ass man

Ass Man at the Horse Races
Originally uploaded by gastonfernandez

OMG. I really would have loved to have seen this when I was in Japan. This is one of those lovely Engrish shirts that just stops you in your tracks and makes you appreciate life.

You've got to admire it when guys let you know their proclivities in such an upfront way. Takes a real man to do that!

prefuse

Melange-ilicious. Prefuse 73 has some amazing skillz. Loving the mashup sensibility with the lyrical sensitivity. Also, great running music.



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Now playing on iTunes: Prefuse 73 - Prepared As It Was

parking garage chic

Library Parking Garage
Originally uploaded by jonathan_moreau

I hereby nominate this as the coolest parking garage. EVER. I want to park up inside some Dickins. Why not? I think that's a perfect place to be. Go, Kansas City, for making good use of ugly parking garages. You rock.


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Now playing on iTunes: DJ Bitman - El Diablo (feat. Jimmy Fernandez)

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Now playing on iTunes: DJ Bitman - El Diablo (feat. Jimmy Fernandez)

army 10 miler

Running DC IMG_0576
Originally uploaded by Ian Dowling

I put myself though another 10-miler. This one was great -- no stress and very little strain. My pace was a strong: 9:27 per mile. I whipped through the course in 1:34. That was just four minutes over my goal, so I was psyched. Cheers to Ian, whom I've never met, but who ran the same race and just married my friend, Tiff. Loved this picture, dude.

Here are a few more pics of the race. Thanks, uber-handy Apple Grab app, for saving me mad $$$ on the pricy downloads! P.S. Don't rat me out to the copyright overlords, please.



Slideshow of this and my other pics.









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Now playing on iTunes: Midival Punditz featuring Vishal Vaid - Khayaal

running wounded

Ran the Army 10-miler yesterday and I had a strange experience. It was a very emotional day for me. I think it might have been the endorphins playing crazy with my melon, but I'm not sure. It was 8 AM when the four apache helicopters flew just a hundred feet above us. We were lined up on the highway, hopping, stretching and rolling our heads around.

They zoomed over, raising the hairs on the back of my neck and giving me chills to be near so much power. The chaplain on the PA announced the start of the race for the "wounded warriors." These were the guys who ran with their prosthetic limbs and wounded hearts. They struggled with each step because their bodies had been torn apart by this war. I passed a few by mile marker one. And my heart just broke for them. Tearing up a bit, I wiped salty tears from my eyes and wondered what it must be like to run on these plastic and silicon replacements parts. One of them had a T-shirt that read, "The Bionic Man." He got a lot of cheers. Good for him -- take a sad song and make it better, like the Beatles instructed.

He bounced along on oddly shaped, springy half moons of composite material. He reminded me of a satyr or some such creature because of the odd shape of the synthetic feet. This year's race had a record number of them. I cheered them on because I can't begin to put myself in their place. Could you imagine what it must be like to experience something like that?

This morning, I ran across a gif image of an IED roadside bomb and I could visualize what some of these guys might have experienced during the last few seconds of wholeness. How horrific. An unbelievable mushroom of earth and fire. Force created to destroy. To tear apart limb from limb. Drawn and quartered by detonation.





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Now playing on iTunes: Delphinium Blue - Dupont Circle 4am

exhausted, but healing.

Ragged and red, I'm recovering from Piga's annual rafting trip and mobile alcohol binge. It's Anywhere Goes. It was a small but friendly group this year and I wish I would've been perkier after the long busride, because I forgot to get business cards so that I could connect with folks. But I might run into them somewhere and reconnect.

Phil and I shared a raft and I was a bit surprised that we got flipped. I guess even veteran river rats can get tossed, now and then. It's been at least a year since I gulped up river water. Hope I don't get the beaver fever. Ick.

I got to know a few movie night friends better and I even met two new Louisiana escapees. Scott, a graphic design professor at Gallaudet, lost his family home to Katrina. But he still managed to win "best smile," despite all of that. He *did* have a nice smile, too.

Jonathan, a former teacher from Boston, shared with me his stories of teaching math in an inner city Edison charter school. Amazing. And he had nice Japanese tattoos, too.

I also met a cool veterinarian from Pennsylvania, Marc. He has the auspicious sound-alike that brings to mind Obi Wan Kenobi.

Just got an amazing massage from Julia. She has magic hands. Wish I could afford to have her over more than twice a month! She brought green bean casserole with fried onion topping. Yum. That alone is worth a happy dance. Combine it with the afterglow of the massage, the pink cheeks of my only sunburn of the season and I'm positively glowing right now.

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Now playing on iTunes: JUDY AND MARY - Sobakasu

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Now playing on iTunes: T.M.Revolution - Invoke

this can't end well.

Yep, we've all had moments like this. Ouch. Normally, this happens to me verbally. I open up my piehole and blabber on and on about something, only to realize that I've just completely said the wrong thing. Stand-up comics at least have the dignity of a spotlight and a microphone. And quite often, they have a classy brick wall background. But when I'm standing there and somebody's face is contorting into complete rage over something I said, I have just left my airborne bike and I'm heading for the pavement!

shoes.

Mmm, Girl! Tia knows how to get what she wants.

And she had to get her hands on some of them fabulous shoes. Problem was... she didn't have the money for it. Well, Tia just did what any good consumer would do. She EARNED her money so she could get some shoes. How? Various methods. You go, Tia. You remind me of the traits that are so characteristic of our culture: dogged determination, shrewdness, craftiness and greed!

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OMG. Let's get some shoes.

feeling kinda cagey

My election day working vacation in Florida put me up close and personal with the DARK SIDE a few years ago. I was there when some pretty suspicious things went down. What I didn't know is that plans were apparently in motion for months and months before election day rolled around. In fact, the DARK SIDE engaged in a very suspicious practice called "voter caging" to keep some folks off of the voter rolls.

Have you ever thrown away junk mail? Well, after you watch this, you will never want to throw it away again. That junk mail might be part of a practice called "voter caging" that sounds pretty sketchy. But that's how you roll if you've got the Justice Department full of your personal henchmen.

loving: Blue Stone

They've got no promo. No marketing. No nothing. So you probably won't have heard of the music. But it's thoughtful and great background music, a clever blending of technics and organics.