you aren't bothered too, but sighing obnoxiously, muttering "come on... jeez, another question?... etc." not so quietly, and generally making it known how frustrated you are does not endear you to anyone. You should have got here earlier. Second, demanding that the staff open a third counter station to help you because you are too good to wait is ridiculous. Maybe your business won't take that long, but don't you think that they have other issues to take care of in their jobs? Who do you think you are? And third, after causing a general ruckus, demanding another station be opened, and finally being helped by what seemed to be an already busy staff, verbally abusing the person who was having her questions answered is downright shameful. And pointless - it accomplishes nothing. All it does is make everyone tense; you, the other lady, the staff, all of the people in line. Though, i guess if it did have one upside, it would be showing a captive audience what pure evil looks like. You suck at life!

Dear "blonde chick in the Audi station wagon",
The driving laws regarding what to do when an ambulance approaches with sirens and lights are pretty clear: You pull over and stop. After it passes you may resume driving normally (though if following it, you should remain 300' back, i believe). This even applies if the ambulance is going the opposite direction. I will admit that there are several complicated parts to this seemingly simple regulation (when to apply it, how to apply it, and what to do after applying it), but at no time were you in compliance with any of piece of this rule. I'll walk you through what you should have done. You started off well: you saw the ambulance approaching in the opposite lane. Unfortunately, this was as far as you got. What followed was an unmitigated disaster, it must be said. After knowledgeably identifying the oncoming medical vehicle, you slowed down but maintained your place in the center of your lane. Then, after the ambulance was already past, you veered over into the bike lane/gutter. Having never made any pretense of actually stopping, you then continued on at slowed pace confusedly for several blocks still driving fully in the bike lane. Good work.

sincerely,
Chris

Eleven reasons why Boston is better than San Francisco...

2009-04-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

- It's cleaner
- There are fewer people
- It is more historical
- More open spaces
- So much cool stuff, so close together
- Better public transit
- It's a college town
- Snow
- Logan International was the first LEED certified airport (and it has rocking chairs!)
- Huge public works projects
- The people are more attractive!

Great ideas, only to find they already exist...

2009-03-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, I think it was Meghan (or maybe Colleen) that came up with this fabulous idea after we saw the commercial on tv. Unfortunately, upon further investigation we found that it had already been done. But it is still genius, nonetheless.

Running amok... bus drivers gotta eat too...

2009-03-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

I wonder what the supervisors over at the local SacRT bus company would say if they saw one of their drivers running (literally) out of an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant carrying a large bag of to-go boxes, jump into the driver seat of a bus full of waiting patrons (paying customers!), and proceed on with their route. I'm really not sure how they'd react, but I have a feeling they wouldn't smile amusedly at the hilarity of the situation and continue with their run, which is what I did...

What up rydah? - It was only a matter of time and it finally happened...

2009-03-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

For reasons that I cannot fathom evolutionarily, squirrels have a propensity for running themselves directly at bikers. And so, after much dodging and many traumatic near-misses for several months, this past weekend I finally hit one out on the bike trail. Luckily for me, I hit it with the more stable rear wheel, (it managed to avoid running into my front, only to bravely persevere right under my back wheel) and luckily for it, I didn't feel like it I hit it very hard. Having never hit a squirrel before I have no frame of reference for what it would feel like to "hit it hard", but I imagine the Ka-chunk! would be more severe. Also, a quick look back revealed no exploded rodent upon the pavement.

A bit traumatized, I was forced to spend the next few minutes pondering the relative intelligence of the local rabbits and deer (who bound quickly away at any hint of cyclists). And also, for perhaps the first time in my life, I questioned the teachings of Darwin. This behavior didn't seem to fit the "survival of the fittest" model, and it rather bothered me. Could there be a chink in the armor of a tenet I've always held as gospel. Perhaps this was indeed support for Grand Design. Maybe this was another one of those things The Creator planted to throw us off the scent in the search for truth. Like dinosaur bones. Sounds plausible enough...

Looking for travelling companions...

2009-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

If anybody wants to come with me to:

- Boston/D.C. (sometime soon)

- So. Cal (in the first week in April)

- Eastern Africa (sometime in April?)

- Eureka, CA (first weekend in May)

- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (June 19-22)

- Paris/Europe (sometime this summer)

i'd love to have company!

Out on the roads...

2009-03-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's the first dry weekend after a long rainy spell, so one knows instinctively, prior to even stepping out his door and observing it firsthand, that the level of moronity will be higher than normal. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. My trek was not that long (hour-and-a-half through downtown, Old Sac, the bike trail, and back along the same path, but I chalked up a fair number of examples of annoying idiocy. Here we go:

Of course, there were the standard frustrating occurences - Dogs not on leashes and wandering confusedly along the bike trail, ready to dart under a wheel, their owners ready to yell at you if you veer onto the dirt shoulder around their wayward pets; middle-aged women on cell phones driving large SUV's at irregular velocities; and folks walking in large, inattentive groups across the whole bike path. These there were, but this is nothing really out of the ordinary. If these had been the only inconveniences, I would have called it an uncharacteristically good day (as far as stupidity goes). But I wasn't quite so lucky.

As I made my way back down the last half-mile into Old Sac, coming towards me was a guy on a road bike. He was almost exclusively looking down at his feet and swerving all over bike path. As we approached each other, I could see that he was looking at his left foot, moving it back and forth, trying to unclip what appeared to be a new Shimano road shoe from his pedal. Upon realizing what he was doing, I laughed a little to myself ("ha ha, noob") but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for not being completely comfortable with newly purchased clipless pedals, though for the life of me I can't figure out why he would want to unclip "on the fly" anyway. I was, however, concerned for my own safety with his erratic steering so I slowed and squeezed myself over to the edge, giving him as much room as I could. It wasn't enough. Just as I passed him he veered violently towards me, and only righted himself just in time or I would have been toast. "Sorry, Dude" he said. "Grrr" was my reply, him being already well behind me. I have no problem with noobs, unless they're almost killing me.

I continued on my way home, navigating the ladies on cell-phones and horse-drawn carriages in old-town and into downtown. i rolled up to a red light and stopped, as did the car next to me. I waited for a second, looked both ways and seeing no traffic started on my way (despite the red, of course). Midway through the intersection, the car that had been stopped at the red light decided that he didn't feel like waiting either and peeled out through the intersection also. I have no explanation for this behavior, aside from the common "bike-induced-motorist-freakout".

Now the red light running happened three blocks from my house, so I thought I was home-free. But alas, I was mistaken again. As I pedaled the last block leading up to the all-way stop sign intersection by my house, I saw a car stopped at the cross-street. And it stayed stopped, and stopped, and still stopped. As I came within the last half block, I could see that the driver was looking at me, and not going through the intersection despite there being no other cars around and me being a ways up the road. "She couldn't be waiting for me, could she?" I slowed as I pulled up to the stop-sign and eventually came to a near stop - it being her turn to go through the stop sign. She inched forward, still looking at me. As she seemed to be waiting, I stood up to go, only to have her slam on the gas and gun it right in front of me. My face must have betrayed my incredulity at her waiting for at least 30 seconds so she could pull out in front of me, because she yelled something unintelligible and flapped her hand frustratedly.

Just a typical day...

What up, rydah? - balls of steel

2009-03-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

Every so often one is presented with a scenario so random and outlandish that his conscious mind doesn't even register the magnitude of what has just befallen. One of those, "wait,-no-way-did-that-actually-just-happen" moments. Everybody's had them. I had one on Sunday evening.

It was well on into the evening, like 8:30-ish, and I was driving home from my soccer game. Being March, night had fallen several hours ago, so it was rather dark on the highway outside of the occasional streetlights and car headlights. Interstate 80 westbound (and eastbound, for that matter) is rather wide on the way back into downtown from Roseville before it splits, so I was probably in the fourth or fifth lane. There wasn't much traffic and was zipping along, rocking out to my tunes as I always do. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something familiar yet not immediately placeable. It was one of those out of context things. Like when you see an acquaintance from work at Safeway, and you have to stop for a second to remember where you know them from... that's what this was. Away on the right, on the shoulder, I saw a dull sparkling of something shiny as it was hit by the passing headlights. Then the gleam of chrome. And the reflected glint off of the spinning stainless steel spokes.

No way. But of course it was. In an instant, I had passed the cycling specter, and from four lanes over, never got a good look. It was obviously not a road bike. It was a townie or cruiser of some sort. I saw the fenders. Immediately the self-doubt took over, and I started questioning myself via inner monologue:

- That couldn't possibly be a cyclist, who would ever go on a freeway, especially at night?

Dude, that was for sure a bike, you know it was.

- Fine, but it was like a cruiser or something...

Would you be more or less surprised if it was a roadbike?

- Probably more, I guess. I imagine a roadbiker would at least have lights, instead of just reflectors.

Yup. I think...

- But (still not believing) where could they be going? In order to get off, they have to merge onto another freeway.

Dude, it was a cyclist!

I guess at some point, some experiences have to be chalked up to the "never will be able to fully comprehend" category. Like why anyone would ever choose to ride on the shoulder of a 14-lane interstate highway.

Random thoughts...

2009-02-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Peter has the philosophy that everybody has a "thing". At the moment, three "things" have been established: Mine is zip-ties; Peter's is using women's restrooms (though, that may be exclusive to Panera restaurant locales); and DeAna's is cutting foam-board with an razor-knife.

I recently had a 10-year-old tell me from "personal experience" that she knows it is entirely possible to have a boyfriend while maintaining a crush on someone else.

It has been suggested (by Peter) that it is possible to drive from Santa Monica to somewhere in Florida without changing lanes, though he was unable to say whether or not merging lanes constituted a lane change within the context of this claim. Dave and I found this hard to believe.

Kate Winslet is fabulous! In general, I don't even really like the movies she's been in (with the exception of the brilliant "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), but she is wonderful. And I only recently learned that she had never won an Oscar. For whatever reason I thought she had.

Ingredients for an ethereal experience

2009-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

1. bike, jacket, gloves, leg warmers
2. pouring rain
3. gatorade and powerbars
4. American river bike trail

- Blend for 3.5 hours

- Enjoy

A re-affirming of loves...

2008-11-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

This weekend, more than usual, seemed to be full of reminders of things I truly enjoy. Here's a short list:
-The unique suffering of a long, hilly bike ride
-Redheads
-Post-workout dancing to electro-indie bands
-Training in general
-"Librarian" glasses
-Blue Moon
-40mph descents!
-Genevieve
-Riding fixed

20 seconds, two reasons not to ride on the sidewalk...

2008-10-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

My commute home from work this afternoon would turn out to be a quick one as most of the lights were favorably green and the one's that weren't were easily jumped. However at one particular moment I was stopped at a red light that I couldn't jump (though i've lost most inhibition about riding through traffic, blind intersections still give me pause. and coupled with the occasional Light Rail train through there, I don't take any chances right there). I was stopped at the light, in the crosswalk admittedly, but upon glancing to my left i was confronted with a mountain-biker bearing down on me from the sidewalk at an extremely high speed. This guy was bombing. Terrified and lacking any good options, I realized that moving would probably just startle him into doing something even more foolish than salmoning the sidewalk at a blistering pace. Something that would inevitably cause him to crush me painfully. So I did the only thing I could do, after cursing him and his illegal riding practices under my breath, of course. I closed my eyes, clenched my handlebars, and hoped he wouldn't plow me over. Luckily, I'm good at trackstanding and this guy was good at maneuvering his mountain-bike at high speeds and we escaped without incident.

While I was still shaking my head in annoyance at the mountain-biker, the light turned green and I began to cross. I had barely made it halfway through the intersection, though, before I heard yelling and tires screeching from down the street I was crossing. "hey! Hey!! HEY!!" a guy yelled. I could tell that the situation had nothing to do with me, so following standard road protocol I slowed excessively and turned my full and undivided attention to the commotion. I only caught the end of the encounter, which was a cyclist (on some sort of janky townie) doing one of those dismount moves you used to do as a kid where you kinda jump off the side and using the momentum of the bike with your hands on the handlebars flip the front wheel in the air. Only his had the added bonus of a pirouette-spin to avoid getting hit by the truck that was pulling out of the adjacent alley. It actually was a rather graceful piece of athleticism. Piecing together the situation was straight-forward: Neither the cyclist nor the motorist could see the other because of the building, leading to rubber being shed on asphalt and rim as they both finally came into view of one another mere feet apart.

Gladly, no one was hurt in either case, but this is exactly why you don't ride on the sidewalk: You can't see jack and you're just trusting to luck that no one will pull out in front out you, or open a storefront door, or do something else that will get you incredibly injured. But personally, I don't believe in luck and I've seen too many drivers do too many stupid things to trust anyone in a car to do anything intelligent. By riding on the sidewalk you're giving away all control you have over your own well being (ie, you're ability to react), and that's just dumb. Now being someone who rides in a moderate sized city, I realize that someday I may have to go over a car hood, or end up in some driver's lap when they open a door unexpectedly, and I accept that risk. But it's not something I really want to do. So, if you're looking for me, look for me on the road.

An imagined conversation with... Chris Wallis

2008-10-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

If I'm anything, I'm a fan of three things: Cycling, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Chris Wallis. Anyone who knows me won't be surprised by two of those things, but maybe the remaining item might not be as evident. As I was riding to the gym this evening, these three trains of enthusiasm came crashing together in one cataclysmic coalescence and produced the following dialogue:

Me: I like my Specialized road bike, but I love my Surly Steamroller.

Wallis: I love my Specialized bike.

Me: That's because you don't have a Surly Steamroller!

Wallis: Oh...

High output, low cadence: lasso'ing the legal system...

2008-10-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

I don't even know what to say. This kind of thing makes me hate people. Perhaps Mr. Chambers thinks he's making some grandiose statement, but really he's just tying up the legal system unnecessarily. And maybe I'm a touch slow in the uptake, but for the life of me I cannot see the connection between this lawsuit and the accessibility of the court system to the poorer folks of the world. What I can see, however, is that rather than showing he's on their side (which I assume is the point of this ridiculous exercise), he's really just spit in the collective working class' face. Or maybe those who can't afford legal representation will be so flattered by your thoughtfulness that they'll canonize you for pissing away money to hire the lawyer they'll never have to sue the Almighty. I mean, you're doing it for them. How could they not appreciate that?

Thought of the day...

2008-09-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

There are few things more enjoyable than a riding a clean, well-tensioned, fixed gear drive-train...

(not my bike, but a nice setup)

Reserved... a good post eventually

2008-09-19T18:32:00.001-07:00

What up, rydah?

2008-08-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

As one who spends a fair amount of time on a bike, I come into contact with lots of random occurrences and see lots of random stuff. This is primarily due to the fact that most people are cycling-ignorami and have no idea how to function when they see a bicycle on the road and are compelled to do ridiculous things. Honking is common, as is engine revving, but here's a smattering of the things that have been yelled at me lately as I've pedaled around the city streets minding my own business...

Random folks from the sidewalk:
"You'll never be like Lance!"
"Hey Lance, you got like five more miles..."
(yes, that was two separate occasions)
While these are random and I'm generally not really sure what was meant here, I can pass these off as what I like to call bike-induced-spastication (which is the cousin to the well documented rain-induced-driving-freakout).

Jock-looking guy in a cherry red Audi, after Chris and I crossed the light-rail tracks with the crossing-arms down, despite the train being like a quarter-mile away:
"You are too stupid for words!"
I'm not sure what sent this guy into such a froth that he was compelled to lean out his car window, look directly at me, and critique my intelligence so virulently, but I have to believe that he had only my safety in mind. And who am I to question someone so concerned about my well-being?

And the kicker, from a cop, on his patrol car loudspeaker:
"YOU SHOULD MOVE OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, THAT'S A GOOD WAY TO GET RUNOVER, MAN!!"
No joke, a police officer said this to me.

Running amok... as an ornithologist...

2008-07-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Running, being a fairly solitary activity, affords one time to explore the inner crevices of his own brain/psyche/creativity/etc. I run several times a week, so this gives me a fair bit of time to truly flush out the interesting neural connections that dwell deep in my cerebral cortex. Depending on how you look at it, spending this much time alone may or may not be a good thing to one's mental health, but personally i find it stimulating. I mean, I come up with some random crap. Mostly, it's questions I come up with based on something interesting I see while I'm running. And usually, I'm highly amused by such thoughts. Such as the following query: Can a bird sit on the razor part of razor-wire?

Well, the back-story is rather straight forward. I saw a bird sitting on a chain-link fence. The fence had razor wire on it. The bird wasn't sitting on the razor-wire, but the question seemed to be a logical association between the two. Or so I thought. Pondering as I ran, I concluded that I had never seen a bird sit on the razor part of razor wire. Yet, I could see it being possible. Alternately, however, I could see it being not possible. Time to start checking down the variables. Would it work with all birds? I immediately determined that it would need to be a small bird for it to work. For all their majesty, eagles were definitely going to be outside the scope of this investigation. Would the birds cut their feet? This was the only other question I could think of, yet it held the key to answering the bigger question. I ran on.

I pondered the physics of a bird landing on something as keen-edged as a razor. I felt it could probably be done. As everyone knows, you can run a finger perpendicularly across a knife all day with no ill effects. You can even press pretty hard. But as soon as you go parallel to the blade, even pressing lightly, you’re sliced. Birds seem to take a rather perpendicular trajectory to the destination landing spot, so applying the knife principle to a bird’s landing, it seemed like a possible endeavor for one to land un-lacerated, even on something this sharp. Take off, I assumed would work the same, fairly safe if performed perpendicular. The last danger point then was the sitting. This, I estimated would be doable as well, as birds sit on lots of different stuff, so their feet must have really tough skin. So, by the end of my run, I’d concluded that Yes, it probably was possible for a small bird to sit on the razor part of razor wire. But I wanted to know what others thought.

I took my new-found avian inquiry to work the next day and posed it to many of my coworkers. None of them were as interested in the question as I was, instead using it as an opportunity to mock me with “How do you come up with this stuff?” and “This is the kind of stuff you think about when you run?” When they’d finished with their condescension and I posed my question a second time, genuinely interested in their opinions, I was met with sarcastic “Dude, I don’t know... probably”-type responses. However, shortly after I asked Beth (one of our fire inspectors) what she thought, my inbox was greeted with the following image. And thus, much to my joy, the question was answered.

Running amok... as a fashionista...

2008-07-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

So, I was running last night and my route led through McKinley Park. As I passed the people playing tennis, a man walking his dog came around the corner of the last court. He looked to be late-thirties and wearing a blue polo shirt. I took a few steps to the left to give him room on the path. As is wont to happen when passing a stranger, brief eye-contact was going to be made. Not a big deal, it happens to everyone every day. Each situation is different, however, and everyone has their little ways of dealing with this occurrence: nodding, looking away and going about their business, smiling politely, or even saying "hi" if they're annoying. In this case, the guy was looking at the ground in front of him, his shoulders hung kinda sullenly. As I glanced at him, in that split second, I knew that this was going to be one of those awkward random encounters where I would be looking at him when he lifted his head to glance at me. Of course, this is exactly what happened. Only, his look wasn't one of the usual looks I mentioned above. It was pained. A shame-riddled mix of embarrassment and apology. His eyes cut right through me. I tried to diffuse the situation by employing Tactic #3 (the polite smile) but it didn't work. It was like he had already guessed what I was thinking, and was well aware that he had made/was currently making a mistake. His eyes pleaded to me that it wasn't his fault and sought leniency. Maybe his wife had bought that outfit for him and he had to wear it at least once. Or, worse, he had thought he looked good in them in front of the mirror, but in presenting it to society realized instantly he was wrong. Whatever the reason for his transgression, his eyes were seeking mercy - man to man - but it was too late. I had TOTALLY already judged him and his man-capri's...

YouTube provides again...

2008-07-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

While I doubt anyone has ever questioned the entertainment value of YouTube, there is a lot of swill and fluff ensconced within the terra-bytes of videos. Of course there is the occasional piece of genius, such as this (a sentiment i know is echoed by Mr. Wallis).

But also, it can provide reassurance in this life that is filled with so much bad music. Occasionally, i'll stumble onto something fabulous. An unsigned, usually singer-songwriter, that is just wonderful. Such was the case today when through various "Related Video" clicks and other links I was led to Chelsea Williams. You have to have a wide range to cover James Taylor, Death Cab, Pink Floyd, Sheryl Crow, and The Beatles, and she does a darn good job. There are not many people who can do that. She even came close to not making me hate "Time of Your Life", but alas, it wasn't to be.

Being that I'm a huge fan of the DIY ethic, sites like acousticvids show that there is some hope yet for the music industry. Unfortunately, she's not signed to a label, so until that happens, she will remain pretty much unknown. But with the likes of Chelsea, Zooey Deschanel, Ricky Berger, and others, the rapidly dimming light at the end of the music tunnel may have slowed just a bit.

This is really freakin', unbelievably weak...

2008-06-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

This may be the most pathetic thing I've ever encountered in the world of sports.... I'm embarrassed for them...

An incident of eye-gouging ugliness

2008-05-03T14:09:00.001-07:00

So I was out on the bike trail this morning, minding my own business and generally having a fine time. The weather was perfect, my legs felt good, and I was zipping along quite nicely. That was until I was presented with a scene of unparalleled hideous-ness. The medusa of cycling was in front of me. Only I didn't have a bronze shield to reflect the monstrous image. There it was. Stopped in the shade of an overpass, it caught me unawares... And I almost vomited onto my handlebars.

I didn't even know things this ugly existed. And if a tandem recumbent isn't bad enough, it gets worse. How, you ask. By adding one of these...

I guess I'm lucky that it was in the shade, and by my being in the sunlight, couldn't see it very well. I can only imagine what would have happened within my digestive system had I seen it in all it's grotesque glory. Needless to say, my last five miles were ridden at high speed. First, to put as much distance as possible between myself and the hideous perversion of a bicycle, but also to sweat out any of the pestilence that inevitably surrounds such a demon spawn.

The "Philosophy": Alive and well

2008-04-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

So, back in college, one of my friends came up with the theory that "If you just stand around and BE awesome, the ladies will come to you". Fundamentally anti-social, it was primarily formulated empirically at parties, but experience has shown that it works in a vast array of different locales: the gym, bars, etc. It's even been known to work in foreign countries.

Well it totally happened at work today. A client, an energetic woman (mid-40's) whom i've been working with for the past couple of days, came in to meet with me. And no joke, the first thing she does when she sits down is look directly at me and go, "how old are you?". A rather out of the ordinary question to be sure, but it wasn't the first time i've been asked. Interested in her reasoning, and wanting to see where she was going with it, i responded "25, why do you ask?" And she launches into this huge giggly spiel about how she had been telling her recently graduated daughter about this "young, good-looking guy" who had been helping her smooth out the final sticking points with her project. Seriously, she said "young, good looking guy" several times. Total ego-trip. I think she even threw in a "cute" too. I think there was something in her flood of consciousness about how this somehow meant that there was hope for said daughter, but i was too busy trying to comprehend what was going on and going "wha...?...uh, thanks". In all, quite head-swelling. I was in a good mood for the rest of the day. I had a mild shock mid-afternoon when i realized that this lady recommending me for her daughter might not be the machismo-inducing stimulus i was taking it for, and that i might actually have it backwards. But those thoughts were quickly banished and i returned to my smile-inducing interpretation of my own awesomeness.

So, yet again, the wisdom behind our philosophy is shown. Though even for something as time tested, twice in two weeks (the other being Guatemala) is quick work. I must be getting awesomer.
-c

Yes. I, too, now have a blog...

2008-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I'm officially assimilated into the modern world. I don't have any grandiose plans for what I'm going to write about. Whatever fancy strikes me, I suppose. I've been thinking about this for a while, primarily as a place to flush out some of the wacky ideas that flow through this muddled brain of mine. As with any blog, it'll mainly be a vision of the world through my eyes. It might be interesting to others... but probably not...