Day: April 14, 2008

Less Bombast More Biking!

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when fatigue and stress make a genuine effort beyond me, an exercise in discipline is sometimes the best choice. fundamentals and base will carry you a lot further than talent. rote repetition can yield gems in the unlikeliest of places, or, hard work pays off.

Ahem… … This week I did some cool things on my bike. Give me a moment to think of what some of them were…

I rode Usery loop twice on the roadie and National twice on the Heckler. I did 1:03 and then 1:01 on the loop. I felt slow slow slow on the Heckler, but made it up Javalina and to BV in 1:15. I am very very confused. . I need to keep riding my roadie.

Sometimes you have to go out of control into something and trust that the momentum will let you gain control and pull through it. Sometimes you have to be in control and trust that it will stay that way despite what you throw yourself into. I’ve ridden 24th St. twice more in the the last ~week. I get better at it each time, things are slowing down and I am seeing safe lines. This is scary; it is scary.

I am talking to Eric Shunk, his buddies Sean and Justin who I know from Moab trips, about a Fruita\Moab combo this year. It looks like it will happen, leaving Tuesday mid-day for a few days in Fruita then Al’s Moab trip and home Sunday night. I rode with them and a few other guys from their crew that I know from the Moab trips – Jake and JW and one or two others. It was the first time I’ve done Somo on a weekend in a long time, and i felt awkward every time our big group rolled by some hikers and sounded like a fucking missionary to my group I am sure: “thank you, have a nice day! thank you have a nice day!” I should invent a button that sits on the handlebars and says that. The ride was long and frequently-delayed. and while it was good to see everyone, it was good to see that the guys on the trip will be a bit faster than our group, and sort out the trip and confirm we would all be more-or-less on the same page and compatible. Having a fun ride with some guys is a very different level of commitment than 6 days on the road and on the bike with them. I’m psyched that it should be a good time.

A woman turning left on Recker as we were crossing the street north on Thomas decided to pull her car right up to the crosswalk and stare at us. I shouted at her. she said “you’re wearing dark clothes.” A convenient excuse at just past 7pm for not seeing a pasty rider in shorts, a shiny bike, a dog, and a reflective trailer staring at you for a full minute waiting for the light to change. Idiot! Fat, stupid, dunderheaded, lying, self-centered, un-aware, bad-driving-skills, idiot! i wish there had been a cop around.

I was supposed to ride National with JB, but first i forgot my camelback, and then i got held up at work. So i missed him, i rode afraid and alone, and took no chances since i had no tools. The bike was working well, or i wouldn’t have tried it. And i know i can ride National and have no problems, or i wouldn’t have tried it. I wish i could bring that attitude to wearing pads now that summer is coming.

Less Bombast More Baby!

/ chollaball / Leave a comment

when fatigue and stress make a genuine effort beyond me, an exercise in discipline is sometimes the best choice. fundamentals and base will carry you a lot further than talent. rote repetition can yield gems in the unlikeliest of places, or, hard work pays off.

Ahem… … This week Genevieve did some cool things. Give me a moment to think of what some of them were…

She re-remembered very quickly how to blow bubbles in the pool. It was too cold to benchmark any more of her progress entering Season 3. Though she is quite eager to climb on the rocks by the pool.

I believe i can count on Kila to assist in keeping G out of trouble at least as well as a 5-year old sibling . We were at the park the other day and it was too crowded to let Kila run, so I tied her to our bike 50 feet from where G and I were on the swings. the dog drug the bike halfway across the playground stressing over being close to G. the dog nearly started a fight with another dog who got too close to G. When G won’t listen to me, I have Kila run by her in the opposite direction so she chases Kila back towards me. Kila has G’s best interests in mind, sorta.

G would rather take the monkey bars or similar climbing apparatus down from the top of the playground than slide down. She has not developed fear of heights, because I ave not dropped her, but she has yet to master the actual process of climbing down. but i have no doubt she will master it as soon as it is possible.

Genevieve is an over-achiever in using the potty. All the teachers at daycare say so. It is depressing to talk to tasty younger women and have them eager to discuss how efficiently my daughter does a number 2.

Kila likes to hide and sneaky.

G likes me to read to her in the mornings before we get out of bed. She brings books to me and insists i recite. If she could get herself some milk, me some coffee, and take a piss for me this would be lovely. now its just awkward. i feel bad blowing her off but once i’m up sometimes the mood is ruined. but sometimes once i’m up i can bring her milk, me coffee, and take a piss and we can read in bed! It is by far one of the best things i have ever experienced in bed.

We were out at Las Sendas park during bunny hour. Seriously…5:45pm…bunny hour. We looked up and saw 4 bunnies which I sent her after but Kila drove them off before she and staring into the setting sun could make out the brown hump and streak of motion to be an actual bunny. Then we moved on to the big field, and a better view, and she counted to eight bunnies (though there were actually only 6) and watched them slowly retreat one-by-one hippity-hop. I think she figured it out by the end, heretofore only having known bunnies from books and puzzles.

European History

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Thinking about some of the historical reasons that contributed to Jewish culture evolving quite as it did, i started thinking about how history is taught, what is important, and the political correctness that surrounds it all. cause it was pissing me off another blah blah blah about how my kind does not get enough time on the curriculum. Rest assured, this will be another rant.

IIRC, a lot of why Jews evolved into some of the cultural roles (and stereotypes) they have, particularly in the financial industries, has to do with Catholicism having laws against usury but there still being an economic need for lenders in the marketplace. Jews had to become lenders to find jobs in a society where people did not otherwise support their businesses.

How important is this little bit of knowledge? How wrong is it that children everywhere do not know this, and I only am so knowledgeable thanks to the benefit of special secret hebrew training (during which they grow horns and plot the Zionist takeover)?

In the broad scheme of democracy, and oil kingdoms, and 10 million people in Beijing having their city shut down so the pollution is not broadcast during Olympic telecasts…this tidbit doesn’t mean shit. And it doesn’t bother me that this fact is actual European history and it wasn’t even taught commonly. There is a difference between happened, noteworthy and significant. Jews specialized in banking – that happened. The Battle of Hastings was noteworthy, but did it in itself fundamentally move history forward? Did the Crusades eliminate 1000 years of intellectual stagnation, or did they just uplift a lot of power and re-arrange it into the same paradigm? The French Revolution, however, was significant – a paradigm that had lasted 1000 years was overturned and rearranged.

These tidbits of history roll off my tongue because i was brought up in a euro-centric culture. All but maybe the French Revoluation are, today, small blips and would not make a list of top 50 event in history. And because i know them at the expense of several weeks spent on African history or Chinese history does not necessarily make some other history as significant to me. The perfection of a vase is not as important as the invention of democracy. The mobilization of half a billion farmers into a world superpower is. They should not be taught equally, just as the War of 1812 gets 1 day and WWII gets covered in bloody detail for at least 2 weeks.

I find some flaws in the phrase he who controls the present controls the past. It assumes such a complete Orwellian view of communications. He who controls the present is part of the past, and it makes sense to tell the story this way. Assuming the past can be monolithically erased assumes that people can not act currently for their own well-being, and will allow their future to be controlled. Bitching about not having the curriculum include a food-court of histories proves that this is not the case. It doesn’t mean insignificant details should be given stage time, just that we appreciate your application and a representative will contact you if your skill set meets our future needs. Meanwhile, take that energy and go teach a class or write a book, since no one has erased you for bitching yet.