Biking in the Sun/Philosophy on Shopping

Wow! It's been almost 90 Degrees in Seattle the past few days. I got a chance to get out in the sun and do a 30/30 ride (thirty minutes out and 30 minutes back of contstant riding) on the Burke/Gilman Trail. Awesome weather!

Before I went out riding I did a little 'Isaac Hayes' research shopping for Bike Stores.

What the hell is 'Isaac Hayes' research shopping you ask?


For those of you who were labeled 'Generation X' or younger Isaac Hayes does the voice of 'Chef' on South Park.

For those of you who fall in the category of older than 'Generation X' Isaac Hayes won an Academy Award for the theme song from the movie Shaft!.

Anyhoo, I was reading an article many years ago about Isaac Hayes and the article started with Hayes stating that he was going to the funeral of his Auto Dealer. Yeah, that's kind of strange going to the funeral of his Auto Dealer. He went on to explain that when his music career started making him money, he was able to buy a car with cash. His attire at the time was, for lack of a better term, WAY less than casual. So he started going to car dealers looking for a car but no one would help him. That is until he met a man who looked beyond how he looked and the color of his skin and saw Hayes as a potential customer. Well, from that moment on Isaac bought all his cars from this man.

Anyways, I like to, from time to time, do something along these lines when shopping for stores I want to patronize. I look for places that actually are serious about customer service and want to keep your business. Today I went shopping for Bike stores that, when needed, will patronize when I need parts, repairs, accessories. I'll drive way out of my way to patronize businesses that want my business. Like Mr. Hayes, I don't exactly dress up on these excursions. I do this comparison shopping for many other things as well (restaurants, clothing stores, etc).


Why am I doing this? This is probably sounding like something stupid to do. Ok before you pass judgment read this about what 'Best Buy' stores do to their customers:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041108-4382.html

What I do doesn't sound so stupid now 'eh?

So if any of you are reading this are business owners, keep in mind that you never know who your customers may be and what sort of purchasing power they may bring to your business.

P.S. Hayes best CD's are 'Hot Buttered Soul' and The Soundtrack from the Movie 'Shaft' (The 70's version not the remake). Both are excellent CD's.

Slipknot's "Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" reminds me a lot of Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' when it was released.

Now when I make the comparison of Metallica and Slipknot I'm not comparing them Musically. Musically, Metallica and Slipknot are apples and oranges. However, the comparison I'm making is the exact point in both of their careers in which 'Master of Puppets' and 'Vol 3: (The Subliminal Verses) were both released. Both bands, before the release of their respective third albums were on their way out of breaking out of the musical 'underground' they both had a pretty dedicated fan bases and people have heard of them but never knew about the bands. However, personally, after hearing both bands third albums they both completely and utterly floored me. Slipknot may not be the average person's cup of tea as they may make the average person's ears bleed. However, if you want to hear a band that's going to make some noise in the Music Business for years to come (that is if they stay together that long) check this CD out.

I listen to MSN Music at work on the Alternative Music channel and heard three tracks off the new Slipknot CD (Duality, Before I Forget, and Vermillion) after which I had the opportunity to listen to the whole CD. The CD is masterfully produced by Rick Rubin (He's produced Jay-Z, The Beastie Boys, Lil' Jon, The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others) and is a great CD to listen to from beginning to end. I highly recommend Slipknot's third CD if you're looking for something new to listen to and are really tired of the crap that been churning out of the Rock/Pop veins of Music lately.

Woo-Ha! Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith ROCKS!!!

I was hoping that Lucas would come through with a great film to end the series. Man, this movie sucks you in from the get go and doesn't let you go until the end.

I remember when I was a kid and I read the novel that accompanied the first Star Wars Movie in 1977. In the middle section of the book there were a series of pictures from the movie and some quotes from Lucas. The one quote I've always remembered to this day was what he thought a movie should do. He said that a great movie should have the ability to suck you in to the movie and make you completely forget about life for the length of the movie.

Of course he retired from directing after Star Wars had completed. That was until he decided to make Episodes 1-3. I think his biggest mistakes in making Episodes 1-3 were:

1) Since Episode 1 was the first film he directed since Star Wars he should have made a couple of films to 'warm up' before making Episode 1. Who knows? Perhaps if he had directed a few films before Episode 1 Jar-Jar would have never been a character in the Star Wars Galaxy.

2) There were no suprises in Episode 1-3 like there were in 4-6. I mean, Luke finding out that Darth Vader was his father was a big deal when "The Empire Strikes Back" first came out. In Episodes 1-3 there weren't any big suprises. Everyone, generally, knew what was going to happen in all three movies. Episodes 1-3 were good movies but not GREAT movies. Still, I would recommend this movie for anyone.

Jack Bauer is dead!!!!!

What happened? How did he die? If you missed it, too bad.

I do admit that the ending of the season was a bit anti-climatic but hey, at least there will be another season!

Web site of the Week - The Sun Magazine

This probably one of the best and most unknown magazines published in this day and age. The Sun Magazine is a literary magazine that has been one of my inspirations to write just for fun. I used to have a subscription when I lived in the Southwestern Part of Washington state and was beginning plans to write a fictional novel.

That was until a bunch of small minded inbred country bigots made the choice to make assumptions about who I am and what I'm about without even getting to know who I am. But, that story is a WHOLE other novel in itself that I've been debating on writing or not.

Anyways, this magazine is a great source of inspiration for writing and stimulating the creative juices especially the 'Sunbeams' and the 'Readers Write' section.

I highly recommend this for anyone who is interested in checking out a new magazine.


http://www.thesunmagazine.org/

Nintendo DS - A useless pile of electronics that should have never been made

One of the main things I've been doing over the past few months is keeping my skills up in the High-Tech Field. I do a lot of reading, research, and sometimes testing of most all things high-tech. One of the things I took on a test spin was the Nintendo DS. I have to admit that, on paper, this device had the potential to be something special. Wireless capabilities, double screens one of which is a touch screen blah blah blah. Anyways, I checked this device out pretty carefully and it seems that (excuse my 'French' here) this is but another useless attempt by Nintendo to repackage a pile of crap. For years they've been beating the same types games into the ground and have yet to offer anything new in the console world.

Nintendo have continuously focused their efforts on a very small market segment for years now and have yet to show some cohones and break out of this never ending cycle of 'Mario this' and 'Luigi That'. In my humble opinion, have nothing new to offer except the same pile of crap over and over again in a different package.

The final straw for me was when I was in a game store checking out a game that just came out on the DS. The object of the game was to spin a roll of toilet paper. That's it. Not long after that I got rid of my DS and will go out of my way to make sure that no one wastes their money on a Nintendo DS. I could go on and on how Nintendo dropped the ball when it came to game publishing and the lack of quality or quantity in games but I think I've made my point.

The Seattle International Film Festival

Screw Cannes and The Sundance Film Festival!

The Seattle International Film Festival is the longest film festival in the World and is one of the biggest secrets in the film world. If you want to see some great films with actors and directors that may be the 'next big thing' this is an event for you.

I've been going to this festival on and off since the late 80's and have seen some amazing movies. I became a hard core fan of Peter Jackson (most of you know him for directing the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy) after seeing the Movie 'Dead-Alive' at the Midnight Movie series.

Here's the link:

http://www.seattlefilm.com

Back from Hiatus - Blurb about Biking

I've been off for a month or so and I'm back.

I'm going to be posting some fun stuff that I've been doing, outside of work, for the past few months and fun stuff that I plan on doing in the coming months.

Right now I'm resting my legs as I've been spending the better part of a week, before and after work) on my bike and man my legs are sore. One of the great things about biking in the Seattle Area is that there isn't a shortage of different types of routes to take. On Road, off road, hills (up and down), flat stretches of road.

I'm getting my biking legs back with the goal of being able to ride to and from work within a reasonable amount of time.

Anyhoo, stay tuned there's more to come...