B: the gift that keeps on..

Now that we are much closer, I have this problem that my Mom is always offering me things she has. Not nice things like antiques and quality hand made furniture, but mostly worthless junk that nobody would really want or need. Case in point, this chair:

Nice enough I guess. She bought it at a garage sale or something and realized that she doesn't have room for it and has now offered it to me several times. I don't want the damn chair, but she thinks that if she can pawn it off on somebody then she won't have to own the fact that she wasted money on something that she can't get rid of.

I always feel guilty telling her I don't want her junk. She has always been a bit of a pack rat, but it is getting worse with age. She has that disease that older people get where they fill their time searching for bargains on crap they don't need. I wish there was something she could do with her time, but she has no interest in doing anything productive, or contributing to society in any way.

I want to give her some real money, and tell her to spend this wasted time searching antique stores and estate sales for the perfect coffee table that we don't have the time to find, but I know she couldn't be trusted not to buy crap.

I am almost done with Atlas Shrugged. I think that book is fucking with my world view. I don't totally agree with her perspective, but it is interesting if a bit simplistic and naive.

Atlas Shrugged was ranked #2 behind Gatsby for the greatest american fiction of the 20th century. Personally, I think it is better than Gatsby which I have never really cared for that much. I think Gatsby was very much about a time and a place which has degraded appreciation over time. This is happening to Atlas Shrugged as well, but I think it is a bit more timeless.

I think that Atlas Shrugged could be written today in much the same way and still be relevant. The weakness of the book in my mind is the tendency to become excessively preachy. Seriously, John Galt needs to shut the F-up after a while. We get it Ayn...move on with the story. She could have cut 150 pages of preachy dialogue and had a much more subtle but effective story. I believe that she made this book so lengthy and the lead in so slow to discourage the sort of people that she preaches as the evil of the world from being tempted to even read the book.

I highly recommend this read recognizing that quite a few people will dislike it for a wide variety of reasons.

B: Tao Knee Ville

or Downieville.....

I am getting ready to head to Downieville for some riding tomorrow. The riding lately has been pretty weak so I hope it works out. My new 2008 XT Shadow rear deraileur is detsroyed so I have switched back to the Saint rear wheel for tomorrow. If that fucker fails on me I am giving up.

Going against our usual rules, I thought it might be fun to post some old pictures. Check it out...

I can't fricking believe Merc fell in that funny hole 4 years ago!

Drinking beer is fun!

I don't know what is worse the weak beard or the weak hair cut.

B: programmed for conflict

I read some nerdy science magazines....And in those magazines it seems that there is a growing body of evidence that regardless of the source of stimulus (TV, video games, books, real life), the brain accepts the things that it processes to be true, even if we know they aren't. It actually takes the brain extra work to perceive something as not true and there appear to be physiological disincentives such as the experience of "distaste" when things are found to be not true. The end result of this that for all intensive purposes, parts of your brain believe everything that you experience, even if it is imaginary. And this imaginary stimulus may actually impart changes on the brain patterns and function.

This has me wondering about the arts such as literature, theater, and plain old TV and movies. We as a society immerse ourselves in dramatic conflict as an "escape" from the stresses of our lives. If we are escaping from our stress by immersing ourselves in fictional conflict, are we ultimately reprogramming ourselves to perceive conflict where there is none? Does drama result in people that feel the need to create conflict where there was none to feel comfortable within their surroundings? Does my escape to Hogwarts from my everyday life ultimately result in my feeling isolated and persecuted (or just pathetic and dorky)?

Are we as a society over stimulated with drama? Is our constant experience of fictional violence, anguish, and aggression resulting in people who expect that this is the immutable state of the world? Is there a narrative that can be told that is not rooted in conflict? Is there a narrative of joy that is not rooted in sorrow?

The more I learn, the more those laughing clubs, lame motivational posters, and fake happy people appear to actually have something going on. It now seems that immersion in fake laughter is no different than real laughter (hence the laugh track) and that eventually the fake laughter becomes real laughter as your brain accepts that is is okay to feel irrational joy. Doesn't that seem nicer than watching another murder on Law and Order?



just some thoughts...guess we need to get a TV cuz I am thinking too much.

oh yeah, this is supposed to be good too.

B: You been out riding fences

Why does everybody cover Desperado? It's such a lame song! When I am a recording artist of national recognition, and Rick Rubin suggets that I cover Desperado, I am just going to say "Go screw Rick. That song is lame. And for christ sake, can we have less cowbell?".

I am currently leading my NCAA bracket thingy, which is awesome and hilarious to me. I know next to nothing about college hoops. I generally pick teams based upon mascot. You know, if a bulldog can beat a cardinal in a fight, I go with the bulldog (unless I feel bad for the mascot because they are like a disadvantaged race that is being exploited as a mascot). Actually, that is a good question. Are we ever going to get to the point that we can stop using native americans and other races as sports team and school mascots? Vikings were people too!

The dudes and dudettes over at UBrdo bike shop in Kirkland, WA are planning a sick, awesome, rad, gnarly trip to Whistler for opening weekend at the bike park. I think I am going, and you should too cuz it is going to be epic.

I finished Phase 1 of the home network set-up. The Cat 5E and wireless are in and working awesome, and the phone gets configured today. Phase II involves re-running all of the co-ax that currently exterior to the house and drilled through the walls, down into the crawl space and hooked into the Leviton plates that I installed. I didn't do it now, because, we don't currently have a TV so it seemed like a low priority. YAY it works. I invented the internet at my house. Now I am even more like Al Gore.

B: Please comment (maybe anonymously) if you own a pair of these

Thanks to the folks at Daily Candy, I now know abot the existence of strapless G-string undies! These are apparently meant for those time when barely any undies are just too much, but commando is not quite enough. Just think, if Britney, or Lindsay Lohan, or Cameron Diaz wore these, only a few hundred people would know what there bajingo looks like, instead of several million.

Additionally, I think these are an innovative solution to a couple of problems for the ladies:

1. No more VPL,
2. No more thongs that always ride up in back resulting in undies peeking out of your slacks, and
3. Virtually impossible to be given a wedgie while wearing these (now that's peace of mind).
   

I am just imagining the instance where the adhesive lets go when wearing a skirt and all of a sudden a stranger is tapping you on the shoulder and saying "Excuse me miss, but you seem to have lost your.....underwear!?" Talk about a faux pas.

B: I fought the law...

and the inlaws won.

They are finally gone today, but leaving us totally exhausted in their wake. A's parents and sister left this morning after a full week of visiting and playing with the baby. It was nice, but we are just wiped out. Sure we have had 4 days short of 8 months to get used to the baby and all, but we just aren't. All it takes is one small thing changing in our routine and we lose all feeling of control on our little world.

The laundry isn't done, we are out of food, and we haven't had a chance to unwind in a week. At least the house is as clean as it gets. We had some cleaners come in and I steamed the rugs and stuff. We still spent a week dealing with disapproving looks about how our child is clearly growing up in a sty.
Fuck it dude....


We dined at Cremant in Seattle on Saturday night. The inlaws baby sat so that we could go fetch us up some french food. It was tasty though the portions were too large. That was the case in Paris also, so I have to believe it is just a restaurant thing. I got my steak medium rare, and it was the rarest medium rare I have ever had. I guess that part was true to the spirit of french cuisine. A had the duck which was good and the onion soup was excellent. They are currently serving a Rhone that is stellar if you like such things.

A and I were thinking we would love to make a movie about us wanting to make a movie about us, but not knowing what the hell to make a movie about. Sort of am Adaptation meets Seinfeld thing with a Woody Allen vibe. We would try to get Wes Andersen to direct. A will be played by Gweneth Paltrow (ala Royal Tannenbamms including the wooden finger cuz why not), and Luke Wilson would play me (I could also go for Hugh Grant [it would be fun to be british in my movie]). Some of you might be in the movie too. Who should play you???