Mellow Velo

New Blog

2009-11-21T14:12:00.003-06:00

For those of you who actually read this drivel, you may have noticed that the blog disappeared. I deleted it a few weeks ago -- it was time.

I decided to create a new one and the web site is here:

http://laviedecyclisme.blogspot.com/

Mellow Velo will stay up for a week or so. If you want to continue to follow my blog, update your RSS feed with the new URL.

Cheers

DB's Rule

2009-11-10T20:18:00.001-06:00

WARNING -- a wee bit of foul language. If young kids are near, its time for ear muffs.

Cheers

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

2009-11-06T08:14:00.003-06:00

I watched coverage of the protest against health care reform in DC yesterday, and was struck by two things:

1) I was impressed that a reported 10,000 people felt strongly enough to travel long distances to express their views as citizens on such an important topic. That is truly democracy at its best.

2) But, I was deeply saddened to see how uneducated so many of the protesters were on the subject when interviewed. One women in particular, when asked why she had travelled from Texas to be there, responded (not a direct quote but close):

"I'm 67 and my husband is 66. We want reform but we don't think the government should be involved with health care."

She's almost certainly on Medicare, government run since 1965.

Cheers

Wake UP!!

2009-11-05T09:37:00.006-06:00

My sister, who drums in two Scottish bands, sent me this. This is the #1 drum band in the world.

Fast forward to about 5 1/2 minutes if you want to see truly amazing drumming:

And here they are at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Check out what happens at about 6 minutes in.

Cheers

The GOP And Their Women

2009-11-04T14:15:00.002-06:00

A pattern developing?

First, it was Sarah Palin. Saving us from the Russians, able to shoot and gut a moose etc. etc. She's governor of a state with less people than a few boroughs in NYC, with an economy supported almost entirely by oil. But it's a tough job and she quits halfway through, then proceeds to write her autobiography -- in less than 3 months. It might be shorter than the previously shortest book ever written -- Great Italian War Heroes.

Now, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, has announced she will run for a US Senate seat currently held by Barbara Boxer. According to her bio, she started law school but quit after a semester to get her MBA. After a successful career at AT&T, she joins HP, and in just 5 years under her leadership, sheds over 10,000 jobs and causes the stock price to drop by half. The board fires her and she walks away with a $20 million severance package. In 2008, she becomes one of John McCain's top economic advisors until she was fired from that job as well after stating that Sarah wasn't qualified to run a corporation. She too has written a book titled "Tough Choices" which describes her views on things like what constitutes a leader. One business publication named her "One of the 20 worst American CEO's of all time". So she has that going for her.

Do you have to be really bad at your career to be a GOP candidate for national office? Are all the smart, qualified women too busy?

Cheers

Election Reflection

2009-11-04T13:12:00.007-06:00

First up -- I didn't vote so a big loser is what I am.

But, the two states that held closely watched governor's races yesterday were places I once lived so I am somewhat qualified to comment.

Lets start with New Jersey. There used to be signs greeting you as you entered that read something like "Welcome to New Jersey -- We Love Safe Drivers". And the response from drivers from Pennsylvania used to be -- "cause they don't have any of their own". The Garden State has always been the ugly stepchild of both New York and Pennsylvania and generally doesn't give a rats ass. They do what they want to do and while they have the same problems most other states do, to call this a referendum on national politics is pretty much bullshit.

Now, onto Virginia. Virginia is a southern state and as such, it's Democrats are, well, not exactly liberal. The Democratic Party in the south created the Ku Klux Klan and were vehemently opposed to integration and the civil rights movement. There is far more difference between the personalities of individual candidates than the party platforms. The state is really two states -- Northern Virginia including the suburbs of Washington, DC and the rest of the state. I've lived and worked in both, and they are as different as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Many of the independents who supported Obama last year stayed home. This election is about local issues -- the economy, crime, jobs. As much as the Republicans want to make this a national referendum on all things bad with Obama, I think they're just whistling Dixie.

What they should be worried about is their loss in the 23rd Congressional district in NY. Here we had a moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava who, because of her mainstream views, was denigrated by her own party as being too liberal. So, in come the GOP's right wing knee breakers like Palin, Armey and Limbaugh who throw their support behind a more conservative Republican candidate. Scozzafava quits the race last week, throws her support to the Democratic candidate who ultimately wins -- in a district with a long Republican history. Could it be that the far right hate mongers in the GOP really don't have the clout they think they do? Is this the real take away from this election?

Don't get me wrong. I'm disappointed with the lack of progress this administration and Congress has made to date. They inherited a mess for sure. But we still don't have universal healthcare with a strong public option, and we may be adding our name to a long list of countries that have gotten their asses handed to them in Afghanistan.

Is it possible that Obama, like Jimmy Carter before him, is just too dam smart a President for the country today? Do the American people really want smart, effective leaders or are we going to continue to settle for mediocrity? Hedley was, at least, honest about what he was looking for.

Cheers

They've thought of everything.

2009-11-03T08:08:00.001-06:00

A Full On Spa Treatment

2009-11-02T15:03:00.005-06:00

I had a massage once and it was quite enjoyable. But I hate spending money on that kind of stuff so I'm always looking for a deal. And today, I got the full treatment -- mud facial, dermabrasion, salt scrub and cold immersion therapy -- all entirely free, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Here in the Northland, we've just come out of a wet, cold and disgusting October, and the past few days have been sunny and warm. Given HC is closed Monday's, I jumped on the Pugsley and headed out to spend a few hours riding the many trails to be found in the Minnesota River Valley.

It was a beautiful day to be out. I happily rolled along and stopped to talk with a local who reported seeing a pack of 3 wolves the week before. He seemed like an intelligent, coherent kind of guy, and when he said one stopped on the trail less than 50 feet in front of him, I took him at his word.

The trail passes under a number of bridges, including the one for I - 494, the southern loop of the Twin Cities beltway. I wonder how many of the thousands of commuters who cross it everyday, realize they are missing this:

I apparently never got the memo but I'll be back.

Now, the first of my spa treatments begin. I'm rolling along enjoying the view when my 3.75" front tire drops into a rather large mud hole. This hole was cleverly hidden by leaves and as I went through it, my right foot, being at the bottom of the pedal stroke, became immersed in black goo. The water went over my boot and soaked my right foot. Not to be outdone, the hole is long enough to soak my left foot as well. And after I emerge, the front tire, not wanting to carry said goo any further, completes the front half of my mud pack, covering me from head to waist.

I'm still smiling so I keep riding for awhile, just enjoying the glorious weather.

Did I mention that we have had a lot of wind lately? This tree was down across the trail and you can see where a few riders, more skillful than I, have ridden over the obstacle. Had I had a marker, I would have taken the opportunity to leave HC's phone number since we are probably the closest shop to the trail. Those marks are chain ring teeth meeting wood.

As I head home westbound across the Mendota Bridge, I move to the next phase of spa treatments. The wind, according to the weather geeks, is blowing a steady 20+ mph with gusts to 43. My feet, still awash in water and goo, start to freeze almost instantly. Not quite cement galoshes, but close.

And, my face, now exposed to the full force of the wind, is scoured clean by sand, grit and last year's road salt, leaving my complexion dewy and supple -- almost beef jerky like.

Some more waterproof boots is probably in order. But it was a great ride and I received hundreds of dollars worth of body treatments -- for absolutely nothing!

Now, I wonder if I can ride thru that hole backwards.

Cheers

Pugsley Adventures

2009-10-25T17:52:00.002-05:00

I didn't venture far but had a thoroughly enjoyable ride in the woods. If the jet noise wasn't present, you'd never imagine that, less than 100 yards from where this was shot, is a major airport.

Cheers

Marketing -- Now I Get It; And More

2009-10-24T16:35:00.007-05:00

Makes sense.

Hard to argue with this!

All shamelessly copied from here.

Cheers

Priorities, Folks

2009-10-24T09:42:00.006-05:00

It's all over the news this morning that changes to health care reform bills will now cost $1 trillion dollars over the next decade. Not surprisingly, Republicans are expressing outrage over the cost increase.

Based on this site, we will have spent in excess of $2 trillion dollars over 9 years for these wars -- a daily cost of close to $6.7 billion dollars. The human cost is estimated to be almost 100,000 dead, and hundred's of thousands wounded. And, of course, this cost will only escalate if more troops are sent to Afghanistan. Where's the outrage over this?

If health care reform does indeed cost $1 trillion over 10 years, so what? That comes to an estimated daily cost of $274 million dollars, and is an investment in us -- in our health -- in our prosperity. I know having healthy citizens isn't as sexy as kicking ass in the name of freedom, but our priorities are pretty f*#@&ed up at this point.

Cheers

Too Much Time On Their Hands?

2009-10-23T15:30:00.001-05:00

Cheers

The Big Apple

2009-10-23T09:17:00.006-05:00

I was able to get to LaGuardia and grabbed an early flight back. I was planning on hanging out in Manhattan a bit longer but my meeting went late. Fortunately, I had arrived early enough the previous day that I could enjoy beautiful weather and walk around a bit. The pictures were taken with my IPhone but you get the idea.

Atlas in front of Rockefeller Center.

Amazing architectural details.

The recently renovated Plaza Hotel at 5th Avenue and Central Park. It was home to Eloise, in the famous children's books.

222 Central Park South. My grandmother was an artist and had a studio here for many years. She painted on large steel panels that were hoisted up by crane and swung through the windows. I would travel here from New Jersey during high school with friends in the early 70's, and use it as a base of operations to visit all the places your mother warned you about.

We attended a military school (long story) and our uniforms exactly matched those worn by midshipmen at the US Naval Academy. It being the Vietnam War and the drinking age being 18, the uniform guaranteed us adult beverages (often free), and entrance to the wide assortment of adult entertainment establishments along 42nd street. My room mate at the time was the New Jersey state heavy weight wrestling champ so, despite the fact that I looked like the scrawny 17 year old I was, everyone assumed I was a naval officer. Our uniforms bore the initials "USNHS" on one sleeve which really meant "US Naval Honor School" but we told everyone it meant "US Naval Helicopter Squadron". Life was good!!

This was taken years after I attended but you get the idea. We never took the swords to NYC, however.

Tough way to make a living, I bet!.

Entering Central Park is like walking into an oasis, especially when the weather was this great.

The sounds and stresses of the city just disappear.

Literary Walk heading north. I sat here and listened to a variety of great musicians.

Central Park Boathouse. I met a friend for dinner here and we watched the sun go down over the skyscrapers through the trees.

Cheers

A city of Contrasts

2009-10-22T09:34:00.001-05:00

The weather here in NYC was amazing yesterday. Sunny, warm and high 60's. I strolled around Manhatten enjoying the people watching. Central Park was full of folks, many foreign tourists based on the languages I heard spoken.

The holiday decorations are going up in Rockefeller Centet and people are ice skating there and in the park. Many more cyclists and bike parking facilities than my last visit.

Cheers

Twas a Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood

2009-10-19T17:17:00.004-05:00

I got some yard work done, took a load of dead plants to the compost heap, and made one of these:

It's one of a pair of parking stands for a Pugsley owned by an HC customer. For those of you not into such things, it's a ridiculously fun bike that wears tires almost 4 inches wide. It floats over snow and sand and allows one to perform all sorts of stupid human tricks.

The stand is made out of beefy 3/4 copper, and the base is filled with sand for additional stability. The Pug is heavy so two stands will insure the beast won't topple over.

Cheers

Marketing

2009-10-18T17:31:00.002-05:00

I've had some interesting conversations with people recently about the differences between advertising and marketing. One of the people in question actually has an advanced degree from a prestigious school in marketing. They're still trying to convince me there's a difference, but in the meantime, I leave you with these gems from an organization that knows how to sell their product.

Cheers

Dude -- You Rock!!

2009-10-18T17:22:00.004-05:00

To the guy riding his bike one legged on a windy Cannon Valley Trail today, you are my hero. He smiled both times we passed him and seemed to be having as much fun as everyone else.

Cheers

Dumbing it Down!!

2009-10-17T16:55:00.003-05:00

I spent 25+ years in the financial services in some capacity, and I always enjoyed reading the Wall Street Journal. Their editorial opinions, while often differing from my own, were always intelligently written and thought provoking.

In the past few months, they have had Sarah Palin opine on health care reform, a topic that, based on what I know of her experience, she knows nothing about. Now, after the Rush Limbaugh/NFL debacle, they provide Rush with another pulpit in which he can play the victim.

"There is a contempt in the news business, including the sportswriter community, for conservatives that reflects the blind hatred espoused by Messrs. Sharpton and Jackson. "Racism" is too often their sledgehammer. And it is being used to try to keep citizens who don't share the left's agenda from participating in the full array of opportunities this nation otherwise affords each of us."

I thought the right was all about responsibility for one's conduct. It's not a massive liberal conspiracy, Rush. It's simply people calling you on things you've said that they find offensive. Whether you meant it is irrelevant. Much of what you say is your opinion, usually absent facts, wrapped in a package that the mentally lazy in the population can digest.

What's sad is that the WSJ feels they need you and Sarah to help sell newspapers.

Girls Rule!!

2009-10-15T18:09:00.007-05:00

Apparently, the young lady in the poster shot a terrorist at 725 yards as he was bent over burying an IED in Afghanistan. The bullet went thru his ass and into the device, causing quite an explosion.

I can only guess. but she was probably shooting one of these:

which fires one of these:

Man, I cannot even imagine the pick up line you'd need to get a date with her.

Cheers

WTF -- Part Deux

2009-10-12T09:49:00.002-05:00

I'm fairly certain that, if he could, he'd be thinking the same thing.

Cheers

WTF?

2009-10-10T08:47:00.005-05:00

And that doesn't stand for Wisconsin Tourist Foundation.

Less than a month ago, I was here:

This morning I woke to this:

It's currently 28 degrees but with the wind, the wind chill is 15 degrees. On the 10th of October!!

The clock is now counting down towards the day I move to warmer climes -- year round.

Cheers

Barack Obama and The Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T09:21:00.004-05:00

I was probably as surprised as anyone when I heard he had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He has certainly created a sense of optimism on the world stage compared to his predecessor but so far, we've not yet seen tangible, long lasting results. Time will tell if the award is a predictor of things to come.

That said, it's absolutely worth seeing the conservative blogsphere go ballistic over the announcement. They're still pissed that Gorbachev won the award in 1990 instead of Reagan who essentially gave one speech and then started building the missile defense shield over Eastern Europe.

Rush was "glee full" over the announcement that, despite Obama's personal appeal supporting Chicago's bid for the Olympic Games, Rio won instead. This news ought to send him back for a reunion with his old friend -- OxyContin, aka "little blues".

Better strap on the neck brace Rush -- we wouldn't want you to have permanent injury from all the head spinning that's happening now.

Cheers

An Old Idea whose Time Has Come?

2009-10-05T16:01:00.004-05:00

I was catching up on some reading and came across a reference to FDR's "Second Bill of Rights". It was in college that I last remember reading it but Wiki provided the text copied below. He included it in his 1944 State Of The Union Address but died less than a year later.

Ironically, the constitutions of the countries we defeated in WWII include, for the most part, all of the basic concepts he outlines here.

"It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens."

Cheers

Grand Canyon Pix

2009-10-03T17:30:00.003-05:00

Ok, just when you thought you were done with GC pix, here are some more from Peter of Sweden. They are actually quite good. But you've been warned.

Cheers

The Irony Is Waist Deep

2009-09-30T10:02:00.004-05:00

For the past few nights, I have been really enjoying Ken Burns documentary on the National Parks. The history and the stories about the people who made it possible makes one proud to live here. As has been repeatedly said in the show, National Parks are a uniquely American idea -- the notion that places so grand can be owned and visited by anyone goes to the heart of who we are as citizens.

Where the irony starts to get deep is that, of all the US Presidents who were influential in designating land around the country as National Monuments or Parks in the early years, all but two were Republicans (Cleveland and Wilson). Teddy Roosevelt was a die hard Republican, and was president in a time when wealth and power was concentrated in the hands of but a few powerful families. There was enormous pressure to develop land, especially in the west, and to exploit whatever resources were available. The fact that Roosevelt and others recognized the need for protecting public spaces for future generations is truly amazing.

As I watch the history evolve, I wonder, given the political climate we have today, if National Parks would have been created. In the last election, Republican candidates stood behind the mantra of "Drill baby, drill" when referring to tapping into possible oil reserves in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. There are many conservatives and Republicans today who feel the Federal Government has no business being in the "park business", and the land should be sold off and managed by corporate entities.

The irony gets even deeper when one considers the health care reform debate raging around us. Health care reform has been on Presidents wish lists since at least Harry Truman, and we are the last industrialized nation on earth without some form of universal health care for its citizens. Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected any form of public option because it was a step towards "socialized medicine". When one Democratic Senator questioned his Republican opponent why Medicare, which is a government health program, isn't socialized medicine, the response was simply "its just different, that's all".

Was the mold that cast leaders like Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Truman lost along the way? Will the National Parks become the last of "America's Best Idea(s)" ?

Cheers