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Tomorrow morning I leave for a 206 mile ride to Portland. It's a two day ride that stops in Centralia for the night. Luckily, and amazingly, I have a room in Centralia. It's a small town. The ride is capped at 10,000 people and it is sold out. Over 7,000 of them are staying in Centralia. Many stay in tents. The rest do the ride in one day. Loonies.
I'm also sleeping in Portland, but being a big town it wasn't as hard to get a room. Better not lose my reservations.
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I've decided to become a legatarian and eat only the legs of animals.
I asked people yesterday if they have ever drank water by squeezing out a dirty sponge.
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Went into work for about 4 hours today, which isn't too bad. Today is a holiday workwise. Since the 4th is on a Saturday they gave us Friday off. But somebody has to cover the call so I'm on Fri, Sat, and Sun. I just thought of today as a regular workday which makes taking call seem like a regular weekend. Sure I was on call today, but normally I would be there for 10 hours and I only had to be there for 4. Makes it seem not so bad. Plus I got paid extra for it. That's the spin we need.
I watched "Changeling" tonight and had some Ben and Jerry's Magic Brownie ice cream. They were both about the same. Good, but nothing terribly special. I won't get the ice cream flavor again and I don't have much to say about the picture. I thought the courtroom drama stuff was largely unnecessary. I didn't care about the retribution of the cops. Eastwood does great things with characters and their emotions. The courtroom stuff edged that out to make room for extraneous material. Jolie was pretty damn good in it. The movie could have been much better. The picture deserves a better discourse than I'm giving it here, but I'm tired, and, well, if you want to read between the lines, then what I'm saying is: It deserves a better commentary but not enough to make me stay up and write it. Get it?
I bought the stuff to make a cherry pie. I got lazy though and bought a crust. I've always made my crusts. This being the first time I've bought one I didn't know they came in pairs. Can I mutilate one of them in a controlled fashion and use it for a lattice work?
Tomorrow, provided I'm not at work, we watch Spiderman on bluray.
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The trip to the beach was awesome. The trip to Austin was great, but too short. We didn't have time to meet with many people. Erica and Thomas had a fantastic BBQ that got a number of people together. The house was full of kids. Yowza, the Waterloo crew is getting older.
Jamming with Vince was cool. We mostly ran through a number of Beatles songs. I like the book he had. Tell me what it is. I might want to pick it up. He's pretty good on the drums and he stays more practiced on the guitar than I do. I should jam more regularly but it gets boring alone. We did record something. It was a simple riff that we just ran through a bunch of times. We laid down the vocals of what is basically the chorus. When he finishes putting the touches on the sound he's supposed to send it to me so I can put a vocal on it. Too bad we couldn't do it that night but it got late quick. I should have just sang anything. I'm not caught up on lyrics having to make sense but, when they are nonsense, I at least like for them to pretend to make sense. John Lennon and Gibby Haynes were good at that.
I got some video of my Grandmother playing the piano and singing. I'm really happy about that. My Dad was there. He knows his mother gets lonely, though he visits her often, several times a week at least. But she's 94 and virtually blind due to macular degeneration. I was next to her when she played. I sang some with her and tried to play some ukulele with her when I could but I had trouble following the changes. She's a piano genuis. Can't see a thing but doesn't need to. She can play any old song if you give her a key. Just start singing it and she will find the notes, no matter what key you start in. Dad told me that she had a look on her face of pure happiness when she was playing and singing with me. That makes me smile. I was right next to her and saw it too. She looked right into my eyes, which she might have been able to see at that close range, and sang "Barnacle Bill".
I have some pictures to arrange and some video footage to splice this weekend. I'm on call all weekend. Hopefully that means I won't have to take Thanksgiving or Xmas. We are hoping to come back to Austin for one of those holidays.
My Dad and Zack are visiting up here in July (the week after STP).
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I made it home from the Tour de Blast alive. My odometer measured 84 miles. That's my longest ride yet. But it wasn't the distance that was so hard, it was the 8000 feet of elevation over the entire course. We rode for a while on relatively flat, sort of rolling ground. Then we came to a nine mile hill. The top of this hill was Elk Rock Observation Point. This is where Joe's wife, Michelle, turned around. It marked a little over 25 miles in. Joe and I soon left for the next 15 miles. This started with a steep downhill into the valley followed by a steep uphill to Johnston Ridge Observatory. Each hill was roughly 7 miles with a little flat at the bottom. We got to the top and had a little solid food to supplement our protein powders, cliff bars, and electrolyte pills. Then began the arduous journey back.
First thing was getting back down into the valley. Sounds easy to sit on a bike and roll downhill doesn't it? Well, it isn't as easy as it seems, so I learned, a bit surprised. The wind was strong and it was blowing me sideways, making my bike wobble just a bit. I was holding onto the handlebars for life, literally. One false move could actually spell d-e-a-t-h. Remember, there is automobile traffic on the road too. My top speed was 35mph, and I have to admit I tapped the brakes a little here and there. Now, I've gone 41mph before but that was down a short, very steep hill, and it only lasted a short time. I was sustaining these speeds in strong winds. It was all enough to make me nervous. In fact, my Pal Joey pulled over at one point and was checking his bike to make sure it was OK. The wind and wobble had him THAT worried. He's an ace rider, but the wind was making him question the integrity of his bike. Changing the position of my hands on the bars from the top ones to the drops was a precarious, one-hand-at-a-time affair. I didn't dare let go with even one hand. I just slid one hand at a time from one position to the other very carefully. The roads were curvy in some places as well, limiting visibility.
Once down in the valley the climb up and out began. 7 miles uphill after all this? I've done 50 brutal miles already. No choice, had to push ahead. Slowly, (between 7 and 10mph) I pedaled out. Seemed to take forever. But finally I was at Elk Rock again. From there it was the nine mile hill down, which was a little less steep, a little more of a straight shot, and less windy, therefore, less nerve-wrecking. It was pretty darn fun. Though I have to admit I was getting tired.
I found myself at the bottom, pedaling the last 10 miles, and looking too often at my odometer. I've been on 65 milers where it's mentioned that there are 15 miles left. I remark, "OK, let's get to it!" No great shakes. But this! I looked at my odometer and was at mile 76. I cursed silently, "Fuck! I should be at 80 by now!" Point is, on a normal ride, four miles of relatively flat terrain (which is what I was on now), would be a ride through the park. But this! I soldiered on. At one point some hillbillies ran out into the road as I was passing by and tried to get us to stop and drink free beer with them. What the hell?
At the finish line there was a big pasta feed. I gorged on spaghetti and breadsticks. Then we went back to the trailer and had Rocky Road. My pal Joey has a fancy trailer he takes to these things. It's pretty nice to get back to camp and have showers, plumbing, a stove, freezer, electricity, and a BED! That's camping in luxury, son. Although their dog farted something terrible, and all too frequently.
It took us 7 hours and 49 minutes to complete the ride. That's kind of a lot, but we took it easy, very easy, in the beginning. There was energy to conserve. Today, I feel ok. I probably wont go jogging, but then again, I have to pack. There's my excuse. I bought one of the pictures they sell at the end. Perche no? I bought Joe his picture too. It was the least I could do after staying it his trailer for two nights.
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I'm going to eat a sandwich and leave for Mt. St. Helen's in a few minutes. Tomorrow morning is the Tour de Blast. We'll see if I make it. I've never done anything this grueling before.
I have some electrolyte blocks and protein powder. Water of course.
If I survive, they give us spaghetti, unless we opt for something else.
See ya, maybe.
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We went and saw UP. Leslie had already seen it in Florida while she was visiting her mother and some friends. She liked it so much she wanted me to see it and wanted to go with me. We saw it in 3D. I have to admit the 3D looked pretty good. Much better than Superman did in 2006. I imagine the fact that UP is animated might have had something to do with that. But I don't know. A work pal told me the 3D movies he has seen lately looked pretty good. I think he saw My Bloody Valentine and something else. I don't think that was animated.
The movie was darn good. What was the last children's movie that starred a senior citizen? There were some kids in the theatre and when the old man was sitting and coming to his big realization, you know, the moral, the theatre was quiet, the soundtrack was quiet. It's the big dramatic moment in the feature. A kid, maybe 3-4 years old, hollared out, "Where's the dog?" Made me chuckle.
Leslie has been wanting Spiderman on bluray but they only sell part 3 by itself. We've never seen it and don't have much interest, certainly not in buying it. But I was looking on Amazon last night and the trilogy was 50 bucks. Hell, when they finally release them by theirselves they will be 25 bucks apiece at least. They'll drop after a while but for now it doesn't get much better than that. So I bought them. The only criticism is there are no extras. We don't care. While I was at it I bought another one I really enjoyed, Bolt.
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A scotch tape dispenser at work was empty. I picked it up and exclaimed, "Now I've heard of transparent tape before but this..."
I started trying to pull invisible tape from the thing. "This is ridiculous. I can't even FEEL it!"
Some people laughed.
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I finally watched Blood Diamond last night. Has anyone else seen this? I didn't think it was very good. All the seams were showing. Plot points, forshadowing, semi-happy endings, it was all too much and too easy to make out. Lame. The acting was generally good. DiCaprio is usually first rate and this was no exception. I think even all the theatre professors in my family agree to that. They don't like Tom Cruise by the way, but that has nothing to do with this.
I started getting bored and was basically waiting for them to wrap it up. Everyone wants this diamond so bad they ignore the rest of the diamonds coming out of the river. I might get rapped in the mouth for this, but, how was this different from any other jewel heist movie? Oh, it's in Africa and there's a social commentary. The social commentary was lame. It was contrived and witless. Mostly though, it was overshadowed by the fact that this was a jewel heist action movie.
I think someone wrote this movie because they figured they could capture several different audiences. It's a war movie, it's a jewel heist movie, it's a political thriller? It's a buddy movie, it's a road movie. It's a mess. and due to it's lack of focus it never really succeeds at anything. The closest it comes to succeeding at any of this is as a buddy movie. DiCaprio and the other dude become sort of pals, DiCaprio is redeemed, of course. Oh yeah, there's a love story too. Sheesh. Focus people!
It isn't terrible. It covers all these areas ok, but none of them exceedingly well. Plus, I could see the numbers on the canvas. Maybe I'm just jaded and I've seen too many war/jewel heist/political thriller/buddy/road/love story movies.
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I don't know what Vince was doing in my dream, but I was over at his house and we had done some grocery shopping. All the groceries were in his car and we needed to divide them so I could take mine home. It was nightime and Iwas in the driveway trying to do this but being thwarted somehow every step of the way. Tammy was there for a little bit, but I think all she did was try to help divide the groceries.
The next thing I knew Vince and I were moving into a townhome together. It was one of many in a row, or so I understood it in the dream. When the day comes that I actually buy a place to live I certainly hope it isn't a townhome. I went inside and there was a woman there who I think was related to Vince. She might have been his mother. Odd because she was either Mexican or Asian. I asked her how she liked the place and she said, "It's the upstairs neighbors (which don't exist in a townhome), they can't stop crossing over the ceiling." And she indicated stomping by hammering her fists in the air.
And then, in one of those amazing twists dreams can take that make no sense when you try to think about it upon waking, we were in Japan trying to assimilate.
Vince, I don't think this means I love you, but it might mean I wish I had a house.
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I'm sitting here in the living room, minding my own business and sweating my hind quarters off when I notice a sudden change in things. The curtains are making a noise characteristic of wind blowing them. Plus, they are exhibiting the tell-tale signs of billowing. I open them to reveal trees bending in the gusts. The temperature has dropped mightily. Thisis a bit of a boon since we of the PNW have no air conditioning. On those few weeks of the year that temperatures get into the 90's we can only sweat and run fans. After living here for seven years I've become quite the pussy when it comes to heat. I can take it better than most around here, but compared to what I could tolerate when I was a born and bred Texan (which I still am, come to think of it) I'm just downright wimpy.
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I woke up today and had eggs and turkey bacon and toast and coffee and I was resting and got tired of resting and a little bored and got in my truck and drove to Greenlake for a jog and jogged around it twice and at one point when I was nearly done I saw a very petite Asian woman as pretty as a flower wearing a yellow sun dress and as I came nearer I noticed the sun shining through her dress illuminated her and she was wearing black panties and I could see every detail of her form through the thin veil of gauzy yellow sun dress and I felt weak and I felt stunned to have seen what I saw and I felt happy and then I stretched a little on the grass and there were daisies there that I prostrated myself upon in order to do my back excercises and I got in my truck and drove home and Leslie called from Florida where she has been visiting friends and her Mother and she told me that her friends played a game where they asked who would you take to a desert island and she said "My Husband" and they told her that wasn't allowed you have to pick someone like a movie star and all she could think of was Daniel Craig but it was obvious she was just trying to think of someone and it was actually a very funny story when she told it and I reflected that I had just been mesmerized by a young Asian woman's form underneath her gauzy yellow sun dress and then I felt a little guilty but not because I was transfixed by her form but because such thoughts apparently don't occur to Leslie or do they?
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There is a longer story behind this song than most anyone will ever know and it will probably stay that way. It's sad to me. This is the song from my last post. It's finished. Should come up first. Best thing I've ever done.
http://www.myspace.com/jeffdixonsband
When I think of all the times that got behind me
I add up all the things I've said and done
I have some regrets
But never will forget
The things that shaped me back when I was young Oh you're looking good to me dear
Ruffled, worn, yet so sublime
Come over here
Sit with me dear
Talk to me about old times Love me tender, Love me do When I think of all the times that got behind me
I add up all the things I've said and done
I have some regrets
But never will forget
The women that shaped me back when I was young Oh I think I'm getting older
Thinking of everything that's shared
My hand upon your thigh
A wrinkle by the eye
Come, Love, sing this lullabye When I think of all the times that got behind me
I add up all the things I've seen and loved
Many of them are gone
Love goes on and on These things that shaped me back when I was young
http://www.myspace.com/jeffdixonsband
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The bike ride today was almost 60 miles. The 3 mile hill at the end was easier, much easier than the last time I tackled it. However, this ride was 60 miles (57 I think, actually). The last time I rode that hill I was going on 75 miles. I forgot my helmet but luckily Joe was able to loan me one. Then I fell over twice from a complete standstill. Idiot.
After the ride Joe and I went to Subway and I had an entire foot long tuna. I was getting very full by the last of it but I persevered. It's the only thing I'm going to eat today. Well, that is other than the last of the Ben and Jerry's I have in the freeze. If Leslie ate it I'll muderize her.
I recorded a new song. I think I'm going to change a few things though. I'll post when it's done. It's all about the past.
I think I need to move on. It's been brought to my attention that I ramble on about my youth and so forth. I know that's true. It's turning 40 that did it. I will always be thankful for my experiences. I thank my experiences for my strengths and my flaws. They make me who I am. Without my strengths I could accomplish nothing. At least nothing well. Without my flaws I could not learn the harder lessons. I find it very sad to say goodbye to all my reflections, but I do it too much. I need to pay more attention to the future. People in their 90's have to cope with not having a future. I'm not there yet. There is still plenty of life to enjoy.
I'll still know who I am and where I came from. But I don't need to obsess.
When the song is done I will cry, I'm sure, and try hard to let go.
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Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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My 1995 Ford Contour is now gone. Goodbye old car. Ours was a rocky relationship. She was as good to me as she could be. She remained fairly reliable. Towards the end she couldn't be trusted to make it back home. I always put the money into her that she required. Towards the end she just kept asking for more and more. When I thought I had done enough I stopped and declared that, should she decide not to move anymore, so be it, and there she shall rest.
She never did give up entirely. I drove her for the last time a few days ago just to repark her so that the tow truck driver could more easily get to her. I don't think I even have a picture of her. I gave her away to the American Cancer Society. She'll be auctioned off in a week or two.
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I meant to mention that on the Sunday ride we passed some signs directing bicyclists for a ride benefiting diabetes. As we rode along a giant group of bikers came the opposite direction. A number of them were typically overweight and probably smokers. The small irony occurred to me that they were heading in the opposite direction of the benefit route.
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We saw Star Trek yesterday at an Imax. Funny thing about the Imax is I couldn't tell, for sure, what the difference was. The screen didn't seem any larger and the resolution didn't seem any better. When things moved fast they still blurred. It wasn't a big deal, just curious. There was no wow factor there.
The movie was pretty good. I was set up for it pretty accurately. Action flick space opera. A few things weren't perfect, a few things were hoaky, but what do you expect? Good action show overall with no real lows.
There was a trailer for the next Transformers movie. For some reason Leslie and I like that movie. Generally Michael Bay is a tool but, for us, Transformers works. We await the sequel. There was a Terminator trailer too. I'm looking forward to it but am not holding my breath. It looks good, but that doesn't mean anything, action movies almost always do in trailers.
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I drove up to Silver Firs today and met Joe at Safeway. We then embarked on a 75 mile bike ride. My longest yet. The gain was estimated at 5000 feet. He's going to figure it out and let me know. It was a gorgeous ride on a gorgeous day. The last three miles was a murderous. A 3 mile hill after riding over 70 miles. I geared down, shut up, and rode up it like a warrior. Head down and determined. Then we went to Subway for a sandwich and, holy crap, their oven was broken and they were closed! Joe offered to show me to a Teriyaki joint but I was having none of that. We just drove to a different Subway. There are no Thundercloud Subs up here.
I got a single espresso at a highway stripmall coffee shop in the tiny blucollar town of Sultan. Damn surprised as it was a superior espresso.
Somewhat surprisingly I feel good, damn good. Although, at one point we rode through some flying bugs. One of them died on my helmet and his guts dripped into my eye. It's bothering me. I think I might have preferred refried beans in there. Good as I feel I am a bit tired. I think I'll just watch part four of John Adams, eat something, have a few cookies, read a little, and go to sleep.
EDIT: Joe just emailed me and the gain was 4,600 feet over 36.9 of the 75 total miles. 37 miles was downhill and 2.5 miles was flat.
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A while back my sister ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) hay_lo2000 posted that she found something that our Grandmother had written to her. It was a moving post. I replied that I too had a note from Grandma K. I was unable to find it and paraphrased what it said. Today as I was looking for the title to my Ford, which I can't find, I found the note.
This is of very little interest to most, but it says:
My dearest Jeffrey,
I want you to know how sad I am
about Gretchen. I loved her so much.
She always came to me and sat beside
me when I was out on the back.
I think of Barron when he lost Dagwood
and when he lost Little Dog. He was
so sad and hurt so much.
There will never be another Gretch -
Always remember her and keep a special
place for her. I think you still have
a memory of Mr. Hooper
You have had two wonderful pets
Mr. Hooper - I can see him dropped
over your arm when you were
just about 3 years old and then came
Gretchen.
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Here is a link to a few pictures from our weekend to Lopez Island for Leslie's Birthday. Getting there was easy. Getting home was almost horrible. We barely made it onto the 11am Sunday Ferry. They took 34 cars or so from Lopez. This was surprising since we heard them say they usually take around 22. We were number 30 so you can see how we were worried. Eight extra cars is a lot, let alone 12. We got to the dock on Lopez 1 hour early. We didn't think that was oushing it for May but apparently that was cutting it too close for comfort. I can only imagine what it would be like in the high season. Good night you would just have to sleep at the dock. Then what's the point of going there?
However it all worked out and we got on the ferry we wanted.
We rode bikes all over the island. My odometer read 37 miles. I kept riding ahead to check that we were going the right way and then doubling back and riding with Leslie so I added miles that way, but not enough. At least a lot of that was on some hills, but not big ones. I'm thinking of doing the Tour de Blast next month. It's an 80 mile ride into the blast zone of Mt St. Helens. It's 40 miles uphill in and 40 miles downhill out, give or take a few hills in each direction. Frankly, I'm a little scared of this ride and don't know if I'm ready for it. It's a lot of elevation for a relative beginner like me.
Lopez island weekend.
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