Time for some coffee.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

The speedboat had a busted ladder. This video pretty much captures the evening. :)

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

Oi, the blogger and the cuteness. Determining who is which is left as the exercise to the reader.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

DWR warehouse sale. Woohoo!

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

…or maybe just Cingular sucks. Or perhaps it’s just my phone. In any case, having a shiny new tricked out Smartphone with the most expensive data plan available in an area that should have more cell coverage than flies on shit just goes to show you, it doesn’t. Mean. Diddly.

Two beautiful pictures taken at 7 this morning from the top of the headlands, one click two and they’re off! Or are they? Despite all my tries, pleas and harassment, my phone still refuses to email the messages I had intended for this blog.

Which I suppose is OK, since the two most interesting events of my ride weren’t captured in pictures anyway:

1. Riding down the back descent of the headlands I envisioned being passed by a Ducati with a dry-clutch motor. Sure enough, on the last 50 feet of the headlands road before it enters the one-lane tunnel back to civilization, a Duc Monster S2R with a ventilated clutch cover rumbles, clanks and clicks past. The fellow pulls up the light and promptly shuts off the motor (he’s done this before). I mention my premonition to him, and he smiles (or at least I think he does, it’s hard to tell under a full-face helmet). After which he informs me I can ride a bicycle through the tunnel despite the red light: “There’s a bike lane!” I bid him good ride and drop into the tunnel. I did not see or hear the motorcycle again.
2. Riding up Market street can be a scary thing for a novice bike rider. I’ve done it a few times (and had my share of almost-oh-shit-I’m-gonna-wipe-out-on-the-rails moments) on different bikes in all kinds of weather & traffic, so it doesn’t really bother me. In the morning (around 8:30 or so) it tends to be clogged with commuters of various persuasions, including motorcycles, pedestrians, buses, trams, taxis, cars and  cyclists. Including one rider on a Cannondale, with iPod, blazing up at the front of the bikes-waiting-at-the-next-light mob. This goes on for a few blocks, she and I trading pole position, until I give it up on a techicality (a senior citizen in a Crown Vic shoulders me out of my share of the lane). This is going fine until we hit the beauty that is Market & 4th. There are about 10 cyclists now, and one poor driver stuck in the intersection. Well, not quite stuck enough to compel her to stop. So she tries an around-the-back, between-the-rail-and-bumper swerve around the Corolla. At which point Corolla stops to avoid hitting the more conservative cyclists going in front of her. She slams into Corolla’s bumper and does an inverted aerial, landing on her back right in the center of Market street. This happens about 2 feet in front of me. Everything stops for about 5 seconds while a few pedestrians & cyclists (including myself) query as to her condition. She gives me a thumbs up from the pavement, neither her hair, nor sunglasses nor iPod headphones out of place. I ride on, and when I look back, she’s already on the curb putting her chain back on.

Reminds me, need paragraphs in <li> elements in this hizzie.

Update: Finally my phone synced. Sweet!

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

This one is sort of interesting. My birthday falls on March 11 , exactly 6 months to the day opposite September 11 . There are a number of tragic events that have occurred on this day:

• 1861 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
• 1917 - Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Maude.
• 1977 - 130+ hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined negotiations.
• 1978 - Nine Palestinian Al Fatah guerillas hijack a bus in Israel, killing 34 civilians and wounding 70 before being killed by security forces. The Israelis retaliate by invading southern Lebanon three days later, under codename Operation Litani.
• 2004 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 191 people.

Not to fear, some good things happened as well:

• 1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.
• 1988 - Iran-Iraq War: Ceasefire declared.
• 1993 - Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn-in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
• 2003 - The International Criminal Court is founded in The Hague.

To round it out, other people who share my birthday:

• 1931 - Rupert Murdoch
• 1934 - Sam Donaldson
• 1936 - Antonin Scalia (eh)
• 1952 - Douglas Adams (yay)
• 1968 - Lisa Loeb
• 1971 - Johnny Knoxville (heh)

Copy & paste is fun for the whole family!

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

Mushrooms. Hated them. Now I still hate button mushrooms, but have a newfound appreciation for chanterelles, porcini and shiitakes. Especially with eggs.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

Going on a Sunday morning fixie ride (probably to Fairfax and back, maybe White’s Hill if I’m feeling ambitious). If anyone wants to meet me, I’ll be at the Bridge at 9:30.

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.

In the pre-Windowlicker tour, Aphex Twin had giant faceless neon-colored teddy bears dancing around on stage. In place of their faces, they had a picture of Richard James with his trademark evil grin.

I was that character one halloween, in lime green. Kinkos refused to let me use their photocopier to copy the CD cover of the Richard D. James album, but Staples did!

Originally posted to ydnar.vox.com in June 2006.