Big Commitment - Bike!

I've been talking and thinking about getting a commuter bike for work and going downtown ever since I moved into my house that is 2.6miles from work (which is downtown). So today I kept discussing the issue and looking up bike info and I am making the commitment. I have come up with 4 good reasons to do this.

Reason #1 - Saving resources and fuel costs. A round trip to work for me is about 6 miles. That's only about 1600 miles a year. Which in my car is about 60 gallons. Not a lot really. But, every little bit counts.

Reason #2 - I have felt a lot more run down and tired ever since I stopped going to the gym. Now I will get a daily cardio workout while I enjoy a breath of fresh air every morning/afternoon.

Reason #3 - I can enjoy the freedom and flexibility of going downtown without being tied to my car. No more DUI risk or life endangerment (of others). Take a cab is no prob. Coast home (downhill from downtown). No problem.

Reason #4 - Social enjoyment, Maybe I can join a bike gang or something. I allready have a handlebar mustache.

So, I did lots of research and I think this is the model that suites my needs. Bio Wheels has her in stock. She is light, sleek, good looking, and basically a rodbike with the commuting comfort of a flat bar and bigger seat. About to leave now to give it a test drive!

Skullet

By some good fortune I clicked the right things and wound up reading this article on wikipedia today.

A skullet is a variation of the mullet. A skullet is defined by a shaved or otherwise bald head with long hair on the sides and in the back. Though the style has existed for quite some time, it was first defined as such on the show 'SuperStar USA', a flop spoof on 'American Idol' that ran for only a single season on the WB. The show's host referred to a potential in the casting episodes (Richard Rowe, Orlando, Fl) as having same, thus coining the phrase. Prominent wearers of skullets include US actor Dennis Franz, wrestler Hulk Hogan and adult film star Ron Jeremy

700 Billion Dollar Bailout

I find the proposal Bush/Paulson are pushing to spend 700 billion of our dollars to buy up bad mortgages from financial institutions extremely disturbing. The idea here is that this will boost the economy and the housing market because it will free up the flow of money and allow people to borrow again. Currently most financial institutions are hurting because so many people are foreclosing on houses bought with deceptive loans or loans that should never have been given in the first place.

Yes, the economy is hurting and the housing market is in dire straits but is this the answer? It seems like a way to prolong the pain and at the same time completely throw our free market capitalistic system out of the window. It was bad loans that got us in this mess and we want to free up the loaning process again? Personally I think it is best to bite the bullet, let the dust settle, and start rebuilding this nation on a sustainable, self-sufficient, and stable foundation. Greed got us into this situation and I am not too happy about forking out 700 billion to save these greedy fuckers.

Ultimately what is happening is that tax payers are paying for the mistakes of banks instead of them taking the losses they should be taking for doing bad business. Banking and loaning money is a risk and it is a business.

This is an excellent article that explains the situation better than I can

Men who grow facial hair in their spare time

Today at work I had an idea to shave myself up a Fu-Manchu. The hillarious part is that halfway through the shave my razor broke in half so I had to walk across the street and buy some razors with half a fu-man-chu. bwahaha. I think I fucked up the shape of the bottom lobes. But all things considered, I look pretty hardcore.

A sweet rap on the LHC

BANG!

Yesterday physicists fired up the Large Hadron Collider on the Fanco/Swiss Border and sent some protons spinning in a successful test. The LHC is a designed to accelerate protons to very close to the speed of light along a 17mile circumference tunnel 300 feet below the surface of the earth, at -270 degrees below zero, then smash these subatmoic particles together. This is all to theoretically mimick the "big bang". I find this absolutely fascinating and spent a good bit of time watching youtube videos and reading articles about this. The physicists are expecting to create entirely new particles, reveal the origins of mass, shed light on dark matter, and possibly find extra dimension of space! And, the really crazy thing is that they don't really know what will happen when you smash up subatomic particles. The whole project has been sued by people who theorize that these experiments could cause a chain reaction that causes the entire earth to implode into a black hole or explode like a giant nuke. However, from what I have read, this testing is supposed to be "safe". But who knows? So fasten your seatbelt folks. Pretty soon we could be cruising through another dimension, getting beamed up, or roasted like a hot dog. I'd be happy with jetpacks.

Band Practice & Road Trip

Due to a wedding + long honeymoon and other circumstances my band hasn't practice in around a month. That will all change tonight as we crank the amps and bring the noise to Springdale. We have two gigs coming up and need to focus on a set list. Josh promised us 4 songs from his honeymoon but has only come through with one! (Josh you are fired, psyche!) Our gigs are sept 13th and 14th so we will only have one more practice.

After band practice I will be rushing to Kentucky with Beth to visit her family and friends from her hometown in Murray. It will be an extended weekend with lots of fun stuff on the agenda. I am very excited and a little nervous! I have to be well behaved, charming, and presentable! In other words, I just have to be myself. Right? Right?

Astrology is Bollocks

Hey, I am all about fun and games. And, yeah, reading a fortune cookie, laughing about the horoscopes, or fantasizing about the stars is all fun and games. I am all for a good chuckle. I will even acknowledge that there is even something romantic and whimsical about astrology. Overall it is harmless and fun.

But, there are a large number of people I have met who take this stuff very seriously. They make actual real life decisions based on star charts, moon phases, and what the local "astrologer" wrote up in the paper. They will look you in the eye and swear to this stuff being absolute truth.

Here is what wikipedia has to say about me The Virgo:

Virgo (The Virgin) (mutable, earth, social): Keyword: "I analyze". The Virgo person is practical, industrious, efficient, thorough, methodical, exacting, precise, detail-oriented, observant, intelligent, critical, work and service oriented, painstaking, pragmatic, modest, discreet, health and cleanliness conscious, mentally active, and flexible. They can also be fussy, nervous, pedantic, petty, and over-critical. Virgos often have a long beautiful neck and can be careless with fingernails. Suitable occupations are where analytical and practical, methodical qualities are needed; such as teacher, psychologist, nursing and health and hygiene sectors, scientist, accountant, secretary, inspector. In medical astrology Virgo governs the intestines and digestion. There is some debate in regards to a modern ruler of this sign with Pallas, Chiron, Ceres and Vesta often considered candidates by some modern astrologers, but the planet Mercury is typically used as the default by tradition. The sun sign dates for Virgo are August 23 — September 22.^[11] The earth form of Virgo is a full grown harvest. Totem animal is the Bushbaby

I AM NONE OF THE FOLLOWING (ESPECIALLY THINGS IN BOLD): , industrious, thorough, methodical, exacting, precise, detail-oriented, observant, intelligent, critical, work and service oriented, painstaking, pragmatic, modest, discreet, health and cleanliness conscious. They can also be fussy, nervous, pedantic, petty, and over-critical

I AM SOMEWHAT: practical, flexible, mentally active

MY VERY EXISTENCE DEFIES YOU STARS!!

PS - It is pretty cool to know my totem is a bushbaby. whatever the fuck that is?

Google image results: "War Jesus"

Sometimes I like to do google image searches. Today I googled "war jesus". Laugh if you want. There is only hell to pay.

Right Wing Left Wing Chicken Wing

I think it is time for another political party in this country.

I am tired of all the shallow meaningless hype. Everywhere I go I hear people spewing political opinions about non-issues. Barack is a terrorist. Palin's daughter is pregnant. I think Bill Clinton is a scumbag. I'd never vote for McSame. Bush is a Nazi. Lapel pins. Pastors. Skin Cancer. Ex-wife. sexism. racism. divisive. 100 years in Iraq. On both sides. on and on and on.

And, it ends here. I rarely hear a sensible non-biased issue based discussion where people don't get frothy at the mouth defending their "side". You hardly ever hear someone say something along the lines of "I agree with his policy regarding X but disagree with his policy on Y". Or "This is a problem, here is my solution, and here is how we are going to pay for the solution". Because people don't want to address the problem, the solution is boring and inconvenient, and talking about paying for it doesn't earn votes. At some point this process became something wildly emotional. And both sides are pandering to ignorance. I suspect the media has a lot to do with that.

For instance, Palin was recently named as McCain's VP pick. These are various "things" I have heard about Palin from both news and people: "She has 5 kids, her 17 year old daughter is pregnant, she is a member of NRA, she is a "maverick", she is anti-abortion, her husband had a DUI, she is hot, I'd hit it, she is involved in a scandal.

Point being, none of this means fuck-for-all about how she would change my life in the event McCain is elected and he drops over dead within 4 years.

I really tried to get politically involved this year. But, I find myself feeling really deflated and disillusioned once again.