On all of the various websites I have had (starting with free Geocities and Angelfire hosted sites in the late 1990's/early 2000's and continuing through this site) I have done very little promotion of my internet presence. I have told a few friends and family members about some specific things over the years, but almost all of the things I've written or put online (including this site) were always just meant to be a creative and technical outlet for myself.
Before the widespread use of the internet to post every minute of every day from your smartphone, I (probably like many others around my age) had notebooks of doodles and stuff I wrote that nobody had ever seen. I had physical photographs of myself with people I'd met and places I'd been. It was amazing to be able to put some of the stuff out somewhere (somewhat anonymously) to share with people that I didn't know in real life and didn't feel like were judging me. When I put things up back then I always assumed that nobody was looking at it (and nobody really cared) but still posted somewhat cautiously because anyone could be looking at it.
There was a brief time in the early 2000's where I was a member of an online community that had journals. Through that site I met a ton of really cool people. People that I didn't know IRL, before I got to know them online. People would come around to your journal on the site and ask for updates and share stories and recommendations for things (movies, music, what to do after a breakup, how to cope with a shitty job). They'd come around just to say they missed you and ask how life was. I'd regularly make posts with boring little life updates. When I had nothing to write about I'd ask people to share random things with me and people really did. I'd spend hours reading what my friends has posted and commenting back to them individually. Towards the end of that time period I was busy with work and real life relationships (spending less time online) and short on cash (paying back student loans) and I stopped paying to be a member and very quickly lost touch with everyone there. For a short time after leaving, I tried to keep in touch with people by email and later I tried to keep that online community feeling going briefly with free options like LiveJournal, Friendster and MySpace (remember them?) but they never really went anywhere and I struggled with posting anything regularly enough to keep people interested in coming back on those other platforms.
During the early part of those years, though, I remember chatting in various chat rooms and ICQ (and later, AIM) with people from all around the US and Canada, all hours of the day and night. People I met online who were interested in stuff I'd written or profiles I had on websites that just randomly reached out for whatever reason and we started talking. It felt less weird back then to just randomly say "Hello. I really like your [picture]/[poem]/[story]/[profile]/[whatever]." or "I also like [author]/[band]." and then end up talking online sharing stories, pictures, trials and tribulations, relationship and family drama. Pretty much anything you'd end up talking to a good friend about.
People were a little worried about online stalkers and weirdos, but many of the platforms today are tied a little too closely to the real world to feel safe about posting a lot of things or just randomly commenting to strangers. (Not even going to get on the topic of trolls.) Back then, if you wanted to avoid people you just made a different ICQ/AIM name and shared it with a smaller group. I didn't post my phone number, address, where I went to school, hometown, who my real life friends and family were, what I ate for breakfast and where I ate it... and that was the norm. I picked funny city names to live in for profiles like Eek, AK or Boring, OR (real places) but told online friends where (roughly geographically) and eventually real city/state when I had talked to them for a little while. A few even knew my full name and address (as we mailed physical gifts, mix CDs and stuff to each other) but I think what made it fun for all of us was the ability to connect with people easily based on genuine interests instead of primarily based on physical location.
I bring my personal internet history up, because lately I've been thinking about how the internet has changed over my two decades of using (or not using) evolving technologies and platforms. I'm sure a lot of it is just me growing up and out of my teen (and twenties) angst and drama. It's been quite some time since I've ranted about a bad breakup or raved about traveling hours to see my favorite band(s). It's been even longer since I posted an extremely cryptic one line post and had multiple people I've never met in real life who knew instantly what I was talking about (and laughing with me or being supportive, whatever was appropriate). I rarely write about politics or religion due to the fear of offending someone I have to sit near at work on a daily basis. The remainder for me is the fact that online is much more like (and intertwined with) real life now. If I wouldn't talk about it with someone I don't know that well at work, I don't post it on Facebook. I don't like liking things because they're just using the information I give them to sell advertisements. The different groups of people that are friends on these platforms don't overlap on many/most interests and I don't care enough (or have the time) to break them into groups to post to different groups, anyway.
Most of my online friends now are people I actually knew IRL before connecting with them online. Facebook (and Instagram) are shared with family, friends, coworkers, classmates and the occasional person you didn't really know all that well in college/high school/middle school and even probably even some parents of your friends and acquaintances.
There's obviously nothing wrong with any of this, but these days my feeds are primarily posts about real life friend's families and pictures of their children, lots of doom and gloom about politics, and so many pictures of food. Some of it is interesting, some of it is infuriating and some of it is just shares to scroll past, but it just doesn't feel like it used to. It feels like a curated glance into the good parts of someone else's life and things that they want you to be [happy]/[sad]/[angry] at with them. It's nice to have a convenient way to keep up with people's lives but I feel like there's little to no actual interaction short of clicking the thumbs-up (or now long press for the heart, etc...) and typing a quick "Congratulations." post on major life events.
I feel more disconnected even though I know more about what's going on in friend's lives now compared to when I actually saw a lot of them every day in school, work, etc.
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Winds of change.
I've been finding myself asking different variations of a similarly themed question a lot more often lately: How did I end up where I am today and where do I actually want to end up?
I've been feeling like trying to decide what you want to do with the "rest of your life" as a teenager has it's drawbacks. I initially thought I wanted to be a mechanical engineer because I had a strong interest in machines such as automobiles and bicycles. I used to love to draw and doodle and think of how things I drew would work in real life. I built model cars and then took them apart and made them "better" out of parts of other kits. I took parts off of all of the spare/outgrown bikes that we had kicking around in our family of four kids and made "better" bikes out of them. I felt like I would love to find a job creating new bicycle suspension designs or cars like the ones I was seeing in mountain bike and car magazines and Popular Science... but on a tour of one of the colleges I got into (I think it was Virgina Tech) I was told that a lot of their graduates work in a "toilet paper factory down the road" designing machinery, which was probably meant as a positive that engineers were everywhere. However, I came to the opposite conclusion that to end up as an automotive or bicycle mechanical engineer was a very slim chance. I also felt that even if I did come to a find a job in the automotive or bicycle industries that I'd really end up making other people's artistic renderings a reality instead of actually doing the designing.
You would think that I would have decided that a career in mechanical engineering wasn't what I really wanted... but I ended up committing to one of the mechanical engineering programs I was accepted into. I attempted to make it work for two years before offically deciding that I liked "computers" better. So, instead of staying at that university and switching to computer engineering or computer science I ended up going back home and getting an associate degree in computer information systems from a local community college, just as everyone was saying that the "tech bubble burst". At that point it seemed difficult/impossible to find a job that was "entry level" that didn't want 5+ years of hands-on experience especially in the area I lived in. So, I decided that at that point I was just going to find some sort of job and figure it out as I went. I felt that someday I'd finish my computer science degree and be a computer programmer. I interviewed around for jobs on the edge of what I wanted to do. I had been working summers at a family friend's fast food restaurant and then ended up working in a supermarket bakery department just before I graduated with my CIS degree. I spent a couple years working there followed by different positions in the same company's headquarters starting with a special project with the Bakery and IT departments. While working on that project I found out that the company had an in-house IT department that had quite a few functions and was encouraged to keep in touch with the people I worked with and apply for entry-level things that came up. So I continued to move around to different jobs in the bakery HQ, the corporate pricing department and eventually ended up in the IT department as a Programmer/Analyst, then a Software Developer.
So, I guess that answers the question of: How did I end up here? However, the question about where do I want to be is the harder question to answer.
How would have my life been different if continued with mechanical engineering? What opportunities would have presented themselves if I was willing to move away from my family, friends and hometown? What would be different today if I stayed in school and gotten a better degree? Would I be in this position right now if I didn't spend 10 years in a company doing different jobs while learning about the industry and systems in it?
What would happen if I decided I wanted to do something different right now? What if I was willing and able to move? What if I could afford to go back to school for something different? What if I'd rather start a business related to something I'm actually interested in? (I'm definitely losing interest in the overall mission of what I've been doing for the past 13 years...)
If I was to "start over" now, though, what would I do? The biggest question I have is that once I'm "there" would I be left wondering the same things on the other side of the fence?
I've been feeling like trying to decide what you want to do with the "rest of your life" as a teenager has it's drawbacks. I initially thought I wanted to be a mechanical engineer because I had a strong interest in machines such as automobiles and bicycles. I used to love to draw and doodle and think of how things I drew would work in real life. I built model cars and then took them apart and made them "better" out of parts of other kits. I took parts off of all of the spare/outgrown bikes that we had kicking around in our family of four kids and made "better" bikes out of them. I felt like I would love to find a job creating new bicycle suspension designs or cars like the ones I was seeing in mountain bike and car magazines and Popular Science... but on a tour of one of the colleges I got into (I think it was Virgina Tech) I was told that a lot of their graduates work in a "toilet paper factory down the road" designing machinery, which was probably meant as a positive that engineers were everywhere. However, I came to the opposite conclusion that to end up as an automotive or bicycle mechanical engineer was a very slim chance. I also felt that even if I did come to a find a job in the automotive or bicycle industries that I'd really end up making other people's artistic renderings a reality instead of actually doing the designing.
You would think that I would have decided that a career in mechanical engineering wasn't what I really wanted... but I ended up committing to one of the mechanical engineering programs I was accepted into. I attempted to make it work for two years before offically deciding that I liked "computers" better. So, instead of staying at that university and switching to computer engineering or computer science I ended up going back home and getting an associate degree in computer information systems from a local community college, just as everyone was saying that the "tech bubble burst". At that point it seemed difficult/impossible to find a job that was "entry level" that didn't want 5+ years of hands-on experience especially in the area I lived in. So, I decided that at that point I was just going to find some sort of job and figure it out as I went. I felt that someday I'd finish my computer science degree and be a computer programmer. I interviewed around for jobs on the edge of what I wanted to do. I had been working summers at a family friend's fast food restaurant and then ended up working in a supermarket bakery department just before I graduated with my CIS degree. I spent a couple years working there followed by different positions in the same company's headquarters starting with a special project with the Bakery and IT departments. While working on that project I found out that the company had an in-house IT department that had quite a few functions and was encouraged to keep in touch with the people I worked with and apply for entry-level things that came up. So I continued to move around to different jobs in the bakery HQ, the corporate pricing department and eventually ended up in the IT department as a Programmer/Analyst, then a Software Developer.
So, I guess that answers the question of: How did I end up here? However, the question about where do I want to be is the harder question to answer.
How would have my life been different if continued with mechanical engineering? What opportunities would have presented themselves if I was willing to move away from my family, friends and hometown? What would be different today if I stayed in school and gotten a better degree? Would I be in this position right now if I didn't spend 10 years in a company doing different jobs while learning about the industry and systems in it?
What would happen if I decided I wanted to do something different right now? What if I was willing and able to move? What if I could afford to go back to school for something different? What if I'd rather start a business related to something I'm actually interested in? (I'm definitely losing interest in the overall mission of what I've been doing for the past 13 years...)
If I was to "start over" now, though, what would I do? The biggest question I have is that once I'm "there" would I be left wondering the same things on the other side of the fence?
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Mountain Biking
In an attempt to get myself back in shape and exercising again, I picked up a new mountain bike late this spring. As I've written about here before sometimes I need a little kick to get myself interested and motivated in exercising and the last time I tried to get back into cycling I refurbished my mid-90's mountain bike into an orange cycle-path cruiser and, still, I just couldn't get back into it.
So this spring I decided it was time for a new mountain bike. First, though, I have to have a little nostalgic flashback: Bikes have changed a lot since I was really into them in the mid to late 90's! Back then 26" was the only wheel/tire size for mountain bikes but now there's 29" and 27.5" (650b) and 26" wheels have fallen out of favor except for downhill and all-mountain bikes. Not to mention that there used to be "mountain bikes" that people rode both up and down hills but now the "mountain bike" classification has been split up into more specialized categories. I've seen bikes classifed as recreational/sport, cross country [XC], freeride, all-mountain, enduro, gravity/downhill, dirt jump... and I'm sure there are others that I've missed. Also, in the olden days, there were a decent amount of quality steel frame bikes available. Now, if you can find them (not counting the hi-tensile department store "steel"), they're mostly custom built high-end (expensive) creations. I remember liking the ride of a good steel frame and thinking aluminum alloy frames (which were on the more high-end of the specrum) rode more harshly. Now alloy frames are the most common with quite a few carbon fiber frames available in the high-end and expensive range. A new (okay) entry level suspension fork could be had for less than $100... Now the (okay) entry-level forks are closer to $200-300 and they're heavier than the ones I remember. I also don't remember tires costing $50-100 each.
So, back to my story. I'd always wanted a full suspension mountain bike... and I happened to find one on eBay at a very reasonable price this spring at the same time I had my tax refund money burning a hole in my pocket. I could do something responsible like put the money in the bank or towards some debt... but I'm a good consumer and I'd rather have a new bike.
I wasn't sure whether to try out a 29'er or wait for 650b bikes to become more common in the local shops. (I haven't actually seen one in a shop or been able to ride one yet.) But I happened to come across a new (overstock) 2012 Marin East Peak 5.5 in matte black with white and green accents on eBay.
It is a 16.5" (small) frame with 26" wheels (which I'm comfortable with, especially with me being 5'8" tall and it being a 120mm travel full-suspension bike), an entry-level RockShox suspension fork and mostly decent entry-level Shimano Alivio 3x9 componentry.
[05/19/2026: Removed broken links to PricePoint, Bike Nashbar, Marin.]
So this spring I decided it was time for a new mountain bike. First, though, I have to have a little nostalgic flashback: Bikes have changed a lot since I was really into them in the mid to late 90's! Back then 26" was the only wheel/tire size for mountain bikes but now there's 29" and 27.5" (650b) and 26" wheels have fallen out of favor except for downhill and all-mountain bikes. Not to mention that there used to be "mountain bikes" that people rode both up and down hills but now the "mountain bike" classification has been split up into more specialized categories. I've seen bikes classifed as recreational/sport, cross country [XC], freeride, all-mountain, enduro, gravity/downhill, dirt jump... and I'm sure there are others that I've missed. Also, in the olden days, there were a decent amount of quality steel frame bikes available. Now, if you can find them (not counting the hi-tensile department store "steel"), they're mostly custom built high-end (expensive) creations. I remember liking the ride of a good steel frame and thinking aluminum alloy frames (which were on the more high-end of the specrum) rode more harshly. Now alloy frames are the most common with quite a few carbon fiber frames available in the high-end and expensive range. A new (okay) entry level suspension fork could be had for less than $100... Now the (okay) entry-level forks are closer to $200-300 and they're heavier than the ones I remember. I also don't remember tires costing $50-100 each.
So, back to my story. I'd always wanted a full suspension mountain bike... and I happened to find one on eBay at a very reasonable price this spring at the same time I had my tax refund money burning a hole in my pocket. I could do something responsible like put the money in the bank or towards some debt... but I'm a good consumer and I'd rather have a new bike.
I wasn't sure whether to try out a 29'er or wait for 650b bikes to become more common in the local shops. (I haven't actually seen one in a shop or been able to ride one yet.) But I happened to come across a new (overstock) 2012 Marin East Peak 5.5 in matte black with white and green accents on eBay.
 |
| Assembled 2012 Marin East Peak 5.5 (All original parts except pedals.) |
I then went to town on PricePoint, Bike Nashbar and eBay finding mostly Shimano XT components (hydraulic disc brakes, derailleurs, cassette, hubs [with Mavic rims]), XTR shifters, Ergon grips and a Fox Float 32 RL fork at really good prices. The only stuff really left to do is to continue to ride and get used to the bike and customize my fit (handlebars, stem, seatpost and saddle) and then shorten the brake lines once I get everything dialed in. I've been off-road a few times on it and it's been great so far both up hill and down. To get some miles in on the bike and get stuff dialed in, I've actually been doing some bike-path cruising on it and with the fork locked out and the rear shock pumped up, it's been okay for that, too!
Now I'm planning on putting a bunch of the take-off parts (brakes, derailleurs, shifters, cassette) plus some of my other accumulated bike stuff on eBay. (I've already sold the fork on craigslist which helped to fund one of the awesome Shimano XT brake lever/calipers.) I'll probably end up reinvesting any "profit" from those parts back into the bike and accessories. I still want a hydration pack and a repair stand. One thing that hasn't changed about cycling is there's always something new to buy. Maybe if I stick with it I'll build up a carbon 650b hardtail next...
 |
| With some of the upgrades... |
[05/19/2026: Removed broken links to PricePoint, Bike Nashbar, Marin.]
Monday, October 19, 2009
Past goals & progress.
I was randomly looking at old posts on my blog today and I found an old post from January 23, 2007 entitled Douglas Coupland books & my to do list which, I'm sure you'll be surprised to read, contained a "to do" list.
In fact, this was the list:
1) finish cleaning up all my junk at the apartment (did some, accumulated more)
2) refinish an old coffee table to bring to the apartment (started...)
3)get my parent's old orange chair over to my apartment (scrapped this idea)
4)pull my mountain bike apart, repaint the frame and overhaul the rest (It's orange now!)
5) go through my accumulated bike parts and sell/donate what I'm never going to use (I donated quite a few bikes and parts but still have some left that can go.)
6) finish selling off the misc. car parts I've accumulated over the past 5 years that don't fit my current car (I haven't done too much with this.)
7)sell off my small guitar practice amp, distortion pedal and cables that I never use (Gone.)
8)(maybe: get rid of one of my guitars) (Acoustic/electric gone.)
9)(maybe: go through my CD's and sell off the ones I'm never going to listen to) (ruled out for now.)
10)(maybe: build a new "entertainment center" that isn't ugly and has room for the TV and all of the electronics) (bought one)
I thought it would be amusing to see how many of these that I actually did since then... so I crossed off the ones that I did. I completely finished 4 and ruled out 2. Out of the remaining 4, I started 3... I should probably get going on those. ;)
In fact, this was the list:
1) finish cleaning up all my junk at the apartment (did some, accumulated more)
2) refinish an old coffee table to bring to the apartment (started...)
3)
4)
5) go through my accumulated bike parts and sell/donate what I'm never going to use (I donated quite a few bikes and parts but still have some left that can go.)
6) finish selling off the misc. car parts I've accumulated over the past 5 years that don't fit my current car (I haven't done too much with this.)
7)
8)
9)
10)
I thought it would be amusing to see how many of these that I actually did since then... so I crossed off the ones that I did. I completely finished 4 and ruled out 2. Out of the remaining 4, I started 3... I should probably get going on those. ;)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
American Auto Industry Bailouts
I've loved cars as long as I can remember. I remember just looking out the front window of our living room and watching cars drive by for hours and not getting bored. I could identify quite a few cars just by the shape of headlights or taillights. I had hundreds of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars that I played with constantly before moving into building model cars and tearing them apart and modifying them. I had a subscription to Hot Rod magazine when I was about 10 or 11 years old. Like I said, I've always been into cars.
I used to drool over tons of American cars including '69 Camaros, '70s Chryslers, 1990's Chevy/GMC trucks like the 454SS as well as the amazing Buick Grand National.
The problem is that the American car manufacturers haven't built anything that I am interested in now that I'm of car buying age and I have to factor in things like reliability, cost, everyday usability and stuff like that into the mix.
Sure, I'd still love to drive a Hugger Orange '69 Camaro or a B5 Blue '70 Hemi Challenger but, realistically, I will never own one and it's not really relevant to the state that the Big Three are in right now, anyway. I know that there is a new Camaro coming out and the new Dodge Challenger has been out for awhile and that they're trying to capture buyers like me with these cars. However, with the American car manufacturer's history of not having the best reliability out there, I'd be more inclined to spend my money on a Subaru Legacy GT, a Nissan Maxima or a Lexus IS. I love the styling of the new Challenger and how much it looks like one the cars I loved so much when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't drive the hell out of a new Dodge Challenger SRT8 but I can't say that I'd ever go buy one.
I think that many people feel the same way as I do. I think in many circles you're looked down upon if you drive a Malibu instead of an Accord/Camry or a Cadillac instead of a Lexus/Infiniti/BMW/Mercedes-Benz. The American car companies have lost their appeal and status and it almost seems like they might never be able to get that back.
It seems to me that just asking the government to keep pouring money into them so that they can build a ton of different "badge engineered" versions of the same crappy cars. They actually need to cut out the waste and just build reliable platforms that people actually want to be seen in and want to drive. They need to focus on the fit and finish and reliability that they've been lacking for years.
I don't think bailouts will do anything aside from delaying the inevitable. While all three manufacturers seemed to focus too much on their truck lines, GM had years to realize that people were shifting away from buying their mid sized cars in favor of the imports like the Camry and Accord. Chrysler had to realize that they were on the receiving end of a lot of hatred for building horrid cars like the Neon and Stratus. Ford is trying their hardest to make cars that are appealing but I think they're still being dragged down from their ongoing Found On Road Dead reputation.
I must take this opportunity to admit, though, that while Ford has always been my least favorite out of the Big Three they have been the only one out of the group that has been able to impress me lately with the cars like the 2010 Taurus SHO and Fusion Sport! They seem to be "getting it" a little bit more in recent history than the other two...
The Big Three have been so focused on immediate profits that they lost sight of the big picture and now it seems like it may be too late for a turnaround. While I really do hope that they're able to restructure, cut a bunch of waste, stop making different versions of the same car with different badges/brands and focus on making cars that people actually want to drive... it's not looking good.
I used to drool over tons of American cars including '69 Camaros, '70s Chryslers, 1990's Chevy/GMC trucks like the 454SS as well as the amazing Buick Grand National.
The problem is that the American car manufacturers haven't built anything that I am interested in now that I'm of car buying age and I have to factor in things like reliability, cost, everyday usability and stuff like that into the mix.
Sure, I'd still love to drive a Hugger Orange '69 Camaro or a B5 Blue '70 Hemi Challenger but, realistically, I will never own one and it's not really relevant to the state that the Big Three are in right now, anyway. I know that there is a new Camaro coming out and the new Dodge Challenger has been out for awhile and that they're trying to capture buyers like me with these cars. However, with the American car manufacturer's history of not having the best reliability out there, I'd be more inclined to spend my money on a Subaru Legacy GT, a Nissan Maxima or a Lexus IS. I love the styling of the new Challenger and how much it looks like one the cars I loved so much when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't drive the hell out of a new Dodge Challenger SRT8 but I can't say that I'd ever go buy one.
I think that many people feel the same way as I do. I think in many circles you're looked down upon if you drive a Malibu instead of an Accord/Camry or a Cadillac instead of a Lexus/Infiniti/BMW/Mercedes-Benz. The American car companies have lost their appeal and status and it almost seems like they might never be able to get that back.
It seems to me that just asking the government to keep pouring money into them so that they can build a ton of different "badge engineered" versions of the same crappy cars. They actually need to cut out the waste and just build reliable platforms that people actually want to be seen in and want to drive. They need to focus on the fit and finish and reliability that they've been lacking for years.
I don't think bailouts will do anything aside from delaying the inevitable. While all three manufacturers seemed to focus too much on their truck lines, GM had years to realize that people were shifting away from buying their mid sized cars in favor of the imports like the Camry and Accord. Chrysler had to realize that they were on the receiving end of a lot of hatred for building horrid cars like the Neon and Stratus. Ford is trying their hardest to make cars that are appealing but I think they're still being dragged down from their ongoing Found On Road Dead reputation.
I must take this opportunity to admit, though, that while Ford has always been my least favorite out of the Big Three they have been the only one out of the group that has been able to impress me lately with the cars like the 2010 Taurus SHO and Fusion Sport! They seem to be "getting it" a little bit more in recent history than the other two...
The Big Three have been so focused on immediate profits that they lost sight of the big picture and now it seems like it may be too late for a turnaround. While I really do hope that they're able to restructure, cut a bunch of waste, stop making different versions of the same car with different badges/brands and focus on making cars that people actually want to drive... it's not looking good.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
My newest hobby.
I was thinking about hobbies over the past few days and I came to the conclusion that I really haven't kept up on a lot of hobbies and interests from my past.
I used to find things to do that I really liked and throw myself into them. In my past I've spent quite a bit of time doing things like mountain biking, working on bikes, roller-blading, tinkering with computers, web-design, working on cars, etc.
Lately, though, I haven't really had too many outlets that I do on a regular basis. I tend to either be working or hanging around my apartment in various states of activity (or inactivity).
I have decided that this year I'm going to get into auto detailing. Last year I spent a few full days washing and waxing my car but this year I think I'm going to put a little bit more effort into it. (Plus, I'll probably offer to do my family member's cars, too...)
I decided I'm going to spend some time doing this because I love being outside, working on cars but a lot of times I'm too nervous to put a wrench to them in fear of messing up something instead of making it better. I've always done things like putting aftermarket intakes, exhausts, wheels & tires on my cars. However, I'm currently driving my first new car with a warranty so I'm even more nervous about doing something that will mess up my warranty coverage and/or make my car less reliable. I'll probably be a little less hesitant to do things to modify it once the warranty is up (and it's paid for.) For now, though, detailing will give me an opportunity to make my car look better and keep it's resale value high while also spending some time working with cars.
I'm starting to decide what detailing products I want to purchase for my car and to add to my product arsenal to work on other people's cars. (I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby.) My girlfriend got me started with the random orbital buffer that I wanted for this past Christmas which was an awesome gift!
My brother said I can try out my new toy on his beater first. [How nice of him, eh? ;) ] The paint is black and badly oxidized and it can't really get much worse, so it should be a nice first car to practice on. I'm thinking I'm going to start off by doing a little body work on it and then working on trying to get the paint in better shape.
While I'm on the topic of cars: I also just ordered an AVO high flow air filter from RalliTEK for my car, too. I'm hoping that a clean air filter might help my gas mileage which has been suffering lately, probably from the E10 fuel that we have here for the winter.
I also have my eyes on some new 18" wheels and tires in place of my current 17" setup. The original tires are getting kind of scary. In standing water they hydroplane pretty bad. So I'm thinking of selling my current wheels to offset the purchase of a new set of 18" wheels and then just buying decent 18" tires for the spring - fall and getting 17" snow tires on my stock wheels which are still sitting in my parent's garage.
I used to find things to do that I really liked and throw myself into them. In my past I've spent quite a bit of time doing things like mountain biking, working on bikes, roller-blading, tinkering with computers, web-design, working on cars, etc.
Lately, though, I haven't really had too many outlets that I do on a regular basis. I tend to either be working or hanging around my apartment in various states of activity (or inactivity).
I have decided that this year I'm going to get into auto detailing. Last year I spent a few full days washing and waxing my car but this year I think I'm going to put a little bit more effort into it. (Plus, I'll probably offer to do my family member's cars, too...)
I decided I'm going to spend some time doing this because I love being outside, working on cars but a lot of times I'm too nervous to put a wrench to them in fear of messing up something instead of making it better. I've always done things like putting aftermarket intakes, exhausts, wheels & tires on my cars. However, I'm currently driving my first new car with a warranty so I'm even more nervous about doing something that will mess up my warranty coverage and/or make my car less reliable. I'll probably be a little less hesitant to do things to modify it once the warranty is up (and it's paid for.) For now, though, detailing will give me an opportunity to make my car look better and keep it's resale value high while also spending some time working with cars.
I'm starting to decide what detailing products I want to purchase for my car and to add to my product arsenal to work on other people's cars. (I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby.) My girlfriend got me started with the random orbital buffer that I wanted for this past Christmas which was an awesome gift!
My brother said I can try out my new toy on his beater first. [How nice of him, eh? ;) ] The paint is black and badly oxidized and it can't really get much worse, so it should be a nice first car to practice on. I'm thinking I'm going to start off by doing a little body work on it and then working on trying to get the paint in better shape.
While I'm on the topic of cars: I also just ordered an AVO high flow air filter from RalliTEK for my car, too. I'm hoping that a clean air filter might help my gas mileage which has been suffering lately, probably from the E10 fuel that we have here for the winter.
I also have my eyes on some new 18" wheels and tires in place of my current 17" setup. The original tires are getting kind of scary. In standing water they hydroplane pretty bad. So I'm thinking of selling my current wheels to offset the purchase of a new set of 18" wheels and then just buying decent 18" tires for the spring - fall and getting 17" snow tires on my stock wheels which are still sitting in my parent's garage.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Nostalgia for my Clarkson days
I got to see some good friends from my two years at Clarkson this weekend. It all started about a month ago when my friend Liz sent me an email saying she was flying in to Albany to go to the Clarkson/RPI hockey game at RPI with another person we went to Clarkson with. She wanted to know if I wanted to go...
Fast forward to this weekend. I'm not a huge sports fan but the game was pretty good.
After the game we re-grouped at Ryan's Wake which despite the depressing sounding name was actually a pretty nice place. It was packed, though. I recommend getting Dooley's Cheese Board and if you like shrimp, I'm told the shrimp cocktail was good.
It was great to catch up with two of my best friends from my time at Clarkson. The time flew by, though. I know there were some pictures taken so hopefully I'll get some of those from the people with the cameras. It was also nice to meet some nice new people who are friends of friends. It's a little weird to meet people who live close to you through people who live hours and hours away.
Sunday morning I was feeling nostalgic (which usually happens when I see people I haven't seen in a long time) so I was looking around the internet for Clarkson stuff and I stumbled on a 7 part series of You Tube videos of my freshman chemistry professor's "Chemistry Magic Show". Dr. Jim Peploski was one of my favorite professors. I remember him doing most of those demonstrations in class. That was one of my Clarkson classes that I always tried my best to make it to.
I also ran into some old co-workers earlier in the day on Saturday at the store I used to work at, which was another source of nostalgia.
In other news, I'm still making a solid attempt at the Weight Loss Challenge. Saturday I went grocery shopping for healthy foods and went to work out...
Fast forward to this weekend. I'm not a huge sports fan but the game was pretty good.
After the game we re-grouped at Ryan's Wake which despite the depressing sounding name was actually a pretty nice place. It was packed, though. I recommend getting Dooley's Cheese Board and if you like shrimp, I'm told the shrimp cocktail was good.
It was great to catch up with two of my best friends from my time at Clarkson. The time flew by, though. I know there were some pictures taken so hopefully I'll get some of those from the people with the cameras. It was also nice to meet some nice new people who are friends of friends. It's a little weird to meet people who live close to you through people who live hours and hours away.
Sunday morning I was feeling nostalgic (which usually happens when I see people I haven't seen in a long time) so I was looking around the internet for Clarkson stuff and I stumbled on a 7 part series of You Tube videos of my freshman chemistry professor's "Chemistry Magic Show". Dr. Jim Peploski was one of my favorite professors. I remember him doing most of those demonstrations in class. That was one of my Clarkson classes that I always tried my best to make it to.
I also ran into some old co-workers earlier in the day on Saturday at the store I used to work at, which was another source of nostalgia.
In other news, I'm still making a solid attempt at the Weight Loss Challenge. Saturday I went grocery shopping for healthy foods and went to work out...
Monday, September 10, 2007
Apartment hunting & sister's house remodeling
This weekend started off busy but ended pretty quietly!
I took Friday off from work to look at apartments with my girlfriend. (Some of the places we wanted to look at first aren't open on the weekend.) We didn't find anything we really liked but we did manage to rule 4 out of the 5 complexes we looked at.
Two were too expensive and two were disgustingly filthy. The one left was only so-so. Both of the expensive ones were nice, of course, with hardwood floors and other neat features but the whole point of renting for another year or two is to try to not spend a ton of money, pay down debts and save up to purchase a house in the not too distant future.
After we got back from looking at that first batch of apartments (and meeting some interesting people who were showing the apartments) we started to make a list of other places to look at over the next few weekends. Hopefully we'll find someplace that doesn't stink plus have mold growing in the bathroom or doesn't have a rusty mini grill in the front lawn with one leg broken off and clover growing out of it but isn't expensive to the point where it doesn't make sense to rent.
Saturday I spent the entire day helping my father and brother rip out a wall of a back porch room at my sister's house and then re-frame it. We are eventually putting in a sliding glass door to a porch that still has to be constructed. Unfortunately Sunday was going to be the day the giant, heavy sliding glass door and windows went in but it poured rain pretty much all day. I spent a little while helping my father reorganize materials and stuff in my sister's basement while waiting to see if it would clear up enough to do anything. The rain didn't show any signs of letting up so I went home and didn't do much of anything for the rest of the (rainy) day aside from hanging out with my girlfriend watching previously recorded TV on the DVR and re-listing stuff that didn't sell on my last batch of eBay auctions.
I was pretty wiped out from working on my sister's house on Saturday plus helping to move some heavy stuff around on Sunday (including a washer, piles of lumber, carpet, flooring, etc.) so it was good to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing. My legs are still sore, though... I'm so out of shape.
I asked my dad about having a (vegetable) garden at their house next year and it seemed like he thought it was a good idea. We talked briefly about how we thought it would be a neat thing to get the family together around the garden and I reminisced about picking and eating snow peas and green beans from the garden my family used to have when I was little. Hopefully that works out...
I took Friday off from work to look at apartments with my girlfriend. (Some of the places we wanted to look at first aren't open on the weekend.) We didn't find anything we really liked but we did manage to rule 4 out of the 5 complexes we looked at.
Two were too expensive and two were disgustingly filthy. The one left was only so-so. Both of the expensive ones were nice, of course, with hardwood floors and other neat features but the whole point of renting for another year or two is to try to not spend a ton of money, pay down debts and save up to purchase a house in the not too distant future.
After we got back from looking at that first batch of apartments (and meeting some interesting people who were showing the apartments) we started to make a list of other places to look at over the next few weekends. Hopefully we'll find someplace that doesn't stink plus have mold growing in the bathroom or doesn't have a rusty mini grill in the front lawn with one leg broken off and clover growing out of it but isn't expensive to the point where it doesn't make sense to rent.
Saturday I spent the entire day helping my father and brother rip out a wall of a back porch room at my sister's house and then re-frame it. We are eventually putting in a sliding glass door to a porch that still has to be constructed. Unfortunately Sunday was going to be the day the giant, heavy sliding glass door and windows went in but it poured rain pretty much all day. I spent a little while helping my father reorganize materials and stuff in my sister's basement while waiting to see if it would clear up enough to do anything. The rain didn't show any signs of letting up so I went home and didn't do much of anything for the rest of the (rainy) day aside from hanging out with my girlfriend watching previously recorded TV on the DVR and re-listing stuff that didn't sell on my last batch of eBay auctions.
I was pretty wiped out from working on my sister's house on Saturday plus helping to move some heavy stuff around on Sunday (including a washer, piles of lumber, carpet, flooring, etc.) so it was good to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing. My legs are still sore, though... I'm so out of shape.
I asked my dad about having a (vegetable) garden at their house next year and it seemed like he thought it was a good idea. We talked briefly about how we thought it would be a neat thing to get the family together around the garden and I reminisced about picking and eating snow peas and green beans from the garden my family used to have when I was little. Hopefully that works out...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The late Hudson Duster in Troy mentioned in a Rolling Stone story on FSU (not the Seminoles)
In the August 23, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone magazine there is an article called Punk Rock Fight Club by Mark Binelli. (Edit: Added a link 03/06/2019.) Lately, I just quickly skim Rolling Stone, laugh at the reviews and occasionally read a political article or something that catches my attention. This was one of those rare articles that drew me in, even with the stupid title.
The unfortunately titled article was basically an overview of a "crew" in the hardcore scene that is known as FSU which stands for Fuck Shit Up or Friends Stand United, depending on who you ask. Overall, I found the article somewhat well written and it sounds like the writer tried to do his homework for the most part. The article tried to paint an almost sympathetic picture of a group of hardcore kids that started in rough Boston neighborhoods getting together to rid their local music scene of Nazi punks and then spreading and getting out of hand.
One major thing that caught my attention in the article was the fact that the (now closed) Hudson Duster in my hometown of Troy, NY was mentioned in the article as the site of one of the fatal killings linked to FSU. Back when the fight happened in 2005, I had heard that there was a fight outside of the bar and that someone died (apparently of a heart attack during or right after the fight) but I didn't really hear too much more about it. After reading the article in Rolling Stone I decided to look up more information.
First I came across a story that was a feature in our local alternative newsweekly, Metroland, called "Hardcore Issues" which was about the Hudson Duster and the problems surrounding it.
I also came across a quick follow up blurb to the "Hardcore Issues" story that reported the fact that was also mentioned in the Rolling Stone article that out of the six initially charged in the death, the charges against three of them were dropped. It also stated that one of the men charged, Lionel Bliss, who was a bouncer at the Hudson Duster at the time was kicked out of FSU and that "FSU is not involved in illegal activities" and that FSU were "made scapegoats in the death" and "for violence in the hardcore scene in general".
The final article I found was from one of the local papers, The Record. (Updated dead link - 11/25/2010) This article reported on the sentencing of Lionel Bliss and briefly talks about the other two people who were charged in the incident.
Also, for a quick laugh to cut some of the glum feelings out of this blog post check out this really disjointed blog that tried to link the Rolling Stone article to this article. WOW is all I can say about that. I think he's expecting to see FSU using biological weapons against the Nazis or the maybe the ever lame fashioncore fucktards? WTF is this nutjob talking about? I doubt he read the Rolling Stone article... or he's some dumb fuck who's scared of ME in my black hooded sweatshirt.
Now that I got all of the links and background out of the way, I feel like I should be taking this opportunity to write some scathing commentary about the "scene" but the reality is that I'm completely out of touch with it.
I was never a "hardcore kid" in the first place. On top of that, I haven't been to more than a half dozen shows in the past couple years. I love music and I try to support the bands I like by buying their music and t-shirts and catching my favorite bands when they come to town. I have always been a person who likes music and tries to get what I can out of the lyrics (that I can understand) but I've never been one to fall into following the politics or ideals of the bands I listen to.
I guess when it comes down to it, these days I'd much rather listen to music in my car than at a show where I'm paying attention to whether I'm going to get kicked in the face instead of listening just to the music and watching the guitarist(s). I guess I'm getting old. (I do miss the days of going to see shows with my brother, though.)
[Updated 11/25/2010 to fix a dead link to the Troy Record story and add another link to the Troy Record about charges being dropped against three of the suspects.]
The unfortunately titled article was basically an overview of a "crew" in the hardcore scene that is known as FSU which stands for Fuck Shit Up or Friends Stand United, depending on who you ask. Overall, I found the article somewhat well written and it sounds like the writer tried to do his homework for the most part. The article tried to paint an almost sympathetic picture of a group of hardcore kids that started in rough Boston neighborhoods getting together to rid their local music scene of Nazi punks and then spreading and getting out of hand.
One major thing that caught my attention in the article was the fact that the (now closed) Hudson Duster in my hometown of Troy, NY was mentioned in the article as the site of one of the fatal killings linked to FSU. Back when the fight happened in 2005, I had heard that there was a fight outside of the bar and that someone died (apparently of a heart attack during or right after the fight) but I didn't really hear too much more about it. After reading the article in Rolling Stone I decided to look up more information.
First I came across a story that was a feature in our local alternative newsweekly, Metroland, called "Hardcore Issues" which was about the Hudson Duster and the problems surrounding it.
I also came across a quick follow up blurb to the "Hardcore Issues" story that reported the fact that was also mentioned in the Rolling Stone article that out of the six initially charged in the death, the charges against three of them were dropped. It also stated that one of the men charged, Lionel Bliss, who was a bouncer at the Hudson Duster at the time was kicked out of FSU and that "FSU is not involved in illegal activities" and that FSU were "made scapegoats in the death" and "for violence in the hardcore scene in general".
The final article I found was from one of the local papers, The Record. (Updated dead link - 11/25/2010) This article reported on the sentencing of Lionel Bliss and briefly talks about the other two people who were charged in the incident.
Also, for a quick laugh to cut some of the glum feelings out of this blog post check out this really disjointed blog that tried to link the Rolling Stone article to this article. WOW is all I can say about that. I think he's expecting to see FSU using biological weapons against the Nazis or the maybe the ever lame fashioncore fucktards? WTF is this nutjob talking about? I doubt he read the Rolling Stone article... or he's some dumb fuck who's scared of ME in my black hooded sweatshirt.
Now that I got all of the links and background out of the way, I feel like I should be taking this opportunity to write some scathing commentary about the "scene" but the reality is that I'm completely out of touch with it.
I was never a "hardcore kid" in the first place. On top of that, I haven't been to more than a half dozen shows in the past couple years. I love music and I try to support the bands I like by buying their music and t-shirts and catching my favorite bands when they come to town. I have always been a person who likes music and tries to get what I can out of the lyrics (that I can understand) but I've never been one to fall into following the politics or ideals of the bands I listen to.
I guess when it comes down to it, these days I'd much rather listen to music in my car than at a show where I'm paying attention to whether I'm going to get kicked in the face instead of listening just to the music and watching the guitarist(s). I guess I'm getting old. (I do miss the days of going to see shows with my brother, though.)
[Updated 11/25/2010 to fix a dead link to the Troy Record story and add another link to the Troy Record about charges being dropped against three of the suspects.]
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Site was down. Oops.
Out of the blue I decided to check the one active email address I have at smushybrain.com this morning. I hardly ever check that particular email account anymore... Anyway, I discovered that my automatic credit card billing didn't go through a couple weeks ago and my web hosting was suspended. I'm guessing that it went down at midnight last night since I was able to post a blog entry yesterday. I would have been so confused if I had tried to post a blog entry today before I checked my email and found out what was up.
Luckily my site came back up within a few minutes of me taking care of updating my CC information and paying my outstanding bill.
Not too much to report today other than that.
I spent a couple hours last night after work going through old school papers, notebooks and folders from when I was at Clarkson that I had no idea I still had. I was surprised at how much junk I had brought home with me, stashed and forgot about. I filled about 75% of my car's trunk with junk to be thrown out. I wish our apartment complex recycled paper other than newspaper since about 90% of the stuff that went in the dumpster was paper.
I did come across some old stuff that I had written and drawn in my notebooks when I should have been taking notes. (Quite a bit of stuff, actually...) I'm thinking about taking a crack at putting some more of my horrible old "teen angst poetry" up on the web again for nostalgia's sake. I haven't had that much personal stuff up on the internet since I took my first domain (atomicnut.com) down off the internet in around 2002 when it was hijacked by a horrible free web host that wouldn't let me renew it and later purchased by someone who tried to sell it back to me for much more than it was worth. (I was embarrassed to tell people my domain name was atomicnut, anyway, because they immediately thought it was a porn site.)
It's kind of weird to read most of what I wrote in those days. It's actually kind of hard to remember what I was thinking and feeling, too. Just flipping page to page in an old notebook makes me think I was almost bipolar. One second it's some crappy, sappy love poem about my crush of the moment and the next it's borderline suicidal sounding. Chalk it up to hormones, I guess...
Luckily my site came back up within a few minutes of me taking care of updating my CC information and paying my outstanding bill.
Not too much to report today other than that.
I spent a couple hours last night after work going through old school papers, notebooks and folders from when I was at Clarkson that I had no idea I still had. I was surprised at how much junk I had brought home with me, stashed and forgot about. I filled about 75% of my car's trunk with junk to be thrown out. I wish our apartment complex recycled paper other than newspaper since about 90% of the stuff that went in the dumpster was paper.
I did come across some old stuff that I had written and drawn in my notebooks when I should have been taking notes. (Quite a bit of stuff, actually...) I'm thinking about taking a crack at putting some more of my horrible old "teen angst poetry" up on the web again for nostalgia's sake. I haven't had that much personal stuff up on the internet since I took my first domain (atomicnut.com) down off the internet in around 2002 when it was hijacked by a horrible free web host that wouldn't let me renew it and later purchased by someone who tried to sell it back to me for much more than it was worth. (I was embarrassed to tell people my domain name was atomicnut, anyway, because they immediately thought it was a porn site.)
It's kind of weird to read most of what I wrote in those days. It's actually kind of hard to remember what I was thinking and feeling, too. Just flipping page to page in an old notebook makes me think I was almost bipolar. One second it's some crappy, sappy love poem about my crush of the moment and the next it's borderline suicidal sounding. Chalk it up to hormones, I guess...
Friday, July 20, 2007
Valentine's last night...
Last night I went to Valentine's for the first time in YEARS. My girlfriend's friend, Mark, was filling in on guitar for a band for a band called "Margan and the Red Lions". I was definitely impressed with his talent on guitar. He didn't really get too much of a chance to show off his skill in that setting (being a fill-in for an existing band doing a very short 4 song set) but it was apparent that he could play his instrument very well. The first song of their set started off a little rough. (It sounded like three different songs at once. Drums playing one, bass playing another and keyboard, vocals and guitar on the third.) The songs improved quickly up to the fourth and final song which was the best of the set.
I'm not going to rip the other acts (My Friend Peter and Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned) up too much. I appreciate that they can get up on stage and play music that they're proud of but it wasn't my cup of tea, if you will. (I like screaming vocals, loud guitars and double bass drums.) As soon as I saw someone with an accordion come up on stage I had to escape. I don't do (most) accordion music. The sound irritates me.
I went downstairs to catch part of the punk/hardcore show they had going on there. I'm not even sure what band I saw. It might have been Reptar (can't get to myspace at work to see pictures) or Social Cirkle (can't find website) but they were pretty good. They were loud, fast and tight and they projected their energy into the small crowd who went borderline wild for their whole set. I got kicked in the hand once and pushed back into the row of chairs behind me a different time... it reminded me of going to Valentine's back in the day to see shows...
Oh... I almost forgot how much I like Magic Hat #9, too. ;)
I'm not going to rip the other acts (My Friend Peter and Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned) up too much. I appreciate that they can get up on stage and play music that they're proud of but it wasn't my cup of tea, if you will. (I like screaming vocals, loud guitars and double bass drums.) As soon as I saw someone with an accordion come up on stage I had to escape. I don't do (most) accordion music. The sound irritates me.
I went downstairs to catch part of the punk/hardcore show they had going on there. I'm not even sure what band I saw. It might have been Reptar (can't get to myspace at work to see pictures) or Social Cirkle (can't find website) but they were pretty good. They were loud, fast and tight and they projected their energy into the small crowd who went borderline wild for their whole set. I got kicked in the hand once and pushed back into the row of chairs behind me a different time... it reminded me of going to Valentine's back in the day to see shows...
Oh... I almost forgot how much I like Magic Hat #9, too. ;)
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
More "old friends".
Let me first start by saying that I HATE the fact that the company I work for blocks myspace. Now I'm not usually a big myspace fan. In fact, I've said on numerous occasions that myspace rolls into one domain EVERYTHING that is wrong with the internet.
Justification: There is too much useless information, too many horrible layouts and half-assed attempts at color schemes. If your awesome background picture contains more than a couple colors and those colors aren't close enough shades to each other that you can pick a color that stands out over it, it's practically impossible to read your text without highlighting it. There are sounds and videos and pictures tucked into random places and overflowing off to the sides so I have to scroll side to side to see everything on my 12" iBook. (Aside: If I wanted to watch a music video I'd go find it and watch it. I don't need to see them on your myspace page. If you really need to share a video send a message/bulletin with a link or post a blog about it.)
Anyway, now that my requisite "myspace rant" is out of the way: I just got a myspace friend request from someone who I haven't seen or heard from in a couple years... and I can't get to it. I have to wait until 5:30 when I get home to check, approve and send a message to this person...
Have I mentioned that I don't have that much patience these days?
Justification: There is too much useless information, too many horrible layouts and half-assed attempts at color schemes. If your awesome background picture contains more than a couple colors and those colors aren't close enough shades to each other that you can pick a color that stands out over it, it's practically impossible to read your text without highlighting it. There are sounds and videos and pictures tucked into random places and overflowing off to the sides so I have to scroll side to side to see everything on my 12" iBook. (Aside: If I wanted to watch a music video I'd go find it and watch it. I don't need to see them on your myspace page. If you really need to share a video send a message/bulletin with a link or post a blog about it.)
Anyway, now that my requisite "myspace rant" is out of the way: I just got a myspace friend request from someone who I haven't seen or heard from in a couple years... and I can't get to it. I have to wait until 5:30 when I get home to check, approve and send a message to this person...
Have I mentioned that I don't have that much patience these days?
Monday, January 1, 2007
Old friends and cycling.
I received Friendster friend updates twice in the past few days and I decided to log on and see what was going on with Friendster and a handful of my friends on there. It was a good thing that I did because I stumbled on a friend's blog about his cycling experiences. Lately, I have been thinking about getting back into cycling a lot and his blog might just be what I need to get motivated.
I was never a really awesome cyclist but I had a ton of fun riding my mountain bike miles into the woods on muddy, steep, rutted trails struggling up the hills to blast back down. I loved to hop on my cobbled together freestyle bike and jump down flights of stairs until something broke. (Luckily it usually was the bike that broke. If I was to try half the shit I got away with back then I'd probably end up in a wheelchair.)
As much as I loved riding, there were many reasons that I eventually stopped riding. The one that probably stopped me the quickest were that none of my current (small) group of friends rides. When I was growing up I always had someone around me who loved to ride (usually the same or MUCH more than I did.) The first riding buddy I had was my brother. When I first started to get into mountain biking I talked him into getting a sweet Cannondale M400 which he put a suspension fork on. We used to ride all over the place until his bike got stolen out of our shed. I felt so horrible for him that if I had been able to afford it I would have bought him a new bike!
Throughout the years I rode with a few different friends and even raced in a couple races. (I still have my #420 number plate from Jiminy Peak, MA from years ago. I was so young and innocent back then that I didn't realize why the older guys watching my class struggle were cheering "420! YEAH BUDDY! 420!" even though I was probably 5th from last.)
The second reason that I eventually stopped riding was (and is) my constant attitude that I was (and still seem to be) too busy to go for a ride. "I worked all day and I'm tired." was something I've heard myself say way too much over the past few years. (Never mind that a typical work day consists of sitting in a car for a 1/2 hour commute, then in front of Microsoft Excel for 8 hours, then back to the car for another 1/2 hour ride home.) I still do think this will be something I'll have to struggle a bit to overcome. I live too far (25 practically all highway miles) from where I currently work to reasonably commute and outside of work I haven't had a ton of time to just go riding like I used to. There's no reason, though, that I shouldn't be able to at least go for a few hours here and there on weekends.
Last spring I did buy some parts to upgrade my aging mountain bike that I lusted after in the days before I could afford them. I picked up a used Kooka crankset on eBay and then gave the credit card a good workout on a new Vetta titanium rail saddle, a lighter seatpost, a titanium seatpost clamp bolt, lightweight caged pedals that would work with my toe clips, an Easton alloy handlebar, a lighter two-bolt front clamp stem and a new rear tire to replace the original one that was pretty worn out. By buying all this stuff I was trying to get myself excited enough to get out riding occasionally but after a few short rides by myself I started to make excuses about my new parts, too. I couldn't really seem to get the front derailleur shifting properly with the new crank and my new rear tire was too narrow for my widening ass. The new riding position from my new stem and handlebar were weird compared to what I was used to and I was too lazy to try to find stem with the same rise and extension as the one I previously had and swap my old handlebar back on. The new seat was too hard compared to the falling apart "gel" one that came on my early 90's low-end Diamond Back Ascent.
Anyway, I hope to make some time and find some more inspiration to spend the next few months getting in a little bit better shape and maybe do a little work on my old steed and get that working properly and looking better. It could probably use a nice new paint job, too. Maybe next weekend I'll get some paint and start the tear down. Last time I looked at my old red beast the frame was pretty beat up and I never liked the color red, anyway. It was just the best bike I could afford at the time... and it did ride nice and seemed to hold up to the abuse I threw at it... I was a lot lighter than I am now, though. I might need to go with something a little more heavy duty now. I guess I'll find out soon. ;)
I did spend 20 minutes on the treadmill (that my roomate bought which has been sitting unused in the living room since last year) tonight in an attempt to start doing some sort of workout every day. I'm going to try to do at least 15 (preferrably 20 - 30) minutes on the treadmill every night after work and I'm going to try to make it down to the excercise room and get on the eliptical machine and the stationary bike at least once a week for now.
One of my goals that I mentioned yesterday is to lose 25 - 30 pounds over the next year... so you might catch me talking about that for the next few posts...
Anyway, Sam... Thanks for the inspiration today. Keep blogging! :)
I was never a really awesome cyclist but I had a ton of fun riding my mountain bike miles into the woods on muddy, steep, rutted trails struggling up the hills to blast back down. I loved to hop on my cobbled together freestyle bike and jump down flights of stairs until something broke. (Luckily it usually was the bike that broke. If I was to try half the shit I got away with back then I'd probably end up in a wheelchair.)
As much as I loved riding, there were many reasons that I eventually stopped riding. The one that probably stopped me the quickest were that none of my current (small) group of friends rides. When I was growing up I always had someone around me who loved to ride (usually the same or MUCH more than I did.) The first riding buddy I had was my brother. When I first started to get into mountain biking I talked him into getting a sweet Cannondale M400 which he put a suspension fork on. We used to ride all over the place until his bike got stolen out of our shed. I felt so horrible for him that if I had been able to afford it I would have bought him a new bike!
Throughout the years I rode with a few different friends and even raced in a couple races. (I still have my #420 number plate from Jiminy Peak, MA from years ago. I was so young and innocent back then that I didn't realize why the older guys watching my class struggle were cheering "420! YEAH BUDDY! 420!" even though I was probably 5th from last.)
The second reason that I eventually stopped riding was (and is) my constant attitude that I was (and still seem to be) too busy to go for a ride. "I worked all day and I'm tired." was something I've heard myself say way too much over the past few years. (Never mind that a typical work day consists of sitting in a car for a 1/2 hour commute, then in front of Microsoft Excel for 8 hours, then back to the car for another 1/2 hour ride home.) I still do think this will be something I'll have to struggle a bit to overcome. I live too far (25 practically all highway miles) from where I currently work to reasonably commute and outside of work I haven't had a ton of time to just go riding like I used to. There's no reason, though, that I shouldn't be able to at least go for a few hours here and there on weekends.
Last spring I did buy some parts to upgrade my aging mountain bike that I lusted after in the days before I could afford them. I picked up a used Kooka crankset on eBay and then gave the credit card a good workout on a new Vetta titanium rail saddle, a lighter seatpost, a titanium seatpost clamp bolt, lightweight caged pedals that would work with my toe clips, an Easton alloy handlebar, a lighter two-bolt front clamp stem and a new rear tire to replace the original one that was pretty worn out. By buying all this stuff I was trying to get myself excited enough to get out riding occasionally but after a few short rides by myself I started to make excuses about my new parts, too. I couldn't really seem to get the front derailleur shifting properly with the new crank and my new rear tire was too narrow for my widening ass. The new riding position from my new stem and handlebar were weird compared to what I was used to and I was too lazy to try to find stem with the same rise and extension as the one I previously had and swap my old handlebar back on. The new seat was too hard compared to the falling apart "gel" one that came on my early 90's low-end Diamond Back Ascent.
Anyway, I hope to make some time and find some more inspiration to spend the next few months getting in a little bit better shape and maybe do a little work on my old steed and get that working properly and looking better. It could probably use a nice new paint job, too. Maybe next weekend I'll get some paint and start the tear down. Last time I looked at my old red beast the frame was pretty beat up and I never liked the color red, anyway. It was just the best bike I could afford at the time... and it did ride nice and seemed to hold up to the abuse I threw at it... I was a lot lighter than I am now, though. I might need to go with something a little more heavy duty now. I guess I'll find out soon. ;)
I did spend 20 minutes on the treadmill (that my roomate bought which has been sitting unused in the living room since last year) tonight in an attempt to start doing some sort of workout every day. I'm going to try to do at least 15 (preferrably 20 - 30) minutes on the treadmill every night after work and I'm going to try to make it down to the excercise room and get on the eliptical machine and the stationary bike at least once a week for now.
One of my goals that I mentioned yesterday is to lose 25 - 30 pounds over the next year... so you might catch me talking about that for the next few posts...
Anyway, Sam... Thanks for the inspiration today. Keep blogging! :)
Saturday, September 2, 2006
randomness
i bought a new acoustic/electric guitar a few weeks ago. it's nothing fancy but it's something cheap to beat around on... i like my electric guitars but they're too loud to mess around with in my little apartment. (i suck, so i don't want to piss the neighbors off too much!) i haven't messed around on my new guitar in the past couple days but i have been wanting to play a lot more than i had been in the past...
i've been on the borderline between creative and my usual laziness...
some more random facts: my FIRST website was called "randomness" i think i still have some silly banner ads from that. i remember making banners and graphics for it using paint shop pro, photoshop and a program that i think was called kai's power goo. i made some really fucked up images back in those days.
i've been itching to listen to nirvana lately... so i pulled out some of my nirvana cds and i'm importing them into itunes as i type.
i bought a few items on ebay over the past couple days. i picked up a copy of an old software program i used to mess around with probably 5 years ago called bryce... and a hardcover copy of kurt cobain's journals book. i had meant to buy that a million times and never did... and for some reason i stumbled upon a copy on ebay this morning that was too cheap to pass up... so i didn't...
i've been going back and forth on the idea of picking up a couple cheap computers (maybe a couple more g4 dual processor towers) to build a little "render farm" to mess around with 3d graphics and stuff like that. i think i'm going to see how bryce works out on my current computer and go from there. i haven't really messed around with graphics too much in years... i kind of got frustrated and/or bored somewhere along the way and lost interest in graphics and web design... but i've been kind of aching to start doing something creative again... instead of the boring desk job that i've been doing for the past 2 1/2 years. every now and then i get inspired but it quickly passes as i settle back into my routine...
i've been on the borderline between creative and my usual laziness...
some more random facts: my FIRST website was called "randomness" i think i still have some silly banner ads from that. i remember making banners and graphics for it using paint shop pro, photoshop and a program that i think was called kai's power goo. i made some really fucked up images back in those days.
i've been itching to listen to nirvana lately... so i pulled out some of my nirvana cds and i'm importing them into itunes as i type.
i bought a few items on ebay over the past couple days. i picked up a copy of an old software program i used to mess around with probably 5 years ago called bryce... and a hardcover copy of kurt cobain's journals book. i had meant to buy that a million times and never did... and for some reason i stumbled upon a copy on ebay this morning that was too cheap to pass up... so i didn't...
i've been going back and forth on the idea of picking up a couple cheap computers (maybe a couple more g4 dual processor towers) to build a little "render farm" to mess around with 3d graphics and stuff like that. i think i'm going to see how bryce works out on my current computer and go from there. i haven't really messed around with graphics too much in years... i kind of got frustrated and/or bored somewhere along the way and lost interest in graphics and web design... but i've been kind of aching to start doing something creative again... instead of the boring desk job that i've been doing for the past 2 1/2 years. every now and then i get inspired but it quickly passes as i settle back into my routine...
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