Welcome to...

I'm on a diet.

2012-01-22T16:25:00.002-05:00

Sort of. I got a little heavier than I wanted to over the holidays, so I decided to do something about it. So far, I have lost a decent amount of weight, and so to reward myself, I got a tattoo of the Empirebmx crown on my wrist. Why? Because I like the design, Tom and Tina have been amazing to me over the years and because I am pretty sure that I can justify it because my name means "the crowned one". It works, fuck you.

I wanted to review "Owned" by Props for this entry. So I will. Stew Johnson filmed most of it. Alex, Tom and Stew stayed at my house for a moment during the filming of said video and Stew used my daughter's pink Hello Kitty blanket to sleep with.

What you need to know:

-Alex's part is so fucking rad. Good song, great riding, fast, pedal, great hair, effortless, fast.

-Tom Villarreal's part is similarly rad. Not as frenetic as Alex's part, but still good. There is some scary shit in there.

-Jason Phelan's part is good, it didn't stick with me. I started to drift here.

-Dan Foley's was also good, but again I wasn't just going nuts over it. He's obviously really good, but I just wasn't feeling it and went to get a beer out of the fridge.

-Drew Bezanson. Fuck it. Quit riding. This isn't even real. Fuuuuuuck. What? That's right. He did that. Oh my god. Whatever.

Next review will be Killjoy. I need to shoot some damn pics this week.

Hair of the Dog...

2012-01-05T15:35:00.003-05:00

So this is the 4th video by the Innocent Bystander crew, and to be honest, I never watched the first three. No real reason why, I just never did. But I watched this. Several times. Austin Phillips is blunt force trauma on a bike. He is brutal and harsh and awesome to watch and behold. It seems like he would need to actually take breaks from riding to allow his form to heal so he is ready for the next thing that he wants to assail. I do not know if this is actually the truth, but I choose to believe it.

The music in this thing falls within my circle of interest. And with the song that plays for Jake Hunter, all I could think about was how mellow the track was vs. the frenetic pace with which Jake rides. It probably should have caused some cognitive dissonance, but it didn't.

There aren't "bangers" in this. Rider's parts don't end with dead man shit. Instead, it is more of a "done riding, let's get that beer" feel. Very down with that.

Also, as Wheelie Nelson from BMXBoard points out, footplants need to be done more.

Watch it for free or go buy it for sure.

BUY IT HERE AND GET A SHIRT, TOO.

The last day.

2012-01-02T21:36:00.002-05:00

This was the last picture that I took of 2011.

It was of Michael Tetro, and he just happened to show up the park on a day that I went by myself because anymore, I just go alone. I was glad that he was there and I enjoyed having someone to ride with, because riding alone does get old. We talked about going to Austin together in the spring, which would be an excellent journey. Then I had to go because I had to get ready to go get drunk for New Year's Eve. As it turned out, I didn't really get all that drunk. I had some SoCo, a beer and that was that. A low key end to a year that was all over the map for me. My son started Kindergarten, my daughter got picked to go to Finland and my wife decided to learn how to dry, grind up and encapsulate placentas.

Anyways, I'll end this with one of the cooler parts of 2011 for me...

That was pretty neat.

Look at this fucking guy...

2011-12-12T21:50:00.002-05:00

Majestic. Like a lion on the arid plains of Africa.

Jake Hunter filming the Grindstaff for the upcoming Angry Penguin video. I think. I forgot to confirm that. I was too busy doing wallrides and screwing around with shitty feeble grinds.

Procrastination puncuates the still night air.

2011-11-21T21:48:00.004-05:00

And I thank god you're here.

So Mica took a pic at a spot of me and my bike.

That is the new SFA. She's a beauty and I figured that I would forgo the rundown of parts because ultimately, I am lazy.

Last weekend, sweet dudes from Nashville came by and did some shredding. Tyler Fredrick had some knee surgery, but he was clearly feeling better. I wasn't set up totally yet when he flew by, but I clicked it anyways...

Then my camera got fixated on Dave Williams because he rips and is 5 foot 5 and rude as hell.

Don't fuck with Ohio.

2011-10-16T18:40:00.002-05:00

Tyler Pollari paid a visit on his way to Florida to hang out with his little brother. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Pollari, I highly recommend watching this...

OHIO IS BAD ASS.

He also rode the park with us and hit up some of our finer wall ride offerings-

A very Dixie bike check up next...

UPS doesn't always deliver.

2011-10-10T18:51:00.002-05:00

My neighbor across the street is waiting on a frame and it is 7:52 at night and even though the tracking number says "out for delivery", things look grim. I feel really bad for him. Maybe tomorrow. I've been there...it sucks because time passes so slowly when you are young.

Rode our quaint little dirt jumps yesterday. Shot a couple of Timmy Lewis getting going. Since he sent me a text asking if I could get these to him...here they are.

The Johnson City boys came down to ride. Jake and I had this conversation about Twombolts...then his broke. I am not taking any blame for that.

Here, they enjoy coffee during happier times. I knew going to Maryville was a bad idea.

Also, I got some photos published on the ESPN action sports site. So, that was cool.
Searching for Bobby Fisher

AND...UPS JUST SHOWED UP. Kids are rejoicing.

Push it a stop...

2011-09-28T14:40:00.002-05:00

Someone on good ol' BMXBoard posted a link to this site (Push It A Stop) and I was glad for this because I kinda forgot about the site for a while. There are good tips on there and one of them pulled me back into processing photos in Photoshop (a little). So I have two examples to present.

In this one, Tetro is blasting over the spine. He goes so high that even the pros notice. I wish I were skinny.

This pic is part of a set I took of Bobby Fisher for a article/feature/thing that may or may not show up on the Sunday site. I have no idea. He's riding his 24" and doing shit that he does. He rides flat on it, street...just whatever. That is Bobby.

My clip from Amateur Hour's vid...

2011-09-24T15:20:00.003-05:00

I had a riding clip in a video! In the past, I was audibly part of Style Cats (wrecking during a Bobby Fisher trick) and I was in the crowd in "The Birth of Big Air" at a BS contest. But this time...I have something I can actually show my kids. Maybe.

Wall ride Wednesday. Except it is Friday. No fucks are given.

2011-09-23T14:54:00.002-05:00

So I had some photos left in the chamber from the Wisconsin/Florida summit, and since I had today off due to the kids being out of school...UPDATE.

This picture has a lot going for it. Good guys, obvious warm weather, and A CAT.

DO NOT HACK THIS DUDE'S FACEBOOK. EVER.

So, comparing and contrasting in these next two. In one, a 19-year-old ripper from Florida, in the other an aging father from Tennessee. The commonality? That wall. That is about it.

A week later, Corey and Jon rode the same wall, which for some reason hasn't been sessioned by us as much as it probably should have...

Back to the Florida guys...Trey just goes high on everything in the world and has the most hairless chest I have ever seen in person. I think my 5-year-old has more body hair. Full disclosure- my son also has a prehensile tail.

Brien is simultaneously one of the saltiest and one of the most positive guys I know. He's actually warming up for a wall ride over a vent on the wall, but I liked the look of this one. Earnhardt bike on the wall instead of into it.

I'm gonna finish it off with one more shot of Trey Jones. Kids should buy Shadow Conspiracy stuff just because he rides for them. This is a slightly different pic than what was up on the Cult site. It still makes me feel like a pussy.

I got some love on the Cult site...

2011-09-16T08:49:00.003-05:00

that was fairly sweet of them. Check it out...

CLICK FOR PICS THAT I TOOK OF THAT TREY KID.

The Rusticle Comes to Knoxville...

2011-09-04T21:32:00.002-05:00

My internet friends came to visit me. I am eating cheese curd while wearing a Shadow Conspiracy shirt. Thanks boys. The internet rules. Fuck the haters.

These fucking guys...

The BMX Boss looking for Trey so he doesn't plow him..

Joey Juaristi carving the shit out of the Magnolia Street wall ride. Nice to meet you, dude.

Trey Jones came along and rode okay.

Sizing it up.

Hot enough to melt the sun.

2011-08-07T19:35:00.002-05:00

Heat Wave 2011 has made the latter half of the summer a tough one to ride. As the saying goes, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Hands blowing off grips makes for some dodgy at best conditions, and the fact that the temperature drops to a cool 85 degrees at night ain't helping either. But we ride anyways, because I'd rather be soaked with sweat and feeling the effects of a possible heat stroke over frostbite and bitter winds. At least the heat gives me an excuse to drink cold beer in the shower.

We got out this morning and it was already pushing 90 with 160% humidity. Corey has been riding more since his wrist has healed up and that means nothing but good things for me, because riding with my best friend is a good way to go.

He shot this picture of me last year. I am using it now because I miss that set up. I love my Hickerson, no doubt, but that SFA was sweet as pie.

As soon as the Barcode is real, I am selling my current frame to Tetro. He's on a 20.75 right now and he is taller than me. No matter, he still has the best opposite tables in the southeast. Even if the headtube on that thing is steeper than our nation's descent into hell.

BMX bucket list...time to do a legit rail. I have done skatepark rails, but never a real, out in the wild rail. That gets done before summer's end. I am calling myself out.

I've been wanting this for a bit.

2011-07-31T15:45:00.003-05:00

Since the park opened and I learned how to drop in and grind, I have wanted to get a double pegger in the over-vert part of the bowl. For some reason, I was laying in bed this morning and thinking that today would be a good day to do it, even though I was pretty sore from a pulled muscle in my back and a little hung over. It was just Corey, Tetro and myself and I fired out an attempt that came up sort of intentionally short, because I was essentially taking a bitch run at it, but I wanted to know how much speed I needed to carry. I got it worked out and sent the next try into a pretty perfect grind on the coping, but I landed nose heavy, and sort of bucked myself off the bike. Corey went to get his camera at this point and I wasn't sure if I was gonna try it again, but after doing the math in my head, I figured I could do it. So I did. Thanks to Corey for the picture...I am pretty fucking stoked right now...

Lightroom 2 is awesome.

2011-07-11T21:10:00.002-05:00

I may have brought this up before. But it makes developing digital pictures easy and a treat. So I picked some randoms that I had posted up before to see if they were any better with Lightroom than with my limited skills in Photoshop. Ideally, I would do a comparison with the older version, but that sounds a lot like work.

From my trip to Austin last summer...

Scotty and Bobby, two cornerstones of the Knoxville scene...

I am working on getting some shit together for a First Friday in September. If Mica and I pull it off, come see it at Aisle 9, I think.

I am posting this to keep from having to see Larry King's face.

2011-07-10T19:57:00.002-05:00

Woof. Dude is on death's doorstep for sure. It's way uncomfortable.

Anyways, I met some dudes for some street riding (I did very little riding...lots of looking) and snapped a few pics using my massively unreliable wireless triggers. Fortunately some new ones are on the way.

Jon 180'd this gap first go. Kinda gnarly as it run up wasn't exactly smooth and flat and the curb at the top was fucking with his head a little.

Dave Williams is still good and is still riding a Specialized frame. Someone should hook this man up.

I did a really shitty job of hiding the flash here, but I am running it anyways because no fucks are given.

More to come, folks.

Tetro Tables in Honor of AMERICA.

2011-07-04T21:14:00.002-05:00

Tetro embodies a lot of what makes America great. He's got ratty facial hair, likes fast cars and does good opposite tables over hips that go the wrong way. Seriously, I would punch a baby to have a hip on my side. Check the skinny bitch out!

Billy was more than happy to let me climb into the over vert and pull the plastic bag out of the drain that was causing the foot of standing water in there. Then he threw the bars with a 180. Happy birthday, America.

Compare and contrast...

2011-07-03T17:21:00.002-05:00

So, I'd like to know what you think on this one. Same picture, developed differently (obviously) and I am keen to hear some feedback. Mica likes the black and white better, but she also likes mushy corn on the cob. She's nuts.

and...

Stay awesome, everyone.

A slight break from being beaten by the whore mother nature

2011-06-26T20:14:00.003-05:00

So, we've been under the gun of late. Tornadoes, hail, wind, trees ripped out of the ground and deposited on playgrounds and homes. Mother nature is pretty pissed, it would seem. I choose to believe that it is because of the continued breath that Sarah Palin continues to draw. I digress.

We got a slight break today and though it was fucking hot, we rode. Because you never know when you are gonna get to pedal again. Save nothing.

Dave moved back from Arizona and is a full time Knoxville resident now. We got some different angles of this. Dude is a rippah!

I had some other stuff from the Toast Jam that I felt like posting up. I still think about this trip. Mostly it was the time spent with awesome folks at Empire and the sessions at T-1. But I also got to see some serious shred.

Corey Nastazio!

Morgan Wade just goes and goes. If it were football, they'd say his motor never stops running.

Rickey Mosely got third place...

over this guy...RICARDO LAGUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

There's talk of a trails jam for the weekend of the 4th. We'll see what happens. *casts a weary eye at the sky*

So, better late than never...right Jake?

2011-06-23T20:24:00.004-05:00

Sorry. I really am. Between the travel, the storms, the work, the storms...I just never got around to this. UNTIL NOW.

Fit Bike Co. did a shop stop in Johnson City, TN. This is the home of my favorite bike shop in Tennessee- Angry Penguin. Jake works hard to run a rad shop, and this is a fruit of that effort. Van Homan, Shawn McIntosh, Justin Inman and some others (what am I, fucking tape recorder?) rolled through and brought pizza, frames, stickers, good attitudes and Uncle Stew with them. I hung back on the riding part because I am old and have nothing to prove, so most of what I have are just some random shots from the shop visit.

Jon and Tetro know why this picture is funny to me...

The Jake on the left makes things happen. The Jake on the right makes teen girls swoon.

Look at this damn dog. He's awesome.

This guy slept on my son's bed the other night. That looked awesome. NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

Tetro bought his nephew a Fit complete and as a result he helped his odds of winning the raffle. He won to the shock of no one except for him. That head tube is a bit steep, though. Just my opinion, in my opinion.

This picture is serious business. Jeff Z. threatened to beat my ass if I ran any pictures that he was shooting. I WILL WRECK YOU, SON. Just kidding. Jeff is nice as can be.

The only riding picture that I felt decent about. Shawn McIntosh did the pole jam to a nose manual to hop off the end of the world.

Again, sorry this took so long, Jake. I'll do better next time.

My wife put in work!

2011-06-21T15:12:00.003-05:00

I took most of the pictures, but she did the writing, which is the hard part anyways. Check it out!

Our home, my pictures, her words.

I never got to swim in the springs...

2011-06-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

On this trip. I tried. There was a triathlon or some shit downtown on my final attempt. By the time I got there, the line was about 270 yards long. I've been...but I wanted this one. Just one dip.

And I would like to say, wearing a helmet is such a good idea. I took it pretty hard at 9th and thankfully, I had a helmet on and it made a difference in the severity of my crash. I walked away under my own power and rode the next day. About 20 minutes after my crash, I saw a dude go to his head and get knocked the hell out. No helmet.

Okay, so back to the Toast and other happenings.

Last time I ended it on Mike, so I am gonna start it on him for this...well him and Chase. This picture has gravitas.

So, one of the cooler things about this Jam was getting to see Van Fucking Homan ride a dirt contest. I never got to witness this back in the Schwinn days. Worth the wait? Yeah. Van is a secret ginger beast.

Obviously, one of the raddest things about Anthem II was Clint Reynolds. I didn't take enough pictures of him. Also, he's a lot taller than I thought he would be. I am in stream of consciousness mode at this point.

On my last day in Austin proper, I rode T1 with this guy. Paul Radosevich...he looks like an Ohio Seth Kimbrough. Rides like a man. He took my bed spot. I hope it didn't smell like fart. I really tried to keep it together in there.

I have more. This trip will stay in my head and heart for a long time.

The greatest contest I have ever been to...

2011-06-03T07:50:00.002-05:00

and I probably missed half of it due to heat/riding/resting. I saw some pretty amazing shit, of this there is no doubt. Big thanks to Tom and Tina (and Owen!) for their hospitality and kindness, Joe for letting me ride his ramp, Frank and John for giving me a place to stay and to my sister for letting me drive us back to Knoxville. I could go on and on, but I don't want to. Rather, I would like to sleep for a day or so. Not gonna happen, so here are some pictures and descriptions and whatnot-

I feel like it was important that I got a picture of Chris Moeller riding 9th Street. He can still bring it, which makes me feel better about my own aging. Tom told me that he is not as old as I thought he was; he's just been in the game since he was really young.

Justin Inman came through Knoxville (I need to get those pics up. Sorry Jake...I am a slacker)with several FIT riders on the way to Austin. He's a really chill dude and easy to talk to. Decent on a bike, too.

Brian Hunt has been on here before, so...I have no idea where I was going with that. He was blasting the shit out of the main line. His attire made it a little tough to photograph, but I got this shot that I liked.

Morgan Wade. Dude is sweet, rips like a motherfucker, and will keep trying something until it is pulled to satisfaction. State champ. In this order- Flip to fakie, whip to ice pick, HAM.

BKFBM pointed out to me that this is probably the most printed, posted, shot, eaten and docked picture of Chase Hawk, but this is the first one I shot, and it looked cool. STUFF YOUR JEALOUS RAGE SOMEWHERE ELSE, FUCKO. Just kidding.

I unexpectedly got to ride 9th with the UM. Seeing the socks roast through big jumps with no issue makes a man remember why he still has a poster of this dude hanging up.

I'll end it on this one. I have more pictures to develop and post, but for now...we are gonna just marvel at one of the more awesome things in BMX...

Getting here was harder than it needed to be.

2011-05-27T00:10:00.002-05:00

Thanks, trombone player or whatever you were who got yourself kicked off the plane so I could take your spot. I think I was destined to be here.

So, today I met Dave Voelker, Brian Blyther and JPR. It was only Thursday.

Got a look at the Texas Toast course. The Empire Curved Wall Ride looks reasonable...

Clint Reynolds' bike was in attendance!

Tom Dugan took some test runs. I can't even verbalize what the fuck I saw.

Sorry. I was using the shitty on camera flash because I wasn't expecting this roast at all. That's the thing. He essentially did this in the dark.

So much to process. I am gonna go to sleep and try to figure out something tomorrow. Frank, I am coming for you! Mica, I love you!

The world ends in 6 days.

2011-05-15T18:11:00.002-05:00

That's a bit of a bummer, but the more I think about it, I am okay with it. Let's get it over with. Though honestly, if it is the rapture and Jesus shows up, I am pretty sure I can take him, thus stopping the end of the world. My price for performing such a service? Nudes of Lily Allen. New ones. Not the ones that I can GIS on my phone.

Bobby Fisher got a new bike together and brought it by so I could give him some pedals. This man gave me my first bike. I can spare the dude some Trailmix pedals.

More pics of him riding this silver beast later.

Got a new lens, which made this picture nice to snap. Tim Lewis has a gilded crotch. Ask him to show you.

Tetro roasting a nice table that actually hurt his wrist a little. I told him it was worth it, because it looked niiiiiice.

This is a solid crew of dudes to ride with. Good men and good company...

Timmy Lew took a photo of me in the bowl. Ice picker licker liquor lick her...

Hoo.

The case for buying Fit tires...

2011-05-02T19:47:00.003-05:00

Jon Harter, the Ginger Napoleon Dynamite, can hop. He drank from the same spring that Bobby Fisher did at some time or another. That said, I think even he shocked himself with this one. I have only seen one other do this, and that was Alex Magallan. I have heard that others had, and I even said that I had seen lesser folk do it to help push Harter over the edge. But in truth, the Scout was the only other I witnessed...until this moment on a really warm spring day. He even got a grind out of it. Those are brand new Fit FAF tires on there that he got at Angry Penguin earlier that day. I think they helped.

When I open the back of my truck, a swap meet breaks out.

This here...this got people fired up. Game changer. No shit. Thank you to my British liaison Anthony Scott for sending it over.

Winding down to gear back up...

2011-04-19T20:49:00.003-05:00

School is getting to the end of the semester, which is nice for me because it means I can let my mind wander a little bit. Until someone collides with me mid-air and crushes my internal organs. It happens, right? It doesn't? It did, so fuck you.

Tim Lewis organized a loose confederacy of riders to lay siege to Sharp's Ridge. I got there late because I was probably draining the fluids out of my body cavity to reduce swelling. Anyways, What I did see was pretty neat.

J.R. Henry, you still look angry. Sorry, bro. You might be the least approachable man in BMX. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I still like you.

Trail Mix pedals can probably function as a scalpel if needed. I didn't even feel this.

These dudes came through from PA and I only managed to get one decent pic. I want a fisheye. 2.8 would make life easier.

The offending body crusher. No hard feelings, Tim. Mostly because you destroyed my nervous system.

Tim Lewis puts in more work than anyone at the trails. He deserves a lot of love from us. I pay homage by giving him all my extra tires.

Haven't we tried this already?

2011-04-14T10:21:00.002-05:00

So Huffy owns DK now? Now we just need JNCO to make a line of jeggings and for Hal Brindley to make some "I love sweetcorn" v-necks and we can call it a day.

So, this was pretty high.

2011-03-19T14:08:00.002-05:00

John is sort of like a poor man's ginger Brad Simms.

Trails are getting there...

No one reads this shit.

2011-03-02T21:42:00.002-05:00

I don't care. I'll post anyway.

First off...this is horrible. If anyone in BMX is wearing this, know that I will find you and stick a banana in your tailpipe Axel Foley style.
Your move, Rich Hirsch.

So a day after Knoxville gets so much rain that Australia felt bad for us (just kidding, mate), the sun came out, the temperature got nice and the Tim's took their feet off.

Spring is coming.

Terrible One BMXBoard collab?

2011-02-22T07:40:00.002-05:00

I wanted to grab these before something happens. Tom at Empire has coerced The UM into agreeing to do a T1/BMXBoard shirt (allegedly) so Lord Seth got to work and came up with some damn gems. It's too bad no one reads this blog...because these are awesome.

PURE GOLD.

Her Majesty's Secret Shredder

2011-02-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

Tom Blyth wanders into town along with Steve Crandall and threw down some moves at the local park where I find myself riding 90% of the time that I am on my bike. They were on their way to Austin, TX and came through town with a Twitter alert. I headed down and tried to shoot some photos, but I was more interested in talking their ears off, so...whatever...

Get some...

As good looking a crew as we can hope to have visit...

The other 10% of the time, I find myself up in the woods. Which are coming along pretty nicely...

Head first, man.

2011-01-30T11:46:00.003-05:00

I'm going street riding.

And I did. The park was insanely packed with kids, and we had some guests from north of here, so we headed to campus. I haven't rode there in years, as transition is far kinder to my body. But I gave it a go, did some grinds down some shit. Busted up my elbow a little but it's cool.

Taco is starving.

JR Henry always seems like he is kinda mad about something.

And Taco again just gotta eat. STARVING.

I need to get Garrett a new bike. And we need a ramp.

Also, check out the new BMX Movie Database site. When you get there, go watch the Josh Stricker part in Forward over and over again. NOW. Please.

www.bmxmdb.com

Things I desire greatly...

2011-01-29T09:40:00.003-05:00

I essentially have three material things that I covet right now. Thing one is not even able to be gotten yet...

The FBM made Terrible One Barcode. I had a Solid made one, but as soon as these became a possibility, I gambled and sold the Solid in anticipation of getting a hold of one of these. Which means that I currently ride my 2007 Garrett frame, and that is fine. Getting the Barcode would be a total indulgence and is wholly unnecessary, but I am human and that is a pretty frame.

The Nikon D7000.

I own a D200, which is a fine camera, but there is just something about being able to shoot HD video and having a camera that is actually current that I find appealing. Since making the switch from Nikon to Canon, I felt pretty good about my decision. Then the Canon 7D came out and I questioned my faith. Then Nikon unleashed the D7000 and I felt good about my choice of gods. I'd love to put together an artsy edit that 74% of BMXBoard would hate because of the HD. Damn United Video. I was way off on that one. Sorry Greg.

Working for a cellular phone company is pretty cool. I get free phone service (sort of) and I...well...that's about it, really. I carry a shitty Motorola flip phone that doubles as a really horrible alarm clock. Which leads me to...

I want an iPhone. I can't have one, because I'd probably get a stern talking to by someone. But damn, look at that thing! Why, I could carry one device in my pocket that would allow me to play Paper Toss while I poop at work instead of taking my phone AND my iPod Touch with me.

Twenty two days later...

2011-01-27T17:55:00.003-05:00

I'm slack, but what can I say? Winter is a cruel bitch. It's snowed more than it normally does here in dixie, and global swinging (dude on the Today Show called it that) dictates that temperatures are gonna go f-ing nuts for a while. Well then.

Back to happier times, the day of the Anthem II premier here in Knoxville brings back fond memories. New friend Tyler went under the knife for an ACL replacement, so I thought I would remind him what he has to look forward to when he gets healed up...

Two of the biggest hitters Tennessee has ever produced. Nathan Williams doesn't count because his no handers look horrible.

I say that about Nathan and then these really nice dudes from Nashville showed up in between snow storms.

Then I got looking through my stuff and found this pic of my son. It reminded me that no matter what a BMX Napoleon thinks, being a dad is a pretty sweet deal...made even sweeter when you get to let your kids ride things that not many full grown men get to partake in...

Do I have to have a title?

2011-01-05T14:36:00.002-05:00

I don't know. I can't be clever all the time. Sometimes I just want to show the pictures that I have taken. It was two days or so before Christmas and we had this oddly okay day...temps in the 50's and whatnot. I was feeling it, so I went to the park. No other riders were there; just a handful of skaters and myself. Then this dude walks up and drops in and I can tell that he is a ripper. He introduced himself as Brian, so I figured it out pretty quick. Brian Hunt can ride bikes. He said DK or Orchid might be interested in the pics, so I sent them along. I dunno if they will get used for anything or if posting them up means that they totally won't use them, but I wanted to share. Plus Tom said to do it. I just do what he says because I am pretty sure he's a good shot.

Probably the last one of 2010.

2010-12-12T16:00:00.003-05:00

53 degrees and we headed for the woods. I had the flashes and such ready to go, and the Anthem II premier was later that night, so this was my inspired shot, I guess...

The hip is shaping up really nice. Too bad it will be covered in snow by night's end.

The premier was excellent. So many good, strong reactions to what was seen. Bobby asked me why I didn't tell him how good the video was. I thought I did.

My bride attended...even though they don't serve liquor. Bummed.

It's snowing outside. So...

2010-12-05T12:04:00.002-05:00

I figured I would post something up. I have a love/hate relationship with this time of the year. I love the holiday and the food (especially the food) and the lights...but I hate being cold and I hate crowds. Online shopping is a great equalizer, but eventually you have to wander out. The cold obviously kills the ability to ride a little, but there are warm-ish days here and there.

Jon and Taco made a rare appearance at the park on just such a warm day.

Adam even got off of his elevated equine beast to do what Adam does, which is...

Mica and I took the kids downtown to the Christmas parade on Friday night. Again, I love the lights and the overall feel, but the crowds...ugh.

Mica's friend Grace brought her girls as well, and Garrett went into full on "hey girl" mode.

Most of the swarm...

It's not a bad life, all in all.

Merry Christmas.

I was not at the Anthem II premier.

2010-11-14T10:29:00.002-05:00

But I wanted to be. I pre-ordered that junk, so barring a zombie apocalypse (which, disappointingly, I do not wake up to every day) I will be checking out some of the finest BMX stunting captured in black and white sometime in early December.

On Halloween day, I destroyed my back. Before that happened, I took some photos of Corey riding street. He looks like a BMX version of his dad, but that didn't stop me from taking his picture.

When I saw this picture, all I could think of was, "dad, I am disappoint."

Anna and Garrett throwing down the poses the day before my wedding...

I rode the Central Ave. wallride the other day, and it took a substantial amount of my hand skin from me. I was bleeding all over the place but I did manage to take a nice picture of Tim, Taco and the sky.

Yesterday I met Corey at the park for a little session and was reminded why I always thought Corey was so damn good.

He even snapped one of me doing a footplant. The Garrett Byrnes appreciation thread on BMXboard made me do it.

Back to basics...

2010-10-21T19:52:00.002-05:00

I own one of the last MAAS built SFA frames. I also bought one of the first Solid/MAAS Barcodes. I've been running the Barcode for a while now while the SFA languished in my closet. I've been thinking more and more about how the SFA, while a touch heavier, felt soooo good. So I put it back together. It's an awesome frame from an awesome company and it deserved better than the floor of my closet. Also, the Solid always felt a little odd, so there's that. Garrett helped me show off the Garrett.

Neebo rode the other day. This was the last day I rode before my back shit the bed.

Wedding in two days.

Working on something...

2010-10-12T14:53:00.002-05:00

In between moonlighting as a telecom technician, going to school, being a father and "helping" Mica plan a wedding, I ride bikes, take pictures of riding bikes and try to remember to video this crap. So I got the video machine out the other day and self-filmed (something I don't do much of) and was pleased to see that at the tender age of 35, I can still get up on that damn Central Ave. wallride. So forgive me while I pat myself on the back a little. I was stoked.

Hopefully the video will be soon. I am operating on Dave Parrick time.

The lull...

2010-10-03T21:34:00.003-05:00

I've been so swamped. The wedding is coming up, school is in effect for both me and the kids and work has been a wad of busy that I have not previously known. Anyways, I've been sitting on these pictures I took of Will Love for about a month and since no one replied, I'll run them on the slum-blog.

While there are still a small grouping of shitty skaters who scowl and sneer at riders, for the most part everyone is pretty cool with one another. Josh is one of those guys and while I cannot condone his helmet-less law breaking, I can condone a high speed front-side grind in the deep end of the peanut.

More soon. Weather is changing.

Tri-pictures

2010-09-05T18:53:00.003-05:00

Because they are from the Tri-Cities, you see? Get it?

I love stupid jokes.

Like...

Knock knock.

Who's there?

9-11

9-11 who?

Aw, you said you'd never forget.

Will Love was at the park yesterday and shredded the shredding out of it. I have more pictures, but I am trying to send some stuff to his sponsor, so I thought I would let them have first crack at them before I do anything else with it.

Today some of the Johnson City crew motored this way to pedal. Austin Phillips engaged in a little non-voluntary rail sodomy, but before that he banged out a hop over-to-double pegger...

and Jeff Grindstaff (I am hoping for a correct spelling, here) gave this wall at the Fountain City Optimists Club a ride and whip...

And Jake just messaged me to let me know they are going to Tyson. I guess I'll give it a lookie-loo.

Getting married is hard.

2010-09-03T21:01:00.004-05:00

Dudes don't really think about weddings, unless they can film them and make insane amounts of money off of it (LOOKS AT JOE SIMON...WEEPS). Girls are born thinking about weddings, and this is something that as a male, I have trouble identifying with. I guess what I am trying to say is...be gay. Because as long as morons keep being morons, gay marriage will never be legal and you are in the clear. Look at the pics! Corey and I went to Johnson City and Kingsport yesterday on a whim. I have Dak forearms in the icepick picture. That makes me feel...special. There is a pic of a kid named Mikey in there. He's 14 and is one of the coolest kids I know. If that is the future of BMX in this town, we're good. The skater is Grant. He just got back from Hawaii and is the sweetest dude. Seriously, the guy has the best attitude about everything. And he looks like Swayze in Point Break. Via con Dios, brah.

Not long now and I get 10% off for being not young.

2010-08-18T07:06:00.001-05:00

Sunday we had an old man session at the park. Sunday morning. Because that is what old people do...they get up on a Sunday morning before other people with cool and interesting lives do. Scotty put it best when he said that soon we'd be meeting at Hardee's for breakfast when we're too old to ride. Can't wait. The thing about blogging with Picasa is that I have no idea what order these pictures are in...I think the first one is of Scotty doing a big ass table over the wedge hip, but really I don't know. It's a crap shoot. There should be a picture of Mr. Cherry manualing, and I think a two shot of Andrew and Scotty...yes...

Then there is a picture of Garrett and Anna...the two mini-humans who qualify me for old man status. It was pretty rad to be riding with other dads, really. I can relate to that. I can't relate most of the time to sub 21 dudes and their proclivity for being retards. But I try.

Time for work.

In search of beans and toast...

2010-08-14T14:24:00.002-05:00

I had the notion to eat some beans and toast, but with proper English baked beans...not the sweet stuff we have here in the states. So now I am on a mission to find a can of the Heinz beans that our friends over in the UK enjoy. I'll let you know how that pans out.

I made a video edit today which sucks, but I wanted to do something productive...

August Boredom Edit from DixieBMX on Vimeo.

The biggest blog post ever.

2010-08-02T19:55:00.004-05:00

Yeah. I have a serious amount of pictures I wanna share. The trip was fun, maddening, delicious, hot, refreshing, full of Mexican minerals, rain soaked, and over all totally worth it.

Anna and Lauren hanging out on day one...

Some boy antics...

Fliphappy Crepes as seen on "Throwdown with Bobby Flay". Delicious. Amazingly so.

More crepes and the family enjoying them. Except for Phoenix. He didn't want one.

Anna chilling. Aunt Amy send that necklace back!

Lauren enjoyed it, I think...

Pho and his Mama.

Mica and I had a date night. We went to Shakespeare's and did not see a single Austin pro. Or Brooke Destroys.

Yours truly enjoying a pint...

I rode the Empire bowl on 2 different occasions. By myself. It was awesome, but riding solo can get lonely. Also, 120 degrees in there. No shit.

Later that night we went to Homeslice, home of the best pizza I have ever had.

Garrett, if nothing else, loves pizza. Totally.

Friday was the last full day in the ATX. We crammed as much as we could into that day. Started at 9th St...

It had rained a lot, so most of the jumps were out of order, but Ocean got to charge the table top sixpack...

Phoenix mean muggin' at the jumps.

Ocean looking P-R-O.

Some of the brood...

After 9th, we hit up Barton Springs to swim. Then off to Daily Juice for some smoothies, Empire for goodbyes (and so Tina could meet Anna) then...T1. Boom.

Garrett made fast friends with Joe. He had him watching every trick he tried. Joe has a new fan. Oh yeah! Also, Garrett declared the ramp as "beast".

The Ultimate Male blasting the ramp. He hadn't ridden in a while because of some elbow tendonitis, but still rules and deserves our tribute. All hail T1!

Ocean got some new pedals and Joe put them on for him. Nice!

Me after I jumped the spine (no pics, because I just went for it and made it!) and right before the kids broke down.

Anna, lurking. Lurker.

Before I left, I asked Joe if I could get a pic with him. He was down with it.

There and back again...

2010-08-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of pics I wanna share, but I am also a selfish prick who wanted to get some of this stuff up quickly. The ATX excursion was rough in some ways, mostly because of the weather. We still had a good time, I became addicted to Topo Chico water, I rode the Empire bowl by myself a few times, was remembered by Owen, ate at Rudy's, swam in Barton Springs, watched my nephew give everyone the goat, had my sister make snickerdoodles only to have me forget them and then I rode T1 with Joe Rich. That was quite the banger ending, really. I have some thoughts about this that I would like to explore later, but just know that Joe is a welcoming, warm and genuine person. Terrible One for life, man.

Austin, TX day two...

2010-07-27T15:47:00.001-05:00

I skipped day one because day one was mostly just us chilling and recovering from a hellacious drive. Note to Arkansas, you are a terrible state simply because you chose to harbor and provide comfort to mosquitos. Swarms of them. Holy hell.

Anna had not seen her cousin Lauren in a good bit, and I think she was kinda shocked at how much she has grown up. The boys are nuts. All of them. It's a damn scene. We rode Empire today (for about 20 minutes before it just got too hot) and Mica took a picture of me. That is a fast ramp. Thanks to Tom and Tina for the amazing hospitality.

B-Roll stuff. Kinda. Or something.

2010-07-17T21:27:00.003-05:00

Not much new happening in the world of me. School has been working me silly, but we are in the last week of that for the summer and then I get a little break. I went through some pics and wanted to post up some stuff that didn't make it into posts of a regular nature for some reason or another. There's a pic of me doing a wall ride that Adam took with my camera, there's a couple of pics of Harter the night I finally got my flashes to work decently and some other stuff. Anyways, take a look.

Tim Lewis omission post

2010-07-12T20:51:00.000-05:00

I posted up (I thought) some pics of Tim riding at Bigfoot the other day, but the links shit the bed and...I have no idea. I don't write code. I punch blue and white jumper wires down for a living. Whatever. Sorry Tim.

Oh, there is a wheelbarrow too. Whee!

I'M GOING STREET RIDING

2010-07-12T20:40:00.001-05:00

I actually did. Rode like, three spots. That is a lot for this dude these days. At the tender age of thirty-five, I don't really go tearing around the city with my camera gear strapped to me. So, the first offering is Jon Harter with a footplant on the Butcher Shop Wall. It totally came out the way that I wanted it to, which is rare.

Next we have Chase at this "under a bridge spot" near the Butcher wall. This was, I think, his sixth tuck no hander down this huge bank, and really...it was the best one. Flashes not firing and late shutter clicks were a bitch, but it was worth it.

Harter riding the curb-stack sub downtown. This spot has been around for a bit, and the last time I rode it I was probably in my twenties. Maybe that is exaggerating. Anyways, we rode it, I screamed a bit and whatever. Stephen+Street=Hockey Temper. Jon liked it.

Welcome to Earf.

2010-07-07T18:31:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Hollywood, I can't think of Indpendence Day without thinking of President Bill Pullman giving his rousing speech to the remnants of American humanity urging them to celebrate their independence from being obliterated by an alien force. Thanks. A lot. We went to Taylor and John's for the holiday and stuff was blown up, drank, eaten, mocked and generally celebrated. It was a good time and I promised Taylor that next go round, I will bring her some Makers Mark. Pics or it didn't happen (it did)...

New bike for Mica and Trails Tuesday...

2010-07-07T18:14:00.002-05:00

Mica has been on me to get her a bike for some time now. Every time that I saddle up to go hunting for one, I come back empty handed. Until today. Boom.

Yesterday was Trails Tuesday. As it was my off week as a dad (though really, I am always on call for dad duty, which is way okay with me) I headed up with camera and water in tow. I am not gonna write clever captions for this shit, as English Lit has me on the ropes today, but I wanted to get the pics up. It was hotter than two rats fu@king in a wool sock, btw.

Pics from the 4th in a bit. Garrett liked explosions. He's got a future, that kid. Anna liked shooting me. She's gonna hate Christmas this year.

I count myself among those who love Futurama.

2010-06-30T20:18:00.003-05:00

Would totally smash a cyclops. SMASH.

Anyhow...how you people doing? Well? I hope so. Things have been hectic at the Dixie Ranch, but we're getting things settled down and rounding into form. School is progressing at a decent clip and a degree is within sight. Just have to get some math outta the way. I hate math.

Took some pictures of actual street riding the other day, which is rare for me because I am old and never really get out and pedal around town much anymore. I should.

Jon Harter is probably one of the best all around riders in Knoxville at this moment. He is angry, a ginger and looks a bit like a primate. These are good things. He iced quite a bit of this ledge...

From Pictures for Blog

Then he 180'd off the ledge over a sidewalk and into the street...

From Pictures for Blog

It wouldn't be me though without a park pic. Adam just sorta learned this junk...

From Pictures for Blog

More later. Go Germany!

Raw Dogggggg

2010-06-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

Testing out my Picasa setup on the Mac. I think this is gonna be okay...

Maybe I am a sore loser...

2010-06-20T15:55:00.002-05:00

but when I have what was essentially my most horrific moment on a BMX bike happen, I don't really want to see a picture of it. I guess part of me felt like the guy was really trying to "get the crash", but whatever. It bummed me out...especially given what I went through earlier in the week when I was thrust into the position of delivering first aid to a guy that went down really hard on his bike at the skatepark.

I am sure I'll grow as a person from this or something. Just doesn't feel like it right now.

Don't take your guns to town.

2010-06-09T18:46:00.008-05:00

Seriously.

Anyways, we had some decent weather at the beginning of the week, so we got started on Monday at Bigfoot. Most of the Knoxville crew will be at Bonaroo for the remainder of the week. As I am over the age of 30 and have access to iTunes, I will stay home and listen to the music.

So, like I said, some riding took place. Pictures!

This is the take off of one of the jumps. Tennessee clay sucks sometimes. To be fair, this is normally used by mountain bikers and they seem to not give a hell.

Adam gets roasty.

Tim flows and probably shouts an obscenity mid-jump.

Adam shot me going around the bend. I liked the picture. Which pains me.

Oh, I also put together a really uninspiring edit, but I am working on it. iMovie is fun.

Dixie's Knoxville Edit. from DixieBMX on Vimeo.

Got a camera with which I can make videos.

2010-06-04T21:48:00.002-05:00

First clip with new camera. from DixieBMX on Vimeo.

Yep.

More to come.

School's in.

2010-06-01T20:00:00.004-05:00

I started my summer classes today. All online stuff, so I hope I can handle it okay. I have in the past, but it gets progressively more difficult, which I suppose is the point. I'll have to write a short story by the end of the month...no idea how that is gonna pan out.

Recently, I was afforded the opportunity to contribute to the Least/Most site via an interview with Bobby Fisher. As I have some pretty good access to ol' Bob, it was easy to compile and Bobby was glad to do it. Go over to Least/Most and check it out if you haven't seen it already.

Anna's last day of school passed recently and she pulled in quite a few awards. Garrett went to the ceremony with us and displayed some pride in his sissy. He is pretty set on going to the same school as her, so we'll see what happens.

Tim Lewis tried the new line at Bigfoot, but the results were...a case study in not being ready. CASE STUDY. See what I did there? God...shoot me.

I left this shot of Adam off of my last post. It was decent. I can't wait to get over that jump. Two in the line down...two to go. The eight pack will be slain this summer.

I am thinking about posting a bike check later on this week. Self-indulgent bullshit, I reckon.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

2010-05-15T20:46:00.002-05:00

This is the title of one of Mica's favorite books. I have never read it, and in all honesty, I probably never will. But for some reason the title has always sort of stayed with me and struck a chord of some sort. The idea of being a lonely hunter entered my mind today when I arrived at a totally empty skatepark at noon on a warm, dry Saturday. I couldn't even bring myself to ride it. Partly out of the fear of wrecking and knocking myself out with no one around, but also because I just felt no desire to do this alone. I like having friends there.

I mean, look at this...

It was a little depressing until Adam got there...then Tim got there...and then we went to Bigfoot.

Adam tables the hip...

Tim rides my bike while waiting for his tube patch to dry. I was zoomed way out, but I liked the vastness of things here...

Tim is always ready to party. Always.

Adam cranks out a turndown like a damn man over the last biggie in the eight-pack. Then he engaged in jello shots or some shit. I don't even...

Worth noting here that Mica's hair looked really nice today. Just sayin'...

Garrett vs. the Volcano

2010-05-02T17:10:00.002-05:00

I got Garrett a day earlier than normal this week, which meant that when I woke up Sunday morning, I had a friend to go to the park with. He was pretty siked about going once he realized what I was actually talking about.

"Can I grind this?" is probably the most asked question by Garrett besides, "Can I have some apple juice?" Yes G, you can grind the hell out of that...

The impetus for the title. This picture said so much...but the funnier thing to me was Garrett's demand that he get into the bowl to ride it.

When we got back, Garrett had a power banana and about 3 glasses of chocolate milk. This gave him the power to go out back and ride the dirt. GOTTA FIX THE LIP FIRST, DAD.

He even had the technique down. *slap and smooth*

Gotta make that backside hold up!

He just looks the part. I'll get you a new hat, buddy. Dang dog.

Step the game up.

2010-04-28T21:07:00.002-05:00

I got some love from least/most this week, which stoked me the hell out. I think Tim might have popped a little. Then today I got an email from BMX legend Kelly Baker telling me that he read almost my entire blog...so if Mr. Baker is down then I feel pretty good.

Skatepark session today! I took a lot of pics, but two I really liked a lot...both of Adam. Even though he's got a girlfriend that is waaaay to into firearms for my liking, I am okay with Mr. Haynes.

Hip table from a different angle. I typically shoot the same angles at the park, so I tried some different stuff today.

Then I busted out the commander mode on the flash. The sky abides.

Kids! Anna and Garrett got their bike on this past Sunday. Check out Anna's grips. This is where my old T1's go to die...

Garrett is still obsessed with Aaron Ross. To the point where he brushed his teeth because I told him Aaron does. Thankfully, Mr Ross confirmed this for me.

Yes sir!

Stripped and strangled.

2010-04-18T08:34:00.002-05:00

My stem bolts stripped out, which if I had one complaint about the Fly stem it is that it looks...fragile. And it kinda is. If T-1 could get that stem out and about, I'd be happy. As it is, I am thinking that I will just put this Fit stem on that is sitting here. Ugh. I have such conflicted feelings about that company.

Bah.

Shot photos yesterday at Bigfoot and several came out pretty sweet. Jon is forever bitching about his lack of pictures, so here you go, Harter.

Adam was the genesis of my stem issues because he agreed to swap out forks with me. Then...boom. His girlfriend gave me the inside poop on some actual dirt, so some is forgiven.

He managed to get a wallride to table, and even almost killed me on one attempt. It was worth it.

Birthday boy. Tim Lewis was the impetus for going to the jumps, so here he is. Speedy wallrides with Harter lurking...fun times...

Then...the best picture I think I have ever taken...

My hands smell like bleach and brownies.

2010-04-05T19:17:00.002-05:00

I just cleaned the bathroom with bleach, then figured my hands must be pretty clean since I had them in bleach, so I grabbed a brownie and ate it. So far, no ill effects. Sweet.

I've been taking pictures at a bit of a clip lately, but have not really felt motivated to develop and post. And when I say develop, I mean "adjust color balance and resize". Garrett has really taken to wearing his Yankees hat, and was made aware this morning that the Yanks started 2010 with a loss to the Sox. This is the way things go at times. He'll never know the joys of the curse...man...that was some funny shit. Red Sox fans were at least tolerable when they couldn't win. Hahaha.

So yeah, pictures...yes. Some dudes from MIA were up here last week, and were clearly better than the rest of us. My excuse is that I am old. No one else has one. Step it up, boys.

Chris from Miami threw a truck over the spine I think on his second actual attempt.

Adam from the same south Florida area tossed the bars up this bank while serving as a double for Tony Hamlin. No idea if he has a poop obsession.

Biggs is not from south Florida, but he kept up. I had the camera sitting in my lap when I snapped this at random. I liked the way it came out...

I went to Bigfoot the other day (not ripping skin off of my body on this trip) and got some pics in before it got too dark. Tim Lewis has such a good style...easily one of my favorite riders to watch flow something.

Garrett is about ready to step up to something with pedals. He wrecks on purpose and says, "that was a bad idea." Sometimes he throws his bike and says, "I'M AARON ROSS!"

Serious kids are serious.

Brixx Pizza kinda sucks.

2010-03-08T10:13:00.002-05:00

Next time, sushi. Corey is banned from picking restaurants. BANNED.

But he's cute as a button, at least...

even if his bike looks like a bag of ass. Fix that back wheel, son!

Adam went to Charleston to see the sun rise on the beach. When you are 20, you get to do such things.

Not sure what is going on with Tim's head in this picture. At first I thought it was lens distortion. Now I just think he's probably Sinestro from the Green Lantern comics.

Color me badddddddd...

2010-03-07T16:56:00.002-05:00

Anna had artwork on display at her school the other day. Being the good ol' pops that I am, I headed over to the school with camera in tow to document it all. This is what she made...

...and here is the artist looking very cosmopolitan...

I always liked the way clocks look in old schools...

Rode some bikes this weekend despite still feeling like shit from my cold that I found somewhere in the dead of night. Tim Lewis learnt himself turndowns over the hip, which was pretty swaggish...

I'll have some more pics up later. I haven't "developed" them yet.

Adam, have fun in Charleston. Try to remember that it is still technically winter.

Also, to the ginger skater at the park who seems to enjoy bowls of arrogance for breakfast, GTFO.

Seriously, you're kind of a bitch.

Baby Garrett finna hit dat bird walk...

2010-02-27T14:53:00.002-05:00

A new albeit smallish skate park/plaza opened up down the street from my house recently. As I had been participating in a lot of night work this past week, I opted to take Friday off to recoup. Since the sun was out and the temp went over 40, I suited up two of the boys and headed to this park to let them roll around a little. Garrett absolutely loved it, which of course makes me smile as big as can be. I have been careful to not push BMX on him; I mean I will put a video in and if he wants to watch it, he can, but I never make him. He charged around the place and wore a huge smile the whole time.

Ocean hasn't ridden in a while, but expressed some enthusiasm about it, so I tightened his chain and turned him loose.

Here is where the title of the post comes into play. Garrett dropped in on his first ramp on his own yesterday. Now...that makes this old man proud as can be...

Let's warm up, please?

A delicate sense of imbalance

2010-02-08T18:38:00.002-05:00

I refuse to believe that the slide into being terrible on a bike due to old age is something dramatic and all encompassing. I prefer to think that my bad outing was the result of my configuration, my extreme lack of sleep, my having lost a lot of strength due to the flu that wiped me out last month or something similar. I came home tonight and put the top load back on and took the trick sticks back off. The balance of the machine feels a little better and I hope that translates into some better days out there. This has been a rough winter and I think that this is the most I have looked forward to the arrival of spring in a long time...

Garrett got a Black and Decker tool set for a belated xmas present from Anna's Kay and it he said, "this is the biggest toy ever."

The goggles! They do nothing!

Snaps from today's session...

Timmy Lewis would like you to know that he has never done commercials for Six Flags over anywhere.

Adam gets excited about damn home haircuts.

This is probably the best pic of a table that I have ever gotten from Adam. Who knows...I am old and probably forgot the other ones that were better.

2009, we hardly knew you.

2009-12-30T18:22:00.002-05:00

It's been a rough year, no question about it. We've pulled through and the prospects from 2010 look decent. I managed to make A's in both classes this past semester, something that I had not yet accomplished (always an A and a B). Mica graduated from UT this past semester, so the future will hopefully be bright.

Here are a couple of the last shots of 2009. We got the the skatepark Sunday morning and the gates were locked, which caused some consternation because the thermometer was actually above 49. This concrete wall on a column for the interstate is right outside of the park and it gives me a laugh to see how much we ride that when we have this nice park 100 feet away.

It seems like if you are gonna hail from Knoxville as a BMX'er...you better be able to do a hop wallride from flat. The ghost of Bobby Fisher mandates this. Lumberjack enthusiast Corey obliges...

I am thinking about doing some different stuff with the blog in 2010, so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving...or the day my appendix died.

2009-11-26T11:02:00.002-05:00

I got up this morning to some pretty sharp pain in my side...where my appendix is...and I know that I still have mine, so I am a little worried that I am about to visit the hospital over the next 24 hours. Sweet.

I rode the other night at the park and several of the dudes were in attendance, so that was pretty good. A healthy mix of skaters and BMX all getting along. I can only assume that it was due to the holiday season being upon us.

Out of all the pictures I snapped, this one of Neebo is my favorite. He was working on these over-footjams and the emptiness of the park in the picture really looked nice.

I really enjoy riding with Tim; he's got a good style and a pretty good attitude about things.

Adam might have left cougar-town, but he's still a funny retard that makes a session interesting. Even if he's uglier than Dak...

David is now the unofficial local park shredder, I reckon. He's got a hand-me-down bike and makes me feel bad for owning a dialed machine, but I'll get over it.

My daughter cleaned up her room in anticipation of getting more stuff to fill it with for Christmas. I was standing outside helping Mica with the lights when I took this. Creeping...

In the process of cleaning, she found her Curious George that I got her some time ago...like 2 years...and Garrett took over.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So I got to thinking...

2009-11-18T13:38:00.003-05:00

about getting to meet the man that inspired me in such a way after posting about it earlier today. I had met Joe before when he rode for Standard while Bobby rode for them and he was nice as could be back then. That was during the Superdome days, and I can still see Taj doing downside whips on vert while "We Are 138" plays in my head. The next time I would see the Ultimate Male was on New Year's Day, 2008. It was cold and he was busier than he'd have liked, but he still obliged my visit to Terrible One and let me ride the ramp, albeit by myself. I was so awestruck by everything that I never thought to get my picture taken with him or anything like that. In fact, this is the only shot I have of him...

Oh well. If I ever meet him again, I'll be better equipped mentally.

As I was flicking through my pics of that day, I ran across this...Joe Rich poops there...

10 years later and I still wanna live lightly...

2009-11-18T10:38:00.004-05:00

A friend put up the Joe Rich Props interview on youtube today (see it here)and there is not really a way that I can quantify how much these 9 minutes shaped my BMX life. I never managed to grow any dreads or get tattoos, but I did try to stay positive in the face of some pretty harsh things (two knee surgeries) and when confronted with trying a new trick, I would ask myself, "would Joe Rich hesitate right now?"

It was a seminal item for me. These days it feels like Terrible One is more of an ideal than a company, but what Joe and Taj put out there at the end of the 1990's was real and tactile and had more of an impact than I think they realize.

Now I want to build a street spine.

My appearance is substandard.

2009-11-09T21:23:00.002-05:00

I have now given three speeches in my public speaking class. On the two of them, I have had points deducted for my appearance being "substandard". Nice.

Garrett is getting more and more capable. This is truly a joy to see and I am thankful that I have people in my life that we able to help me get things back in order.

I guess he owes Ocean some strings, but damn, he really likes that guitar...

They are getting bigger and I am getting older.

My arm is really sore right now, but I tried to ride anyways. Things are stabilizing in my head, but I still feel a little off. I took some pictures...Adam getting radical...

Tim has these tire slides in the bowl that are a delight. The Sword would probably approve...

Getting back to normal...

2009-11-03T22:52:00.002-05:00

It's been a crazy last few weeks, but we are getting back to it. Garrett is doing so awesome with his potty training...he gets up on his own (usually by calling for one of us) in the middle of the night to make deposits in the pee bank, which is excellent for a three-year-old.

Anna is killing it in school and was a great zombie cheerleader for Halloween (pics later). I am so very proud of that kid.

Ocean has switched back to skateboarding again. This would be frustrating as hell were it not for the fact that his bike was so unbelievably inexpensive.

Phoenix needs to use less conditioner.

This "house check" for the BMX house in Austin, TX was awesome. I lived in a rider house for a bit and looking back...it was probably some of the best fun I had in my 20's. God, that was a long time ago.

http://www.odysseybmx.com/dailyword/2009/11/austin-bmx-house-check/

Of patches and pumpkins

2009-10-13T20:26:00.002-05:00

We took the kids to the corn maze/pumpkin patch on Sunday. It was a very much a wonderful time and I am pretty sure they had a great day, which is all I can ask for as a father.

More to come...

All of these worlds are yours except Europa.

2009-10-10T10:42:00.005-05:00

Attempt no landings there.

I saw this title on a Gizmodo blog earlier in the week and it served to remind me how much I love that line from 2010: The Year We Make Contact. I feel like I missed my calling, since I am absolutely captivated by anything that has to do with space exploration. Anna seems to have an interest in it though, so perhaps I will live vicariously through her. The idea that there is a vast intelligence out there that essentially gives the evolutionary process a nudge is tantalizing, to say the least.

So, on to other things. Given the current state of affairs, the motivation to ride my bike or get out and take pictures has been sapped. My world is very much in limbo, which affects everything. My focus on school has not been as sharp, while my focus on work has increased in an effort to occupy my mind so that I do not dwell on what lay ahead of me and my family. It is my hope that a return to sanity and normalcy is on the horizon and that sound reason will dictate matters...not raw emotion.

So, while the will to do much else has been absent, I was coaxed outside on a Sunday a few weeks back and took some pictures of friends from Johnson City. All of those guys are committed riders and are genuinely good humans as well. Check it...

Jake Hunter with experiments in facial hair!

Jake Booher with failures in facial hair. Makes up for it in boost.

Will Love with confirmation that he is pretty good.

I can never remember this guy's name. Sorry, good guy.

So, Garrett is in the living room with Anna reading some books, so I will have some more pics up later of kids. Being a dad ain't at all bad.

The old world is rapidly fading.

2009-09-20T19:28:00.002-05:00

Yes, the times they are a changing. It's pretty unoriginal to quote Bob Dylan here, but that is just about the best way I can sum up what is happening in the world concerning my family. Many of you know the situation that I am facing, and I appreciate the concern and kindness that I have received from my friends. I really don't want to get into it here, but just know that we are working very hard to get things back to normal. The kids are stressed out about as much as Mica and I are, but everyone knows that no matter what happens, we're still a family and nothing will tear that down.

We got to celebrate Garrett's birthday last weekend, and with the inclusion of BMX stuff, skateboard stuff and pizza, the G was in some sort of 3 year old boy heaven.

Under the watchful eye of big sister as he makes his wish...

My little sister Jaime brought Anna and Garrett's cousins for the celebration. This shot was about as close as I got to getting them all in there...Aiden is chilling on the floor...Madison is breathing on someone out of the frame...

We had a pinata, and though he is blurry, the look on my son's face is priceless. Also...looks like he might be a lefty. Just like his old man. We're awesome.

Aunt Amy sent over a special pillow case for his birthday that he loved. He made great use of it after passing out at the end of a really awesome day. I'll eat you up I love you so...

I'll have some BMX pics up in a bit. Thanks to Corey for the header design. I am a fan.

Happy birthday, son.

2009-09-07T09:04:00.002-05:00

We've come a long way from the day you came home.

We've got many more years of wrestling time and seesaw riding ahead of us.

Happy 3rd birthday. I love you.

Things have changed.

2009-09-04T22:05:00.001-05:00

That is all I can say right now. Well, I can also say this...

I'll eat you up I love you so.

Honk if Fox News needs a death panel...

2009-08-20T16:24:00.002-05:00

So I finally got around to uploading some beach pictures to the big computer that I am on now. The beach is an oddity for me. My love of BMX tells me that I need to live in Austin, TX, but the rest of me wants to be near the sea for the rest of my days. I cannot account for this other than to believe that this is the substance from whence we originated all those eons ago and that we as a species are wired to be drawn to it.

Look! A Hemingway book!

Mica looked really nice here, and this was a pretty awesome evening on the beach. So really, the picture could not fail, despite my inability to photograph.

This picture was important for me to have. These two people are at least half the reason that I am alive, and they are excellent in so many ways. I really hope that healthcare stuff goes through because they deserve it. I'd gladly pay a little more for them to be taken care of.

Kid pics on the last days of summer. Anna loves school so she is stoked.

Garrett is just happy to be a part of things. In less than a month, he will be three.

Ocean got a new frame thanks to the awesome that is BMX board. 13 bucks is a hell of a price to pay for a bike. Chris is awesome.

It's not the heat...it's the humidity...and the miles.

2009-08-12T13:23:00.003-05:00

My knees are killing me a little. When I have rode the last two times, I have had to cut the sessions short because of the aching in them. I am gonna try icing them and try doing some stretches. If that doesn't work, I might just start eating Advil again. So, I was looking at old pictures that I have stored on the internet and found some of old bike set-ups and old pictures. I think I might have even posted some of these before, but it is always interesting to look back at how horrible of a rider I used to be and how I have progressed to "just being not all that good".

Anyways, here is a shot of my Barcode, circa 2003. I had just gotten laid off of work and gotten a pretty nice severance package. It was just Anna and I, so after I bought her an inordinate amount of toys, I treated myself to a new bike...

Compare that to my current T-1...we've come a little ways...

This was me on my electric blue STA in 1999. I had just exited a very bad relationship and moved in with Robert Lee Fisher. He got me a deal on a new frame and I ran with it. This bike was probably as heavy as two modern bikes. Full english hop to ledge feeble...

I can't even tell you the last feeble grind I did. Now it's all about the 270's over the hip. (poached from Corey's site)...

I would be unwise to not mention that I am now engaged! So I will mention it...here. Thanks for the well wishes, facebook people!

It's eye opening when...

2009-08-01T09:23:00.002-05:00

TerribleOne updates their page 3 times since my last update. Yeah, I have been really slack. I have no excuse other than the usual- school, work, kids, taking Mica to Nashville so she can see Neko Case. By now, I know my way around the city pretty well. I rode the concrete park and bashed my knee...

So after I dropped Mica and Shelly off at the Ryman for the show, I motored to 6th Ave. skatepark and rode with about 6 other skaters for a little over an hour. It was hot and I was the only BMX'er so I wore myself out.

The Corey had his house warming party a bit back and I took some pictures of the proceedings. His house is amazing and I am really stoked for him and Shauna. I am gonna continue to pressure him on the desk. DESK.
Stick your wiener in the cook's mouth...

Always watching, always judging...

I have officially pulled 2 of these on transition. Old dogs represent.

Corey has tables OVER the hip now. Way the hell over.

So, I might take this coming week off of work. I am done with school and need a little break. Also, this is awesome- ULTIMATE MALE

One of these things is not like the other...

2009-07-05T18:21:00.002-05:00

but actually it is. Corey had a lens from work at his disposal and since we both shoot with Nikon, that meant I got to play with it a little, too. It was a Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 and it was nice and sharp. At $2,000, that means I will likely never own one, which I was lamenting a little until I took a picture with my $100 Nikon 50mm 1.8 that Mica got me for Christmas. I have to say, it was pretty damn sharp when put up against the 70-200. Check it...

This was with the big gun...

This was with my 50mm...

And this was my obligatory art shot with the 70-200, since I had it on my rig and all...

I have some stuff of a BMX nature to discuss in the next blog, so be ready.

Another man's bike...

2009-07-03T21:00:00.003-05:00

Money doesn't get much these days. We're on the verge of super-inflation and though the economy has pretty much hit bottom...the bottom still sucks. That said, if a man is willing to take less than market for a complete bike...you jump on that shit. JUMP.

This is what I got...

I stopped by CMac's house earlier and we goofed off. I ate shit on a manual on his bike because his pegs are on the wrong side. And he has no brakes. Picture me rollin'...

Corey can hop higher than most people in Knoxville...while wearing flip flops. No shit. None. We are devoid of shit.

Sunday Bikes used a pic I took of Alex on their news page. No photo credit, but it's cool. I am stoked to see a picture that I snapped on a pretty reputable bike maker's page. If they wanna send me some forks, we'll call it even. I kid. Sort of. Yeah, I kid.

Sarah Palin is stepping down. Happy birthday America indeed!

Up up and away to the Yacht Club...

2009-07-01T21:22:00.002-05:00

My big sister is in town (hailing from Austin, TX) and she brought her kids. The last time Garrett really saw Cooper was when we were in Austin about 1.5 years ago, and Coop was just a baby. He is more ambulatory now, so Garrett and Coop played like old college buddies...

Lauren is my big sister's oldest (on the left) and the girls put on like they really get along great. The unseen here is that most girls are competitive as 40 hells and do not get along at all...even when they are blood. But girls can fake it like a mother fugger...

This past Monday was guest bartender night at the Fort Sanders Yacht Club. This place is a bar that I could spend far too much time in, and probably will. Fisher Tire brought the skills to fill the pints and that meant Bobby and Brad were bringing it.

The barcade...

The Brothers Fish...

Brad knows that the Yankees are surging...

Bobby pulling an Uncle Rico. If coach had put him in, the would have won state...

Representing!

We "premiered" the Sunday video at the bar and let me just say that Alex Magallan has the best part and should be getting paid to ride very soon.

Johnny was there. He didn't know this doubled as a makeup birthday party for me...

Taylor will be glad to know that Mica has a book with mountain folk remedies and "freckles" is one of the ailments that can be cured!

Oh hai...

Rate my grizz...

2009-06-28T10:24:00.002-05:00

Glenn Frey song writing shit style can best sum up the present course of summer at this time. The heat is indeed on. It's fucking Africa hot up in here, although in Africa, there isn't enough moisture to add the humidity to the equation. Still, I'd rather have this over sub-freezing temps any day.

Ride UK's photo issue is out and really pretty good. If you ride and take pictures, I highly recommend picking it up as there are some good pointers in there as well as a really interesting article about doing a photo shoot with a large format camera and a radioactive lens.

I got a 97 on my first Western Civ II exam, which means I am pretty awesome.

Mica discovered the joy of a BBQ sandwich with slaw on it last night. This changes everything.

Now, I am in the process of learning grizz airs. I landed one last night, but I have a little ways to go on this. Tell me what you think...

Adam was on hand to ride against the backdrop of the setting fireball and gave me an invert to document, which was nice...

Then Biggs shows up and blasts over everything into the grass. Ian Schwartz might not be stoked on that, but I wasn't stoked on his part in the Sunday video, so there...

Speaking of...belated as fuck Sunday video premiere at the Yacht Club on Monday night. Fisher Tire boys will be the guest bartenders, so show up and support washed up BMX'ers and play some Street Fighter II.

My kids on bikes.

2009-06-23T18:31:00.003-05:00

Weird, I know. It only took Anna eight years to learn how to ride one. When she got going, she was gone. It was awesome and she seems pretty comfortable on it. I even put some T1 grips on there for her since she complained the the stock grips on it hurt her hands.

See me rollin'...

And then she was gone...

I bought Garrett one of those scooter bikes. It functions like a bike with no drive train or pedals. He loves the damn thing and motors all over the house and yard and driveway with it. He's getting the balance down pretty well and will be throwing this thing like his hero in no time.

Yankees start the night 4 games back. Consider this my first rally post of 2009.

School is in for summer...

2009-06-06T18:14:00.002-05:00

And it kinda sucks. But I am doing my best with the fast pace of it all, but this is something that I am wholly not accustomed to. Next week I will turn 34, and I have to say that I am somewhat pleased with where I am in my life up to this point. I have wonderful kids, an amazing woman who give the vibe that she actually likes to be around me, own a home, am working towards a college degree and I have a solid job. Not bad for a kid that used to think he was going to be a naval aviator. PERMISSION TO BUZZ THE TOWER.

I am working on amassing a portfolio to submit to a gallery. I have no idea what I'll send in...not a clue. Probably not any of these, but I like them just the same. Custom white balance is where it is at!

Corey tossing out a toboggan at the park. I thought the pic looked blurry, and because of that I totally dragged my feet on uploading this. Not terrible, actually...

Ocean roasting it. In picture form, it is impossible to discern how much he runs his mouth.

Garrett just found out that Rick Ross dropped a new album...

We took the kids to the fountains today. Garrett was totally against it until we got there and then...

Anna took a picture of me, making her the youngest person to hold my camera. Scary.

Most of the time, they are antagonists.

No batteries for a Camera Obscura and other forgotten messes.

2009-05-29T21:05:00.003-05:00

Mica and I made the three hour jaunt over to Nashville to see Camera Obscura and I was excited to go and get some pictures of the band. When we got there, I took out the camera and my batteries were dead. Dead dead. And I forgot my charger. And my AA battery conversion tray. Then I forgot the tickets at Shelly's house on the way to the show, so we had to go back. Which would have been okay except for the part where we were in a taxi. Then we got to the show and were right next to the stage...as in my left arm was resting on it. It was a good show and I have a new appreciation for the band as the keyboard player filled two of my requirements, she was cute and she likely had a Scottish accent. Fuck and yes. Also, she drinks Bud Select, so she is my kind of trashy. Anyways, I snagged the set list for Mica, so I at least had that going for me.

We painted (and by that I mean Mica painted) the rooms, and the living room came out really nice. I really like hanging out in there now.

On Memorial Day, we went to Chip's for a cookout. A fire was started but Brandon Knox (aka the Boy Who Can Fly) dumped some gas on the fire. Literally.

The rain proved too much though, and we retreated to a shed where I took these pics of the varying couples...

Park riding tonight! And hardly any BMX presence, which was a shame because I think I actually had it working tonight from a camera perspective.

Tim...

Nate Holder did this invert and proclaimed that it was the best one he had ever done. I barely got this. I wasn't even looking through the eye piece.

I asked Josh what he had for me in the peanut bowl. He said he had some game, so he tossed out a pretty roasted front side air to prove that while he might be a kid, he is a man-kid.

Poached eggs

2009-05-26T09:09:00.002-05:00

So Corey has been sitting on some pics for a bit since the newest issue of Metro Pulse ran a BMX picture feature that he took all the photos for. He didn't want anything out there that might be used in the issue, which is pretty standard fare, really. He's a great photographer (much better than myself) and the article was pretty cool. Anyways, he had these photos, some used/not used, and there were a few of me in there so for lack of better term, I stole them. Straight up. But as I have stated before, there aren't that many pictures of me on my bike out there in the world, so I feel okay about indulging here.

Tonight I am going to take some photos of the new house set up, so be on the look out.

If you want.

Talk to you later.

Happy Memorial Day. This is siiiiiiick.

2009-05-25T08:37:00.001-05:00

From Deluxe BMX, it's a Dave King video, which are always some of the best edits out there.

Relentless Energy - Matt Priest from Dave King on Vimeo.

More later.

My big day...

2009-05-20T21:25:00.002-05:00

Corey works for the local "alternative" paper, Metropulse and they did a BMX article in this week's issue. With that I got two full color pics of me riding in there. I have never gotten any kind of coverage whatsoever, with the exception of Joe Rich running a letter I wrote to him about the T-1 video on his site and Crandall putting a pic of Bobby and I drinking beer on the FBM site. But nothing with me actually on the bike. So this, while it isn't a riding publication or something, is still pretty neat for me.

Also, while riding the park today, we ran into fellow BMX'er and power forward for the University of Tennessee basketball team Wayne Chism. He was awesome, funny, rode my bike and generally made the day of a few of us there.

Chizz roasting it over the fly box...

Chizz and Andy Cornell. Andy took off for the moon shortly afterwards...

Chizz and I. He rode the T-1 and was stoked on the chrome. Fuck yeah.

Biggs did a fucking gnarly tailwhip into the new sod. It was sick and he took it pretty hard a couple of times. His girlfriend was visibly shaken on one crash, so it was a little nuts. But damn, he nailed it.

TO THE MOON!

Do you ever just wish it would rain?

2009-05-17T22:03:00.002-05:00

Been gone. We've been really busy re-doing some house stuff. When it is all done, I will post up some pics. I also had to go to a team building thing for much of the week for work. That is where this pic of the Smoky Mountains is from...

The clouds held off long enough today to let us ride some. Actually, I think it got too cold to rain...maybe. But as soon as the concrete was dry we went for it. Michael Tetro is awfully Chase Hawk-ish over the spine.

Corey went with the nose-bonk over prior to a later day pants-crotch explosion...

It would seem that Billy's curious practice of almost never talking to anyone caused some consternation with a female companion of a park rider...

Corey and Shauna came by tonight to check out the progress on the house and small session with myself, Corey and the kids on my street broke out. This little street in North Knoxville is saturated with BMX. I love it.
James up and over the street spine thing...

Corey hop table in my drive way. He'll have one of his own soon.

Ocean gets better every day he rides his bike.

Shortly after I learned tuck no-handers out of the bowl, I decided that doing them from a hop should be do-able for a 33 year old man. I got it.

Garrett came home tonight and we are trying him out in his toddler bed. So far so good. Because I am typing this at 11:15 pm and he is still asleep. I night-light'd the hall for when he wakes up in the next hour or so. I took some pics of him earlier and he was totally posing like he had been watching Foot Loose or something.

Flash? Who needs it?

2009-04-28T19:52:00.002-05:00

Day two of the park being shredded to bits by foreign invaders. Unlike Iraq, we welcomed our new BMX overlords. So much stuff went down that I didn't even photograph...Joe West and Joey Hill were just nuts. My flash batteries died like a dog so I just cranked up the ISO to 1600 to see what happens...a little noisy, but not terrible. I was pleased.

Joe West rides for Profile and totally killed the bowl. I imagine the severity of the beating was not unlike the one Charles Martel leveled upon the Moors in the 8th century. (Western Civ humor!)

Joey Hill is from Cincy and doesn't strike me as the sort of guy that loves Skyline Chili. Good. That stuff is nasty. Well, it is.

This is my playground...that I now feel very inferior in, mind you. But nonetheless, I will ride it and try to go faster and higher.

Stoked on being coffee'd

2009-04-27T16:05:00.011-05:00

Wrapping up the semester, which is a bit of a chore but I have some high hopes for all of this. It's 83 degrees out, but man, I wanted that coffee on the way home. So I got it. And I drank it like it was lemonade.

Knoxville's version of an Italian street fair, the Rossini Festival, took place this weekend. We took the kids, but the heat and the high prices associated with stick'd meat made me weary. But the kids loved it. So did my cougar.

Props Road Fools 17 rolled into town this weekend as well. I was sorta "meh" about it, but my attitude changed when I went out to the park and met some of the guys. First off, KC Badger is probably one of the raddest guys I have spoken with. Easy to talk to, funny and super smooth on a bike.

Chris Doyle was on board, and because I am a shitty photographer, I totally botched this. But I like that he has pepperoni nips! Woo!

Remember that post where I showcased the ANTHEM sticker on my bike? This guy is responsible for that video. BMX is better because of Stew. Fuck, that beard is something else...

Darryl Tocco does not care that the tranny on this side of the bowl is supposed to be harder to air out of. Not one bit. Jesus.

So in conclusion...buy some Badger Bars, Big Daddy is the truth, Catfish and DixieBMX met and no dicks were sucked, Anthem 2 is gonna be epic and when Bobby asked me if Rye looked any different, all I had was, "well Bob, he ain't taller."

RIDE!

Jon Stewart is my god.

2009-04-09T09:20:00.002-05:00

This should be mandatory viewing for many people...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Baracknophobia - Obey

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

I am tired of the "Obama is taking money from me and giving it to the lazy poor" or "Obama is turning America into a socialist country" or "Where's the change?"

Several things...

Unless you are making more than $250,000 a year, shut the fuck up. The proposed tax increase only applies to families making more than that. And if you are making $250,001 a year, I don't feel sorry for you that you'll have to maybe think twice before ordering NFL Sunday Ticket in HD this year. (hey, these social economic generalizations are fun! YOU WERE RIGHT!)

Socialism? How? Because of the health care bit? Well, of course you think so, you probably have good health insurance and haven't had something catastrophic happen to you or a loved one that wound up somehow not being covered by insurance and thus financially crippling your family. I understand that many people believe that America was built upon rugged individualism and a can do spirit which ties into the whole "work hard and you can do anything" idea...but wait. Was it? Here is the real story. The millionaires and billionaires of this land were incredibly driven men who made their fortunes on the backs of the workers that toiled long hours for small pay. Then the people came together and affected some change to get better working conditions and better pay (this, by the way is really hard to do by yourself). In every facet of corporate America, I have found that TEAMwork is the best bet. That teams achieve more. TEAMS win championships in sports. Why is that that good enough for every other part of life, but asking citizens of a country to act in concert to tackle some of our bigger issues is so dramatically horrible? What am I missing?

Where is the change? 10 FUCKING WEEKS. TEN. Bush had eight years to take a wrecking ball to this nation, but Obama has to have it fixed over a long weekend? Get over yourself. Please. Really. In the interest of fairness (you are fair and balanced, right?) he should at least be given a full term to tackle this "needs some paint and some TLC" country sized mess that Bush left him. And stop blaming Clinton for it, too. What, did you black out on some Mike's Hard Lemonade for the first part of the 21st century?

I will give Bush some props, though. He is pretty much keeping his mouth shut. He fucked up, he knows it and he is really hoping that he can just fade into Bolivia. I take my hand off to him.

I should be reading chapter 10

2009-04-07T20:39:00.002-05:00

But instead I am fresh off of the Wii Fit and am still being told by a game console that I am overweight. No words. No words.

My son got his hair cut this past weekend thanks to his mom (I supplied him with his first hair cut, but the mom sorta didn't like it so I removed myself from that duty for a bit out of a desire for peace) and for lack of better term...he looks different. Still cute...totally cute. It was one of those shocking moments for me. You can see his whole face which means you can see the whole expression he is leveling at you which means that my son is mean as hell. Apples and trees and proximity come to mind. I can dig it.

Look at this guy!

And then he's ready for the glam!

Chilling with sister and a mini skateboard...

Anna took a shower and looked ready for a Rainbow Gathering...

I poached this from Corey. I like pictures of me on my bike NOT riding the park. Sweet!

Hell yes. Time to go do some sit ups! Fatty!

Land war in Asia and other things that you shouldn't do...

2009-04-06T12:08:00.004-05:00

Say "last try" before dropping in.

Go to the skate park twice in one day.

Discuss politics...especially if you are uninformed and Republican.

Break a twenty to buy a 3 Musketeers Bar.

Pour a half cup of boiling water into instant oatmeal. Shit's gonna be soup.

Take vitamin B at night.

Something for the ladies.

2009-04-05T20:05:00.005-05:00

CROTCH SHOT.

I dunno, I haven't posted in a bit. School. Work. Kids. Yard work. Bike riding. Too busy. I am sure you were worried.

I was officially burned out on the park today. Too much of this...

So I talked Corey into going to the Butcher Shop wall ride with me. It worked out decent. Corey does wall rides like Obama delivers a rousing speech.

Then he reaches into his bag and rips out this Ruben. So stoked on this one. The lighting is even sweet.

He took a nice one of me, but no telling when that will get posted *mean mugs Corey*.

Semester almost done.