So Clean

This has been my desktop image for the last 3 weeks.

Here's the YZ's nemesis. Also quite beautiful. Check out Wood Racing for more info.

Redline MX-II

A craigslist find. Picked-up this 79-81 (not sure yet) Redline for 25 bones. This came out within a year or two of Powell's famous Blue and Red Powerlite. In fact they share a lot of the same parts. The guy I bought it from was the original owner. As he stated, "This bike was the sh*t back in the day. At the time I could only afford the frame and fork, so I bought that first, and built it up as I could afford parts." Said he got a bunch of emails about the bike, but I had got to him first.

She needs some cleaning and tuning, so I'm going to take this over to the weekly bike co-op. I'll see if I can get some components that compliment the bike's era without resorting to eBay. I was thinking it would be a fix-up and sale, but maybe it would be a nice vintage ride for the kid. We'll see...


Gold anodized, high-flange ACS hubs.


The 3-piece Shimano 600 cranks match nicely.

Trees Fall

On the Sunday after the conference, Coco and I drove home through a continuous downpour. In fact, a full day of rain completely saturated the southeast. The following day, we had 50-60 mph winds. With the ground soaked and soft, trees all over NC came crashing down.

This one fell on lines at the top of our street. Knocked our power out for 2 days. Because only about 10 or so houses were affected, we had to wait a bit.


Our front yard... This isn't the best pic, but the the tree on the left had started to fall, but was caught by the tree next to it.


A few days later. Turns out the tree was mostly dead. Came within about 7 feet from the house. Definitely could have been worse. There is a huge tree that looms over the house that luckily didn't fall. I didn't take a picture, but the roots are pulling up from the other side. From the dirt, you could see that it was rocking with all the wind. It would take out the porch, kitchen, and dining room. Scary. We've got a tree service coming out to take her down. It's a decent amount of cash, but well worth it. Currently, I can't sleep when it's windy.

Records from Jersey Brought Down in a Van

Coco's family has arrived. They have fled the garden state for the land of sweet tea and fried okra. We welcome them to North Carolina. A few weeks ago while in NJ, Corrina's dad drove by a box of records sitting at the end of a driveway. Kindly thinking of me and my Lp obsession, he turned around and pulled over to pick'em up. As he was doing so, a gentleman came out of the house. As you'd expect, Don struck up a conversation and found out that he had a bunch more records that were free for the taking. I guess the guy had recently bought the house, and the records had been left there. Anyway, Don ended up getting about 12 crates full of vinyl. Wow. He brought nine down in the van, and the rest are coming in the moving truck. I've only looked through 2 boxes, but it's a definitely a random assortment, stretching genres and decades. A couple of nice ones have been pulled. I'll report back when I'm finished. Thanks Don!

Point & Shoot

I attended a cochlear implant conference two weekends ago. One of the implant corporations threw a party at Bank of America Stadium (where the Carolina Panthers play). Halfway through the event they had a marching band come through and basically played hip hop influenced numbers. They were tight, in to it, and were able to get a bunch of surgeons and sales folks excited. That says something. I took some pics with a delayed shutter and flash to get some blurry, color-infused pics that I kinda like.

Being Small is No Excuse

Apartment Therapy is having their 3rd Annual Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest. Readers submit pics of their small living spaces that incorporate big (smart) design ideas to maximize comfort and live-ability. Kinda shows you what you can do with just a little room. We really could have put some of these ideas to use in our apartment and house in Hermosa. I enjoy looking through peoples living spaces... peeping tom.

African Herbsman

Probably one of my favorite Marley tracks off of his African Herbsman Lp. The album overall definitely has a rootsier, rocksteady feel. This Lp gets more plays than any other Marley record in the collection.

A short description from Wikipedia: "African Herbsman is a compilation of The Wailers songs, released by Trojan Records in 1973, shortly after their major-label debut album Catch a Fire had been released by Island Records. This album is a collection of some of the songs that The Wailers recorded in Jamaica together with producer Lee Perry from 1970 to 1971, before they received international recognition. Included are also two of the group's self-productions, "Trenchtown Rock" and "Lively Up Yourself", that both had been big hits in Jamaica. Several of the songs included here would later be re-recorded by Marley for his later albums. Examples are "Lively Up Yourself" (on Natty Dread) and "Sun Is Shining" (on Kaya)."

Bob Marley - "African Herbsman" off of the African Herbsman Lp:
DivShare File - 01_African_Herbsman.mp3

Shopping + Design = Neat

Just found this site today - BRANCH - sustainable design for living
(http://www.branchhome.com/index.php?main_page=index)

Old Favorite - RELISH - because design matters
(http://www.relishstyle.com/asp/shop.asp)


Shop, Enjoy, Be Inspired!

Giving Praise to Corrina

I just wanted to point out the post immediately below this one. Corrina had woke-up Friday morning with the boat analogy/story in her head. I was honestly impressed with the passage's quality, and because, creatively, my brain just doesn't function that way. It would be a painstaking process for me to create written imagery around an emotion or feeling. I even asked her where she copied it from. Sorry for that, Coco. I enjoyed your description and appreciate the underlying meaning. Thanks for continuing to surprise me!

Today!

Ever feel like you're on an old wood boat
freshly painted white, but still old.
It has a small hole in it
and is taking on a little water.
Enough to worry about
but not enough that you can't manage it.
You only have 1 oar
and a sail that would get you somewhere with a little wind.
Do you tear the sail to fill the hole,
stopping the leak,
but stranding you with only 1 oar, not getting anywhere?
Or do you put the sail up, hope for a breeze,
enjoy the sunshine as you get closer to the shore,
and manage the leak, 1 bucket at a time?

quick recap to keep you going!

This weekend was all about Girlfriends!!!

and

Babies!!!

Catching the Dirty Bird

Gonna be in AZ for 6 days, then straight to Charlotte for a 4-day conference. Prolly be a while til the next update, but I should have plenty of content/pics. Have a good week gang!

Creation Lp Download

Here's the full album from L. Hibbert that I had posted on earlier. Enjoy.

DivShare File - Lennie_Hibbert.zip

Speaking on the Weekend

Coco and I got up decently early on Saturday and headed to Raleigh to do some market shopping.

Before hitting the highway, we stopped off at the Duke University Surplus store. They were having a 50% off sale, so it was worth a stop. It's a pretty interesting warehouse. If you're in need of a beaker, computer monitor, desk chair, or a campus security cruiser then this could be the place. We happened to be looking for a filing cabinet, and walked out with a big ol' one for 25 bucks.

First stop in Raleigh was the flea market at the NC State Fair Grounds. Didn't get much (pry bar and 2 records), but had a good time browsing. We also decided to pass on the fried twinkies. Coco's pregnant so she didn't think that would be such a good idea. I bet she was right. In this pic, she contemplates buying a "ball and mitt" salt & pepper shaker.



Next off was the Farmer's Market. Bought some strawberries (season just started). Coco opted for the mint chocolate chip and I went for some cider. Got back home just after lunch. Good day.