Flick Lives

I've gone tumblr

2012-01-26T11:20:00.000-05:00

http://flicklives.tumblr.com/

although this guy does it best

http://christian-diordenimflow.tumblr.com/

Adam Crazy Pants

2012-01-24T10:17:00.001-05:00

Everything good I steal from tumblr

Westerners are fond of the saying ‘Life isn’t fair.’ Then, they end in snide triumphant: ‘So get used to it!’

What a cruel, sadistic notion to revel in! What a terrible, patriarchal response to a child’s budding sense of ethics. Announce to an Iroquois, ‘Life isn’t fair,’ and her response will be: ‘Then make it fair!’ This is the matriarchal approach to learning.

Barbara Alice Mann, Iroquois woman

Then again the Iroquois, for all their wisdom, haven't fared all that well over the last couple of hundred years.

Movie Review

2012-01-23T11:20:00.003-05:00

I'm a movie nut. I watch at least two movies a week. I subscribe to crackle, netflicks, blockbuster, and rack up the charges on comcast pay-per-view.

Insomnia is a bitch.

The inherent problem is that I've exhausted the number of watchable movies, burned through most of the rentable foreign films, and am well on my way to making my way through the classics. Along the way, I've spend far too many hours watching pure shit. Sometimes you need to dig through a lot of dirt to find a nuggest of gold.

I figure I'd share with you some of the better films I've seen lately.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy. A-

Swedish with subtitles. I enjoyed all three of these movies. The pacing of the movie was such that the subtitles we not distracting in any way. The first of these has been redone win English starring Daniel Craig. I haven't seen that version, but word is that it's pretty consistent with the original.

Ides of March. A

George Clooney, Ryan Goslling, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, and Paul Giamatti. I figured that this was either going to be excellent or self indulgent drivel. I was happy to find it the former. Timely movie with the election cycle in full bloom.

Knuckle. A

IMDB descibes this as: An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.

Need I say more ?

Pearl Jam 20. B+

Great interviews, footage, and background stories. This movie gave me a greater appreciation for the grunge players and a fun trip back into the 90's. It ran a little long for my tastes, but work the rental.

Thumbsucker. B

Fun little indie film from 2005, just coming out as a rental. This is Mike Mils full length directorial debut. Its just about what you'd expect...a nice little coming of age story. Tilda Swinton is, as usual, amazing.

Moneyball. B+

Fun. Brad Pitt is solid. Jonah Hill plays Jonah Hill. Good flick.

nut magnet

2012-01-12T09:38:00.001-05:00

I spent 30 minutes at the lunch counter with a crazy guy this morning.

For a crazy guy he sure made a lot of sense. I hope he thought the same thing about me.

sigh

2011-12-05T11:06:00.001-05:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.

The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.

The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places Europe.

War in the middle east decreases the overall global supply.
We increase our domestic production under the auspices of national security.
Despite the apparent security risk, we continue to import oil while we export oil.
U.S. Consumers pay more at the pump.
U.S. based oil companies make greater profits than ever.

And you wonder why people are camping the streets ?

return of the flickstyle

2011-12-05T08:47:00.003-05:00

We're back to my previous lifestyle over the weekend.

Scotch, pasta, beer, golf, meat.

I can not deny the indulgent pleasure of it all...

...any more than I can deny that I feel like I'm rotting from the inside out this morning.

I have taken one small step toward the middle, but we're still somewhat swingy....and apparently referring to ourselves in the first person plural, which is creepy.

No sleep

2011-11-29T11:08:00.004-05:00

Last night I couldn't sleep. When I finally did nod off, I had a dream that I was fighting midgets...or little people, or whatever you want to call them. Then I definitely couldn't fall asleep.

It brought back memories of one of the greatest threads ever...

From TwoPlusTwo :

Good drunken debate from a few nights ago.

The question: How many 5 year-olds could you take on at once?

The specifics:

- You are in an enclosed area, roughly the size of a basketball court. There are no foreign objects.

- You are not allowed to touch a wall.

- When you are knocked unconscious, you lose. When they are all knocked unconscious, they lose. Once a kid is knocked unconscious, that kid is "out."

- I (or someone else intent on seeing to it you fail) get to choose the kids from a pool that is twice the size of your magic number. The pool will be 50/50 in terms of gender and will have no discernable abnormalities in terms of demographics, other than they are all healthy Americans.

- The kids receive one day of training from hand-to-hand combat experts who will train them specifically to team up to take down one adult. You will receive one hour of "counter-tactics" training.

- There is no protective padding for any combatant other than the standard-issue cup.

* The kids are motivated enough to not get scared, regardless of the bloodshed. Even the very last one will give it his/her best to take you down.

I set my magic number at 30, but upon reflection, I think I could take on a few more. How many could you take on?

Tebow

2011-11-28T10:49:00.004-05:00

When he was in college I wasn't a Tebow fan, nor a Tebow hater.

During the Denver QB controversy I became interested.

Over the last three weeks I've become a fan.

As much as I've enjoyed the comeback victories, the hard nosed running style, and the unpredictability that give everyone a break from the standard run and gun nonsense that the NFL has become...even more I've enjoyed tuning in on Monday mornings and listening to the old retired dinosaurs bitch and moan about how Tebow isn't a real quarterback and how this winning streak can't possibly last.

What I don't get with guys like Mike Golic and Steve Young et al is that they're the same guys who have been yelling for years about how soft the game has gotten. Golic especially has a regular schtick about the rule that protect the QB and he longs for the days of Sonny Jurgussen and playing without facemasks. Well in Tim Tebow, he's getting exactly what he wants and the first thing he does is criticize the guy.

The only explanation for this has to be religion. The don't like Tebow because he wears his faith on his sleeve....literally. And in some cases he wore his faith on his face. Worse yet, according to those who know , its not an act...he's actually a genuine guy who carries himself the same way whether the cameras are on or off.

Now I'm not a religious guy, but I find this whole thing fascinating.

Muhammad Ali is an icon for devotion to his faith. Tiger Woods is vilified for his lack of morality. Its heart-warming for NASCAR to have a pre-race prayer, but Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf ) got chased out of the NBA for refusing the national anthem in favor of his religion.

In sports, as in the rest of American life, we love just a little bit of religion.

No religion and you're a faithless amoral monster. Adhere to the tenants of your faith and your a extremist zealot. But give the sign of the cross after hitting a home run, and then jack yourself full or steroids, and you're a first ballot hall-of-famer.

God Bless America. Just not too much.

Peyton Manning is on his way out. You've Rothlesberger and Vick abusing man and beast(I know Steelers fans....allegedly...I mean allegedly). Eli Manning is perpetually confused. You have wide receivers shooting themselves and defensive backs shooting other people. Who are you going to build the image of this league around for the next 5 years....Tom Brady ? Great...make Brady your poster boy, get Fabio to be the commissioner and every Sunday will be filled with the charisma of an old sock.

Tebow is bringing some excitement to a season where Oakland and Houston are leading two of this divisions. My message to the media...Enjoy it. If you don't want religion in your football, then stop letting religion affect your football, and start enjoying a QB who crosses the line of scrimmage head first instead of feet first, and has done nothing less than gone 5 - 1 with a mediocre team in his first year.

I put the turkey in turkey day

2011-11-24T16:44:00.002-05:00

Things have been going so well that I though it best to go ahead and get drunk last night.

Today has been a good reminder why I started with the fruit and vege thing in the first place.

Sigh.

cookie cookie

2011-11-22T08:15:00.004-05:00

Woke up this morning and the lead news story started out with footage of rioters running from police swinging billy clubs. It wasn't until the newsmodel told me that it was Egypt that I realized it wasn't Portland.

Sidney Crosby is the only hope that the NHL has of anyone paying attention to hockey. With the NBA season totally scuttled, this year is the only hope they have of attracting viewers and advertisers. In the midst of this all-in situation Crosby returned to the ice last night and promptly scored two goals and two assists. If the NHL has any clue, they'll institute a " no checking Crosby" rule and immediately ban any player who makes contact with him on or off the ice.

While on the subject of oft-injured prodigies, Tiger Woods is back. The last 3 months the pundits have written Tiger off. They conventional wisdom is that he'll never return to his former self and that his run of majors is over. I suppose they've forgotten that he won the US Open with a busted leg, almost won the Master two weeks back, and finished 4th in this year's Masters while running dangerously low on Hooters waitresses. The President's Cup proved that he's back to 85%, which makes him 110% better than anyone else. This may not mean much to you, but with no NBA, and after Ovenchkin breaks Crosby's arm, they'll be no sports left to watch in the spring so you might was well brush up.

My daughter has become and evangelical christian. Not because she believes in God, but because she knows that
a. If she asks my wife to read a bible story to her at night, my wife is in capable of saying no so it extends bedtime by 20 minutes.
and
b. She's supposed to read 15 minutes each night for school. By listing The Bible on her sheet as the book she's reading, the teacher never blames her for anything that goes wrong in the class, and she never actually has to read...she make my wife do it for her before bed.

Huck Finn is funny...unless he's your daughter.

Michael Scott as his worst, Steve Carell at his best

Monday, monday

2011-11-21T10:05:00.003-05:00

Halfway done and so far so good...with some exceptions.

It turns out that the 15 day program is essentially the 5 day program done 3 times. I'm starting to doubt the point in that.

The main problem I've run into with this experiment is the lack of protein. Especially after a 2 hour ride on Sat and another 1:15 on Sunday, I just couldn't figure out a way to get enough plant based protein on just fruits and veges. To those ends I added some more almond butter and peanut butter, as well as a couple of hard boiled eggs.

The plan for this week is to continue with the full compliment of fruits and vegetables as planned, but to supplement that small portions of lean protein (egg, fish, lean meat) throughout the week as needed.

I'm enjoying adding to this blog again with some regularity and would like to do so beyond this focus on food, but right now with occupy protesters being pepper sprays and football coaches molesting young boys, there's not a lot of pop culture worth discussing.

Its also tough to think of stuff to write when you're starving to death.

226

2011-11-18T14:50:00.000-05:00

Unsustainable pace, but a nice incentive.

cruise control

2011-11-17T10:42:00.004-05:00

Sweet potato and carrot fries last night. 30 minute ride and a good night's sleep. I'm starting to think that all those people touting the virtues of healthy living might actually by onto something.

This morning I cut the top off an apple and a pear, scooped out the cores, then refilled the center with maple syrup, cinnamon, and raisins. The I put the tops back on and baked it all for 35 minutes. Pretty friggen good.

Generally speaking this is a lot easier than I anticipated. That being said, I did have a dream last night that I was eating an everything bagel, double toasted with butter and washing it down with a tall glass of scotch. It would take one hell of a stuffed apple to top that combination.

Media whores

2011-11-16T21:58:00.003-05:00

The news continues to refer to the Sandusky situation as a "sex scandal" or more recently a "sex abuse scandal".

It's not.

It's horrible case of rape, peodphilia, assault, abuse, and possibly a dozen other things, but it's not a "sex" scandal. But they insist on listing it as one in the headlines and on the tv screens.

The reason ? Because the want to titillate you into watching. And while using sex to sell a story when it's Paris Hilton flashing her beaver is crass, it's mostly harmless. But when you sexualize the abuse of a ten year old boy to sell bars of soap, online stock trading, and of all fucking things Cialis, well then you've pretty much become the crackhead handing out flyers to a peep show outside the casino men's room...you've just got a nicer suit and marginally better crack.

Saved by an acorn squash

2011-11-16T11:22:00.003-05:00

I almost cracked last night.

I grilled steaks for the kids for dinner and it was just about too much to bear.

While the steaks were cooking I prepared dinner for my wife and I. One the menu was acorn squash, baked and stuffed with a portabella, garlic and onion stuffing. I've never had acorn squash and the mushrooms look rather disgusting, but I had all the ingredients so I figured I'd just give it a try. If all else failed, the kids were going to get less steak than they bargained for.

In short, the squash was fantastic. The mushroom stuffing was full of flavor and was indistinguishable from bread stuffing. The squash has a nice flavor, good texture, and was filling. The meal was great. Its definitely something that I'll add to my regular menu when the 15 days are up.

Today brought a very welcome change. After Monday's green juice, and Tuesday's red juice, today was a full on fruit juice. Blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, apple and banana and damn was it good. I drank it, and I coffee and right now I'm totally jacked. I suspect that I'll crash in about 15 minutes, but its surely a welcome change from the sluggish feeling I had yesterday.

The one unintended benefit of this process has been with our family. Last night was the second night in a row where the entire family was in the kitchen together, doing homework, preparing food, and eating as a family. This is in start contrast to our usual rushing around and eating on the fly on the way to one activity or another. Having to plan time for food prep and designate dinner time is a pain for scheduling, but at least in the short period of time has been well worth the effort. And its in those seeming innocuous times of just being together that the opportunity to talk and share really present themselves.

Ok, this post is far too fluffy, feel good, and positive to start talking about the effect of red beet juice on bathroom activities, so I'll save that for tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a picture of last night's dinner.

Day 2

2011-11-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

I made the mistake of mentioning my efforts to my poker group. Now my phone rings about every hour with people texting me pictures of what they're eating....bacon, hamburgers, brownies, etc.

Day one ended rather uneventful except for my jaw hurting. Hamburgers are soft. Chicken wings are soft. Broccoli you gotta chew. I think vegetarians are skinny just because their jaws are too tired to keep eating.

I actually felt decent this morning and had a big bowl of fruit in the am and followed it up with a light bike ride.

Everything after that has been downhill....Today's juice is red. It has the look and consistency of blood. Beets, radish, tomatoes, etc. Its gross. Lunch was an apple and more broccoli and peas.

I feel pretty crappy. I had a coffee just for a little energy boost but that was short lived. I'm having a tough time concentrating and feel a little lightheaded. The only two things keeping me in the game are the fact that my symptoms are not nearly as bad as a hangover, so I'm used to working productively in a much worse state & I went into this knowing that the first three days were going to see my get progressively worse until things started getting better.

The only real issue I had was when I was going through the cabinet to get a container for lunch I knocked over a bag of Durritos. When I went to wrap them back up and puff of air came out of the bag with a strong smell of Durrito goodness. That one hurt. And it was Cool Ranch. mmmmmmmmmmm cool ranch.

Camel ass

2011-11-14T12:08:00.002-05:00

Trying a new diet as a result of watching the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead .

Essentially its 15 days of nothing but fruits and vegetables. Don't ask me if its a "cleanse", because I don't know what a cleanse is but I have a feeling that doing one would entail me kissing other men.

To prepare for the next 15 days, I:

a. went to the store and bought $150 worth of fruits and vegetables
b. went on a three day bender eating and drinking everything in sight, including having a full Thanksgiving meal two weeks ahead of time.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and prepared my "meals" for the day.

I made an apple, cherry, and raisin bake, with nutmeg and cinnamon. While that was cooking I made my juice for the day comprised of green vegetables. Then I made today's salad for lunch.

Just finished lunch and here are my impressions:

- 1 hour of food prep time in the morning is not nearly as convenient as coffee and donut followed by a cheeseburger for lunch.
- $150 worth of vegetables doesn't go nearly as far as I expected.
- blended up green vegetables taste what I imagine a camels ass tastes like.

Only 14.5 days to go.

Starting numbers
weight: 234 lbs
general feeling: tired and sore ( i DID have a 3 day bender)

feeling at post time: the same except very much desiring a donut, cheeseburger and coffee if for nothing else then to deal with the camel taste.

the last 10 seconds blew me away

2011-08-16T11:25:00.001-04:00

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

bootleg fireworks

2011-08-09T11:04:00.001-04:00

The Kooks

2011-07-22T08:36:00.001-04:00

LIVESTRONG !

2011-06-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

To Create Your Very Own Cult

1) Begin by creating your own reality. You do this by keeping your members away from outsiders. An isolated farm in the middle of Idaho is good but if such a retreat isn't available, impose a form of self-censorship. If it's not of the cult, it's of the devil.

2) Next set the leader and his/her inner circle up as the only link to paradise...only they hold the keys to the kingdom.

3) Remember to make increasing demands. Start small but keep it going and eventually you'll have your followers standing in line to turn over all their worldly possessions.

4) Keep turning out stories about the greatness of the leader. The more unbelievable the more they will be believed. Your members have already been conditioned from the time they were children to accept things like coming back from the dead and walking on water.

5) Remember to use your converts to bring in still more converts. This has the double advantage of picking up new disciples and (even if that doesn't always work) the mere act of proselytizing will further cement the commitment of those already in the fold.
6) Keep everybody busy. This doesn't allow time for potentially critical thought. Let the minds of the masses wander and who knows, they might put two and two together. For this reason, long sermons - the longer the better - and interminable work shifts are essential. And when you aren't haranguing them and they aren't being kept busy...make sure they're at least singing.

7) And finally, keep your flock fixated on the carrot. The payoff is just around the corner and only they will be the ones paid off. The clouds will part and they will be raptured up and then, boy-oh-boy, won't all those non-believers be sorry.

I'm Superfly TNT

2011-06-22T09:46:00.002-04:00

Why I always answer "nothing"

2011-06-21T08:19:00.002-04:00

When my wife asks, " You're quiet....what's going on in that head of yours ?"

An American Hippie in Israel

2011-06-16T10:05:00.001-04:00

Groovy

I might have to start playing video games

2011-06-10T09:06:00.002-04:00

I first have to figure out how the controllers work

God Shed His Grace on Thee

2011-06-07T08:04:00.001-04:00

4th estate

2011-06-01T11:14:00.002-04:00

Let me start by (under)stating that I don't care for Sarah Palin.

But the thing about her that's captured my interest is the fact that she has completely cut out the media ( except FOX for whom she works) and its driving them nuts.

That being said I find the following comment from MSNBC to be appalling:

MARTIN BASHIR:
In fact, the whole thing could be in breach of a federal law because the United States Flag Code establishes important rules for the use and display of the stars and stripes, the flag of the United States. Under standards of respect and etiquette, it's made clear that the flag of the United States should never be used for any advertising purpose whatsoever. Yet that's precisely what Sarah Palin is doing.

We had a president for 8 years who ignored the Constitution, Federal Law, and good judgement, we have a current President who picked up where he left off, and we have a Federal Monetary system that's predictably doomed to fair and the entire time the new media has done nothing but serve as a PR firm and as a subset of the White House communications department but now....NOW....they're going to take a sudden interest in law, order, and ethics ?!

No chance

2011-04-08T08:31:00.001-04:00

I walked downstairs this morning and Sophie was sitting in the kitchen eating a big bowl of ice cream at 7:00 am.

" Sophia ! What are you doing ?!"

Without missing a beat she said, "I'm living the dream".

I had no idea what to say, so I went back upstairs. Now she's got me wondering why I don't eat ice cream for breakfast.

Hextall

2011-03-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

You probably already know this

2011-03-25T09:48:00.003-04:00

but the concept is still relatively new to me.

Up until the 1970's the US monetary system was based on a gold standard. The US was supposed to have gold or other precious metals ( Fort Knox et al) representing the amount of money in circulation.

At some point, the people in power decided that was a big pain in the ass, especially when they just wanted to print up some money. So the gold standard was abandoned, and effectively all money ( international currency was based primarily on US dollars) then had an arbitrary value.

For alchemists, who had tried to turn lead and other worthless items into gold since the time of the Egyptian pyramids, this was Christmas, New Years and the 4th of July all rolled up into one.

Moving from the gold standard opened the door for fractal-reserve banking. fractal banking is simply the ability of a bank to lend the same dollar over and over again.

So you deposit $100
Bob borrows $80 from the bank. That $80 makes its way back into the bank either from Bob depositing it, or from whomever he gives it to depositing it.
Mary then comes in and borrows $60 based on the $80 that Bob deposited.
Joe then borrows $40 based on the $60 that Mary deposited.
Tom then borrows $20 based on Joe's $40.

So in the end, the bank has lent out ($20+40+60+80)= $200....but it really only ever took in your $100 deposit. The "other" $100 that it has lend out does not exis, its an imaginary promise on future labor.

Effectively this goes one step past having to actually print worthless money, now you can just make a mark in an accounting column and create imaginary money.

Even the alchemists couldn't have hoped for something that amazing.

So provided that people are willing to keep taking out loans, that most of the people pay at least the minimum payment on interest, and provided that people don't actually show up to the bank asking for the actual cash money that they deposited, then there's virtually no limit on the amount of fake money that the banks can keep conjuring up.

That might explain why new banks are outpacing 7-11s and McDonalds.

The more cynical of us might also consider that a system that uses high taxes and available credit to compel people into long term debt ( mortgages, car payments and school loans) would prime the pump and keep the bankers...and for that matter the car, oil, and housing companies fat as hogs. But that sounds too much indentured servitude to be democracy.

I am not making this stuff up

2011-03-24T13:26:00.003-04:00

A woman called me today unhappy about getting a ticket for setting her police alarm off. The fine, for having the police dispatched, respond on site, check everything out, and then write up a report, because she forgot to turn off the alarm (again) is $10.

She opened with, "I think its unfair that you have this new law and you didn't tell anyone about it."

" Well ma'am we did have an article on the front page of the newsletter outlining the ordinance. Did you get a newsletter ?", I asked.

" Yes I got a newsletter and I read the headline where it talked about alarms, but I didn't know it was about false alarms...it didn't say FALSE alarms in the headlines and I only read the headlines. If you want people to know something then you have to put it in the headline, people are too busy these days to be reading all the way down into paragraphs and stuff."

"(sigh) Sorry ma'am, I'll try and do a better job with the newsletter for now on."

" That's right...like three months ago you sent me a personalized letter. The letter was from the town to me and it only dealt with one thing. And it was very, very clear and short. That's the type of thing that you should be doing more of"

" Oh, ok. Can you tell me what the letter was about so I can use that as an example ?", I asked not trying to sound too patronizing.

" Oh hell, how am I supposed to remember what it was about, that was a couple of months ago."

( double sigh)

-- As if it could get any worse, out of curiosity I looked up what we had sent her. I was a warning letter for a previous false alarm indicating that any further false alarms would result in a $10 fine.

idioms

2011-03-06T08:05:00.001-05:00

"greatest thing since sliced bread" - seriously ? at one time this was a problem ?

"he's such a good friend he's like brother from another mother" - our Dad's a dick and our mothers are whores.

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

I'm so used to writing everything in 140 characters, this post seems exhausting. It probably feels the same to read but for another reason.

reasonable

2011-01-10T12:36:00.001-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40981503/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/

Bagger 228

2010-12-15T15:32:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you've already seen this but....

2010-12-13T14:32:00.000-05:00

Lazy Sunday morning

2010-12-12T10:08:00.002-05:00

For reason unknown to me I just reread Slaughterhouse Five.

For this particular time in history, I'm not sure if it was the best or the worst thing for me to read.

Also....people.....PLEASE.....its BOWS of holly. Bowels of holly would be something completely different.

three questions

2010-12-10T07:07:00.003-05:00

We're actually suppose to believe that the Prince and Camilla accidentally drove into a full on riot ?

And we're supposed to believe that their secure, bulletproof limo was busted up by a balloon with paint in it ?

Are we such suckers that they're not even trying anymore ?

Passing notes

2010-12-09T18:07:00.003-05:00

My youngest daughter has some separation anxiety in the morning. She leaves for the bus in tears each morning bumming out herself and her mother.

In an attempt to provide her some sense of control, I suggested that maybe she could try putting on a happy face and trying to control her emotions for her mother's sake.

" It's hard'" sniff sniff, " but I'll try Daddy."

This morning she woke up, had breakfast, got dressed then locked herself in the bathroom.

My wife knocked on the door, " honey why are you locking yourself in the bathroom ?"

" I can let you see me or hear me upset"

" Well this isn't going to work. I want to say goodbye to you."

"If you want to talk to me Mommy then slip me a note under the door. Its for your own good."

Sure enough they passed notes back and forth through the door crack until the bus came. I'm not sure if I'm making it better or worse.

funny stuff my daughter says

2010-11-19T10:15:00.002-05:00

Me: Hey kids, hang on a sec I want to run in here and get a bottle of wine.
8 year old: Keep your eye on the prize, keep moving old man.

8 year old: When I grow up I want to be Irish.
Me: Irish ? What Irish ?
8 year old: Because I want a farm and animals and stuff
Me: Do you mean Amish ?
8 year old: (annoyed sigh) Amish....Irish....whatever.

8 year old: I want to get married, but just for the wedding.
Me: Well you'll need a husband
8 year old: I suppose, but it doesn't mean I have to like him.
Me: Don't you want kids ?
8 year old: KIDS ?! What needs that pain.
Me: Having babies doesn't hurt. That's just a rumor.
8 year old: I'm not talking about THAT ! I mean just having to hear all the whining.

8 year old: When I have a farm I'm going to be friends with all of the animals
Me: Well I wouldn't get too friendly
8 year old: Why ?
Me: Well if you have a farm, sooner or later your going to have to eat something or sell something.
8 year old: Well that's going to be awkward.
Me: Well that's how it is.
( long pause while she's thinking)
8 year old: OK. I got it.
Me: what's that ?
8 year old: I'm just going to have to lie to the chickens.

OK, I admit...its me

2010-10-15T08:38:00.002-04:00

After 9 straight days of people completely losing their shit in my presence, I'm going to go ahead and concede that its my fault.

I don't know why, or how, or what I'm doing, but pretty much every day for about two weeks somebody has started screaming or crying and/or threatened to kick my ass.

And no matter how nice I try to be it only makes me more of a hostility magnet.

I'm going to try whistling this all day and see if that helps.

Thanks Chad Martin

2010-10-07T12:05:00.001-04:00

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

The UCI is great

2010-10-05T16:01:00.002-04:00

The UCI is going to regulate rider's agents.

After this maybe they can go after the big littering problem in Compton.

One year

2010-09-27T10:34:00.002-04:00

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary when I gave up on being fit.

I was overtrained, overworked, overcooked.

I didn't make a conscious effort to go totally into the tank. I had planned on taking one month off, but true to two laws of physics;

* An object at rest, stays at rest...etc etc
* and I've never done anything in moderation

one month turned into one year.

The results.....

* 26.5 lbs weight gain
* all new shirts because "fitted shirt" actually means fitted and I now have a much fatter neck.
* two inches in the waistline, at least, resulting in one popped button (so far) and one new belt.

There are also a slew of side effects such as soreness, not being able to touch my toes, and the like...the worst of which is no longer being able to dunk on the house front hoop and reminded of it daily by my 10 year old son.

So we'll see if we can turn the boat around. I'm not hopeful, but I'm definitely not hopeless. To those ends...

Day 1.

Slash Story

2010-08-24T13:53:00.000-04:00

JOHN P. "HAPPY JACK" CONNOLLY

2010-08-17T10:02:00.001-04:00

JOHN P. "HAPPY JACK" CONNOLLY

AGE: 85 EDISON

John P. "Happy Jack" Connolly, 85, of Edison, completed his journey on earth peacefully with his wife at his side on Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. He left in his wake legacies that will live on for generations to come.

Born in Scotland, he came to the U.S., living in New Brunswick before moving to Edison 60 years ago. John was employed as senior supervisor at Bristol Myers Squibb for 36 years, retiring in 1982, then superintendent of sanitation for Edison Township for eight years, retiring in 1990.

He was an Army veteran of World War II, serving with the Army's 501st Parachute Regiment in the Pacific, European and African Theaters and was a recipient of the Bronze Medal.

Jack was a communicant and founding father of St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church, Edison for 50 years and a member of the Matt Talbot #66 Retreat Group.

He was a Democratic committeeman in Edison for 25 years, and a member of the Executive Board, a member of the Democratic Organization Zoning Board and various other committees.

Happy Jack managed and coached for the Midtown Little League in Edison, a member of Knights of Columbus 4885, 4th Degree in Edison, and was a friend of Bill W. for 23 years.

Jack was predeceased by his first wife, Gertrude, in 1962; his second wife, Victoria, in 1984; and a son, John J., in 2005. He is survived by his beloved and devoted wife of eight years, Marie Wieder Connolly; his loving children and their spouses, Ginny Connolly-Manhardt and her husband Andrew of Sanford, N.C., and Barbara Laudien and her husband Harold of Fairless Hills, Pa.; six grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Relatives and friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18 at Boylan Funeral Home, 10 Wooding Ave., Edison. Funeral services will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 19 from the funeral home, followed by a 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Matthew's R.C. Church, Edison. Burial will be in Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Arneytown. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Happy Jack to a charity of your choice would be appreciated.

great story

2010-08-16T21:13:00.001-04:00

I bow to the king

2010-08-10T10:58:00.003-04:00

Any other freak-out chronicled on this blog pales in comparison.

Flight Attendant Slater: A Real American Hero

......

The argument began when one of the 100 passengers on the flight, got up early to get her luggage from an overhead compartment, according to sources. Slater told the passenger to sit back down -- but, as he approached, the woman continued to pull her belongings down and struck him in the head with her bag, authorities said.

Slater asked for an apology but the woman cursed him out, saying in effect "go f--k yourself" and calling him a "mo-fo," according to law enforcement sources who are still sorting out the specifics. Then Slater got on the flight's announcement system and allegedly cursed out everyone on the plane -- especially the person who mouthed off to him, according to law enforcement sources.

When his tirade was through, he then took a some beers from the galley and pulled the emergency chute and slid off the Embraer 190 plane. According to police sources, he threw his luggage down first and said something to the effect of "there goes 28 years," before he took the plunge.

After getting down the slide, Slater took off into the terminal, law-enforcement sources said.

The steward was "having a bad day," sources said.

Slater was later arrested at his home in Belle Harbor by Port Authority officials. Police sources said that when authorities found Slater he seemed to be in the midst having sexual relations.

so funny

2010-08-06T15:44:00.001-04:00

http://foxbert.com/upload/a/a9/Howard_Stern_-_Joe_Rogan_-_Weightlifters.mp3

Mr. Sensitive

2010-08-04T14:37:00.004-04:00

PennDot's reputation of being unreasonable is well earned in my experience.

My relationship with them reached an all time low when their temporary summer pothole patching crew mistakenly filled in every one of our manholes covers....and then PennDot asked that I submit a road opening permit to dig them back out. In that case, I appreciated a coworker talking me out of returning the application after using it for the same purposed as toilet tissue.

So this afternoon I got a call from a PennDot contractor telling me that there was a situation he was "concerned about". The concern was that there was a wheelchair ramp close to two storm water inlets and next to some stairs leading up to a local bar.

My question, naturally, was " what do you mean concern ? The ramp is either in violation or not in violation of the regulations ?"

He replied, " Well I can repair the road without addressing the concern, but while we have it all dug up I think its probably a good idea that guys have us fix up the corner. "

" Well then go ahead and fix it up", I said.

" I'd like to do that, but its outside of the scope of work. I can do it, but its going to cost you a couple of extra dollars.", he replied.

Then I got irritated, " Yeah I bet it will. You know I'm sick of this stuff. You guys always coming around and forcing us to comply with ridiculous regulations. I'm all for accessibility, but enough is enough. Can you or can you NOT get the ramp and the landing in ?"

" Yeah. I mean we can get the ramp and landing in, but then then the person is going to be...."

I interrupted, " Ok then you can get the ramp in. Then put the ramp in, do what's on the work order and that's in. I'm not going to be nickle and dimed to death on this job."

The guy tried again, " I don't think you understand. The stairs are right there near.."

I interrupted again, " yeah...yeah...yeah...so some fat guy in his rascal is coming home from WalMart there and he's gotta cross the street and its narrow right ? So his cart bumps the stairs, big deal, he has to back up and go around. That's for the offer..I'm not interested.

" Um...ok....would it be ok if I sent you a picture ?", he asked.

" Sure."

I'm sure that the guy thought I was a total douchebag. Meanwhile I thought I won one for the good guys. That is...until 10 minutes later when I got this....

AH...apparently stairs go both up AND down.

and apparently, I'm an asshole.

good points

2010-07-30T10:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.theservicecourse.com/2010/07/raceable-moments.html

# Speaking of jerseys, what of the great RadioShack wardrobe tragedy? Frankly, I wouldn’t shed too many a tear for them – contrary to appearances, I suspect the whole thing went off exactly as it was intended. If TRS really was counting on wearing the jerseys, they would have requested UCI approval, and given the stated nature of the effort, I bet they would have received it. But they didn’t take that step, choosing instead to go the six-year-old route and get more attention by acting out. With that, they also got the added bonus of getting to look persecuted one more time for the general audience.

I found it all pretty distasteful, and not because I’m a stickler for the uniform rules. Armstrong’s previous teams wore modified uniforms onto the Champs Elysees all the time, and nobody, me included, cared a bit. I didn’t care then because they’d earned the media spotlight by winning the race, so in my mind, they were welcome to do with that Champs Elysees spotlight as they pleased, whether that was pushing Livestrong or whatever else their sponsors wanted or allowed. But this year, the spotlight wasn’t theirs to bask in, but they tried to point it at themselves anyway, when it should have been shining squarely on Contador, Schleck, Chartreau, and Petacchi. They know it, we know it.

Finally, the whole affair kept 161 other guys - who just wanted to get the hell to Paris and be done with the whole damn thing - waiting while they huffed around with faux offense and fumbled with safety pins. That’s just rude.

# And yes, it will sound callous, but I’m tired of cycling being the cancer sport. And yes, I say that as someone who has the obligatory family history. But I’m not going to recite that history here as some love to do in such discussions, because validity of opinions on the matter shouldn’t be decided on some chest-puffing “who’s more cancer” contest.

1976

2010-07-28T12:33:00.001-04:00

What's he saying

2010-06-09T17:32:00.003-04:00

Pat McQuaid:

" We're not trying to hide anything and we're not avoiding the issue but all this raking up the past is not doing the sport any good."

"There's something going on in the row between Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. It's being fueled by LeMond helping Landis and by information being fed to the media. That's completely unfair and we should let the authorities do what they have to do. The sport of cycling has changed massively since 2006 and moved on. Young riders deserve our support and shouldn't have to compete under all this suspicion."

How can this be viewed as anything other than an admission of widespread doping in 2005 and prior.

Coincidentally (?) 2005 was the year that two of the biggest names retired...Mario Cippolini and Lance Armstrong.

And Lemond..who lost his bike company, and Landis...who lives in a shack is unemployed teaming up against a guy who make 35 million year, is one of the top 3 recognized international athletes, and who runs a $150 million dollar bio-med research firm is "unfair". HA !

untitled

2010-06-09T11:19:00.002-04:00

Come on now

2010-05-28T15:08:00.002-04:00

If you want to understand the institutional nature of doping, you need to look no further than USA Cycling.

In 1984 Olympics the American cycling team was found to be participating in blood doping similar to what Landis is accusing 26 years later.

The first question you might ask is didn't we learn our lesson ? Perhaps the better observation is maybe we learned the wrong lesson.

The key folks who fought against the blood boosting in 1984 included David Prouty, Dr. Thom Dickenson, and Rob Lea. The end result of the controversy was that all three ended their tenure with the highest levels of the sport.

Conversely, many of the names implicated as being participants in the scandal went on to become leaders within the sport and the federation.

Pat McDonough went on to be, of all things, the USA Cycling Athletics Director.

Eddie B left the federation and started Lance Armstrong's first professional team Subaru Montgomery, which later became the US Postal Team.

Dr. Ed Burke went on to be a doctor with the USCF and an influence on Lance's coach Chris Charmichael

Danny Van Haute is the director of the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team

Mike Fraysee received an award from the UCI for his service, served as the VP of Pan Am cycling, and served as Joe Papp's director and patron.

Dr. Falsetti - who was brought in to do the transfusions served as a medical adviser to the US Postal Cycling Team and continue working with elite athletes.

Bahati

2010-05-28T11:50:00.002-04:00

The fact that they signed Landis in the first place, and with Nathan O'Neill on the team and Rick Crawford as director, its really silly for the Bahati Foundation Team portray themselves as having any moral credibility.

I'm hardly a Landis apologist, but they're just as broke as unsupported now as they were before Landis joined the team. Blaming him for their troubles is a weak excuse.

Best Floyd Piece So Far

2010-05-25T13:07:00.001-04:00

Bonnie Ford, ESPN

Lewis Black is one funny dude.

2010-05-13T12:41:00.000-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Back in Black - Glenn Beck's Nazi Tourette's

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

One Bad-Ass Nerd

2010-05-12T11:54:00.001-04:00

Watch the blonde girl in the black dress fall madly in love

what he said

2010-05-05T15:20:00.001-04:00

By request - Hot Dog Update.

2010-05-05T11:10:00.002-04:00

april 27th - 15, 393, 405
april 28th - 9, 402, 420
april 29th - 25, 427, 435
april 30th - 23, 450, 450

48 in last 2 days....

Winner winner hot dog dinner.

Commemorated with this...

Don't Tase Me Bro !

2010-05-04T12:52:00.003-04:00

With THIS SORT of parental influence, I can't imagine how the kid could have gone wrong.

Turkey Hill Observations

2010-05-02T16:55:00.003-04:00

Turkey Hill has been around 11 years in its current incarnation and we did it a couple of years as a stand alone event. But I think this year's event marked a transitional change for cycling in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The breakaway of 6 riders at yesterdays race was comprised of 5 riders under 25 years old, with the winner, Jackie Simes at 21 years old. And the money spots were devoid of past winners and THCC regulars. ( See Laudien Power Rankings for further evidence of the youth movement )

Its a bittersweet feeling to see these young guys making their way into the standings. The sweet being the fact that the sport continues to grow and cultivate talent for the future. Bitter in realization ( or admitting) that father time has finally had its way with us, and the Trdinas, Millers, Blacks, and sooner or later the Kincaids of the world are going to have to step aside for this youth movement and the take their show to the masters race.

I watched the last 6 laps of the race from the wheel truck and at as good as these young guys are, it apparent that they lack tactical experience. For 30+ miles 5 of the breakaway riders let Mike Chauner sit on without taking a real pull. They didn't harass him, or attack him or anything. They just let him sit back there getting a free ride to the finish.

Now perhaps Chauner promised that he wouldn't sprint, or said that he was tired, or whatever...that's not really relevant. Even the road worker, who watches exactly one bike race a year, said to me...they really don't think he's not going to sprint past him at the end. Ethics or character aside. If you let a guy sit on your for 30+ miles and then don't get rid of him...that on you.

Post race, I realized that the problem is that those guys have no idea how to deal with a guy sitting on. When that happens there are a few approaches that work.

The first is that you just sit up and get caught. Yesterday I wouldn't have considered that an option. It was a good group, Kelly was controlling the field, and that threat wouldn't have bothers Chauner...his chances are pretty good in a sprint as well.

There's the option of attacking him. The two teammates ( forgive me I don't have names since the results aren't up) in the break did that...finally. But after a guy sits on for the last 5 laps while you've been pulling your ass off, its unlikely that an attack or two in the last 3 miles is going to do anything except tire yourself out. Chauner just rode tempo from the river to the finish and neutralized all of the attacks.

The third option is what that should have done and that is take him off the back. for anyone who grew up in a club system or watched classics pre-EPO its a standard tactic. But in modern cycling its gone the way of echelon riding....a lost art. Simply what the guys should have done is every time one of them came to the back of the line and Chauner didn't pull through, they should have let a gap form to the back of the breakaway. Once the gap got to 30 yards, they should sprint back to the back of the break. Then the next rider does the same thing. After a half dozen rotations, everyone will have to put in one extra hard sprint, but over that same period the rider sitting on would have to put on 5 extra hard efforts. In very short order, the offending rider will realize that its just a lot easier to rotate through.

Anyway, congrats to the riders, and hats off to Turkey Hill and the race organizers for a superbly run, successful event.

hot dog update

2010-04-28T14:17:00.000-04:00

I ate 4 hot dogs around 4 am after drinking a little bit tonight. My total is at 397 which = 53 more to go in the next 3 days.

Hot Dog !

2010-04-26T11:24:00.001-04:00

In the poker forums I guy bet $1000 to win $1500 that he could eat 450 hot dogs in the month of April.

hot dog consumption, day-by-day status

date/amount/total/ED

april 1st - 17, 17, 15
april 2nd - 18, 35, 30
april 3rd - 15, 50, 45
april 4th - 13, 63, 60
april 5th - 14, 77, 75
april 6th - 13.5, 90.5, 90
april 7th - 13.5, 104, 105
april 8th - 12, 116, 120
april 9th - 15, 131, 135
april 10th - 12, 143, 150
april 11th - 17, 160, 165
april 12th - 11, 171, 180
april 13th - 10, 181, 195
april 14th - 19, 200, 210
april 15th - 8, 208, 225
april 16th - 14, 222, 240
april 17th - 17, 239, 255
april 18th - 18, 257, 270
april 19th - 18, 275, 285
april 20th - 16, 291, 300
april 21st - 6, 297, 315
april 22nd - 16, 309, 330
april 23rd - 19, 328, 345
april 24th - 18, 346, 360
april 25th - 9, 355, 375

he has had 11 on april 26th already, which is solid.

4.5 day and 84 to go. Should be close.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/hot-dog-prop-bet-april-1st-30th-749434/

Totally Awesome

2010-04-19T21:02:00.002-04:00

Sunday's golf

2010-04-19T13:56:00.002-04:00

You may have heard this:

Something seemed very wrong when Brian Davis of England summoned a rules official immediately after hitting his pitch from the hazard near Calibogue Sound in Sunday’s playoff with Jim Furyk for the Verizon Heritage title. Actually, something was very right.

As most of the golf world knows by now, Davis called a two-stroke penalty on himself that cost him the tournament.

He had ever-so-slightly nicked a reed during his backswing while trying to recover from the beach left of the 18th green. Barely moved it. To the naked eye, it was almost invisible. But not to Davis, who was pretty sure he knew what had happened and who called Slugger White of the PGA Tour over to verify his judgment.

While the self-imposed penalty is notable, the truth is that even without the penalty Furyk was likely to win. Davis' shot sailed 25 feet past the hole and he was unlikely to make par anyway.

I thought that what may have been more interesting than the penalty was Davis' decision to play the shot from inside the hazard itself.

For those of you who didn't watch, here was the situation in a nutshell. Davis' shot hit the edge of the green, then rolled off the course and onto a sandy beach. Furyk was obliged to putt first and left his ball 6 feet from the hole and was likely carding a 4.

Davis had two choices:

1. Hit from the hazard...a wet sandy lie with no practice swing..or
2. Take a one stroke penalty and then try to chip/putt it from the green side grass maybe 15 feet from the hole.

From there it becomes (or should have become) an evaluation of percentages.

How many times can he chip it in from 15 feet( 35%)

vs

How many times can he hit up up and then make the putt - Which is a combination of; when he chips it to 10 feet ( 30% of the time) he'll make the putt 80% for a total of 24% PLUS when his chips between 10-20 (30%) he'll make the putt 40% for another 12$; and when he chips is more than 20 feet away (60%) he'll only make it 5% of the time, add 3% for a total of 24 + 12 + 3 = 39% of the time he'll score a 2.

As 39% is higher than 35%, he should play it from the hazard.

Of course I'm making all of those numbers up. But the point is that there's a non-intuitive process by which you can ( and perhaps should) make decisions. Many of those decisions occur in your every day life.

That's the foundation of applied game theory, and also the genesis behind a pretty cool book that I've added to my birthday wish list.

DUCY? Exploits, Advice, and Ideas of the Renowned Strategist by David Sklansy
(DUCY is for Do You See Why)

My new two favorite riders

2010-04-13T16:02:00.002-04:00

This guys crack me up.

Rahsaan Bahati is a ninja

2010-04-12T13:18:00.003-04:00

Rahsaan Bahati (Bahati Foundation), who was involved in the pile-up, was seen throwing his sunglasses at a rider in the group while standing in the road at the start of the penultimate lap. Bahati¹s glasses caught Andrew Pinfold’s (UnitedHealthcare) front wheel, ripping off his computer receiver.... the computer receiver lodged in his front wheel, slowing Pinfold enough for the Jamis tandem, Cantwell in tow, to surge past on the left side of the road.

If you can render an otherwise fully functional bicycle useless, by throwing your sunglasses at it while it speeds by at 30 mph, then your wasting your talents on bicycle racing.

@ 40 seconds

Run Jon Run !

2010-04-07T12:06:00.001-04:00

I am no longer the worst dancer in the world

whatya expect

2010-04-07T09:55:00.001-04:00

when you buy your intralipid off the internet.

Chrome Shoes

2010-04-06T15:51:00.002-04:00

I participated in this....very cool.

Hats of...actually shoes off to Chrome Shoes.

Turds for Gold Results !

What's an expression greater than "WTF?!?!"

2010-03-30T09:10:00.001-04:00

I've been having weird dreams lately

2010-03-26T08:37:00.001-04:00

cycling tip of the day

2010-03-25T15:04:00.003-04:00

Which was the is wind blowing ?

I love to ask that question to new riders.

If you ask a beginner it takes about 15 seconds for them to think about where it's coming from. If you ask an experienced rider the answer will be immediate...and usually by pointing. I always know where the wind is coming from....even when I'm indoors. But I might be a special case...I hate the friggin' wind in the way that people who have been attacked by dogs don't cry at the end of Ol'Yeller.

If you're a new rider, the first thing you should do is take notice of which direction the wind is blowing, and continue to reassess the direction as conditions change. Sometimes, especially in a pack, the direction will not always be obvious, but I've found that if you look hard enough you can always find cues from things such as flags in peoples yards, smoke from smokestacks, and which way the crops are leaning.

Once you've determined where the wind is, be sure to be on the opposite side of the field from it. Seems obvious enough right ? Often you're better off being further back in the pack and on the good side, than all the way up on the bad side.

When you get to a corner, many times your position relative to the wind will shift. You'll go from wind at your front left over to your back right. Use the accordion effect of the corner to switch your position from one side of the pack to the other. Anticipating these changes in advance of the corner will allow you to save energy and make an easy transition.

Be absolutely sure which was the wind is blowing at the finish. The rule of thumb I used to give juniors I coached was the ride backwards from the finish line in your 53x13 for 65 pedal revolutions and look for some landmark to start your sprint. Add or substract two revolutions for every 1MPH of wind you estimate and start your sprint from that spot.

5 day stocks

2010-03-24T08:51:00.001-04:00

insurance industry

big pharma

Mailbag

2010-03-24T08:35:00.002-04:00

To PT Paul's comment

I know nothing about the health care bill.

I will, however, bet $100 on the fact that the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies will directly benefit from the bill.

The screaming about socialism and death panels, or whatever they're yelling about, is always a smokescreen to keep you from paying attention to what's really going on. And whats always really going on is that big business is securing their place in the world.

Don't worry about insurance companies. If anything you should start buying their stock.

Regarding tactics in training races from earlier in the week

If the team actually raced well on the weekends, then not practicing tactics on Wed. would make sense. But when you have the biggest team and a bunch of good riders, and you can't get a top 3 after May 1st, then something is fundamentally wrong.

College basketball teams don't practice for the tournament by only jacking up three pointers all day.

If half of the GS team raced in last years jersey, half in this years jersey, and everyone treated it like a real race, then it would be a lot of fun, a lot more interesting, and no less hard than it is now. I'd content that if you got some attacking, counter attacking and real chasing then the racing would be harder. Riding around at 26 mph like a giant herd really isn't doing anyone except the (same) 5 guys on the front any good.

The whole " its only a training race thing" is a total cop out for guys who either don't know how to race, who are TWHs*, or are disguising their own ambitions.

Word.

* TWH - Tailwind Heros. The guys who sit in for 3 laps, then when a break goes and there's a pause, they go to the front in the tailwind section and sprint as hard as the can for 26 seconds. I spend most of the night with Jukebox Hero playing in my head but coming up with new words. I'm up to like 37 verses.

NOT about the health care plan

2010-03-22T20:20:00.002-04:00

As stated earlier, I don't know anything about the health care plan other than anything that involves this much yelling can only mean that someone has found a new way to screw all of us and now its a mad dash to get to the front of the gang bang train.

So I find it a funny coincidence that I had the following happen to me today.

We'll start last year when my wife started taking Rozeru\em. Rozerem is a mild, no addiictive, no narcotic, sleep aid. Other than Tylenol PM, its about the most benign sleep drug you can get. Fortunately, it worked really well on my wife.

We switched insurance companies and they said, "Rozerem only works on 25% of patients so you have to try Lunesta first". Despite explaining to them that we already knew she was one of the 25% they were unyielding and switched her to the more intense narcotic.

Lets fast forward a year and I've asked for Lunesta. I got a sample from the doctor and tried it a couple of times over the last 3 months. Its not something I'd regularly take, but at stressful times when I can't sleep I've taken one and it helps. So I called the doc and he prescribed me a low dose version.

I just got back from the Pharmacy. The insurance company says that the Lunesta is expensive and they have a better deal for themselves for Ambien. Ambien is a total ass kicker of a drug. Its the stuff that you hear about people sleep driving on....yeah driving while asleep.

I protested and said, " I don't want any kick ass shit, I just want the lowest dose Lunesta please."

Nope. It either have to take most potent stuff out there. That's sort of messed up.

A peak behind the curtain

2010-03-22T15:19:00.003-04:00

Neil Brown, cycling journalist ( and Landis apologist), was on the Spokesman Roundtable last week when the Kornheiser/Armstrong issue came up.

Brown wasn't upset about Kornheiser about what T.K. said. He was mad that T.K. scooped the interview.

Brown stated that he and Road Magazine had spend the year purposely not printing anything inflammatory about Astana so that they could get an interview with Lance Armstrong. In the end, and after having to wait an additional three weeks after scheduling it, all their silence bought them was one brief interview.

He was complaining that Kornheiser didn't play according to the Lance rules but still got an interview, and in three days even ! The horror the horror!

It was weirdly refreshing to hear someone finally admit how "journalism" really works.

an interesting quote

2010-03-22T07:18:00.003-04:00

I had been on a self prescribe all news (except sports) blackout for the last two weeks. I came out of it this morning to see this:

From Hillary Clinton

"As Israel's friend, it is our responsibility to give credit when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed," she said in a text of her speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that was released by the State Department.

I would be awesome to know when truth was needed.

Did you see the missionaries who were arrested in Haiti...
1) were taking kids that weren't orphans it turns out, and
2) hired a lawyer or was arrested on Friday on outstanding warrants. He's a fugitive for stealing children in El Salvador, the US, and Canada for sexual purposes.

I've seen my shadow and I'm going back into my hole. If anyone sees and important news please send me a link.

FWIW

2010-03-19T08:53:00.002-04:00

Dear new riders,

I'd like to save you some time and effort. If the fastest you can go when you're time trialing is 22 mph, and the group you're riding in is going 23 mph, you will not be successful in your attempt at a solo breakaway. This is not an attempt to insult your abilities or desire. Its what we in the business refer to as "simple math".

I may have ridden around the Tuesday night course ( what some of you people refer to was Wednesday Worlds) more than any other human being. This will be my 20th year riding there, plus I used to to intervals over there up to two times a week for about 5 years. There have been times when I've been under a great deal of stress where I break out of some trace and find myself driving my car around the that loop for comfort, like a baby and his woobie. Ok that's not true, I'm just saying that I'm familiar with the route.

The A group goes around that loop on average around 8 minute laps. That's 24.75 mph. The fastest lap I've even done it solo, in training, is 7:50 and that was 1 lap, fresh and with aero bars. So I long ago recognized that a solo effort is obviously impossible. Seeing as the final lap is typically the fastest, you'd really need to be able to ride about a 7:30 ( 26.4) to 7:45 (25.6) final lap in order to hold off the group. For perspective, that would be a 57:30 40KM TT.

Based on the last two years time trial results, the only local riders who would come close to being able to do that would be (in order) Clayton Barrows, Mike Whitaker, Brian Trdina, and Steve May. If you don't see your name on that list, then your chances are grim.

Of course a collective effort is a different story all together. If you can get three or more guys working together then you have a shot. But even that combination needs a few things.
* All the guys still need to be able to roll it pretty damn fast ( 25+)
* All the guys need to actually commit to riding without screwing around
* All the guys need to have some rudimentary idea of how to paceline without accelerating too quickly or pulling off to the wrong side.

Oh yeah, the break cannot have a Spinners/GS Lancaster presented by Thru-It-All(tm) rider in it. The only thing that makes that team chase a breakaway faster is if it has one of its own teammates in it.

So to recap; If you want to win Wednesday Worlds, either
A)be Brian Trdina or
B)wait for the sprint and hope Shebelsky gets a flat.

My head is going to assplode

2010-03-16T21:50:00.003-04:00

I was attempting to do some recording over Skype to put together some lame podcast of an idea that I have. Almost an hour later, between software downloads, reboots, and tutorials, I'm not a hell of a lot further than when I started.

And that doesn't count the 40 minutes of rooting around to find my new earphones and microphone, both of which are still lost. And the 15 minutes of apologizing to my family after accusing the of hiding my stuff so that I'd freak out and have a stroke and then they could collect the life insurance money on me.

My apology was reluctantly accepted, but only because the youngest girls started asking if we really got money if Daddy died and would it be enough to get a pony, and that sort of spooked everyone out.

So if anyone has any experience which podcasting or skype recording please contact me and try and save me and my family additional anguish.

Dunno why, but this cracks me up

2010-03-16T13:31:00.003-04:00

The teeth sprout into sharp thrusting daggers, the hair grows dark and bristled, and marauding packs search the night for victims to devour.

Sounds like a spooky Halloween story, but it isn't werewolves that are tearing up farmland in parts of Central Pennsylvania. Last week the Pennsylvania Game Commission rescinded protection on wild, breeding populations of feral swine in Butler, Bedford and Cambria counties.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08307/924722-358.stm#ixzz0iMUn74Qs

BAGELS !

2010-03-15T11:13:00.002-04:00

I made bagels with the girls over the weekend. A messy process...which means fun !

Had a couple of the bagels for breakfast this morning and they were delicious. Thanks Steevo for the suggestions.

The boy played great in hoops on Saturday, the oldest girl finished third in a 5km on Sunday, and the youngest made it a whole weekend without starting a dumpster fire. It was a good weekend all around.

Newmax reads my blog

2010-03-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

http://newsmax.com/US/US-Runaway-Prius/2010/03/12/id/352540
Runaway Prius Case Presents Nagging Questions
Friday, 12 Mar 2010 09:11 PM
Article Font Size

Investigators are confronted with a series of nagging questions as they try to unravel the case of a California real estate agent who said his Toyota Prius turned into a runaway death trap after the gas pedal became stuck.

Why didn't the driver simply throw the transmission into neutral as officers urged him to do? Why didn't a safety mechanism activate that was supposed to cut power to the engine in such situations? And could he have made the story up in pursuit of fame and money?

Each question is getting scrutiny from the Internet-consuming public as they question the motives of the driver, a 61-year-old real estate agent named James Sikes. Some skeptics have even invoked the infamous "balloon boy hoax" in expressing doubts about the story.

No evidence has emerged to suggest that Sikes was dishonest when he called 911 on Monday to report that the accelerator of his 2008 Prius was jammed during a trip home from his lawyer's office.

Why I don't play chess anymore

2010-03-12T10:24:00.001-05:00

Right around 2000 I started playing a lot of chess. I was learning quite a bit and getting better week to week. My enthusiasm was high and my results exceeded my expectations.

Then I played two of the best games I've ever played..... and lost both of them.

The first was a 5 hour game that came down, literally, to one pawn being one single square ahead after all the other pieces were gone. The second game was in the final round of a tournament where I had the game won and made a stupid simple mistake that turned my win into a draw.

After that I was done. It became impossible for me to go deep. Believe it or not, chess is exhausting. Playing at a certain level (for chess the 1600 level is equivalent to being a good cat 3 in cycling ) means a fair amount of studying and practice, and then relentless concentration for 2-5 hours for a game. To win is euphoric, to commit for that long and then lose is shattering.

If you don't believe my, go back through the archives and read about Omar the chessmaster.

The reason I bring this up is because I'm sitting here watching today's stage of Paris-Nice and very much missing cycling. I really enjoy the sport, especially in the spring. When I rode I liked the comradare, I enjoyed the competition, and I enjoyed the benefits of being super fit.

But I've come to accept that I can't go deep.

I realized that I'm on the other side of things. I'm like your favorite sitcom that introduces a new baby to the cast....at that point you know the best days have past. When I was 29 I was the fittest I ever was. About 5 years ago or so, despite new challenges, I got pretty close to that fitness. In both cases, all that work, all that sacrifice, got me to the point where I had the best seat in the house to watch the real bike racers actually race....but never did I feel like I could much of anything other than follow wheels to a result of "also-ran".

The rain, the cold, the wind...the goddamn wind - its just too much to bear, for too little. To guys who can do it, more power to them. I'm jealous. I wish I was out there with you. But the tank is empty. I'm done.

Calling Bullshit

2010-03-09T21:03:00.000-05:00

I'm calling bullshit on the "Prius out of control" article appearing in the news today. It smells a lot like the balloon boy.

Landis signs with the Bahati Foundation. At least Nathan O'Neill will have someone to room with.

Watching Being John Daly right now. God I hope that guy wins at least one more tournament. Daly is one of those rare guys who doesn't know any better than to be honest.If he doesn't catch a break this time around I can't imaging there's much of a plan B. Its like watching Mike Tyson all over again. Go John.

55 degrees today. Golf can't be too far off.

Brilliant

2010-03-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

rare cycling post

2010-03-05T08:38:00.002-05:00

I really don't like to write about cycling because its like talking about an ex-girlfriend with whom you've had a bad break-up.

I loved cycling. From about 1987 - 2004 I lived cycling. Cycling has directly affected where I lived, who my friends are, what jobs I've had, and who I am. The sport has provided me with experiences that I'll always cherish.

But in the end the sport has left disappointed. Betrayed.

At the risk of overusing the analogy, I lived through the 90's like a guy who knows deep down knows his girl is cheating, but just pretends not to notice. I saw Indurain break the 50km barrier for time trials and chalked it up to his unusual size, I saw Berzin go from the track to winning the Giro wire-to-wire and credited it to "modern training techniques", and saw Mapei and Areostea finish 1-2-3 in classics and attributed it to great teamwork.

When the Festina Affair happened it was really a relief. Willy Voet getting caught finally gave us all a chance to stop the charade and really admit what we already knew. And it was a real chance for everyone in the cycling community to make a commitment to put the transgressions of the past behind us and move forward with a fresh start. As far as I'm concerned, anyone doping before 1999 has a free pass.

But sadly and predictably 1998 was a missed opportunity.

Maybe things cleaned up a little, but it was only a year later that Pantani disappointed everyone. Then came the Giro raids. And once I saw US Postal putting 8 guys on the front of the field, all day, over the same Alpine passes that had decimated the likes of Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond only a decade before, I know that nothing had changed.

But I'm a fool and I'll admit it....a hopeless romantic.

So when Lance retired I thought we stood at those crossroads again. I thought, " here's a chance for change". Tyler was behind us. Spain had their own Festina in Operation Puerto and finally the ( IMO) the epitome of the problem...the transgressor made hero, the cycling version of Iraqi WMDs...was leaving the sport.

And when I sat an watched Floyd, the anti-Lance, win stage 17 I believed. I BELIEVED. Here was a regular guy, one of us, from my hometown even !!! A guy who had the balls to tell Lance to fuck off. A guy who spoke from his gut instead of through a press agent, who was more likely to have a beer with you than have a bodyguard.

For me, and for many of us, stage 17 was everything that made up fall in love with cycling in the first place. Stage 17 was one man showing us what was possible in the human condition - proving to all of us that despite the seemingly impossible odds and challenges in our lives, that if we persevere, that if we sacrifice, that if we will ourselves that we can overcome. Against the heat, the mountains, the riders, the time deficit, against everything stacked against him Floyd Landis proved that we can exceed our limitations.

And Floyd Landis lied.

For me, and for a lot of cycling fans, that's the day the music died.

Everything that has followed with Floyd after that has only proven to drive that point home. He's lied about the drugs. He's pilfered from his friends and supporters for a phony defense based, not in his innocence, but in the technical merits of the process. He outted Greg LeMond as having been molested - when Greg's only offense was an offer of help.

So now when a warrant asking him appear as a witness in a hacking case is announced, it comes as no surprise that he twists the truth and lies about the matter. Its no surprise that his best defense is the same as his testosterone defense,

" I'm too smart to do something that I could be so easily caught doing"

Oh yeah Floyd ? If you're so fucking smart, then how do you explain you and Will Geoghegan drunk dialing Greg Lemond with the caller-ID on ?

With all that, I know that I can't get away from my nature. I still check in at cyclingnews.com almost daily. I can't help but watch Taylor Phinney and think what can be. And a little part of me still holds out hope that Landis wakes up one day and decides that having character is better than living a lie. Somewhere deep down I expect to wake up, open the paper, and find out that Landis has told EVERYTHING and is the champion who saves this sport.

Yeah, the flame of hope is a tiny ember, but its still in there. But that's me, a hopeless sap.

pre-emptive

2010-03-01T15:24:00.003-05:00

My boy had baseball tryouts this weekend for the 10 and under travel team.

He's clearly not the best kids there, and he's not the worst kid there. If I was being as objective as possibly I'd put him just inside the top 10. Either way it really doesn't matter.

There are 24 kids that will comprise a 12 player A team and a 12 player B team. If the boy makes the A squad he'll be one of the weaker players there, but the increased competition mean's he'll probably improve over the course of the season. If he makes the B squad he'll be one of the better players and more opportunities, which should improve his game.

He's 9 for christsake, either way he'll be just fine.

What made the experience notable for me were some of the fathers.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm an overbearing prick. My boy screws around and doesn't pay attention. When that happens I'm almost immediately on his shit. I'm sure that people think that makes me insane...I respect that. I also have take little issue with how other people raise their kids or manage them, provided that the result of their parenting doesn't directly affect me. Raise your kid how you want.

My problem/shock/surprise wasn't how the fathers were dealing with the kids, its how the parents were dealing with each other. Both Saturday and Sunday were like watching an episode of Survivor. There are fathers saddling up with other fathers, with the evaluators, and with the coaches in an attempt to influence the evaluation and selection process. There was talk about which fathers were sponsoring the league. There was positioning of wives in dinner parties and book clubs.

The whole thing was a couple tiaras shy of a beauty pageant.

And of course the real irony was that the parents doing the most positioning are the ones whose kids would be best served, athletically and behaviorally, by a little quality time with the old man. Then again I suppose that doesn't do much of the ego.

Dude Perfect

2010-02-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

My son turned me on to this...

So typical Flick

2010-02-26T13:42:00.004-05:00

The bike race/incentive program at the gym started 5 weeks ago and after my initial misstep I got off to a good start.

The event is 21 "races" comprised of 3 rides a week for 7 weeks. The rides differ in difficult and distance with most of the expresso courses being between 4 and 9 miles long.

There are about 40 people participating in the event. Of those 30 or so are normal rational people who view exercise has a healthy release. They show up, ride the bike for 15-30 minutes at a reasonable pace and enjoy the experience. The other five people are idiots. They ride as hard as they can, sweating all over everything and everyone, grunting, and making a total spectacle of themselves. As I was leading after two weeks, I suppose that makes me the king of the idiots.

I'm the new guy, an outsider, to the gym and by the third week I started getting the impression that the "insiders" really didn't appreciate me coming in and taking the lead in their contest. At first it wasn't anything definitive, just some mumbling and sidebar conversations. Then a few comments were made a little louder and in closer proximity to me...vague references, but enough to make me take notice. By the end of week three someone had etched "ringer" on my scoresheet...no smiley face either.

I showed up for the beginning of week 4 to do my ride and one of the regulars was suddenly and unexpectedly friendly to me. " How ya doing Flick ?" Then after exchanging some idle conversation he casually mentioned, " Did you notice that someone's beating you ?"

Sure enough I went over to the score book and there on page one was a name that hadn't previously been in the book, Bob Benson. And I looked over Bob Benson's times and they were almost identical to mine, but on a couple of the long events he had gone under me by 10-15 seconds.

"No worries", I thought. I had been riding at around 315 watts and knew that I could go a little harder if I needed to. That ride I buckled down and rode 320. Thursday I came in and the Bob Benson had ridden 4 second fast. With an audience of insiders keeping watch from in the shadows I hopped on the bike, buried myself with a 325. When I came in on Saturday, Benson had gone 10 second fast again.

Now I was getting, as I'm apt to get, a little paranoid. I googled Bob Benson. Nothing. Bob Benson cycling. nothing. Bob Benson triathlon. Zilch. Bob Benson running. Nada. The guy was a ghost.

So I started wondering...maybe these bastards just made up Bob Benson, and they're just waiting for me to put in my time, then they're writing in a time just slightly fast than mine just to mess with me. Just to crack me. If that's what they were doing, I was going to be pissed...although I'd be equally impressed because if their goal was to crack me it was starting to work.

Saturday I pounded out 330 watts, almost shitting my pants in the process. When I came in on Tuesday, I'd been beaten by 40 seconds !!!

It was more than I could take. From Sunday afternoon through Thursday morning I stopped in the gym before work and after work looking for the so called Bob Benson. No matter when I went in, day or night, no such guy. When I posted my time on Tuesday ( 324 watts) his time was posted first thing Wednesday morning....5 second faster.

Which brings up to last night's ride. I showed up and most of them were there. All the sneaky, conniving, devious little bastards. All smiles and "how ya doing". Congratulating me on my improvement of the last two weeks. I KNEW what they were up to and I wasn't going to have any of it. I pretty much insinuated that I knew that Bob Benson was a ghost, just there to fuck with me, and that whoever was up to is was risking life and limb cause " the whole contest was killing me and if it came right down to it, I was taking as many other people as I could down with me !"

Even I'm not sure what they hell I was talking about, but the rant did succeed freaking everyone out enough to clearing the room.

I used my anger to good use, trying to break the 335 barrier. I made it about 4 of the 7 miles at 340 and then the wheels started coming off. The last two miles were pure hell. I was up out of the saddle, grunting and trying not to vomit and came limping across the line at a 323 watt average.

I was laying across the handlebars with my chest heaving....a defeated lump of a man....muttering and swearing about those bastards and their little game when a guy climbed on the bike next to me. " Wow, good effort !!!! 323 Watts average is huge...you must be Flick, right ?"

" Thanks...and yeah I'm Flick", I got out between gasps.

" Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Bob Benson"

Dear Tiger

2010-02-20T07:37:00.002-05:00

Unless you banged my wife or sister, I'm fairly certain that you don't owe me an apology.

If you miss the Master and US Open and I have to spend an entire season watching Phil Michaelson's man boobs THEN you're going to own me an apology.

Just go golf.

the guy who flew the plane into the IRS building was crazy right ?

2010-02-18T16:26:00.002-05:00

He sure writes pretty well for a crazy person.

You can only poke people with the stick of fear...of H1N1, terrorism, economic collapse, of a secret Muslim/socialist president....before some of those people start to get pissed off.

Flying a plane into a building qualifies as pissed off.

Olympic Fun

2010-02-18T09:07:00.000-05:00

before you jump to judgement

2010-02-17T16:31:00.004-05:00

Its been announced that Joe Papp plead guilty to charges today.

I don't want to go into it except to say a couple of things.

1 - Wait until you hear more of the story before you draw any conclusions.

2 - I believe this action, from what I know, sets anti-doping BACK, not forward.

3 - The prosecuting Federal D.A. also announced TODAY, her candidacy for U.S. Congress.

This is also very interesting

Its not MY fault !

2010-02-16T09:46:00.002-05:00

"Landis said he didn't not know why the French judicial system was pursuing the hacking charges. "But certainly I hope it's not lost on anyone that it is a grand admission to having substandard computers at their self-proclaimed 'nation's best lab'."

Exactly!!!! And if she didn't want raped then she shouldn't have worn pants so easy to tear off !

I cannot fathom how both this guy and Tyler continue to have supporters, while Joe Papp and David Walsh continue to be hated. Then again Sarah Palin is a presidential candidate so I suppose anything is possible.

'snow problem whatsoever

2010-02-16T09:20:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to make the best out of the bad weather and found a little luck this weekend.

Friday night I took the kids to the Fire and Ice Festival in Lititz. They shut down the streets and have a giant block party. This included games, music, magicians, and guys making giant ice sculptures all around town. Saturday ( the fire part) was a big chili cook off. Lititz is a neat town, and its those type of creative community efforts that keep it a vibrant Borough in a County with many failing communities.

Saturday I did some cross county skiing for the first time at a local golf course. If was a good workout and a lot of fun. I borrowed some skis, but if I knew that we'd get snow with any sort of regularity, its an investment I'd make. The only catch was that the trail was set a little close to a golf driving range, so you had to be careful when getting close to the golfers.

Sunday I couldn't borrow the skis, so I went to the driving range and hit two buckets of balls at the skiers.

Yesterday the whole family went over to Ski Roundtop for a full day of skiing. The youngest finally found her balance which made the day perfect as we could all go to the top and we ended up staying a couple hours longer than expected. It started snowing during the last hour and a half and the conditions were absolutely perfect.

I got home last night with the expectation of showering, getting into bed early with my wife, and getting a good nights sleep. I was exhausted. Those plans were skuttled when my daughter started throwing up at 8 pm. She finished throwing up at 4 am. The joys of parenting.

I'm just grateful for 50 cent refills at Starbucks.

murder rate

2010-02-11T11:58:00.002-05:00

Whatever the murder rate of any community, I can't believe its that low.

There are a significant number of people walking around almost begging to to be shot.

For whatever reason, most of them seem to seek me out.

Dear Lance Sycophants

2010-02-04T14:50:00.002-05:00