A new kind of organ donor.

Uhhhmmmmm....  Just read THIS and make offensive comments.

 

Pete

Thought for the day...

Today's thought for the day comes from Odd Thomas. 

 

"A drunk that has rammed his car into a telephone pole is a self-educated physicist."

 

Hugs and Kisses,

 

Pete

You thought the ski jumping mini was amazing?

 

No words can describe this.  Take 15 minutes and watch the whole thing.  Better take half an hour because you won’t be able to just watch it once. 

 

Toyota Hilux Truck Test.

 

Pete

 

 

Thanks Drew!!!

My friend Drew the lesbian sent me this.  I love him for it.

 

Life as a Guy.

 

Love,

Pete

In honor of the winter olympics...

Car guys really love the olympics. 

 

The Ski Jump Challenge.

 

Love,

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

Free Bike Doctor Advertising (Sorry Jason)

Disclaimer!  I haven't been spending too much time with my buddy Jason lately.  We're riding buddies and since I've spent very little time on the bike lately, I haven't seen him very often.  Jason is a great guy, but we often have some awkward conversations where my sense of humor goes somewhere that gives Grumpy J. the heebie jeebies.  I give him tons of credit because his resiliance and his ability to be a good and accepting friend is unbounded.  /Disclaimer

 

This month's dirt rag magazine published a photo of mine (issue 119, page 99).  It isn't a big deal... nothing to write home about.. but of the photos they could have published, they picked one that makes me laugh. 

 

This photo was taken from the top of Joe's Ridge in Fruita, Colorado.  The Joe's Ridge trail is aptly named.  It follows along the edge of Joe's Ridge.   (I'll bet you figured that out before I did.).  Joe's ridge is narrow and tall, which makes the hillside drop off very steeply on either side of the trail.  Additionally, the ridge runs out after about 1/2 mile which makes the trail drop down very steeply into the valley.  The cool thing about the photo is that I'm standing at the very top of the ridge looking down.  Jason is poised on the edge, just getting ready to go off a very steep drop, and you can see the trail snaking off into the distance WAY down in the valley.  You can see over a mile of trail as it snakes off into the lower regions of the 18 road. 

 

That's nice, but what the hell is it doing in my blog?  Why does Bike Doctor care?  Jason was wearing his full Bike Doctor race kit that day.  The shorts happen to have a HUGE bike doctor emblem plastered across the butt.  Wouldn't you know it, that is exactly the view I've got of Jason as he's heading down the steep drop.  So Jason got into Dirt Rag Magazine.. or at least his ass did.

 

End of the funny... now on to the more serious side of the photo...

 

The story that this photo doesn't tell is how he was feeling and what an amazing guy he is.  (He's blogged about this a bit over the last year.  There's a link to his blog on the right side of this screen.  Look at the entries from late April of 2005).  The trails in this part of the 18 road get a bit of much deserved hype.  They're steep and narrow.  These trails have what some riders call "pucker power".  Lets just say that it isn't your lips that are puckering. ;)  The first time you ride them, it takes a lot of nerve to ride up to that first lip and keep going.  As you approach the edge of the drop you keep expecting to see the trail... but it doesn't show up until your front wheel is already over the edge. 

 

Now the skills that it takes to ride most of these trails isn't anything too amazing.  All of them have a long run out and few have turns of any kind on the steep part.  That doesn't diminish the trail at all.  It is a gut check to ride up and over that edge.  You've got to be back on your bike and ready for anything.  Jason's form was perfect and I was the only one that crashed on that day.  He did a masterful job to avoid running me over as we rode down the lower part of Zippidy Doodah. 

 

I think this photo was published at the perfect time.  We're heading back to Fruita in a few months and I think we're all hungry for some riding time on those trails.  It should be a great group too. 

 

Thanks for reading.  Sorry for babbling.

 

Pete

 

I'm not a man anymore...

I have to hang my head in shame.  I've completely let down my gender and no longer have the right to consider myself a man.  Laura had Back To School Night last night and so I had an evening to myself.  I failed miserably at any and all manly things that I might have done. 

 

Failure 1:  I went shopping.  How girlie can you get?  It wasn't even manly shopping (though I was shopping for camera gear).  I didn't go in, find exactly what I wanted, pay for it, scratch my crotch and then leave.  I walked around and browsed, looking at this and that.  I finally decided on one or two things and purchased them.  I didn't realize what I'd done till I got to the car.  I even comparison shopped.  Before going into the camera store, I went to Comp-USA across the parking lot from Penn Camera.  They had what I was looking for, but it was $50 more expensive. 

 

Failure 2:  I went shopping again.  I needed a hat for running.  At night it is hard to run on the sidewalk because the lights from oncoming cars blind you.  A hat with a brim makes it so you can block them out.  Normal baseball hats aren't good because they don't react well to the volume of sweat I put out.  I found a hat that I liked, but it didn't fit.  I asked the sales person if they had any bigger sizes.  She kindly (and with much pity for this obviously confused girly-man) informed me that that was the largest size they have in the WOMEN'S hats.  Feeling my testicles shrink, I tried to mumble something manly and left the store.... checking out of the corner of my eye to see if anyone else was in the store to witness my embarrassment. 

 

Failure 3:  I figured I'd redeem myself by going next door and buying some beer.  What could be more manly than buying some brewskis and drinking them while watching sports.  I went in and grabbed some beer. I tried to resist the temptation to browse, but couldn't.  I did manage to limit my foraging to getting 3 or 4 other things besides my manly redemption.  I noticed that they had one of my favorite beers, so I was happy and got a six pack.  It was only when I got to the checkout that my humiliation continued. 

The lady checking me out grabbed my manly beer and looked at it.  "Seasonal brew... Isn't that short for 'beer with fruit in it?'" she asked with a questioning look in her eye.  What she really meant was "Isn't that beer a little effeminate for a big strong man like you?". 

I looked at my shoes and mumbled that it was for my wife in the closest thing to a deep, manly voice as I could muster. 

Her response, "Oh.  So this wine is for you?" .... again mocking my masculinity. 

I cleared my throat, and grunted that it was also for my wife. 

Smelling blood, she went for the kill.  "I'm guessing this Italian Grapefruit Soda is for her too?  She must really be thirsty!" 

"I don't know how that got in my basket. (realizing at that point that no self respecting man grabs the little basket things.  Men like carts.  Carts have wheels.  Wheels are manly.  If you can't carry it all in your hands, then you get a manly cart.)

"Oh.  I'll put that back on the shelf then."  She's just playing with me now... openly smiling and laughing at me. 

"No, that's okay.  I'm sure my wife will like it."

Holding up the baguette of French bread, "Your wife is hungry?"

"No.  That's mine."  finally cluing in that I'm not fooling anyone. 

Then she laughed out loud at me.  I laughed too.  I deserved it. My manly trip to the grocery was a complete failure.  She did have to get one last dig in.  "Do you need any help carrying those bags to your car, sir?" 

By this time, we're both cracking up laughing.  "Very funny.  Now I know why I shop here all the time.  I'm glad you don't charge extra for the sass."

 

Failure 4:  Having completely failed at being manly all night.  I went home, sat on the couch, played with the cats, drank my fruity beer and watched the least manly sport around... figure skating. 

 

Girlishly yours,

 

Pete

 

 

For people who love movies, but don't have time to watch them....

My friend Gary posted this on a web forum recently and I thought it might be of public service to y'all. 

 

Someone kindly took 17 popular movies from the last 40 years and condensed them down to 30 seconds each.  Oh yeah... they're all re-enacted by bunnies. 

 

http://www.angryalien.com/

 

I could spend HOURS on this site... I've found though that spending 8 and a half minutes (give and take a few minutes for downloading) is plenty.  :D

 

Have a nice day.

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

 

Hallmark Card... Take II

As you might expect, the late night TV hosts had a field day with the story about Dick Chaney shooting his friend while hunting.  The two best responses I saw today were not done by comedians.

 

"The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the vice president may be there.  That's why I'm wearing it."

Whitehouse spokesman Scott McClellan while addressing University of Texas Football team members who were all clad in orange (the school colors).

 

And also…

 

The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, took a similar jab after slapping an orange sticker on his chest from the Florida Farm Bureau that read, "No Farmers, No Food."

"I'm a little concerned that Dick Cheney is going to walk in," the governor cracked during an appearance in Tampa Monday.

 

I particularly like that both of those statements were being made at about the same time that the guy who was shot was having a mild heart attack as a result of a small piece of bird shot that was lodged near his heart.  Truly tasteful.

 

Pete

 

What a Contrast.

The Olympics are a mixed bag for me.  I love the quirky little sports that aren't all glamour and glitz.  I hate that bigtime professional athletes have taken over a lot of the sports.  Men's hockey lost all its appeal to me when it became the place where NHL "Dream Teamers" get to play.  Women's hocky, on the other hand is cool.  These chicks have to work their asses off to get to the Olympics and it shows in their play.  Interesting contrast, eh?

 

My second contrast has to do with the Chinese pairs figure skaters.  Go back 25 years ago to the first time China sent anyone to compete in figure skating.  They sent the team of Yao Bin and Luan Bo to the world championships when they had never seen figure skating before.  They'd only seen pictures of the moves they were to perform.  They travelled alone because they didn't have the budget for a coach.  They placed last.  Yao later recalled how people in the crowd laughed at them and the way they skated.  That experience, along with placing last at the World Championships in '81 and '82 and the Olympics in 1984, gave Yao the determination to make China a powerful force in figure skating. 

 

Now jump forward 25 years.  Yao Bin is the coach of the Chinese pairs figure skaters.  His teams took Silver, Bronze and 4th place in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.  What a wonderful contrast.

 

My last contrast has to do with two American Athletes... Bode Miller and Joey Cheek.  Miller is the alpine skiing super star who was on the cover of so many magazines and lead guest on so many talk shows because he was primed to take home gold medals in his prestigious events.  He made brash comments about how he liked to party and drink.  He was bigger than life.  He was a total flop when it came time to race.  After dominating the sport for the last few years, he didn't get close to the podium.  He made a few terse remarks to the press and then skulked off.  One comentator suggested that he might have skied better if he was drunk. 

 

Joey Cheek is the anti-Bode.  He comes from a modest background and competes in the less glamorous sport of speed skating.  You don't often see speed skating televised outside the olympics.  He was inspired by his mentor to not only skate well, but also to give of his heart to people in need.  He planned a speach in case he won, worrying that he was going to jynx his chances at winning a gold medal in the 500 meter race.  He won anyways and his speach turned the Olympic press corps on its ear.  Instead of whooping it up and trying to get product placement for his sponsors like Bode would have done had he won, he talked about the hardship faced by families and children in Africa.  He donated the $25,000 that the Olympic Committee will give to him for winning a gold medal to a charity that helps children in need in the country of Chad.  He challenged his sponsors to match his donation.  (Nike did..  kind-of.  They donated $30,000 of "product".  The kids will still be starving and sick, but at least they'll have nice shoes.   Sorry.  I had to say that.) 

 

What is the difference?  In my eyes Joey Cheek is a winner, and Bode Miller is a loser.... and that has NOTHING to do with which one of them won a medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.  Why is it so normal for an athlete to be brash and egotistical and why is it so unusual for one to be humble and giving?  That's the $25,000 question (+ $30,000 of product on the side). ;)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Pete

 

 

 

Does Hallmark make a card for this????

Please pardon my sarcasm.  Behind the story at which I’m poking fun, someone is in the hospital tonight and in a lot of pain. I honestly and sincerely hope for a good resolution for this guy.  My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family tonight.  Best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery. 

 

Enough with the Mr. Nice Guy stuff.  Here’s a clip of the story from the Associated Press:

 

WASHINGTON - Vice President

Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

 

The full story can be found HERE.

 

In what section would you find the “I’m sorry I shot you in the face and chest with bird shot” card? 

 

Do you think Mr. Whittington (the shootee) is in favor of gun control? …  If not in general, maybe in the case of his good friend V.P. Cheney? 

 

A good friend of mine once said, “I’m all in favor of gun control…. As long as I’m the one controlling the gun.” 

 

Sorry.  I’m sure many smarter people than me will come up with more obnoxious things to say on the topic. 

 

Have a nice day.

 

Pete