Here's Johnny!

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shining, so I am excited. The season finale of Ghost Hunters has T.A.P.S. investigating the Stanley Hotel, which was the insperation for The Shining and was used in the Mini-Series released in 1997. (originaly Stephen King wanted to set the story in an amusement park.)

I wonder if they will go into room 217 :)


Update: I did some research onthe Hotel and found out that while staying there, Stephen King accualy was staying in room 217, which is why he used it in the book. (the number was changed to 237 in the original movie because the owner of the hotel used in the mvie was afraid no one would want to stay in 217 after seeing the film.)

Bikers And Police Clash Again

I haven'tbeen able to check my favorite blogs for the last couple of weeks due to computer problems, so I am working on getting caught up now. One of thefirst places I went was Bike Blog to find out how this month's Critical Mass rides went. Here is the report for the NYC ride.

Here are a few things mentioned int he report that made me mad.

At Columbus Circle a woman with a bike was buying ice cream from a truck. She was slightly in the street, police arrested her.

Got a report that around 40th and Broadway a woman was doored by a cop car while in motion. She was in the bike lane. She face planted and broke her colar bone. There is credible evidence that entire incident was witnessed.

Plus there were a bunch of other people ticketed and arested, most of them for no reason! Do the NYPD realy have nothing better to do! This is insane!

I thought that this was cool though.

New reports caught on video...At Columbus Circle people were chanting: "Domestic spying" as 4 undercovers were violating the Hanshu agreement and video taping people not engaged in unlawful activity.

In the comments, there was a report that at 9:30 (shift change) as the cops drove off, several ridders and spectators were yelling at the cops and cheering on the riders :) So it's not just the riders that are mad about the cops reaction to Critical Mass.

Here in Redwood, the clostest we have to a Critical Mass is our weekly Community Ride, which is endorsed by the city, but I can't help but wonder if, as the number of people joining us each week grows,we will start getting harrased too.

Bonds hits #715

Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth's record today by hitting his 715th career home run. That is an impressive achievment, but Bonds will never be mentioned with the same reverance that The Babe is. you see, Babe ruth didn't have to use performence enhancing drugs to hit 714 homers.

So Barry, congratulation, but you'll never be the legend that Babe Ruth is

Ride Report--May 26, 2006

Man, I thought I was tired last week. This week I rode 30 + mile s in the last 72 hours, on the same roads and hills I rode last week.

Wednesday I rode about 12 miles, about half of which was spent going into 20 MPH winds. Then, in my infinite stupidity, I decided to ride through the park. I was on my roadie, and I was smart enough to ride down through the park. I stoped at the Falls and walked around for a while. Even went out onto the Falls and just sat on the rocks relaxing. I think I'm gonna start takeing my pencam with a start posting some piics from as I ride. Anyways, I was doing fine until I was comming out of the park and was going up the Golf Course Road, which pretty much killed for the rest of the day.

The next day I joined cat and Brian for teh second community ride, and I saw a lot of inprovement. I was able to come up 101 and didn't have a problem until right at the end. Brian wanted to go through the park again, but I had to get home and finish up some stuff which I will talk about tomarrow.

Then today, I went mountain bikeing with Brian and Cat. I was doing fine for the first half of the ride. I even made it up Big Ugly, which got it's name because it is about 3/4ths of a mile long and has about a 25% incline. Unfortunatly I pretty much fried my knees on that hill. Every setp and every rotation was painful, but I don't quit unless it is because of bike problems. I made it out of the park, went to the Fiend, put away my bike, and hopped right back onto my roadie, because I knew that if I didn't, I wouldn't be getting home.

So I got home. collapsed onto the couch, watched the end of Smackdown and took a shower. Now, I'm goign to bed, and I am guessing I will have no problem falling asleep :)

I'm not liking my odds of getting out and riding this week. I was going to go on a nice long ride yesterday, but it was too windy (not sure how windy it was here, but up north there were 70 MPH winds. Semis were being knocked over by the wind in a few places) and too humid. I just checked and found out that it is 65 degrees out with 90% humidity, which means that it won't feel nice out. The fact that it is suppose to be hot out with high humidity all week doesn't make things better. (it was still 80 degrees out at 10 last night.)

Normaly heat and humidity wouldn't bother me, but wind is a problem. If it isn't windy today, I might get some saddle time, but I'm not riding to work. With humidity that high, it is most likely going to rain, and I don't like leaving my bike out in the rain. Hopefully I can post a ride report later today

Saw this on Blue Collar Mountain Bikeing, who gott it from Bikebiz.com.

In 2004 Trek gave President Bush a $2700 Fuel MTB. White House gift disclosure documents reveal that the bike-mad president’s gift increased in price in 2005: Trek gave him a bike worth $5474. And two pairs of Nike cycling shoes…

Lucky punk. it must be good to be president :)

Ride Report--May 19, 2006

Damn, am I tired. over the last 72 hours I have ridden 25+ miles, a fair amount of which was up long steep hills.

Wednesday I went on a Torture Run, which went well. I managed to kick my computer into gear, and it showed that I was avaraging between 10 and 12 MPH, which is realy good for my in the park. Not only that, but I felt great afterwards and the next day.

Thursday I joined Brian and my dad, as well as several other people for the first ever community ride. We are trying to get funding for some bike trails in town, but to do it, we have to be able to get 50-100 people riding by the end of the year or something like that. We went on a 10 mile ride, which concluded with a 1.5 mile long hill with about a 45% incline. One of the riders, a local pastor, hung back to try to help me up the hill. He didn't realize that I have bad knees, wwhich is pretty much the only thing keeping me from going faster. When we got to the tope, him, me, and Brian were riding together and Brian, knowing I hade done a torture run, jokingly asked if I wanted to go up throught he park. Of course, since I am to stupid to know when to quit, I said yes :) My legs were a little sore when I got back to the fiend and was putting away my bike, but I was ok.

This morning however was a different story. My legs almost gave out on me when I got up. Needless I didn't ride to work tomarrow.

Of course this report wouldn't be complete if I didn't include tonights ride. That's right, I was riding tonight too. Brian and I decided on Wednesday that we were going to go mountain biking today, and I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to do. Of course I was feeling it. There were several hills in the park that I normaly can take no problem, or at least can go pretty far before my knees give out. Tonight, couldn't make it up any of them. I did manage to get out of the park with out getting off the bike, but the path to some of the trails were killers. even so, on the big one up to long winder, I only had to walk about 20 feet. Brian and dad were cheering me on as I cam around the corner. They knew how much I had ridden this week, and how tired I must be, but they also know I don't quit. The only way I don't finish a ride is when I have bike problems. Accualy made it up the hill out of the park in 4th. I was drifing behind my dad, which helped, but the simple fac that I made it up that hill in 4th after 3 days of hard riding was saying alot.

After the ride, I sat down at the Fiend to read the paper, but I could feel myself shaking as my my adrenaline wore off and the fact that I used the last of my energy became apparent. I slowly got up and headed for the door, knowing that, if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to ride home.

I am slowly making my way around the apartment. I will definitly sleep well tonight. As for the odds of my riding to work tomarrow, I doubt it. If I wasn't able to this morning, I sure as hell won't be able to in tomarrow morning. In fact, I'm not riding again until Monday at the earliest. I need a chance to recover, and te next couple of days should be enough, although work will hardly be relaxing. I am looking forward to seping onto the scale though. On Monday I weighted 240 lbs. It should be interesting to see how much I have lost in the last 3 days :)

Shakespeare: A Comedy Genious

I restarted reading Julius Ceaser, and aI saw this conversation in Act 1, Scene 1.

MARULLUS

You, sir, what trade are you?

Second Commoner

Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
as you would say, a cobbler.

MARULLUS

But what trade art thou? answer me directly.

Second Commoner

A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.

MARULLUS

What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?

Second Commoner

Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
if you be out, sir, I can mend you.

MARULLUS

What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!

Second Commoner

Why, sir, cobble you.

FLAVIUS

Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

Second Commoner

Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's
matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon
to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I
recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon
neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork.

FLAVIUS

But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

Second Commoner

Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself
into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday,
to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.

Leave it to Shakespeare to take that long to say "I fix shoes." And the reason why Commoner 2 is leading people into the streets? To wear out their shoesand create more busines. Got to love that.

Just saw on Attack Of The Show that a company is going to be making a comic booc based on the High Lander films. Whether it will be a comic of the movies,or just set in the movie universe is not known. The cool thing is the price. The will be charging a whole $0.25! So if you like the movies, besure to check your local comic shop for this one :)

Also saw that they are making 2 animated movies based on Hellboy, with some of the live action film's cast, including Ron Pearlman, returning to play the voices. The movies will air on Cartoon Network later this year or early next year, so apparently the new people in charge of Cartooon Network arn't complete idiots, just mostly idiots.

Redwood Valley Mini Rally 2006

Yesterday was the first ever Redwood Valley Mini Rally, and it rocked. There were over 100 bikers there. The 200 block of 2nd street was packed with bikes. Their was 1 truck, but it was one of the Bond-Slaves, who's bike wasn't running, so he towed it.

The Bond-Slaves are a christian motorcycle club based in Princeton MN. Their goal is to bring Bikers to Christ, and this was basicly an outreach set up by Cat, one of the pastors at my church and owner of the Calf Fiend, a local coffee shop.

It was realy cool. There was live music performed by some people from church, including Cat on drums and our men's pastor on guitar. There there was a time for the Bond-Slaves to tell anyone who wanted to listen abotu Jesus and give their testmonies.

After a couple of hours, they left, and about 30 minutes later another group, the Freemen, showed up. accualy a few of them were there when the Bond-Slaves were there, but most of them showed up aftwards. I don't know how much they were there, because I had to leave to get ready for the Toonami Trio to come over, but I know that at least some of them were staying at a local hotel and are still in town. infact we invited them to church today. They didn't show up for the mornign service, but they might be there tonight :)

I got a bit sun burnt, but it was worth it. The coolest part of the day was seeing our otherwise quite town shooken up by over 130 bikers for several hours. We all ready have confirmed that the Bond-Slaves want to come back next year, so hopefully it will be even better next year :)

Ride Report--May 5, 2006

I made my second Torture Run. It was a lot easier this time, Instead of my roadie, I grabbed my mountain bike, since it is better designed for climbing, I took Gatorade instead of water, and I was listening to the Beastie Boys instead of Blue Oyster cult. Whether or not the music change helped, I don't know, but is was different from last week (during the hardest part of the ride, "Fight For Your Right" was playing :))

Like I said, it was a lot easier this week. Probobly because of the mountain bike, which was basicly custom built for me (The cranks and seat post were replaced to make it easier on my knees, and the gears were changed to take full advantage of the fact that I have a lot of strength in my legs, when my knees don't cause problems that is) I was only going about 1 or 2 miles per hour a couple of times, but like I told Cat at least I made it. I can work on speed later.

My knees feel pretty good right now, and I didn't have to deal with any cramps this time, so I think I will be ok.

Now I can start looking forward to next week :)

sounds like something I would do. To bad cafine doesn't affect me, although energy herbs and stuff like that do. Greg's response in the second box sounds like something I would say :)

They Caught One!

Just finished watching the new episode of Ghost Hunters, and it looks like they caught something. For me, this is big news, because it is video and audio evidance for the exsistance of ghosts.

The episode will be rebroadcast this Sunday during a Ghost Hunters marathon and next Wednesday at 7, but if you can't watch it, there is the evidance. While it is dificult to tell what exactly is being said, the main camera picked up a female voice. It was an all male team this time. There is a fast moving shadow with no sorce in one piece of footage, and in another, there is a shadow that quickly moves up 2 or 3 flights of stares and seems to look down at the stationary camera set up at the bottom of the stair case. It might have been a person, but there are motion sensors up there that will turn on lights if a person was up there. They didn't go on.

Is this difinitive evidince for the exsistance of ghosts? nope, but it is something, and that is always good.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to check my favorite P2P software to see if the episode is available yet so I can show the Toonami Trio on Saterday.

Casey sent me This Link. Check it out, and try to think about how many of these you have done (I can proudly say none, since I don't dance) The best part is when he refuses to do the "Dance Of Evil," the Macarana :)

Harley VS Indian

The History channel is showing an episode of Modern Marvels dedicated to motorcycles. The jus dedicated an entire segment of the show to one subject, Harley VS Indian. I stopped eating lunch so I could watch it with out any distractions.

For me it is no contest. I am an Indian fan. Always have been, Always will be. As far as motorcycles go, for me it's Indian, Yamaha, Triumph, and Honda. Don't ask me why I am such a big fan of Indians and Triumphs. Maybe it is a family thing, since My dad is a fan of their bikes too. Maybe it is because the founder of Indian was a successful bicycle racer (he won 302 out of 309 races.) I don't know.

I know why I am a Yamaha fan, because that is what I grew up around. My dad has a 1978 650 and a Virago (I think it is 1997, but I'm not sure.) My brother had a Yamaha dirt bike growing up. He also has a Yamaha street bike, although I don't know what year or size. And I have a 1978 650 Yamaha, just like Dad (it's even the same color, although I might repaint it black.) I also know why I like Honda, because I learned to ride on a Honda dirt bike.

But I don't know why I don't like Harleys. I just never had. Don't get me wrong, they make nice looking bikes. I'm not going to deny that. I just never liked them that much and have no desire to buy one. Don't get me wrong. If someone were to give me a Harley, I would accept it, but I'm not going to buy one.

Maybe it's the image thing. A Harley owner is a "big bad biker," and most of the people I know try to fit that persona (a couple of the guys, if you didn't know them, look like someone you wouldn't want to meet in a dark ally, but are a couple of the nicest guys I know.) I don't want to fit some persona simply because of the bike I ride. I want to be myself. On a most bikes, you have that freedom. Sure there are people who imediatly think of a "big bad biker" when you say you own a motorcycle, but I don't mind that.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. Everyone has their preferance and their dream bikes. My Dad's dream bike is a Yamaha VMax. My Bro's use to be a Harley Fat Boy (don't know if he still wants one or not.) And Mine is an Indian Scout.