When given the choice between voting for an actual Republican or a Democrat disguised as a Republican, the majority of American people will always vote for the former.

A lot of Democrats seem to have this misguided impression that they somehow need to run a centrist platform. Unfortunately, this causes a few problems. One is that you lose Democratic votes. This is because you've now become indistinguishable from the Republican you're running against. Your core supporters will either not vote, or throw a vote to the Green party. You won't pick up any more centrist votes, because they won't be able to tell the difference between you and the actual Republican either. And don't even think about picking up any Republican votes. That "D" after your name will be like a crucifix to a vampire. They'd sooner eat nails than vote for you no matter how far right you veer.

As if all this wasn't enough, your efforts will be negated further by the fact that no matter how far right you move, the Republicans will still point at you and call you an extreme left-wing commie liberal (and the media won't do anything to refute that). By moving to the right, you effectively allow the right to re-define what's considered the center, and you make it even harder for yourselves in the next election.

So do us all a favor please. Stop trying to emulate your competition, grow a spine, and run a proper, progressive platform. Your core voters will thank you.

There seems to be some confusion over this rather simple rule, at least when it comes to DC area drivers. It's a simple rule, really, so let me explain.

1. When approaching a red light, you MUST stop, even if you intend to turn right.
2. Once you have come to a COMPLETE stop, and you have yielded the right of way to drivers who do not have a red light, you may then make a right turn once it's safe to do so.

That's it really.

Unfortunately, I've noticed more than a few unprincipled (i.e. shitty) drivers who have made what we'd call undesirable modifications to this rule, and I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify a few... misunderstandings.

- The fact that you are turning right does not in any way absolve you from having to stop
- And no, just taking your foot off the gas for a second is not good enough
- Neither is simply tapping the brake once.
- Or twice.
- Turning right does not excuse you from yielding the right of way to other drivers who do not have a red light, like the guy coming the other way who's making a left turn on a green arrow.
- Or the guy coming from your left who you're sure won't mind slamming on the brakes while you pull out in front of him.
- Or even that poor guy who's making a U-turn on a green, who you just blocked, and who is now sitting there with his stuff swinging in the breeze and about to be T-boned.
- And no, being in a hurry doesn't change anything either.

We people in the transportation biz have a phrase for all of those things. It's called "Running a red light". Please don't do it.

Thanks.

A few people have asked me how I made the background image of this page. Well, it's basically this image, which I took in Temagami this year:



The process went like this:

- Select the dark area below the tree line, and invert the selection to get the sky.
- Delete the sky, and apply a greyscaled gradient to this area.
- Re-select the tree area, and make sure it's all black and clean up some various noise.
- Apply a blur effect a few times, then re-sharpen it (this gave it a distinct separation between the trees and sky).
- Mirror the image to keep the light area out of the blog posts.
- Resize it, then crop it at a point that would create a repeating pattern, with no obvious seam.

For the bottom "reflection" half:

- Flip the image from the top of the page.
- Apply a wave effect to it.
- Resize it to make it around 40% shorter for the same width.
- Toss in a few CSS tricks to be able to have two background images on the same page.

That's pretty much it, other than repeating the process for the "Light" page scheme. I like the effect, and it resizes perfectly for different size pages.

If it's been a while since you stopped by (like more than a few days) you'll probably notice a few changes. Well, more than a few. After sticking with my old layout for at least five years, I decided it was time for a change.

I've given the site a new look, and I've reduced the number of pages (that I have to update, haha) in order to simplify things. Besides, most people come here to read my occasional rants, and to check out my pics. And of course, I had to throw in a bit about my bikes.

I'm not finished yet, but the big stuff is done. I'll undoubtedly make a few tweaks as time wears on. But for now I think the site is a bit less cumbersome.

Enjoy, and if the dark background is a bit hard on your eyes, slide over to the right and switch to the light page style. I like to be all-inclusive.

Two weeks ago, while on a ride, I started hearing a funny noise coming from what seemed like my right pedal. I ignored it, of course, and it was to be to my peril. Around 4 miles into the ride (fortunately it wasn't longer) I felt a sudden jerk on my right foot. My pedal had seized up, nearly ripping the cleat off my shoe. I sighed, turned around, and one-legged it back home. Funny how I struggle to hold 20mph on the road leading back to town, but when pissed off, I can hold 20 using one leg without a problem.

When I got home, I swapped my pedals out for a spare set off my red bike, and went back out. Later, I pulled the right pedal apart to find that the inboard bearing (the only one you can't replace) was shot, and in being shot had totally hosed the pedal axle. After a quick google, I found a pair on sale at University Bicycle Center. I was unable to buy them online, of course, because of a stupid rule of Speedplay's that has to do with not selling online for below retail. Whatever. But I was able to phone them up and place an order quite easily, and they were really nice over the phone.

Three days later, the nice UPS guy arrived with my new pedals. They're snazzy!







Now we're all set for the weekend. And hopefully, for the next twelve years, if these pedals last as long as the ones they replaced.

Jessica and I just got back from seeing U2 in Athens, Greece, in a concert that could have easily ended up with us both in a hospital, or worse.

But more on that later.

We booked this trip back in November of 2009, in what was supposed to be a trip back to Greece with my mom so that she could visit our relatives there. We conveniently planned the trip to coincide with U2, and far enough in advance to let our air miles pay for the trip. We'd leave my mom with family, catch the concert, and everything would go like clockwork.

Unfortunately, things rarely go like clockwork. In a nutshell, my mom canceled, but not before several months of indecision that would render our air miles mostly worthless. After some heavy thinking, we decided to go anyway. After all, it would be like the honeymoon that Jess and I never had. I mean come on! U2 in Greece? What's not to like? Well, as it turned out, PLENTY!

The first part of the trip was fine. We booked it through a travel agent, and gave us the week before the show to enjoy the sights. Jess booked us a 2-day bus tour, as well as a 13-hr cruise of the Islands Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. We had a few days to ourselves, sprinkled around the aforementioned tours, and figured we'd play those by ear.

Well, the antics started right after we landed. After deciding that 3 Euros and 20 cents for a bus was a better deal than $35 for a taxi, we promptly got on the wrong bus (my fault) and had an impromptu tour of the seedier parts of Athens. This turned a 30 minute bus ride into a multi-hour affair, with Jess looking none too happy by the time we hit bus #3. But in the end, we made it, albeit a few hours late.

The first day we decided to check out the acropolis. Who knew it would be 99 degrees and 99% humidity? We baked until we were well done, then headed back to the hotel for a shower. Then we dined on one of our many meat and starch dishes. I honestly have never gone so long without a single vegetable since I was a bachelor. I have no idea how these people can remain alive eating nothing but meat, bread, cheese, and the occasional potato product. After a few days, I was starting to feel the onset of scurvy.

By the third day (I think) it was time for the bus tour. It was a really nice tour, and really worth the money. We got to wind our way up into central Greece, where we saw the villages of Delphi and Meteora. The latter was breathtaking, with ancient monasteries perched atop high plateaus (pics coming soon), and great views from the mountains of Greece. They even booked us into a really nice hotel for the overnight portion.

While on the bus tour, I learned that the rules of the road in Greece are TOTALLY different than in the US (or anywhere else I've been). They basically go like this:

Dotted line on the road = pass freely
Solid line on your side = only pass when the people coming the other way are not in the process of passing.
Double solid line = pass freely. Oncoming traffic will take to the shoulder
Green light = go no matter what
Yellow light = floor it
Red light = Go only if you are certain that the other guy will swerve first.

That's about it.

Needless to say, doing all this in a huge tour bus full of 100 people was... harrowing, to say the least. It's a wonder more people aren't killed on the roads there. Although maybe they are.

The 13-hr cruise was a lot more restful. Especially after we found the one spot on the boat that wasn't rife with the stench of diesel fumes. Not to mention all the cigarette smoke. I was totally floored by how many people in Greece still smoke. It must be close to half. I guess when you spend your life nearly being killed in your car every day, you figure smoking is the least of your worries.

Out of the three islands, Hydra was the most lovely. Cars are not allowed, so you have to either walk or take a donkey/mule. The donkeys and mules actually have license plates. It was very cool. There were also about 32,768 cats per acre of land on Hydra, and they knew that the arrival of the cruise ship meant free petting and possible hand-outs, so they greeted us in force (pics of that coming soon too). We got almost two hours to stroll around before heading off to the next port, but we wished we could have stayed longer. Maybe that'll be another trip (once my wits recover from this one).

After the cruise, we had a day off before the concert. We checked out our second hotel, checked out the venue, and got our game plan together.

On the day of the concert, we were up early. We asked for a wake-up call, but apparently those are more of a suggestion, regardless of how bad you really need one. Fortunately, we didn't sleep too long past our planned time, so we had breakfast and made it to the venue at around 7:45am. This was good enough to net us numbers 60 and 61. Great numbers, eh? Should have given us pretty much our pick of where to stand, right? Heh...

So, we get our numbers and break out the bubble wrap. It didn't take long for the Athens staff to show us that this was their first U2 gig since 83. They were totally unprepared for an event of this scope. The line-up was totally disorganized, and we were stuck in a pen that was about 50 feet wide by a few hundred feet long. Everyone sort of jammed into the space in an approximate numerical order, but it didn't take long for people to start "migrating". Soon there were people in front us with 3-digits. And after a few "false starts" that were inadvertently triggered by staff members, everyone was mashed together, hot, and irate.

Finally, a few of the more robust fans took matters into their own hands and re-arranged everyone in groups of 10, in order of their numbers, while the event staff looked on rather apathetically. I'm still amazed that so many of these venues fail to realize that it is in their OWN BEST INTEREST to respect the numbering system. Respect the numbers, and you have order. Ignore the numbers, and you are pretty much guaranteed chaos.

The re-arranging lasted until the staff triggered another false start. But this time, they decided to go with it. They let us all advance to the next barrier in groups of ~100 people. The problem was, whereas the initial standing area was just a huge rectangle, the area we advanced into was a set of back-and-forth snaking barriers. As soon as they let us go, everyone charged for the next checkpoint. People on the inside of the turn got crushed, while other people ran around the outside and gained places. Some people even jumped the barriers. Once you got to the next checkpoint, you were held back by a single red piece of tape. I wish I was making this up.

They did this to us at least five times, and each time, the order got more and more screwed. At one point it was so bad that I was actually being dragged sideways by the collective force of the crowd. It's times like this when you read about people being trampled to death at some sporting event or fire. It really was that bad. And it wasn't just people getting innocently pushed. There were a lot of people who were deliberately being jackasses. For the first two rushes, I had a girl next to me who deliberately slammed her elbow into me while trying to get past me. I yelled "hey!" and she just shot me a dirty look and elbowed me again (while looking right at me). On my next step forward, I brought my leg up high, then drove my heel straight down onto her ankle. She shrieked, and glared at me, and I just smirked and shrugged. That was the end of the elbows.

When we finally got up to the ticket check, everything froze. After all that, the band wasn't even ready. We had to bake for another half hour plus, standing, before we could even go past the ticket check. The staff kept telling us to back up. HAH! It only takes ONE U2 gig to learn that you can move people forward, but moving them backwards is pretty much impossible. Especially people who waited around all day, only to find themselves standing next to someone who got there an hour ago.

Finally, after we were baked, crushed, dehydrated tired, and generally pissed off, we got to go in. By "in" I mean past the ticket check. We had another quarter mile of winding driveway before we got to the entrance. Of course, almost everyone ran - at first. Being in halfway decent shape, I can run at a pretty good clip for a decent distance. There were more than a few people who dashed past me, only to fizzle a few yards later as their crap diet and hundreds of cigarettes said, "Oooooh no you don't!!". As a result, I blew past a lot of wheezing fans, and picked up a bunch of places.

Jess and I had agreed to try to grab an outside rail spot near Edge, and that was something I figured would be no problem, given our numbers. But when I finally got inside the arena, I saw dozens of people who were already there, many of whom didn't even have a number. I'm pretty sure they had a second GA area, but never told anyone. Either that, or they let the people who showed up with GA tickets at the front door straight in without making them line up. Either way, I was a bit miffed. We did manage to get a rail spot on Edge's side, but it was way off to the left, near the foot of the claw.

The show itself was pretty good. I won't give away too many spoilers in case there are people deliberately avoiding setlists for this leg (like Jess was), but I will say that they did a good job with what they had. There was a bridge malfunction at the worst time during a song where the bridge is a key prop, and they boogered up the beginning of Vertigo THREE times in a row. Granted, they were in a bit of a hurry after not going on until 9:30 (!!!) and playing til close to midnight, but I don't think too many people were upset about that. Most of them were just glad to see U2 after so many years without. Some of them were maybe a bit too glad.

Before the show started, there was a bit of drama with this poor girl who passed out (likely from heat stroke or dehydration from the shittily organized line-up) and got dragged out of the pitch in front of everyone - her bra riding up, her boobs hanging out, all while peeing herself - before getting escorted to the first-aid area. Poor girl.

By the time the show started, the security staff was on a hair trigger, and considering those crazy Greek fans (of which I am sort of one), you can sort of see why. There was one brawny, military-looking guard who spent most of the concert pacing along the fence, fists clenched, staring at the floor. In fact he was so absorbed with looking tough that he was totally oblivious to one of the fans who lit a ROAD FLARE (with embers-a-spitting) during Streets and started waving it around inside the pit, much to the horror of the people trapped all around him. One of the other guards saw it, and ran past the brawny guy, gesticulating madly, with this look on his face like, "DUDE! PAY ATTENTION!".

When the brawny guy saw what was happening, he went into this frenzy, trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the catwalk, while the flare raged on. Eventually, he did get to the other side, but not before nearly knocking his brick-shaped head off on the edge of the catwalk, and not before the other guards had already gotten to the guy, causing the flare to be dropped on the floor, where it erupted into a small inferno (those crazy Greeks! Hah!). By this time, Bono noticed what was going on, and you could tell he was wondering whether coming back to Athens really was a good idea after all.

Oh well, this entry has gotten long, so I'll be back once I have pics. Sorry if it was a bit rambling but we just got off a 9-hr flight from Munich, after a 5-hr layover, after a 2-1/3 hr flight from Athens. Total travel time = around 18 hrs, once you count the waiting before the Athens flight left. Not to mention my body still being on Athens time.

Hopefully the pics will turn out OK!

Spending more and more time getting to know my new camera. Practice makes... better, I hope.

Today we had three baby deer in our back yard. A few minutes later, the mom showed up. I took some pics!

I had a bit of an epiphany today.

Has anyone else noticed the price at the pump? Usually, whenever there is ANY sort of "mistake" (refinery fire, pipeline leak, butterfly landing on an oil rig) the price of gas at the pump shoots up instantly, then takes months, sometimes years, to recover.

But during this debacle, the price at the pump hasn't budged. I think it's because they're doing everything they can to keep this out of the news, so a price spike at the pump due to the Gulf spill would just shine more light on the thing.

This means that they can control the price at the pump regardless of any disaster (since arguably, this is the biggest one of all). It's also an admission that all the other times we had a price spike, it was nothing more than gouging.

Think about it.

Nabbed this pic on my last walk. He looks like a juvenile. He's really light in color compared to the other hawks I've been watching.



I hope to get some better pics as this one was from really far off.

Tuesday, Feb 9th was my birthday. The big four-five. I'm now officially what I have considered for most of my life to be a GEEZER! The funny part is, I don't really feel mentally all that different than I did at, say, 25. Sans the nagging back pain.

Every year for my birthday, Jessica plans some extravagant trip for us. Two years ago it was dogsledding in PA. Last year it was swimming with the Manatees in Florida. So this year, I really didn't know what to expect. Well, to say she out-did herself would be an understatement. I have no idea how she kept this a secret.

A few years ago, I found out that I had a brother. My biological dad left when I was 4-1/2 years old, and I only saw him twice after that, the last time being when I was around 13. I had no idea what became of him, but a few years ago, my mom decided to try in earnest to find him. Well, she did find him, or rather his obit. We also found his address, and that's when we found out about my brother.

We both crafted a letter to my brother and his mom, not knowing if they even knew we existed. It turns out that they did, and after a trade of phone numbers, I got to talk to him on the phone. He's a tough guy to get ahold of, so several emails went unanswered. I wanted to fly to New Mexico (where he and his mom live), but I could never seem to get anything coordinated. But Jessica did, and that was my birthday trip.

We flew out to NM via Chicago. I was VERY excited when I realized where we were going. My brother, Adam (yes, we have half of U2, all we need is a Dave and a Larry now) lives near Taos. It's an amazing, beautiful place. We both have a LOT in common!

We like:
- Chocolate
- Skiing
- Cars

We dislike:
- Sour cream
- Raw tomatoes

We also both talk extensively through the use of our hands. And we both drive too fast, though he REALLY drives fast! We also have wide feet, but he's really fussy about food, which I'm not at all. He also owns GUNS, including an assault rifle!

He's a really, REALLY nice guy, and it was easy to like him right off the bat. We went skiing at Taos, and everyone knew him, so he basically got us in for free. We are both at about the same level as far as skiing ability goes, so we had a lot of fun.

His mom is great, and much more "hip" than my mom, likely because she's younger. They live in a really gorgeous house that my dad build from scratch (he always was a serious builder) and it has an amazing view of the mountains. It was a very relaxing place to stay, and they were great hosts. We really felt welcome.

I got to meet a lot of people who knew my dad. They all thought I looked a lot like him, more so than my brother. They all went on and on about what a great man my dad was (who knew?) and how they really felt privileged to have known him. My dad had a lot of problems when he was with my mom and me, so it's good to know that he found his footing later in life. It looks like he gave my brother and his mom a really good life, and my life has been pretty blessed too, so all's well that ends well.

All in all it was an amazing trip, and I'm happy to not have to tell people I'm an only child anymore.

Adam and me:



More pics...

These are pretty cool.

This website as DNA.



(from http://www.baekdal.com/)


This website as a funky graph.



(from http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/)

This wicked hawk I've been trying to get a good pic of. He's pretty elusive, and likes to hang out behind this particular group of houses where he stalks a cat.





Kitties...

Why is it that the majority of the time people flip you off on the road, it's after THEY'VE done something completely and utterly stupid.

Last night Jess and I were on the road home from the Kennedy Center after seeing the Nutcracker. I got a bit turned around in DC, because they sent us out the wrong exit, but I finally found I-66 which takes us to the GW Parkway, then home. The ramp from I-66 to the Parkway is just a piece of elevated highway, designed to be taken at speed. It's a VERY gradual turn, that's banked, and could easily be taken at around 80 in most cars without breaking a sweat.

Last night there was a Toyota Prius in front of us. Everything was fine until we got to that ramp, at which point he dropped down to the low 40's. I moved to the left to take a peek around him and see if there was anything in front of him that I should be worried about (debris, road damage, animal, etc) and noticed him slam on his brakes. I was following at a good distance, so I didn't even really have to take my foot off the gas. He's now down to about 35, and the brakes slam on again, this time harder. Again I was far enough back to be able to just coast and move my foot over the brake pedal, but didn't really need to use them.

By now we're in the high 20's, and I start to worry about someone rear-ending us on this high-speed ramp. We finally make it to the Parkway, and he FLOORs it, unleashing all 5 of his Briggs & Stratton horsepower (not a very green thing to do for a Prius driver). I decide that he's either drunk or texting, so decide to go around him. As we pass him, he shakes his middle finger at us frantically. I still have no clue what his problem was, unless the view out the back of that car makes everyone look like they're tailgating. As such, the incident calls for a few driving tips:

1) If you can't drive, it's not my fault. Take lessons and remember, there's always public transportation.

2) If you can't manage more than 35 on a ramp marked for 55, it's not my fault. Find a wet parking lot to practice in, or take lessons. Don't forget about the public transportation option.

3) If you own a Prius and feel like everyone's tailgating you, have a friend follow you at a safe distance. If he looks like he's tailgating remember he's not, and neither were all those people you've been flipping off since you got the car. They probably think you need psychiatric help. If you just flipped off your friend, you probably do.

4) Remember when you slam on your brakes going 35 in a 55, your action will accordion back through traffic. You could cause an accident and should probably stick to using public transportation. Road rage kills, and so might you.

5) Also remember that flipping off someone else for your screw-up doesn't make your screw-up go away. It just means you screwed up twice.

Thanks for reading, and remember that what's going on in front of your car is always more important than what's going on behind it. Keep that finger where it belongs, and keep your foot on the gas.

Our last show of this tour was Raleigh, NC. This makes seven shows we've seen this tour, with three of them being GA for me, and four for Jess. Of all the shows, Toronto 2 was hands-down the best (pics of the Toronto shows can be found in my gallery), with Raleigh a close second. The DC show was notable because of both the excellent organization of the FedEx field staff (they actually honored the fan-based numbering system, and had a narrow GA line) and the huge rip-off of an included parking charge whether you parked at the venue or not (and we did not).

The NC show was small, but homey. An excellent crowd who seemed to really appreciate U2 being there. They let me bring my good camera in, and I got some decent shots.






















In DC, I was stuck with Jess's old, tiny camera, so I only got a few good shots. There were the best:






So that's it for now, unless of course Jessica buys more tickets for the 2010 leg of the tour. Seeing them in Greece might be fun, since I have family there. We'll see how things (namely our bank account) go by then.