Miami Tropical Bonsai

I have been coming here for about 10 years. 275 dollars later I have a new pot for Sarah's scheflera, quality soil, and two ficus trees to work on.

The nursery has a nice and simple Japanese influenced garden out front that gave Sarah and I some good ideas for the back yard.

Too late to make it to the gardens but we did get to see a family of 5 racoons.

Day 6

Going back up to the Miami area again today. This time to see Fairchild Tropical Gardens. I have been a few times in my life but Sarah has never been. FTG is a HUGE botanical garden just south of Miami.
Still have yet to ride this week. Normally that would bother me but its not for lack of staying busy.

Walked down the steps to take out the trash this morning a made an interesting discovery. Inside one of the open trashcans was a very rough looking Opossum. I'm guessing he had been in there at least a day or two. He was looking VERY dehydrated and tired enough that he was not interested in hissing and thrashing around. I put down a dish of water and some pretzels in the corner and put the trash can on its side. When we left he was still in there. As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures from my phone I will...

hork

Got food poisoning. Threw up 4 times while snorkling. Turns out fish love barf. I was surrounded by 500 very happy fish. I have not thrown up since I was 5. I'm not saying I enjoyed blowing chunks but it was essentially a new experience for me. Interesting. I actually was instantly surrounded by fish which was pretty cool.

Also saw a 5 foot long barracuda. Much cooler than watching mongoloids stagger around Key West.

Day 1

Left work at about 5:30 Friday and rushed home. Let the dogs out. Parents arrived a short bit later followed by Sarah. After grabbing food, packing, and giving the pet sitter some last minute instructions it was into the van and onto the highway. The drive began at 7:30PM. About 18 hours later we rolled into Marathon Key in south Florida. We did make a stop in a south Florida park which I really don't remember much of. Went to the grocery store, cooked some burgers, passed out with the plan being to get up early Sunday and begin vacation for real.

Late...

I don't pretend to be up on current music. I stopped actively seeking out new stuff a few years ago. I'm not bored with the records I own so why spend money on new ones? I finally got a few new things that actually get me as excited as the old standbys.

Cursed-III: Amazing. The first time I listened to it I hated it. After I and II this is a big change. The production is VERY different. But after a few listens it is really growing on me. Just as brutal (usually an overused adjective but oh so appropriate when talking about this band). One of the select few hardcore bands that I have heard in the last 5 years that is actually putting out groundbreaking material. Alas I hear they called it quits...



Disfear-Live The Storm: It's been a long time since a band gave me the unstoppable urge to circle-pit in my own room. Motorhead meets 90s hardcore meets crust. I would even crawl out of my hole in Northside to catch these guys live. I just wanna get it off! Get it off my back!

Not really sure what is up withe Mountain Dew Images... but this is the first track off the album in question...



And... while looking for clips I discovered that Cursed made a low-budget music video...

Note to self...

Racing back to back cross races the same day is not nearly as fun as racing back to back crits.

I pretty much hate all politicians...

I gave up on voting a few years back when it finally occurred to me that it doesn't matter if a guys campaign sign is red or blue; his 6 figure income ass will never actually have my interests truly in mind and all the side issues are just that... a distraction. I can't remember the last time I heard one of these guys actually answer a question with anything that resembled a clear answer. But this November I am going to actually vote. Why the change of policy? My friend Julie was talking with Sarah about voting and shares part of my sentiment but made a good point. Obama is viewed by the international community with emotions ranging from "appreciation" to "not total hatred and disgust" whereas our current fearless leader ranges somewhere between "total disgust" and "pure I want to bomb your country over and over hatred". So a vote for Obama is a vote to reduce my chances of getting blown up or exposed to some nasty poison. Finally a political issue I can really get behind. Selfish self preservation. Plus he looks cooler on a track bike than McCain.

Courtesy of Ipsofatso.

This just in... Bush: "Lot of work to do before leaving office"

I know how he feels. When I lived on Pine St. in Oregon Hill we (and by we I mean Keith Browne) put all kinds of holes in the walls along with other random damage to the property. When it was time to move out we also had a "lot of work to do before leaving." Good luck G.W. and get moving... those holes in the walls from that Tequila bender are not going to patch themselves.

Ouch my life.

Today kicked off the cyclocross season for this particular slacker. A brand new course with elevation changes a-plenty promised to deliver some serious pain. Since injury took me out back in late July I have had exactly 5 days of real riding and about 10 more days of soft-pedaling to work and back. Not exactly the best prep for cyclocross. ESPECIALLY not for a season opener with this much up-hill.
I have never been the type to walk into a pool slowly. I know the water is cold and it's always better to just jump in and get that initial shock to the system over with. So what better way to dust off the cobwebs?
I lined up in the back C race (hey... I'm a lazy cat4 after all). No delusions of grandeur for this guy. I knew the next 30 minutes were going to kick my ass so I opted to just stay out of the way. 5 laps later I was ready to keel over but at least I passed a few guys who seemed to be having a worse day than me.
Don't be fooled though... I still had a great time. Like mountain biking, cross is one of those things I am really bad at but still thoroughly enjoy. What made it even better is that I did not feel nearly as bad out there as I expected to. The legs actually felt pretty OK (but the lungs were no amused by the effort).
Tomorrow's race in Bryan Park should be better. The flat course suits my lack of fitness a bit better and I always seem to race just a little bit better the 2nd day of a back to back weekend.

The best news of the day was Beckmann winning his first cross race. Starting out he said he kept thinking "I'm going to crash, this is going to suck, I am going to break my bike!" As it turns out he doesn't suck and along with fellow first timer Marc Warner of TNP/3sports, rode away from the C field. On the final uphill Beckmann put in a hard attack on Marc right before the stairs and was able to keep his gap to the finish. Guess you'll be racing the B tomorrow, eh Brian?

I could only hang around for the first lap of the A/B race because Sarah and I had to go watch Keck get married. I was there long enough to see Andrew Troy attacking the shit out of the B field. My high hopes for a Team CBC double were later squashed by text message later that day when I learned that he flatted and was a DNF. Better luck tomorrow...

Interesting stuff...

Amoro Supermotard. Pointless? Very. Cool anyway? Very.


Mike Giant has a show going on at White Walls in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to be tattooed by this artist before he retired from skin work to focus on gallery art. His love of bikes is obvious in many of the works he is currently producing.

Tribute to Theo Bos. Always good when fixed gear culture bothers to reference track cycling.

I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this one.


A few drawings were projected and painted on the walls as well. I have always be a huge fan of Mike Giant's style. Brutally simple and so much cleaner than I could ever hope to be. More info about this show is at the Rebel8 blog.

Watching the debate tonight is proving to be a good way to relax after a hard day of moving work. This is some of the best comedy this side of The Daily Show. In Gov. Palin the GOP has somehow managed to produce a candidate that is even more detached from reality than Bush was when he got started. This moron is on stage either talking in circles or flat out refusing to answer questions by changing the subject. My favorite moments have to be the ones where Palin is rambling on about something and in the split screen Biden has this grin on his face that clealy says "are you kidding me bitch?"