I'm hot today...

why get off my 'soap' box if I don't have to???

People Against Dirty - Shiny Suds - (2009) :70 (USA)

Rethink your holiday presents

What means more? Giving someone you love another piece of plastic, electronic, meaningless junk or giving something that says a bit about who you are and what you care about? Something that goes past "I want" or even "I need" and achieves something very few gifts can - "I helped" ???

2 very worthy organizations I'm giving presents to (in the name of those I care about)
This is a leather back turtle being rescued from a net that surely would have killed it.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center - located in Barnegat NJ - this group of volunteers saves all kinds of marine wildlife. I've supported them for years now and trust me, they will appreciate even the smallest of gifts. Their shirts and 'adopt a seal' cards are great gifts.

After filming for Dogtown I saw just how needy animals who are victims of abuse are. Trust me, if you get involved even in the slightest way you will feel more enriched and happy than you can imagine. Be original this year - give the gift of help to those who need it most, like Faye.
Faye didn't perform well for her dogfighting owner so he cut her lips off. She was rescued and barely lived but thanks to help from the Humane Society of the United States she lived. I've met the folks in the DC branch - they are legit and you gifts go right to helping animals like Faye.

Belgium Still Photos

The greatest legend of all, Eddy Merckx. Over 500 career victories.

Outside the Centrum Museum for Bicycles in Oudenaarde, Belgium

Perfect timing to catch the museums new exhibit on Eddy.


There's something about cobbles that capture my attention.

Doping Control - in Ballroom Dancing?

ever wonder why you never hear of pro baseball players getting subjected to "random" or "out of competition" drug tests like cyclists are? Here is an excellent read on the subject with some very interesting facts. Only takes a minute or two - take a look if you're the least bit interested.
http://www.velonews.com/article/100208/the-explainer---how-random-is-random

I'm not as self absorbed as this looks

my buddy Aaron stopped by to shoot some artsy stuff while I worked in my garage. Cool having artistic friends. Not so cool seeing just how cluttered my garage is. Funny how you can see things for 7 years but not notice them. Not sure why I've got so many old race numbers up. All those are at least 6 years or more.

Hurry up and RIDE

watched the sunrise today over the Potomac River as I spun along it's muddy banks with good friend Matt (know better as White Dynomite - I know it's spelled wrong, let it go). Wish I brought a camera as the pink horizon was pretty spectacular. Been a while since I've rolled out at dawn for anything more than a poorly booked flight but it was worth the pain. The trails were ok, the puddles pretty deep but the cold air was just what my brain needed. And with more and more rain in the forecast it was a small coup to poach it while we could.

Yesterday I stole away from editing a new trailer for the movie and took the moto down to Old Town to see a bike that I might use in the opening of the film. It was old as dirt, rusted and beat to crap - perfect! Now I just need to get the house lined up and it will be time to schedule the shoot. Moving forward, slow but steady.

Another week later

and another rainy monday. Doesn't seem to matter for this guy. Whoever says animals don't feel emotions is full of it.

Deep thoughts for a rainy monday

Can we put a price on the "Dollar Cost of rising seas" ?
CNN bringing us old news

Uh,


hello?

Folks, I'm no expert but were I to really tax my pea-brain I'd hazard a guess that the cost of rising seas is far beyond any monetary value in the Trillions or Quazillions. Entire cities with MILLIONS of people are soon (relatively speaking) going to be under water. Quite literally. Shanghai currently sits about 6" above sea level - that one little spot on the globe is home to over 20 million people and is the biggest city in the most populated country on the globe (also responsible for polluting and making cheap crap sold at Walmart).

$28 Trillion? Are you serious? How do we put a price tag on shifting currents? You know, those patterns of water movement that push warm air towards places like England keeping it from being what, according to it's geographic location, it should be - VERY VERY COLD. So we'll have Chinese making long snorkels, Brit's binding pint glass life rafts and clueless consuming Amuricans saying, "Whuay God, Whuuuay? How culd you let this happun ta US?!? Wernt WE yur favorites?" as their 12,000 square foot homes are washed off the Outer Banks forever.

Why do so many people feel the need to get caught up in such trite numbers? I would think a little better perspective (I know I've never seen $28 Trillion bucks) is something along the lines of, "LIFE NEAR COASTAL REGIONS WILL NEED TO LEARN TO BREATH WATER" or "KAYAKS ARE THE NEW SUV's!"

We're all on a train headed into a granite wall. How much damage done to the train after impact is a mute point. Sigh. Technology needs to step up quick and shove the bean counters outa the way.

I love raking leaves

I mean it - and not in a sarcastic way. I do. And what's more I hate leaf blowers. Or as my buddy Aaron said this morning, "I abhor leaf blowers" which led him to this GEM of an article (click on Gem).

Some highlights from it:

What is becoming more and more clear to me is that our country, and even most of the developed world is ill. We have a disorder of some sort. We expect everything to be easy. We expect everything to be fast. We trade off money for services we could do ourselves … without thinking. We use resources wildly. All the time we “save” we use to sit in front of the TV or Internet and buy stuff that we think will make us happy. It does not make us happy.

Our illness has major, major costs. It doesn’t make us happy. It doesn’t make us healthy. It is destroying our planet in so many ways. And worst of all, our patterns are now deeply ingrained societal bad habits. These habits are very hard to break; we have built a huge infrastructure to support and foster these bad habits: urban sprawl, malls, credit cards, large vehicles, cheap food, and most importantly an expectation and pride in the rightness of it all.

BLOODY OATH. HALLELUJAH and AMEN.

Spot of bother

not sure what was up yesterday but I heard from a few friends that it was just a downer day. Maybe the rain, lack of sun, shorter days, stress, full moon, whatever it was I'm glad to have left it with yesterday. Feeling a bit more spry this morning and ready to get back on the horse. Now I just need to figure out which direction to point the beast.