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Sunday, June 14th, 2009
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11:54 am - Everybody loves a Zombie Car Wash
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I've been neglecting my LJ so here's a little zombie love. I should probably say less on facebook, since it's half full of my Monday morning crowd (coworkers).
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
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11:05 pm - What to do with the poo
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| Monday, December 1st, 2008
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9:38 pm - Who knew George Takei was a Breeder?
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We are adopting two new dogs: Mo and Lillie.
In looking at the pedigree of our new dog Mo, I looked at his father Dodgem by Design and noticed that his breeder was George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek for you people living in caves with no TV for the past 40 years).
I'm not completely sure if that is the same George Takei, but how common could that name be? Anways, we're very excited to have these two new members of our family.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
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12:08 pm - I leave work in an hour
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| Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
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10:56 pm - Swedish Dance Bands
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Kom Loss Me' Oss
Starring Andreas, the father of Cornelius from Planet of the Apes on lead vocals.
(update: I forgot to put the link in there)
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
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9:51 am - If you want to feel big and important...
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| Friday, November 21st, 2008
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10:04 pm - SF trip last weekend
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We went to San Francisco last week for a few days. Here's the brief overview:
Went there on a morning flight Thursday the 13th. We dumped our luggage off at the MonteCristo B and B to go eat at a late lunch / early dinner at Cafe Gratitude. From there, we went to Lush to load up on bath bombs. Walked around Cow Hollow (babies and doggies area) for a while mostly window shopping. Hills. Steep ones. Returned to Monte Cristo and Brindle took a bath.
Friday: We ate breakfast, then the rode bus standing (it was packed) and train out to Oakland to visit our friend Elsie. At some point, I sneezed or coughed and re-injured a recent rib injury, so certain movements or positions hurt like hell as well as taking a normal deep breath. Ate lunch at Golden Lotus downtown. Hung out with Elsie and had tea with her back at her place. We acquired a persimmon from the tree right outside her door. After getting back, we ordered take out from Khoon Chang's Thai. We went to the Legendary Pink Dots show at Cafe Du Nord. We went back to the B+B after the show.
Saturday: Slept like hell with seriously painful rib. Every sneeze cripples me with pain and my allergies were going and it hurt to breathe. We ate breakfast (including the yummy persimmon), rode the bus West to eat lunch at Patpong Thai on Clement near 24th. We walked about 8 blocks down to China Beach and had a very relaxing time playing in the cold surf. We ate dinner at Herbivore on Divisadero at Fell. Bath may have followed.
Sunday: Slept like hell again moreso than before. I got up at 6am in pain and couldn't sleep. I waited in bed trying to sleep a while, but eventually walked up to the store at 8:30 sneezing, coughing and hurting looking for the good drugs. I found some Tylenol and that magically fixed everything. No more pain problems. I ate breakfast and was later joined by Brindle, then rode a bus to Chinatown. We at at Lucky Creation vegetarian restaurant. We ate WAY too much food. Afterwards, shopped and bought various kitsch. We stopped before the heavy bellies started cramping too badly. We had dinner reservations at Millennium for their aphrodesiac dinner. By the end of that meal, we were both about to pop. Srsly. I sat in a chair holding my painfully full belly not wanting to enter a cab until I had to. We finally made back to the B+B and I crashed hard.
Monday, breakfast, then rented a car from City Rent A Car to drive down the coast line to Santa Cruz to visit friends. We ate near the campus there at Saturn Cafe. Burgers sucked but the sweet potato fries were good. We spent the afternoon hanging out with friends on the beach there. I rode a skateboard with sandals on and realized that skateboards are not the same as they used to be, nor am I. The ride back was after dark along the coast line (highway 1). We stopped off on the way back to walk on the beach at Half Moon Bay in the pitch blackness. My 120 lumen flashlight came in handy. After dropping off the rental car, we took a cab back to Lucky Creation in Chinatown for dinner. We ate much more conservatively that time. Later, while Brindle took a bath, I went on a walk around town. I like to walk around the city at night. It's cool to see what's still up and moving around midnight on a Monday night. Surprisingly, SF is quite active at that time.
Tuesday, breakfast, then we packed up to check out. After breakfast, my stomach didn't feel right. I thought it was something I ate or drank and didn't think much of it. It persisted, so I walked to a drug store a few blocks away for some pepto stuff. After chewing on a few pink pills, I got even more sick. I managed to pack stuff up and found myself too ill to go get lunch. While Brindle went to Herbivore for take out, I went back up to the room and managed to puke. That made me feel 100% better by the time she returned with food. I ate said food and felt fine for about 10 minutes. Our ride to the air port arrived and I wasn't doing so well. The ride to the airport sucked and I just about hurled in the car. As soon as we got there, I found a bathroom and tried but failed to hurl. After checking luggage but before making it through security, I succeeded in hurling again. This made me feel a little better, but left us with no time to spare making it onto the plane. We were the last people on. The flight back sucked with much heaving mid air. Thankfully, I slept through most of it. The loudest chatty cunts were in the seat behind us chatting it up at full volume the entire trip. I slept very fitfully in between bathroom sessions. I eventually just laid down across multiple seats with my head in Brindle's lap. Brindle's stomach started to hurt while on the plane. I had the spins the whole way home but at that point was done puking. Not so for Brindle.
We slept all day Wednesday, eating pretty much no food. I did light unpacking yesterday (Thursday) and laundry while Brindle continued to be sick. I had planned to work Thursday then go camping/biking today and tomorrow with my friend Chris at Tyler State Park. That wasn't about to happen with me doing anything active, so we cancelled and I just went to work today. I still don't have much of an appetite. At this point, I'm going to use my juicer and protein shakes to get enough nutrients to recover properly without completely nauseating me.
Doing a quick scan of this summary, I seem to focus on the pain and gloss over the fun parts. I will return to this post with more details about the fun parts. I think the best day was the trip to China beach. The simple joy of having feet in the sand with the ocean right there is much harder to put into words than puking and aching is. I'll tell more later.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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7:28 pm - Funny Sentiment
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| Sunday, November 16th, 2008
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11:05 am - in san francisco...
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...i don't feel like a tourist. i don't feel the need to take many pictures. i just walk without noticing the time, taking it all in. i don't feel this way in dallas nor have i ever.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
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10:53 am - Goodbye old friend
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| Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
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7:48 pm - I couldn't help myself
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| Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
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10:07 pm - Recent Events
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| Saturday, October 11th, 2008
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1:24 pm - Maker Faire Austin 10/18-10/19
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| Saturday, August 30th, 2008
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7:58 pm - My new lover
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I believe it's a 1970's Campagnolo "Prodotti Speciali" frame with Reynolds 531c tubing. I'm not sure exactly what model it is, but hope to figure it out eventually. I took it around the block a few times and am really in lurve with this one. Classic Italian steel here, which I had never previously experienced. In the back of my mind, I still suspect that the seller just put some stickers on a random old frame to pump more cash out of me, but it does ride very well and has pretty good geometry. That crusty old Selle Italia seat came with the frame. I'm not sure what I think about it yet and I suspect that it's leather. I'll probably sell it on craigslist once I've replaced it.
The current weight is just over 21 lbs. If I really cared, I'm sure I could trim another pound or so off of that figure with some smaller tires and a lightweight front wheel. I'm sure the Deep V back wheel adds more weight than it needs to. I'm going to use my Schwinn Tempo as my geared frame replacing the Yokota. The Yokota will, with the acquisition of a new front wheel, become a singlespeed/fixed gear bike that I'll probably sell. Last night I had one of those moments where you realize that you're about to have enough parts to create yet another bike. I see these fixed gear setups going for like $300. I realize that you could easily spend that much money on a good setup, but still, you could get a new bike for about that much. I guess fixies are fashionable now. Know any tall people interested in one?
( more pics )
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, August 15th, 2008
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1:03 pm - Teh Hottness
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| Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
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10:20 pm - 3 Hooker Morning - The First 300 Miles
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I've been riding my Yokota road bike ($50 Craigslist score) for a little while now. I ride it to work once or twice a week lately. I've put over 300 miles on it since I got a computer for it to track my miles. It's still in pretty much the original condition that I bought it in. I have replaced the tubes, tires, brake lines and levers, replaced the bar tape, added a rack and lubed up most of the bearings and chain. I had to scuff up the brake pads to get them to grip well, and I have had to true the wheels about 5 times in those 300 miles. I've had to lube the chain 3 times. I rode with new lube over the old lube for the first 100 miles before soaking it in degreaser and starting over with fresh lube.
The Yokota has been ridden many more times than the Schwinn fixed gear bike, mainly because I've gotten really used to having a bike rack with pannier bag. The fixie doesn't yet have a rack, but I've ordered one for it. The pannier bag I've been using is starting to show signs of wear and is falling apart after only 15o miles or so. My route to work is filled with rough roads. about 1/3 of it is on cracked up asphalt with glass and gravel in my path. I'm glad I paid the extra few $$ for the kevlar tires, as I have had only 1 flat tire. The strong CrMo steel frame has held it's own pretty well.
All of this brings me to Today:
In all my time of riding this year, I've never seen a prostitute while riding to or from work until this past week. Last Wednesday, I saw my first. She was standing outside of a closed blue collar office bldg down the street from Baby Dolls with a car in the lot in front of her. This was on the way home. Friday, I saw one in the morning on the way to work. She caught me at a slow crossing and even asked if I had change for a $20. I declined and went on my way, not really disturbed or anything. I just thought it was odd that a hooker would be talking to a guy on a bike...at 8am, no less. These first two were black women.
Today was a very odd experience. Also near N.W. Highway but much further West, I came across 3 caucasian hookers, all within a block or two of each other. The first looked like she might be homeless, the second was wearing a bright red prom dress with 4" pumps and hair worn up while the third one looked like white trash from the mid cities with those ugly bright colored gardening sandal things and the sluttiest thing she could find at Wal-Mart, which didn't really flatter her much. If I continue to see morning hookers, I'm going to become a hooker fashion critic. After passing by the one in the prom dress on the side walk, a tow truck stopped in the middle of NW Highway to talk to her. He stopped all traffic to do this, allowing me to safely make it across the otherwise constant stream of traffic.
I really enjoy my days when I ride to work. If I didn't do other things some evenings, I'd ride more often. The only thing that sucks is having to get up at 6:30am to make it to work safely by 9. If I completely haul ass and don't really shower at work, I can make it in an hour, but if I'm not just about ready to leave by 7:30, I usually don't even try. The actual ride to work takes 40 minutes most days. It takes 50-55 minutes to come home (uphill, tired, South winds, etc). I can cool down, shower and change in no less than 15 minutes. If I rush it, I end up putting clothing on a body that's still pumping out sweat and I soak my clothes. All in all, I just about have the process down.
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(8 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
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10:32 pm - Double Trouble
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If I were to date me, I would find myself interesting, but would forget to call me and would end up losing interest in myself.
What if you were to date you?
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, July 19th, 2008
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8:44 pm - Kayaking, crafting and biking
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Ok, well, today's kayak trip down the Trinity river was really cool. I had a great time. Going downstream in relatively clean water is really nice. We even went swimming in the river at one point. I never thought that I would have been swimming in the Trinity river. The water was nice and cool. Half of the ride, I had my feet out of the boat and dangling in the water. Very peaceful. However, it was much longer than anticipated, and I was left with no time to visit the Maker's Fair. I think I'm going to have to go down to Austin for the next Maker's fair. Since we got up early to kayak, I'm beat and will crash soon enough. I'm becoming a morning person of late. Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting my friend Xina for a 30mi bike ride. Here's my tentative route:
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/tx/dallas/342556851
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/tx/dallas/457210802 (updated version with more stuff)
(starting point obscured to keep stalkers at bay)
We will be hitting West Dallas, South Irving, Grand Prairie, Arcadia Park and Oak Cliff before stopping by Spiral Diner for brunch. It should be an interesting ride.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, July 6th, 2008
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11:43 pm - Paid my REI tax today
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...and I got some camping gear. I've decided to go with an ultralight minimalist approach to camping. When I was a kid, we got hand-me-down everything, so I decided to get something nice. We went kayaking this morning and that inspired me to do more with nature sooner.
For starters, I got an ultralight backpack. It is very lightweight. I tried on several medium capacity packs, walking around the store with a bunch of weighted pillows stuffed into them. This one was not only the most comfortable of the ones I tried on, but also the cheapest. Nice when it works out that way. It is very adjustable and has a pocket for a water bladder that my camelbak bladder fits into.
I found a decent 2-person tent that I was going to buy from them, too. It was on sale, but they had run out of them. After looking around, I was thinking of just using a bivy sack, but worried about bugs bugging me all night. That's when I came across this bug hut tent. It's very light and would be excellent in the summer as long as it doesn't rain. One of the employees there was telling me about how a lot of minimalist campers love this tent and build their own rain fly for it. For now, I'll just pack a small tarp for such an emergency.
I also got a JetBoil stove system. I've been wanting one of these for a long time, and finally decided to get one. I tested it out, and it boiled 2 cups of water in about 2 minutes or so. Minimal fuel was used, too. This will be great for all the dehydrated meals they have. I picked up an envelope full of dehydrated Chana Masala and rice. I plan on trying that out this week at home.
The final piece was an inflatable bed mat that was on sale. I wasn't really sure whether I'd want something inflatable along with me, but after laying down on one at the store, then on some plain foam, it was clear to me that the inflatable mat was the clear winner. I don't know if I would have bought it if it were full price, though.
The pack, full of everything I had bought, weighed in at just under 10 lbs. Adding 1.5 gallons of water will put this over 20 lbs. Limiting my random other stuff to 5 lbs shouldn't be too much of a problem. My goal is to keep the total pack weight under 25 lbs. The good part about hiking is that the more water you drink, the less you have to carry. At first, water by itself will probably weigh more than all other pack things combined (including the pack itself). This is very different from my childhood camping experience. I had a horribly fitted pack with an ancient cotton sleeping bag and no real waist support. We never had a tent, we just used tarps, poles, rope and creativity. We also slathered ourselves up with insect repellent to make it through the night. I'm guessing my pack weighed at least 50 lbs. Carrying it sucked. I hope to replace some lame camping experiences with a bunch of good ones in the coming years.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
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4:36 pm - Maker's Faire in Dallas July 19th
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