Wear a Helmet

Because its just a good idea.

These first two are the motorcycle helmet I was wearing the night that dumb bimbo mowed me down.



These are whats left of my Bell bicycle helmet after a foolish attempt on my part to finish a descent at Cheyenne Mountain State Park after breaking my chain. I was trying to conserve momentum. Needless to say my head served as a very effective breaking mechanism.



Neither of these helmets was inexpensive. I would argue that they both paid for themselves in spades.

My apologies to Robert Frost

I heard on NPR today that it was the anniversary of this poem. It seemed very apropos. I'll let Mr Frost do the talking.


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Just so I can say I told you so, Part 3

Courtesy of PBS/Frontline. Its an hour, so set aside some time.

Happy Valentines Day!

Warning: Dark and potentially offensive.

Life is Grand, Part 3

When ancient Greeks and Roman Mythology speaks of "Nectar of the Gods", this is what they mean:Fountain Pepsi Rules!

Life is Grand, Part 2

A small sampling of all the great people in my life. What I've realized from this little exercise is I'm not taking nearly enough pictures, and I have not properly appreciated just how many people make up my life. So many people I owe so much to and I don't even have pictures. That is a damn shame.

Mi Familia:
esposa:
hija:
My Amazing In-laws: Cathy and ErnieExtended Family: The Hockers, Alpha and FiloliExtended Family: the Bartons

Jen:
Dan: (this might be the only picture I've ever taken of him where his ass is not exposed) Makayla and Katelynn, who will always have a very special place in my heart.Blake:
Conner: The Animal!
Assholes from Work:

WeTodd:
Mr Lawless:Brian:
Sasquatch:Don:Dan:
My Crack Dealers:

Patrick and Clay:

I'll have to update this later with more pictures for all the other people. Smitty, Jean and Paula, Old Man Ray, The Blickenstaff Clan, Troy, Jason, Rich and CoCo, Brad, Ian, Hard Kohr, The Swatzki's, etc, etc......

Life is Grand, Part 1

So, without going into to much detail, its been a big week for introspection. And then I read this and the original inspiring piece I went into complete mental reverse. I have over the course of the last several weeks received what I can (and should) only call some perspective wake up calls. I should not be such a pessimist.

In five parts, because its just me and the kiddo right now, and time is short.

Part 1:

I'm still alive. Several different doctors have told me I'm not supposed to be. The lady who worked the desk in the surgery waiting room called me "the miracle man", and you know that's a woman who has probably seen some shit. I've had a doctor, who preformed surgery on me, walk into a room, shake my hand, and say in total disbelief, "Man you are one tough Son-of-a-Bitch."

My heart has stopped.




And the most amazing things in my life have all happened since then. I have not been sufficiently grateful. Life is indeed Grand.

Wine Review

Once again, I find myself inspired by Filoli, but probably not in ways she intended. So this is my first Wine Review.

Root 1 Cabernet Sauvignon, from Chile:


It comes in a cool looking bottle, has alcohol, and is tasty.

Just so I can say I told you so. Part II

Photo Stolen from the Planet Money Blog.

Well, I said I would get back to this issue to clarify some points and to add all the links I'm so fond of inserting into my blogs (like footnotes on steroids!). Lets begin with the basics. There are two major schools of economic thought. Keynesian and Austrian. The short version is, Keynesian economists believe government spending = good economy, Austrian economists believe a g00d economy = the government staying the hell out of the way. Of course, just like politics, the truth most likely lies somewhere in between.
TARP, or Troubled Asset Relief Program (I prefer "toxic asset relief program") was part of the EESA (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act). The original intent of TARP was to buy the so called Mortgage Backed Securities which led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual. Pretty quickly someone realized, "Holy Shit!! We have no fucking clue what these Mortgage Backed Securities are worth because the housing markets in the shitter! We could be getting totally hosed if we buy these!" So instead of buying what is now very conservatively estimated to be two trillion dollars worth of poop, the government just decided to buy the banks holding all the poop, this lead to things like the nationalization (some would say socaliastion, as in Capital "S" commie stuff) of AIG among others. This has up to now been the model for all the Instituions that have recived bailout money.
All of this was supposed to free up credit markets and get the economy rolling again. Instead, quite the opposite has happened. Unemployment is way up, and Governments are collapsing. In fact things are so damn bad a normal person can almost afford a Super Bowl Ticket (if you still have a job).
All this leads to the point of my original post. I've decided I oppose the bailout. Why you might ask? Simply because I don't trust those assholes. Or these assholes, this asshole (not Adam Davidson), or these assholes, who apparently didn't need the 210million dollars they were asking for bad enough to put the government in charge. So I guess you didn't need the money in the first place, further driving home the point that the whole damn things just turned into another mark for the greedy, sociopath types that deregulated all the related markets and got us into all this trouble to begin with. The governments not any better. In what was supposedly the worst economic crisis of modern time, Congress still had to bribe themselves with an extra 100 billion dollars to pass the first stimulus bill. Democrats, whom I hear are the majority now, continue to demonstrate a complete lack of a spine by capitulating to the handful of Republicans who were not up for reelection this year by inserting tax cuts into the new stimulus plan. Thanks for guaranteeing that my grandchildren, in addition to still paying for the Iraq invasion, (another asshole!) will have either an unbearable tax burden or will be speaking Mandarin.

Surely there must be a better way?

Just So I can say I told you so.

I'm going to say right now, before it goes to a vote today, I oppose the Economic Stimulus plan, on a very fundamental level. Because I just got off work, and I am tired, I will not go to deeply into Keynesian vs Austrian vs we-dont-have-a-f***ing-clue schools of economic thought. But I will say, history has already shown that the first half of TARP was pretty much hoarded by the major economic institutions it was given to, which in turn, used it to pay CEO bonuses and/or acquire rival banks and that was about it, which did the everyman absolutly no f-ing good. So in brief, I submit this, and postulate, that the government will give away our tax dollars, use it to shore up a bunch of major financial institutions which are "too big to fail", and leave all of us suckers holding the bag.

And just because I know someone will call me on it, I vote Democrat on social issues, not political issues. I'm not a big tent guy and would point out that it is the Republicans that got this ball rolling in the first place.

I will edit this later to beef up my stance.

Woot!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And I know I should be humble and just "let things go", but that's really just not me. I should be a better person, but since I can't , I also offer this.

Blog update.

I know its been I while. What can I say. There is a baby in this house now. Free time is precious. I will try to update. I have a couple rides I'd like to put up. Our trip to Oregon and many other things. One very special ride, (for me) is already up. Stay tuned.

El Bastardo Real

Filoli, I will see you your wine blog and raise you this:

El Bastardo Real!

For over Four years now I've been trying to ride this one particular feature at Palmer Park. And you have always defeated me. Other obstacles have come and gone, but not you, no. You've always been the one insurmountable climb. (and horrifying descent when I ride clockwise.) Some where in your grainy Colorado granite is a titanic will to crush all those who come against you! Time after time I have fallen, tipped, or been stopped with such force as to do mild OTB's and partial endo's, stopped only by the fact that your so damn steep that if I stick my arm strait out I can arrest my forward momentum without completely landing on my face. Or the even more horrifying and climatic act of only making it part way up, then going over backwards. Yard sale! I can count one one hand the number of people I've seen climb you. And its always been ugly, unclean riding. Riders, good riders, pitting their will against the combined forces of geology, inertia and gravity, and more oft than not, losing in the most spectacular fashion. Much blood has been shed to the old, vengeful gods that built your Colorado, sandpaper like Geology, and used it for your foundation.

But today was different. I woke early. 3:30 to be exact. I didn't want to be awake, but I felt compelled. I got up, made tea, had granola, read the news online, and when the S.O. and child awoke, I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. I went to Ravens Nest for Chai and a burrito. It was 14 damn degrees. There was half an inch of snow on everything. I was freezing my ding-ding off. By the time I rode from downtown to Palmer and made it to you, I was already pushing 25 miles. I was cold and tired but things were clicking. I cleaned your little brother of an obstacle just down the hill like it was a speed bump. I charged you feeling good, things were going my way. And you denied me! I made it only part way, lost momentum and had to unclip to put down my foot. I cursed your cold unyielding heart assuming that today would be just another repeat of previous rides. Three tries, then, the walk of shame.

A second time, this time ending most horrifically, in the going over backwards, turtle like fashion, that had there been onlookers, would surely have produced many a laugh. I lie at the base, under the bike, checking to see what, if any clothes I've torn, or what skin. Because of the cold I'm well protected, no blood is shed this time, and my pants have lived to see another day. Others have not been so fortunate.

The third attempt, my cardinal rule last, is half hearted. But strangely, inexplicably, I find myself at the top looking over my right shoulder, atop my bike to see something I have previously seen only through the eyes of defeat. The cold bottom of the narrow slab of dirt that is the approach. I call my wife.

I know that in Geologic time, the 5 minutes I spent attempting you today is not even the merest twinkling of a moment. However for me, that moment is timeless. And no matter how minute that moment might be to you, somewhere it will remain, in the tiniest deepest crag of your stony memory, it will remain there, long after I am gone, for that is your nature, just as you existed long before me.



Today, I made you my bitch.