Challenge Accepted

It does what it says on the tin.
More later. Busy working on that other thing right now.

REO Speedwagon = rad2themax

One good thing about the 80s being well behind us is that we can review them in the knowledge that some of it was complete bullshit (pegged pants, neon, Ronald Reagan, any of my haircuts) but keep the awesome parts. Like REO Speedwagon.

This song came on the radio this morning (I hate the radio but I'm traveling and it was a short drive from the hotel) and I stayed in the car to rock it all the way through. You know you would too.

I can't decide if this cheesedick 80s video makes the song better or worse. Probably worse. Who cares? If I were you I'd just shrink the page and continue browsing, maybe turn it up a little.

I DON'T WANNA SLEEP, I JUST WANNA KEEP ON LOVING YOUUUUuuuuuuUUUU
//GUITAR!!!!11!ONE!!11!!//




Ps. As of this writing the most thumbed up comment on the youtube embedded above is either three wolf moon satire or heartbreakingly genuine and sad. Both? I can't tell. It's awesome though. Check it:

For Brenda Rasnake- Lebanon Virginia, I still remember the summer of 1981 and you sitting right by my side in my old 68 Plymouth and you singing this song when it came on the radio. That was the summer of our senior year in high school and the best of my life. I do miss and love you so very much. What a beautiful voice you had. Jerry 

Clearing up the backlog (by not letting it get so logged back)

Cool story bro

I need to get this off my desk and it comes to me ready made so here you go. Copy and paste is your my friend. I can't always be the guy that writes all the good words. Who has time? I don't, at least lately. Battlefield 3 isn't going to play itself, plus dogs to walk, books to read, etc.

Unrelated: The 20th is my birthday. I may be 'celebrating' by traveling on business. If so there's a slim chance that I will have time to stop by and see some of my peeps in my area of business (you know who you are) but right now I don't know. If I go I will have work events in the evening, and my peeps know how much I love going to work events and traveling on my birthday so the less said about all that, the better. If I can see you I will let you know early next week. If you're busy, no bigs. I still love you. Anyway, on to the topic at hand:

This comes nearly unedited from Ze Newbs. Like my friend Big Cheese he has is working on a 'quiver'* of surfboards, even though it's still a fairly new thing and he sucks is not totally rad2themax (at surfing, not at life). I don't know what it is about this thing that gets you guys to buy stuff like this. I would never do something like that. And I certainly wouldn't do it a second time. Er, whatever.

* Lame surf speak. So, so lame.Surf-speak in general is so stupid that it probably deserves another post altogether. No waaaayyyy brah! Siiiiick!! Ugh.

So, the correspondence:
----------------
Subject: Happy V-day to me

Why not? I like me and today is the day to do something nice for the person you like, so... So I bought a surfboard. Sure, I said I was done buying surfboards for a while (full disclosure: I bought my second used one less than a month ago). Sure, it is beyond my ability level to ride it right now. But so what? Counterpoints: it is a brand new board on CL for a used price; it is in perfect condition; it is hand shaped in an old school (or skool if you prefer) style by an old school shaper from SC [ed: Santa Cruz, not San Clemente] who probably isn't going to be making boards that much longer; I have a freaking job; and I wanted it. So suck on that other half of my brain that told me it was a stupid idea.

me: Does the string say "Hand shaped for my friend Jen"? Please say yes. I hope Jen got a deal on it, and that you bought it from her.

ze newbs: 
Believe it. Jen did some artwork for him (Johnny Rice) and he payed in trade with the board that she wanted custom made it a retro fish style. She says she offset with cash too but I doubt that. She never even waxed it, stored it in her sister's garage and either needed the money or needed her sister to stop telling her to get her shit out of her garage. Or both. I had to get the story out of her because it seemed sketchy to have a brand new Johnny Rice fish up on CL for a (relatively) cheap price. We exchanged emails and it didn't smell right initially so I didn't get back to her. When I didn't respond back quickly she emailed me again and told me she was knocking off $100 bucks, that she didn't know the exact dimensions of the board blah blah blah. At that point I thought it was stolen for sure so I didn't want to touch it. Still, I asked her what the story was with the board because, as far as I knew, Johnny Rice had never shaped a board in this style. That is when I got all the back story. I google fact checked some of it and it all came back legit. Then when she offered to drive it to my work I said, fuck it. Why not? After I read the string when she got here I thought, well, it is definitely a legit story. Funny shit. I can't wait to be good enough to ride it.

me: could be a long wait!  HONK!! ahaaaa i kid. My actual response was a query about when he was going to start buying something cool, like motorcycles. What? It's a fair question.

Much love to Ze Newbs and Big Cheese for making themselves available for the space.
Thanks for reading. Happy President's Day. 

Not bad I guess. I mean if you're into that sort of thing.

When my friend Slobscot is jamming around on his keyboard (and he does have a fancy keyboard and guitar recording setup at home) I imagine that this is pretty much how it goes down. But with more guitar pedals.

That's Ronald Jenkees making his magic. Respect.
This vid has 5.5 million views. I think Lady Gaga has 100 million for some of hers, and total views of over a billion. Make of that what you will.

I've been there

Loved every part of this:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/in-which-i-fix-my-girlfriends-grandparents-wifi-and-am-hailed-as-a-conquering-hero

Pretty girls

Baby Girl on the left, Her Majesty on the right

Spent a week looking after The Girls' dog, aka (and The Girl hates this nickname) The Queen of Austro-Hungarian Inland Empire.*

Toughest part of the job is the weight of the responsibility. As my friend pointed out, "man it's a dealbreaker if you fuck that up". Yeah no kidding. So me and Her Majesty spent a lot of quality time together. We went for walks, I fed her on time, let her sleep in the bed, gave her regular baths (she's allergic to everything, baths help with that), picked up a lot of poop. Whatever it takes. Truth is she's a super sweet, well-behaved dog so it's about as easy as it can be.

She and Baby Girl get along really well. Got a photo of them enjoying a quiet moment of reflection on the sun deck. That's how the girls do it.


* Reese is a vizsla, a breed originally kept by Hungarian warlords and barons. This particular dog is Hungarian via Temecula, hence her nickname: Queen of the A.H. Inland Empire. I think it's hilarious.

Whitney > Britney, Taylor, Kelly and every other pop tartlet you can think of

Yeah I said it.

I can't pretend that someone who gave themselves over to booze and drugs died an untimely death. Life is choices and she made hers.

Still, Whitney Houston was a huge talent.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody is just as danceable now as it was in the Big 80's. Although I'm not a fan of her work in general I cannot resist it. Too good. The video is 80's magic: big hair, weird suits, lip syncing, pegged pants, etc. Enjoy.

It was only one, but it was the one I wanted to eat

This graphic courtesy Sonz, who is great.
Cookie Monster is rad2themax.

Also great: cookies. Seriously I love stuffing cookies in my face like it's my job. Actually more, because I don't love my job. Don't get me wrong, it's great and all, but it's not cookies.

True story: When I told my girlfriend I loved her more than anything she said, "More than cookies?"
Ahh she's got jokes. At least, I think she was joking.

Mind = blown

The internet delivers (again).
Site displays the scale of the universe.

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Takes a couple minutes to load but it is worth it.

Click the objects for a description.

Congratulations, Republicans!

So far the three leading Republican candidates for president:

• Got scolded and subsequently kicked out of congress for lying about fundraising. Hi Newt! Did you morons forget what an awful hatemonger Gingrich is? Were the mid-90's all that long ago? Did you watch any of his 'history' videos? Probably my right-wing 85 year old aunt did. She thinks every email she gets is true.
• Think it's perfectly fine to pay 15% in taxes on $20 million in earnings. Yes it's legal, but is it right? Well, since I make less than $100,000 a year and I pay 35%, I think it's fucking bullshit. But I guess it depends on your bank balance. You might argue that 15% of $20 million is a lot more than 35% of $100,000. Which is correct, but who do you think needs that money more?
• Equate homosexuality with bestiality, and think that gay people are a sin in violation of God's will. You have to go a pretty long way to be the biggest idiot in a group that includes Romney and Gingrich, but Santorum is the runaway favorite in that regard. So that's something. I guess.

I learned never to underestimate the stupidity of a voting public that elected George W. Bush twice, but this is a new low, America.

American Exceptionalism FTMFW!!!!!!

Coming soon: Where and how Obama has let you down. (Caving on the Bush tax cuts, for starters.) Don't have time for all that right now. But I will.

Damn a week already?

Leashes, like shirts, are always optional

The blog posts are piling up. And they do pile up. I will get to them eventually but only after I take care of other important stuff (read: Battlefield 3 and conquering Skyrim - the xbox isn't going to play itself). Also I'm taking care of The GF's dog this week (pictured), so you know that's taking a lot of my time. Scooping poop, providing lots of love and affection, that sort of thing.

// Side note: The GF tends to be much more accommodating towards Her Majesty than I do. My position tends to be, Oh the dog doesn't want to move? Too bad. Beat it, dog. But now that I am watching Her Majesty and it's just me I find myself also being accommodating. I don't spoil the dog, but I don't worry overmuch when she makes herself at home in my bed without offiicial permission. A dog's gonna be a dog whether you like it or not, so you might as well learn to like it. Or don't hang out with dogs. KnowwhatImean? //

Unrelated - Wrote some short commentary on why I ride motorcycles. So:

In some Eastern philosophies there is an emphasis on being in the moment.

What I love about riding a motorcycle is that it encourages (forces?) you to be fully present in the moment. You can't f around on your phone or the radio (though some do). You must be focused. With some practice that focus comes naturally and you can be fully present on the bike with very little mental effort: braking, shifting, acceleration all happen without thought. If you find a good rhythm you can stretch out that moment for an extended period. It is an amazing thing.

Many people go their whole lives without knowing what it's like to ride a motorcycle fast. But anyone that has ridden a motorcycle fast never, ever forgets it. Because motorcycles are awesome.

Quick Anecdote:
Was riding home on the freeway a couple months ago, just derping along, not really hurrying. Passed a guy in a small pickup. On my way by he elbows his son, maybe 5 years old, and points at my bike, and the kid is pumped. I slow down, I wave, I slow way down, do a fly by. Slow down again. Downshift so I can wind it up a little. Give the kid the thumbs up. I would have done a wheelie if I knew how.

The kid was stoked on motorcycles. He didn't care if they were 'unsafe' or 'impractical' or 'dangerous' or that insurance is expensive or that track days are expensive or tires are expensive or it's too hot or it's too cold or other drivers might kill you or that your mom doesn't approve or that you can't ride in the winter or you're too young to ride or you're too old to ride or whatever the f*ck. He just knows two wheels = awesome. And isn't that why we all learned to ride in the first place? I know it is for me.

See you out there.