New Old Frame

New Old Frame, originally uploaded by BodhiDave.

I have started a stable.

I won this little beauty on eBay last week and a fifteen pound box containing her showed up yesterday. I wish I was the kind of bike dork that had enough spare parts, the tools, and the knowledge to have a full cycle put together already. I'm excited to build this baby up.

What I'm thinking now, and this may change with more time and information, is building her up with a flip-flop hub with a free-wheel on one side so that my lady can take her out. If I can get that free-wheel with coaster brakes, then I'm not putting any brakes on it. White handlebar tape, white saddle, old-school pedals with toe clips, and somewhere around the 3.0 gear ratio I've come to love. Maybe 2.7.

Critical Mass came and went, and I was surprised with the number of people who turned up. I'd say around twenty. Must have been the nice weather, because last month we had like six. Six people is a lot easier to get around town than twenty, and we had a few traffic jams. It was nice to see all the people riding around, from ladies on cruisers to spandexed men on comfort bikes. Hopefully next month has an even bigger turn out.

This afternoon I finally tested out my rain gear. A ride was scheduled for 3:00 PM, and even though it was raining lightly I figured it might still be on. So I suited up, headed out (10 minutes late) and didn't see anybody else. So I decided to just tool around for thirty minutes to see if I'd get wet, too hot, or both. I didn't get wet, my rain jacket, rain pants, and full shoe covers all worked perfectly. I did get pretty sweaty though. Next time, no wool knickers or arm warmers.

In other news, drinking and movies is a fun combination. Last night The Girl and I went out to Virginia Beach to drink a bit and watch Shutter. I'm glad we decided to drink first. We're both not fans of remakes, especially American remakes of Japanese movies, and Shutter wasn't any better than the others. The other movie goers were more entertaining. I thought I was on a roller coaster with all the screaming and laughing.

It was a fun night anyway. We sat at the bar, had drinks, and pretended we were on a first date. I had three bourbon and cokes and Kasey downed two Long Island iced-teas, along with a big ol' plate of beer-battered onion rings that were fantastic. Sometimes, classic dates are the best.

Today I put all the books I own up on the shelving I installed ages ago, and with the addition of some anatomical pages in the bathroom and a painting by my lacky's roommate, our walls are looking more colorful every day. I have over half a dozen posters and pictures that needs frames, still. Head over to Kasey's blog for pics of all that.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lay around and digest the yummy sweet & sour tofu I just cooked and maybe start up the hookah.

Hope your weekend was good. Have a good night.

- David

Alley Cat Vidi-Ho

So after a couple days messing around, chopping video up, adding songs, re-chopping, etc, I think it's finally done.

Go here to get a list of all the different variations. The ones with Sneak at the end are like the trailers and only have footage from the first half.

Here is the larger version of the complete video, and here is the smaller. And here is the biggest of them all, just in case.

Apparently the next race is on April 20th (Death & Taxes) and I'll grab footage of that as well. I'll use a different angle; Crotch-Cam came out pretty good but I think the overall view is a little too obscured.

Enjoy!

- David

Medusa's Sneak...

More to come.

- David

*Edit* The sound was off on the last one, hopefully it's fixed now.

*Edit Edit* It's still not working right. You can download the various sizes below, from largest to smallest:

Venti
Medio
Lil'

Varietal

It's another late night cuddled up to the cat and the lady. One of which is asleep, the other is just enjoying the heat of my inner-thighs.

I just finished The Immortal Class, and I'm glad I read it. He got a bit long-winded a couple times, but overall it's a good read. He writes really well, long-winded or not. Now it's onto The Road and/or a book about the prevention and treatment of cycling related injuries.

On the way to work today I realized I was suddenly pedaling with more power and efficiency. I had suspected for weeks, and finally proven with a tape measure, that my leg muscles were uneven and therefor I've been pedaling wonky. More thigh on the right, more calf on the left. As much as I've tried to be conscious of it, a measurement last night shows that it's still happening.

Until today. It appears that the alley cat on Saturday has shaken something up and now I'm evening out. I can feel it. The same thing happened last time, but I'd forgotten. The next time I commuted I was a better rider, all from one day of racin'. I guess it's like changing up your workout at the gym. If you don't add some variety, you'll get in a rut, plateau, and waste time.

So get out there, take another route, ride in a different style, change it up. I have a feeling you'll be surprised with the result. Variety is the spice of sex and life, and all that.

Speaking of measurements, my legs have grown half an inch around in about fourteen days. The five pounds I spoke of earlier has stayed, although my pants ain't getting tighter. So I guess my protein/creatine regime is working, although I think I haven't been taking enough of the latter. I've been eyeballing the measurements this whole time, and with the discovery of even smaller measuring spoons, I see now I've been taking less than you carnivores get in your regular diets. Guess we'll see what happens now.

Critical Mass this Friday. Come on out and pedal a spell. The streets is for all us peeps, not just the ones behind engine blocks. Let's remind people. We'll have sunlight this time, and hopefully the weather cooperates. I'm too lazy to check just now.

But it's bedways for me, lads and lassies. I gotta work in the moanin'.

Take care.

- David

P.S. I just couldn't let it go.

Medusa Pict0rs

Bronze Shield, originally uploaded by BodhiDave.

Pics are up! Video soon to follow. Click the image above to see all the ones I got.

It was a ton of fun, Kurtz did an awesome job putting it all together with the checkpoints and prizes. Well thought out and creative. I got to see a bunch of stuff, hang out with some cool peeps, pedal my ass off, and play in traffic.

I strapped the action camera to my top tube and I'm happy with the shots it got. You can see the road ahead and all it's patrons (or obstacles, if you prefer), the handlebars turning this way and that, and on the outside, my legs pumping away. I need to cut it up a bit, add music, etc, unless anyone out there wants to see the uncut version. Just let me know. Maybe we can do a little contest, whoever takes the raw footage and makes the funnest production gets a cycling cap signed by yours truly.

Today I'm sore in weird places. The backs of both thighs, the muscles around my ribs, and just on my left leg, a single spot high up on the top of my leg. I worked hard but I'm still surprised. Guess that wind was shittier than I originally thought. I don't know why my ribs are sore, I didn't even have a bag on.

Being the cunning soul that I am, I decided to stick to someone who knew were everything was, and do my part to help our little two-man team out where I could. This time I stuck with Kurtz, the man who planned it all out. Cheating? Not the way I see it. I don't know this area as good as the peeps who have been living here a while, so I do what I can. Besides, if I couldn't keep up that'd be one thing, but I hold my own.

Without Kurtz I wouldn't have done as well as I did, I just want to say that now. Many times he tried to tell me which routes to take so that I could try and place better, but sometimes I'm dumb with directions. Especially when I've been sprinting everywhere and trying not to get ran over every second I'm in motion.

Once we hit the last checkpoint, it was two or three turns until the finish, and I decided to go for it. I dodged a van or two, darted through an underground underpass (watch those grates!), and pushed hard for The Taphouse, which seems to be the finish line of choice. Even though I hadn't seen any other rider for a while, I knew one could pop out at any moment so I went hard.

As I pulled up I saw a single bike chained to a pole, and a single rider coming out of the bar, beer in hand.

*gasp gasp* "...What number?!"
"What?"
"What number am I?"
"Second!"

Woo! Second place! I got one o' them purdy full-colored cards in my spokes now. I'm happy. Chris, the first place winner this time and last, is an actual racer. Sponsors and all, I believe. So, in a tiny and vain way, I got first place out of the regular folks. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm posing in the mirror in my Batman underpants, arms flexed. But again, without Kurtz, I would have been dead last or worse.

The crowd that showed up was a good mix. Wes even showed up with his kid in tow, trailer and all, and finished in good time. The guy who owns the orange bike I covet posted about showed up and stuck to NYC Chris (which is different from Racer Chris) right up to the end. They both showed up panting and immediately started in on how they went on the most ass-backward route possible.

A guy named Jay with a cool frame, an Eddy Merckx hat, and a horrendously stretched chain participated and had at least five mechanical failures before he was done. We even picked up a guy with a green bike who was just pedaling down the road, but after the first checkpoint nobody saw him again.

There's some awesome ideas for future races and I can't wait. One of these days, I'm gonna win one straight up. You just watch. Where's William Gibson's microsofts full of city maps when you need them?

- David

Bag Contents

Bag Contents, originally uploaded by BodhiDave.

Boss is out, it's play day! I've been meaning to do this properly for weeks now.

Click the image to be brought to my Flickr page, where you can get a description of each item and see just how it all fits.

- David

My Second Favorite Kind of Fling

The first being, of course, quite obvious.

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, wee hoo! Birds are happy, grass is grinning, and Pagans are ritualizing. My favorite part so far is the warming sun on my arms as I pedal around and the blooming dogwoods.

Ever since Daylight Savings kicked in, I feel like all the peoples of Earth must have after the sun suddenly got off it's lazy ass and did it's job, courtesy of the ever-hot Cillian Murphy taking care of business. Seattle (and all you other rainy states), I love the idea of you and your bike culture, but this boy can only take so much grey sky.

The wind we've been having lately is very... remarkable. About twenty miles an hour constant with gusts up to thirty. In the morning this means I get a fun ride as it blows right up my skirt. Evenings though, it's punching me in the chest. Twenty pound bike + twenty mile an hour wind = gruntin' and groanin'. Plus it's a diagonal affair, and once in a while I'm pushed towards the area cars normally like to be when they pass me.

Speaking of which, I finally got to execute a little maneuver I've had in mind since before I got Jenny. Public transit buses and I have a fun relationship. We both use the same side of the road, we go about the same speed cruising up overpasses, and we both feel entitled to the lane we're currently inhabiting, whether the other party likes it or not.

Yesterday I had a bus behind me at the light right before the major climb of my commute (which I have come to enjoy, actually) and I briefly entertained thoughts of falling back so I could try to grab the wheel-well and let it pull me up (another maneuver I think about a lot lately). Instead I pedaled my ass off up that hill, gaining exactly 6.4 meters for every pedal rotation, and glanced back occasionally to see that not only was the bus not passing me, but I was pulling ahead. Take that!

Of course it passed me as we got to the flat parts and got in front of me so that it could make it's stop, which I felt was more of a statement than a necessity as there wasn't even a block until the bus stop. I start checking the lane next to me to see if I had room to get over, then decided to use the leftover space in the lane I was currently in. The bus doors were still open and passengers were still boarding, so I felt confident that it wouldn't be pulling forward and squashing and/or pushing me into another lane.

I checked behind me again just to be sure and surged forward, whooshing alongside the long smooth wall of the vehicle. I reached one hand out and ran it down the side as I went, laughing and hoping my paranoid fear of having a finger or an entire arm ripped off by a tiny screw was unfounded. It was something tiny and awesome I've been looking forward to for ages.

I had a lovely lunch hour with my lacky Michael and the lovely Kasey yesterday. Just as she was getting off work we were going to lunch, and we all went to the Olive-a Garden and got stuffed.

I veered away from my old friend eggplant parmigiana and opted instead for nearly half a dozen cheeses and ziti. Kasey had coffee and dessert as she'd already eaten. Michael had a ton of mushrooms and big-ass noodles full of white cheese. We spoke irreverently about everything and I snatched up all the Andes mints on the way out.

It's Friday bitches! And the weather is lovely. I've had two of my foreign friends asked my why I was working today, and I had to look at my calender to see just what day that is. Good Friday, of course! I had to ask what that was. Apparently other countries love Jesus more than us, or at least feel worse about his death than we do, as they get today off. If you're offended by that statement, then we're probably not friends.

My boss just left for ten days, so I'm going to lunch. A loooong lunch. But not too long. I have responsibilities after all.

You guys take care, be safe, and look for pics and/or video from the alley cat going on tomorrow. Hopefully next time our inter-paths cross I'll have a shiny spoke card proclaiming me the first, second, or third place winner. Or I'll battle damage to explain why I don't.

Adi!

- David

Filial

I have a phone that can dial long distance, and fingers that can write letters, but I do neither. I'm on the other side of the country from 98% of my family and I haven't talked to them in ages. I've been a lousy family member.

Since I know my step mom visits this blog, here's my update, crude as it is. I'm going to try and call tomorrow night, as well.

First off, I'm alive and well. Nothing is broken, nothing is wrong. I'm sorry for the delay. I'm just lazy in some regards.

Here's a picture of me, right before I sat down in bed to write this. Kasey is already asleep; she has to get up at Four tomorrow to make the breakfast sandwiches at work. She only does this twice a week and gets off at Two.

She's doing good, she just got her first tattoo weekend before last. She got a pair of headphones under her left collar bone, with a heart making up the inside of the ear piece. It looks really good. I'm probably going to get one on Saturday on my calf. Can't decide though.

Our One Year Anniversary was Friday. It seems already like I've been out here for ages, although it's been less than a full year. I'm starting to figure out all the different cities and how to get places pretty confidently, although it's a lot different from the grids of Phoenix or the island towns of Idaho.

My legs are getting huge! For a few weeks now I've been taking creatine and protein on a daily basis, and I can really tell a difference. As an athletic vegetarian I've been missing out on some key muscle building materials, I guess. I set a goal of eighteen miles per hour average speed on my daily commutes and I've been hitting it regular the last couple of weeks, wind and all, although some days the wind and I think the meal from the night before drop it back down to the seventeen mph range, haha.

I've made a couple friends in the cycling community here. I'm a regular at an adorable and tiny local bike shop and get regular discounts and advice from the guys that run/own it. I'm going to help restore a red bicycle from the 70s and buy it when it's done, if I can ever get in there to do it. This Saturday I'm doing a race around some of the towns here. The one I did before was super fun and this one should be the same, I'm looking forward to it. I'm gonna try to plan one myself here pretty soon.

The pets are all good. Maudie and Riley get attention from the ladies of all ages wherever we go. The gerbil is kicking away, she totally knows her name and pops her head up from her little burrows when I call. I'm training the rabbit to ring a bell we put in her cage when she wants something and it's working already. I make her eat out of my hand before I give her the rest of the food. Kasey's cat, Tilly, lives with us. She's probably the best cat I've ever met. She's a talker and a cuddler, although she rarely meows. I think she's fallen in love with me.

I've been reading a ton lately. TV is just pissing me off to the point I can barely tolerate to sit and watch it, unless it's Law & Order or cartoons. I'm in the middle of a used library book I bought about a bicycle messenger in Chicago, as well as the book that No Country for Old Men movie was made of. I really enjoyed that movie. We watch it all the time. The same guys who did Raising Arizona way back in the day did it. A little violent, but Tommy Lee Jones (and all the actors) are awesome in it. I also got a book about cycling health that covers everything from road rash to bad knees. I been thumbing through it.

Before I forget, I am getting time off for Aunt Brandon's graduation. I put in for it weeks ago and my boss has told me it should be fine. I'm looking at train schedules to get there! I've never ridden a train, it should be fun. Kasey will be coming too. I can't wait to see you guys. I'm going to try and kidnap you and make you stay in Portsmouth for a while. We'll go to the beach and such. Don't struggle!

The weather here has been warming up. A day or two in the high sixties/low seventies, but mostly low forties and high fifties. Tomorrow it's supposed to be seventy-something. I'm looking forward to not having to bike in a ton of layers, although I do better when I'm a bit cold. I'm glad Daylight Savings rolled around, I was getting depressed biking to work in the overcast mornings and biking home in the dark. Now it's sunshine all the way. When the snow thaws there, you better get out on them bikes! Cuz when I come visit we're going to ride, and you're going to have a hard time keeping up with this 135 pound powerhouse! I beat school buses and dump trucks up hills, after all. ;)

Thanks for those pictures of Seth and us. I have them up on the shelving I recently installed. I'm going to take one to my office pretty soon, just can't figure out which one. Probably the one of Dad, Thad, and Seth. I like that one the best. I keep having dreams about you guys, I figure it's cuz I feel bad about the lapse in communication. It's all good dreams about us visiting each other. Every day I think how much I'd love for you guys to come here.

Alright, I'm going to lay down. Hope all is well, I'll call tomorrow.

Yours,
David

More Medusa

Yer lookin' at the spoke cards for the alley cat coming up this Saturday. It'll take place in Historic/Downtown Norfolk and Olde Towne Portsmouth. If you can't tell, I'm trying to give the search engines a lot to work with. Ghent. Virginia. Alley cat. Critical Mass. Portsmouth. Norfolk. Spitzer sex tape. More info here.

Now, I was gonna bust my hump to try and place in the top three anyway, but with specialty secondary full color spoke cards on the line, it's on like Diddy Kong. Especially seeing how cool they are. Well done Kurtz, all around.

My action cam doesn't do so well in the dark, but with a 3:33pm start time you can bet I'll be strapping that beeotch on Jenny and catching some (hopefully) sweet pixels of racing around, not getting ran over, and giving y'all the most chaotic art & culture tour of the area that's ever been given.

I'm gonna eat those thirteen checkpoints and thirteen miles like Belgian waffles, and wash it all down with blood, sweat, and tears. Hope to see you there.

- David

Bikemares & Velodreams

If you're like me (i.e. obsessed with cycling to a degree society marginally tolerates) then you know just what I mean when I say I dream about cycling. A lot. And not just the post-traumatic stress dreams of a hard ride or the romantic, yearning dreams after an extended period off the noblest machine. I'm talking about a bicycle appearing as at least a supporting actor in nearly every dream I have.

Case in point, a few nights ago I had a dream I helped organize an alley cat race in Hawaii. I didn't know anybody, but a bunch of people showed up anyway. I lallygagged around, hitting the checkpoints, just trying to keep a sweat up and see how everyone was doing. I come to the end and there's only three cyclists there, all looking like they'd just arrived, all lined up at the finish, panting. I ask where everyone else is and they say besides them, I'm the first one. I came in fourth! I was very proud, even with my low ranking.

Most times it's random fragments of friendly (and sometimes adorable) messengers showing me shortcuts around the city or myself doing the same for someone else. Other times it's flat tires, fucked up rims, or some other failure that I take with a knowing smile.

Last night, though, I had a bad one. I was visiting my family in Idaho (as an aside, I've been dreaming about them almost nightly for a few weeks now) and everyone was staying at my grandmother's huge home. It was summer time, everyone was healthy and happy, Kasey was with me, things were good. Our bags hadn't arrived yet and I had carefully, lovingly, over-protectively packed my bike along for the trip. I couldn't wait. The weather was perfect, my family hadn't seen me in ages, and I'm always talking about the fun I have on my ebony and ivory baby. I was gonna show them a track bike! Track stands and skip-stops galore.

Then the bags arrived in a horse trailer. And on top of the pile was my bicycle, mangled beyond recognition. Not even in it's bag anymore and somehow reassembled even though it was destroyed. The paint was chipped off in huge, gangrenous patches. The frame wasn't so much dented as it looked like a bulldozer had run it over. The chain was hanging from the rear hub, and my handlebars were bent to the point of becoming a completely different genre of handlebar all together. In fact, the more I looked, the more it wasn't even my bike.

I was horrified. My family was all crowded behind me with crest-fallen faces. I took the mess out of the trailer and saw a note from the airline company: (Fun fact, you can't actually read in dreams. The part of your dream responsible for reading is inactive during sleep. Thanks Batman the Animated Series!) It said that there had been a fire, and my bike had burned up in the suitcase shed. So they had provided this replacement which they estimated to be worth $349, which is all they could do.

I looked down at the monster they had provided me and noted that for some reason it had gears on the front wheel, and started to cry. The kind of cry you can only do in dreams, where your whole being is invested in it, and there's no shame, and people don't judge you for it. I bawled on the ground, Kasey behind me rubbing my back with infinite patience and compassion, lamenting the death of the only bicycle I owned, and had ever loved.

I woke up, heartbroken. When I realized it was all a dream I had to smile in relief. I cuddled to Kasey, the cat was already cuddled to me, all was right with the world once more. I slept in half an hour later than I originally planned, just to make up for the horror.

On the ride to work I looked down and patted my handlebars, soothing both the bike and myself, "Shhh, it had only been a bad dream, it had only been a bad dream."

- David

365.25 Days of <3

On this day last year, I got a sweet little thing drunk off local brew in the middle of the Arizona desert and dangled the promise of sweet, sweet lovin' in front of her until she consented to be my girl. And I'm sure she's wondered what the hell she's gotten into every day since.

Tonight it's sushi & sake, and then we'll probably start on the fifty-pound-fourty-two-disk Gilmore Girl box set I killed myself carting home yesterday. The thing is so heavy it comes with it's own carrying handle and literally broke the loops of the shopping bag five steps out of the store. But Baby gets what Baby wants. At least if we ever get robbed we can use it as a weapon.

Speaking of awesome heavy presents, Kasey let me have my gift last night. She produced a black square that at first I took to be a jewelery box and I thought for a sec we were going to have a Pretty Woman moment.

But what inside did I spy, but a hefty-ass table lighter! With ships on the side! Three flames of cigar toasting goodness. I almost want to carry it around in my pocket, it's wonderful.

And speaking of wonderful, here's some pics of Kasey getting tattooed:

I realize they're pretty much the same thing, but I like them both. So there. Hopefully I'll be under the needle of the same man you see above, getting my calf(ves) permanently altered this Saturday. Pics of both mine and Kasey's tattoo(s) will show up this weekend. I have to fix the data cable Bunny chewed up.

Okay, I gotta work. Shit is going crazy today.

Pedal.

- David

What Does Medusa Want?

She wants to make you hard. As stone! Get it!

Amigo velo Kurtz has put this alley cat together, taking place in both Portsmouth and Norfolk. I'm still debating on whether or not to actually sport a toga. I think it'd be both breezy and sexy. Plus, people would definitely notice me coming. Safety!

I'm looking forward to it, cool ideas all around.

More to come, just wanted to poke my head in and say 'ello.

- David

Bike Envy

Even if you don't currently own a bike, you've had bike envy. As a kid, someone always had a cooler bike than you. For me it was the dirt-bike style bicycle with the handgaurds, faux-windshield, and grip shifters my friend from another town had.

I can't even remember the friend's name or what he looked like now, but I remember racing up and down the dirt road to my house and wishing it were mine.

On Sunday The Girl and I were having beverages and pastries when an orange bicycle flashed by the huge window of the local coffee shop. I literally threw the lemon pound cake I was holding across the table and exclaimed, "Wha?!"

In a flash I knew it was the restoration job St. Gordon had been working on, and I'd been drooling over, for months. It was now complete, and some guy was riding it around. It looked amazing. I had to get to the shoppe after coffee and see if I was right.

Kasey opted to stay in the car as I jogged around the corner to Cycle Classics. And there in the clamp was the bike you see above, along with it's My Name Is Earl-esque owner.

Brakeless, white handlebar tape and seat, white rims, stainless still toe-clips, and chrome work on the rear triangle and fork lugs. It was gorgeous. It was even sporting the same gear ration I run now. I had nearly rubbed one out with the fork alone when it was still disassembled and lying on the bench.

I don't know the manufacturer or the exact year (mid-Seventies I think) or really any of the specs besides it's the perfect color of orange and it's too big for me to ride. But still, I want it. It's like falling in love at first sight; you don't know jack shit about the person you're staring at (and creeping out), you just know they're amazing.

Just like seeing pictures of a short chick on the beach in Virginia via MySpace. You don't care what year she was made, you just wanna ride.

- David

K - "What's the shocker?"
D - "I thought you knew!"
K - "Well I've heard a couple different versions."
D - "This is the one I mean."
K - "...Neither of them are appealing."

*EDIT*
LOOK AT MY SHIRT IT IS FROM AUSTRALIA IT HAS WORDS ON THE BUTT I HAVE A CHIP IN MY MOUTH LOLS KTHXBYEEEEEE

Medication

Food makes me happy. If I'm in a particularly good mood or particularly looking forward to a meal I dance in my chair a tiny bit and hum a quiet song as I'm tucking in. I didn't notice until Kasey told me.

On bad days I sit at my desk, face down-turned, and focus on the soup I microwaved. I start to feel better, like the victim of a shipwreck. Something bad happened to me, but at least I have this.

I also have certain bands (and within them certain albums) that help me out. Gorillaz's self-titled album, anything by Rilo Kiley (but especially The Execution of All Things), and Mogwai, just to name the ones that pop up fastest. Rilo Kiley fixes most anything.

Bike rides are good too. You're frustrated at work because everyone but you is a moron and the To Do list you tentatively made as you got ready in the morning fell apart as soon as you stepped in the door and that damn phone began to ring. You've been sitting in the same chair, at the same desk, on the same computer all damn day. Ring ring ring.

Then you change clothes, and even though part of you complains, you look forward to pedaling home. And you do, you pedal your little broken heart out. After five minutes you swear you got rid of it all, but it carries you, through traffic, over hills and potholes, across the city, all the way to the ferry. You arrive sweaty, panting, and jello-legged. It feels like you've just attempted suicide. It feels good.

And after a quick rest and a relaxing ride across the river (hee) you're home and happy. You can still talk about your frustrations of the day, but they're chalk outlines fading fast. And the solidness you feel in your legs and the hunger in your stomach make you smile to yourself.

Safe journey.

- David

Do You Know What Time It Is?

Tenacious D time, ya mothahfuckah waaa! Actually, it's time to start riding bikes everywhere. It's like sci-fi out there. Our parents never would have believed that gas would be easily over $3.00 a gallon. And I can't see it getting cheaper. A linear system cannot exist indefinitely with finite resources. Or something like that.

The enormous messenger bag I bought some months back was decided upon with the intention of doing more chore-type stuff on my bicycle, like grocery shopping and such. Have I since? Not really. I've picked up a few things, but that's about it. However recently I've been hanging out with a guy named Kurtz, and even though he doesn't preach or talk about it, I get inspired to be all about doing things on a bike. I don't know what it is, but the ideal of being bike-sufficient seems easily attainable. Like it's not as much of a Big Thing as I subconsciously think it is. Although, I still commute like I'm chasing some illusive nirvana-encrusted donut. And with my good friend Whey Protein I have two-weeks and five more pounds of muscle to prove it. I seriously need to take some measurements before I go on a reasonable regime of creatine supplements this week.

Pets make life nice. When we tell people how many pets we steward in our apartment they laugh with mild shock. Two pugs, a cat, a gerbil, and a bunny. Plus theres a spider in the corner that I just can't bring myself to put out in the cold. Sure, it's a bitch sometimes. I won't lie. The pugs (especially Maudie) require constant pets. I clean up after them two or three times daily. I don't do anything that many times daily. I worry about Gerbie the gerbil. She's alone now and old, although she's as energetic as she's ever been. Bunny isn't potty trained and chews on electrical cables when not supervised. Tilly is pretty much the perfect cat, aside from some rambunctiousness at night.

But when they're all running around the living room together (sans Gerbie, of course), playing and jumping around each other, it's wonderful. Bunny is the funniest thing when she's out of her cage. She cuts off the dogs, headbutts anything that stays still long enough, and kicks up her little hind feet as she runs around the couch. Today she was even tugging on my pant legs. And Tilly is a constant joy. The only other being I've found as cuddly as me. And she has a crazy vertical jump. And c'mon, pugs are just tiny smelly balls of adorable incarnate. I just wish we had a big yard with a tall fence for them all to get into trouble in.

The new Nine Inch Nails album is good. I've given it two or three full listens today and put the included wallpapers on all two computer I frequent. I've always liked Trent's instrumental stuff.

Time for bed. Kasey has to be up at Four and the two sleeping pills she took just kicked in.

Have a pleasant night, and a kick-ass tomorrow.

- David

Feels Like

Yesterday felt gooooood. As you can see. And today feels about the same so far.

I had my armwarmers rolled down and my vest unzipped before half of my commute was over, and on the way to the bank I was in just a thin undershirt and my new knickers and I was still a little moist when I arrived. You never realize how stuffy a place is until you walk into it after biking there. If this nice weather keeps up I'm going to be riding around in my flesh-colored Speedo before too long.

In other news, my BFF Trent Reznor released a new album called Ghosts I-IV. You can listen to nine songs free online, or purchase the entire thirty-six track album for $5. Yeah, five bucks. Straight-up high-quality song files to do with what you will. I just downloaded mine and it comes with some extras, like a bunch of cool wallpapers, some icons, the album art, and a PDF file of what would be the booklet. Get your NIN on here. Thanks be to Prolly for the heads up.

Last night I received a cylindrical package from the land down undah. It contained a t-shirt, a signed picture, and a espresso print roughly one foot by two feet large. (Scroll to the bottom of the link to see what I'm talking about.) All from a man named Andy who loves to ride, loves to take pictures, and does both extremely well.

In addition to the espresso print that will be in the kitchen, we have a bunch of movie posters to hang up. Sunday night we measured them all out and will be heading to the frame store sometime this week. From what The Girl is saying, we might just be covering every non-pictured surface of the apartment with shelves, shelves, and more shelves. I kinda like the idea.

Time for working. Holla.

- David