GREAT JOB ALL WEEK (i mean it)

You said it

2012-01-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

This blog started out as a sports blog, years ago. Originally I kicked this thing off because I copied the guys at Fire Joe Morgan. I wanted to Fire Dick Vitale. (Unfortunately that hasn't happened. Joe Morgan did get fired, but Dick Vitale got elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Tex Winter, a man who - unlike Vitale - actually had a significant impact on the game of basketball, is not. As you might imagine, none of this has done much to ameliorate my loathing for Dick Vitale. He remains the worst kind of ignorant, blowhard shill.)

Anyway, we love the good sports writing here at GJAW, and Grantland is doing it right. This week they had the best sentence I've ever read about boxing (or fighting in general), and while I strongly urge you to review the entire article, here is the sentence:

Devilment seemed to emanate from Hopkins' body, too, a machine-like instrument not of god-given pugilistic evil, but the precision wickedness that comes with deprivation and autodidactic repetition.

Nicely done, sir.

Your first and last football commentary for 2012 (maybe)

2012-01-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

Picture Unrelated, except maybe I ate too many cookies already this week

I don't much care for the New York Giants. Never have. I always thought their coach was a jerk, their players were clowns, and their football ugly. Plus their uniforms are boring and ugly and their players get way too much attention because they play in the largest media market in the country.

Not much has changed, except now that the 49ers play ugly football I still think the Giants coach is a jerk and their players are clowns. Manning has been a punk since draft day.

Here's the thing: Alex Smith isn't very good at football, but he doesn't have to be. The 49ers defense is so good that he can Trent Dilfer his way to a superbowl victory. That is, he could if he were as good as Trent Dilfer. Which he is not. Zero conversions on third down? Sure no problem. Numerous checkdown passes in the dirt? You bet.

Some have suggested that part of the fault for the 49ers ineptitude lay with the receiving corps. I'm not buying this. It's like saying that your food sucks because the waiter brought it out wrong. It's not the waiter's fault that the food tastes like shit. That's the fault of the chef, and in this case Chef Smith cooked up some garbage (please pronounce that last word with the accent on the 'ahge', as in the french: gar-bahhhge; thank you).

The fact is that it doesn't matter how good the receiver is if the QB can't get them the ball. And Smith cannot. Apparently he can only throw to the tight end, and then only rarely. You can maybe lay some of the blame on the offensive coordinator for not devising a scheme that would enable his receivers to get open. But even when open can you count on Smith to deliver the football? No.

In summary: If your team is built on defense and special teams and your special teams takes two massive dumps on the field then you will lose. Every time.

Also, if you cannot convert a single third down you don't deserve to go the Superbowl. Even if your defense is totally, insanely awesome. Patrick Willis makes it appear as though Optimus Prime got tired of saving the planet and decided to play some NFL football. That guy is a walking clinic on tackling and kicking ass. And I'm pretty sure I saw Justin Smith pick up two Giants offensive lineman, smash their heads together, then knock down the littlest Manning like he was one of those inflatable boxing dolls for little tykes (any resemblance to Eli Manning strictly intended).

Alex Smith watched all this from the sideline and said, damn, I need to step up my game. And then he went out there and sucked. Shameful.

One saving grace for this season is that the Niners should be pretty good in Madden next year. So that's something.

Not bad...

2012-01-20T23:23:00.000-08:00

Mmm...

I'm not much of a Ducati fan. They are the Panerai watches of motorcycles: overpriced, overrated toys for rich guys who buy them because that's what they have heard of, not because it's the best or most unique. Until this year the 1198 (and the 1098 before it) wasn't even the best Italian motorcycle in the premium sportbike segment. That distinction belonged to the Aprilia RSV-4. If you wanted to go even more exclusive you could get MV Augusta F4, which is everything that the 1198 is, only more: expensive, faster, lovely, and temperamental.

The new-for-this-year 1199 vaults Ducati to the front of the segment again. It's beautiful, fast, light, and beautiful. It comes loaded with all sorts of fantastic electronic gewgaws to help you manage the ferocious power and enormous brakes. In short: it's the shit. Unlike previous iterations, this Ducati actually IS one of the best sportbikes you can buy, right out of the box. And did I mention that it looks beautiful?

For the record, I would never buy one. It might be awesome but it's not good value for money.

It's still mostly a rich guy's toy, but at least he's getting performance to go with his 'lifestyle' branding. Great job, Ducati.

Now if only Honda could get their act together and update the CBR1000RR...

Well allow me to retort

2012-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

Comments from the readership:

Anonymous, in responding to my post about the flooding going on outside of Eugene, Oregon, says:
consider a 3rd satellite dish next Christmas. I heard an array really boosts reception

To which I reply:
I think they have one dish for TV and one for the internet. No cable in the rural area where they live. You take this stuff for granted when you live in the big suburb.

And from Sweet Katie, regarding the news of my 20th high school reunion:
Hi! Just thought you should know about it... thank god I didn't kill you with the announcement!

Me:
I was (mostly) kidding. Since I log in to facebook to post pictures of motorcycle stuff I'm not really affected. I'm glad to be kept informed. I think you should go and then tell me all about it.

In related news, The Girl has started to put together an outfit for me to wear to the reunion.
This was her initial suggestion:
http://www.gilt.com/sale/men/burkman-bros-276/product/67254388

It's still available in every size. How unexpected. I'm holding out until it goes on final sale.

Tough lie

2012-01-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should take a free drop?

My folks retired to a golf course in remote Oregon several years ago. Normally the view out their back window is a cloudy, green 18th fairway. This is their view now.

The house is built on a bit of a hill but the basement and surrounding property are all under water. The 18th fairway is now a river - that's 3 feet of water on the course. Fun. But not.

That was mean

2012-01-19T03:48:00.000-08:00

Died a little bit today when my 'friend' Sweet Katie put me on the notification list for my twenty year high-school reunion. Not sure what induced her to commit this heinous act of cruelty. Ahh, I kid. Kind of.

Anyway, the official date hasn't been set yet but I figure to be busy my entire summer (these things are usually done during the summer, right?), just in case. I spent several fruitless minutes trying to figure out how to remove myself from the facebook list but couldn't do it. Finally decided that it was probably irreversible, like aging.

I've stayed in touch with the two people from high school with whom I care to stay in touch. The rest of the folks? Meh. I'm sure they're nice but what the hell will we talk about? Drinking 40s of Mickey's and riding around in Ronnie Ledesma's truck?* Some other youthful hijinks? No idea. It'll either be that or talk of babies and similar. I enjoy those types of conversations with friends but from relative strangers it's numbing. From relative strangers that have suddenly become 20 years older than when you last saw them? Too much for my delicate nature to withstand.

On review there are a handful of people that I'd like to catch up with. I'll contact them directly. Done and done.

* My comment about Ronnie making the 20 year reunion proved prescient: he was killed in prison a couple years ago.

Leading by example

2012-01-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend in TJ to build living quarters for church pastor / rehabilitation center director. We had enough people to build a 'double' this year, which means that there's roughly 2x as much as work as on one of the 'single' homes.* (Pictures to follow later - I took a couple in the car but none at the site.)

After two years of warm weather and relatively easy builds we had more of a middling challenge this year. Weather was cold and damp (it rained overnight on Sunday), which always makes the job a bit tougher: the jobsite gets muddy and slippery, sometimes your stuff gets wet, etc. "Mud" might be giving it some credit; at one point we were regularly walking through sewage runoff from one of the houses. (Never been happier with my waterproof boots than I was at that moment.) Also, the bano (please insert an enye thing over the n) on the jobsite this year was rugged, even by local standards.

The thing got done, lessons learned, lives improved.

Friend Blair was his usual inspirational self. I can't say enough about the effort he makes to put the trip together and keep everyone involved/invested. I said it last year, but I'll say it again here: He works tirelessly, but that's not the most impressive thing. (Anyone can work hard; yours truly gets more done than just about anyone except the aforementioned team lead, a fact which has much more to do with years of experience swinging a hammer and pushing a shovel than it does with a commitment to hard work. Quite the opposite: I'm lazy so I work efficiently; a by-product of exerting the least amount of effort is that you can get more done than someone who tries really hard but doesn't know what the fuck they are doing.)

What's most impressive to me is the attitude with which Blair approaches his work. He is endlessly upbeat, patient and kind. Every year I make a commitment to having a good attitude on the final day but invariably I become churlish and short. It happens to most of us: limited sleep, no hot water, stinking banos, bucket showers (if any - most opted out), stepping over human feces, people that get on your nerves at the best of times, blah blah blah. These are things that tend to scrape away the pleasantries. Not so for Blair: He cheerfully answers an infinite number of questions, is always ready with a smile and hug, words of encouragement. Whatever it takes.

As an atheist I don't believe in God, but friends like Blair (who is religious) help me believe in people.

* The pedantic project manager in me is compelled to point out that it's not quite 2x as much work, and exactly how much work it actually is as compared to the 'single' was a fun intellectual exercise to which I devoted considerable time while I was otherwise physically engaged.

That looks good

2012-01-13T20:31:00.000-08:00

I've never been a big fan of LCD Soundsystem. Couple good songs, couple okay songs, and that was pretty much it. I have heard the shows were good. I'll never know, but the movie looks compelling.

If it were easy then everyone would do it

2012-01-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

My man-crush on Thierry Henry has been going on for ages. He was the best player on one of the best teams of all time (and, not coincidentally, my favorite team). But it wasn't just that he was great - there have been many similarly great players that left me cold. It was Henry's imperious style and panache that I loved. He was the best player and and he knew it. The attitude wore thin when he was no longer the best player, but when he was great he was the greatest, all ego and brilliance.

Example: he famously scored on a quick free kick that was whistled back by the referee because he hadn't given the opposing team enough time to set up. After taking a ponderously long time to re-kick he scored again. At which point he looked at the referee and asked, "Was that enough?"

His recently-back-after-four-years-afield goal against a not-very-good Leeds club is hardly the stuff of legend, but it's more goals than anyone else on the Arsenal squad could manage in the game. So.

Let's do this: Fontana track day on 6 Jan 2012

2012-01-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Looking through the turn. Or something.

Track day went well. No crashes in my (slow) session, so I got to turn a lot of laps compared to the medium session. Best time was 1:58, which is old news to you if you are one of the people to whom I already emailed pictures.

I was disappointed not to go more quickly but my times were good enough to move up to the middle group. The cutoff is 2 minutes but I'm confident that riding with faster guys will help me go faster (that's generally how it works - they tow you around the track). We'll see. The bike ran very well. The new paint job looked great and there were no mechanical issues. The big difference from last time was the brake pads - they were upgraded since last time. I can't say that I noticed a difference from my last outing but it's been six months since I rode the bike so it's really hard to say.

The photo above (at right?) is my favorite, mostly because the bike is in the way and I can't see all the ways my body position needs to be corrected. And I'm not covering the brake (right hand), which is a street-riding habit that has no place on the track. Next track day is likely next month. Get excited.

Of course I buy all the pictures available; view at your leisure.

Pleasant surprises

2012-01-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

(Yeah the lighting is lame but the cellcam was all I had)

I don't do much celebrating around the holidays. Mostly I spend time with my family and friends and buy gifts for the handful of people with whom I exchange gifts. It's a short list.

The Girl and I exchanged some gifts, but not in traditional fashion. She's not much for opening gifts on xmas morning and I'm really bad at surprises so I gave her all her gifts early. The big surprise for me was that she gave me a copy of Paradise Lost.

She tracked down an early edition, first run* copy printed in 1742. It's in lovely condition for something that was crafted 270 years ago: bound in leather, with lovely gold leaf on the binding and woodcut illustrations throughout. It had spent most of it's life on a shelf in a (cool, properly humidified) library in France before it found its way to me.

Given the weight and history of the story the book itself is quite small - you could just about carry it around in the back pocket of your jeans on your way to the coffee shop. (If you were the type of person that read this type of book in a coffee shop.**) My first thought on picking it up was "Wow, all those words fit in here?" My second thought was "WOW, all those words FIT in here! That is so awesome!"

About 5" tall x 4" wide, and the text is tiny. Compounding the size of the text, the 's' looks more like an 'f', as in the original edition, so it's tricky to decipher at first. Also, Milton does not reward the casual reader. In other words it's plain hard to read. I don't know that I would take it with me to the beach, but I look forward to digesting it at my leisure. Modernized text and punctuation? Only after I've had a chance to struggle (again) through the close-to-original version.

A lot happens in the story so any attempt to summarize here is woefully inadequate. Also, it can be (and has been) interpreted myriad ways. You can read it and decide for yourself. But you can't borrow my copy. You can read an annotated edition on the interweb for free, which is a pretty sweet deal.

If you need a refresher on Book 2, lines 433/34 I've got you covered. Just let me know.

Paradise Lost, Book 2, Line 433/34

* 'First run' means that it is the first printing of that particular edition.
** If you are that type of person I think you win at the hipster and pretentiousness olympics. I would say that I hate you but I'm probably just jealous.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

Picks you up, knocks you down

To: The Readership
From: (me)
Date: Whatever it says at the bottom of the post
Subject: Calendar year 2011, calendar year 2012

Glad you could make it. I hope you had a nice holiday and New Year's.

I had kicked around the idea of going to San Francisco but didn't make it. Instead I went to Morro Bay and Paso Robles for a few days. Wine tasting, long walks on the beach, hikes, sunsets, nice dinners, etc and so forth. A good time was had by all.

Big news of the week is the first track day of 2012 on Friday. As in, this Friday, 6 January.

In a couple weekends I'll be in TJ to build a house for a needy family. That is always a fun trip, depending on your idea of what constitutes 'fun'. The first two years were so back-breakingly hard that I had to take the following two years off. This proved prescient, because although the subsequent houses were much easier (shorter trip, slab was pre-poured) I skipped one year when it rained and another when it snowed. As in, actual snow. South of San Diego. Last year was such a breeze we finished early AND I had time to take a rinse-off after the workday. I'm hoping for more of the same this year. We'll see.

Re: the photo - that's a schooner from Mutt Lynch's with a 5 hour energy floater. Drink them both and you'll be feeling pretty good about yourself. For a while, anyway.

Weekend summary, part the second

2011-12-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

Been an interesting week. Meant to post a fun update on the back half of my weekend but I got sidetracked.

Sunday I got up and went for a hike with the girl, then headed up to LA for the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show. That was really fun. I'm too lazy to look it up but as best I can recall the lineup was:

The Naked and Famous
Foster the People
Cage the Elephant
Noel Gallagher's New Band
Death Cab for Cutie (set unfortunately marred by sound issues)
Florence and the Machine
Mumford and Sons
Black Keys
Jane's Addiction

Not sure why they decided to throw Jane's into that lineup but it was a good chance for most of the crowd to get home earlier than they originally planned for the Sunday. Because they (Jane's Addiction) were awful. Comically bad.

The rest of the bands were fantastic (excepting Death Cab, for reasons that were not of their doing). Mumford and Sons is a favorite of mine so seeing them again was awesome. For my money they were the best band of the night. I think the Black Keys are overrated; there's only so much noise that an overdriven guitar and a drum kit can make. Some people are way into it though. I'm told they are going mainstream now but I don't think their sound has long-term mainstream appeal. But what do I know? People like country music but it all sounds the same to me.

Gallagher's set was forgettable until he played some Oasis tunes. He did his best but I felt badly for him. He didn't mail it in as much he knew that the audience didn't really give a shit about his new band, and that showed.

This and that

2011-12-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

Wrote a long post that wasn't even fun for me to read. You have to draw the line somewhere so I deleted it and I'm posting this music instead.
Enjoy.

Hold still, this needs to look good

2011-12-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

A while back I was in Big Cheese' wedding. It was great fun to be involved and share with him. I wrote a post about it that someone must have put on fbook or something because it got a lot more views than usual.

Anyway, the photos from that event are now available online and I cribbed my favorites from the 600+ that the photographer uploaded.I forgot that I had to tie my friends tie for the big event.

Not the kind of thing you do every day so I took it seriously, although, as you can see in the photos, not so seriously that I didn't take the opportunity to do my never-not-funny* too-short clown tie gag. Big laughs from Big Cheese and the camera guy when I pulled that move.

You can see in the photo that Big Cheese is indicating where he clown-tie would end on him, and I'm demo-ing that so I can get the lengths right. While that would have been awesome, in deference to his bride-to-be we opted for a more traditional look, so it landed in the middle of his belt buckle.

It was one of my favorite moments from a weekend full of great moments and I'm glad I have some pictures of it.

* I promise it's (almost) always funny. Next time you have a tie on just hike it up to your neck and see what happens.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

2011-12-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

This has 14+ million views on youtube but it was new to me.
I laughed.

Let's lighten the tone a little: lolcats = win

2011-12-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

This is lifted straight from Alligator Sunglasses (again). I had planned to use it to accompany some pithy commentary about something or other. It'll have to stand alone for now.

Many thanks to whomever put it together in the first place. It's a recent favorite of mine.

If you don't agree I invite you to meditate briefly on the bottom panel for 10 seconds. If you don't laugh then you probably don't like cats and/or the internet.

Closing a chapter

2011-12-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

My father and I haven't had any type of relationship for twenty-five years.
Today it came as a surprise to me that I was saddened when I received the news that he had died. He was around 70.

He wasn't the nicest guy, although later accounts from those that knew him before I was born suggest that he was very funny and fun to be around. I never met that guy.

Most (all?) of my memories of my father are related to his abilities as an intellectual or an asshole. Some encapsulate both elements very well, e.g.: Pops was very good at trivia, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc. One of his favorite activities (as near as I can recall) was watching the evening game shows and ridiculing the players because of their intellectual inferiority. He had a particular talent for the Wheel of Fortune puzzles; it didn't extend to personal relationships.

When I knew him Trivial Pursuit was in its Big 80's heyday and we would all gather round together to 'play' together. The teams were always him vs. whoever wanted to read him the questions. You'd figure out who got to go first and then you would do your best until it was Pops turn. Then he would answer every question correctly until he had filled his little pie with those wedge-shaped pieces and you lost.

In retrospect it was a great learning opportunity, and I don't mean about trivia.

Traditionally you're supposed to write something flattering about the recently deceased. I prefer the truth: he was a difficult person that handled our relationship poorly. I forgave him a long time ago so that I could keep the best parts of him (I am also pretty good at Trivial Pursuit) and let go of the rest. If I ever have a child I hope that our relationship is better.

Thanks for reading.

Weekend update - part numero one

2011-12-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

I think it fits pretty well, but I'm not sure about the color

I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. The Girl and I went to a local production of the Nutcracker on Saturday afternoon (more on that shortly), after which we prepared a delicious Crab Feast of lots of ~~full menu redacted - too much detail~~ delicious food. It was so good I wanted to take a picture. Instead I ate until I was vaguely uncomfortable. You care.

In related news, I'm officially not allowed to make unsupervised food or (especially) dessert purchases any more. I overbuy.

A couple months ago The Girl and I were at lunch and I went to review and buy dessert to go. I inquired about her preferences and she said, "surprise me". She knew that I wasn't qualified to make these kinds of decisions on my own and predicted (internally) that I would come back with $30 worth of dessert. For two people. After a lunch. $32 later, I returned with a small coconut cake, apple tart, and small German chocolate cake. (Seems reasonable to me.) So that was her fault. Obviously.

Fast forward to Saturday when I'm trying to figure out how many crabs to buy for the Crab Feast. You have to buy the whole thing; no fractions. So. Guy puts one on the scale. I eye it critically. (It should be pointed out here that an adult Dungeness crab is not small.) Mmm... not sure that's enough. Throw another one on there. Yeahhhh. That looks way better. Much more pleasing to the eye and the palate. Just as the very helpful guy at Santa Monica Seafood was getting ready to ring up my two (enormous) food items The Girl noticed that I was unsupervised and came over to inject some much needed restraint. "I think one is probably enough, don't you?" Me: Uhh, no. Yes? You think? Her: I think one is probably good. Me: Enh, okay if you say so. Two does seem like kind of a lot. I guess.

We barely finished the one.
I'll do better next time. Probably.

Re: the Ballet - The Nutcracker was sweet. It was a small (by nutcracker standards) local production so although the main parts were very well done there was a precipitous drop off in the quality of dancers after you got past the front line. As a result some of the dances were maybe not as great as they could have been, but I didn't care. It was still fun. Sweet Katie will be pleased to know that we might make a trip up to SF later this month to see the big show. We're looking at dates now so I'll keep you posted.

--------------
Photo is from a pile of old pics I scavenged from alligator sunglasses and wanted to re-post.

Take that!

2011-12-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

When I'm not slaying dragons in Skyrim on the dorkbox360 I'm pwning n00bs in Battlefield 3. (No Call of Duty for me. After some uncountable number of hours I am finally tired of that game. BF3 has vehicles and destructible environments and different game types. It makes a difference.)

Anyway, this happened on the PC version of BF3:

That guy wins. Double bonus points for the theme music.

Messy

2011-12-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Had one of those weird many-little-things-go-wrong days last week. Some of the stuff was careless, like dropping my ipod touch, picking it up and then dropping it again before I put it in my bag. Dur. Also I had to pay for parking at a place because I was 2 minutes over the allotted time for validation. Silly trivial hassles and inconveniences: late to meetings I didn't know about, early to meetings that were canceled, etc. But there was one standout: when I spilled the cocoa powder.

I make a chocolate or chocolate peanut butter protein shake in the mornings for breakfast. The regular chocolate protein powder (Jem Lean Complex 8, if you must know) is pretty good but it's even better if you put some cocoa powder (0g carbs, lots of flavor) and all natural peanut butter in it (carbs and fat but it tastes good so shut up). Soy milk is a good option if you don't like dairy. Or if you're weird.

In assembling my delicious and nutritious shakebomb I managed to spray the cocoa powder all over the kitchen. It was everywhere: counter, floor, stove, my skin and hair and clothes, the sink (more mess than you would expect), and the dog. What a mess. If you were ever wondering how to get chocolate boogers, well, now you know. It was a spectacle. Took me half an hour to clean it up, not counting the time that I should have spent showering and changing my clothes, which I skipped because I was late from cleaning up the mess I made.

No photos because my phone wasn't immediately handy. Oh well. You kind of had to be there. If you were you wouldn't eat chocolate again any time soon.

Powerpoint is awful - dance is much better

2011-12-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

I grew up using and seeing Powerpoint so I've never been in a workforce that didn't have it. As such, I can't know if presentations were better or worse before its arrival.

I do know that in its current iteration it enables a lot of terrible presentations. The most common mistakes are to put too much information on the slides and then, inevitably, read them out loud. As such, this modest proposal sounds good to me.

Not sure that's going to be enough

2011-12-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

Would have been very handy during my fraternity days

Cleaned out the cellphone photos a while ago and found this little gem. It's from well over a year ago when I visited the Del Taco on 17th street. I wasn't doing any eating, just acting in a supporting capacity. Hit the can when I was there and that's when I found this plunger with the XXL handle.

Of course it was in a Del Taco. How could it be any other way?

Mostly I was bummed I didn't think of doing this first.

That's a helluva thing

2011-12-08T20:06:00.000-08:00

Heard some good covers of this song. A 'good' cover is one that enables you to hear the song in a new way. Or maybe you just like it better. Whatever. Some people think Bob Dylan walks on water. I'm not one of them, but he knows a thing or two about how to write a song. This live version (!!) of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright from Bree Sharp is very strong.
No actual video to speak of. Shrink your browser, turn up the speakers.

See you out there.

That's a funny angle

2011-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

But of course...

One photo from Florence I forgot to share was this illicit image of Michelangelo's David.

Photos of the statue are expressly forbidden but the way the local security is positioned enable you to snap a shot from this angle if you're quick about it. You can drift into a little alcove and as long as security isn't on patrol (they do frequent walkarounds) you can take a rest on one of the benches and/or sneak a photograph on your Blackberry (which is what The Girl did, per my request). If you even think about putting your camera to your face in this area you will draw immediate shouts from the patrol. And I mean angry shouts. With finger pointing. And then you'll get kicked out. Ouch.

I usually don't violate those types of rules but I really wanted a shot of this if I could get one. So here it is.

The statue was one of the things that was worth the price of admission. Sometimes stuff you learn about from a distance doesn't make much of an impression in person. You can chalk that up to expectation if you want, but sometimes it maybe isn't all that great after all, expectation or otherwise. The David was the opposite of that. Whatever your expectation, it is awe-inspiring and beautiful. Impossibly, absurdly great.

The Best of the Rest in the /wherever they keep the David - I'm too lazy to look it up/ was mostly unfinished work by Michelangelo. That guy finished projects about as often as he took a shower, which is to say: hardly ever.

Sometimes I feel like this might happen to me

2011-12-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is lifted more or less directly from Alligator Sunglasses, which is a tumblr of funny stuff on the web. Most of it is pretty good but anything Sesame Street or Muppet related is near and dear to my heart so I re-post it here.

I love how well put together he looks in the first panel. His papers are organized with that little clippy thing, he's lost some weight. Very professional.

This didn't work, so here you go again

2011-12-05T12:35:00.001-08:00

Tried to embed this in a previous post but it didn't work. Trying again.
Need to figure out how to embed videos better. This format isn't so good.

Here's the link direct to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP9wzxY2mVw

F*ck Yeah Motorcycles

2011-12-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Traditional old-school Honda colors are red, white and blue

Regular readers that aren't into the motorcycles can look away now.

Got the 600RR bodywork done. (For the record, that's a 2007 Honda CBR600RR.) Painted and customized the race plastics with a headlight and brake lights so that the bike is street legal(ish). Helpful because I don't have a truck and also I intend to sell it some day and it'll be much easier to sell if it's road legal. Don't plan to ride it on the street all that much. It's registered, plated and insured but the plate isn't actually mounted to the bike. I put it in my backpack if I ride it on the mean streets.

Big thanks to the guys at Metric Method in Lake Forest for all the help and good work. They installed the custom headlight and custom fabbed the brake and turn signal indicators in the rear (there aren't any in the front, see prev. comments re: street legal-ish).

I ordered some mirror block-off plates (and handlebar mirrors, for the street) but I haven't had a chance to install either one yet. Hard to start working on the bike when you get home at 10 PM and your roommate (who sleeps directly above the garage) is already in bed. Haven't even put decals or stickers on it yet. I hope to have all that done by this weekend. Hope. I had some custom decals made up. More on that when they're installed. With photos. Get excited.

Check out the HID high-beam headlight. It's crazy bright but at least people can see you coming. I'd rather annoy everyone because they see me than get run over because they didn't. Not a difficult decision, if I'm honest.

Here's a video:

The "Dream" part is because these red/white/blue colors are associated with the Honda Dream racing team. I think that's classic Japanese engrish so I don't describe it in that way, but most people familiar with Honda Racing will recognize it.

See you out there.

It's a big step I'm not sure I'm ready

2011-12-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

Vernazza (Cinque Terre) - Everyone takes this picture; wouldn't you?

I never posted the Italy pictures. Actually I have no recollection of whether or not I posted the Italy pictures but it's a safe bet that I didn't. You care.

Anyway, here's the processed photos of the trip I took to Tuscany and Cinque Terre (not part of Tuscany, apparently). Processed = resized and maybe auto-level colors in photoshop. Otherwise they are not retouched. We visited Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre (stayed in Monterrosso), Florence and Siena. The cooking photos are from a cooking class we took outside of Florence. I was in charge of the camera for part of that so I took a lot of pictures. Skip past them if you're over it.

Italy, 18-28 August 2011

What the hell just happened?

2011-12-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a month. A MONTH! I started getting concerned calls and emails from friends. Once they established that I wasn't kidnapped and/or seriously hurt they started asking Important Questions. Mostly the same question: What the f are you doing?
Well, lots of things. E.g:
- Playing Battlefield 3 and/or ESV: Skyrim, either one of which will take over your life without you even noticing. I don't know where the time goes when I sit down with those games. It's like taking a nap when you're a little kid: you blink and it's four (or more) hours later.
- Spending time with The Girl. (more on that in a separate post. Due later this weekend, not a month from now, thanks for asking).
- Reading the books. Just finished The Hare with Amber Eyes, which was well-reviewed but I didn't think was very good (boring). Not recommended.
- Goofing around with motorcycles, although not as much as I would like because of all the other items on this list. I'm not home much, and if I am home I'm pwning n00bs or slaying dragons.*
- Working. A lot. When I get home I don't feel like typing up a summary. Upside is I have a job. Downside is they expect me to do work there. They are funny like that.
- Traveling. I was out of town for Thanksgiving. And also for work.

I had a lot to say about the Penn State sex abuse scandal but then Charles P. Pierce did it better. He should, since he gets paid. I'll folllow up as the trial moves along and the verdict comes in. The SI piece was particularly disturbing, so I suggest you start there for full summary.

The NBA solved their lockout crisis. Phew! Now I'll have something to ignore until the playoffs start in June.

More updates as I work through the backlog.
Thanks for reading.

* Not a euphemism.

Clearing up the backlog - occupy SOMETHING

2011-11-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Lots to get caught up on. Can't fit it all here. Busy with work and other stuff. You care.

Alligator Sunglasses has been sharing the occasional cookie monster and/or muppet, so let's lead with that. You could get it from there if you wanted to. Or here. Whatever.

If you're of a mind you might browse through this editorial from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/the-senate-puts-millionaires-before-jobs.html?src=me&ref=general

Or this one from the blog's favorite economist, Paul Krugman, who explains why you live in an oligarchy (for a concrete example, see above):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/oligarchy-american-style.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

Highlight:
The budget office report tells us that essentially all of the upward redistribution of income away from the bottom 80 percent has gone to the highest-income 1 percent of Americans. That is, the protesters who portray themselves as representing the interests of the 99 percent have it basically right, and the pundits solemnly assuring them that it’s really about education, not the gains of a small elite, have it completely wrong.

If anything, the protesters are setting the cutoff too low. The recent budget office report doesn’t look inside the top 1 percent, but an earlier report, which only went up to 2005, found that almost two-thirds of the rising share of the top percentile in income actually went to the top 0.1 percent — the richest thousandth of Americans, who saw their real incomes rise more than 400 percent over the period from 1979 to 2005.
Who’s in that top 0.1 percent? Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they’re corporate executives. Recent research shows that around 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent either are executives in nonfinancial companies or make their money in finance, i.e., Wall Street broadly defined. Add in lawyers and people in real estate, and we’re talking about more than 70 percent of the lucky one-thousandth.

But why does this growing concentration of income and wealth in a few hands matter? Part of the answer is that rising inequality has meant a nation in which most families don’t share fully in economic growth. Another part of the answer is that once you realize just how much richer the rich have become, the argument that higher taxes on high incomes should be part of any long-run budget deal becomes a lot more compelling.
--------------------------------

So that's fun.

On the subject of executive pay: my friend's company they announced that they were eliminating 401k matching. (Fair enough. I was surprised they still had it in these tough times.) What they didn't announce was that they were pushing through a generous bonus package for the executives ON THE SAME DAY as the announcement. For example, her boss got $50,000. No idea what the CEO and the rest got, but you can bet it was a hell of a lot more than that.

Awesome.

Why is it so hard to raise taxes on such a small number of people? It's absurd.

Super Sic Forever

2011-10-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Image copyright Peter Guld, courtesy HFL Magazine

Marco Simoncelli was killed in a motorcycle crash in Sepang, Malaysia on Sunday during the MotoGP race.

He was 24.

Just typing those words makes me more sad than I would have ever imagined. He was not my favorite racer. He didn't ride for a team that I particularly cared about. I never met him. I don't know anyone that was friends with him. We never interacted directly in any way.

Here is the summary of the crash from motomatters.com:
//
On the second lap of the race, in dry conditions, Simoncelli's rear tire broke loose at Turn 11, then gripped, sending Simoncelli and his bike across the track into the path of another rider. [Ed. It was actually two riders, Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.] Simoncelli was struck, losing his helmet in the impact, and the race was red-flagged. Simoncelli was transported to the medical center, but died from the injuries sustained in the crash at 16:56 local time.
//

I've been wondering why his death makes me so sad. I've never shed tears for a professional athlete; I'm too old and far too cynical. Simoncelli is the first. He was young, charismatic, talented, and he was a racer's racer. The older riders didn't like Simoncelli's all-or-nothing style, they said he needed to settle down. The younger riders (and some racing legends, like Kevin Schwantz) disagreed, and suggested that the people complaining needed to go faster or get out of the way.

I thought he was reckless at times, but his recklessness had nothing to do with the crash that killed him.

What everyone agreed on was that he was incredibly nice, generous, and friendly. He was the people's champion, especially now that the great Rossi is stuck in the middle of the pack. Unlike Lorenzo (the nicest robot you could ever hope to meet), Simoncelli was a gregarious, charming personality. His nickname was Super Sic (pronounced Super SEECH, if you prefer the Italian version), a reference to his extraordinary riding skills (sick) and also his general awesomeness (which, according to everyone that interacted with him, was super).

As for me, I will never feel the same about racing motorcycles. I was not very affected by the untimely death of Dan Wheldon, maybe because I don't spend my free time driving open-wheel race cars as fast as I can. But racing motorcycles is one of my great passions. I understand what motivated Simoncelli, not least because he said during his recent contract negotiations that if they stopped paying him to race then he would happily pay his own way. A lot of riders say that, but with Super Sic you tended to believe it.

Forever is a long time, but I expect that people like me will be telling future racers about the young Italian rider with the wild hair that was capable of going as fast or faster than anyone on two wheels. He made it to the mountaintop that is MotoGP and the only thing that slowed him down was tragedy. Legends have been made out of less.

The world revolves around me

2011-10-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

I hate when science gets in the way.

Full text:

The supreme arrogance of religious thinking: that a carbon-based bag of mostly water on a speck of iron-silicate dust around a boring dwarf star in a minor galaxy in an underpopulated local group of galaxies in an unfashionable suburb of a supercluster would look up at the sky and declare, 'It was all made so that I could exist!'

- Peter Walker

Hey, who said my supercluster was boring?
Meanie.

You're not kidding

2011-10-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

This was kicking around the interwebs. Now I'm sharing it with you.

My friends and I used to compare weird mutant powers. Everyone has one. Most of them were decidedly off-color, so I can't repeat them here. Which, given my propensity for the f-word on this site, is saying something. Ask me in person the next time I see you; it'll be more funny that way.

Might as well work late

2011-10-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

I told the girl I was looking forward to some B-time tonight, as in Betty the Dog and Battlefield 3, which came out today. Except the BF3 servers are crashed and the online version of the game is unplayable.

Since I only play the online version of the game, this is untenable.

Dear EA,
Please take the suck out of your service immediately if not sooner. I've got n00bs to pwn.
Thanks,
-me-

Bring the noise: Stereophonics

2011-10-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is an old song. But it's awesome. I'm enjoying it today, and it might be new to you. Or not. Whatever.

Band: Stereophonics
Song Title: Dakota

You might be able to find a better audio quality version on youtube. Not sure. But this is the official version. I don't have time to watch the video. Who cares about the video? Get your dance on.

Herman Cain is unfit to govern: flat taxes are for idiots

2011-10-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

The GOP's big talking point is that they want to 'broaden the base', so that more people pay taxes. It really rankles them that some percentage (I think it's about 47% but I forget the exact figure) of the people here in the US pay no income tax at all. What they always fail to mention is that these people don't have any fucking money. Yeah I put the f-bomb in there because I wanted to get your attention. Few things irritate me more than rich people suggesting that poor people should bear more of a burden.

Which brings us to Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 tax plan, which is epic stupid for a lot of reasons, not least of which is the 9% flat tax. Flat taxes are not very equitable when there is a wide distribution of income. They don't take the ability to pay into account, for starters. If Cain's tax plan were implemented, the tax rates for everyone except the top 20% would go up. This is the definition of broadening the base.

The really interesting thing is how much money the super rich will save. That is well illustrated by the attached graph. As you can see, the top one tenth of one percent (the richest of the rich) get quite a nice break. So that they can buy a fourth Ferrari or whatever.

Krugman has some information here: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/tpc-does-herman-cain/

I know you don't love economics as much as I do, but still: this is absurd.

Delays, absences, and other sh*t

2011-10-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hi.
I know I've been away and for that I apologize. I am back now and while I'm not any different than before I'll return to my usual pattern of posts 3 or 4x a week as per usual.

To that end, here's this little re-worked gem from the intertubez.
"We feel too little, and think too much..."

I have heard that Charlie Chaplin (that's him in the video) entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest at the height of his popularity. He placed third.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

I know it's been too long

2011-10-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

I've been busy.
I don't expect that to change this weekend but I'll get something for you next week for sure.
Here's a quick video. The iphone4s came out, and I guess you can talk to it? I guess that's if the vaunted touchscreen interface (of which I'm a fan) is too much effort. Like when you're running. Or baking. I don't bring my phone when I go running, and when I'm baking I just wipe my hands off before I pick up my phone. Weird, I know.

Here you go.

Italy + Vespas + Racing + Dreamboat = win

2011-09-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

When I was in Italy last month with The Girl we looked at renting a scooter and touring around Florence and environs. Opted not to because it was crazy expensive and I told her I'd take her for a ride up PCH on my own (nicer) motorcycle and if she didn't live in Newport she would think it was totally rad 2 the max instead of hot and alternating between boring/scary. I don't regret not renting the scooter but when I go back to Italy I will plan ahead and do it. Because Italy does scooters (and motorcycles) right.

Here's video evidence of a Vespa race in Torino where they do a lap on the top of the old Fiat manufacturing building. So awesome. The ladies might want to ~~stick around until~~ skip to the 1:28 mark to see some ridiculously handsome Italian guy say something about riding Vespas in chic italian clothes and effortlessly stealing your girlfriend. Ciao, bella! Actually I'm not sure what he says because it's in Italian but I'm probably pretty close.
Thanks to HFL for the video, and Red Bull for sponsoring the event.

Readling lists, and technical difficulties

2011-09-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Gigantic flow chart is gigantic

Had to do some stuff with that other thing so it's been hard to find the time to blog. I did build a new desk for the home office, so that's something. If I didn't have to take it mostly apart and rebuild it to make it more comfortable to work at then I would be even more pleased. At least it can be adjusted.

NPR solicited feedback on the top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. The full list is here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books

And these people decided that it would be easier if it was a gigantic flow chart:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/flowchart-for-navigating-nprs-top-100-sff-books/

I think LOTR is overrated, never more so than when it appears at the top of this list. While middle earth is wonderfully imagined and the story well told, the characters are flat and one-dimensional. That's fine when you're in fifth grade but as an adult one (hopefully) prefers something more sophisticated. (A lot of people like Twilight, but that doesn't mean it's good. I don't mean that LOTR is awful like Twilight is; I mean that popularity does not necessarily equal quality.) Also, just because it's the first great fantasy series doesn't mean it's the best; I thought The Once and Future King was better. And easier to finish.

The number 2 and 3 books on the list are two of my all-time favorites.

Anyway, check out the list for and/or flow chart for some reading suggestions.

If only...

2011-09-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Loved this entirely too much.

Mostly because of stuff like this:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/taxes-and-the-wealthy/

Bring the noise - Everything old is new again

2011-09-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Been load-testing the speakers with this jam for a couple weeks now. The full version isn't out or available anywhere that I can find, so you get this bootleg of a bootleg, which kinda sucks but whatever. It's got enough mojo that you should be able to get through it okay. Incidentally, Tiesto Club Life episode #228 is the best in recent memory. If I heard this in the club (if I still went to clubs) my head would explode.

This bootleg was posted a couple different places but the graphic the guy uses for the video is totally rad 2 the max. So that's the version I chose.

Should also add: how awesome are the Eurythmics? This song is over 20 years old and still killing it. Yeah the remix does a lot of the heavy lifting but that synth/vocal hook has got legs and then some.

If you're not sure if you like it I suggest you turn your stereo up a lot louder. Like, a lot.

Problems at the back

2011-09-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

The posts are piling up. Lots going on over here so the full update will have to wait. I do have a stack of pictures to share and some funny anecdotes to relate. You care.

Here's a short non-sequitur: Was at the moto shop doing moto stuff last week and while I was there I saw a couple late 30's guys picking up a bike. An early warning sign was that one of the guys kept telling my tuner about the bike he had just finished doing work on. Customer Know-it-all would ask a question, then give the answer. Typically those interactions go better when the expert talks and you listen. That's not to say that you shouldn't engage in a dialog with your tuner, but Tuner Ryan hasn't spent the past 10 years studying and working on motorcycles because he doesn't know how to work on motorcycles, is what I mean. So if you bring your bike to Ryan for him to work on then you should, you know, trust him to work on it. Ryan handled it all with aplomb because he is customer-oriented.

So this goes on for forty-five minutes (don't ask what I'm doing - I'm dicking around in the shop, as per usual, because I like learning about bikes), and juuuuust when they are about to leave the rider comes in and gears up. The guy riding the bike has a textile jacket (good), full face helmet (very good), shorts (not so good) and slip-on shoes (not good). What really didn't inspire confidence was when he asked me to help him secure his helmet. As in, fix the strap under his chin because he didn't know how to work it. One the one hand, it's good to ask for help with something like that. On the other hand, WHAT THE F ARE YOU DOING MAN?!!?? It was funny but also scary. Mostly scary. Only funny if everyone makes it home safely.

The following video shows how difficult it is to stay involved in the game when you're a goalie. Also there may be some sort of drama or protest happening; we'll never know. What we do know is that the goalie is playing a little bit out of position and, uhh, yeah. Ouch.

So much love

2011-09-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

This came across my desk early last week but I didn't have a chance to post it until now. It's a quote from Bob Marley in which he says some rather obvious things about love and partnerships and expectations.

You might not agree with all (or any) of it, but my favorite takeaway was "Love hard when there is love to be had." I agree with that very strongly.

Change 'him' to 'her' and it works just as well.

Best. Lunch. Ever.

2011-09-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Beaker is the best muppet

This is kicking around the intertubes but if you haven't seen it yet: there's a guy that draws on his kids lunch bags every day during his lunch break. And it's AWESOME. I posted my favorite here but I invite you to scroll through the archives and find your own. And also to enjoy something surprisingly fun and cool.

Go here: http://lunchbagart.tumblr.com/

Complete Command

2011-09-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is for Ze Newbs.
When he whipped the tail at 2:17 I jumped out of my chair.

If you were wondering what complete command looks like, it looks like this:

Anniversaries, remembrances, and heroes

2011-09-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

For some reason we celebrate powers of 2, 5, and 10 more than other anniversaries. It's arbitrary and lame but I've already explained how I feel about all that so I'm not going to get into it here. So, big 'anniversary' coming up this weekend.

The megachurch in my area is taking the opportunity to expand their services like it's some kind of Easter celebration of 'freedom'. That makes me want to throw up for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that I find it repulsive and disgusting when people wrap the American flag in religion. (I prefer a secular brand of patriotism, thanks very much.) But I digress...

This weeks Badass of the Week is about Rick Rescorla, and it's a story that I didn't know. I invite you to read and enjoy it for yourself. Because he was awesome, and he was killed almost exactly 10 years ago today.

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/rescorla.html

How to change your oil: life lessons

2011-09-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

The last couple posts have been long on words. Let's shift gears (HONK!) and bring it back to one of my other favorite topics: motorcycles and motorcycle maintenance. The video is more or less everything you need to know if you're changing the oil on your SR500 (a bike I want, but do not own, in part because I'd have to build it myself and also in part because Deus hasn't opened their LA showroom yet). Not sure that the roommate wants a rebuild project to get in the way of the Bowflex Xtreme. Can't say I blame him.

Anyway, if you're a guy you will probably enjoy this video. If you're one of the female readers you probably stopped reading at the title.

"Love hard when there is love to be had" - Bob Marley

2011-09-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

That's the dance floor in the middle, under the string of lights

Friend of the blog Big Cheese got married over the weekend and it was awesome. I mean 'awesome' in the awe-inspiring, epic sense, and also in the 'wow that was totally rad 2 the max' sense.

------------------
Some backstory about Big Cheese (skip past the dotted line below if you're over it):

I first heard about him from a mutual friend over 20 years ago. My friend Jayme said, "I have a friend who is just like you; you will love him." Since I was an insufferable asshole at that point of my life I wasn't really keen on meeting someone else that was just like me. For starters, one insufferable asshole is quite enough, and also, why would I want to meet some guy that was just like me? I am a beautiful and unique snowflake. So we didn't catch up until a bit later.

As it happens, Big Cheese ended up dating one of my very dear friends from high school (her name is Sweet Katie, because she's pretty much the nicest girl ever, and, as such, a good fit for Big Cheese, since he tended to suck all the nice out of the room pretty quickly, especially then; for the record: so did I, but whatever).

Sweet Katie said, you have to meet this person, he's great, he's funny, he's this and that. I was still over it, but since I was pretty much living with Sweet Katie and her family off and on, and taking advantage of their generous love and kindness (Sweet Katie's mom and dad are, not kidding, some of the nicest people in the world), there wasn't much I could do to avoid it. So I really did have to meet him. As it turns out he became one of my closest friends, and except for Jayme (mentioned above), I was the longest-tenured of his peeps at the wedding by a considerable margin.

There have been many ups and downs in each of our lives and although the geographical distance between us has sometimes been significant, the emotional distance was quite small, and we stayed close.
So.

-----------------------

Wedding Highlights:
- The setting was a majestic Buddhist retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains. The weather was perfect, with warm (but not too hot) days and crisp, cool nights.

- The food was organic, locally grown, and universally excellent, which was a big deal considering the place was way out of town and there weren't a lot of alternatives.

- The guests were very nice and friendly. This is almost always true but it's still fun to meet everybody and hear their stories.

- We opened the wedding day with a morning yoga class at 9 AM, led by yours truly. I prepped a program and playlist but didn't expect the class to be very well attended. Bonus was that there were around 20 people there, including all of the wedding party except one person who was too hung over. It was crowded but I had a blast.

- Big Cheese broke down during his vows and had to compose himself. It turned all the bridesmaids into waterworks. It was nice to see people get emotional at what, at its core, is simple civil ceremony.

- The array of custom-crafted organic pies for dessert. I had the key lime (2x), chocolate mousse, pecan (2x) and apple.Yes I really did eat 6 pieces of pie. They were very small. And I may have eaten a piece of the pecan pie with my breakfast the following day. The fat kid loves dessert. Don't judge.

- Epic dance off to close the night. At the close anyone left standing was on the dance floor, including the DJ and the bartender. It was that kind of fun.

The happy couple are off on a honeymoon now.

My Italian vacation: recap

2011-09-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Not bad

I took only a handful of pictures in Italy. This wasn't one of them. The girl I was with took it on her cellphone. It's the view (at sunset) from the rooftop terrace of our hotel in Florence. Pretty nice. Usually I would auto-filter a photo before I post it but this is great as-is.You can't beat the light at sunset. Florentine architecture doesn't hurt either.

Trip was great. I don't think I've ever had more fun. Visited (in order): Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre (stayed in Monterrosso), Florence and Siena (day trip from Florence).

Highlights, in no particular order:

- Gelato. Everywhere. I was on a mission to try and find the best gelato place that I could. Since the gelato shops were everywhere this was a serious undertaking; you'll be happy to hear that I was up to the task.

- The view from the roof in Florence. Just look at it.

- The Leaning Tower of Pisa at night. We were the last people allowed up and it was fantastic. No crowds, pleasant weather, and a panoramic view of the town. Took no photos so you'll have to get your own.

- The food and views in Lucca. It's a tourist town but it is a beautiful place to visit. And the food was great.

- Blue skies, every day. They do a brisk business in crisp blue skies in Tuscany and the Italian Mediterranean during the summer. I think I was there for 5 days before I even saw a cloud. I wore a lot of sunscreen. And a rather dashing straw fedora.

- Views in Cinque Terre. The Girl took some pictures in the various towns but I haven't seen them yet. And may never. I posted a link in a previous entry so you've already seen some great pics. Spent a quiet beach day swimming around the Italian Mediterranean. Like the gelato research it was tough, but I struggled through it. Hiking the towns was awesome too. It's not an easy hike but it is beautiful and rewarding.

- Florence. It's full of tourists, and deservedly so. It is beautiful and the sights in and around the city are superb. DO go see the David at the Academia. DON'T bother with the Uffizi unless you loooove Renaissance art (I don't). DO avoid the gelato places on the main streets and get involved in the places on the side streets. Special tip: if you cross to the south side of the Ponte Vecchio and head east along Via de Bardi, you can find gelato that shames anything else you might try. I forget what the place is called, but here's a link to a map. I recommend the mascarpone and Nutella gelato. Beyond good. Not sure that 'good' is even the right word; I need a new word to describe it because I ran out of superlatives. How about "worth a trip to Florence"? Yeah I think that covers it.

- Cooking class in Florence. Learning + fun + delicious food = win. The Girl's family gave her the gift of a cooking class at a restaurant / farm in Figline Valdarano (outside Florence) for her birthday. So we took the train out there one evening and made ourselves dinner. I took a LOT of beautiful pictures of this (with her camera) and I'm working on the post-processing. The important thing is that it was amazing. We cooked everything for our dinner from scratch (except the pasta). So we made focaccia, biscotti, stuffed calamari, stuffed zucchini flowers, broiled fish on garbanzo beans, and some other stuff I'm forgetting. Everything was locally grown on the farm (except the seafood, which was caught the night before): olives and olive oil, eggs, vegetables, etc. The chef cooked with us for about 3 hours and then we sat down and ate. We ended up preparing much of the food on the menu for the evening, so while we were at dinner the calamari would come out and we would look over and say, "yeah we made that." Super awesome fun time and one of the most cool/unique things I have ever done.

- Walking through Siena on a Saturday afternoon. I could do a whole post about Sienese culture but it would take too long. Suffice to say that the place is worth a visit. Stroll through the town. Soak up the atmosphere. And when you're there take a class at the...

- Tuscan Wine School in Siena. More super awesome fun ways to learn about Tuscany in general and Siena in particular. Originally wanted to take the 1 hour 'crash course' but it was booked. That worked out well because the 2 hour course is superb. Highly recommended. You get to sample some delicious olive oils, breads, cheese, and wines. So good. You will return to the streets of Siena in a festive mood, so you might want to hike any stairs BEFORE you take the class. Just sayin'.

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out, but you get the idea. Crammed a lot of activities and sightseeing into a relatively short span of time.

If you want specifics or recommendations on stuff I didn't cover here just let me know.
Thanks for reading.

Post-it Wars = radness

2011-09-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Note that Pedobear is not on an exterior window

This is has been all over the interwebs for a couple weeks now but I've been too busy (read: lazy) to post it. (See what I did there? HONK!)

The Guardian gives it a quick summary, with a photo gallery.

Enjoy.

2011-09-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

I loved this so hard. No idea if it's your cup o' tea, but whatever.
lulz to my facebone.

Original here:

http://www.dorkly.com/article/20671/gamebook-superman-finds-a-new-arch-enemy

Thanks for reading.

This probably took a while

2011-09-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hat tip to ze Newbs for this little slice of excellence.

Enjoy.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Time and money wasted

2011-09-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

The United States of America loves going to war on ideas. Drugs was a big one, and although it has been wildly ineffective at actually, you know, keeping people from buying and using illegal drugs, it has been effective at making people a lot of money and putting people in prison.

The next big war on a concept was the War on Terror, which has been more expensive than the war on drugs, making a greater number of people a staggering amount of money, and roughly as ineffective. While some strategic gains have (probably?) been made, only a fool would argue that Afghanistan or Iraq are anything like a success. Instead they are endlessly awful quagmires, which is exactly what you'd expect when you start a war without a clearly defined strategic goal for winning. You can't wage a war on Terror because you can't make it surrender. In short, it just goes on and on, forever. I don't know about you, but I'm not a huge fan of wars that go on and on. They're expensive, for starters.

When are we going to start a war on an idea that might actually do some good? We started a war on poverty but gave up when it got too expensive. A person's willingness to aid another person is directly related to whether or not they have ever found themselves in a similar position. Post-depression era 60's there were still a lot of people that remembered being hungry. If you've never been hungry it is unlikely you will help someone who is hungry. Never been poor, no sympathy for the poverty-stricken. Also it's much easier to criticize the government for helping people than it is to help them. So: f you, poor people. It's your own fault.

Why don't we wage a war on ignorance? Because as it happens, ignorance (or lack of education) is one of the great predictors of poverty. They go hand in hand. All the hard work in the world won't help you better your lot in life if you can't get an education.

Education isn't really all that expensive, especially compared to how much money we spend on wars and our failing, soon-to-be-bankrupt health care system. So what the fuck is the problem?

The problem is that the culture of military dominance in the United States is sacred and untouchable, while the culture of wanting to help kids reach their full potential isn't. Also, there's not nearly as much money to be made in education as there is in arms. In other words: primary education needs a political action committee. (Secondary for-profit education is a whole nother can of awful mess but we'll consider that in a different post.)

The US spends more on defense than every other country in the world put together. Wouldn't it be rad if that were true of education?

Expanding on ideas outlined by Dave Eggers: Why do people gargle the balls of the American Soldier but throw the American Teacher under the bus? Why, when test scores are low, do people want to fire teachers? We don't blame the soldier in the trenches when a battle goes badly. Instead we blame the commanding officer that failed to set them up for success. As Eggers points out, if we don't like the results we're getting in the military we ask what it will take for success: more manpower? more money? more equipment? better equipment? more training? all of the above?

In education if things don't go well people blame the teacher and cut funding. All of which contributes to worse results. This is ridiculous. I know that teaching kids not to be idiots isn't sexy and doesn't capture voters like WAR and TERROR and FEAR, but still.

I need this in my life

2011-09-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Been kind of an up and down week. Big wedding this weekend, at which I will be leading a yoga class. Except for the fact that I don't really know what I'm doing it'll be great.

I'm trying out the new blogger interface and although I like the new one better they moved some stuff around and I have to figure out where they put it.

It's great to be back from Italy so I'll try and do another post on that later today if I can.

Also: this happened.

Repost all up in this bitch: Dogs are awesome

2011-08-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is repurposed from another website, who repurposed it from somewhere else. Original lives here: http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=1321

I felt bad because when I left this morning I said goodbye to Baby Girl and she was unusually sad. What she didn't know is that I hid some treats around the house for her so that she has some fun surprises to discover later in the day. I'm nice like that.

Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace (read it free online!)

2011-08-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

David Foster Wallace has featured prominently in this space before. He is my all-time favorite writer.

Found a link to one of his articles today, so I'm re-posting it here.

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster?printable=true

You can also find it in his book of the same name, via amazon. I think the book version is longer, if you're into that. I have a copy kicking around so let me know if you want to borrow it.

Effort matters

2011-08-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

"Too... much... pasta..."

Just got back from my Italian vacation. More on that in a bit. Sonz had this link in my inbox for me to read, so I'm sharing it with you. Just a bit of inspiration to start your day.

http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2011/08/sport-in-its-purest-form/

In related news, I got a blister from walking around Lucca and I may have been kind of a little bitch about it. So now who's the asshole? --> this guy <--

(I didn't take that cat photo, but I could have. The towns I visited in Italy did a brisk business in extremely relaxed cats. It was rad.)

For the cyclists: Danny MacAskill (yeah that's the correct spelling)

2011-08-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

I guess this is pretty cool, if you're into insanely difficult stunts on two wheels.
The whole thing is just crazy awesome, but my favorite parts were the 180 from one side of the train tracks to the other, and then the bit where he balances his way down the steel cable. On a bike. Are you kidding? The whole video is beautifully framed and shot.

Not sure who chooses the music for his videos but it's nice that it's not all METAL MULISHA PUNCH ME IN THE FACE BECAUSE I'M SO TOUGH DETH METALLLL GRRRR. It's actually pretty good. Weird.

Aside: the person that posted the video below misspelled Danny MacAskill's name. Bust.
It's capital M, ac, capital A, skill.

Confirmed it on his website here: http://www.dannymacaskill.co.uk/ (Click through to see correct spelling; URLs are always all lower-case.)

Link to one of my all time favorite web videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6ho1-G6tw

ps.
Starting tomorrow I'll be out of town for 10 days on my Assassin's Creed Site Visit Tour of Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Bologna in lovely Italy. I will post some photos and updates on that as best I can.
Thanks for reading.

Well that's pretty much the best thing I heard today

2011-08-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Long-time readers will know of my deep and abiding affection for the muppets. In order, my favorite characters are: Beaker, Dr. Honeydew, Cookie Monster, the Swedish Chef, and Kermit.

It turns out there's a Muppets tribute album coming out. You can hear it early on NPR* (natch). It is perhaps telling that the list of contributing artists reads like my typical itunes playlist:
Weezer
Alkaline Trio
Ok Go
Airborne Toxic Event
Andrew Bird
Rachel Yamagata

Full link here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/14/138984517/first-listen-muppets-the-green-album?ft=1&f=98679384

If you don't want to sing along to the Weezer cover of Rainbow Connection I invite you to watch some muppets with a 6 year old. They will show you the way.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me...

Thanks for reading.

* The promo sponsor for NPR during my listen was Pabst Blue Ribbon. That's what I call a hipster / muppet / nerd BULLSEYE.

Long overdue good news: The US gov't might stop subsidizing ethanol

2011-08-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's about damn time.
Actually it's way, way past time, but whatever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/15/us-corn-belt-farmers

I liked this part from the farmer that produces corn for ethanol:

Despite the increasingly negative public opinion on ethanol Schipper is just not ready to give up on it yet.

"Everything has turned on us, but ethanol is still a great thing," he said. "It's been good for us."

No it isn't a great thing you fucking moron. It's wildly, shamefully inefficient, awful for the planet, awful for the economy, awful for most taxpayers (excepting you and oil companies), and awful for the country. Get your shit together and grow food that people can eat. You only started growing the stuff in the first place because of artificial demand. Ugh.

What are you looking at?

2011-08-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

You know you want it.

Sturgis is this weekend or last weekend or maybe the week before that. You don't care and I'm too lazy to check. Point is, it's happening, and it's a big deal in the v-twin / custom bike building communities. I'm not really a fan of American v-twin (read: Harley Davidson, but could also mean Victory or anything that comes with a matching t-shirt) motorcycles in general, and 'custom' bikes in particular. They tend to sacrifice function for form. And by that I mean they are unrideable pieces of junk. Plus I've never thought Harley's were cool; I was always more into the speed racer bikes.

Anyway, the v-twin crowd is kind of awesome with their pirate-wear, and we have an excellent example here: Nothing goes together like shorts and a motorcycle, so here's a photo of a sexy Hardley rider from the intertubes. He's got all the bases covered: tight cutoff jeans (rolled up slightly, natch); custom pipes; short sleeved shirt (very protective in the event of a crash); half helmet (link to photos of half-helmet wearing crash victims redacted in deference to the fact that it is too gross); sort of boots with white socks; weird coyote skin (??) seat covering; come hither gaze.

If this guy saw me on my bike he would probably have a big laugh at my zany helmet, jacket, pants, gloves, and boots. And I would envy that he looked vaguely comfortable at a stoplight, because this time of year it's quite warm in all the gear. Not so warm that I would consider sitting on a dead coyote, but still pretty warm.

The cat loves art; hot Italian summer

2011-08-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

Two pieces of news today.

1. A while ago I got my friends a fun signed print from theoatmeal of a kitteh with gatling guns and a jetpack. I think it would take tardcat to the next level but I'm not sure it's in the budget. And I'm not sure tardcat is qualified to operate a Gatling gun. Her mom got a photo of tardcat reviewing the framed piece. It sort of goes with a small postcard I brought back from a museum in Madrid (not the Prado, the Museo Thyssen-Bournemisza). I'm artsy like that. Official word is that the cat approves.

b. I'm going to be out of town for about 10 days starting late next week. Taking a trip to Northern Italy, or, as I like to think of it, 'visiting some cities that I might recognize from Assassin's Creed'. I'll be in Pisa, Cinque Terra, Luca (sp?), Bologne (maybe), Florence and maybe some other places (but not Venice). Not sure. But I do know I'll be in Pisa and Florence. So that's something. I also know it'll be hot. Details and travel blog entries to follow. And then maybe photos. We'll see.

The Readers Respond, part XI, plus special bonus science comic (for you scientists out there)

2011-08-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Anonymous reader anonymous says about the jam below:
fact: cheese makes everything more delicious

To which I respond: WHY. EEE. ESS. YES.

Resistance is futile. Just embrace it. You know you want to. REPEAT OFFENDER!*

In unrelated news, this comic about science arrived via the intertubes. I know ze Newbs will particularly enjoy it, since he is a scientist and when he takes a break from being a megagenius we occasionally discuss matters of a scientific nature, scientific discoveries, difficulties surrounding research of same, and similar. Or we talk about what douche he is. (It's either highbrow or lowbrow over here, if you hadn't figured that out already.)

*'Repeat offender' is when you listen to a track and then restart that shit again from the beginning. It's not done any more but back in the day, before the proliferation of dance tracks and electronic music and dance radio and cd's and electricity and running water and clean underpants and proper oral hygiene and pretty much everything we take for granted now, DJs would play the same song over and over again in a single set, either back to back or mix it in from different spots. The crowd would go nuts for it. On limited-press vinyl they would literally wear out the record, sometimes in a single night. True story. Is that awesome or what?

Summer Anthems - Summit by Audible

2011-08-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't really heard any instant megajamz so far this summer. Yeah there's been a parade of pretty good Adele remixes but nothing that has a fun, sunrise set flavor. (Not that I would know, since the last time I saw a sunrise set was a good long while ago, but whatever.) Until today, when I heard this. It's unsophisticated catchy fun, and makes me feel like partying. As with most good summer jams it'll be gone before you know it.

I've been load-testing the speakers for a couple days now and recommend you do the same. Some haters will frown on it because it's cheesy. They can eat a slice of shut up.

Track is by Audible, and it's called Summit (original mix). As I type this it's got only 321 youtube 'views'. So you're getting in early.

If you want to go all out you can buy it here: https://www.beatport.com/release/summit-league/389720

NAMASTE, BITCHES

2011-08-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

In my yoga practice I frequently talk with people that are new to yoga and/or say stuff like "I can't do yoga, my flexibility is poor".* (I practice yoga at a gym and also at some local yoga studios. The gym studio tends to draw more new and less committed yogis.) Or they tell me that they feel intimidated because they couldn't do certain poses. Or I notice that during their practice they focus too much on getting into a certain position (hand on ground, arms open, whatever) and compromise the rest of their pose.

The thing is, that's all bullshit that gets in the way of your yoga practice. It's not what yoga is about.

Yoga is not about what you can do. Yoga is about HOW you do what you can.

Your pose will look slightly different from my pose will look slightly different from everyone else's pose. Doesn't matter. What is important is that you find a way to reach your full potential in a safe, healthy way. Don't cheat your way 'deeper' into a pose by pulling other parts of your body out of alignment. It doesn't matter that you can get further into a twist or put your hand on the ground if your hips / knees / shoulders are flailing around. It's not good for your body and it's not good for your yoga practice.

Instead, focus on proper alignment. Build a good foundation and then work within it. That's your yoga. That's everyone's yoga. Good yoga is not a handstand. Good yoga is a strong, well-aligned, fundamentally sound attempt at a handstand. Whether you (or anyone) gets there is icing on the cake, and even if you are practicing your handstands the same principles apply:

You will make real progress towards your full potential in yoga when you let go of what you can do and instead focus on how you do what you can.

Namaste, bitches.

* The concept that you cannot do yoga because you have poor flexibility is so patently ridiculous that I don't know where to start. It's a negative feedback loop of nonsense. It's like saying, 'I can't get exercise because I'm fat.' How do you ever expect to get in shape if you don't exercise? How do you expect to improve flexibility if you don't stretch?

Babysitting

2011-08-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Friends were out of town for the weekend so I got to look after tardcat. The funny thing about tardcat is that although she gets lonely she doesn't want you to actually touch her. Instead she just wants to be in the same room as you and maybe, if you're lucky, she will sit by you or rub her face on your hand. Do NOT dare pet her or she will get uncomfortable and leave. You can sometimes scratch her neck if she's in the mood.

Like many cats she eschews her water bowl and drinks direct from the tap or from a freshly filled cup. Her preferred technique is to stick her paw in the water and then lick it off. It's not very efficient but tardcat has all kinds of weird behaviors. Like when she gets stuck on the roof and lays down in protest.

Another classic tardcat behavior is 'killing' birds that accidentally fly into the sliding glass door. She can't take them down on her own. But if they're sufficiently dazed and confused by the impact then she can sometimes get one. If they're dead already and still warm she brings them into the house, just like a normal cat. It's kind of gross. This habit led to the following exchange during a recent visit:

Me: Is that a dead bird?
Monica: No. It's a cat toy that looks like a bird.
Me: You sure?
Monica: Yesssss. Stella (Ed: actual cat name) never catches anything.
Me: (looks closely) Why is there blood coming out of it then?
Monica: What??? Ewwww...

I love pets.

Hells yeah

2011-08-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

I might have to set the DVR. Purely for informational purposes.

Thundercats promo video:

That's pretty good I guess

2011-07-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Neymar got a lot of press for his haircut and his play during the Copa America. Both of them were rather poor. When we saw his coiffure for the first time the best response was from Monica, who said, "Oh. My gosh. Look at ME, bitches!" I laughed, because his haircut is very Look at Me, Bitches.

He did do this in a league game though. And if I could do that then I'd probably get an obnoxious haircut too. I'd get an obnoxious haircut if I could even imagine doing that. In a video game.

Back to back Sesame Street rap covers: Because that's what the world needs

2011-07-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

I think I featured this on the blog before, but I couldn't find it. (I didn't look very hard.)

So here (again?) are Bert and Ernie, doing what they do.

If I made a Sesame Street / Girl Talk mashup I think the universe would collapse under the weight of the awesome.

EDIT: Wanted to point out that the green dude @ 1:01 in the video is dancing pretty much exactly like I do when I'm at a Girl Talk show. Coincidence? I think not.

"Se-same street?"

2011-07-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

[It may be that some of you don't remember a muppet trying to pronounce Sesame Street as "se-same street" over and over again. I promise it was funny.]

This mashup of the beastie boys and sesame street is my second favorite muppet video mashup ever. The Cookie Monster is an inspired choice.

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

Well played, sandwich guy. Well played.

2011-07-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

The backyard (seriously)

I get sandwiches at the local grocery on occasion. For lunch. The deli made sandwiches are really hit or miss. Too many variables to list them all, but the two big ones are the quality of the ingredients and the person who puts it together.

The ingredients are all over the map. Sometimes the bread is stale (sometimes not), sometimes the lettuce is crisp and sometimes less so, and even the turkey depends on the mood of the assembler. Some days you get the boring bland stuff, some days you get the fancy premium pepper Boar's Head turkey cold cut.

There is one guy that does a consistently superior job, but he's not always there. So you take your chances.

I mention all this BS (that's backstory, thanks very much) because today I filled out my sandwich form as per usual but my order was misread and inverted, so my regular options were omitted, and my regular omissions were included. Hello turkey with mustard and tomatoes and pepperoncinis (I always get those though so who knows what the guy was looking at). As it turns out, the sandwich was excellent. Tomatoes were surprisingly delicious and I didn't mind that it was missing lettuce and onions. Nicely done, sir.

Note: Photo has nothing to do with my lunch. It's just a nice picture of the koi pond that I took with the crap camera on my cellphone. It's been hot here and I'm not sure if the fish like it but the plants seem to love it.

Imitation, flattery, and theft (yeah I stole this)

2011-07-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Irrelevant Demotivational pilfered direct from Badass of the Week

Confession time: I've been sitting on one of my favorite websites for a while now, waiting for the perfect moment to share it with you, the public. As it happens there is no perfect moment. And it's possible that many of you have already heard of it.

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/

Today is Friday, and that means that at some point today there will be an updated Badass of the Week.

I've been working through the BotW entries for a while now and they really don't ever get old. I find that they are best savored one or two at a time, because there's only so much facepunching, sackbusting badassery that the human mind can take before you start to desensitize, and that's not cool. None of the epic awesome that is Badass of the Week should be anything but epic and awesome.

The language from BotW can best be described as colorful, and as such isn't strictly SFW. (There are f-bombs, is what I'm saying.) But it's not unsophisticated, and fans of comic books (check), video games (check), history (check), esp. combat history (check), mythology (check), role playing games like D&D (check), and people/things that are awesome (check, and check) will enjoy the hell out of it.

My favorite recent paragraph (and there are many from which to choose) is from the entry on Buzz Aldrin. I'm well familiar with the history and hagiography of Aldrin, since he features in two excellent books: The Right Stuff and, more recently, Rocket Men (second book highly recommended). Anyway, here's my favorite extract from his bio on my new favorite website:

--------------
OK. Now this is the United States, and here in America you are free to believe whatever crazy ridiculous nonsense you want to believe. In fact, guys like Buzz Aldrin have fought wars to defend our right to say whatever the hell we want to say whenever we want to say it, no matter how much it makes us look like complete idiots/toolsheds/jackasses. But when you go up to a man, especially a hardass like Buzz Aldrin, look him in the eyes, and call him a "liar, a thief, and a coward" to his face, you also have the right to receive what's rightfully coming to you. And in this case, what's coming to you is a fucking punch in the mouth.

Buzz took one look at this guy, said nothing, and coldcocked that douche in the chops with a head-shatteringly badass face-punch that left him staggered and dazed. I'm not entirely sure what happened afterwards, but my guess is that the cops showed up, took one look at Buzz Aldrin, and then maced the shit out of the conspiracy theorist with a bunch of crazy tear gas pepper spray stuff and arrested him for violating every conceivable statute relating to "Criminal Dumbassery".
-------------

I emailed my cousin to suggest that he incorporate the BotW site content into his kids bedtime reading. The oldest is around 6 so he might be a little young for it. I'm hoping he set it aside for the future, because they are going to love it.

Now hear this!: 99% invisible

2011-07-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

We love us some good design over here on GJAW, and we also have, umm, *views* about the health care system in this country.

In any case, here's an interesting 10 minute listen on how bloated inefficiency in health care can be redirected via good design and actually improve services AND cut costs. Weird, I know.

Despite what many Republicans would have you believe, one of the problems with government is not that they provide essential services. It's that they provide essential services inefficiently. It would be nice to see this type of efficiency injected into your local DMV office. It will never happen, but it would be nice.

99% Invisible-30- The Blue Yarn by Roman Mars

If you're of a mind you can review the 99% invisible blog.

Insert your own soundtrack

2011-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Normally you'd expect something from OK GO, but the sound of all the stuff clicking and snapping it's way around is pretty cool too.

With a special nod to my friend Scotley, who enjoys contraptions.

Yeah that looks about right

2011-07-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Got a new motorcycle helmet. Nothing wrong with the old helmet. But I wanted a new one, so I could switch it up now and again. Some days you want to rep the union jack, some days you want to rep Colin Edwards. Either way, really. It's pretty cool though.

In other news, the roommate got a new Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE for the garage. (Apparently It's so extreme that the 'e' couldn't handle it and bailed.) It will make all the exercise he's not getting a lot more convenient, if a bit pricey. He mentioned to me that he had a hard time getting to the gym because he wanted to get home to the dog. I said that the dog didn't seem to be an issue when he went to his girlfriend's house. So I'm skeptical, but whatever. He probably thinks motorcycles are silly. EVEN THOUGH THEY TOTALLY AREN'T. pffffffft.

The Harry Potter movie comes out today. I opted against the midnight showing but I'll make sure to get current early next week after the crowds thin out a little.

Now I must buy a pair of k-swiss shoes: Kenny F. Powers, MFCEO

2011-07-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

Patrick Willis plays for my sort of semi-favorite team. If that's not reason enough, someone at k-swiss corporate actually greenlit this project. And paid people to make it. So, so rad.

"Now that K-Swiss is bigger than television and/or drugs, everybody's trying to get up in my f*cking slacks."

FYI: The language is about as far away from work-safe as possible. And also awesome.

Happy News

2011-07-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Rob, Kimberly, and daughter (from prev. marriage) Jordan

Went to a wedding a couple weeks ago. It takes me about that long to get my act together for these reports but whatever.

It was a lovely wedding, and I had a superb time. My friend Rob is about 10 years older than I am and he's been an inspiration to me in a lot of ways. He's one of those people that never has an unkind word to say about anyone, and he does it in such a way that I didn't notice until someone pointed it out. He just navigates his way through life being one of the nicest guys around. He's so relentlessly positive that I had a hard time taking him seriously at first, which probably says a lot more about my own shortcomings than I'd like to admit.

In the fitness world he's a name brand: he's got his own line of fitness and yoga videos, sponsored by Gatorade, travels around empowering people, encourages them to reach their full potential. If that all sounds corny and cheesy then I don't know what to tell you, except that sometimes corny and cheesy things are awesome.

Rob and Kimberly asked that we make a donation in lieu of a gift, so I made my donation to karting2live, an organization that works to empower people that have been injured in motorcycle crashes.

Thanks for reading.

Science is good for you: Wash your hands

2011-07-06T12:38:00.001-07:00

Wash your hands, but don't bother with 'antibacterial' soaps unless you're scrubbing in for surgery or similar.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=scientists-discover-that-antimicrob-2011-07-05

Kick out the Jamz

2011-07-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

Summer weather = summer anthems.
If you're not feeling this then you may need to turn it up a little louder.

I spent my Cuatro de Julio paddleboarding in Crystal Cove. It seemed like a better deal than a hangover. "Paddleboarding" might be giving it some credit. I mostly tried not to fall in while I was looking at the fish, leopard sharks, skates and stingrays. Ocean paddling is a bit more difficult than an afternoon cruise around Newport Harbor. Good times.

Speaking of making good choices on my favorite summer holiday, one acquaintance of mine was arrested for illegal fireworks. I'm not sure how much trouble he's in but I hope he got rid of the stuff his pyrotechnician neighbor gave him before he got caught. Cops tend to frown on unlicensed possession of high explosives. They tend to frown even further when you light them off in places where all fireworks are expressly illegal, like Newport Beach, CA. They're funny that way.

Turn up the Awesome for America

2011-07-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

I wrote a long post about education spending and defense spending and stupidity and a bunch of other stuff that makes me write long blog posts but it was just too much Bad News. Bad News isn't good for traffic and no one reads that stuff anyway so I'm going to bury it between some other posts about awesome shit that is awesome and if you want to read it later you can.

So here's a link to a recipe for a delicious cocktail:

http://www.slate.com/id/2298202/pagenum/all/

For example, here's the instructions on Ice:
Thirty pounds of party ice is not too much. Some will melt. Some will be used with the excess of mixers listed below to concoct nonalcoholic drinks for children, designated drivers, and persons treating chlamydia with antibiotics. Some will be placed in sandwich bags and applied to areas of injury.

I'm thinking of putting it together at some point this weekend.

I write the long posts mostly because people say all kinds of stupid shit and although none of that stuff will change anyone's mind it's nice to have in your back pocket when someone says something ridiculous, as when my co-worker pointed out the divine providence of the Omaha beach landing in WWII in the break room the other day. He didn't mention what God was doing while Hitler's SS was gassing/starving/burning/shooting 6+ million Jews. I'm sure there was a really good theological explanation. Actually I'm sure there wasn't, but that didn't shake his firm belief. The whole thing was depressing and weird.

Anyway, the point is that it's fourth of July weekend so I hope you are having a fine old time celebrating the birthday of the world's greatest nation.

The world I live in

2011-06-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Baby Girl is a big reader but it wears her out

Baby Girl and I hung out on Saturday. I had to attend a wedding on Saturday night and needed to have a lie down before I got dressed and cut some rug.

Anyway, Baby Girl felt like maybe she could also use some quiet time, so this was my view on the couch. Love that dog.

In unrelated news, my friend the Peez sent me the following text today (this is verbatim):

I just had to take a huge crap and my zipper got stuck on my suit pants- so I couldn't pull them down. Problems.

Can't say I've been there, but it sounds distressing. Luckily he has been working out a lot, dropped a couple ell bees lately, and was able to shimmy out of his slacks before any Unpleasantness. Aren't you glad we talked about it? Yeah me too.

Cookie break

2011-06-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Somehow this eluded me.
Big thanks to Sonz for the tip, and Sweet Katie for enjoying this almost as much as I do.

PS. I love cookies.

Beer shopping

2011-06-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Party Cat is checking beer temp

Big party on 2nd July at friend Jeff's house. He was nice enough to throw a party so I said I'd buy the beer. Had to order a keg and wasn't sure which type of beer to get so I consulted the Oracle of the Intertubes and Party Cat seems to indicate that Miller Lite is the first choice, followed by PBR, and maybe Leffe (a personal favorite) if you want to go upscale. Leffe is a bit heavy for beer pong and PBR only tastes good if you're drinking it in Long Beach or at Thanksgiving dinner so: Miller Lite it is.

Note that Party Cat isn't actually my cat. I live with a dog right now, and she's more the bookish type. (Pictures to follow.)

Four wheels is two too many (unless it's two bikes)

2011-06-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Note: I said 'two too', not 'tutu'.

After hitting the road ride spin classes on the regular for the past several months I've gotten good enough at turning the pedals over that my friends and instructor are trying to get me on a road bike. There's a lot of crossover between motorcycling and cycling, so I'm tempted to try it. (The fat kid was a serious mountain bike rider through high-school, after which there were too many distractions.)

My power to weight ratio is above average (not least of which because I have thighs that would be the envy of a speed skater or a Virginia ham). That helps on the flat, but it's not helpful going uphill, an issue compounded by the fact that, unlike many serious cyclists, my upper body doesn't look like I'm malnourished. Stamina is decent, at least for the first 20 miles. You care.

Anyway, the problem with trying to ride a real bike is that a spin bike is not, you know, a real bike. I am reminded of an expression that rowers use when someone pulls a superhuman time on the erg machine: "Ergs don't float". And spin bikes don't roll. Hence the skepticism. In spite of all that my roommate is the same size as me and he's got a road bike just collecting dust in the garage, so I figure I'll take it out for a trip around the hood some time in the next couple weeks. I'll let you know how badly I flail.

The following is lifted straight from this blog: http://surlybikes.com/blog/some_answers_to_just_about_any_bike_forum_post_ive_ever_read/ and I liked it. So here you go.

Tips:
If you think your bike looks good, it does.

If you like the way your bike rides, it’s an awesome bike.

You don’t need to spend a million dollars to have a great bike, but if you do spend a million dollars and know what you want you’ll probably also have a great bike.

Yes, you can tour on your bike – whatever it is.

Yes, you can race on your bike – whatever it is.

Yes, you can commute on your bike – whatever it is.

26” wheels or 29” or 650b or 700c or 24” or 20” or whatever – yes, that wheel size is rad and you’ll probably get where you’re going.

Disc brakes, cantis, v-brakes, and road calipers all do a great job of stopping a bike when they’re working and adjusted.

No paint job makes everyone happy.

Yes, you can put a rack on that. Get some p-clamps if there are no mounts.

Steel is a great material for making bike frames - so is aluminum, carbon fiber, and titanium.

You can have your saddle at whatever angle makes you happy.

Your handlebars can be lower than your saddle, even with your saddle, or higher than your saddle. Whichever way you like it is right.

Being shuttled up a downhill run does not make you a weak person, nor does choosing not to fly off of a 10 foot drop.

Bike frames made overseas can be super cool. Bike frames made in the USA can be super cool.

Hey, tattooed and pierced long shorts wearin flat brim hat red bull drinkin white Oakley sportin rad person on your full suspension big hit bike – nice work out there.

Hey, little round glasses pocket protector collared shirt skid lid rear view mirror sandal wearing schwalbe marathon running pletscher two-leg kickstand tourist – good job.

Hey, shaved leg skinny as hell super duper tan line hear rate monitor checking power tap train in the basement all winter super loud lycra kit million dollar wheels racer – keep it up.

The more you ride your bike, the less your ass will hurt.

The following short answers are good answers, but not the only ones for the question asked – 29”, Brooks, lugged, disc brake, steel, Campagnolo, helmet, custom, Rohloff, NJS, carbon, 31.8, clipless, porteur.

No bike does everything perfectly. In fact, no bike does anything until someone gets on it to ride.

Sometimes, recumbent bikes are ok.

Your bikeshop is not trying to screw you. They’re trying to stay open.

Buying things off of the internet is great, except when it sucks.

Some people know more about bikes than you do. Other people know less.

Maybe the person you waved at while you were out riding didn’t see you wave at them.

It sucks to be harassed by assholes in cars while you’re on a bike. It also sucks to drive behind assholes on bikes.

Did you build that yourself? Awesome. Did you buy that? Cool.

Wheelies are the best trick ever invented. That’s just a fact.

Which is better, riding long miles, or hanging out under a bridge doing tricks? Yes.

Yes, you can break your collar bone riding a bike like that.

Stopping at stop signs is probably a good idea.

Driving with your bikes on top of your car to get to a dirt trail isn’t ideal, but for most people it’s necessary.

If your bike has couplers, or if you have a spendy bike case, or if you pay a shop to pack your bike, or if you have a folding bike, shipping a bike is still a pain in the ass for everyone involved.

That dent in your frame is probably ok, but maybe it’s not. You should get it looked at.

Touch up paint always looks like shit. Often it looks worse than the scratch.

A pristine bike free of dirt, scratches, and wear marks makes me sort of sad.

A bike that’s been chained to the same tree for three years caked with rust and missing parts makes me sad too.

Bikes purchased at Wal-mart, Target, Costco, or K-mart are generally not the best bang for your buck.

Toe overlap is not the end of the world, unless you crash and die – then it is.

Sometimes parts break. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes it’s your fault.

Yes, you can buy a bike without riding it first. It would be nice to ride it first, but it’s not a deal breaker not to.

Ownership of a truing stand does not a wheel builder make.

32 spokes, 48 spokes, 24 spokes, three spokes? Sure.

Single speed bikes are rad. Bikes with derailleurs and cassettes are sexy. Belt drive internal gear bikes work great too.

Columbus, TruTemper, Reynolds, Ishiwata, or no brand? I’d ride it.

Tubeless tires are pretty cool. So are tubes.

The moral of RAGBRAI is that families and drunken boobs can have fun on the same route, just maybe at different times of day.

Riding by yourself kicks ass. You might also try riding with a group.

Really fast people are frustrating, but they make you faster. When you get faster, you might frustrate someone else.

Stopping can be as much fun as riding.

Lots of people worked their asses off to build whatever you’re riding on. You should thank them.

More football!

2011-06-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

I know that about half the readership (that's ~5 of you) aren't terribly interested in the football stories. I encourage you to come back tomorrow for a post on ridiculous wars on ideas/concepts. If you just want some good old-fashioned funny then give it an extra day.

The NYT gives FIFA crony Jack Warner the benefit of an investigative report. As anyone who even kind of follows international football already knows, FIFA is corrupt. In evidence I submit: Qatar and the 2022 world cup.

And also this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/sports/soccer/jack-warner-fifa-and-concacaf-power-broker-resigns.html?_r=1&src=recg&pagewanted=all

In other news Clint Dempsey decided to show up for the game against Jamaica. He played very well, scored a goal and was generally threatening throughout the game. He made a lot of noise about his detractors after the game; not sure why. If you're a disgrace to the USMNT jersey then you can expect to hear about it. On the other hand, if you play well, then you should expect to hear about that too. Got to take the rough with the smooth, homie.

I think the final is this weekend? Can't remember. Check your local listings.

I enjoy an econ lesson as much as the next econ-loving non-economist

2011-06-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Robert Reich gives you a quick summary on the current economic situation. Here's a hint: it's not good.

How did GW and his ilk convince people the middle class to vote against their own interests? Two ways:

1. As John Updike pointed out, there are no poor Americans, everyone thinks they are 'down and out millionaires'.
2. The GOP aligned itself as the party of religious piety, enabling them to capture large numbers of voters whose middle-class interests they promptly ignored.

Which is not to say that the Democratic party is any great shakes at this point. The major parties are two sides of the same coin. But the hypocrisy of the GOP (pro-business) is more blatantly ridiculous than the lazy corruption of the Democrats (pro-union) because the GOP tries to sell themselves as folksy. Just admit you're the Kochtopus and get on with it.

In summary: people are stupid.

My kind of flight attendant

2011-06-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Loved this video way too much.

(Special shout-out to my football-loving readers.)

True story: John Spencer probably has more game than some of his current players.

Did anyone watch the USA vs. Guadeloupe (sp?) game earlier this week? The only goal that the mighty USA scored against that lowly Guadelope-ians was a very nice strike from Jozy "I like to take most of the game off" Altidore.

Altidore is mostly famous for being just good enough to remind me of how bad he is.

Clint Dempsey, easily the US best player besides Landycakes, decided to pout and shart his way through the entire 90+ minutes. The late missed opportunity he had cleared off the line? I could have finished that. I usually don't make those kinds of statements because I think it diminishes how difficult it actually is to play the game. But if you watch it I think you'll agree: it was a sharting. I watched it again and I agree that Dempsey is a showboating jackass, and that sort of thing only works well when delivering a result. Which he didn't.

Bob Bradley needs to be replaced. I didn't think his contract should have been renewed after the last world cup and hasn't done anything to dissuade me from that opinion since then. You care.

Can we get John Spencer in the job? It would be good if only to see what he said to Dempsey after that missed goal opportunity.

I've been there

2011-06-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

So good I can't stand it.

This has been kicking around the interwebs for a while but it's the first I've seen of it. shirt.woot is it's own subculture. I used to stop by woot every day and see what they had on offer but I've lost interest. There's only so much stuff I can look at (and don't have any use for). I bought a blender from there that is still in its original box. That was at maybe 2.5 years ago. To be fair I moved in with a guy that already had a fancy blender and thus no use for mine. But I didn't have much use for my fancy blender either before I got there. I am 100% sure it would make epic milkshakes if given the opportunity, so I'm going to keep it for a while longer.

Long-time readers know how I feel about Cookie Monster. Cookie is definitely good enough for me, is what I'm saying.

Trash talk knows no boundaries

2011-06-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

This guy's English is better than my German.
I laughed.

Full set of photos from track day

2011-06-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Because racebike

I didn't post the link to the full set of photos. I did email them, but in the event you aren't on the email list and can't get enough motorcycle...

// formatting issues //

... here you go: https://picasaweb.google.com/casey.farley/FontanaInfieldTrackDay7June2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJmYz7e0hIm0ZQ&feat=directlink

Working late

2011-06-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

I had to work late for that other thing but here's a superb Iron & Wine song.

Not a big fan of the image they used for the video but the sound quality is the best available on the internet. The song appears on the record Around the Well, which is a collection of B-sides and outtakes. No idea why this didn't make it to a regular record.
Anyway, this is one of my favorites. If/when I post video of me riding a motorcycle I'll score it with engine noise or, if that's not available, this. Because that would be funny.

Pwning some n00bs

2011-06-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Vroom

Hit the track again this week. That's yours truly showing another n00b how to get somewhere on a motorcycle.

Body position makes a difference; I can go faster in the corner because hanging off enables the bike to stand up straighter, increasing the contact patch, and also enabling me to get on the throttle sooner. You care.

Not pictured: the mustache I've been working on. It's gotten kind of annoying, although it is awesome in a 70s sort of way. I went with the horseshoe, which I realized my father used to favor back in the day. (It's a distant memory, and as such a bit unreliable, but I think it's accurate.) It definitely makes me look like a cracker. Or the guy from Reno 911. Because I wear aviators all the time. It all looks a more than a bit ridiculous, which is the point. Still not sure if I'll make it to the 4th of July. That is serious commitment.

Food for thought

2011-06-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

I'll have some actual words about this tomorrow. Right now you can enjoy the link direct: http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/06/the-armstrong-era/

Didn't see that coming

2011-06-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

(Apologies for celcam image quality - the flower is purple, I promise)

Long-time readers will remember when my roommate was cleaning up the dog poop and threw up in the koi pond. Never a dull moment around my house. Anyway, the fish didn't seem to mind but during the winter all the plants in the pond that aren't weeds pretty much give up. All the lilies disappear and you wonder if they're ever going to come back. When the roommate last cleaned out the pond he left one potted plant completely submerged with only a feeble stalk to even indicate that there may have, at one time in the distant past, been a plant there.

So imagine my surprise this past weekend when the feeble stalk grew into several little lily pads and an actual flower (!!). So much beauty. Awwww...

In unrelated news I'm trying to grow a mustache for my friend's fourth of July party. I'm committed to the concept but good lord it's annoying and itchy to have all this fur on my face. Right now I'm rocking a feeble beard. If/when the 'stache parts fill in a little I'll trim the beard section down and see how it looks. So far it's looking decidedly entry-level. I'm not sure the finished product will be strong enough for Independence Day, or even if I will be able to see it all the way through. You care.

I don't even eat bacon

2011-05-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I thought this was so funny, but I did. So here we are.

It was feeding on a tumblr site that I like so no idea about where it originally came from. That's a shame, because whoever created it deserves full credit.

SSSS

Went hiking over the weekend. 9 miles over hill and dale. In some old trainers. Not a great idea; I retired (read: threw away) the shoes and socks when we got back to the car. Next time I will wear hiking boots, if for no other reason than they won't get so dirty. Saw a garter snake on the trail. Actually almost stepped on him, which would have sucked for both of us. I would have felt awful if I hurt the guy.

Special shout-out to higher education: REPOST!

2011-05-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is dedicated to my peeps with higher-level degrees.

Keep pushing.

The Illustrated Guide to a PhD

Courtesy Matt Might.

It's grad season, so I am reposting this. Everything old is new again!

Sometimes the truth doesn't hurt

2011-05-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get kinda lonely when I'm single, wish I had someone to spend time with. But only sometimes, because then I notice that this is pretty much my life, more or less, except you can replace 'went to rock concerts' with 'went to gym every day'.

Credit where credit's due: First saw this on someecards, but the original lives here: http://www.carlosnaude.com/NAUDE/Inspirational_Graphic_Design.html

Someecards take on it was pretty good. They describe it as written by somebody who has forgotten what it's like to be single. I can't say being single is great all the time, but it does have its pluses. Depends on your priorities. And also on whether or not you marry a girl that gets rid of your favorite jeans. (Who would do that?)

I will not be reconstructed

2011-05-25T21:23:00.001-07:00

I know some most of you aren't much into the motorbike stuff, so here then (as promised) is my favorite Pogues song. You might not care for that either but whatever.

Lyrics might be a bit tough to follow, so here they are:

Seen the carnival at Rome
Had the women I had the booze
All I can remember now
Is little kids without no shoes
So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit
Now I'm walking on the sunnyside of the street

Stepped over bodies in Bombay
Tried to make it to the U.S.A.
Ended up in Nepal
Up on the roof with nothing at all
And I knew that day
I was going to stay
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street

Been in a palace, been in a jail
I just don't want to be reborn a snail
Just want to spend eternity
Right where I am, on the sunnyside of the street

As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore
I know I'm better than before
I will not be reconstructed
Just wanna stay right here
On the sunnyside of the street