Alden - Birthday #1

Alden is 1 year old today! Here he is with the birthday card sent to him from my mom and Glenn. Wooha

True

C baked a pumpkin pie,
I whipped up some heavy cream
We were meant to be

"Chill yourself before you kill yourself" and other thoughts

"Chill yo'self before you kill yo'self"
was precisely what I said to Alden last week when he was getting particularly raucous on a walk outside. I made it up and now you can use it as you see fit.
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I had an epiphany the other day about my bike and hopefully I'll get it done this winter. I'm going to switch out my chainwheels and get a track cog that is larger than my freewheel so that I can flip the free and fixed sides of my wheel and ride different gear ratios with the same length of chain. Brilliant! I will have a higher gear for the "free" side and a lower gear for the fixed side so I can avoid busting my knees trying to slow down or skid... This is doubtful, but if I were truly ambitious I would even try to repaint the frame...
Here's a little vid for your viewing pleasure, via Trackosaurusrex.com:

Fixed 2 from Charge Bikes on Vimeo.

Rambo

My childhood dog, Rambo--the dog that my sister and I lovingly referred to as our brother--recently fell ill and was put to sleep yesterday. He had to be 15 years old, or more. The last few times I saw him he was in poor health: bad sight, poor hearing, and, lately, he could barely walk or stand.

His health plummeted in the past week and doctors could find no hope for his recovery. My mom was faced with the extremely tough decision to let go of him so he could move on to a better place.

I appreciate my sister and her fiance (Andy) for helping to support my mom during this time of loss. My mom and her fiance (Glenn) have lost several dogs recently due to old age. I'm sure all this has been very hard on both of them--but I know they are helping each other get through.

Rambo was a good companion and he will be missed sorely by all of us.

Snow, Art Contest

It might not be the official start to winter but we woke up to snow today, experienced a (figurative) blizzard of gigantic flakes, and currently have a quarter inch blanket of whiteness as we are heading to bed. I don't care much for this season, but the first snow is exciting and makes me nostalgic for "hot chocolate" and "peppermint" and all those other winter things. Alden is really excited by the snowy ground too. You could see the expression on his face when he first stepped outside this morning: "What the f---?!"

Blue Moon Brewing Company finally posted up the art contest winners and finalists on their website. Visit this site, if you wish--you'll need to enter your birthday, click the "Art Project" flash, enter your birthday again, then find your way to the Columbus gallery. Big props to the person who took home first place, but boo to the others [<-- that's my poor sportsmanship side coming out]. If you care not to go through the hassle, here's a picture of the original. (Have I posted this yet?)

Maybe the judges were offended by the image of a beer-bellied, large-nipple'd sasquatch irresponsibly guzzling a beer. Oh well. I can't make everyone happy.

BDayShoutOut

Big ups to Jessica Love for having been born 27 years ago, today.

Check out her flicks and hire her to photograph something before you lose: boo-ya

She's got a sharp eye, which explains her impeccable style, and her passion for life is clearly the driving force that produces such powerful photos.

Happy birthday, again, Jess--you are good folk. I've never been interested in photography until recently--you inspire me with your dedication to document the lives we are living and your desire to find more life to live.

Election 08

It's election day. Hope you last-minute voters aren't having too much trouble casting votes. C and I walked over to our "spot" around 6:00am and were out within 20 minutes after voting began (which was 6:30am).

I spent the rest of the day planting 150+ trees with some others in Dayton at a mitigation wetland. Besides the fact that it pushed our lunch back a few hours, the work was fun. The sun was out and I won't even mind the sunburn I probably got. It will be eclipsed by the tingling of my "Sh-erpes." Feel free to use that new word: it is a hybrid of "shingles" and "herpes." I think "Shingles" makes people uncomfortable, and "herpes" is worse. Sherpes is fun. Kinda' like Sherpa--and who doesn't want to know a Sherpa?

Aside from NPR, I hope to avoid election coverage tonight. Nothing will be decided before tomorrow and I'm sure it will just drive me nutty.

Nap time! PEACE!

You know when you get that tingly feeling all over...?

So, a higher power decided to help me figure out a costume for Halloween. I was to be a Roof. No, not really. But I apparently have Shingles. That's right: the varicella zoster virus (A.K.A. herpes zoster (A.K.A. same thing as chickenpox, but different (A.K.A. this fuckin sucks!))).

Here is a really colorful description of my recently latent friend Shingles.

Basically I've been experiencing sharp, pinching pains along the right side of my body, a burning rash of blisters on a small, isolated spot on my back, and tingling, sensitive sensations on the skin all over my torso.

I guess I've been harboring this virus since I had chickenpox as a kid, but my immune system decided to take a break and shit went haywire. Am I emotionally distressed? I don't think so. As I understand it, this should be my only Shingles outbreak for the rest of my life.

Oh well. That's all the venting I want to do about it. Tonight C and I went to see Olympic gymnasts at the Tour of Gymnastic Superstars. That was pretty cool. The best part was C being really excited to go. The second best part was rhythmic gymnastics. Then we hung out with J&M--they had bought Alden a little shirt that says "Bark for Barack" on the back of it! How rad.

Ok, it's Saturday night and I'm ready for sleep. Peeeeeeeeace
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Here's a video to lift your spirits. Special dedication to Brandi Lee and all the hippies at the Homestead.