fare fiasco

Let's make the record straight, Wednesday's ride was the most enjoyable time that I have spent by myself in years. Certainly, I was exhausted physically, especially in my assmeat, but I was able to explore an entire new world of rustic farmhouses, old folks settin' on the stoop, 19th century plantation houses, and fields and forest as far as the eye could see. I saw wildlife—pheasant, grouse, turtles, rabbits, squirrels, frogs, etc...; I saw tamelife—dogs, cats, cows, sheep, goats, and even the occasional fowl. I saw rural Virginia and it was amazing. To top it all off, almost as soon as I arrived in Mineral to camp, I was able to stop at a winery and do a tasting. Their whites were all solid, and I enjoyed their Norton, which is a Virginia varietal, as well.

However, today, four spokes on my brand new rear wheel broke. The ever helpful Jaimee drove all the way out to Lake Anna, the scene of my spiritual depantsment, to fetch me and my bike and ferry us to Ashland, where the local bike shop was unable to replace the wheel. I returned home to C-ville, where the originial wheel replacers were very apologetic. Anyways, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, but now I get to visit with the Siblings Nevsky this weekend. Maybe a shorter ride in the Blue Ridge Parkway might be a jumping off point. And some day, I shall conquer Virginia by bicycle, or at least the eastern part of the state, give or take the few miles that I have already ridden, not including or pertaining too anything that might be too hard or cause me to loose heart and give up. Offer good through 2008. Limited factory MSRP, see dealer for details.

Anyways, adventure isn't adventure without setbacks, and setbacks are all you get unless you move forward again.

"a pretty ghetto place"

That's what she said. I found that article about Hilary Duff describing the Maryland suburb from whence her rocker boyfriend comes—which apparently, she has never visited—while researching whether or not I should leave on my trip this morning.


However, Lisa Ferrari convinced me to stay home today. (You can watch her talk about flash-flooding in the video on the link above.) That, and the first thing NPR told me this morning while I was still half-awake is, "Torrential flooding hits the Mid-Atlantic region, and there is no break in the forecast." Of course, I researched that claim on my own. While there is rain forecast all this week for my Virginia adventure, today seems to be the worst of it—at least over the course of the next seven days. So, I'm going to postpone. For a day. I'm still a man, look at these pictures. Or these headlines.

Of course, the silver lining to this cloud is that we are no longer in danger of a drought, for the time being.

beginning with the end in mind

Tomorrow, I leave on my bike trek to Yorktown, VA. I had a last minute bike tuneup and total rear tire rebuild, thanks to Todd's new apprentice, who spent a larger part of the afternoon getting me ready to ride. I also indulged in a last minute buying spree at the Performance Bicycle Shop where I purchased a day-glo yellow raincoat that I may be needing quite a lot on this trip. Of course, if something goes wrong on this trip, I'm going to try and fix it and keep going. But, I am glad to know that if need be, I can just call la Juanita to pick me up that evening. Hopefully, like Bilbo Baggins, this will be a trip there and back again.

Of course, I always wonder what terrorists are trying to accomplish. Take this latest incident in God's own Holy Land. Now, I can understand that Hamas might be frustrated that Israel is fighting them, but the last time I checked, their official position was that Israel should be wiped from the map. Now, if that's not a declaration of war against Israel, then I don't know what is? So, now they are complaining that the Israelis might attack them after they commit an actual act of war in their concurrently declared war of annihilation against the state of Israel. I have to say that if Olmert does not attack the Gaza Strip over this, it will only be due to the interference of the Almighty himself. This is what I mean, the terrorists aren't fighting this war to win it, merely to prolong the struggle itself. If victory to them means the absolute annihilation of the Jewish people living in Palestine, then they are hoping for something even Hitler in all his genocidal fury could not accomplish. If victory means two states living side by side in a state of mutual distrust, then they should stop kidnapping Israelis and start letting Abbas do his job.

I am not saying that Islam is incompatible with the principles of non-violence, but I am saying that until the Palestinian government tears a page from Gandhi's playbook, they aren't going to impress anyone of any political power in the West. Maybe they have a supporter in Ahmadinejad, but he's giving them chicken feed in real dollars compared to what the West has offered.

tomorrow is another day

Well, we drove half-way across the country today. It was good to see youse guyse, especially, Guamo, Chewy, and Phil.

Of course, it always takes time to wind down emotionally from such a trip, but I was doing a bit of reading in Karen Armstrong's, A History of God. I was reminded that مسلم (Muslim) means, "one who submits," and الإسلام (Islam) means, "submission to God." What I didn't know was that كافر (kafir) can be loosely translated as "infidel," but possibly more accurately as, "ingrate." This was a beautiful dichotomy for me. Surely there are no true infidels in the world. There are merely those who understand they have no real control over the universe and thus can accept what they have and secondly, those with a continually unfulfilled sense of entitlement which either comes with an outsized ego or martyr complex. Of course, yours truly probably fits entirely in the second category, however, I would like to think that I strive to fit in the first.

Hopefully, pictures will be forthcoming soon, however, tomorrow, I shall take the day to prepare for my trip to Yorktown. By the by! Janna and I have been given the honor of becoming my niece, Hazel's, godparents.

Secondly, Guamo, I hope the secret is not out of the bag, but my counter tells me that someone in Chicago found this page while doing a Google search by your first crushee's name.

floccinaucinihilipilification

This was today's, Word of the Day, and somehow it seemed incredibly pertinent. This, of course, was a major theme of Hamburger Hill and something which homeless people, apparently, say quite a bit, "Ain't nothing but a thing." So, for this post, let's cue up the Audioslave.

As I have mentioned on this blog before, I am attempting to practice gratefulness, which is known on this blog as gratitude. Seemingly, this would be a day to be grateful. The extremely unhealthy dynamic in the Bush/Zarqawi relationship seems to have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Six billion people get to anticipate Zarqawi's imminent eternal damnation and Al-Qaeda gets a martyr. This is from the AP:

Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.

"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," said the statement, signed by "Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi," identified as the deputy "emir" or leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."

However, and this is more significant to me, my rear bike tire got its third flat in eight days. I shan't mention the bike repair shop to which I have brought it twice, but I think I may have to go to Todd for this one. This would not have been nearly as frustrating if I did not discover the leak as I was biking home from the service station where I had just left the one and only Lindmobile.

Of course, there is the theory that pain helps us to learn the source of that pain, and then having been enlightened by our pain, we can live better lives. I bought that theory last night. The car needed an oil change, so the fact that it was acting up just a little bit was merely its way of reminding me to give it better care. Or, the fact that I'm going to have to have $300 worth of dental work done should remind me to floss every day. (Did I mention my last name stands for "Lousy Income No Dental?" And did I mention that "No Dental" means I have no dental insurance?)

Anyways, this theory was not holding up on the walk home. Seriously, what could God or the universe possibly want to teach me by allowing my only remaining means of vehicular transport to literally deflate in my hands? Of course, I guess the answer was gratitude. I mean there are so many good things in my life. And now I have an iron-clad excuse to stay home and prepare for the foreign language cook-out at my house, rather than to make a brief appearance at work on my bicycle, talk to my co-workers, get no work done, and then scamper home to tidy. God bless the summertime. See, now I'm grateful.

The Wrath of Coulter

The next in our "The Wrath of..." series is this sweet little number.


Of course, criticizing Ms. Coulter is all too easy, but I do need to say this--Jesus must be thinking, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?" However, I would like to subtitle this:

How I stopped worrying and learned to love Ann Coulter

I think everyone all along knew that Ms. Coulter was not even a true insta-pundit, but more the crazy girl that you invite to your talk show because you just never know if she might pull an Emily Rose, twist her head around, and require the services of a Vatican specialist, all at the same time showing some leg. Now, that description is somewhat unfair, but all the same, I realized today, what her true calling is in the entertainment industry. She is a ideology pornstar. In this nice gentleman's blog I learned that the unmarried (and presumably still virginal?) Ms. Coulter used to date both Bob Guccione III and Bill Maher. Then it hit me. Not that I would ever know, but I have heard that in porn movies, a female character might go straight from receiving a delivery of pizza in the buff to enthusiastically engaging in sexual intercourse. Then I realized that when I watched this video that I was watching conservative ideology porn. Of course, instead of delivering a pizza or performing a sex act, Matt Lauer played the naïve parrot of liberalism against Ms. Coulter's crusading Christian defender of virtue, God, and apple pie.

However, Matt Lauer is a smooth customer. Now he can put "testy" in his interview trophy case right next to "glib." I have to say, for agreeing to participate in conservative ideology porn, Matt certainly did not look like he was enjoying himself. Well, maybe Amnesty International can put together a campaign to free Ms. Coulter from forced conservative ideological pornographic bondage. Of course, I have a feeling Ms. Coulter is a consenting adult, but someone should warn her about what happens to washed up sex-workers. Well, hopefully Montel will still be around in ten years to give her a couch to cry on and tell how she was used by the conservative movement.

I think I'll try to take a moment every day to pray for her and everyone else, liberal or conservative, who is trapped in the "my ideology is bigger than yours," way of thinking. Maybe I should start by praying for yours truly.

law and order

No, Kirk, you can't get away. From hell's heart...I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath...at thee.

I just wish the GOP were actually in as desperate a position as they are acting. Although I find this particular low-grade fascism abhorrent, I completely understand the moral dilemma in which the human race finds itself. The truth is, as someone pointed out in Calvin in Common or somewhere else, people do not DO better when they KNOW better. In fact, as brain science tells us, one is much less likely to do something if it “feels” wrong, rather than “knowing” that it is wrong. It turns out that whether or not we got to, we generally do go with our gut.

Therefore, liberals need to stop trying to educate and start making people feel that it is wrong to deny loving partners medical benefits, legal recourse in the result of a breakup, or any possibility of making legal contracts that define status. If Republicans are the party of law and order, they sure do like to make it hard for immigrants or gay people to participate in their law and order society.


Of course, the last time we had a “law and order” president, this is what we got.

politics

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

My summer adventure

Although the exact itinerary of my trip to the Midwest is up in the air, I have made a plan to do something exciting. In the week or so after I return from the greater Lake Michigan area, I plan to bicycle east from here on route 76.


When one looks at the map it is fairly obvious that I am only doing the easy part of the route. I'm looking forward to doing some riding, getting to know Tidewater a little better, and also doing some light sight-seeing. I really don't know yet exactly what I'm going to do or see, but I'm looking forward to the trip.