From the Top Of The Hill

YIKES!

2007-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have no shame. Yes, this was me circa 1992. No, I will never grow my hair this long again.

Easy Reader Jive

2006-10-30T21:07:00.000-08:00

Morgan Freeman (a.k.a. Easy Reader) getting his groove on. Does anybody else remember the Electric Company?

2006-10-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

Change is in the air.

2006-10-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Just a heads-up for anyone who takes the time to view my blog, I will be abandoning fixedandsingle in the near future. I started this blog as a way for friends and family to check in on my travels and adventures when I moved to California. Well, I'm no longer in California and traveling quite a bit less so I thought it would be good to bring this chapter of my life to a close.

Don't be disappointed, because I'm going to continue blogging at a new location. I'll be posting the new address once I have everything ready.

Thanks for taking the time to check this humble blog out.

-tony

Things that make you go "hmmm..."

2006-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Caught this taking place behind the drugstore across the street from the bike shop. At first I hoped they were making a pick up and not dropping off material. But then I realized both situations are pretty bad.

Johnny Mohawk Spies Beer, Tony Helps Him Investigate

2006-10-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

On a whim I went up to Minneapolis this last weekend to visit my good friend Johnny Mohawk. I've known him for about four years or so. We worked together at Cycle Works, and then lived together for a while at the Dirtbag Mansion. He moved up to Minneapolis last spring to go to work for Quality Bicycle Products, a large bike parts distributor. We had a lot of fun drinking beers and riding bikes all over the Twin Cities and hanging out with some of his friends and co-workers from "The Q". People who work at Quality call it The Q, a fact that never ceased to illicit a chuckle from me. Why is this so funny? Well in Lincoln we have a well known gay bar which is called The Q.

2006-10-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Johnny and some friends hanging outside a bar/bowling alley just a few blocks north of where Johnny lives.

2006-10-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

The Minnehaha Falls. The falls are 53 feet high and are in the middle of Minneapolis. John and I took a very relaxing ride past a bunch of the lakes in the city to go take a look at the falls.

2006-10-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

A pretty view of the creek just a bit downstream from the falls.

2006-10-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

We stopped by Eric Noren's workshop, he's a co-worker of John's at "the Q" and his own custom bike company, Peacock Groove. Here we see a close up of one of their headbadges.

2006-10-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, I want to show the world that Minneapolis has boring, ugly things too. Of course, I could just be fooling you and really just went and took a picture of some grain silos near my home.

Vomitron's Birthday

2006-10-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Jerod celebrated his birthday last week at O'Rourke's. A small group of us gathered to celebrate. Here we see Jerod react to finding out I didn't get him a damn thing for his birthday. I later bought him a beer and he seemed all right with it.

2006-10-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

Five bearded men gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Jerod's birth and how to take over the world. BuWaHaHa!!!

2006-10-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Holly and Zach showing exactly why they are the reigning "Cutest Couple In the World"

Hole-y Goodness

2006-10-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

My friend Brent Hermes acquired a pretty cool 1970's race bike. It's dressed in some very early Dura Ace components, including this crank made from a very rare and possibly non-existent metal called drillium. Funny, 30 years later and modern crank arms don't feel any lighter. When are people going to start drilling out carbon fiber? There's probably some idiot who's doing it already.

Bob's Baby Blue Bike

2006-10-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Bob Downey, all around swell guy, likes to own really awesome bikes. He's got a stable of Trek road bikes that is probably only outdone by the likes of mister "7" himself, Lance Armstrong. Well, old Bob decided he wanted to mix it up on the dirt and ordered up a Yeti Arc through the shop. This bike frame might be responsible for more XC wins than any other. It certainly set the bar for what a fast, cross-country hardtail should feel and handle like. I remember drooling over the pages of Colorado Cyclist in the early-mid Nineties, longing for one of these frames. Well, I never got one, but I did get to build up Bob's. I only got to ride it up and down the Cycle Work's back alley, but it felt awesome. Funny thing though, where my 22-year-old self would've LOVED to own this frame, my 32-year-old self found it a bit stiff and harsh. Is it an awesome bike? Heck, yeah! Is it still my dream bike? Nope, 'cuz Mary bars would just look funny on it and my back hurts just lookin' at those swoopy-stays. My tastes have changed from Porsche performance to Cadillac cush.

Peach Street Lords Of Balance - Unite!

2006-09-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

My roommate Tim displays the PSLOB weapon of choice, the 5-foot-tall giraffe unicycle. This vehicle strikes fear into the hearts of all who dare set foot into our territory.

2006-09-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

The blurry photo is appropriate because my first time on the giraffe was shaky at best. I was successful on my first try and rode it down the street and most of the way back.

2006-09-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tim makes it look easy.

Husker green and black?

2006-09-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

My dad took me to a Husker game this last Saturday. Gotta see the team open up a tall-boy can of whup-ass on the Trojans. Ok, not THE Trojans, but the ones from Troy,. Alabama. I guess they were just working out their frustrations from the USC game. It's been a long time since my Dad and I had seen a game together, as you can see we are out of practice and forgot to wear red. As the night went on I put on my bright, yellow jacket which made it very easy for us to spot each other in the crowd.

2006-09-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

The new HuskerVision video board is insanely huge. That whole thing is a video screen, even the side parts with scores, stats and ads. It's over 115 feet wide. I heard that it's currently the 3rd largest video screen in the world. The U. of Texas has the largest, of course. Just how big is it? I was in my car at the corner of 11th and South streets, over 1.5 miles directly south of the stadium and I could clearly watch replays on it. Even more crazy, it's HDTV ready but not yet displaying an HDTV image (they have to buy new cameras) so it will get even clearer.

Beware carbon fiber!

2006-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Carbon fiber is scary. My co-worker and friend Matt Peterson's fork on his road bike broke at the base of the steer-tube. Amazingly, he wasn't hurt. Do forks really need carbon fiber steer tubes? Do you save that much weight? The bike industry is going carbon crazy. You see it everywhere being put in every application possible. Carbon fiber chainrings are a reality! If one of those snap on a climb it could be as bad as a fork snapping. You have to wonder how many catastrophic failures the industry will be seeing in about 3 to 5 years.

Beware re-tread!

2006-09-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Spare tires are scary. A couple of weeks ago I was driving to GI to suprise my mother on her birthday. My car started to vibrate. I got off the interstate to get on a slower moving highway. I inspected my tires. No damage visible. I kept driving, the vibration continued and worsened. BLAMMO!!! Blow-out. Stranded nine miles from GI. Happy Birthday, mom. I'm buying you four new tires for my car. Moral of the story. Don't drive for two months on a spare, even if it is a full-size tire.

State Fair!!!

2006-09-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Kimber and I ventured to the State Fair to take in the sites and sounds. It had been a few years since either of us had attended the fair and we were both excited to eat junk food on a stick and be subjected to a verbal barrage of taunts and sales pitches from carnies on the mid-way and booth vendors in the expo hall. What fun!

One of the first things we saw at the fair was the giant Roberts Dairy cow. If you havent's seen it before, it's quite big and is an attractive, stylized representation of a dairy cow... except for the udders. If you've ever seen one of these cows you've undoubtedly noticed the very veiney udder. I don't get it. It looks gross and the rest of the cow looks cute. I'm not a farm kid, but I can assume cows have veins on their udders, but are they that pronounced? Ewwww.

My main reason for going to the fair was to discover as many types of food-on-a-stick as possible. I wanted to eat as much of this decidedly fair fare as possible, but was limited by a budget (fair food ain't cheap) and gastronomical tastes. For example, here we see a Corn Dog stand. Corn dogs are about as American as you can get. I love cornbread and I like hot dogs, but put them together though, and I gag. I can't explain it. To say the least, I passed on the corn dogs.

This stand claimed to be from Louisiana. Judging by the attendent's accents and lack of dental hygeine I'd assume they were telling the truth. Kimber and I decided to try the shrimp on a stick, passing on the gator "tastes like chicken" meat.

State Fair!! (part 2)

2006-09-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here we see Kimber getting ready to enjoy her shrimp on a stick. Pretty much like a deep-fat fried kabob. Hmmm... I don't recall seeing any Kabab stands at the fair. They use a stick, what's up with those Carnies?

Fried peaches on a stick. Didn't try that one but was told it tasted like peach pie. I'll have to give it a go next year.

I had heard about Cheese on a stick, but wasn't quite sure what that would be like. Kimber and I decided to split one. The breading makes it look like a corndog, but the center is all Velveta-y cheese. Tasted an awful lot like a grilled cheese sandwich. It would've been better if you could choose your cheese variety. "Yes, I'll have the fried brie on a stick with a medium merlot--no ice please."

I'm not familiar with the Husker Indian tribe. Does anyone know where their reservation is located?

When I was in Scotland last summer the locals were bragging about their love of fried foods and that you can get pretty much anything deep-fat fried, including candy bars. I didn't try one but saw them being served in plastic baskets on wax paper and being consumed with utensils. Yeah, well leave it to good ol' American ingenuity to add "THE STICK!"

One vendor was selling Coke-on-a-stick and being parched from all that stick-y food I decided to quench my thirst. Well, what sounded good in theory didn't work so well in execution. All I ended up getting was sticky.

We ended our food-on-a-stick consumption with a pickle-on-a-stick. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery juice and I failed to document it. You'll have to take my word for it, it was tasty.

Cracker!

2006-08-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

My favorite band, Cracker, played in Lincoln at Knickerbocker's last night. Kimber and I went and had a great time. The last time I saw Cracker in Lincoln was in 1998 at Guitars and Cadillacs. That show was horribly promoted and maybe 50 people showed up in a venue that could probably hold 1,000. David Lowery opened that show by saying, "Welcome to Cracker's first, last and only show in Lincoln." Well, a few years later and being cut from Virgin records and they're back. The band's bassist was MIA due to a death in the family, so some songs were played sans bass and David took over 4-string duties on others. They took a few requests. I yelled out one of my favorites, "Been Around the World," a few times. I didn't expect them to play it, but they ended the encore and closed the show with it. I don't know if I influenced them or not, but I was happy to hear it. I also discoverd that cel phones make good tools for recording set-lists during a show.

We've got your crazy, right here.

2006-08-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting things about where I work is that we get customers from all walks of life. On occaision this can be very entertaining, other times very annoying and frustrating. Andrew is one of our "regular" customers. My friend Todd who works at a bike shop in Beverly Hills likes to talk about the crazy people he interacts with there. Well, I'll put Andrew up next to anything Todd can describe and I think he'll hold his own. Andrew can be seen riding around town on a 24" wheel bike from Target. It's the only bike he'll ride. His bike, like most everything he owns, is covered in paint. Layers and layers of paint. He says it makes thing more beautiful. I'm fairly certain the pigments in the paint aren't the only colors Andrew is seeing. He likes to ride the wrong way down streets-into traffic-at night without lights. He wears vinyl track suits all the time, even on the hottest, muggiest days of the year. And he smells like a gas station bathroom with broken plumbing. Some of Andrew's observations about life and the people he meets are quite intriguing, but getting him to stop talking about them and actually leave your store can be very agonizing. Often we end up helping him just to get him on his way so he doesn't scare the other customers. Andrew kinda makes me sad. Here's this guy who wasn't able to deal with his problems or cope in society on a normal level and turned to drugs. Now he doesn't have much of a mind left and exists in the margins of society. I don't know much more about him, I've tried to pry info from him, but that's frustrating, too. As much of a pain he can be, I worry that I'm going to read about him getting smeared on his bike on O Street someday.

Trees' Mini Mean Machine

2006-08-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

This guy, Trees, came into the shop a couple weeks ago. Check out the gear ratio on that bike. I think he just needed some air. He said the bike was great for ridin' dirty.

Ahhh!!! Snakes On A Bike!!!

2006-08-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

2006-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Went up to Ponca State Park to camp this last weekend with my girlfriend Kimber. We had a really good time relaxing and hiking the trails. Lots of beutiful scenery and wildlife to be seen.

2006-08-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

On the trip up to Ponca we followed this truck for at least half an hour. I had a strange hankering for pork.

2006-08-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Kimber and her bestest-pup, Rip.

2006-08-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a spy shot of Iowa's undocumented missle program. Nebraska Governor Heineman is considering it an act of aggression and has deployed the Nebraska Navy to the Missouri river to defend "The Good Life."

2006-08-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

There was an abundance of butterflies of many species to be found through-out Ponca.

2006-08-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Kimber and her part-dog/part-frog pet, Rip.

2006-08-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

The glory of the shower house on Sunday morning.

2006-08-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ash Falls Fossil Bed. If you ever get the chance you should visit this most interesting place. Entire skeletons of bizarre, prehistoric animals unearthed right here in Nebraska. Well worth the drive and $5 admission. You can even take your dog into the Rhino Barn.

2006-08-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

AHHHHH!!! BUGS!!!! The one on the left being held my filthy fingers is a cicada, or more commonly and erroneously called a locust by most Nebraskans. The shell on the right is what the cicada sheds shortly after emerging from the ground. My cousins and I used to hunt for the shells when we were kids and would line them up on our grandparent's kitchen window screen. We'd sometimes get over a hundred shells on the screen in a single summer.

2006-08-08T09:11:00.001-07:00

Photo hunt. Find the bug.

2006-08-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

Good ol' Nebraska ditch weed.

2006-08-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Went to Kimber's friend David's farm somewhere in the boonies near Nebraska City last weekend. It's kinda cool being so far out in the country that all you can hear is the wind and the birds and the cicadas.

2006-08-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of swingin' babes! My cousin Tiffiny's two adorable baby girls Abby and Maddy having a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Up-Skirt Pervert

2006-08-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

J-Rod taking a gander at some local community art.

When bicycle mechanics get bored...

2006-08-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just gotta push that envelope. When the challenge of building a wheel is gone try implementing some sort of handicap. Adding the danger of suffocation will really increase those spoke lacing times!

Holst Family Gathering

2006-08-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

My mother's family recently gathered together for a family dinner in G.I. Had a nice time seeing everyone.

Why me?

2006-08-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hmm... Cowboy hat, check. Weight-lifting belt, check. Body odor, check. Yup, let's go shopping for bicycles!

You can't make this stuff up.

2006-08-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

So, Kabuki happens to be a pretty decent sushi place in Lincoln, at least by mid-west raw fish standards. I just can't help but giggle every time I go because it's located next to a store that sells live bait.

Another pic from Iraq

2006-07-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

My buddy Sam was scouring around Saddam's palace and found this flag stashed in the corner of the TV room. It appears America's favorite despot was a Husker!

Sam's in Baghdad

2006-07-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

I just received a couple of emails and photos from my good friend Sam. He's an officer in the Air Force and is currently in Iraq. He just started his 4th deployment to the area. I believe he's been stationed in Kuwait on his previous trips, but this time he's working in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. He gets to walk around all day with a 9mm strapped to his leg and "drop the kids off at the pool" in gold lined toilets. He said the place is enormous and completely over the top in opulance.

I wish him well and hope for his safe return

Sorry for the lapse - Photo Hunt again!

2006-06-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

This photo hunt should be pretty easy. Sorry for the long absence. Just got busy with other things and work. Ok, I was a bit lazy too. I've updated some photos from my stint working on BRAN this year.

I went on BRAN!!!

2006-06-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, RAGBRAI it ain't. No beer tents. No bands. A fraction of the size. WAY more conservative. But FUN none-the-less! And I must say, Nebraska has far more hills and picturesque countryside than you may think. Granted, there's still a whole heckofa lot of flat, cropland out there too.

Along the way I met some really cool folks who I hung out with in the evenings. The picture here shows Ron, architect and Groove Puppet drummer, along with Gloria, fancy-pants cancer research scientist, enjoying some cool beverages in the evening. I apologize to both of them for the less than flattering photo, but in their defense they did ride 80+miles in 90+ heat and near constant headwinds. I had it relatively easy in the air-conditioned truck.

I worked support for the last half of BRAN. I started in Cambridge, camped in Minden and Geneva and ended in Tecumsah.

Roll Out the Barrel

2006-06-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Stopped in Hastings one day for lunch and to refuel the truck. Saw some bicycles outside a bar called the "Beer Barrel Bar." With a name like that you know you can't go wrong.

Inside I was treated to a decor that was both retro and kitchy without being too campy. It was highlighted by the groovy painting of the large-eyed, crying girl. Story goes it was painted by an unknown student at the college in Hastings. The only detractions were the two walls dedicated to Husker football paintings.

The other photo shows my lunchmates, a group of hard-core partiers--er, I mean a highly respected group represting Nebraska's Air National Guard.

Hot-Lanta

2006-06-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Atlanta, Nebraska. Here we see the classic combination of a tee-pee and the love of all things "Husker." Had the best brat in town here. Atlanta was the site of one of the U.S.'s largest internment prison camps for captured German soldiers. Only one prisoner ever escaped but returned voluntarily.

Gettin' Funk-y on BRAN

2006-06-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

That's right. Funky Town is in Nebraska.

Photo Hunt

2006-05-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

New photo hunt. I'm giving up on trying to find difficult pictures, you're all just too good! Can CVO do it again? Kimber, you're out of this one because we already talked about it. Sorry, babe!

Stop and Smell the Roses

2006-05-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

The house I'm living in has the most incredible yard. Everyday is an explosion of new, blooming flowers. Tulips, daffodils, irises, roses, poppies, magnolias and lots of others I don't know the names of. These are photos I took this morning of some of the flowers in our front yard. Also, there's an old glass lantern hanging on the front porch and I noticed a little birdy sitting in it this morning. On closer inspection I discovered three eggs in a nest.

I owe this man $300 and an apology.

2006-05-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is Rick. He's first and foremost my friend. He's also the greatest co-worker anyone could ask for. He took umbrage at my previous "sales-monkeys" comments and listing Mr.Petersen as my favorite sales guy. I didn't mean to place Matt above Rick, I just place Rick in a different pantheon of Cycle Works employees. He's not just some college kid looking for a cool part-time job, he's working there because he loves bikes and considers everyone at work a friend. I might also add that he's probably the only person at Cycle Works I have yet to see get stressed out or fly off the handle. He's a mentor to us all.

I'm also not entirely convinced that he's not my father. If I wasn't the spitting image of my dad, I'd be asking for a blood test. We're both about the same height. We both love bikes. We have the same unruly mop of helmet hair. If only I had his massive calves.

And don't worry Rick, the final payment for the Karate Monkey is coming.

Tony's Photo Hunt gets trickier...

2006-05-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, the last two photo hunt pictures weren't challenging enough, CVO and Pete H. (hey buddy, who the heck are you? Do I know you?) both got the answers right away. So today we're getting a bit more esoteric, except I won't say exactly to whom. Your only hint is if you live in Lincoln and you check out my blog, I'm fairly certain you've been to this location before.

If somebody gets this right away I'm gonna have to start getting really obscure.

Anything But a Blue Monday

2006-05-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

My good buddy Todd is back visiting the Motherland from La-La Land. He's been making a name for himself as a comedian and writer out there, and not doing too shabby either. He decided to show the locals how it's done at Duffy's Comedy night last Monday. In the parlance of the stand-up comic, he killed it. And in his own words, he then "killed it a little more for good measure."

In the series of photos you see Todd and I shooting our GI gang signs. MWW - Mid West Whities, Boy-yeeeeee! Next you see Todd in the midst of his blood bath. And finally a picture of the beautiful people I have the pleasure of knowing, Anna, EJ and Michelle. Fine folks one and all.

Tractor Jam!

2006-05-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

There was a Sig-Alert Saturday afternoon outside Cycle Works. We had a ten tractor tie-up on The Vine. Delays were up to 30 seconds on the West bound lanes. Traffic slowed by up to 10 seconds on The 27th in both directions. Lincoln traffic updates brought to you on the seven's from the immobile Cycle Works roof-cam.

Somebody from Cali better respond to this one, 'cuz I did it for you.

Tony's Photo Hunt

2006-05-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the next entry. I call it "WAVE OF BABY!" Where in Lincoln is this?

Hey Butch, Mr.Squirrel is still sleeping.

2006-05-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

photo credit: Vomitron

Ladies and Gents, I present to you: VOMITRON!

2006-05-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

My good friend and co-worker Jerod apparently consumed the bottle marked, "Drink Me."

Uhh... Butch, I don't think it's sleeping.

2006-05-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Found this dead tree rat off the side of the alley behind Cycle Works. I have somewhat of a morbid fascination with taking pictures of dead animals. I do prefer those that have died of natural causes to animals that have been squished by cars. I think this poor fella might have been clipped by a car in the alley and crawled off the road and died. He's only somewhat flat and no innards were visible.

I used to hate this kid.

2006-05-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

When Matt Petersen started working at Cycle Works a few years ago, I couldn't stand him. First off, he was a sales-monkey. For those who are unfamiliar with the delicate social structure of the typical bike shop, the salesman is the cobra to the mechanic's mongoose. Riki-Tiki-Tavi.

This kid was arrogant and said some really, really stupid things. But a strange thing occurred while I took my California sabbatical, Matt got cool. My friends back at the shop told me how he had become the funniest guy there. I didn't believe them. But now that I've been back I've discovered that he is the coolest sales-monkey. Now that Zach is back at the Works, he has regained his rightful title of "Funniest Mo-Fo."

This picture is of Matt on his 22nd birthday bar crawl from last Thursday. This was pretty early in the evening and he was already well into it. Zach and I left Matt to celebrate with his classmates and Zach proceeded to get me drunker than I've been in a long time. If you ever go drinking with Zach, take note that you do so at your own risk.

New Game

2006-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

This object is found somewhere in Lincoln. Anybody know where?

My sweet, new ride

2006-04-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Went back to the hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska this weekend. I'd been looking for a new vehicle and found my dream car. This is how we do 4X4 in G.I.

While driving around town in my slick new sled I spied this marquee outside of a church school.

For those keeping score, I'm from a town called "Grand Island" that's located in a flat, land-locked state. People here think jacked-up, old Camaros are cool, and the church promotes fellatio. Say it once, say it loud, G.I.'s white-trash and we're proud!

For my friends back in L.A.

2006-03-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Just a random ad found on the wall of The Mill, a coffee house in the Haymarket area of Lincoln. THIS is why I moved back.

Alley Bomber Squadron

2006-03-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Went on the Monkey Wrench ride last night. Eleven guys, two campuses, 50 barking dogs, three-fourths of every muddy alley in Lincoln and one Bob's Tavern. Good times. $2.25 for a tall-boy of Old Style is highway robbery though. Oh, could I have gotten a more unflattering photo of these guys?

Pot Hole Swallows Two Cyclists, News at Eleven

2006-03-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

Riding around with my good buddy Butch yesterday and we discovered this unusually deep pot hole down in the Haymarket.

The new digs.

2006-03-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Check out the white-picket fence. How much more Americana can you get? This is where I'm living now with my friend Tim Tharp. Just a couple of swingin' bachelors with a bunch of bikes and beers.

And how 'bout that snow? Man I missed the stuff. People think I'm crazy for missing winter while I was living in the incredibly nice but highly predictable and boring California weather. Give me 2 feet of snow anyday.

God has blessed us with his amazing flourescence

2006-03-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

Driving out of Pueblo, Colorado super early on Tuesday morning I saw a pretty amazing sunrise. It looked like someone had turned on a huge, red spotlight shining straight up into the sky. Either that or a nuclear bomb had wiped out Kansas City.

I Loathe the Eagles.

2006-03-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. I was passing through and couldn't resist the opportunity to live out the lyrics of a song by one of my most hated bands.

Mmm, mmm, mmm. Mark and Michelle.

2006-03-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

On my trip back from my California sojourn I stopped in Scottsdale, AZ to visit my good friend Mark. I met his adorable girlfriend Michelle while there. The highlight had to be eating dinner at the bar where we were excitedly welcomed as "Young People!" We were probably about 25 years younger than the median age in the place.

There's no dinosaurs in Paris, Texas!

2006-03-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by fully admitting that I'm a Dork with a capital "D". Not only am I a fan of Pee-Wee Herman, I was once a member of his fan club and issued my own pair of size 60 whitey-tighties. If you don't know, don't ask. Anyhoo, once upon a time best left forgot, three of my friends and I ventured to Padre Island, Texas for spring break. While our time in Padre (approxiamately five hours) might possibly be the lamest spring break trip ever, our journey was filled with laughs and adventure. On the way back to Nebraska my friend Robb and I lobbied for a side trip to Paris, Texas so we could see the large dinosaurs featured in Pee-Wee Herman's Big Adventure. Our proposal was voted down and we later found out the dinosaurs don't actually reside there.

I recently discovered they are located in Califonia, just west of Palm Springs. What luck, I'd be driving there on my trip back to the mother land. I had to stop. I'm proud to report that they are quite impressive in person. I'm sad to report that the gift shop located in the brontosaurus's belly promotes creationism while also selling science kits.

Call me Ishmael.

2006-03-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Damn sperm whale nearly bit my head off.

Weird.

2006-03-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a strange little observation I've made. When you stand out on the end of the Santa Barbara pier and look straight West, you see... land?!

Special thanks to my spokesmodel, Kristi, for providing pointing emphasis.

I sold the Volvo

2006-03-17T09:46:00.002-08:00

Check out my pimpin' new Lincoln.

Hittin' Hollywood

2006-03-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Parking in a sketchy lot a block off of Hollywood Blvd: $10

Getting denied entrance to some B-List club: Typical

Having your buddy's girlfriend beg to get you in: Funny

Cover Charge: $20

Shitty Draft Beer: $7

Seeing waitresses in lingerie and club sluts wearing even less: Interesting

Being surrounded by a bunch of LA schmucks: Annoying

Cost of reserving two tables so you have somewhere to set your drink: $500 (Two bottles of Skye, one per table, see list)

Giving LA the finger as I see it disappear from my rearview mirror: Priceless

For those keeping track, it was $10 to park the car, $40 to get Dan and myself in the club (Scott got a pass), and $21 for 3 beers. That's more than $70 just to walk in the door and have a beer. Emily's boss paid for the booze for the table. Note the price for a bottle of Malibu. WTF???

Fun With Facial Hair!!!

2006-03-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

It's a little known fact that the Chuck Norris symbiote-beard is a shape shifter. It became bored with its tedious existence of clinging to my face waiting for a fight to break out, so it began evolving.

The return of the evil Fu-Man-Chu? Nothing to fear, just a temporary visage of follicle flaunting. EJ, your burritos are safe.

Hey, right back at 'ya!

Is it just me, or is winking really creepy?

I'm not sure if I was going for Charlie Chaplin or Hitler here. I don't think I'm doing either very well.

EEEWWWW!!! The dreaded Dirty Sanchez!

U - G - L - Y

2006-03-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

You ain't got no alibi! You ugly, you ugly, you uuuh-gleee!

SRAM's new road group, called Force, showed up at the Tour of California. It sounds like it has an interesting shifting mechanism. But man, it is rather uninspired in the looks department. Whatever happened to bike parts, especially road bike parts, being sleek and elegant? Or the artisanship and detail work put into them? But hey, it has carbon fibre! Look at the weave pattern! Groan. And nice plastic-er-composite pulley cage.

Big Trees, Big Balls and not-so-big Grindstones

2006-02-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

I went up to Vancouver, B.C., last week for work. On the way back I took a bit of a side trip to see the Redwoods. You really have no concept of how freakin' big and massive these trees are until you see them in person. Hearing statistics that they are 25 feet in diameter or 360 feet tall really doesn't sink in until you are standing at the base of one, straining your head back just to see the top. It's quite humbling to be dwarfed by these amazing trees.

While driving through the Coastal Redwoods I happened upon a tourist trap complete with a Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox statues. I remember seeing the Paul Bunyon statue in Bimidji, Minnesota when I was a kid, but this one seemed better. This Paul has a hairy chest with REAL hair!

And get a load of the size of Babe's balls. You really have no concept of how freakin' big and massive these balls are until you see them in person. Hearing statistics that they are 2.5 feet in diameter or weigh 360 pounds really doesn't sink in until you are standing under them. straining your head back just to see the top. It's quite humbling to be dwarfed by these amazing balls.
And to continue my visual journey of really big things seen on my trip I'm including what was labled as the "largest grindstone in the world." This item was found near Redding, CA, across the street from a McDonald's. Now, for size comparison you can see a telephone booth behind the stone. There was nothing on or near the stone giving it's dimensions, weight or what it was used for. It did have the marks of something having been honed or sharpened on it though. It's kinda big, but really not that impressive. I just can't but help to think that there has to be larger grindstones in the world.

Me and Johnny T!!! (and some other guys)

2006-02-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Manitou had Answer Camp near Phoenix, AZ. We stayed at the posh Pointe South Mountain Resort. You know it's fancy when they put an "e" at the end of "point."

At the camp the company rolls out future products for customers and then leads them on rides. It's corporate schmoozing with bicycles.

Anyway, John Tomac was there representing Kenda tires and providing a bit of star power for Kenda and Manitou.

Super good guy and still super good on two wheels.

Oh, for those of you who don't know who John Tomac is, he's the Michael Jordon of mountain biking.

Oh yeah, the other guys are Dan and Pete from Manitou's R&D department.

One for the thumb...

2006-02-05T22:53:00.000-08:00

The Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl Extra-Large. They tie the record for Super Bowl wins at 5 with the 49'ers and the Cowboys. All five wins have come in my lifetime. My dad is a Steeler's fan and I've been one too for as long as I can remember. I remember being a little tyke and rooting for "Fwanco Hawis" and Mean Joe Green. But I don't remember them ever winning the big one. I remember "one for the thumb in 81," and them losing that game. Well their thumbs are no longer naked. Way to go boys. The bus tour is finally over. I've been grinning all night long.

200th Post, Sore Shoulders and Rodent Shadows

2006-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

This is my 200th post to my blog. Not too bad considering I started it less than a year ago.

I spent yesterday afternoon washing and waxing the Manitou truck with Clarke. All the waxing combined with sleeping with my arm in a weird position has left my right shoulder all tight and sore. It hurts to pretty much do anything.

Today is Groundhog Day. Ol' Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter. Which here in California means chilly 50 degree mornings and "wear a jacket, it's only 70" afternoons. I'd give my right [insert applicable body part here] for a cold, snowy morning.

Doctor Feelgood...

2006-01-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned To Fix My Own Damn MP3 Player.

First off, let me say, "Screw You, Steve Jobs!"

The man is rich. Really rich. Really filthy, stinking rich. Billionaire rich. He controls Apple, Pixar and now Disney-which includes ABC and ESPN. He invented the MP3 player like Al Gore invented the internet. He doesn't need my money. Yes, iPods are cool looking, but they're expensive, have a horrible battery life and are no longer cool.

There, I said it. The iPod is un-hip.

How can I make such a bold statement? Well, how can something possibly be cool and hip if there are millions upon millions of them in existence and nearly everyone owns one? They're beyond cool, beyond hip, beyond a fad or a trend. They are ubiquitous. The fact that they are sold out of a vending machine like candy bars at my local grocery story proves this. (I'm not making that up!) Apple keeps the iPod in the limelight by introducing a new model every 9 months, making the previous iteration obsolete and forcing uber-consumers into purchasing new ones to maintain their inflated and false sense of "cool."

I really wanted an mp3 player but couldn't afford an iPod (this is really the source of my hatred), so I purchased a Dell Jukebox, or dellPod as Johnny Mohawk calls 'em. It was great, for nearly $150 less than an equivalent iPod I got myself a magical music machine. I don't care if most people think my dellPod is ugly. I love it.

All was good with the world.And then my hard-drive crashed. Just over a year of constant use and wouldn't you know it, it broke just outside of the extended service coverage.

What would I do? Buy the new nano iPod? Pssshhht! Go from 20 gigabytes to 4, are you kidding me?

Buy the video iPod? Yeah, watching matchbook-sized, lo-res TV is really awesome. And so is the price.

No, I refused to bite from the apple that Jobs tempts me with. I took it upon myself to succeed where Dell tech service failed me.

I WILL FIX MY MP3 PLAYER MYSELF IN 5 EASY STEPS!

1. Carefully open the casing of your mp3 player with a metric sledge-hammer. If you can't find one, a small, Phillips screwdriver will work in a pinch. Take apart all the components, maintain confidence that you know what you're doing and that you can re-assemble everything when the time comes. Small electronic gizmos can sense fear--be brave.

2. Remove and set aside the disobedient and malfunctioning hard drive. Give it a good scolding. "Bad hard drive! Go to your room. No supper for you!"

3. Go to eBay to purchase a replacement hard drive. Be very careful to purchase the right one and don't get caught up in the bidding and pay too much. If you paid $130, you got hosed and should have ponied up a little more for a new player. I got mine for $75. Not too shabby.

4. Install the hard drive. Put all the other parts and components back together. If you forgot what went where just do what I did. Cram it all together and keep squishing the halves together until you hear a "click." That means you got it and you should be good to go.

5. Push the power button. IT LIVES! IT LIVES! BUWAAHAHAHAH!!!

Pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for a job well done. DIY kicks ass!

As a bonus, the used hard drive I purchased hadn't been re-formatted and contained the previous owner's music. I got over 5 gigabytes of free music, that's 1,100 songs!!! YIPPEEE!!!

Let's take a gander at the free music on my mp3 player:

Aaron Tippin, Alabama, Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, Kenny Rogers, Sawyer Brown, The Bellamy Brothers, The Statler Brothers, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins and Tracy Lawrence.

uhhhhhoooohhhhhoooww. I don't feel so good. Is this some kind of sick joke? How can one person have so much bad Country music and nothing else? Why do I suddenly not feel so lucky?

Long Lost Brothers?

2006-01-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

So this has been bugging me for some time, has anyone else noticed the facial similarities between the Kool-Aid Man and the Carl's Jr./Hardee's Star?

Four and Four-Fourths

2006-01-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

The little dude in the awesome Sponge Bob jersey is my little brother Alex. If you ask him how old he is he'll tell you he's "four and four-fourths." Tomorrow is his 5th birthday and I thought it would be cool to put him on my blog to let everyone know he's going to be 5. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Giving the Gift of Beard

2006-01-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Little known fact, Chuck Norris's beard really is an alien symbiote that gives him his super-natural strength and rugged good looks. Every whisker from his beard can spawn a new symbiote. I happened to have been infected by one such whisker and now have the power to kill and maim with devastating round-house kicks. Fear the beard!

Tattoo Sleeves, 47 Cents and One Sweet Ride

2006-01-16T18:39:00.001-08:00

I had quite the fun filled weekend. Laura flew out from Nebraska to see me and we packed as many activities into an LA weekend as humanly possible. For those who don't know, Laura is the girl who was kind enough to let me smooch her on New Year's Eve, as photographically documented in my previous post. Lucky me, she let me smooch her some more on this visit.

Dinner and comedy at the Friar's Club, sun and fun (sans the sun) at the beach in Santa Monica, another Midnight Ride through streets of LA, an art/fashion/rock show to celbrate Bike Winter in LA, the Hollywood walk of fame... I'm still recovering.

A few things I've pondered from this weekend:

TATTOO SLEEVES
Tattoos are trendy. You can't deny it. From counter-culture hipsters to middle-aged Harley owners, everyone seems to be getting inked to display their coolness. And while I've often thought about getting one (or more) myself, I've somehow avoided it. I'm more of an individual among my peers for NOT having a tattoo.

It's almost a cliche to see someone sporting a "unique" tattoo. It was around twelve years ago the first time I noticed a woman with a tattoo on her lower back. I thought it was pretty sexy then. Now you're just as likely to see some sort of tattoo creeping up from the back of a pair of low-riders as you are to see the top of a thong. My favorite tattoo of this type belonged to a former girlfriend of a buddy of mine. She had the Nike Swoosh tattoo'd on her lowerback, giving new meaning to the slogan, "Just Do It."

I've noticed more and more people are getting full-coverage tattoos, often the full sleeve. This is when all the skin on your arm is tattoo'd leaving no un-colored skin and giving the appearance of a "sleeve" of tattoos. Since moving to the suburban hell known as Valencia I've noticed many people with these sleeves. People who have spent a lot of money and time and experienced a lot of pain to cultivate an image that differs from their actual lifestyle. Driving a $30,000 suv and living in a $300,000 condo doesn't make you a bad-ass. Carefully coiffed hair and trendy clothes that are pre-aged for a premium price don't make you cool. I'm guessing that most of the people I see with these tattoos have never worked for minimum wage, much less scraped by paycheck to paycheck. Presumptuous on my part, but that's how I see it. These people are posers. And that's probably the real reason why I don't get a tattoo. I know I'm just not "that" cool.

In contrast, I know a guy, Mike, who is the lead singer for the band Ruin the Ending. He's got a bunch of tattoos, but let's look at his life. He's close to my age and moved to LA for the opportunities it provided his band. He slaves as a bike mechanic for what is likely a less-than-modest wage. Until recently he was living in a closet. Seriously, his bedroom was a closet in a bedroom. AND he fronts a rock band. A loud, no excuses, no synthisizers and no pussies rock band. It doesn't irritate me that he has tattoos. I figure he's earned them.

So take note, if you spend your day as a car salesman or a cpa or an IT guy, you probably should think twice before you tat' up.

47 CENTS
While walking the Walk of Fame in Hollywood with Laura we were approached by a scruffy girl of about 20 years of age. She had dredded locks and was wearing dirty clothes and carrying what was probably all of her belongings with her. She said she needed 47 cents and asked if we could help her out. Laura flipped her a couple quarters and as I was handing her fifty more cents I inquired why she needed exactly 47 cents. She stammered a response that she just needed some cash and never mentioned anything specific. A little while later we saw her walking with an equally scruffy looking friend. We overheard the friend ask a stranger for 47 cents. What a hook!

If you think about it, it's perfect. Saying you NEED 47 cents creates the sense that a specific purpose is intended for the money, it isn't just a hand-out. Is it a phone call? A sandwich? A forty-ouncer? Whatever it is, the needy individual is a mere 47 cents away from achieving their monetary goal. And 47 cents isn't much. Less than two quarters. Pocket change.

This had to be one of the best pan-handling queries I've experienced. I commend those two yound ladies. I'm sure they didn't think of it, but they certainly were working it. My only criticism was that they had no response to my question. I figure either lie, tell me you're going to buy a pack of cigarettes, or come clean and just say you're fishing for change.

ONE SWEET RIDE
Laura and I spotted this van on the way home Saturday night. Words really can't describe how crazy and cool it was.

Happy New Year!!!

2006-01-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

I had a great New Year's Eve. I hope everyone else did too!

Happy Holidays!

2005-12-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

It was in the 80's today, the first day of winter, in southern California. People flocked to the beaches to witness the biggest surf in over 20 years. Waves as big as 20 feet high. And the rose pictured above is currently blooming in the back yard of my former residence. It just doesn't feel like Christmas here.

I moved into my temporary housing this last week. My roommates who owned the house I'd been living in sold it a couple weeks ago. I'm currently staying at a friend's condo until some co-workers and I can find a house or apartment of our own to rent. So far I've had to break into both of the places I've resided in California. One night this past summer I rode home on my bike fairly late only to discover I'd left my keys inside and I was locked out of the house. After ringing the doorbell for ten minutes to no avail I popped the screen off the window to the den and snuck in. The task was made more complicated by me having to move slowly enough not to activate the motion-sensor flood lights which would've exposed me to everyone in the neighborhood. Also knowing my roommate kept a loaded 9mm by his bedside also made me a bit nervous. The second break-in occured the night I moved into my current domicile. Due to a faulty latch on the front door I found myself on the wrong side of a locked door once again. After failing to jimmy the latch with my AAA card I opted to scaling the building to get onto the back balcony where there was an open door. I found a ladder to the roof that I scaled, navigated the loose, clay-tile shingles and jumped 9 feet to the balcony. I really wasn't sure how I was going to explain myself had a security guard caught me.

I'll be back in Nebraska for Christmas and New Year's. I hope to get to see everyone. I won't be taking my computer, so I'm not expecting to have any new posts until 2006. See you all next year!

Yeee-Ouch!!!

2005-12-18T10:30:00.000-08:00

I spent the last week near Phoenix for work. I learned a few things about the desert while I was there. First, the desert isn't always sunny and warm. Ok, I knew that all ready, but this was the first time I'd experienced it. Second, the desert doesn't offer many items to suffeciently hide behind when you feel a need to heed nature's call. Third, be very careful how close you stand to the saguaro.

Besides being forced to ride mountain bikes for work I was able to see my friend Mark who lives in Scottsdale. It's always good to see him and just hang out.

Here we see my co-worker, Dan, giving a suspension fork "what-for". Show it who's boss, Dan.

How many bikes can you fit on your vehicle?

D Street Hotel, right next door to Drug City

2005-11-29T20:25:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know about my former residence in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's a quaint old home that has been welcoming into its hardwood belly the bicycle riff-raff of Lincoln for a good number of years. In exchange for cheap rent and lots of space, the "guests" of the "D Street Hotel" put up with hot summers, drafty winters, semi-functioning toilets and having to live next to a veritable crack house of an apartment building. Well, some excitement happened there recently. Click HERE to read more about it.

No Nazis

2005-11-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

I saw this bike in Santa Barbara. I didn't see any white supremacists, so the sticker must be working.

My father visited me over the Thanksgiving weekend. He was here for three days and this is the only photo I took of us together. Sorry you're blurry, Dad.

Figure this one out. When you stand on the Santa Barbara pier and look straight West, you end up looking right back at land. Weird. Kinda like leaving Eppley airport in Omaha, entering Iowa and returning to Nebraska without ever crossing the Missouri.

What I'm thankful for...

2005-11-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

...blue skies, light breezes, warm weather and guitar-playing roller-derby wacko-o's.

My dad flew out to spend Thanksgiving with me in California. He got in yesterday and I took him to the Getty Museum. I posted some pictures from there before when my friends Scott and Mark were visiting. Besides sitting on top of a hill and offering a spectacular view of LA, you never know if the exhibit your viewing at the Getty was stolen or not. Today we drove to the Santa Monica pier and rode bicycles to the Venice Beach pier. Walked Venice Beach for a bit to see all the vendors, artists and crazies. It was quite entertaining.

Raider Fan and Sesquimillennial Mileage

2005-11-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

I promised a photo from the Raiders game I went to. Here I'm posing with Raider Fett. He stood in front of our section the whole game encouraging the Raider fans to be crazy. Not that they needed much prodding. The massive amounts of very expensive beer they were all consuming seemed to fuel their demonstrative rage they call "fan support". My suspicion is that Mr. Raider Fett was in fact a real bounty hunter. Think about it. If you're hunting for criminals on the lam, what better place to look for them than at an Oakland Raiders game?

The Denver Broncos played (and defeated) the Raiders at the game I attended. Going in I wondered if I would see anyone idiotic enough to wear Denver paraphernalia at a Raiders game. I ended sitting near not one but two such foolish individuals. One guy was rather vocal about his support of the Broncos, even getting into playful but sometimes borderline-violent arguments with the spectators around him. This lasted until a pair of polite, shirtless and heavily tattooed (with Raiders insignias!) gentleman "politely" told the guy to "shut-up or else." The other person was dressed up as John Elway. Not just a jersey but pants AND pads. did I mention he was well into 50's? This guy wasn't very vocal but a HUGE target of verbal abuse. It culminated with some Raider fan giving Mr.Elway a complimentary cup of beer. I'm pretty sure his gift wasn't all ale, and I hope he didn't drink it. When I wasn't being entertained by the zoo of humanity surrounding me I managed to catch a few plays of my first NFL game.

This picture is for my friend Butch, who I bought my car from. Check out what the Brown Turd rolled just recently. I figure for a Volvo the engine should just about be broken in.

Things That Bug Me

2005-11-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've got this blog at my disposal and I haven't even been using it as such. That changes today. Here goes a pointless rambling that barely expresses an opinion that no one cares about! Hooray for the internet!

I hate the dental care aisle. Since when did something so simple require so many choices? I remember when you needed a new toothbrush you had two choices: red or blue. Need a tube of toothpaste? Crest or Colgate. Maybe Aqua Fresh if you really liked stripes. Mouthwash? Scope or Listerine. One will get you drunk; the other will make you throw up. Dental floss? Cinnamon or string flavored.

It was simple, quick and easy. Everything cost about the same and everything did the same thing. But not anymore. Let's start with toothbrushes. Let's break them down--bristles on a stick. Simple. Not anymore. Toothbrush technology has taken the simple, unassuming toothbrush into the realm of the over-engineered glitter stick. They have ergonomically shaped handles to fit your hand and rubber traction pads so you don't slip and jam the toothbrush down your throat. They have bristles that protrude in every direction, apparently so you can brush all your teeth simultaneously. Molar reachers, gum stimulators, wear indicators, spinning heads, ultra-sonic vibration. How about something that holds toothpaste and scrubs teeth?

Toothpaste is even worse. How many innovative toothpaste dispensers have been invented over the years? The pump, easy-squeeze stand-up tubes, no-mess tips... and yet the basic tube still exists. In four different sizes. And wasn't there a time that all toothpaste had to do was clean teeth and prevent cavities? Now there's plaque protection, whitening, breath freshening varieties. Just clean my teeth!

Mouthwash? They turned the corner into marketing hell when Listerine made the blue flavor. Listerine is supposed to taste bad and like medicine. That's how you knew it was working. Scope was the good tasting stuff. In fact, it tasted too good. But now Listerine has four flavors. And they all do the same thing!!!

I could keep going, but I think you see my point. If you don't, it breaks down like this. Retail space is limited and generally dental care is given one aisle at your store. Now there are a lot of companies fighting for shelf space, very limited shelf space. The companies that make all this stuff want you to buy their stuff, not their competitors. But if they only have one type of toothpaste, well that doesn't take up much space. So they make eight varieties of toothpaste in three different dispensers in four different sizes. Suddenly the company needs one-third of the aisle just to hold their one product: toothpaste. That's it folks. Marketing for the sake of market share.

Okay, and I'm pissed it takes me ten minutes to find a simple, green toothbrush for under $3.

2005-11-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

My good buddy Scott and myself. I traveled up to Oakland this past weekend to party with him and celebrate his birthday. On Sunday we went to the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos football game. Everything I'd ever heard about the "Raider Nation" was true. More pictures from the party and game to come in the next few days.

2005-11-15T00:29:00.000-08:00

Whee! Recipe for a party disaster? Take one goofy & slightly inebriated party-goer, a hardwood floor, a throw rug and some knee pads. Mix together and get out of the way. How I didn't break anything or myself is still a wonder.