Weekend Plans

Something like this...

We Built That

I am still digesting the whole RNC thing.


It is kinda hard, given the combination of bald faced lies, crazy person blathering, god praising, kindly racism and all.



That focus on debt was interesting, you know, when you look at what really launched us on that path.  Just check the graph, here.













I was puzzled by the undercurrent of nostalgia to nearly every speech, until I considered the real target audience, aging white guys.  The ones I know are pretty adept at applying that "good old days" veneer on past events, so I guess it fits.

One Republican senator, this week, mentioned that they aren't turning out "enough angry white guys" for the election.  I imagine the nostalgia bit combined with the race baiting welfare dialog was the move to appeal to that base, which was creepy in it's overt delivery.
Attendees throwing peanuts at a black camera operator, with comments about "feeding the animals" would suggest at least a few of those angry crackers were present.

The fact checker frenzy in response to most of the speakers, though appreciated, seems like a futile exercise in changing any GOP voters, really.  Given media options like Fox News are the primary news conduit for most, the lies have been told as truths for so long they are probably real for that demographic.
Though, when Fox calls out the lies in the oratory of their own VP candidate, you gotta wonder what is going down.

The big God talk, well, OK, good for you all, you like Jesus or whatever.  Woot woot.  I understand that was part of an effort to flesh out the candidate as something more human.  Not being quite so into that whole Jesus thing, I was left a bit icked out.  Whatever.

Clint Eastwood.  I am just going to pretend that was like some aged conservative Bjork performance, or something.

Then the big Mitt finale, which sorta came over like a lead balloon.  More nostalgia, platitudes, empty words, talking points inserted in odd places, like a mention of being pro-life in the middle of comments on another topic.  Just kinda slid in there, "by the way" style.
Perhaps I shouldn't have been startled by it, given that the RNC must have been fracking Reagan's tomb for most of it's speech content, was the big push for Cold War II.  I expected some standard hawkish war pedaling, not a call to make meany with Putin/Russia really.  So there is some thinking big, on Romney's part, for sure.


Much like the McCain convention, I was left thinking that most speakers seemed to be setting up there own futures with a lot of chatter.  Not so much an endorsement of the main candidate, but more stump speeches for the speakers own bids and agendas.


I am also left thinking of the movie Avatar...
You know, that one James Cameron made where all the characters were computer generated.  The narrative was sorta weak and it was delivered by people who aren't exactly lifelike.

The RNC left with that same feeling.

There was a lot of energy and effort put into making the Romney/Ryan ticket seem sorta like affable, genuine, human dudes...and I just don't quite buy it.
(No, I am not saying I think they are robots or aliens.)

Water Park

After Midnight

Let it all hang out?

Crap

Goddamned aliens...




Now I have a hipster beardo cat.

I will probably have to buy him some white Wayfarers and deep v neck t-shirts now...

Your Mother

Please send her my regards.

Two Wheels Tuesday

Special "you are gonna want to go for a ride, after this" edition.

Mops

Been a while since I have had some absurd rant here, huh?

Know what is bugging me?
Motherfucking mops...


I am not sure if I just have bad luck with mops, or what.

See, I can't remember the last time I purchased a mop and was then able to procure a replacement head for the thing.  I have tried various brands, models and what have you.  I try returning to the same store at which I purchased said mops.  I have never actually found a replacement mop head that fits any mop I have ever brought home.  Never.

It makes me wonder if there is some deep mop manufacturer conspiracy to sell more mops.  Mop retailers are in on it too, as it means more revenue for them too, I bet.
Greedy bastards...


Most recently, in response to whole situation, I opted to acquire the cheapest mop I could find.  If I have to do it, my thinking was that I could just give those mop makers less of my cash.  I also gave the mop pimping display a heavy once over, to make sure there were replacement mops heads aplenty. Bought a spare even, while I was there.

So this most recent cheapo one, during each use just comes apart.  Single use...
It's not like I am swabbing the deck of the USS New Jersey with these damned things.  Applying undue stress on the mop with some He-Man super muscle action, nope.  Just some light use, a couple rooms, totally normal fucking mopping.
A return to get yet another replacement mop head came up empty, out of stock. I have looked at other stores, to no avail.


So, now they have got me again, the evil mop collusion council, because I guess I need to buy another goddamned mop...

Life Lesson

That is Bobby Leach and the barrel he used to go over Niagara Falls, in 1911.


Fourteen years later, daredevil dude slipped on an orange peel and died as a result.

There is a life lesson in that, somewhere...

Sunday Drive

What is the deal with honking in tunnels?

PSY

For no real reason, I am sorta fascinated by this dude.

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Frida Friday

Her art has been on my mind, lately...

Not sure why.

The Knack

F the USADA

So, all these years after the fact, the USADA has determined that Armstrong was doping and strips all of his cycling victories back to 1998?


That is just fucking lame.


You ask me, that dude won the Tour de France seven times.





That doesn't just get stripped away because some governing body is unable to effectively manage or enforce it's own rules, in a sport where performance enhancement has a long, entrenched presence, at the time of the actual competitions.

Hell, the guy had a nut cut off and came back to get another yellow jersey...


In all honesty, I just don't get all the moaning about doping in any professional sport.  Especially ones where use of performance enhancers is is rampant.  The athlete's job is to win.  That is what they are paid to do.  Winning is their job and they are just trying to do their job.

Is it bad?  Maybe.  I guess one can argue that it tilts the playing field.  Really, that argument only works if the minority are doping.  I don't believe that is the case in a lot of TdF teams, especially in the past.

Armstrong says he wasn't.
I don't really care if he was.

If Armstrong's titles get stripped, then the USADA should be retesting every sample from the runners up to his wins, before retroactively awarding victory.
Just to be sure...

Thrashin' Thursday

OK, this does predate the super awesome 80's Thrashin' era...
It made for a better post title though.

This picture rules...

Feeling Cool

You don't seem all that great from where I am sitting...

OCD

I will admit my may think about motorcycles way too much...
Anyway, I have sorta been obsessing about this side of the bike.  Something didn't seem right.
I realized that heat sheild was way too high on the list of things I see, when I was eyeballing shit.  Know what I mean?  The eye was just drawn to it before other details...
So, between lawncare tasks I hit it with some black engine paint. 
I think it helps and like things a bit better now...
There is a different exhaust rattling around in my head, a two into one with a thirty degree-ish upturn into a short megaphone.  Ideally, in stainless.
Hopefully, this is enough of a change to chill those thoughts for a bit.

Cool With It

I am digging this, today...

Two Wheels Tuesday

Special dual headlamp edition.

Funny

If you haven't seen these, Jerry Seinfeld has a new sorta project where he drives to get coffee with other funny people...
I think there are three, maybe four, now.

They are a pleasant diversion, I think.
Simple unscripted chatter between a couple funny people.
There is a think layer of famous folk banter to most of them, but you probably don't want to just hear Seinfeld rapping with some store greeter from a box store...
And there are cars.
And coffee.

Figured I would point 'em out, if you missed them.

Reading Material

I am not sure if that is supposed to be a robot or an alien...

But it seems to be carving dunes in an old, homebuilt style, hemi powered beach buggy.


Huh.

Sunday Drive

Don't tell her I have a lighter...

Sea and Cake

The last minute of this song is perfect music for an evening drive along the coast, by the way.

Pussy Riot

I will preface this by saying that the gals from Pussy Riot have tremendous courage.

While we are all busy stroking each others dicks about how our freedom of speech is awesome and Russia sucks, let me ask:




If a pro-Big Gulp, anti-Bloomberg punk band crashed Times Square to film a video saying as much, get off with less than two years probation?
How about a bunch of hippies recording an anti-gun song at the NRA headquarters?
Maybe pro-choice advocates singing at a church in Missippi?
Hell, even some white pride fuckers yelling some shit on tape at the Holocaust Museum?
Peacenks making a kumbayyah album at the Pentagon?

That would piss some people off, right?  Charges would be filed, court cases would ensue.  Those free speakers would get slapped down...

Maybe not two years in Russian prison, but likely as much time on probabtion and some time served.
You might even feel good about it, in some of those cases.


Would any of those instances get such huge, national media coverage, do you think?

Now, I know, some of that is a stretch in relation to the Pussy Riot deal.  It is a fair point to make, however...
While we pat each others backs about freedom.


Let's get back to listening to Taylor Swift songs about how hard dating, fame and utter vapidness is, because that is what we really care about...

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

I Might

I might admit to missing this thing...

Perhaps I just miss having some absurd, epic project to ponder on for endless hours.

I do enjoy a good ponderathon.

Status Update

Things are going great.

The Race

You may have noticed that there have been shockingly few posts with that "politics" label attached in the recent past here...

I used to go on at some length about political topics.

I am still wildly opinionated on the subject and fairly well versed on what the hell is going on.

I just don't see the point in talking about it, at this moment in time...

Not because I don't think it is worth it.

No, really it is a reaction to the point, as a nation, we have reached in the conversation of politics.

There is so little room for debate, as most people seem to merely parrot the opinions of whatever their preferred media pipeline pumps out.  I can barely tell if folks even think about positions, at this point. 

It's all "us and them" and "they are taking this from us" and fuck all...

So, I am just shutting up and watching the monkeys fling poo at each other.

My observations, at the moment-

The current incumbents have failed on some of their promises.  Some of those failures are due to an immobile opposition in Congress and some are just flat fucking flops.  Though Guantanamo is still there, it does seem we are getting out of the war business...slowly.  

And blah, blah blah.

You already tuned out there, didn't you...

See, I am sure you probably have your own thoughts on how Obama has done in his first term.  I am also pretty sure that anything I post here is not going to substantially sway your opinion.

Similarly, I am of the opinion that the gentlemen pictured above are not better equipped to resolve the challenges faced by our nation and will likely not be convinced otherwise.

Also, I think they are creepy, whacko, poopoo-heads that I wouldn't care to take a four hour car trip with, let alone have them run the country for four years.

And, on to November...

These Days

This is how I am rolling...

Two Wheels Tuesday

Special drag your baby in a crate, behind your bike edition.

Whole Lot of Nothing

Had one of those weekends that seemed sorta busy, but really not much happened.  Know what I mean?
The hours seemed filled and yet I am not sure how much there is to show for it...


Friday seems to have been dominated by dull errands and good pizza.
There is this little pizzeria just up the road from here, Napolitano's, that has become the favorite for me here.  Maybe convenience factors in that assessment, but they make damned good pizza, damn it.

They have slice specials, at lunch time, so it is not uncommon for me to pit stop there while I try to get other shit done.  Two New York style slices and a soda for five bucks is right fucking on, by my scoring.  Thin, crispy crust, sauce with flavor, real cheese.  I munched on that mid-day.

KVC hit the scene here, after work, ready to chill.  So we got on with doing whatever.  After a few, she tells me she is ordering a pizza.  Yup, same place.
She prefers the thicker, square, Sicilian style they also make, so one of those showed up in a few.  Just as good as the New York style, just different.  They get that perfect, nearly burnt char on the edge of crust, that I dig.

Seriously, good pizza rules...



Saturday we rolled to the mall, because KVC "needed" things.
Man, there is no quicker way to be discouraged by the path of human evolution that to spend a few minutes in a mall, is there?  Christ, we are an ugly bunch of things.
So, yeah, we were reminded of how cool on-line shopping options are...


That mission was on an empty stomach, so we both had that edge about us and after escaping Providence Place we were ready to eat.
We were going to try Julian's, because somebody recommended it to us a while ago.  They seem to always be closed when we try to eat there.  Maybe it's a great joint, but I my never know.  Fuck that place...




Random driving led us across the river, where I spotted Duck & Bunny.  I remembered reading a review of the place, which sounded intriguing.
It is sort of a tea house/crepery/cupcake/fancy pants wine and cocktail bar, which sounds awful but is pulled off pretty well.
They call themselves a "snuggery" and whatever to that nonsense.
It is in an old house, that was full up when we arrived, so we were shuttled to the back yard.
A rose and sangria later and the mall was forgotten.  Their crepes are not quite traditional, which is fun.  KVC had a kinda burrito crepe thing.  I got crepes tied into little pouches, filled with salmon, capers, dill and creme fraiche.

Nice space, super nice staff, good food.  I will hit this place again.




Sunday?
Well, Sunday is to relax, so we did that.
I did fire up the grill, which was fun.  I will admit that it was the first time I have done that this year...
Don't judge me, I have just been cooking a bit differently this summer and the grill didn't quite fit with my idiom, I guess.
I have been fighting a steak craving for a few weeks and there is really only one way to deal with that, right?  Some heavily marbled, grass fed, glorious cow.
I did up some cod for the gal, sorta provincial with shallots, peas, grape tomatoes, white wine and butter in a little poaching pouch.  Roasted some fingerlings and carrots, while things were over the flames.  Tossed some in-husk sweet corn on the grill, as well, for good measure.
One of those meals that is great, simply because the ingredients were good and super fresh.  I like those kinda meals...

I guess the Olympics ended?
I missed the Spice Girls, I suppose.
I am a lesser man for it, I am sure.
Was Dong Dong at the closing ceremony?
Note, I put that link there so you can find out who Dong Dong is without having to do an internet search.  A lot of non-Olympic athlete stuff comes back if you try searching for dong...


Yeah, so what did you do?

Sunday Drive

If you are gonna do it, might as well do it right.

Right?

Hard

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Miller Time

Hey, look.
It's Chris Miller.

Mini Van

Best minivan ever...

Just Trust Me

Have I ever led you wrong?


Just click this link...



And yes, I probably have led you astray previously.
Click anyway...

Taco Tuesday

The Olympics, Part III

I still am not really paying attention to what is going on with the Olympics.



Though, I do know that there is a dude named Dong Dong competing.
Which is nice...

Sunday Drive

Well, I haven't been abducted by aliens during the day before...

Let Them Ride

Wisdom for the Weekend

“If you were to ask me if I’d ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I’d have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.”

-Luis Buñuel

Weekend Plans

Something like this...

Man Oh Man

So, yeah.  Isle of Man footage, from this years action.

Cripes, man...

I still find this race as fascinating as it is mad.

Fake Food Friday

Well, you probably wouldn't buy it if it said terrier meat.

Big Butts

What can I say...

I like a little junk in the trunk.

Maybe

 

Following up on that post about messing with masking tape...

No, I haven't painted anything.  I even pulled that tape off, to go riding.

I kinda hate to tear stuff apart for some dumb cosmetic, fashion nonsense...

That doesn't mean the noodle still isn't pondering the best way to do it, or what it might look like.

(I doctored this image with MS Paint, because I am old school like that.)

Maybe...

Wall of Death Wednesday

The Olympics Part II

I mentioned before that I am not really paying attention to the Olympics...











Now, I am kinda wondering if that was a mistake.