Ready

Ready for all this Halloween shit...




Got my costume sorted and everything.

Last Nights Dream

Sometimes I have dreams that seem to just be for entertainment...
Last night I had one that was sorta like a 70's TV movie thing.
I didn't actively participate in any of the action, I was just watching it.

The major plot line was about how an aircraft carrier was coming into this port.
Not like a navy aircraft carrier, but a private company's aircraft carrier I guess.
So, there was hoopla and what not, for whatever reason...

There were these dudes in kayaks trying to chase this rare kind of seal out of the aircraft carrier parking space.

While all of that is going on, there are flashes to these two guys talking.  One dude is the guy that owns the aircraft carrier and the other is somehow deep in debt to guy one.  There is an undertone of menace.

Following me?

The dream just goes back and forth between these two narratives.
Arriving boat, blocked by endangered seal.
Guy trying to get out from under his crushing tab to the boat owning man.

Then, boom, cut to a scene with the indebted guy standing on the aircraft owners patio.
He has a giant platter of snacks, all manner of delicacies...
Including a large chuck of what seems to be grilled endangered seal meat.
There was also a pitcher of cocktails, which he described as cinnamon stick infinities, which even while dreaming I thought sounded pretty awful...

The implication is of course that the dudes debt is cleared, for getting rid of the aircraft carrier parking spot blocking seal.
And that was it...


Anybody want to interpret that for me?

What's It Gonna Be

Two Wheels Tuesday

Memory machine edition...

Petrol, Food, Beer

Sandy

Yeah, so waiting for a hurricane is pretty boring.

Last night I did a lot of standing around, wondering if there was other stuff I should be doing.
There was some World Series action (yay Giants) to distract me for a bit.  Honestly, the weather in Detroit looked worse than here last night.

I walked around with the dog, per usual and noticed nearly every house had a light on.

My standing around lasted 'til about 3AM and most of lights were still on.  I imagine everybody else was doing the same weather checking and wondering that I was...
The wind picked up a bit around the time I piled in with the sleeping pets, with light mist.

This morning is kinda the same.  Wind and mist.

I did my doggy walking deal, as always.  Seems like folks are home, mostly, around the neighborhood.
Made a snack run, as I realized all my storm prep, yesterday, had left me chipless.  I figure I should have some snacks on hand, for waiting out the storm...
Not many people out, at all.

I will just tag some updates here, throughout the day, because like I said, this is all pretty boring right now...


12:19 - Well, noonish now, a bit windier with the same mist.  It's been this same drizzle since yesterday, so shit is pretty saturated I notice.  Still some hours before the really heavy stuff starts coming down, I hear.  Decided to do some laundry, in case the power goes out/for something to do.
Yesterday, a dude at the grocery mentioned that he was without power for a week after Irene.  So, yeah...




1:40 - Well, the wind has picked up a bit.  There was some rain earlier, but things are just smattering at this point.  I guess I will do a lap, to see if everything is where I left it before the big winds kick in.  Meh...

2:52 - Yeah, still here.  Gusts here up to about 25MPH, outta the NE.  I have entered into the bored snacking portion of waiting for the storm, hanging out watching the Weather Channel.  That dude they keep showing, on the shore in Narragansett, is about twenty miles from here.  That is down by where we hit the oyster farm and such.  Lights have flickered a couple times already.

3:45 - The wind has picked up quite a bit here, over the past hour.  Sustained at around 30MPH, with a few gusts up to 50.  There really isn't any rain at the moment, just that wind.  The wet stuff is supposed to show up around sunset.  Oh, here is the feed from the airport weather station, which is about a mile or so east of me, if you are wondering what's going on here.  All the pets seem to have holed up in their nap spots, which probably means something ominous, in some house pet whisperer kind of way...

4:55 - Same sorta wind action with maybe some more rain.  Ho, hum.  Some of the trees, out back, have some good lean going.  Some more flickers with the lights.  Rain is coming right at the windows on the back porch, so there really isn't even a good spot to sit and watch the storm.  The heavy stuff is still an hour, or so, out and the big rain is tomorrow?  Glad I am not in Philly for this one.

5:15 - I guess that the surge is up over the seawall, down south.  Not really a direct concern here, I just like that area for weekend wandering.  I also hear that the are about 50,000 homes without power, here in RI.  It's dropped out here a few times, for a minute or so.

6:42 - Just more wind to report, up into the 40's pretty consistent, at this point, with gusts approaching 60.  It's dark now, so you know, there is that wondering about what is happening out in the dark vibe.  I kinda wish I had walked over to the river, to see what it is up to, or if it was coming up.  I don't think there is anything to worry about it tonight, just bored and curious I guess.  Probably not a worry tomorrow, even, but I'll save that adventure for tomorrow.

7:55 - There has been a break in the mist here, for a while, so I made a lap outside to break up the monotony.  Looks like some neighbors have branches down.  The bigger trees around the block still have leaves, so they are the ones loosing limbs.  Those few weeks of the National Grid folks annoying me with early AM tree trimming, a month ago, don't seem quite as annoying now, since we still have power.  Clouds are just rushing overhead.  With the full moon behind the clouds, peaking through, makes for some horror movie looking skies.The wind noise is kinda intense, as well.  A big white wall of sound.  The gut of the storm is still coming...

9:53 - Just outside, doing dog stuff.  Odd report, I would almost say it's nice out.  The rain has stopped, for now.  There is just a breeze at ground level, though the clouds up at a hundred feet, or so, are still streaking overhead, now coming out of the south and east.  It's even kinda warm.  Weird.

10:45 - Huh?  So, I hear tomorrow will probably be rain with "breezy" winds?  I guess New York and Jersey took the brunt of this deal?  OK.  Well, I am all stocked up on canned beans, I guess.

Hey

Aaahhh!
Oh my God...

Frankenstorm!

Yeah, anyway...

KVC and I did some early birthday hanging out yesterday, since she is bugging to the motherland this week.

Hung out with our pal, Kate, and her pooch.
Went horseback riding along the shore...
That is KVC on Frisco and me on Red, getting all cowboy-up and shit.
We came back here and feasted, drank and built a fire to watch the waxing moon and storm clouds roll in.

Pretty awesome day, really...



Got KVC outta here, earlier, to meet a plane and beat the storm.
I have just been battening the bits down here, in preparation for whatever is coming.
Things like moving in the lawn furniture, chasing after the last pack of D cell batteries in the state, caching some beer and wine and what have you...

So I have my hunker down position going here.

The perfect storm.
Storm of the century.
Frankenstorm.

Really, I am taking it seriously, so don't sweat it unless I let you know things are going south.
I can't do anything to change it, so I will just do my best to get through it...


Come to think of it, it seems like I have been through a lot of "storm of the century" action in the past ten years.


I don't have a lot of stuff lined up to auto post this week, so if there aren't posts here it doesn't mean I am dead, by the way.
I may just be without power, standing outside, shouting in the face of a giant storm, for no good reason.

Sunday Drive

How about a little jaunt through the country?

Backseat Driver

Weekend Plans

Something like this.

Wearing That?

"Oooh, I really like that jacket!"



"Aawwh, this old thing?"

Look Out

When I was a younger man, my college roommate and I would share dreams of being fire lookouts, of all things.
He was from California, so I suppose he knew more about it than I did.
I would guess the base of our combined knowledge was more from the writings of Edward Abbey, than any real facts...

Solitary, almost monastic, living.
Staring into the world, watching it change.
Breathing the purer air some altitude affords.

That was what I imagined being a lookout would provide, along with a small cot and stipend.


Still, even with all the romance of youth stripped away, it doesn't look like a bad gig.

I suppose being the Mt. Tam lookout is the equivalent of the fire watcher big leagues.

Thrasher Thursday

Dude.

Quiet

Bring It Back

Two Wheels Tuesday

Special twin carb'd Shovester craziness edition.

Duck, Duck

Goose.

Sunday Drive

Going my way.

These Guys

I think I have decided that these two are genius.

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Last Night's Dreams

Had a bunch of dreams last night.
I guess I probably do every night, and just don't remember 'em...
The dogs were busy last night and I usually remember dreams better if I wake out of them.

Weird dreams, maybe.
I don't really know what other people dream about.
People don't talk about dreams, do they?

One was about me driving some pals to a party, maybe a bachelor party or something.
I think it was supposed to be Vegas.
We were rolling in my Crown Vic.  A police car type car, without the lights.  It had these pre-runner style bumper guards and bad brakes.
I don't remember much else from that one.



Another was me hanging out with some folks, including my dad, at some sorta car event.
We were rapping with this dude in his booth/pits.
He had a 57 El Dorado convertible project and this battered Lotus sitting there.
Somehow it came up that the dude wanted out of the Lotus because it was beaten, tiny and so on...
So, I bought it for $200.
The dream then sorta transitioned into this long mechanical illustration of adapters to power it with a motorcycle engine, for some reason.
I woke up while looking looking at the connector for prop-shaft to transmission...



And I had one that was just a riding dream.
Sorta like a flying dream but low to the ground...
Just moving through space.

Thatcher Thursday

For no real reason...

The Drummer

Give the drummer some.


Trust me, give it about a minute.
It's good...

Two Wheels Tuesday

Any kind of bike, any kind of ride is cool edition.

Chevoom

Wow.

Show Your Tits Sunday

Sunday Drive

Where, exactly, did you get those fruit smoothies?

Dig It

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Roadshow

We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t read magazines, don’t even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you’re worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you’re giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told ‘no’, we’re unimportant, we’re peripheral. ‘Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.’ And then you’re a player, you don’t want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that’s being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.



—Terrence McKenna

Status Update

Things are going great.

Hey

Do I have any dude stuck in my teeth?

Sunday Drive

Shut up and drive.

Meanwhile...

This seems totally crazy-amazeballs to some tween girl, somewhere in Asia, I imagine.

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Free Hugs Friday

Just meet me under the bridge, at midnight.

Seeker

“I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I’m beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn’t pleasant, it’s not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.”



- Hermann Hesse, Demian

Water Wheelie Wednesday

I kinda want one of those dual-sport adventure bikes, for no justifiable reason...

Beware of Slapping

Public Service Announcement - Dick may cause increased risk of/exposure to slaps.

This Campaign

Been pondering on this campaign cycle, just like the rest of you I suppose.
No, I am not one of those "undecided" voters...
I am not sure how one could be, really.

I was considering the Romney campaign, I guess.
Their operation seems a bit off and that barrage of bad press over the last week or so sure didn't help.
What I was wondering about was their pitch, what they are trying to sell...
You know - jobs, Mitt is a successful business man, healthcare is bad, cut taxes, jobs.



That whole spiel doesn't quite seem to be bringing the returns that campaign needs, so I got to thinking about talking points that the GOP has really skipped this year that might appeal to both Tea Party people and folks on the far left...
You know - the Patriot Act, increased international drone strikes, authorized killings of US civilians on foreign soil, domestic surveillance.
It seems like Mittens could actually make some hay with that line of talk, or at least soften the turn out of some far left voters.  Those talking points are all good old fashioned freedom and liberty kinda shit, that should be just fine for folks on the right.


Neither party really wants to pull back on the civil liberties erosion and expansion of executive powers, I suppose.  Nobody wants to miss out on all that fun, when their dude gets the big boy seat.  That is the really fun part of being in charge, right?


It amazes me that come election season, the whole of our conversation is replay of so many past versions.  Campaigns pick up topics that should just be done or need a complete revision.
The GOP sort of stepped on their own trap, with the choice/abortion conversation this year.  That line really only appeals to a pretty specific demographic, a shrinking demographic.
This posturing on China seems a bit absurd, from both parties this week.  Germany has done a pretty fair job of reevaluating their relations with China, with out all the chest thumping, and found a degree of cooperation and success.
Of course the GOP has been all about chest thumping on an assortment of foreign policy matters, up to and including Russia.  That is just their thing I guess.


I don't think any real progress in this whole politics bog will be made until one of these parties goes off standard script and moves to a dialog/agenda of actual change, with an accounting of our domestic situations and world affairs...
Both parties have failed at any real message this fall, beyond the same message I have heard in every presidential election I can remember.

Perhaps the debates will be a forum these candidates to air some talking points beyond the standard campaign menu items.  I kinda doubt that, though...


It's enough to make me wish that third party guy would talk about something other than weed...

Trike Tuesday

Special old guys ruling it on a sidehack race bike edition...