Cleaning off my desk

my mother once told me after a bout with teen angst and youthful rebellion in the middle of the punitive phase of the cycle that your room (home) reflects your heart (or at least your mental status). that was a pearl i have always held on too. i find that on the eve of great personal tumult (the scheduled kind: moving, new job, new school, vacation, etc.) i tend to control my environment so as to control my mind. from my father and his kin i got a pre-punctuality bug that was only reinforced by the navy. if you are there (wherever) 15 minutes early, you're late--but sit in the car and wait for it anyway. these two precepts have commingled so as to give birth to my present mindset.

tomorrow is my first day of school at csulb, and i am anxious, clean, and early.

my backpack has been packed for a week, triple checked; schedules printed, reviewed; potential "crashed" classes have been checked, mapped, and found nearest bike locks. snacks have been purchased (i eat to stay awake), alarm has been set for 3 hours before my first class. my house is clean. and i am ready.

but... i haven't blogged in a while and need to close out this summer's bittersweet lul with a final posting. some of what, if i may be frank, i have been too lazy to post about:

i read some books, starting with the day of my calculus final, i read, now the hell can start- about the burma road in ww11, (bought it hard cover the week it came out after a particularly seductive interview with the author, it was mediocre and i resolved not to buy a hardcover book again.) then followed it with Frankenstein, (interesting from an analytical perspective, dull from a readers.) Then Kim by rudyard kipling, good book nice story even for children seemed like it should have been the first of a series, but alas. Then i was given Between the bridge and the river, a charmingly profane navel by craig ferguson of late late show fame, for my birthday. i was also given a gift card for barnes and noble and got A human comedy by saroyan about my homeland, (wonderful, little novel, about nostalgic places) and Midnight's children by salman rushdie (fascinating puzzle of a novel that just unwinds itself beautifully and grimly, set in india/pakistan over the last hundred years, perfect to link Kim with the present) and i am 40 pages from finishing it which will cap off my summer of indolence at bedtime tonight.

i have made many shirts, recently, and over the summer.







and i have had many bad haircuts.

finally, pictures of my bike trailer.




see you in a few days (?) after the adventure has begun.

a land where nobody says, " baskets and fenders?!"

I have been to a lot of perfectly good cities, mark's boston, cory's new york, mom's denver, the navy's san diego and chicago and a bunch of others-some in other countries. and they were all wonderful and exciting and memorable, but i never really said, "wow, this is where i belong, i get it, and its people" until i spent 3 days in portland, oregon.

it is beautiful, and green (in both senses), and friendly. its like a rainy san diego, as meg likes to say. first of all let me tell you of the bikes. i am used to a cyclist element, living in orange county, doctory-lawyery types who get all spandexed out on the weekends and go for 50 mile rides in herds that resemble gazelles with nascar advertisement stickers all over their bodies. but lets face it, i am not that guy (i may have flirted with it in high school, but it didn't work out), i like to ride my bike to do stuff and go places, the ride should be enjoyable, but in no way resemble exercise.

everywhere you went in the city were people on bikes, bike locks, and bike parking. and not like new york where the skeletons of bikes are chained to lampposts stripped like carrion of anything that can be removed. and the bikes weren't carbon-fiber-aerodynamic-clip-in-pedals-speed-machines, they were either fixies (converted ten speeds, and actual fixies) or they were mountain/cruising bikes like mine with racks and baskets and panniers, milk crates, bumper stickers and every one had fenders. these are people who ride their bikes to the grocery store, (and they probably do it in the rain too).

i would probably have to wear fake mutton chops or a amkeshift goatee to look like i belong there, but that is a small price to pay. (and can you say "no sales tax", i knew you could). wonder of all wonders, meg feels the same way about the city (albeit for non-bicycle related reasons) and it is our serious hope to move there. the university hospital (OHSU) is excellent, and there is a lot of cross-pollenation between uci and ohsu, so meg knows people there and here that can put in a good word.

we took the train to get there, but that will be tomorrow's post, its a whole other bag of gummi worms.

oh, i brought my camera, but forgot it as we wandered the city. sorry no pictures. in particular, there was a bike with a bumper sticker that said "this machine kills hipsters" which was hilarious and thought provoking.

here's hoping your machine kills hipsters too...

bike: a finished product

i managed to tear the nozzle out of the tube in my rear tire. so that is me replacing it and re-sliming it.

mom, i finally have lights on it for riding to work.

and i found a handlebar mount for my gps which makes it that much more useful for exploring the wilds of orange county. pretty handy when you bike to another town.
i have a rear basket that is in the mail and that will be all. and i love it.

bike news

i bought a trailer for my bike, you know, the kind used to haul kids around in. my plan is to use it to get groceries, run errands, do the laundry. and so far it works beautifully. the pictures will follow, as i haven't taken any.

pro's: extra weight=harder work=better workout
cheaper than gas
people give you the right of way when they think there are kids involved
it is removable, and collapsible, and reasonably light

seemed like a good idea, everything i need is within a mile (school being the exception) and it will hopefully save some money and add years to my life(or subtract inches from my waist-which is better).

this is the mount that is permanently attached to my rear wheel, so i can take the rest of it on and off without tools.

some things i should mention...

meg and i went to "the latelate show with craig ferguson" last tuesday, it was neat to see how it works, but i have to say the show is better on tv. they did a pan of the audience (rare on the show), and you can see us in the front row center.

also here is my latest hair adventure.
(star and stripes)

about a bike

i admit to having peculiar aesthetic tastes, and i am a minor design snob. this coupled with my deep affection for my former bicycle presented quite a challenge when considering a replacement. i considered the folding bikes by dahon which offered portability but in limited configurations and at a premium (to me) price. maybe in the future when i can afford one of their better models.

i could have tracked down a later model of my old bike, but they were painted yellow and black, and glossy, which i couldn't stand, so i would have to have it stripped and painted. too much trouble and time for a utility bike.

so i went shop to shop from high end triathalon stores to shady "family" bike shops. in the last store on my list i found it. they were a high end mountain bike place, but they had some limited stock of "fixies" and a couple road bikes. i don't mind the "fixie" idea, but i want a coaster brake. (no simple task to find on an "adult" bike (even on beach cruisers)) the bike i found was a cross between a mountain bike, and a bmx bike. single speed, coaster brake (no cables)-it was set up for adding disc brakes (the new state of the art), big cruiser tires, and ridiculously light.

the down side was that it needed a lot of add ons, fenders, a rack, baskets/panniers, even a kickstand. not to mention the biggest lock i could buy.

the next day i went and got fenders, kickstand, and a rack. oh, and a lock that weighs as much as the bike itself.(not an exaggeration)

still holding off on the baskets/panniers as i might invest in a child trailer (don't take this wrong mom , that is not a subtle hint) the trailer is for groceries/hauling--so i don't have to take the car. and i need some lights, eventually.

the maker of the bike is "swobo" they have some really good looking utility type bikes, if thats your thing you should check them out.

here's woody...

my inlaws got a new bird, a hawk headed parrot. i have described it frequently, but here he is.

this is the business end, he gave me the worst bite of my parrot-loving life (so far) he gets a little schitzy