This blog is going mobile in August!

Watch this space for a potentially killer road trip! Plans haven't been etched in stone....yet.


Stay tuned.

The Best Part of Waking up is....

...Folgers in your cup, right? NOT! How about a fire alarm going off while you're in the shower. This alarm went off around noon and cleared out the entire building (This author's BS detector was going off during the whole process) for about an hour or so. Once I got going, bike riding was the furthest thing from my mind as I was hungover from the night before ("Paging Dr. Daniels, Dr. Jack Daniels, please report to the morgue") and going to the 'Bite of Seattle' wasn't the best idea. This was because there was also a WNBA game being televised nation wide today on the grounds that the 'Bite of Seattle' is being held at. So I sat for a bit and Watched Real Madrid playing a Chinese Club team on Telemundo Deportes until half time and booked. Anyways, after running some errands I got some lunch at Natural Foods, headed to a park and chowed down. Later on I found a quiet spot near Lake Union and jammed on my Guitar for about an hour or so.

I'm kicking back at a local coffee house and just finished listening to the new Gorillaz CD that was pumping through the Coffee House's speakers. I just now finished watching Lance Armstrong completely demolish the competition in the Stage 20 time trial of the Tour de France (they really should rename it the Tour de Lance). I'm trying to decide what to do tonight, if anything. Oooo, 'Master Musicians of Bukkake' is playing at the Crocodile tonight...I have no idea who they are it's just one of those names that stick out to you among all the other Bands playing tonight. For example, I once saw an all-girl band named 'Dickless'.

Friday!!!

Well, since the Bite of Seattle is but a Stone's throw away from my pad, I allocated time to find parking at least a mile away but it turned out not to be a problem. Anyhoo, I found my new 'home away from home' for the upcoming NHL season. Since Seattle is a Hockey-Retarted town (This isn't a PC blog. Deal with it.) there aren't very many great places to watch hockey. Until now! I spent Friday doing something that I don't do very often, get hammered. Hammered, drunk, wasted, blottoed, thirty sheets to the wind, blah, blah, blah. Anyways since I was at a sports bar and the NHL is starting up again the topic of the NHL definitely came up a few times.

Not sure what I'm doing on Saturday as of yet. It's 4:20 AM pacific time and, haven't slept yet and I need to get up and going in a few hours.

Sunday - Fun in the sun, God, and Rock 'n Roll

Well, it's late and I'm going to be brief. Tarantino's 'Jackie Brown' is showing on IFC in the background....not one of Robert Dinero's or Michael Keaton's best performances.

Today was another beautiful sunny 80 degree +++ day in Seattle. Before heading out, laundry had to be done (::blech::). As stated before, my legs were that of Jello but I had to head out in the Sun. After getting humiliated on Bainbridge Island yesterday, I decided that I needed to start hitting more hills on my bike.

I started part of what I call 'a circut'. It's basically a loop from Lake Union, Up University Avenue, around the north side of Green Lake to north Ballard, and then....back to where I started. Anyways I made it up to Green Lake sweat pouring out of my pores like a sponge, and cruised around the Lake and Up to a Coffee Shop that I like to head to every now and then.

By the time I got there I needed to relax for a bit as I was exhausted from the hills, the sun, and all the riding I did this weekend. So I fired up my trusty laptop and started to fix a few facts in this blog that were a bit off (Stage 14 not 15. Cruise said 'Sometimes you just got to say what the fuck.' not '...fuck it')

Anyhoo, I had about an hour to kill so I fired up Half-Life 2 and started to make my way out of City 17 on the Jet Boat and then spent an hour with God. Now I usually ride in attire that really isn't 'Church Going' so I brought a nice shirt to slip over my sweaty, partially baked torso.

After church (8:00PM), I noticed the time and I had one more thing I planned to do. Go check out 'Theory of a Deadman' at 'El Corazon' (This place used to be called 'The off-ramp' and is Featured in the movie 'Singles'...The part where Soundgarden is playing). But the show started at 8PM. When I got there and it was PACKED, dark and there isn't any fresh air that comes into the club except for the doors that are opened.

<'Dr. No' (the first James Bond Movie) is playing in the background now.>

The show was pretty friggin great. The band came out with high energy, a great attitude and a talent to get the crowd into the show. I didn't know what to expect as the music industry, how do you say, 'ain't what she used to be'. Alot of the times you get bands that may have one or two great songs but the rest are crap as well as the live shows. You know, now that I think about it KISW, the radio station that hosted the show, also brought Jane's Addiction to town when 'Nothing's Shocking' first came out.

'Theory of a Deadman' came out with all cyllanders firing at high speed and didn't let up at all. I usually judge bands on their live shows because this can tell you what sort of band they are.

To me there are two types of bands:

1) One that comes out on stage and sound exactly like the CD they've released (or sometimes worse).
2) One that takes what they've recorded in the studio to another level live on stage.

'Theory of a Deadman' falls into category #2 as they not only look like they're having a great time playing on stage but also want to make sure that they get the crowd into the show as well. Not many bands can do that in this day and age. I play guitar and consider myself pretty musically educated so it takes alot for me to consider a band good. If you see 'Theory of a Deadman' coming to a town near you, check them out! You won't be disappointed. Unfortunately, I had to leave the show during the last song as I have to work tomorrow so right now I'm missing the after show party I got invited to (seriously).

Saturday - Cyclefest Outdoor Cinema

Well, I got home and was glad I didn't ride any more miles on Bainbridge Island as my legs felt like jello. I cleaned up and then made my way out to Magnuson Park but needed something to eat first.

I continued my quest for Vegetarian Restaraunts in the Seattle area. Now by the time I began making my way out to Magnuson Park, I was already late to the outdoor cinema and happen to come across Natual Foods in the Uinversity District. Inspired the classic Tom Criuse Quote from 'Risky Business' I decided to say "...What the Fuck." and turned towards Natural Foods. I fugured I could get something Vegetarian there and my body desparately needed food to replenish the already burned up calories from today. However, just before the final turn towards 'Natual Foods' I discovered a sign that said 'Sunshine Cafe - Vegetarian'. Bingo, it's dinner time!

I pulled in and was pleasantly suprised with the variety of food they had to offer. They had the ususal 'Rabbit-Food' and Processed shit disks that is marketed as Vegetarian Burgers. However, they had some great selections of pasta and different dishes. I settled on a small Steamed Vegetables Brown Rice in a Garlic-Ginger Sauce. The service was prompt and I was pleasantly suprised with how it tasted. Once I finished (no time for dessert!) I made my way out to the Cyclefest Outdoor Cinema.

Now when I planned this event, I had no idea what to expect as they didn't advertise what was going to be shown as the movie. In Seattle, there are numerous oudoor Cinema's during the summer that usually play Classic or really popular movies. I'm talking movies like 'Ferris Buler's Day off', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Spider-Man 1/2'...you get the idea. Well, then I got at far corner of the park I noticed that this event was billed (on the Signs leading to the event) as 'The Biggest Tour De France Pary on the West coast'.

Sweet! I love the Tour de France!!!

I've been a Tour fan since Miguel Indurain won his final Tour Title and have been following the tour over the years the best I could. At the time the Indurain won his final title, coverage was usually limited to a 30 minute summary of the current Stage of the tour. Over the years, as the Tour has gotten more and more popular, coverage has evolved to the point to where, if you wanted, you could see the event live. That's 4AM Pacific time....I'll pass on that. Furthermore, the cable package that comes with my rent doesn't have OLN (the US Cable channel that has US Broadcast Rights to the Tour de France) so I've been checking online or on sports news channels as to the progress of the tour.

Anyways, there were approx 500-800 people attending (possibly more) all of whom were gathered around this huge inflatable video screen. After 10 minutes I found a seat and the 'movie' began. Everyone was treated to most of the Stage 14 coverage as it happend Saturday. This may be boring to some of you but this gives people a chance not only how the Tour works but I got to see, once again, how amazing Lance Armstrong is on the tour. He was challenged on probably one of the most difficult stages of the tour throughout the duration of the stage (the last part of which was a set of hills that were practically straight up (an 8 or 9% grade hill if memory serves).

Check out the map of the stage:



I was there until 11:00 PM or so and then headed towards home and still was rearing to do more with my evening. However, Seattle is really lame in the sense that there is little or nothing for singles to do around town. I drove around for a bit and headed home. Then, the whole day caught up with me and I was asleep before too long.

Random Mutterings

For some reason or another, on the way to the Outoor Cinema, I began thinking of a project that I did during one of my times of unemployment. I had played with the Idea of starting my own company but the days of getting Venture capital money from a business plan written on a napkin has long since passed. The first thing I did was to look at Venture Capital firms who are the 'players' and who aren't. I used a former start-up company I used to work for, Safeharbor Technology Corporation, as the model for my research. Now in the Seattle area, this informaiton is REALLY easy to find. The first thing I did was go to the Library and research what venture capital firms they had used for financing their company. The first and most important tool to utilize is the 'Puget Sound Business Journal'. This resource has pretty detailed records of What Venture Capital firms have provided funding for many and varied companies around the Puget Sound Area. So with this information I was able to teach myself what venture capital firms are, how they operate and what areas venture capital firms specialize in. It's a great educational experience regardless of wether or not you're planning on starting a business or not.

Saturday - Part 1 - Humiliation on Bainbridge Island

Right now I'm sitting in front of Island Ice Cream and Coffee just up the hill from the Winslow Ferry docks eating a chocolate Chip and Cranberry cookie (don't laugh its REALLY good) recounting the events of the day.

I woke up late today and made my way down to Coleman Docks to catch the Ferry to Bainbridge Island (Seattle/Winslow Ferry) and wasn't sure really what to expect. I've always taken this ferry to points beyond Winslow or Bainbridge Island through the years and I've always heard about the many and varided rides just beyond the ferry docks.

As soon as I got off the ferry docks I made my way to the "Bike Barn" which looks like shack that was designed for commuters who take the ferry to and from Seattle every day. I picked up a map of the Bainbridge Island area and decided to make my way out to Fort Ward State Park.

Here's a copy of the map:




The map made it look like it would be an nice and leisurely ride. Little did I know at the time I bit off a bit more than I could chew with my decision. So I made my way west down Winslow way through a part of Winslow riding through a really cool section of town with some very ecletic shops. It wasn't your usual 'run of the mill' tourist trap crap stores that you usually find in small towns in Washington (from my experiences).

Anyways, I made my way out of town and started up Grow Ave. which was a moderate slow rising hill. I then shifted to a lower gear that gave me less resistance for my peddling and then it happened. My chain was drooping down lower than a sixty year old woman's tits. This isn't a good thing for biking as there should always be some resistance on the chain, no matter what gear you're riding in. Well fortunaltely, before I left my cramped but humble abode, I brought my trusty bike tool which has a chain link repair option on it. I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to repair a bike chain but it's a great test of patience and grace under pressure. You place the portion of the chain that you want to break apart in this tool and the tool pushes the pin of the chain out. Now that was the easy part.



The hard part was taking a portion of the chain off that would make the chain less 'saggy tit-like' and putting the chain back together. Now putting a bike chain back together requires at least five arms but you only have two. You have one chain going one way and the other end of the chain going the other way and you're trying to hold them both together while you put a chain link bit, which is the size of a large splinter, into a hole that is smaller than the diameter of the bit. Now throw in 75+++ degree heat and you have a proverbial party in a box.

This took me about...oh God...about 45 minutes to do. I got everything back together and continued on my trek to Fort Ward. I made my way down a three quarter of a mile hill that was steep and was going pretty darned fast. This author then stopped to get his bearings with his trusty map of the area and kept moving. I came upon another steep downward hill, this time with a hairpin turn that loops around to the left. Basically, it's speed city with a wipeout degree og 9.5. It's times when you're blazing down a hill and not sure you're going to make the hairpin turn, you think, for just a brief moment, in your mind about crashing or wiping out but then with the breeze in your face and the fleeting moment of invincibility charging your adrenalin takes any doubt I may have had. It's a rush unlike any other. Other than riding in with traffic in downtown Seattle at rush hour, of course.

After making the turn I found out why this island has lots of riders, there are more hills on this Island than downtown Seattle has but much much steeper. This author needed a challenge like this as the riding in Seattle was getting too easy. What once was a 45 minute ride around town is now around 20-30. Let's face it, I was humbled by the size and amounts of hills in Bainbridge Island. Anyways I started to head up a VERY steep Blakely Ave and then it happened at the summit. The fucking chain broke again! This time it split completely apart, no sagging this time (sorry tit lovers).

As I groaned at what just occurred, I began the Octopus like task of repairing the chain....yet again. Then out of nowhere, a fellow rider came by and decided to lend a hand. As we both began talking he was telling me about the rides on this island and the race that Bainbridge Island is famous for The 'Chilly Hilly' (I made a mental note to myself to look this up on the internet when I arrived home). After 20 minutes of trying to fix the chain this rider, Tristan, pulled out his phone and called up a Repair shop he used to work for back in Winslow (talk about luck). Tristan, through his kindness and generosity and officially called my now deceased chain 'a piece of crap. Must be a technical term for the bike repair world. Before too long the a truck arrived with the Owners wife driving picked me up and took me back to town to B.I. Cycle (Bainbridge Island Cycle - This is a well deserved plug for this repair shop. Here's the link: http://www.b-i-cycle.com/).

It was determined that not only I needed a new chain but the front derailer (the mechanism that moves the chain up and down the cranks. While they fixed it, I explored Winslow a bit more and did some mental window shopping, Mental window shopping is making a mental note of the stores and what, if any, items caught my eye.

Before too long, my bike was better than before (duhh) and I began to plot my next course of action. Since I expended a lot of energy riding and making attempts to repair this chain I didn't have much more energy to take on the hills of Bainbridge island. Not only that but I reminded myself that I still needed to ride back home after the ferry ride. I decided, before catching the ferry back to Seattle to explore Winslow a bit more to see what else this town has to offer. I then saw that it was getting late and I needed to move on to the next part of my day (outdoor cinema!!). Which brings me back to 'Island Ice Cream and Coffee' and eventually to the ferry.

(to be continued)

Administrative Note

This blog is the documentation of me taking ownership of my life from what I used to be in the past. If what I post about me taking ownership of my life in my blog is "Arrogant" or "Stupid" to people, all I have to say is "Whatever" and "Get a life" if your revolves around mine. I'm trying to live life to the fullest so don't gripe at me if I'm living the way you want to. Also, this blog also allows me to do something that I've been practicing for quite some time (side note to 'Peachy' writing...er...having a creative outlet is what I was looking to do for a career change) writing for the fun of it.

..and a note for you 'southside' dipshits...yes you, the hackers with the 'deleting the CD-Rom' fetish and one who count their mother as women they've kissed. I should warn you that you're going to need a dictionary for this next section as there are alot of big words that you may have never heard of.

Friday!!!

Ok I figured out what I'm going to do. I'll give you all a hint.

I Might get to see 3,000 tonight.

Caio.

*Edit*

In case you're not a baseball fan or as dumb as a post if you are this is where I was tonight:

http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=130526

I found a great story the other day on the web...but lost the link.

I was reading this story the other day about this group of psychotic losers that spend every waking minute trying to keep a man and a woman that love (loved?) each other apart. They go around conning people into beleiving any story they could spin to keep these two apart. One story the author goes into is that they used the Bible for leverage to try (the author emphasized try) make people in the man and woman's life look bad.

Now the real fucked up things that they did included:

- They purchased an exact copy of the Man's computer and stole copies of his own software. They took this duplicate machine and programs that belonged to the man so they could create and install trojan's, viruses and other software. The whole goal of this was to make the man look bad and replace the trojaned machine into the man's home while he was either sleeping or not at home. The man caught on to what was going on and quietly started his own investigation.

- Stole both the man and woman's mail. They sometimes conned people at the post office and other times they put in false 'change of address' forms to steal their mail and make one or the other look bad to each other.

I can't seem to find the link and I don't know when the author is going to write some more on the topic (also, I don't know how old the story is). The author said he knows that people the man used to call friends and family (he doesn't elaborate as to who the person in the woman's life that was involved) were the people responsible for splitting these two apart.

If I can find the link I'll post it as this story (what's published so far) simply sucked me in. I'm kicking myself for not bookmarking the story as I want to share the link with everyone. This is a story that should be shared with the world...that is if the author publshes any more of the story.

...and no I still don't know what I'm doing Friday.

Bumbershoot announces a killer lineup of bands!

This is definitely a 100% sure fire Monotony Eradicator.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002369525_bumbershoot10.html

Here's a sample of the acts that are scheduled to perform at Bumbershoot:

Garbage
Devo
Bo Diddley
Trey Anastasio
The re-formed 'New York Dolls'
Dashboard Confessional
The Donnas
Michael Franti & Spearhead
General Public
The Pharcyde
Digable Planets
Buckwheat Zydeco
Mavis Staples

Vegetarianless in Seattle?

As I stated in a previous post, I'm experimenting with changing my diet habits to a vegetarian diet. One of the biggest things I worry about in becoming a vegetarian is that there will be hardly any vegetarian restaurants in Seattle. I mean going to Subway and getting a veggie sandwitch every day gets old pretty quick. Not only that but I've tasted the hockey puck shaped veggie disks (burgers) and they taste like processed crap.

I've been on this diet for a few weeks now and I will say that I have more energy and vitality than I've had for a long time. I have more energy when I wake up in the morning and when I exercise. Also, it seems that my systems have been cleaning themselves out. I won't go into details but I will say that I've seen every color of the rainbow in the crapper.

Ok back to my original point. Just like clockwork whenever the weathermen say it's going to rain it doesn't. Today was absolutely beautiful in Seattle and I had to get out of the house for dinner. I've been completely bored with nothing to do (this is one of the reasons why I started this blog) so I decided to go out and find a Vegetarian restaurant. After driving around, I decided to check out Agua Verde:

http://www.digitalcity.com/seattle/entertainment/venue.adp?sbid=111456846

I've been wanting to try this place for quite some time but when I swing by it's either closed or there are way too many people for me to wait in line (I don't like waiting in line to eat more than 30 minutes).

As soon as arrived I saw one of the signs that Agua Verde is a great place to eat. People were lined up out side the door and onto the sidewalk. I went up to the door and as luck would have it, there was a big 'ol "V" sticker on the door indicating that it was a Vegetarian restaurant.

Long story short, I ordered some Spicy Catfish Tacos with Green Rice that was out of this world. I haven't had this good of Mexican food with fish since Taco del Mar made their fish burritos with real fish (not the processed crap they use today). The food is reasonably priced and is absolutely delicious.

I'm definitely mentally filing this restaurant away for future use.

Catch Up!

Ok, i've been riding my bike, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches every day. I've been riding my bike to events like the Fremont Street fair (missed the parade of nude bike riders this year). That and I've been experimenting with changing my diet to vegetarian.

Now I'm deciding on what to to for the fourth. Blah Blah Blah.