I Saw A Guy In A Hat

He looked really, really stupid and for some reason it pissed me off.

More Favorite Photos

Last month I posted some of my favorite motorcycle photos. I enjoyed doing that so much I thought I would do the same with some of the pictures I've uploaded to Flickr over the years. I love going through my Flickr account and looking at old photos. It's a little like having my favorite photo albums on the road with me. I think Flickr is a lot of fun and while it isn't quite as cool as it was before Yahoo bought it they haven't really messed it up too much. I've only posted about one third of the pictures I had originally intended to but I may put some more up later.

Not much explanation needed of why this is a favorite. Look how cool that is! That's Lisa driving our little Toyota down the face of a cliff that I thought only existed in Road Runner cartoons. That's so cool!

Canyonlands National Monument, Moab Colorado July 1 2006

I love this one of Lisa and Angela Pace. It makes me laugh just because I made her have this taken last summer while she was temping at the 10TV offices. She was working for Angela but being from Colorado had no idea who Angela is. And being Lisa, she didn't really care. For those of you not from Ohio, Angela used to be the anchor woman on the evening news, a bit of a local celebrity. Now she's a producer. Lisa was so embarrassed to ask for this picture and Angela laughed when she explained her lame ass husband wanted a picture of the two of them together.

Lisa and 10TV producer Angela Pace, June 6 2007

This one is of my friend Al Grant taken during a job we did in Alaska. There were a lot of great things happening at this time. I had just left that crappy job in Aurora Colorado and got to go back to Fairbanks where I was stationed while in the Air Force and got to see how much it had changed. This was where I began this blog waaaay back. There's nothing particularly artistic about this photo but it's a damn good snapshot.

Al Grant fishing on the Chena River north of Fairbanks, Alaska May 2005

I love this one because it was Lisa's first visit after I left Colorado. It kind of made our relationship official. San Fransisco as I've mentioned a few times is one of my favorite cities and this is a beautiful shot. If there's one thing I would fix it would be the bridge tower coming out of my head.

Golden Gate Bridge, California November 2003

Something I've noticed is I seemed to be more artistically inclined when I had my old crappy Kodak DC290. Since I've gotten the Nikon my photos aren't as pleasing to me. This picture of Lisa at the Great Dunes is a good example. The lighting is cool looking and I like the composition. Of course I'm not saying I'm any Ansel Adams but some of my favorite pictures were taken with that old Kodak. As time passes, I enjoy these older photos more and more. Granted it's less than four years old but it seems like a lifetime since I lived in Colorado. It's understandable I guess since I've lived in about a dozen or so places since than.

Lisa, Great Dunes National Monument, Colorado June 2004

The thing about this photo is the weather. It's a given that one of the reasons I like it is because it reminds me of the ride I took to Clarksdale on my motorcycle. That's the whole point of a photo, to capture that moment that your brain might not be able to hold, but something else photos do for me is capture the weather. Like the next photo of Ohio in the sticky, hot summer, I can feel the cold damp Arkansas spring when I see those clouds. I was worried about all the stuff on my bike getting soaked and it felt like there was a literal cloud hanging above my head but now in the hindsight that's what made this trip so special for me. I'm not crazy about the square crop job I did on this one though.

The crossroads of Clarksdale, Mississippi April 2006

The thing I love about this picture are all of the different layers of green and the layers of light and shade in it. This was taken at Dawes Arboretum where Lisa and I got married. We were married on the little island down in the bottom right corner. About a week later we went back to Dawes just to look around and enjoy the area. We both agreed that during the wedding everything was a blur and we didn't get to appreciate the surroundings. The wedding was perfect, it was my favorite time in Ohio, mid-July. Believe it or not I actually love the hot, muggy weather of Ohio in the summer.

Dawes Arboretum, September 2006

Here's one from our time in Arkansas. The thing I like about this one is our pose and the great backdrop. I love the clouds and how you can see half of the western side of Arkansas with the river right below. This picture always reminds me of how much I really liked being together Arkansas. It was our first place living together as husband and wife and was a really special time.

Petite Jean State Park, Arkansas in September 2006

This one is from last summer's camping trip in Colorado. I like it just because of the colors and the clothes. This is one of those kinds of photos I always enjoyed looking at as a kid. I hope in twenty years someone looks at this picture and wonders what our story was and thinks "These two people look happy".

Above Georgetown Colorado, Summer 07

I have a thousand more photos I could post and maybe I will in a few months or years. This post has made me think a little bit about the popularity of the internet and the blogs and the social & photo sites. Maybe a big part of the allure is the chance at immortality. We are reminded constantly that whatever we post here will haunt us forever. I kind of like the idea that long after I've gone on to something else some grad student working on his thesis of early 21st century history will stumble onto my picture of Lisa and Angela Pace and think "Look at the size of that belt!"

Ohio Express

My brother's team won the GBA Pickerington Classic -

The Ohio Express 14U team won the GBA Pickerington Classic with a 4-0 record. The Express started pool play with a 59-29 win over the Southern Lady Vols. The Ohio Express then defeated Team Ohio 36-25 to win their pool at 2-0. The team then started championship play with a closely contested victory over the Central Ohio Swish 49-48. The Ohio Express then went on to face Spiece NW Select in the championship game and battled their way to a 42-40 win to clinch the championship.

Check out the rest of the story with details here...

Number 3 is my niece by the way.

A Civil War Weekend

More pleasant then it sounds.

Lisa came over this weekend and as usual we had a good time. The first night (Thursday) I made veggie sloppy joe sandwiches for dinner. It's amazing how enjoyable that little piece of domestic normalcy was. The rest of the night was spent watching the season finale of The Apprentice. We have a love/hate relationship with this show, which I imagine is the case for most people who watch it. I'm glad it's over and I can start enjoying My Name Is Earl again.

Saturday we went to the movies to check out 10,000 B.C. It was a thoroughly competent movie. It was basically a retelling of Stargate (the movie) and so inoffensive it was like a dinner of saltines. It was pretty though. I've basically forgotten we saw it until I started writing this review of the weekend.

After the movie we traveled down to Fredricksburg to check out the Civil War battlefields of the area. I love Civil War history and if I had a memory longer than my pinky toe I would be a genius at it from all the National Parks we've been to that commemorate the war. We see films and tour battlefields and yet I can't remember when the War started or ended. Lisa is pretty indifferent to the Civil War memorials. She's just there for the stamps in our National Parks passport. It's nice to have her along though, sometimes she puts voice to a question I've had before but never thought to articulate. She came up with one such question after watching the film on Fredricksburg. The history goes, the Federal troops commanded by General Burnside charged Marye's Heights (pronounced Marie) but were stopped cold by Confederate troops at the sunken road.

Sunken Road with Confederate Dead

The question on Lisa's mind was why all of these men would continue to march to their doom? I know that isn't exactly the most insightful question ever asked but it is one I've never seen answered in the books I've read or the films I've seen. I mean the answer would seem as simple as not wanting to get shot for desertion but what super genius decides this is a militarily sound tactic? I know from watching films like All Quiet On The Western Front and Gallopoli that it was decades (and probably the advent of the machine gun) that someone decided this wasn't the optimum use of resources. Still, Lisa and I both wondered why Burnside didn't send his troops north to flank the Confederates. The only reason I could come up with is the lack of quick communications on a battlefield in the days before radios and aircraft. As the death of General Stonewall Jackson proves (as if there was any question) recon of a battlefield is dangerous business. I imagine that there are a thousand historians that could explain the reasons. It all has to do with the paradigm of warfare. I'm sure I've even known at one time but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that the philosphy behind warfare tactics was so elemental and ridiculous.

Sunken Road, 29 March 2008. The view from the other direction.

I don't really have a conclusion to this post. I enjoyed the weekend, got to see some interesting history that I will shortly forget and best of all I got to do it with my favorite woman ever, Lisa.

Now We've Got Ourselves A Presidential Race

I just got up to Good Morning America and a segment on Hillary, Obama and what someone has called the "Tanya Harding option". It seems that people are saying with Hillary falling behind she's going for the jugular (or knee as it were). They showed a few clips of Hillary going on about not being able to pick family (a reference to Bill? although I guess she did pick him) but being able to pick churches and shaming Obama. The anchor questioned whether this would tear the Democratic party apart. The only question I have is why did it take so long to come to this? First, it's an election campaign so it's a given there will be mud, second, it's Hillary Clinton, who is a mean spirited witch that would stoop to anything to win (of course that's my opinion). But as for tearing the Democratic Party apart? I think I remember uglier races and I think we all understand that this is what politicians do.

I suggest you just vote for one of these guys, probably the one with the Halo like lighting in the background (I'm a sucker for subtle subliminal messaging).

Favorite Photos

This is a reprint from my other blog Riding

I'm working in Virginia these days. I haven't been able to get one of the bikes here with me yet but spring is starting to force it's way up through the snow, muck and mud. It won't be long before I can't take it anymore. Until that happens I wanted to post a few of my favorite photos. I haven't posted here in quite a while so this is just a way to get my feet wet again.



This first one was taken shortly after got the FZ1. I was doing a job at Camp Pendleton over a summer. I couldn't bring the Vmax with me and I couldn't take a whole summer in beautiful southern California without a bike. I'm not wealthy enough to just by a bike whenever I want but the Vmax had been paid off for awhile and I was still single back then. The other guy in the photo (in front of the orange Vmax) is Rolando. He's a friend from way back and how we ran into each other after eight years is a story for another post. This day Rolando took my on a ride through the Mulholland Hills to the legendary Rock Store and down through Malibu. It was quite a day and a fun ride.



This photo is taken at Wolf's Creek Pass in Colorado. It was a ride a couple of friends and I took from Avon Colorado to Durango. We had another friend following us in his truck. He was so inspired by the fun we were having he ended up taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course (after trying out a BMW and dumping it). A few months later he had a Harley. The ride to and back from Durango was a good time.

These two were taken on a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. We got lucky in that Lisa, my wife, had a job in the two parks. We had free housing and access to the two parks for two weeks. The picture of the bike in front of the Grand Teton was taken right outside the ranger house we were staying in. Score! The second picture was taken at Hell's Half Acre. That part of the ride was two hundred miles of sheer torture. The route went straight through the flatest, most boring part of one boring state. I included this photo because some of Starship Troopers was filmed there (and it was an interesting chunk of Americana.



This photo was taken while I was working at Crow's Landing in California. This was on California Route 130. It went through the mountains from Patterson California to San Jose passing the Lick Observatory on the way. This was one of the most amazing roads I've ever been on and most times I went there was almost no one to share the road with. I hated to see the job end simply because of this road.



This final one was from a trip I took to Clarksdale and Rosedale Mississippi a few years ago. It's one of those rides that defines in perfect clarity why I ride. You've probably seen the bumper stickers that say something to the effect that "It's a fill-in-the-blank thing. If I had to explain you wouldn't understand." I would amend that to say "It's a motorcycle thing, I can't explain it and am too busy riding to try".

These are more than photos, they are split seconds of perfection caught for my lifelong enjoyment. If you like these you can check out some more on Flickr

Right Now

It's March 13th, 2008 at 8:36 p.m. I'm in Stafford Virginia at the Towne Place Suites by Marriot watching "My Name Is Earl". I'm working at Quantico Marine Corps Base, where I've been since last October. Nothing special is going on but I wanted to write something so in a few years I can look back on this day and remember how bored I was. The local high end supermarket in the Stafford area (someplace called Blooms) has a mix and match beer six pack which I love. For this six pack I had a Warsteiner which I'm drinking now. And right at this minute Giovanni Ribisi is in his tighty whities.

More Stuff I Like

I've been tearing through the leisurely pursuits lately. As soon as I finished Solomon Kane I started American Shaolin. I haven't polished books off like this since I got into a British crime noir kick a few years ago. American Shaolin is a page turner. It's like Matthew Polly went inside my head and took my dream. He took a year off from Princeton to go to China and learn kung fu from the legendary Shaolin monks. It sounds just like what my mind's eye envisioned it as. So far it's one of the best fish-out-of-water books I've read, funny and incisive. If I have one problem with it, it's that it's almost too perfect. I can't believe life could be that fun and I wonder if there's not a little creative license. In the end it doesn't matter though, it's still entertaining.

I also watched The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters the other night. Chances are you haven't heard of it but you should see it if you get the chance. It's a documentary about Billy Mitchell, the holder of the world record score in Donkey Kong and the contender for the crown, Steve Weibe. It's incredible and there were actual moments when my pulse raced. Like American Shaolin seems to good to be true, I wonder how much creative license (and creative editing) went in to making Billy Mitchell look like a giant tool.