oh man this is awesome

riding to work this morning, i'm riding with traffic, coming up to an intersection where a guy is sitting in his truck, looking at me... he's looking right at me, and i start to take the lane just to be extra sure. and then he looks at me again, pulls out in front of me, spins the tires and throws rocks.

i yell "what the hell, man?" and he turns around, stares and me and gives me the finger.

i'm gonna find his house tonight and burn it down.

i've had this idea for a site (or something) where every weekend i go on some sort of adventure, be it a hike or a bike ride or a murderin' spree or something, and then i take pictures and write about it and thus my photography and writing and cultural experience all benefit and then when i die i've got this list of all these things i did. and maybe i start at home and draw a circle and work in that circle and then expand the circle eventually and in the end i'm just bored lately.

fred brathwaite and cory stillman just called, they wanted to weight in.

the video game highlight reel really tears me up a little.

last night jon called me out of the blue, as he was sitting at a beachside resort in san francisco, where he now lives. i suspect he was feeling a bit lonely, as one is sure to feel when they've moved somewhere new and don't know anyone. in any case, i'm always quite glad to hear from jon so the call was a gift.

san francisco is one of those beer heaven places, like portland, in that there are famous breweries all around. San Francisco's beer map is a tour de force... check out indy in comparison.

In any case, Gina and I plan to visit, and the sooner the better. I'm hoping for sometime early next year, perhaps in January.

when im bord i just look at pictures

From jpd2.5

From jpd2.5

From James Franey Iceland

From Dave Iceland 2

From Dave Iceland 2

From Dave Iceland 2

vaka

saturday was columbus/toronto mls (nice game)
sunday was cedar point (also nice)
monday was chicago/jason's (niiice)
tuesday was indian food/groceries/relaxation
wednesday is gonna be indy museums and lawncare i think
thursday i dunno
friday i dunno
saturday i dunno
sunday i dunno

dunno is good.

effed that right up.

did you ever know
that writing haiku is hard
if you're a dummy

a haiku for more babies

babies babies everywhere
everyone's got one
but not me. no babies here

i'm assuming, but hey jim congrats.

i could use that vacation today

this weekend we volunteered
microbrewers fest
and i am sore everywhere.

rode to work, and i was fast.
it was foggy wet,
my sleeves carried morning dew.

today i feel like nothing
want to do the same
eat a sandwich and take naps.

looking for interested parties

gina doesn't like bicycles, though maybe for this, she might. i've had this article hanging on my magnetic chalkboard - which now says DON'T FORGET in large letters (you may recall that it used to say MOM AND DAD I USE DRUGS) - for many months. looking at the vacation time i have remaining, perhaps now (or soon) is the time.

KENTUCKY SPIRITS
Grab your road bike and head for the heartland, where the two things that make Kentucky great—bourbon and horses—are within weekend spinning distance of Lexington. After an inspirational stop at the Kentucky Horse Park (kyhorsepark.com), where more than 50 breeds graze near Man o' War's gravesite, it's 17 miles west to the historic Woodford Reserve Distillery (woodfordreserve.com), along Glen Creek. Sample a snort of small-batch bourbon and keep rolling past white-fenced thoroughbred farms to the Wild Turkey Distillery (wildturkeybourbon.com), in continuous operation since the late 1860s except for a blip during Prohibition. The oyster po'boys and Bridge Street Bourbon Balls at Rick's White Light Diner & Barbecue (502-330-4262), a vintage hideaway in downtown Frankfort, are worth pulling in for. After a night at the Meeting House (doubles from $100; themeetinghousebandb.com), an 1840s bed-and-breakfast, point your wheels north toward Franklin County and the Buffalo Trace Distillery (buffalotrace.com), whose 15-year-old George T. Stagg bourbon took home the gold in the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. From there, it's a straight shot back to Lexington, where you can recover (from the riding!) among mahogany furnish-ings and regional artwork at the Gratz Park Inn (doubles from $169; gratzpark-inn.com).
Route: Start the 88-mile loop at Lexington and ride north on Highway 922, west on 1973, then right on Iron Works Parkway. Head back to Lexington and go west on Highway 60/62 to Lawrenceburg. Take McCracken Pike, then Steele Road, then Highway 127 north to Frankfort. To return to Lexington, take Highway 421 via Midway.
—JULIAN SMITH, Outside Magazine

88 miles isn't much, and spread over two days, the pace could be downright leisurely. To be honest, I'd prefer Gina as company, but I have to consider someone else, as she hate bicycles (my fault).

this morning i woke up more tired than i was when i went to bed, contemplated calling it a day, but ended up getting out of bed anyway. didn't ride a bike to work as i was already running late. bought gas and a diet pepsi. cleaned up my ipod. copied some programs for future reference. couldn't see clearly out of my right contact. it's cold in here again. i'm going to eat red meat at lunch. i don't eat much red meat.

i'm putting a bike up for sale on ebay as soon as i can get motivated/unburdened by all the legal stuff/fully understand ebay. i'm going to use that money to pay down a credit card that i left get out of control again. i'm gonna buy a horse and ramp it into a pit of fire. i'm gonna be a horse ramping fire pit pro. just you wait.

yesterday i called my mom and was like "hey what's going on?" and she's like "nothing" and i said "same here" and that's pretty much how things are going. i haven't been to trenton in what feels like ages, and i bet when i get back they will have built a couple new skyscrapers.

went to cincinnati w/ barb and dave this weekend and it rained a lot and it was just sorta uuuhhhhh

yesterday evening i decided i was tired of my jeans being tight so as of today i'm rededicating myself to extensive bicycle mileage. i have been riding to work but that's pretty much it - since i ride in a full-on kit (shorts and jersey and whatnot) i can just leave work at 4 and go for a longer ride instead of going home. that's the plan. so instead of 22.5 miles on commute days maybe i can get in 35 or 45 or whatever.

my knees make me nervous cuz they're sorta creaky and defective but they should be ok. whatever. if they're not i'm just gonna have them removed.

also i owe the hospital some money that i have but don't want to give them. i vote for free healthcare. taxes schmaxes.

lastly, john is moving out by the end of september, on his way to nyc. so there's that.

recap

friday we went to lafayette to visit a brewery and continue our quest to become the biggest drunks in the state.

saturday gina sold t-shirts at a beer festival and i wandered around and drank a bit and took some pictures

sunday was us/brazil and we had a fantastic 45 minutes in the bar with everyone screaming (in fact at one point i stood up and was screaming so much i nearly blacked out (so i sat back down)) but it wasn't meant to be. the 45th minute goal killed us. we could have used mike bradley or jeramaine jones or whatever that german guy's name is.

movies:

perfume: the story of a murder

was a good movie that brent recommended a way back. weird movie, sort of heavy handed, but still good stuff.

gone baby gone

is not a movie about a lady boxer. it's a movie about a kidnapping directed by ben affleck. and it took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on but all in all it was a pretty good movie.

also i bought punch out for wii last week and it's fun but my record is something like 12 wins to 56 losses. the old version didn't keep track of that... anyway, we play it the old way, controller sideways and just banging on the A and B buttons. entertaining. for a little while, anyway.

hey jim hows that kid that's about to be born sometime soon (i think?)

bikes might kill you #2

this morning as i rode to work in soupy wet conditions, a car passed on my left, then proceed to make a right turn in front of me.

cyclists are used to this sort of thing, enough that most call it "the right hook".

"that was stupid of him" i thought to myself quickly, knowing that if he had only waiting 10 seconds he could have just gone behind me and not cut me off.

and just as i was having that thought, the second car did the exact same thing - except this time i had to lock up my brakes, sliding the back wheel out sideways and narrowly missing a collision with the passenger's side door or quarter panel.

of course i went ballistic yelling, but that doesn't really do you any good.

in any case, a shot of adrenaline is a good way to wake up in the morning. idiots.

* * * * *

#1 would be a deer crash where i landed on the back of my head, in case you're wondering

the votes are in, and...

ok there aren't any votes. but there is this event, which will be the third time* we get a bunch of people together and drink. maybe even a couple hundred this time around.

Anyway, consider this poster above your invite - i'm looking at you, illinois residents (but not just illinois residents). I'll put you up. I just need a heads up that you're interested so I can get you on the VIP list or whatever. Tickets are supposed to be $25. We'll see how that goes. There might be a discount or something if you make that long drive. Details on the poster are correct apart from the time, which will be 6pm instead of 5pm.

I'd very much like for my friends to attend and see the sort of things we've accomplished with a little blog. I impress myself. Come be impressed with me.

*not actually the third time, just the third anniversary party. we're pretty good at putting together a crowd now.

behold the magic of eurovision

Maybe the first or second night we were in Reykjavik we were out walking and noticed that there were parties going on everywhere. We found a place to eat and noticed that the staff were all tied to the television in the next room, cheering along at some sort of international contest. That contest was the Eurovision song contest, which pits nations against each other in the ultimate battle - the battle of pop music.

Here's 2006's winner, from Finland, introducing the 2007 contest. I have a feeling Rod and Jess might already have this album.



Here's Iceland's 2009 entry, which came in second..



And here's the 2009 winner, from Norway. The contestant, Alexander Rybak, is kinda what you might get if you combined Ricky Martin with Mickey Mouse. And yes, he always makes those faces.



Anyway. Although Iceland came in second, we later witnessed more than one car driving around town with their Iceland flags out the window, honking and celebrating.

We plan to introduce the Amero-vision Song Contest (featuring a song from every state) later this year.

AND NOW... MOVIES

Here are movies I recently watched and plot twists which could have made them more entertaining.

Wanted - In addition to being a super-assassin, Angelina Jolie's character also likes to sneak into bakeries and make donuts
Three Kings - The innocent Iraqis turn out to be spies for Saddam and Ice Cube has to say "motherfucker" a lot and he has to use his AK.
Pineapple Express - The magic weed strain is actually called "Cocaine", causing much wacky confusion.
Iron Man - The Iron Man suit is actually made of superball material and Tony Stark is a woman.
The Reader - She doesn't work for the SS, she works for the DMV.
Gates of Heaven - All the pets in the cemetery come back to life when they hear those wailin' guitar numbers.
City of Men - The movie is worth watching.
101 Reykjavik - Instead of the gal sleeping with both the guy and his mom, she sleeps with the guy, his mom, and a randomly selected member of the movie audience.
W. - Dick Cheney is a black dude and says "yay!" really effeminately alot.
Blindness - Instead of everyone going blind, everyone gets a puppy and there's a bunch of puppy-related hijinx.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt just sleeps with a bunch of hot girls and they show EVERYTHING.

And in theaters:

Star Trek - Spock is... AN ALIEN.
Up - The flying house crashes into the arch and Albert Pujols is the only person who can save the world.
The Hangover - The movie is set in Trenton Illinois and instead of getting drunk and messed up they drink a bunch of ski and get all jittery and crash a car into the Kountry Store and stuff.

I'm forgettting some more movies I think.

i'd imagine you're every bit as interested in my link list as i am - in any case, everything is now sorted on the right. i go through this list daily, hitting probably 85% of those sites, which keeps me informed on the things i like to be informed on.

you might notice the design category, which features everything from furniture to site design - the site design stuff is where i go when hoosier beer geek needs a design tweak. it's not only inspiration for design, but also a good place to look for things to rip off completely.

now i'd like to shift my attention to dave huffman, if he's still alive. hi dave.

If you're wondering,

I died on the operating table.

i see that you are still bored

if you expect any excitement here i'm afraid that i'll have to inform you that i've used it all up for the year.

friday i am having a knee surgery on knee 2 (right). this is unlike knee surgery 1 because it's the other knee, which means everything is backwards. that's a tip for my surgeon, who i only chose because he's a graduate of southern illinois university at carbondale.

considering the siuc grads i know, perhaps this wasn't the best idea.

anyway, the knee isn't painful now, and hasn't been for quite a while. but i also haven't ridden a bike in a month or so probably. the knee does pop, though.

the left knee, which i had worked on last may (08) is sometimes sore, thus inducing paranoia. i know that i plan for this week's surgery to be my last knee surgery ever, and if bicycling causes further wear, i'm probably going to reduce my bicycling greatly.

in a month or so, after the quick recovery, i'll start biking again to get a feel for things. after a few weeks of that i plan to contact my coach again, and start that process over. just once i'd like to be mega-fit. and after i try that coat on and know what it's like, i'll either keep it on, or discard it for another one.

that's the plan, anyway.