Monday, June 25, 2007

Back in the younger days I used to pound the miles out on the pavement. Later I discovered the joys of dirt and put in quite a few miles there. Then I got married and discovered beer.

I used to be pretty fit...




But I digress.

I am getting a big hankerin' to start riding the trails again. And I found the bike to do it on... A Yeti 575. Spectacular! I always dreamed of having a Yeti in my younger years watching Tomac, Jaurez, Giove, Rockwell, Deaton, and Furtado rip it up with them... They were the Ferrari of the mountain bike world to me. Now luckily, I am old enough to have a mid-life crisis, and young enough to still ride. This may be my E-ticket ride!

Yeah, Yeah, $3k+ for a bike, that's ludacris! (Luda!)

What-ever. Some guys have a midlife and spend 20 times that for a drop top Corvette and a toupe. Bad combo BTW. This bike costs about the same as checking the boxes next to navigation and automatic on just about any car. Save for a broken collarbone here and there it is much better for me too...

Stay tuned!

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Hey Everybody!



H-H-H-Hey Everybody!!!

I figured I better write something before all two of you that read my blog forget about me (if you haven't already).

A lot has happened since my last post, new job, the dog has doubled in size, the beerfest came through town, went on a baby crawl....

Baby crawl? What the hell is that?!?

Well it all started when two of my friends that shall remain nameless (one is pictured...) decided to have 'couples' baby showers, which are just an excuse to for people with kids to make fun of guys that don't (read: me) to make them feel better about what they got themselves into. :-)

Cooler heads came together and we realized, rather than having beers and laughing at the guy that doesn't know how to secure a linen diaper to a teddy bear, (again, me) our time would be better spent having beers and then having more beers. It is a good time! In six tries we have come up with some good stories that will live on for quite awhile. Unfortunately, I can't share any with you here. Let's just say, that now body has been harmed (almost nobody) and nothing has been done that will break up a marriage...

That's all I got to say about that!

On to the dog. We heard from Clyde's breeders that pretty much all the dogs except one, not including Clyde, are swimming. Other than playing in a kiddie pool, which he loves, Clyde has never been in a body of water bigger than his water dish. So we went to the lake to see how he would take to it.

Clyde likes the water only slightly less than fish....

He marched into the water with absolutely no hesitation. I didn't have to do a thing. We tossed his bumper gradually farther and farther out, not too far as I'd have to get it if he gave up, but he got it every time. The other cool thing that happened is that 'retrieving' finally seemed to click for him. We have been trying for weeks in the backyard, but there is too much to sidetrack. Sticks, leaves, shrubs, dogs barking, blades of grass, the retaining wall, etc, etc, etc. We were lucky to get him to bring something back half the time. Not so in the lake. I tossed his bumper out and he would tear after it, bounding over the waves, grabbing it, and heading back for me. Hopefully we will get a hot weekend soon and I'll wear the speedo and throw the thing out farther. Hopefully we'll get some pictures.



O.K. I'm back now, though you probably didn't know I was away. In the last 10 minutes, the dog got too rambunctious, put a hole in Carries new pants and arm (she's had the arm for awhile), I intervened and got clawed under the eye and nose. My nose is bleeding slightly and I just noticed that so is my knuckle... Ahhh, the joys of a Labrador puppy. Anybody want one? We start obedience training in two weeks or so and it can't come soon enough. No worries, he isn't like this all the time, it is just about 30 minutes a night where he gets super-amped up. Much like a kid that has had way too much cotton candy.

 


Except Clyde has pointy fangs and claws.

Anyhoo, I have lost my track of thought now so I guess that I'll shut 'er down.

Goodnight!

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Canadian Grand Prix

Check out this wreck during todays Canadian Grand Prix. Robert Kubica got off the track and went airborne at a high rate of speed, the BMW-Sauber was shredded.



Miraculously, the current word is that he has a slight concussion and a sprained ankle. I got choked up a bit when I saw it happened live, sick to my stomach. I thought that I had just witnessed his death.

Motor racing as a whole is inherently dangerous but there have been tremendous advances in safety. Back in the day, the drivers didn't even have seatbelt, believing that it was better to be thrown than to stick with the car. They were probably right, the cars were gas cans with engines and a driver on top. Quite a few lost their lives back then.

Today the drivers are encased in a carbon fiber monocoque 'tub' that houses the driver and a fuel tank made out of a flexible kevlar balloon. The car can shred up to the tub, absorbing energy, but the driver should be protected. The gas tank, being flexible, can distort without bursting, preventing dangerous fires.

As you can seen in the video, these things did their jobs. He came out of that shunt better than many quarterbacks did versus Lawrence Taylor. Way better than Theisman...

Thank God.

Nice to see Lewis Hamilton get his first win. At age 22 he has a long was to go, but he has the makings of something special. Third place in his first race, second in the next four, and a win today. Not too shabby.

Ten years from now we may be saying "Michael who?".

***Update***
It looks like F1 management is pulling videos off of YouTube so the video no longer works. Here is one shot by a spectator, even more spectacular.



I am still in awe that he was barely nicked up. He walked out today with just a slight limp, got in a X5 and drove himself away.

Here is a shot of the accident.... I believe you see his foot sticking out the front. Chilling.

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What's Not Weak This Week...



I'm really digging Silversun Pickups right now. I hear "Lazy Eye" all the time on XM and have been meaning to look it up on iTunes for awhile so I finally got to it. Ended up downloading the whole album and some iTunes exclusive live tracks.

Good stuff!

They take me back to the early 90's when music was good. (wink, wink) I think of bads like the Gish/Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins and Hum. Oooo, and Engine Kid... A great sound that you can sink your teeth into.

I was starting to think that music had passed me up, but this has given me hope!

BTW, here is Hum live... LOL, I had glasses like that for a bit around the same time.

More. I love it!

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