just got back from this money coop. seems there isn't a damn thing you can't get unpackaged in this town. well, maybe potato chips, but there were like seven types of honey, laundry detergent, and various nut butters. and as i was perusing the wares, i was all like "man, now i just need like 17 more containers." negative! they had a whole drawer full of recycled containers donated by loyal patrons. after stockin' up, i found a bread shop full of unbagged loaves. all around, i'd say a pretty good shopping trip.
in the spirit of tributes, two spankin' new jams for all you socially responsible mofos.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
sunday funday!
today's musical selections are meant to improve attitudes and promote cardiovascular health. basically, if these tunes don't invoke some sort of movement, you should probably accompany me to dance class.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
strange behavior
i have tons of fun here. it's like that old ass commercial for hungry hungry hippos, where all the kids are going crazy playing around as though they've never before experienced adrenaline. however, i suppose i'd be lying if i said my time en los estats was completely fun/game oriented.
first, a word on objectification. i find it quite difficult to connect, or even converse with people who are incessantly discussing women without regard for personal feelings. i suppose it's just the dude thing to do, devising point systems for physical contact. thank God i'm not a dude i guess. it sickens me here, as it does in japan, as it did in vietnam, as it did in thailand, and as it does everywhere else i'm ever enveloped in testosterone. 'tis a global phenomenon, this bullshit, and i wish i could find some kind of escape. ladies, i feel for ya.
next, i'd like to say hi to the next wave of hip fashion: the negative 'burn! i'm sure you all see this every time you put COPS on the teli. it just kind of makes me uncomfortable.
i haven't seen it spring up in the hip crowd yet, but i can sense it on the horizon. i feel like the next time i'm in portland i'll be hard pressed to find a decent sideburn at ron tom's.
first, a word on objectification. i find it quite difficult to connect, or even converse with people who are incessantly discussing women without regard for personal feelings. i suppose it's just the dude thing to do, devising point systems for physical contact. thank God i'm not a dude i guess. it sickens me here, as it does in japan, as it did in vietnam, as it did in thailand, and as it does everywhere else i'm ever enveloped in testosterone. 'tis a global phenomenon, this bullshit, and i wish i could find some kind of escape. ladies, i feel for ya.
next, i'd like to say hi to the next wave of hip fashion: the negative 'burn! i'm sure you all see this every time you put COPS on the teli. it just kind of makes me uncomfortable.
i haven't seen it spring up in the hip crowd yet, but i can sense it on the horizon. i feel like the next time i'm in portland i'll be hard pressed to find a decent sideburn at ron tom's.
Friday, August 28, 2009
file sharing
there are few things that i know a lot about, but i know a little bit about a lot of things. one of these things is music. i'm talkin' straight up can't help but at least chair dance jammerz. 'tis one of the truly enjoyable things in life. back in me home havin' days, i was often presented with good opportunities to share new tunes with folks whilst entertainin' the lot. great fun was generally had by all. until i'm domesticated once again, i desperately need a venue through which to spread the auditory wealth. behold: the blog. henceforth you'll find links to any number of solid gold tunes at the top right of this'n here website. the deets:
-right click (or "option" click for all you lucky mac users) and save the file
-not to be contained by any single genre. nay, you'll (hopefully) be pleased to find everything from easy listening to metal, including both country and western.
-updates will come with irregular frequency.
-requests and suggestions will be thoughtfully considered.
-this is all completely and legitimately licensed...
we'll start things off with a pair of tributes.
first, to the thousands of photo albums out there on ol' bookface entitled "summer '09", "2009 summer", "fun in summer '09", "zany summer fun", or any other genuinely original title such as these. if you don't already know the roots, you should. they represent philadelphia, and they represent that shit well.
second, for those out of the know, ween is rocking the hell out of bend tonight. thought about going, but these things cost dollaz you know. surely a friday night out with the boys in portland will be just as entertaining.
enjoy!
-right click (or "option" click for all you lucky mac users) and save the file
-not to be contained by any single genre. nay, you'll (hopefully) be pleased to find everything from easy listening to metal, including both country and western.
-updates will come with irregular frequency.
-requests and suggestions will be thoughtfully considered.
-this is all completely and legitimately licensed...
we'll start things off with a pair of tributes.
first, to the thousands of photo albums out there on ol' bookface entitled "summer '09", "2009 summer", "fun in summer '09", "zany summer fun", or any other genuinely original title such as these. if you don't already know the roots, you should. they represent philadelphia, and they represent that shit well.
second, for those out of the know, ween is rocking the hell out of bend tonight. thought about going, but these things cost dollaz you know. surely a friday night out with the boys in portland will be just as entertaining.
enjoy!
Friday, August 14, 2009
ample linguistic armament
i learned another japanese alphabet today with mad help from my new japanese tutor. being able to read katakana is awesome, since it's used exclusively for japanized words borrowed from other languages (english) and all. this means that not only can i sound these words out, but i can understand what they mean! going through my 1st grade workbook is now absolutely G.D. hilarious, speckled with words like "gorira", "raion", and "miruku".
i probably won't put too much effort into memorizing kanji, as i wouldn't have any idea where to begin. suppose'n i'll most likely just pick that shiz up as i go. i'm keeping a running list of important phrases that should come in handy almost immediately. you know, the basics. here we have just a couple of juicy ejemplos:
Konichiwa, niku wa tabemasen.
Mina san wa ima odorimasu!
Watashi wa chizuka desu.
Takai go o watashi ni kudasai! Whoo!
i probably won't put too much effort into memorizing kanji, as i wouldn't have any idea where to begin. suppose'n i'll most likely just pick that shiz up as i go. i'm keeping a running list of important phrases that should come in handy almost immediately. you know, the basics. here we have just a couple of juicy ejemplos:
Konichiwa, niku wa tabemasen.
Mina san wa ima odorimasu!
Watashi wa chizuka desu.
Takai go o watashi ni kudasai! Whoo!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
holding pattern
totally relaxed now. strained muscles and vocal chords have nearly regained composure. daily mileage is down about 80%. tune beltage is down as well, as i'm safely secured under some stereo headphones. got my own room with some good friends. the comfortable bedding makes for some solid sleep time. there is definitely something resembling a groove into which i can fall for a bit.
the pac nw sure is mighty fine this time of year. 70-90 degrees, partly cloudy, relatively dry. landed some contract work to keep me busy for a while, and there're plenty of relationships to stimulate all over this town. oughtta make for a good place to soak up some solid english conversation and mexican food before headin' on back to ol' japang!
my schedule for the next month n' a halfer is relatively open. drop a line if you're in portland and feel like exchanging some casual high-fives.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
reaching portland alive, fo' sho'
arrived in stump town a day ahead of schedule yesterday. i'm finally back in front of the internet, fully loaded with pictures. please allow me to illustrate the journey...
upon leaving helena, you get about 7 flat miles, then you're immediately faced with the continental divide. i remember blogging before about all this training i was going to undertake. pretty much involved a 25 mile ride once a week for three weeks. macdonald pass and the first day totally kicked my ass. but from this point on, all my sweat was pacific-bound.
there aren't so many rules in montana, but the ones they have are fairly straightforward. this was outside of ovando, day one.
this is inside of ovando, day one. i was headed for a fee campsite further down the road, but after explaining to a shop keep that i was on the verge of passing out, he invited me to set up camp in the middle of town, no charge.
stayed for a night in missoula with some of sara's buds, then finished out the rockies on day three. this is a picture of me, high atop lolo pass. not only do you enter idaho here, but the next time zone. it was like i had a whole extra hour to ride! bombed the other side and then camped (again for free) at the lochsa lodge. i met another cyclist here from denver. we rode together for a couple of days, hit a few hot springs, and i got him in on one of my surfin' couches.
shoreline of the selway river where we camped just outside of lowell, id. this site was free as well. four days in and i hadn't paid for accommodations yet. sweet!
jacob takin' the point.
me, sweating.
i didn't fully understand this. any thoughts?
after roughly three days of winding downhill, i emerged from the woods close to lewiston. the temperature immediately jumped about eleven degrees, as i had finally reached the ol' heat wave. hung some serious ten in this town as well. i was almost too tired to converse, and after i went to bed they made me banana bread muffins. awesome.
this is basically what life was like for lil' mikey the past couple weeks.
ye' ol' rattler. this little son of a bitch was heavily camouflaged, as you can tell. i was pretty much just focused on climbing, and didn't see it until my front wheel trickled by. i doubled back for some pictures, unsure whether it was dead or just in a heat-soaked trance. i double-dog-dared myself to kiss it on the lips, but then i chickened out. then i went for the triple-dog-dare before convincing myself that this was no time for games. ended up seeing several more of these along the trip, although most were flat as pancakes.
the first time i had to pay to camp was outside of dayton, at the lewis and clark trail state park. they were all like, "thanks for the 12 bucks, now pay us more for a shower". then i was all like, "fuck that...
...i'll just hose down in that there creek, bra." good old natural soaps, shampoos, and t-pastes. don't leave home without 'em.
smoothies + sushi = teriyaki. soon after this, i got to walla walla, where i had a badass reservation at the marcus whitman hotel. erik's old man frequents the place for biz, so he hooked it up solid!
ze mighty columbon. this was a sure sign that i was soon leaving the desolate, windy, rolling hills of eastern washington, and entering the desolate, windy, rolling hills of eastern oregon.
boo-yow! three states down.
oregambodia. i was reminded of the time i crossed the border from vietnam on a bike just months before. everything was very straight, and people almost immediately took a shine to me. many a wave, and even a handful of hellos. i guess the main difference was in the type of challenge. in SEASIA, it was the 90+% humidity, and in oregon-shu it was the constant breeze comin at your face.
surfed it up for a night in umatilla, then rolled smooth into heppner the next day. immediately i honed in on a farmer's market to scarf mad fruits. some dude came right up to me and asked if i needed a place to crash. apparently the annual oregon bike ride was taking off from town that weekend, and they had permission to camp at the high school (for free). although there were supposed to be about 250 campers on saturday night, on friday 'twas just me. pretty peaceful. a handful of kids showed up at 11:42 to get stoney-bologna and recite lines from dazed and confused, but they were only there for a bit.
to some, this may seem like any other slightly inclined stretch of road. if the camera could have captured the direction of the breeze, however, you'd see that this is in fact a solid 300 meter stretch of tail-wind! whoo!
vaguely reminiscent of the thailand motorcycle trip, the roads soon became steep and curvy. this is looking ahead to a nice bombing descent.
looking back on condon, circa the dawn. here i stayed with anne's cuz laura and fam, who were incredible hosts. i highly recommend a visit! it's a pretty cool town and they basically know everyone. they made an ass-kickin' pie, which was coincidentally one of the foods i craved most along the trip.
cruising along the arid landscape for extended periods of time with only song and thought for company, it doesn't take much to stop and whip out the trusty camera.
nice rock formations near fossil, or. you can find a lot of fossils there. this was during a wicked 13 mile descent toward the john day river. awesome, considering i only had to climb 8 miles back out of the canyon!
♫high......plains......drifter.♫
looking ahead to the final descent of the day into maupin. mighty nice indeed, although as you can tell, it made for quite the breakfast climb on the other side. rounded this day out with about 95 miles.
day twelve, hunger setting in. J sealed hopelessly shut, PeeB sandies for supper.
day 13. i figured "shit, if i can do one, then i can surely do the other".
the last major obstacle.
proof positive that i was back in the land of moistness.
destination. the final day was the longest, 103.29 miles.
the grand total.
upon leaving helena, you get about 7 flat miles, then you're immediately faced with the continental divide. i remember blogging before about all this training i was going to undertake. pretty much involved a 25 mile ride once a week for three weeks. macdonald pass and the first day totally kicked my ass. but from this point on, all my sweat was pacific-bound.
there aren't so many rules in montana, but the ones they have are fairly straightforward. this was outside of ovando, day one.
this is inside of ovando, day one. i was headed for a fee campsite further down the road, but after explaining to a shop keep that i was on the verge of passing out, he invited me to set up camp in the middle of town, no charge.
stayed for a night in missoula with some of sara's buds, then finished out the rockies on day three. this is a picture of me, high atop lolo pass. not only do you enter idaho here, but the next time zone. it was like i had a whole extra hour to ride! bombed the other side and then camped (again for free) at the lochsa lodge. i met another cyclist here from denver. we rode together for a couple of days, hit a few hot springs, and i got him in on one of my surfin' couches.
shoreline of the selway river where we camped just outside of lowell, id. this site was free as well. four days in and i hadn't paid for accommodations yet. sweet!
jacob takin' the point.
me, sweating.
i didn't fully understand this. any thoughts?
after roughly three days of winding downhill, i emerged from the woods close to lewiston. the temperature immediately jumped about eleven degrees, as i had finally reached the ol' heat wave. hung some serious ten in this town as well. i was almost too tired to converse, and after i went to bed they made me banana bread muffins. awesome.this is basically what life was like for lil' mikey the past couple weeks.
ye' ol' rattler. this little son of a bitch was heavily camouflaged, as you can tell. i was pretty much just focused on climbing, and didn't see it until my front wheel trickled by. i doubled back for some pictures, unsure whether it was dead or just in a heat-soaked trance. i double-dog-dared myself to kiss it on the lips, but then i chickened out. then i went for the triple-dog-dare before convincing myself that this was no time for games. ended up seeing several more of these along the trip, although most were flat as pancakes.
the first time i had to pay to camp was outside of dayton, at the lewis and clark trail state park. they were all like, "thanks for the 12 bucks, now pay us more for a shower". then i was all like, "fuck that...
...i'll just hose down in that there creek, bra." good old natural soaps, shampoos, and t-pastes. don't leave home without 'em.
smoothies + sushi = teriyaki. soon after this, i got to walla walla, where i had a badass reservation at the marcus whitman hotel. erik's old man frequents the place for biz, so he hooked it up solid!
ze mighty columbon. this was a sure sign that i was soon leaving the desolate, windy, rolling hills of eastern washington, and entering the desolate, windy, rolling hills of eastern oregon.
boo-yow! three states down.
oregambodia. i was reminded of the time i crossed the border from vietnam on a bike just months before. everything was very straight, and people almost immediately took a shine to me. many a wave, and even a handful of hellos. i guess the main difference was in the type of challenge. in SEASIA, it was the 90+% humidity, and in oregon-shu it was the constant breeze comin at your face.
surfed it up for a night in umatilla, then rolled smooth into heppner the next day. immediately i honed in on a farmer's market to scarf mad fruits. some dude came right up to me and asked if i needed a place to crash. apparently the annual oregon bike ride was taking off from town that weekend, and they had permission to camp at the high school (for free). although there were supposed to be about 250 campers on saturday night, on friday 'twas just me. pretty peaceful. a handful of kids showed up at 11:42 to get stoney-bologna and recite lines from dazed and confused, but they were only there for a bit.
to some, this may seem like any other slightly inclined stretch of road. if the camera could have captured the direction of the breeze, however, you'd see that this is in fact a solid 300 meter stretch of tail-wind! whoo!
vaguely reminiscent of the thailand motorcycle trip, the roads soon became steep and curvy. this is looking ahead to a nice bombing descent.
looking back on condon, circa the dawn. here i stayed with anne's cuz laura and fam, who were incredible hosts. i highly recommend a visit! it's a pretty cool town and they basically know everyone. they made an ass-kickin' pie, which was coincidentally one of the foods i craved most along the trip.
cruising along the arid landscape for extended periods of time with only song and thought for company, it doesn't take much to stop and whip out the trusty camera.
nice rock formations near fossil, or. you can find a lot of fossils there. this was during a wicked 13 mile descent toward the john day river. awesome, considering i only had to climb 8 miles back out of the canyon!
♫high......plains......drifter.♫
looking ahead to the final descent of the day into maupin. mighty nice indeed, although as you can tell, it made for quite the breakfast climb on the other side. rounded this day out with about 95 miles.
day twelve, hunger setting in. J sealed hopelessly shut, PeeB sandies for supper.
day 13. i figured "shit, if i can do one, then i can surely do the other".
the last major obstacle.
proof positive that i was back in the land of moistness.
destination. the final day was the longest, 103.29 miles.
the grand total.so anyway, i recommend some light bike touring if you ever find yourself with a bit of time to kill and a bit of gear to borrow. it's great for a little spiritual reckoning and exercise. make sure you eat a lot though. if that scale is accurate, i've managed to whittle down to like the lower 140's. i've lost the double chin, and i'm going to rely on a series of free 7-day passes at some local gyms to beef back up to my regular lower 150's.
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