Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Realizations
"Invictus"
William Earnest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
William Earnest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Appetite Seminar, Annadel Rides+ Thanks
Thanksgiving day found me in Fairfax after being coaxed there by Andrew and Curtis. Not wanting to be totally dropped and alone on the ride, I in turn coaxed my wingman Peter to join us on the annual Thanksgiving day ride around Pine Mountain and Repack.
I am so very glad I finally did the ride.
Stuffed to the gills with Clif product (Thanks Clif Bar, you guys really know how to promote and support), I pushed start on the Garmin and rolled out with the crew.
The ride was incredible, the climbs were busters, especially when you can see them from far away. The downhills were hella™ fast. I can not believe those original folks doing Repack on coaster brakes and jeans!
Overall a great social ride that I'll be doing again next year and thereafter.
Sunday, Grady headed up to do a nice and easy spin in Annadel. He was trying out his sweet Fat Chance Team Yo Eddy!-fully rigid. I was going squishy style on the Intense. The Fat Chance was sweet! 7speed XT Thumbies, Ringle Skewers, Ibis Ti stem, Ti bars, all the stuff I drooled over in the early 90's.
We took it really easy, the ride was more about catching up and advice than heart rate training and I loved it. Our trail riding went out of my usual loop and included Ridge, S. Burma, 2 Quarry and of course Lawndale descent. Annadel is an awesome park with terrain that reminds me of so many places I've been; Whiskeytown/French Gulch, Pisgah/Tsali, Downieville, Tahoe--all in one ride.
You can see all of my slowness and routes on my motionbased page, just search under "babageik".
Most Importantly—Thanks a million to Grady, David and Erin for listening to me over the past week, I am going to make a more concerted effort to share more with the people I consider friends and open up about me. It really means a lot to me that I can share my feelings both good and bad with you all, please know you can do the same...
Jake looking cool at 7:15Am in 30+ Degree weather. I can't wait to take him on rides like this!
BoFax Road portion and a sampling of the riders...
Big rest break before sweet downhill...
Appetite Seminar Panarama One: The climbs were obvious and long...
Appetite Seminar Panarama Two: Here's a WIP photoshop of a panarama I shot at the big rest stop , I'll finish sky cleaning and stitching later, but wanted to share NOW.
Grady's Fat Chance Yo Eddy! In all of it's day-glo glory
Sharp negotiates a tree superbly.
My hella™ hardcore Tamshot®
I am so very glad I finally did the ride.
Stuffed to the gills with Clif product (Thanks Clif Bar, you guys really know how to promote and support), I pushed start on the Garmin and rolled out with the crew.
The ride was incredible, the climbs were busters, especially when you can see them from far away. The downhills were hella™ fast. I can not believe those original folks doing Repack on coaster brakes and jeans!
Overall a great social ride that I'll be doing again next year and thereafter.
Sunday, Grady headed up to do a nice and easy spin in Annadel. He was trying out his sweet Fat Chance Team Yo Eddy!-fully rigid. I was going squishy style on the Intense. The Fat Chance was sweet! 7speed XT Thumbies, Ringle Skewers, Ibis Ti stem, Ti bars, all the stuff I drooled over in the early 90's.
We took it really easy, the ride was more about catching up and advice than heart rate training and I loved it. Our trail riding went out of my usual loop and included Ridge, S. Burma, 2 Quarry and of course Lawndale descent. Annadel is an awesome park with terrain that reminds me of so many places I've been; Whiskeytown/French Gulch, Pisgah/Tsali, Downieville, Tahoe--all in one ride.
You can see all of my slowness and routes on my motionbased page, just search under "babageik".
Most Importantly—Thanks a million to Grady, David and Erin for listening to me over the past week, I am going to make a more concerted effort to share more with the people I consider friends and open up about me. It really means a lot to me that I can share my feelings both good and bad with you all, please know you can do the same...
Jake looking cool at 7:15Am in 30+ Degree weather. I can't wait to take him on rides like this!
BoFax Road portion and a sampling of the riders...
Big rest break before sweet downhill...
Appetite Seminar Panarama One: The climbs were obvious and long...
Appetite Seminar Panarama Two: Here's a WIP photoshop of a panarama I shot at the big rest stop , I'll finish sky cleaning and stitching later, but wanted to share NOW.
Grady's Fat Chance Yo Eddy! In all of it's day-glo glory
Sharp negotiates a tree superbly.
My hella™ hardcore Tamshot®
Consume
In an amongst the Thanksgiving holiday madness, triumphs and turmoil, I was able to do my American duty and consume beyond my current means...I jumped on a promise I had been making all year and bought a new iMac.
Justification? Of course.
1. I need it for design work here at home
2. I need to have a write-off given the amount of freelance I have done in 2007
3. My Powerbook G4 is nearing 4 years old and is hard to work off of (screen and speed)
4. Leopard is out and running more stable than launch (or so they say)
5. At least I didn't pony up for the 24" version, so I "saved" money
Time to make this thing pay for itself.
Justification? Of course.
1. I need it for design work here at home
2. I need to have a write-off given the amount of freelance I have done in 2007
3. My Powerbook G4 is nearing 4 years old and is hard to work off of (screen and speed)
4. Leopard is out and running more stable than launch (or so they say)
5. At least I didn't pony up for the 24" version, so I "saved" money
Time to make this thing pay for itself.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
News
Quick:
I have finished my first animated web banners for a client, TRP brakes, here's the first example:
Sorry, you have to click on this to see the animation...
Fun to learn and do, planning timing and easy message for sweet carbon brakes.
Did two rides with my Garmin this weekend, really cool. Despite MotionBase not being 100% Mac friendly (I had to DL Safari 2.0 to get it to upload, oh well)--I got my rides up there. Now the world can see my slowness. I figure it will be good inspiration to ride a little more and work on my donut shape. I'm also really excited to load other courses onto the unit and try out of area rides.
Screen cap of my MB work
This one is for you Steve, the "retro" Visenka kit with me stuffed into it! Sorry for the closed eyes, I was too cold to stay around to re-shoot!
Jake and I spent two days hiking around Redwood Rd looking for Sally's (Salamanders) and shrooms. Found both. You can see a ton of mushroom pics on my Flickr page.
I have finished my first animated web banners for a client, TRP brakes, here's the first example:
Sorry, you have to click on this to see the animation...Fun to learn and do, planning timing and easy message for sweet carbon brakes.
Did two rides with my Garmin this weekend, really cool. Despite MotionBase not being 100% Mac friendly (I had to DL Safari 2.0 to get it to upload, oh well)--I got my rides up there. Now the world can see my slowness. I figure it will be good inspiration to ride a little more and work on my donut shape. I'm also really excited to load other courses onto the unit and try out of area rides.
Screen cap of my MB work
This one is for you Steve, the "retro" Visenka kit with me stuffed into it! Sorry for the closed eyes, I was too cold to stay around to re-shoot!Jake and I spent two days hiking around Redwood Rd looking for Sally's (Salamanders) and shrooms. Found both. You can see a ton of mushroom pics on my Flickr page.
right now...
I am coming to really dislike these two words...
How do you quantify them? The time involved? The need involved?
It's beyond me.
How do you quantify them? The time involved? The need involved?
It's beyond me.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Dirt and Years
One day until I'm a day older (and a year older too).
Big thanks to my mom and dad for the sweet jacket and "cash" to spend where I wanted (gonna turn into some Swobo shirts and a new road helmet). Also a huge thanks to Cari,Jake, Bumpa Bill, Beth for going in an getting me the Garmin Edge 305 I have been talking about incessantly for the last year. Now I'll be able to share my rides and woefully slow speed with the world!
Gadget geek-dom!
It's been an eventful 3 days. I had Friday off and a parent teacher meeting at 1:30PM so I headed out to do Dry Creek and Veeder (after riding over an dropping off Jake's lunch). The sky was showing signs of rain later, so I tried to make it quick. I have really been needing the time alone on rides lately, so many things on my mind. As I ascended Dry Creek, right near the fire station, another rider came flying by, it was my friend Simon. We hollered our "hello's" and then Simon asked if I was heading up Veeder. I meekly replied yes and he asked to join—no sweat I said (although slightly fearful that I would now be into a suffer-fest as Simon is a lot stronger than I am). I did have to warn him I would be slow up the climb to which he replied he would too—time off the bike had worked against both of us. It was really great, we settled into the ride and talked about tons of stuff from his family wine making, our jobs and the beauty of this particular 30 mile ride—overall it was actually nice to have the company.
That night Cari was jones'ing to go buy a new MacBook, so we headed to Emeryville and voila! like that she has a faster, newer computer than me! It's been a year in the making and it will be nice to have all macs in our network.
Saturday morning brought gray skies and I headed out to join the Saturday morning ride, but quickly turned around to add a shell before the ride, good thing, although I should have opted for a rain jacket! The drizzle quickly turned to rain and the group finished 20 miles in the slop none too quick. Thankfully I had my wingman Peter to accompany me on the climbs and in the rain.
Saturday night we dropped Jake off at Papa and Yaya's and headed to Oaktown to see Ben Harper in concert. What a show! It was in the Paramount theater (built in 1931) and was incredible. We scored some sweet seats in the 5th row, main aisle and we treated to a wonderful 3 hour show. If you ever get a chance, go see Ben and The Innocent Criminals.
Sunday was breakfast downtown with Cari, a trip to the college to see the play version of Bambi (a little more grown up in terms of themes/story than I remembered). Both Cari and I kept looking at Jake to make sure things were cool. He really liked getting the autograph of the big deer after the show. It's been really cool attending these plays at NVC.
I had packed my bike in the Element before the paly and headed out directly after the for my first foray back into Skyline since my accident.
Let's see, it was July 22 when I broke. Now it's November 11...81 days since I last really rode my mountain bike.
It was a little un-nerving actually, I was kinda scared. I mean it all happened so easily on that ride long ago, what if?? Well I settled in and did it. Perfect ride! Cool, crisp, sun going down, no one else out there. I was slower than usual, but the speed will come back in time. I was just happy to be out there. Can't wait to see what SSWC08 looks like next year!
So I'm off to bed, tomorrows the "big" day and I look forward to the new bridges, especially those I have to cross very soon this week, and challenges coming. I'm far from sunk, and working on facing everything with a positive face...life was never meant to be easy, and I'll do whatever I can to meet it's challenges.
Big thanks to my mom and dad for the sweet jacket and "cash" to spend where I wanted (gonna turn into some Swobo shirts and a new road helmet). Also a huge thanks to Cari,Jake, Bumpa Bill, Beth for going in an getting me the Garmin Edge 305 I have been talking about incessantly for the last year. Now I'll be able to share my rides and woefully slow speed with the world!
Gadget geek-dom!It's been an eventful 3 days. I had Friday off and a parent teacher meeting at 1:30PM so I headed out to do Dry Creek and Veeder (after riding over an dropping off Jake's lunch). The sky was showing signs of rain later, so I tried to make it quick. I have really been needing the time alone on rides lately, so many things on my mind. As I ascended Dry Creek, right near the fire station, another rider came flying by, it was my friend Simon. We hollered our "hello's" and then Simon asked if I was heading up Veeder. I meekly replied yes and he asked to join—no sweat I said (although slightly fearful that I would now be into a suffer-fest as Simon is a lot stronger than I am). I did have to warn him I would be slow up the climb to which he replied he would too—time off the bike had worked against both of us. It was really great, we settled into the ride and talked about tons of stuff from his family wine making, our jobs and the beauty of this particular 30 mile ride—overall it was actually nice to have the company.
That night Cari was jones'ing to go buy a new MacBook, so we headed to Emeryville and voila! like that she has a faster, newer computer than me! It's been a year in the making and it will be nice to have all macs in our network.
Saturday morning brought gray skies and I headed out to join the Saturday morning ride, but quickly turned around to add a shell before the ride, good thing, although I should have opted for a rain jacket! The drizzle quickly turned to rain and the group finished 20 miles in the slop none too quick. Thankfully I had my wingman Peter to accompany me on the climbs and in the rain.
Saturday night we dropped Jake off at Papa and Yaya's and headed to Oaktown to see Ben Harper in concert. What a show! It was in the Paramount theater (built in 1931) and was incredible. We scored some sweet seats in the 5th row, main aisle and we treated to a wonderful 3 hour show. If you ever get a chance, go see Ben and The Innocent Criminals.
Sunday was breakfast downtown with Cari, a trip to the college to see the play version of Bambi (a little more grown up in terms of themes/story than I remembered). Both Cari and I kept looking at Jake to make sure things were cool. He really liked getting the autograph of the big deer after the show. It's been really cool attending these plays at NVC.
I had packed my bike in the Element before the paly and headed out directly after the for my first foray back into Skyline since my accident.
Let's see, it was July 22 when I broke. Now it's November 11...81 days since I last really rode my mountain bike.
It was a little un-nerving actually, I was kinda scared. I mean it all happened so easily on that ride long ago, what if?? Well I settled in and did it. Perfect ride! Cool, crisp, sun going down, no one else out there. I was slower than usual, but the speed will come back in time. I was just happy to be out there. Can't wait to see what SSWC08 looks like next year!
So I'm off to bed, tomorrows the "big" day and I look forward to the new bridges, especially those I have to cross very soon this week, and challenges coming. I'm far from sunk, and working on facing everything with a positive face...life was never meant to be easy, and I'll do whatever I can to meet it's challenges.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
35
It's 5 days away from my 35th year on this planet and here I sit, in my garage/office/desk, typing into this blog.
What I just can't stop thinking about is how it never amazes me how so many things whether good, bad, or life changing can conspire to happen at once.
The flood of emotions, stimuli and pressure almost paralyze me and all I can do is stop and say, Damn!
Times like these really dial up the focus on myself, me, and who and what I am as a person. For some it's easier than others. I fall into the others.
My existence to date has been conflict and confrontation avoidance—almost to the point of the proverbial ostrich with it's head in the sand. Events of recent have forced me to take a deeper look at who I am and what I am made of—no easy task to begin at anytime, much less on your 35th year. I carry a lot of emotions, habits, baggage. Did I mention habits? Very hard to break. But, I am convincing myself I am a thinking animal. I do have a capacity to learn. In that learning, I look to improve and keep learning. It's always been my humble opinion, that those that say they know it all, those that speak more than listening, well, they're not me. You can never stop learning...
It's the application and timing of those learnings that I need to continue to refine and adjust to...
Suffice it to say, my life (like many others lives) is at another one of those points, change is coming, and my preparation however begrudgingly, however timidly, however (really) unknowingly has just begun...
Just like this here climb, can't focus on the length, just going to take it one step at a time.
What I just can't stop thinking about is how it never amazes me how so many things whether good, bad, or life changing can conspire to happen at once.
The flood of emotions, stimuli and pressure almost paralyze me and all I can do is stop and say, Damn!
Times like these really dial up the focus on myself, me, and who and what I am as a person. For some it's easier than others. I fall into the others.
My existence to date has been conflict and confrontation avoidance—almost to the point of the proverbial ostrich with it's head in the sand. Events of recent have forced me to take a deeper look at who I am and what I am made of—no easy task to begin at anytime, much less on your 35th year. I carry a lot of emotions, habits, baggage. Did I mention habits? Very hard to break. But, I am convincing myself I am a thinking animal. I do have a capacity to learn. In that learning, I look to improve and keep learning. It's always been my humble opinion, that those that say they know it all, those that speak more than listening, well, they're not me. You can never stop learning...
It's the application and timing of those learnings that I need to continue to refine and adjust to...
Suffice it to say, my life (like many others lives) is at another one of those points, change is coming, and my preparation however begrudgingly, however timidly, however (really) unknowingly has just begun...
Just like this here climb, can't focus on the length, just going to take it one step at a time.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Halloween and the Kentucky Waterfall
Halloween has come and gone with great success. This year Jake started out wanting to be a Space Shuttle Driver, but when our plans to make a working & Flying rocket which he could control hit a snag, he rightfully chose option 2--Clone Trooper. cari dug out the black wig and went as Wednesday Addams and I pumped up my mullet-alter ego and we all headed out to 5 houses. First stop was our neighbor Donny's house, then off to Uncle David's where Erin (dressed as a bald killer) scared the beejeezus out of Jake. Then David's neighbor Chris hooked Jake up with some candy. On our way to Papa and Yaya's we hit up Curtis and Mitzi's place.
Jake's speechless when Aunt Erin greets him...
Clone trooper and Wednesday Addams head for Papa and Yaya's
Clone trooper captured on film in the living room
Our pumpkins--Henrietta the snake and One eyed Happy Cyclops
After Halloween, we decided to prep Jake for his trip down south this Christmas. Like a vision of true mullet-beauty, Jake wears the mullet with pride! YEEEEEE HAAAAAA! (That's arebel yell for Lyn)
You seen my camero?
Business up front, party in the back
North Carolina here I come!
Jake's speechless when Aunt Erin greets him...
Clone trooper and Wednesday Addams head for Papa and Yaya's
Clone trooper captured on film in the living room
Our pumpkins--Henrietta the snake and One eyed Happy CyclopsAfter Halloween, we decided to prep Jake for his trip down south this Christmas. Like a vision of true mullet-beauty, Jake wears the mullet with pride! YEEEEEE HAAAAAA! (That's arebel yell for Lyn)
You seen my camero?
Business up front, party in the back
North Carolina here I come!
11/4 Update
So November is here and my birthday is right around the corner...what else is new??
Really good news from my physical therapist on Friday. After doing 5 push ups, 5 reps of this dumb-bell push-up exercise and some poking & prodding by my doc, I was given the official, "Ken, you're done".
That's it! Just as quick as my accident happened, it is over. I have a couple degrees of motion to fully regain, which will come about through stretching and exercise, but other than that, I am good to go. Strange to be here, but very happy. Who would have ever thought a simple little ride in July would lead to this!
To celebrate I did the Saturday morning ride with the Azzurro crew and then spent an glorious hour at Alston with Jake, Curtis and Curtis' neighbor Jeffery.
Jake has moved up to another new bike, this is a 20" Specialized. He still has his 18" Redline, but that bike's long cockpit and really skinny tires make for a real challenge in the rough dirt. On this new bike, he really centered on a long wheel base, has nice big tires and a more upright position. It'll be a bike he definitely grows into and shares ride time with his Redline.
Here's the 20" Specialized Hot Rock he's on now:
Here's what he used to ride,a 12" Specialized Hot Rock. Jake sold it to another lucky kid on Craigslist (teaching him the sort-of rule that every new bike in-means one goes out...we sometimes live by this!)
I was amazed at how well he was doing on the trails! He totally started by himself and was leading Jeffery on some scary (for me as a dad) stuff. The scream of joy he let out upon flying down the biggest hill he's ever tried both scared the hell out of me and made my heart glow with the sheer innocence and joy of it all (for him). The two boys had a blast and later sessioned a sweet little ditch. It was hard to get them to leave!
Jake and Jeffery are all smiles after a good day riding at Alston Park!
Check out these videos of the day:
Really good news from my physical therapist on Friday. After doing 5 push ups, 5 reps of this dumb-bell push-up exercise and some poking & prodding by my doc, I was given the official, "Ken, you're done".
That's it! Just as quick as my accident happened, it is over. I have a couple degrees of motion to fully regain, which will come about through stretching and exercise, but other than that, I am good to go. Strange to be here, but very happy. Who would have ever thought a simple little ride in July would lead to this!
To celebrate I did the Saturday morning ride with the Azzurro crew and then spent an glorious hour at Alston with Jake, Curtis and Curtis' neighbor Jeffery.
Jake has moved up to another new bike, this is a 20" Specialized. He still has his 18" Redline, but that bike's long cockpit and really skinny tires make for a real challenge in the rough dirt. On this new bike, he really centered on a long wheel base, has nice big tires and a more upright position. It'll be a bike he definitely grows into and shares ride time with his Redline.
Here's the 20" Specialized Hot Rock he's on now:
Here's what he used to ride,a 12" Specialized Hot Rock. Jake sold it to another lucky kid on Craigslist (teaching him the sort-of rule that every new bike in-means one goes out...we sometimes live by this!)
I was amazed at how well he was doing on the trails! He totally started by himself and was leading Jeffery on some scary (for me as a dad) stuff. The scream of joy he let out upon flying down the biggest hill he's ever tried both scared the hell out of me and made my heart glow with the sheer innocence and joy of it all (for him). The two boys had a blast and later sessioned a sweet little ditch. It was hard to get them to leave!
Jake and Jeffery are all smiles after a good day riding at Alston Park!Check out these videos of the day:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)