Vacation? Um, I hardly knew her?

This is supposed to be a vacation for me this week. I rarely take what would be considered a chunk of time off of work. So this was a big moment for me...I was really looking forward to decompressing a bit, drinking some beer, painting some cabinets and riding some BMX. Well, that got blown the fuck up yesterday.

I just want some smooth sailing. It seems I am always weathering some sort of storm. If parenting stuff doesn't kill me, the broken AC will. Please...if there is something resembling a god...please...take it a little easy on me. For just a little bit. Please?

Sold the D70. I have a plan. I think. These were the last shots taken with her...

Johhny C up the tree on campus. Not the skatepark. We rode street.


Corey Mac 180 up the stairs...on CAMPUS. Woo!


Mean muggin...


Fuck you. I'm an anteater.

Flat tires and flatter motivations...

I had to work this weekend. By "work" I mean I had to get up at 2 a.m. and do some phone stuff for the job. I finished up at 6 a.m. and I feel awful. It totally wiped me out. As has been well documented, I am not a young man (though the server at Barley's the other night thought so) and stuff like this doesn't go so hot for me anymore.

We got a puppy the other day. She is a small beagle like animal that Mica named "Pinecone". She is a sweet little thing and sleeps more than anything I have ever seen. I have some pictures of her that I will post later on as I do not want to steal Mica's thunder on this. Well, I'll steal it a little bit...



I went to go ride tonight and found that I had a flat tire. I stupidly left my pump at the house (I actually had a spare tube) so I just wandered about taking some pictures. These are the fruits of that labor...





Nothing special, but I love that JFG sign. Not that the picture is that great...I just love the way that damn sign looks.

School starts for me tomorrow. I am nervous.

Stephen goes to college...

This coming Monday, I take up the slack on getting my degree. That's right...I am going to college. Community college, to be exact, but it is a start! I am nervous, stoked, nervous...all of that. English 1010 and Spanish to get me rolling towards a degree in computer science. Why computer science? I have no idea. I guess I have some skill with this sort of thing, though admittedly I would rather be working on a degree in history. However, even my ignorant ass knows that a degree in history is about as useless as tits on bull.

Let me just say that I love my kids. I love them dearly. I also love peace. Let's work on that.

Pictures from the other day. John is a really good rider when he is not taking 800 smoke breaks and complaining about normal looking bikes.

X-up!


Style catting some air...


Corey is riding a different set up now, but for a spell, he had the magic whip that I once rode. And he blasts 180 toboggans.


Me doing one of the only things I know how to do. Hip air...likely straight into some sort of "double pegger to over the bars dismount" bullshit...

Politics? I hardly knew her!

So, the diesel powered machine of the GOP has taken to blasting the junior Senator from Illinois over his comments on how to improve our oil dependency situation. Senator Obama suggested that if we simply made sure that our vehicles were properly maintained, we could improve their performance and thus reduce the amount of fuel consumed. The Right jumped all over this, most notably their gaseous mouthpiece Rush Limbaugh, jeering the idea that something as simple as personal responsibility could lead to decreased energy dependency. The only way we can make it all better, the right tells us, is to further defile the planet by punching more holes in it and sucking out the very last of the oil the dinosaurs left for us. This was preferable, I suppose, over McCain's initial energy plan which consisted of all Americans turning off the lights and going to bed after the Andy Griffith show at 7:30 pm.

4 years later...

That is probably the only part of "Cast Away" that pisses me off. Well, that and the fact that he is hung up on Helen Hunt. I'd take island isolation over being with that horrid woman.

Anyways, Garrett got his hair cut yesterday. He was asleep when we got there which I thought would mean that he would sleep through the ordeal and we'd get in and out. Nope. He woke up and my son does not wake gracefully from a daytime nap. I had to sit in the chair and hold him down while it got the snip. He looks very awesome...so much like a little boy.



He's getting better on the scooter. He'll have a pro model on Blackeye soon...



Sunday morning comes down and that means we ride at the park. In the heat. Sweating like whores and such. Corey shit out this invert off this ledge thingy there.



Then he tried a toboggan over the hip but his hand missed. I still liked the way it looked because he tables out his toboggans.



I got loose in the over vert pocket. That's all I have going for me.



I also missed on the toboggan a little. But just a little.



John, get your ass up a little earlier plzkthnxbai.

They say that you should not pop the blister...

But I did anyways. Lesson learned...do not put grips on dry. Well, you can, but be careful. Fucksake, this hurts.



Corey took Mica and I to the Tri-Cities area yesterday. The main point of the trip was to go to Angry Penguin and do a little BMX shopping, which we did. That shop is totally amazing and stocked to the gills with rad stuff. Jake was nice as could be and I know that I will be going back.

The second part of the trip involved us riding the Kingsport Park. It was smaller than I remember and far less intimidating, that said, I rode like shit (the blister didn't help) and could not find a line in the bowl to save my life. Mostly I oozed sweat, drank water and watched the locals. I did take a few pics, but the blister was getting gross all over my camera, so I stopped after a bit.

Local table top ass shot!


Local crail tap! This guy was a shredder.


I will say this, the skaters up there are totally dialed. Super tight scene and the riders and skaters totally seem to mesh well. It did make me appreciate the park here, though. I am a spoiled bitch.

Speaking of the park...Biggs whipped it into the dirt.

There are only a handful of Icelandic people.

I just thought they would turn out in greater numbers to protest a dam that was being protested. Fucksake.

I forgot my friend Andrew's birthday. Sorry, Drewcifer. He's 33 now, just like me. This whole aging thing makes falling that much less of an option. I almost died at the park last night when I hung up. Somehow I pulled it out of my ass and rolled away. Jelly legs showed up, though.

Mica said some really complimentary things about me the other night. Basically had to do with my methods in child raising. I worried at times that I was too boring, or conservative or whatever. But she put it all in perspective for me and that was a breath of fresh air. She really is a good girlfriend. Even when she heats the pizza stone.

I guess I need (need is a loose term) some new riding shoes and I am considering these...



I have railed against vulcs for a while now, but shit, they are only 55 bucks. I say only, knowing full well that 55 dollars would actually go a long way for me. Whatever. You only die once.