paulson seems a smart man, unlike his boss

Bush normally appoints idiots like himself as advisors. I just read Henry Paulson's suggestions for changing the Federal Reserve System. Seems pretty smart to me. Click for the link.

something we should all pay attention to; and be ashamed of

Click for the link

on bicycle commuting

I am getting the route and routine of my bike commute down and wanted to comment on a certain aspect of it that came out in a discussion with friends the other evening. Specifically, it is that, when commuting on my bike, almost every day/night, I see something or someone that I would never have run into were I in a car. These are not necessarily "big" things, just experiences that make life a little more interesting. I'll use this last week as an example. I commuted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday I was on the road earlier than usual because I was having dinner with friends and it was light my entire return ride. About a third of the way through, near UCSD, I noticed I was cycling with a young woman who, when I asked her said she was riding home to Pacific Beach. I offered to show her the best way to go and we shared the ride for about 10 miles or so. Didn't ask her name and I'll probably see her again out on the road. Wednesday was my usual later evening ride. At the base of Mt. Soledad, as I was heading up Muirlands Road, I could see a young woman walking down the sidewalk to my right. She perked out, "Wonderful evening isn't it?" in a friendly sing-song kind of way. I responded, "Good evening", and then it got weird. She came walking at me quickly, "Why won't you help me, Sir?" she barked. My bullshit meter went off big-time and I zipped to the other side of the road and pedaled uphill as fast as I could. She continued, "What are you doing, Sir?", to which I replied, "Riding away from a crazy woman". I finished my ride wondering what the hell I had just experienced, coming to the conclusion that spring-break LSD or X had juiced the poor girl into some kind of dementia. Thursday, not much until very close to home when a guy ran out of his house squawking, "Dude, where did you get that light?", "You light up the whole street!". After multiple "Dude" -peppered exclamations from the guy (I think he had a couple drinks in him), I showed him my light (the "light & motion" brand headlamp that has changed my life and DOES, in fact, light up the whole street) he seemed satisfied and I pedaled up the hill. Admittedly, differing experiences -- but all interesting and none would have happened had I been insulated in my car.

oh, and some classic children's books

Just a couple postcards

meat rider

I have been thinking lately how attached I am to my road bike and riding and the way I feel about it. I got to thinking about fisherman and hunters, how some do it for sport and some for meat. I ride for the meat, not for the sport. Although I love the concept of sport road cycling, and certainly my love for the experience is a combination of both; I am primarily a meat cyclist. I do it to replace my car and would sell my stupid car altogether were it not for children and board meetings.

edward abbey ...

I didn't really know who Ed was. He showed up on a Patagonia blog post so I did the usual Wikipedia search. A very interesting human who spent time in a very interesting part of the world. Here are some quotes of his from Wikipedia. I especially like the abortion, off-road vehicle and war quotes. Click on the image to the left and it will expand to be large enough to read ....

shots off the deck a few days ago

Have been working like a madman the past couple of weeks - taking the day off (working tonight, though) and catching up on StumbleUpon and my usual web-surfing. Here are some pictures off the deck the other morning...

crescent moon in the eastern sky at sunrise

Also, just off the shoreline out by Marine St. beach is the line of boats. They started there about a week ago and are fishing for something but I don't know what (found out - LOBSTER). Kind of eerie late at night because they are out there with their lights on doing something. Warm finally on the ride in this morning. Dropped down the Torrey Grade into a "gnat explosion". I suspect the warmth woke 'em all up and I was peppered with them (still am a little).

lower yosemite falls last winter

bryce canyon video

my grand canyon video

so let's ride our bikes from Mission Bay to Crystal Pier

wind an sea sunset surfing

One of those sublime evenings while I was riding my bike home ....

imperial beach

Here's another video I did of the Mexiacn border and the beach town of Imperial Beach. Also some interesting stuff around the Tijuana estuary. J

coronado island tour

Click on the opening screen at left for a Yahoo Go! early release tour of Coronado Island J

lost my posts

In switching back to Blogger. I took too long and Yahoo is holding my prior site hostage. Screw'em. For the money it ain't worth it - but I just procrastinated myself out of a year's with of blog entries. I will try to put up some of the videos now - the ones I remember anyway.