Sweet Justice?

The year: 1976
The Dad: Howard Anderson
The Dad Lines: "Stop jumping on the couch." "Stop throwing balls in the house." "Some day when you have kids you can let them jump on the couch and throw balls, but until that time this is my house and you will follow my rules!"
The Year: 2008
The Dad: Jared Andersson
The Dad Line: "Ok Ella I need a cell phone pic of you jumping on the couch while throwing a ball but don't actually jump because the pic won't turn out good if you do. This will be funny on my blog."

Chanhassen

Chanhassen:The origin of the name comes from the Dakota word chanhasen meaning "sugar-maple tree" (chan, tree; haza, a tree with sap).

I don't know where I found this

Banksy

Click the pick for a more detailed view. Click here for a wiki entry on Banksy and here for a flickr set of other pics of his work.

Cycling poster of the day

The real reason Dinosaurs became extinct

Few people realize that Dinosaurs became extinct at the hands of giant babies.

Maya loves flowers

Maya and I love to go for nature walks in the evening. She has recently began to grasp at objects and is getting pretty good at it. I found that flowers were a great motivator and lesson with Ella to be gentle while grabbing things. Maya mostly just wants to eat things she can grab.

Ella and I exploring

The other day Ella and I went off road with the Burley kid trailer to find an east passage out of our neighborhood to Powers Ave. As we cut through a field to get to Powers I began to feel like a farm animal pulling a plow. Once at Powers blvd we explored a section of woods just south of the entrance ramp to highway 312. We found a little dual track trail system, an old boat and a little pond. The mosquitoes drove us out of the area that day but we will be back.

Annual Archery Shoot

Steve, John, Heath and I have done this traditional archery shoot for a few years now. It is one of the most fun things I do each year. I get to shoot my long bow at in a wide variety of animals at different distances, brush conditions, elevations and levels of visibility. There are three courses of 20 life size three dimensional animals. Notice the steel bear and all the marks on it representing missed shots at the kill zone. There was a bucket full of broken arrows next to it. John shooting his Howard Hill Bow from a very tippy barrel that is intended to feel like a horse back.

Clockwork bikes

John informed me of this relatively new and very affordable local frame builder. From the pics of his work on his site Clockwork bikes it looks like he can do it all. I like his appreciation of all styles of bikes and of bikes in all periods of time. His historic cycling poster collection will make its way into a future post by me or John I predict. I also like his appreciation for bike fit. Note the spoke holder on the touring bike.

BSNYC Interview

I am curious what the blogger BSNYC looks like. Is he old, young, fat or thin. Is he even a he or maybe a she. My 5 minute internet search came up dry for a pic but I did find this audible/streaming interview on RocBike.com. Since I am kind of bitter about not finding a pic of him I have decided to use the above pic to represent BSNYC. If only I could photo shop a plastic pie plate and a top tube pad.

Its about the bike blog quote

"I'm fatter than most fast blokes, but faster than most fat blokes"

Fix Push Skate Boarding

A relatively funny video about no coast fixed foot skate culture.

Turkeys used to be Dino's

Ella and I often go for a walk along the trails in our neighborhood in the evening before bed. Here are some pics of the mystery turkey killing we have been following for about a week. The turkey was initially killed and partly eaten. Head and a few parts, thats it. Other things like bugs and who knows what else have taken it down to the point in the pic. Having had a chance to observe turkeys in the last year I now know that they are super paranoid, can fly and would be very hard to catch. At the site no human or other animal tracks are present. My best measurement of the paw print is about 4 1/2 inches by about 4 inches wide. This is huge. Looking at online tracking sites I found that this is much bigger than a coyote which has about 2 1/2 inch tracks. The only dogs with this big of a foot are great dane's, st. bernard's and some basset hounds. None of which live in the area not to mention a dog like this is not likely to catch a wild turkey. What does have this size foot and can catch a wild turkey? A wolf.

Walking with Dino's

We went to the Walking with Dino's thing at the Exel this weekend. Very good. It was cool to see how big moving dino's were in real life. Ella had a few reactions to the event and only one to my camera phone as you can see.

Fox news is racist

I have been predicting for some time now that racism directed at the Obama campaign will be covertly and not so covertly directed at his wife Michelle. I also assumed this attack would come from the likes of Fox News or Bill Oreilly. What I didn't predict was how directly racist it would be.
I am super excited at the possibility of this country having Michelle Obama who as far as I can tell is an authentic, smart and involved person who would be a great first lady. I hate that term first lady. It makes me think of the stupid clothes first ladies seem to wear. I can't see Michelle wearing a Nancy Reagan look alike costume. The future is bright and Fox News is racist.

Above and below the water

The running commuter guy looks so effortless while running. I romanticize about that feeling of floating along effortlessly and remembered a time when I looked much more like the commuter man than I do now being that at that time I ran and cycled often. I imagine some people may have even thought that I looked effortless as I ran by them or road by them at that time. The reality is that I never did feel like I was effortlessly floating along even at the most fit points of my life. It was often fun to run and ride but it was always hard. The effortless floating along of an athlete is an illusion based on your perspective. It is a romantic dream created by a less fit person like myself observing a more fit person. Greg Lemond once said something like, "It never gets easier. You just get faster." This is important for me to remember when feeling less than floaty.

My babies

About a week ago Ella was feeling a little sad about being replaced by her sister as the baby of the family and asked me to carry her up the stairs like a baby. So of course I did and as I did I said to her, Ella you will always be my baby.
Ella: I will?
Me: Yes always.
Ella: Even when I am older?
Me: You will always be my baby
Ella: Even when I'm dead??
Me: ......Well yea....you will always be my baby.
Ella: Well yea....but then I'll be a dead baby.

Forest gump commuter

I keep having sightings of this guy before and after work and am fascinated by him. The pic is bad because he runs very fast and I didn't want him to know I was taking his picture. As if driving up slowly behind him to take it is any better. He is not just out for a run he is commuting by running. He is not out solely for fitness and doesn't seem like he financially needs to hoof it to work but rather he is running as a commuting choice. He has a very similar attitude about him that you see in year round bike commuters. A calm, purposeful and efficient style. What you may or may not notice in the pic is that he is in casual yet functional clothes, he has a beard, is wearing a backpack(that doesn't bounce some how) and he is just gliding along with a stride that I have not seen in a runner before. I don't know how long his commute is but I have seen him in locations at least 2 miles apart and suspect his commute is significantly longer. It has taken me two days to get this crappy pic of him and I now have a new appreciation for blogs that have on the street action photos. It is hard to covertly take pics of moving people.

June 1 bike race near Mexico one killed ten injured by a sleeping drunk? driver.