Today's "news" story makes me nostalgic for 2008 Posting and a side dish of MLK irony...

As usual, my big problem with the Spokesman-Review's push for the "Our Kids" stuff is their continual endorsement of candidates and positions responsible for hurting kids. In other words, their political ideology and money runs contra to their annual PR campaign.

But maybe I am seeing it all wrong. Perhaps, they have taken a deeper look than I:

Why is child abuse so prevalent in the United States? One reason is poverty. Why is there poverty in the USA when it is such a prosperous nation? Because there aren't enough tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations? Because the minimum wage is too high? Damned unions? Maybe this violence is more of a mindset. Is it because our nation overly models nonviolence and diplomacy when it deals with other nations? Maybe our justice system needs to be tougher.

Why are our drop-out rates so high? Because teachers have too small of class size? Because teachers belong to unions?

Why are our kids not getting proper medical care? The specter of socialized medicine? Sure, health insurance companies are the only "industry" exempt from anti-trust laws. But, maybe allowing them to price fix is not good enough. What more can we do for them? If we could just get union workers to give up more health care benefits, wouldn't this help the kids?

Why are our kids malnourished? Free lunch and breakfast programs at schools? You would have thought allowing commodity speculation for our basic food needs would have helped bring the cost of food down, much like how speculators are always bringing the price of gasoline down. Maybe if we could deregulate the financial markets more. I mean what could happen?

Why are our kids homeless? See above.

At least we can all thank our lucky stars that we don't have to pay a penny more on tax for a can of pop. Think about what that would have done to the kids!

I am looking forward to the parade on Sunday. It is the 43rd anniversary of Dr. King's speech supporting the striking union sanitation workers in Memphis. He was assassinated the next day.

Will the Spokesman-Review talk about MLK's support of unions, his support of the antiwar movement, his campaign against the economic system of the time (one which has tilted much more to the right)? J. Edgar Hoover's FBI labeled King a communist for his political beliefs and actions. I would imagine that had a lot to do with his assassination, as well.

Incidentally, the union workers belonged to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. Reading the SR's recent editorials about public sector unions, I wonder if the Spokesman-Review editorial staff will have a sense of irony when they eulogize MLK this weekend. It would be great to read some articles and editorials they printed BEFORE Dr. King's assassination. That would really be something!

Enough ranting for today about our beloved newspaper. But, if you want to read some historical ranting on the subject, please continue:

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Spokesman-Review's pinwheels are made by Chinese child laborers...

Ironically the factory uses the same slogan "Our kids: Our business."

















Can I prove this? No. But, let's face it, there are probably no pinwheel factories left in the US of A. Spokane lost its pinwheel plant back in '57.

This SR campaign really bugs me. I think it is very self-serving in that they create their own "news." Even the great Cheryl-Ann Milsap has been forced to write about the pinwheels... in the sun... with the wind.

More than anything, I know, from my job, that there are many kids whose future is quite bleak. It makes you sick and sad when you meet these children who really have the deck stacked against them.

Yet, the Spokesman-Review continues to endorse political candidates and political positions that have a direct correlation to the crappy conditions that these kids find themselves in. Instead of changing their political stance to help these kids, they give us pinwheels.

It's much like the SUV drivin' folks who voted for Bush not once, but twice, and are directly responsible for sending our kids to war. They will put a made-in-china "support the troops" magnet on their SUV and call it good.

Spokane lost its yellow ribbon magnet factory back in '73, I believe.

In other countries, do you think they placate the masses with magnets, ribbons and pinwheels as an answer to real problems, or do they act with political resolve to fix the problem?

Sorry about the political rant. I know that's not why you read this cyber-rag, but I feel better now.

Wrecking Ball at the Y

If you have small children, and if they were anything like me (I am sorry), take them down to Riverfront Park today because it is a kid's dream come true. The river is churning and the Y is getting repeatedly whacked by a wrecking ball. The crane now sits where the old dispatch center used to be.

I had some problems with the video, but you can still hear some good thuds over the river chorus.

Cutting Edge Prosthetics

After an incident at work last week, I was sent this brochure.

It's hard to tell if this rookie cyborg was assigned to do car buffing work or industrial lighting. Maybe it's a laser bazooka. That would totally be worth it.

Signs of Spring!

Spokesman-Review gives world first glimpse of suspected MLK Bomber....

OK. I know this is not Breaking-News, or News-As-It-Happens, or Doppler-2000-Plus-Story-Tracker, but I've been busy!

Have you seen this man?

No, he wasn't a guest on King of the Hill or Beavis and Butthead. Here is a photo:


I usually like Molly Quinn's illustrations, but this looks like something that they forgot to task her with until 5 minutes before going to press:

If I were the judge, I think this would be my Christmas Card photo:

Maybe Molly has had enough of the S-R's crap. One can almost sense the desperation and anger in the close-up of the witness stand as it bleeds into the defendant's table. Symbolism?

Or maybe she has taken a note from Bill Keane and is on vacation, and "Little Molly" is filling in.


There is a story behind this story. Perhaps a "Konnect with Kleck" segment is in order. He's pretty sharp. The other night he talked about how he suspected something was not right when someone was calling senior citizens and asking them for their bank account numbers. Q6 keeps using the illustration of Harpham so maybe Kleck will investigate.

Funny Online Headline in this morning's SR

Household/Community Repair and Retrofitting

Spring, for me, if the usual time to start thinking about house repair stuff. Yesterday I met with Joel Williamson from The Spokane Alliance. Their latest project, one that has been going on for some time, is SustainableWorks. And, if you're thinking about any repair or retrofitting to your home this summer or spring, you may want to give them a call.

In a nutshell, you can get a home energy audit from them for $95 (fully refundable if they don't recommend any improvements) and includes installation of CFL light bulbs, shower heads and faucet aerators to start saving wasted energy $$$ immediately. This audit is a $650 value. If you decide to get some improvements made, they will act as the general contractor, and will put union workers to the task of doing the retrofitting you want done. The people doing the work are journey level workers who are receiving training and supervision while they make a living. SustainableWorks will even line up the financing and take care of all the paperwork for you. So what is the expected outcome of the project?

120 direct full-time jobs
25 apprentice positions and direct employment pathways
3,000 ton reduction of carbon emissions
$12 million in retrofit work.

To date, 200 journey level workers have received special energy systems training and 50 have been trained in energy auditing,

Throughout Washington, SustainableWorks has audited over 500 homes and completed over 200 retrofits. 85 of these retrofits have occurred in two neighborhoods in Spokane.

Your home must be in Lynwood-Edmonds, Shoreline or Spokane to qualify. Yes, if you own a rental, it can qualify too.

SustainableWorks is increasing good-paying union jobs, decreasing energy consumption and building up our community of Spokane from the grassroots. How cool is that?

If you want more information, you can click on the link or give them a call at 532-1688.

Labor Rally Last Friday

It was cold!

Two-hundred or so union members and their supporters showed up to wave signs at the triangle where Ruby, Division and North River Drive come together. I couldn't believe how many drivers honked horns and waved back. It was great!

It's easy to forget that Spokane has the labor movement entrenched in its founding and growth. No surprise that as union membership dwindled in Spokane, so did the general prosperity of the city. Mining, timber, the railroads, and of course, aluminum built a Spokane with a thriving middle class.


You can look it up for yourself. The overall prosperity of the individual in this country reached its peak coincidentally with the peak of union participation. Although, there weren't as many billionaires, failed banks, investment scams, unemployed, and medical bankruptcies either. Hmmmm.


The Wobbly Free Speech Movement put Spokane on the map for showing how much the authorities despised unions and how willing they were to persecute them. Look at some of the old newspapers from the time. The Spokesman-Review led the pack, calling for violence and worse against union members. The governor in Wisconsin is resurrecting this spirit, in a way that I don't think even the most fascist-leaning, turn-of-the-century Spokanite would have bought into.


Let's see Governor Walker, you give tax breaks to your benefactors to put the state budget into the hole. This deficit allows you to conveniently blame union employees and their meager pensions for the problem and go after their money, their rights and their political clout. Sad that so many who have been chewed up and spit out by these same forces continue to cheer on those who destroyed them and gleefully anticipate destruction for those who have fought on their behalf. Unbelievable that there are voters in Wisconsin who look to failing (education, health, employment, finances, standard of living) states in the south as their new model because it fits their Koch-brother-sponsored talk-radio, FOX News ideology.


Here in Spokane, the first gathering of firefighters to organize a union resulted in an instantaneous firing of those members, almost a hundred years ago. In fact, Local 29 - The Spokane Fire Fighters' Union celebrates its 93 year year birthday tomorrow. It was one of the original founding locals of the International Association of Firefighters, hence the low number of "29." They are now up to Local 4780.



There was a small article in the Spokesman-Review yesterday about the rally. Thank you SR! The TV news outlets, however, were pretty silent about it. Although on KREM, yesterday, they had a five-minute story, with an in-depth interview, about a guy who was waving a sign on Division to get people to come into a furniture store for a sale. It was cold outside. I kid you not. That was the story.

The Onion has nothing on us!

We Are One - Rally Today!

Corner of Ruby, Division and N. River Drive - 4:30 - 5:30 pm

We Are Wisconsin from Finn Ryan on Vimeo.

Cat and dog spooning - End Times!!

One more reason Time Bomb is a favorite store!

For many years I have been on a quest. I've haunted Value Village, Goodwill, Craig's List and eBay. Yet, I came up empty handed every time. Last weekend was the Spokane Firefighters Credit Union Dinner, otherwise known as "The Prom." I needed it and I needed it bad. But, I knew that, chances were, I would come up, once again, empty handed.

Value Village - nothing. I say to Sarah, "Let's just make one stop at Time Bomb. I think I am going to strike out again..." She agrees.

And there it was. One leisure suit. It looks like it was tailor-made for me. A Levis brand. It appears to be denim. No. Wait, It's double knit polyester! I can't believe it. What an incredible day.

Reactions at the dinner were mixed. From "Holy shit, where did you find that?" to "Oh. Hi, John."

It is amazing and, once again, Time Bomb ROCKS!!!!!!"

Oh yeah. Sarah looks pretty good too. Don't you think?

Decaying snowman waves goodbye to the Y as it is being dismantled

I believe this is the only remaining Christmas decoration from the old popular Hangman Golf Course extravaganza. The city sold the rest of the decorations to Coeur d'Alene where they cash in on them every year.

Every year, the snowman has more and more burned out bulbs, but he still waved to me on my way to work yesterday. Be of good cheer Brave Snowman! You still brighten my ride.

That's the river you hear in the background.

Swedish Swim Goggles

First read about these in Cool Tools here.

The first thing you notice about these goggles is that there is no rubber gasket between you and the plastic of the goggle. How do they maintain a seal? I don't know, but they do - better than any goggle I have ever used.

After the swim, my eyes don't look like someone has been punching them for the entire time (unless someone has). I bought a pair of nonfogs for about $3. They are super cheap and come in just about every color.

It looks like I have been shilling for SwimOutlet the last two posts. I wish. I like their service and they have a lot of stuff you aren't going to find around Spokane. I just returned something recently, so we'll see if the honeymoon is over.

Swimovate Pool-Mate Swimming Computer

For a long time I have been thinking there has to be a better way to count laps. I make my turn and then I say to myself the number of the lap I am now swimming. Or is it the lap number I just finished? Shit. Round down. Don't do that again. Turn. Arrrrgggggghhhhhh.

So, I found this watch. It costs around a hundred bucks. There is an upgraded version for $200.

When I opened the box I was amazed at how chintzy it felt. It had a plastic goodness to it that you might find in a watch costing 10 times less. The LCD numbers look like they may have been scrounged from surplus Soviet gopher trap detonators.

The confusing instructions were loaded with helpful hints like "If you find that the 'computer' did not count your lap, try extending your arm for a longer time after each turn. This is also a great way to take a little rest." Huh?

It was hard to ignore repeated warnings of - WHATEVER YOU DO - DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT - PRESS ANY BUTTONS WHILE "COMPUTER" IS UNDER WATER!!!!

So how did it actually work? It worked fantastically, thank you.

It just clicks off every turn you make. My only complaint is that it only records 99 "sets." It takes 72 "sets" in a 25 yard pool to make a mile. Not a big deal in that all you have to do is reset the watch after every mile. Of course, you will have to keep track of your overall miles. Maybe there is an underwater abacus available for this purpose. Note to self...

As seen on my ride to work yesterday

You can click the picture to make it bigger.

Great Training at the soon-to-be-demolished YMCA

Had a great drill at work the other day. We crawled around the YMCA for four hours on search and rescue missions. Wax paper in our face pieces prevented us from seeing where we were going. It was a great exercise in endurance, teamwork, communication and skills. We were only "on air" for one of the drills - the longest and most involved. We all sucked our 45 minute bottles down to the low air alarm! My knees are still a little sore as is my back! There were a lot of tight spaces to crawl through.

In between sessions, I poked around the building and wound up by the swimming pool. It suddenly hit me - all the hours I had spent there while my kids took swim lessons over the years. And now it looked like any other urban exploration derelict. Kinda weird. Kinda sad.

Anyway, Thanks to the SFD and Dean Pearcy for the great pictures. You can see more on the SFD's awesome blog here.

Phoenix

Was in Phoenix last week for the Affiliate Leadership Training Seminar, put on by the International Association of Firefighters. Great classes. Professional firefighters from all over the USA and Canada were there, so it was great to hear their stories.

The day was pretty full, but I was able to sneak out for a couple of runs - a short one before classes in the warm, dark morning and one after class in the warm, bright afternoon. I had been stationed at Williams AFB about 30 miles away, in the 1980s and I think this might have been my first time back. I really liked it. But you have to wonder about this giant net thing that they have erected in Phoenix:


Near as I can tell, it's some sort of crabpot/trap for bald eagles. I saw really big buffalo wings in many of the local eateries. This might explain a few things. Move over World's Deadliest Catch!

I have a soft spot for this building.

Yes, as a matter of fact, there is just one bag.

New addition to Dolphin and Unicorn Museum

Sometimes I have to walk my bike

Book Review

A Guide To The Good Life: the ancient art of stoic joy
by William B. Irvine

This was a great read over the holidays. In fact, I liked this book so much that it is the defacto birthday present for each of my siblings this year (spoiler alert? Too late?).

“What is the purpose of life, your life?” This question is loaded with religious and feel-good pop psychology cheese. But for the ancient Greeks, and later the Romans, this was not a question to be pondered but one to be vigorously answered. The ancients thought the worst thing that could happen to a person was, on her deathbed, to realize she had wasted her life. So, philosophical schools took root, with differing opinions on life’s purpose and instructions on how to live accordingly. This was above and beyond any religion that students also practiced. Many of these schools believed that the purpose of life was tranquility - Stoicism was one of these schools.

Today, the word “stoic” conjures up many images that would conflict with the original school of Stoic philosophy. The Stoics had a different view of the word “tranquility” than we might have. Stoics in their day were extremely successful, athletic and professional overachievers, very engaged in the world around them as movers and shakers and exhibited genuine and appropriate emotional responses.

A Guide To The Good Life chronicles the author’s (a philosophy professor) rediscovery of Stoicism as not only a valid academic philosophy, but a valued guide to living one’s life. In this light, he also tackles modern psychiatry, current social values and the cult of victimization. It’s an entertaining read and was hard to put down.

Bonus - You may discover that you have been living a fairly Stoic life already. This book might answer why.

Whether you are a religious person or an atheist, and no matter your political leanings, I think this book would be enjoyed by anyone who cares about: the way he lives his life, how his life affects others, how to get the most joy out of life and how to live a purposeful life.

I can't find it for sale at Aunties, online. I have contacted them to see if they have it. In the meantime, here is the Amazon link.

Engine Three Meatloaf

Six pounds extra lean ground beef, four eggs, one chopped onion, 2 pounds of broccoli, garlic powder, pepper and a tiny bit of salt. Place in big-ass pan. Cook long time.

Somewhat paleo-approved (I left out bread crumbs) and a bargain at only $10 per firefighter. Luckily, we had been saving up for this one.

Finished!

While running home from work the other morning, I came across this. What could be a more fitting advertisement for the Windermere Marathon?

Thanks Barb Chamberlain! As always, you rock!

Saw this on John's blog. And it was so good, I had to do more than link it. Especially since the cranks have been complaining about bicyclists since yesterday's SR article.

Cranks! Do other cities pay this much attention to the whiners who aren't happy with anything? How much money does the city waste trying to appease the unappeasable? Every time I get on the bike, I feel like I am cranking against cranks.

Watch this and it will make you feel good!!

Pajama Jeans!

Saw this commercial the other day, and was going to share it with everyone. and then I forgot. Luckily, BoingBoing had it up this morning and it reminded me of my mission.

There is something about it that makes me nostalgic about my brief stint as an ad wizard. Can't put my finger on it though. Better watch it one more time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

While walking below High Drive the other day, Sarah and I encountered this coyote frozen in the snow. There was another one above that looked in much worse shape. Much of its flesh had been stripped off by, I believe, the bald eagle pictured a couple of posts ago.

Winter is very picturesque right now.

Along these lines, we are currently experimenting with the Paleo Diet at our house. It is all part of my ten-year plan.

This month's OUTSIDE Magazine had a big article on the Paleo Workout. It was good, but I was a little miffed. Two years ago, I unsuccessfully floated my idea for, what I dubbed, The Wildman Workout. It was basically the Paleo Workout with a few key differences, mostly along the lines of merchandising opportunities:

1. The Wildman Spear. Run with it. Stretch with it. Put it in a tree and do chin ups with it. Spear an attacking pit bull and eat it for dinner... with it. Differing prices reflect the spear's composition - wood, aluminum, graphite, nanotubes.

2. The Wildman Game Bag Drag. Here's how it works. On your usual checkout at Rosauers, when asked "paper or plastic," you say neither. Then you toss on the counter what looks like an animal carcass, but it isn't. Made out of the finest cordura and enhanced with 3M light reflection, the Wildman Game Bag allows you to stuff it full of your groceries and then drag this what-looks-to-be-an-animal-carcass home. Pack the ketchup in the bottom for more realistic dragging action. Sized right for carrion luggage.

3. The Wildman Loin Cloth. Just a loin cloth... but made out of CoolMax! Comes in fun colors.

I wish I had my gear on when I came across this coyote. It would have looked good on the WW catalog. Always a day late and a dollar short.

As an aside... Please, next time when you see me doing my Wildman Workout run in Manito Park, don't call the cops. They are tired of responding and have already told me my spear is OK. Plus, they implied that they would never put me in the back of one of their cars while I am wearing just the loincloth. I told them it was CoolMax. They don't care.

Operators are standing by!

A few of my favorite 2010 things...

Favorite Album (Do the kids still call them “albums”?) - Die Antwoord, $O$.


This South African sensation (Ninja, Yolandi Fisser and DJ High Tech) keeps you guessing as to their intent and their legitimacy. All the songs are real toe tappers, with lyrics that bounce between obscene and descriptively clinical. I don't think any of their videos are something you would want to watch at work or with your mom. My favorite is Enter the Ninja.

A close runner-up is Major Lazer's Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do.

Favorite Kilts - Utilikilts are great. They are made in Seattle and are really pieces of art in themselves. However, lately I tend to favor Sport Kilts, made in So Cal. They have more options than Utilikilts - lots of different tartans, designs and colors. Plus they weigh a lot less than a Utilikilt. Unlike Utilikilts, unless you order a Sport Kilt with pockets, you will need to get a sporran too. I think your best bet is buying The Works version - it comes complete with belt loops, leather straps and a fringed side. Think of all the money you can save not buying underwear anymore.

Favorite Restaurant - For consistently good meals with great service, it's hard to beat Picabu Bistro.

The menu has almost all bases covered, and when you factor in their daily special, it's gastronomically unstoppable - in a good way.

Favorite New Store - The Apple Store. Hey, I know it's corny, but buying an IPhone there was futuristic and smacked of fraternal lodge pledging with less hazing. It is an awesome place to people watch.

Favorite Old Stores - A tie - Boo Radley’s, Time Bomb and Harbor Freight.


Boo Radley’s always inspires. We have friends who live in fairly cosmopolitan places, but Boo’s is usually on their list to visit when they come to Spokane. They don't have anything like it where they live. If you are ever undecided on what to gift someone, go to Boo's.

Time Bomb has some of the best antique toys and furnishings around. A while back, I was waxing sentimentally about my 3rd grade bike - a Sears Super Spyder 500 from 1968. Time Bomb’s owner pulled out a 1968 Sears catalog and there it was! $5 later I was walking out with this catalog - a tome of Christmas wishes past.

Lastly, Harbor Freight is a Chinese dumping ground of cheap tools, sporting goods and all sorts of oddball crap - solar panels, combo radio/flashlight/fishhook removers and inflatable doll scarecrows. I try to buy American, but if I am faced with buying a $20 made-in-China, with an established name or a $3 no-name made-in-China, I go with the cheapo most of the time. You will walk out with some weird shit that you didn't know you needed to have until you saw it. Then you will have to figure out what you want to do with it.

Favorite Running Shoe - OK, not so much one shoe, but a company. New Balance features many shoes that are made in the USA. So I buy them. When I was a kid there was not much of a push to buy stuff made in the USA. Why? Because it was almost all made in the USA. It only made sense. Why get your tube socks shipped in from Pakistan? Thanks to other nations maintaining their tariffs and the USA abandoning ours, almost all of our manufacturing has moved to China. Here’s the good news, though. Sure we have lost a lot of good paying jobs and increased our global warming and oil dependency by having to have our Depends shipped in across the ocean. Yes, we have killed off entire US cities, and we drown in a mountain of cheap crap we don’t need (see favorite store - Harbor Freight above). The upside is that we have enabled investors and CEOs to become more wealthy and hire better attorneys and congresspeoples, so they don’t have to pay taxes. Pheeewwww. Now, you have to work really hard to find stuff made in the USA. New Balance is the last of the running shoe companies that still provide manufacturing jobs in the USA. Their shoes will have to get really bad before I quit buying them. New Balance, there is your challenge.

Favorite Firefighting Tool - the pick head axe. Sure, it’s a pretty old design but this beauty does it all. It chops walls. You can pull ceilings with it. Hold it horizontally like a battering ram and it makes short work of opening doors (both literally and metaphorically). You can pry open car doors to get a puller in there to unlock a door. It is the best. Make sure you get one with a wooden handle.

Favorite Paramedic Tool - The EZ IO.

Its a small electric drill. But, instead of a drill bit you use a big-ass needle. Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! When you can’t get an IV because there are no good veins and the person is dying, you can instead drill into their tibia and deliver the goods into the bones vascular system. You have to use a pressure bag to keep the IV flowing, so don’t forget that. This device has saved more than a few in Spokaney-town.

Favorite Book Series - Flashman!


This series began in 1969 and continued until 2005. The author, George McDonald Fraser is now dead so there isn’t much chance that he will be writing anything new. The protagonist is a character who reminds me of Dr. Smith from Lost in Space only with skills and self awareness. He is lazy. He is a drunk. He is a cheat and scoundrel. He is a womanizer and a lousy human being on just about every level. His only redeeming grace is that Flashman knows these things about himself, and as he writes his memoirs, he is pretty honest with the reader about his motivations and shortcomings. You find yourself rooting for this scalawag, even while cringing at his utter contempt for anyone but himself.


Podcast - A tie - Marc Maron’s WTF and AM Coast to Coast. If you read this blog you already know of my affinity for Coast to Coast . Marc Maron is a comedian who you might remember from Air America’s Morning Sedition. He doesn’t talk much about politics anymore. Now, he talks about his personal life a little and talks to other comedians a lot. Funny stuff with a lot of behind-the-scenes glimpses of other standup comedians’ lives. I believe that doing a standup comedian’s job takes a lot of courage, and this podcast always makes me wonder what that life would be like, if I ever had enough guts to do it.

Favorite European Fast Food - Bicky Burgers got its start in Belgium, I think.


It isn’t much like McDonalds, in that the ones we saw were all kind of small, run down and with a lot of personal touches from whomever owned the individual store. There’s a counter at which you order. Under this counter, is a bunch of frozen items - burgers, McRibbish looking things, fish, you name it. Whatever you want, they throw in the fryer. There is no grill. Just a fryer. Maybe two fryers. The food tastes great. How could an entirely deep fried bacon burger not taste great? Plus, they're all located in the holy birthplace of the french fry! The meat tastes like it might be mostly-meat. The food and advertisements have a Lego feel to them. They’re cute. The startup costs would be minimal. A fryer, some cases of frozen food, lots of mayo, some buns and a spork or two. I don’t know how it would go over here in the USA. It might be fun to see.

Favorite New Bike Stuff - My Carradice Camper Long Flap Saddle Bag and the shop apron Sarah made me. Again, you might have already read about the shop apron here. John let me borrow his Carradice and I was hooked. This thing expand mega big. It smells like an old canvas tent, and is made by nonslaves in England. Cheerio.

My only complaint is that it really moves your center of gravity up kinda high. The effect on me, in this regard, was to fall down a lot when I got stuck inside ruts.

That’s enough. Happy New Year!

Bald Eagle Returns to High Drive!

While out running today, there was a bald eagle swooping above Latah Creek. I tried to get a picture of it, but I was slow on the draw. So I photoshopped a facsimile. A magnificent creature and the symbol of America!

Slippery and fun ride this morning.

We had to chain up the fire engine this morning, after our last call at around five. I knew the ride home was going to be fun, and it was. The deep snow was a kick, but the rutted areas not so much. Saw another cyclist heading down Howard. The snow was flying!

I was the driver of the engine yesterday. Not usually my favorite thing, but yesterday I had a good time. It wasn't nearly as violent as Christmas Eve. That shift, almost every call was a stabbing, beating or overdose. Maybe everybody is getting an early start on their New Year's Resolutions.

Manito Greenhouse Christmas Lights

A cool moon on the walk over:


The place was packed:




OK. This is not very timely, but I will have something better in the next couple of days. Merry Christmas! Happy New Years! Happy Holidays! Seasons Greetings!

Portland and other stuff

I usually come back from Portland and am in a bit of a funk. It is such a coooool place. This time I have to admit, Spokane seemed to fare better in comparison. However, Portland has this cool bike rack:

I was surprised that I didn't see as many cyclists as usual in Portland. This is the first time I have ever visited Portland during mild wintry weather and it seems to put a bit of a dent in their pedal-pushing. The same can be said for Spokane, but come on, we have ice and snow. However, there are still plenty of cyclists here to be seen falling over in the snow and sliding sideways down the hills.

On another note, when Spokane's new bicycle lanes all disappeared in the snow, did you notice that the cranks continued their anti-bike-lane tirades on the interwebs? I am continually amazed how much power the cranks hold in our city. They are probably 1/2 of one percent, yet when they chat it up on the social media sites, you would think they are legion. They're not. Odds are they don't even live in Spokane. And when they bitch about 2nd Ave getting bike lanes, they probably have never driven on 2nd Ave. I think other nations have cranks, but they usually don't say much because they have some dignity and are afraid people will make fun of them. Wow, I don't know where that came from. Sorry cranks!

OK, back to Portland. We visited the 3D museum. It cost 5 bucks and you get a personal tour. It was fantastic! Did you know ViewMaster was headquartered in Portland? Not anymore of course. They don't even make Henry Weinhard's there now. HW's is now a restaurant where patrons with Klingon face implants hang out. No lie.

I was inspired by the 3D stuff. Here is a picture I made that you can look at with 3D glasses and just go apeshit over:


Many of you recognize this as our home's most endearing piece of seasonal art. Corny, cracked and maudlin - Sad Snowman kinda sums up the season.

Still commuting to work via bike unless the snow is too deep and then I run. I have big plans for improving my running speed in the upcoming year which I have already implemented. I have to admit those gosh-darned cross country runners inspired me, and I figure at my age, I either have to work on getting faster, or continue the inevitable slide of getting slower. Snowman knows.

Nike Nationals In Portland

Last Thursday evening we rented a car and drove down to Portland to cheer on Lewis and Clark's Cross Country team. Lewis and Clark's and North Central's teams had already flown out in the morning. Everything was on Nike's dime and they treated all the high school athletes from around the nation like royalty. I suppose, in the running world, they kind of are.



When Lewis and Clark's team and North Central's team were introduced, the announcer called Spokane the "Rift Valley of running in the United States." He pointed out that Spokane was the only city that had two teams to earn a spot at Nationals, and how that is usually the case. I overheard one parent telling another that they had read that if you are a promising female cross country runner, the place to live is New York State. If you are a male cross country runner, the place to live is Spokane, Washington. Pretty amazing, yet pretty unknown by most of us in Spokane, that our city is held in such high regard in the running world. This notoriety is especially amazing when you consider that, for a good deal of the year, our streets and trails are covered in ice and snow.


The day of the race was really cold and windy. The course was on the inside paddock of a horse race track, very muddy with artificial hills and a myriad of hay bales to jump over. It was a mess!

In the end, NC placed 6th and LC placed 15th - a very good showing. LC's Kenji Biering finished 10th and NC's Katie Knight finished 8th for the girls.

Watching these kids race was very inspiring. We will see some of these kids again in the Olympics someday.



Mayor Mary Verner invited the athletes to Monday's city council Meeting where they were recognized by the city council for their dedication and their success.

All Spokane area high school runners, you make us proud! Thanks for a great season!

Some inspiration this morning!

From BoingBoing.