detrition

Cats.

2009-01-03T19:54:00.003-05:00

My dad and stepmom have five cats. I felt they deserved representation here.

Teo the Terror: Big, mean.

Pieces: Cuddly, friendly, maybe a little weird. Like Pet Cemetery or Children of the Corn weird.

One Eye: Kinda like Pieces, but more active and with one eye.

The Moot: Short for Multi-colored Cat, or something. Elusive.

Tort: Short for Tortoise Shell. Sister of One Eye. Wheezes and sniffles constantly. Remnants of the same respiratory illness that killed One Eye's eye. Occasionally sneezes out gobs of cat snot.

I'd say more, but I think it's odd enough that I'm blogging about cats.

Gravelly Point

2008-12-29T12:12:00.002-05:00

Beware of low flying planes.

And vermin...

this look familiar to anyone?

2008-12-29T12:10:00.001-05:00

Democracy Now.

2008-12-29T12:09:00.002-05:00

Chocolate Citay!

2008-12-27T12:59:00.003-05:00

Note the eagle.

A christmas miracle!

2008-12-27T12:57:00.001-05:00

I put up a tree.

Backstock!

2008-12-23T21:12:00.004-05:00

Been a while since I updated this thing. Here's some of what's been going on, in no particular order...

Matlock family fun - Leslie and Lynn in the dryers:

Leslie.

Anuthee's roomate's lampshade wearing dog:

Tough Girl team meeting:

Punkin carvin' at Carrie's house:

I've got this thing with candy corn...

Heading back to D.C. for some family fun for the holidays. Oh, boy...

Luna explores the new cross tires

2008-09-20T10:16:00.003-05:00

It's 'cross season. Whoopie!

Seaweed Stash

2008-08-31T11:45:00.000-05:00

Go green.

Red State Moments

2008-08-28T22:36:00.002-05:00

Saw this on a ride the other day. It took up the entire side of a mountain:

Holy fucking shit.

Lovely.

2008-08-21T17:07:00.003-05:00

Took a nice mellow ride today with my girlfriend. We stopped in the park to lay in the shady grass. It couldn't have been more relaxing.

That stop was after other stops for coffee and pastries, to put our feet in the creek (crik) and for ice cream. That's what I call training.

How many Tough Girls does it take...

2008-08-21T16:58:00.005-05:00

...to put on a duvet cover?

Apparently Janis needed some help:

No, Steve, a pillow fight did not ensue.

Unfortunately.

Perfect end...

2008-08-11T22:40:00.004-05:00

To a birthday week (plus a few days):

Birthday cake and coffee in bed. Doesn't get any more perfect than that.

Pretty Colors

2008-08-08T21:00:00.003-05:00

Pardon my nakedness.
Can you find Elvis's face?

It was my Fucking Birthday

2008-08-03T11:37:00.003-05:00

Dinner at Solara with Geina, Dennis and Chris, then drinks on the patio at the Thin Man. Best meal I've had in a while, and not just cuz of the food.

Geina loaded me up with presents for the house. Finally I have stuff to put on my walls!

By the way, the candles spell out "You're old". There's even an apostrophe candle. Even drunk people need proper punctuation!

Dirty Thirty

2008-08-01T14:22:00.003-05:00

It's the big Three Oh for me today. Yippee.

Can't say I feel much different. Just as hungover as always.

Birthday collage from Jax restaurant, courtesy of Janis, Christina and Geina:

Saw GBH play last night. Those fuckers are old.

Perhaps there is hope after all.

70 more years to go...

I dunno

2008-07-25T01:52:00.001-05:00

Pretty tree on Zoro.

I'm trying to figure out how to post from my phone, but I don't think I can.

I'll probably give up and not post for another 10 months.

Ok.

huh

2008-07-25T01:25:00.001-05:00

Saw Jay Reatard last night

2007-11-06T23:15:00.001-05:00

Socks were rocked off.

Wow, it's still here...

2007-11-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

I figured they'd erase this thing if I ignored it long enough.

Guess not.

Maybe I'll feed it a little then.

I've laid low for a while now. Lots has happened since May 2006. Wow, that long... well, I'm still here, and that's that.

The Air up there.

2006-05-09T23:01:00.000-05:00

Raced up Lookout Mtn. on Saturday. It's pretty much in my back yard, so I felt obligated. Got me arse whooped soundly, but that was expected. I did set a PR, though, however lame it is by local standards. 24.01. The winner did it in 18. Tommy D. set the record at 16:02.

It's good to have goals.

The start was wicked fun. It was like a cross start, but there was no first corner to race for. It was all out for the first 5 minutes. Then there was this loud popping sound and I was out the back. But I did make a new friend and ran into an old one from Jersey. Ben was there in his rutgers jacket.

They have a website? Whacky.

Oh!...the files are IN the computer...

First Race in CO!

2006-05-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

Well, it was last Sunday, but I'm just getting around to posting about it. Since I'm not out "opening up" for tomorrow's race cuz it's raining, I feel like I should do something cycling related (besides read other cyclist's blogs).

So it was the last "Crit at Stazio". A nice low-key crit in Boulder put on by the THF - yes the same series Tugboat, I mean Tyler, got kicked out of a few weeks ago. He did show up sporting an Ulrichesque doo, though. I mean the thing is not sanctioned by anyone - uscf, aca, obra - so what's the big deal. Whatever.

That's my apathetic version of an argument.

So, anywho, it was a fun race and it felt great to be racing again. I had been planning on starting racing all month, but with birthdays and 60 mile hilly roadraces on the calendar, I put it off until I could wait no longer. The weather was perfect, the bike was ready, my lungs were (almost) ready and I was jittery as hell.

The course was a pretty typical 4 corner crit with a short steep hill just after the start/finish. Actually, it was a right hand turning course, which - at least on the east coast - is fairly rare. It was a nice change. After warming up making left turns for 15 minutes it dawned on me to go the other way.

The race started pretty easy. The first few laps we just sprinted up the hill and then looked at each other. There's a few big teams here that looked like they were ready to control the race. Since I'm not on any team yet, I could ride kind of incognito, though I got lots of "who are you?" looks. After about 20 minutes a break of 5 with most of the big teams on board took off. There was a small chase for 2 laps and then we sat up and the break went bye-bye. A couple small chase groups went after the break every few laps but didn't get anywhere. I took 2 one lap flyers, just to see how my lungs felt. Both times at the top of the hill I was breathing like Adam Sandler's fat kid and was caught soon after that. So I sat in and waited for the sprint. It was pretty disorganized, probably cuz there were no prizes left, and I wasn't too commited to being first across the line. So I came in 10th in the sprint, 15th overall. Pretty satisfying for my first race at altitude. Of course there's plenty of room for improvement, but not bad for cx training in April.

Tomorrow is the Lookout Mtn hillclimb. 8:15 am. Forcast is 40 degrees and raining. Sweet.

This'n's fer the ladies.

New Stats

2006-05-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

For those of you keeping score at home,

Here's some new bits about me:

Where I live: Golden, CO
Where I work: Big Ring Cycles
Fave local beer tryed: Brekenridge Oatmeal (though the Hefe's good too)
PR on Lookout Mtn.: 25 min.
Fave climb: Genesse Mtn. - best views so far.
Lbs lost since leaving NJ: 12 (wft?!)
New leg veins: 3 - "Zee more veens joo haf, zee faster you weel go." - luc faucher
New puppies: 1
Number of times new puppy peed on my clothes: 4
Months til 'cross season: 5

Hmm, that all doesn't look as exciting as it sounded in my head. Owell. It's fun starting a new life, though.

I think that makes me a very lucky person. Better count stars tonight.

Red State Moments...

2006-04-26T20:37:00.000-05:00

You know you're in a red state when:
-The number of hand painted anti-abortion signs on the highway equals or exceedes the number of rest-stop signs.

As an aside the number of anti-abortion signs was equaled by advertizements (again, hand painted, read: scrawled) for farm oddities attractions.

Six legged calfs, the largest groundhog in existance, giant punkins.

I had been under the impression that there was a pro-life license plate for a while too:

Fortunately, I was wrong. It's a Columbine memorial thinger.

I wonder if anyone branded "Remeber the Alamo" on their cows or horses after that whole thing happened.

Baby Steps

2006-04-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

Ollie. or Little Terd.

The latest addition.

lovable and excitable. A good fit.

I'm Back, Bitches!

2006-04-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

Two months to the day!

Sorry for the delay.

Hope all's well out there in cyber-land. Colorado rules. Or at least my corner of it.

More tomorrow.

Sleep tight.

Good night sweet heart

2006-02-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it's time to go.

Duh, duh, duh, duh.

This's it people. I'm out.

We're out. Cardboard boxes are go!

Feel free to ring me up. It's a long drive through Kansas and once I start thinking about my thoughts, I'll be in trouble.

Red state, here we come!

List of Lasts

2006-02-16T10:14:00.000-05:00

I suppose it's coming down now. Running out of things to do in New Jersh. The list of lasts has begun.

Last week of work
Last day working in Brick City
Last ride as a Herme
Last day before the last day of work (does that count?)
Last time to hang at Monks
Last 1/2 price pasta night
Last shopping spree at Pino's Belgian beer section
Last rent check written (ever)
Last paycheck gotten (for a while)
Last trip on the Turnpike
Last night in Philly
Last dinner w/ the fam(s)
etc etc etc.

I really gotta start packing. And for those of you keeping score at home, it's 10 days to blast off.

Juan

2006-02-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

He was laying against the concrete divider of the New Jersey Turnpike, naked except for underwear and jeans around his ankles. It was 10:30 at night, 35 degrees and raining. Juan had just run across the highway and been hit by a car. His leg was broken, arm was broken, dislocated and backwards, he had head injuries, cuts and scrapes all over and was quickly becoming hypothermic. He spoke only Spanish, but couldn't communicate much.

Kris' mom is an ER nurse. She checked him out and held his head till the cops got there with a tin foil blanket. After that we just tryed to keep him awake till the ambulance got there.

Hundreds of people drove by. One other person stopped. We were three cars back from the hit. No one in between the crash and us stopped. How do you drive by someone who's been hit by a car? Probably the same way you don't apologize to the person you just hit.

I don't know why Juan ran across the highway, as clogged as rush hour. Some despiration that I might never know. He had a red hospital tag on, maybe that's what he ran from. The system, the sterility, the lack of communication? Maybe he's back in the system now. Deeper in it, too.

If you're a praying type, say one for Juan.

Learning these facts could save your life:

2006-02-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

ask yourself:

WWCND?

2006-01-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

There are probably a lot of things I should be doing right now, like moving the goodwill bags so A.-S doesn't think we live like slobs. But why misrepresent myself? Adam's a nice boy. He can take a little mess. And the compuradio is good tonight, the oatsoda is growing on me and there's a white cat sleeping on my lap. Clearly the odds are stacked against me getting up from this chair. Not least of which is the chance of loosing a limb to said white cat for disturbing her slumber.

I don't want this to be another post about how I (the blogger) have been lazy/busy/stressed/tired and haven't been writing and how I really should keep this up, but it already is.

Synopsis:
1. met w/ high school best fiend/skate pal/show goer with to/miscreant/current resident of Nippon
2. reminisced
3. meant to write entry titled "Turkish delight" or "Big in Japan".
4. still formulating
5. trained/pedaled/90% in of doors/burning burning burning out
6. said good by to the MAC
7. traveled. went to CO. found future.
8. introduced self to, applied for, purchaced future
9. became homeowner, stressed, ill, cold
10. hit deer with gov't owned vehicle, killed it-killed it really bad
11. pained, worried, apologized, dreampt it came for me and mine
12. got jury duty, still got it, got justice
13. x-ed calendar
14. got back in line

Really, next week will be better. I feel it in my brains. Though the last wasn't all bad.

It's just hard to stay focused sometimes.

Eyes on the prize. You gotta be in it to win it. Play the man not the puck.

Cat's up.

Gotta wash the dishes.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!

2006-01-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

It's Friday the 13th today and a full moon tomorrow!

I say again! Surely, we are FUCKED!

I gotta go duct tape my house shut.

The weather outside is frightful

2006-01-12T16:29:00.000-05:00

January 12, 2006, 4:40pm. 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Man, we are so fucked.

Clip clip, art, rawk

2006-01-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

I've always been a fan of montage art. It plays well with my short attention span. WS first showed me what it's about. And he's endorsed a by millionaire fraud. Must be good stuff.

And for the hipsters in the audience you can get Winston's work on yer pod now. Actually, some interesting stuff there. Foster's another fave.

There really is no underground. I guess that's why people like me can have blogs. No underground, just fringes. Outsiders. Marginal (wo)men. Suburbanites.

So what got me going on the cut/paste was this party. See also: ___ . Play it loud or not at all.

s'bout time.

2006-01-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

Man, I am such a fuckin' late bloomer. I just copied the first cd I ever bought onto my computer and was totally blown away when the computer found all the album info in the ether without me even asking it to. I was actually a little annoyed by that. This thing is supposed to do what I tell it, not think for itself. Or worse, think for me! At least someone is though.

Anywho, the record doesn't even come up on the first few pages of google, so where the fuck does the puter find it? So I've now copied four more cd's; also selections from my formative years (more on that, turkish body hair and the first year of college later).

So what else have I done lately in late-blooming fashion?:
-Lived and raced in the MAC for 7 years, just made friends outside of my club/team
-got a coach
-started a blog
-got pants that fit
-left the country
-went to CALI
-went to CX natz
-am leaving the right coast (50 days-ish)

There's more but you get it. Here's to getting with it.

A stream of con-science

2006-01-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Man, I really do have a hard time saying, or typing, what's on my mind. For the past three days I've sat down in front of this thing and drawn a blank. I know there's thoughts in there, they just don't want to come out. Maybe it's just a pressure issue. I need to build up some mental steam before it gets to the point that I can put it down or spit it out. Even today it took some serious caffination to push the rocks out of the way. Or maybe I'm finally warming back up from the sloth of vacation. Or maybe it's this...or maybe it's that...

Whatever. This is some good coffee though. Methinks it's the Pure Alchemy blend. Says "cyclocross mud" on the bag cuz I bought it at Natz.

Ah, I remembered what got me on this. So I called in sick today and watching the daily show got me thinking that the show is presented as a stream of consciousness in the form of a media critique (at least today). Of course it's not the conscience of a single person, but it comes across like John S's thoughts. So the part of my brain that emits envy chemicals turned on and said "Dude, you think like that sometimes-why not say it too?" And I said back to it "I dunno, I just don't. Who would want to listen to that anyways." The envy brain replied "Well millions of people watch this show every day." "Hmm," I said, "maybe this would be good for the dete."

And here we are. Baby steps, I guess. I'll probably look back on this some day, and feel like I'm reading an expos 101 paper on why styrofoam containers are bad for the environment. I was probably listening to this cd then too.

Well, as for latest developments, there's not much to report. Did some wicket long rides with Sweater Toddd and zee gzerman last week. Squirrely ass Whyland showed up once too. ST was still holding some year-old grudge about how SaW commented that the HPH rides were "powder puff rides". So, of course, we rode accordingly. No one seemed to mind last time I stopped for a manicure and a moustache wax in Princeton...What's the big deal?

Oh, and if anyone knows a shop in or near Boulder that needs a wrench/lackey/gimp let me know.

Same goes for any colleges that need a safety guy.

Crunch time approaches.

Rain, rain...

2005-12-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

Go away! So the fine state of New Jersah gave me the week off from work cuz it's the holidays and all that jazz (see below). But mr. rainmizer clearly didn't get the memo. So it's been a very lazy vacation. Praps tomorrow that will change. The sol is scheduled to come out and el forto is itching to be unshackled from the trainer. As am I.

Check out the lucky punks in Cali. They get to cross it up for another month.

Josh getting shakey:

Vacation Limbo

2005-12-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

Here, see what these guys have to say. Hopefully more than me:
http://eurocrossers.blogspot.com/
http://littlejewford.blogspot.com

By the way, don't give me shit about dialup. It's free, and I'm cheap. Or vice versa.

T-minus 59 days to Colorado.

Happy fucking holidays

2005-12-22T12:39:00.000-05:00

Now were' s my presents. That's right I don't want baby jeezus (especially if he's made of plastic), family dinners or snow on the ground. I just want presents. Alcohol is a fine substitute, but I'll probably have to supply that myself. Face it, that's the only reason I've ever come to family x-mas time. And the family part of it is always what sucked. In the 27 times I've been to jingle balls day I don't remember a single stress free one. Granted I don't remember them all perfectly or unhazily, but the general idea of this whole holiday fiasco makes my ulcers spit acid and my palms sweat. I've been (more) irritable and pissy(than usual) for at least two weeks now and over the next three days my cup will surely runeth over. The humming in my noggin is reaching for it's high pitched crescedno and I honestly hope I can break the string this year.

Actually the best present I could get would be total family blowout at the family dinner. Something to take pictures of. Someone to throw food at. Forehead veins bulging, red faces matching spilled red wine, dogs barking cuz they have feelings too.

This is the one thing I ask. If your gonna get married and have a family, do it the hard way, make sure it's done right with every resource and thought at your disposal. If you're gonna commit to a relationship do it completely and make it work. Don't make your kids run from one side of the family to the other on crismas, because even though they get more presents it's just not worth it.

Sorry mama.

On the up an' up!

2005-12-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

Fear not you sad SADers! Do not dispair mr. malignant. Here comes the sun. I thought the solstice was tomorrow, but I'll take it a day early. One or two more minutes of daylight today, depending on who you ask. Did you feel the earth wobble the other way last night? Did you feel us start to fall towards the sun again? I bet Sam Champion did.

Phys Ed

2005-12-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

From whence it came...

http://www.blackbirdsf.org/christopheoncx/

Ok, ok...Let's take it from here...

2005-12-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

I guess this is it. I gots me a blog. Litvin will be disappointed.

This week is the beginning of next year for me. Cross natz, and therefore cross season, has come and gone. Now it's time to force myself to relax, get irritable and jittery from not riding and call that a week off. Fortunately it's almost over. Maybe I'll go back on my promise and ride this weekend.

Natz was awesome. By far the best time I've had doing anything in a long time. Pitted all weekend, in my last outing as a Herme. Raced a little (that didn't go so great). And partied like a Rock Star. Thanks again, VB's for putting me up and putting up with me. Speaking of rawk, Human Shield rocked the Crank Bro's party. Hopefully more on that later.

Josh rocks. He's a happy drunk. Except that he's about to eat out my brains.

I'll try to have something more exciting to say next time.

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2005-12-16T12:29:00.000-05:00

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No Promises...

2005-12-16T11:44:00.000-05:00

The morning 20 made me do it. Ounces, that is. Well, I suppose the past 30ish 20's made me do it. Been thinking about this for a while. But then I've never been one to say what I'm thinking, so I can't promise it'll be worth reading, or even doing. I'll do my best though.

Here goes nothin...