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Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Halloweiners - Friday

We rocked it out at the Stork Club Friday night. Francisco joined us. DJ Dr. Scott and Maya were there. And we really liked The Inciters from Santa Cruz. We were the only ones dressed up in a sea of Too-Cool-For-School Ska kids.

All Pics









Preparation







Thursday, October 28, 2010

Yes On 23

Andrei Bouzikov

We went to Eli's Mile High Club last night to watch the Giants woop Texas. Love all the bartenders here. Super nice folks. Saw Erick, guy I used to rock out with, long time no see. And was called a fair-weather Giants fan by a semi-drunk has-been modern-primitive A's fan with female Māori tattoos on his face. Anyway, the purpose of this blog entry is about the art exhibit they had on the wall. I had a major Heavy Metal flashback seeing this stuff. The guy's name is Andrei Bouzikov. And he is rad. I could only wish to be as good as this guy. Typically dive bars don't tend to have good local artists. Mostly hipster screen-print bullshit or a wannabee graffiti artist who wants to be in Juxtapoz. Back to Andrei, he rules. And for what it was, his original art was extremeley low priced. His show is ending soon, so get over there and check it out!

If you're reading this Andrei and you want an protege (who's older than you) hit me up.

Andrei Bouzikov website
Andrei Bouzikov blog
Eli's Mile High Club

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

5 Years

Today marks my 5 year anniversary of moving to California. I moved here on a whim. Things went down in Ohio which forced me to pick up and move here on a former friend's suggestion. I said goodbye to my true friends. I had no job. No money. I traded my '63 Galaxie for the Triumph. I bought a $1500 Ford truck and a $1500 trailer, and sold them both when I got here. I think I'm doing pretty good for myself. From nothing to being married with children, a house, and a good job, plus lots of toys.

10 months later I met Lori. And we just celebrated our 1 year marriage anniversary. I'm a bit chubbier, a lot balder and greyer, but the last 5 years have been pretty good to me.























BEST. DECISION. EVER.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Halloweiners

This is our agenda for this weekend (and tomorrow). Email me or leave a comment if you wanna come to any of it!

Wednesday:
Watching the Giants play at Eli's Mile High Club


Friday:
In costume!
DJ Scott!


Saturday:
In costume!


Sunday:
49 Mile Ride details


Maybe we'll stop by for this


And of course Trick-Or-Treating in a different costume

Monday, October 25, 2010

Luka Is An Asshole

Luka cracked the headstock off my acoustic guitar. I think I can fix it. But he has a history of being an asshole. Maybe not an asshole, just really dumb. A walk down Memory Lane...



His first day home alone. Actually, it was only 4 hours.


So I made him this jail cell.


Lori made him this bed. It didn't survive.


Or when he destroyed his new metal crate and the carpet beneath.


Yeh, looks like that hurts Lukey.


So yeh, nothing new...

Things that happened to me this weekend Catch All

Rode 166 miles to Grass Valley to Hang out with Throwbacks. Hung out afterwards and met some cool Sacto guys.

Lost work camera to a tweaker in Grass Valley Safeway parking lot.

Rode home in rain dressed like a snowmobiler.

Hung up most of the art in our house, finally.

Chewed all my fingernails off as we watched the Giants beat the Phillies!

Went to Forbidden Island in Alameda afterwards with Lorna & Francisco, and got tipsy on the Coronado Luau Special.

Watched the new Nightmare on Elm Street, was ok, lacked some of the humor of originals.

Spent Sunday afternoon traveling to various thrift stores attempting to assemble Halloween costumes.

Sunday was our 1 year anniversary! We had an absolutely amazing dinner at Wood Tavern in Rockridge. Get the STEAK!!! I love you baby! Lori, not the steak.

Came home to see that someone had stolen some of our Halloween decotations. They had to walk up 2 small flights of stairs, and they did it in the rain. Jerk offs. Makes us lose a little faith in our neighborhood.

Luka went crazy (with joy) when we got home and he knocked my black Epiphone acoustic guitar over and snapped the headstock off. Lori got that for me our first Christmas. Me and Luka aren't on speaking terms right now.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Photochoppin'



Dropped the headlight, 18" wheel instead of 16", 2" & 2" hard tail instead of 4" & 2.5", some swoopies instead of the drags.

Friday, October 22, 2010

I flew all the way from Grass valley and boy are my arms tired...

Well, I'm home and alive. It was a long, cold ride up, but sunny. I took the scenic route by Isleton and up to Marysville and east on 20. I arrived at Paco's Tacos just as things were getting started. Quite a good turnout, much more organized than anything I can accomplish around here. I was pretty pooped and anti-social, but that turned around after a few drinks. I was amazed at how many people stopped me and mentioned this blog. Crazy.

I'd love to post pictures but I lost my camera. Completely my fault, too. After the evening wound down we headed to Safeway to get some drinks. As we were leaving, Pops ran out of gas. I popped by gas tank off and drained some into his. I took my satchel that had my rain gear, a couple tools, and the camera off me, and hung it on a barrier post so I could move around easier. It was dark, and of course I forgot it when we left. I didn't even realize it until this morning as I was about to leave. FML. I'm sure some tweaker took it.

But I had a good time with the boys. I tried to sew my patch on but broke their sewing needle. We got some greasy spoon food in us this morning and then I left. Chicago was rad and gave me some nice gloves to wear. And Pops let me borrow snowboard gear for the rainy ride home. I was nice and warm and dry. Troop, B.S., Pops, Chicago, thanks so much guys.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Oakland To Grass Valley

The XS is fixed. I think. Big humungous thanks to Teddy boy for lending me a brake linkage and Lucas for mellowing me out. Nothing I love more than doing last minute repairs after work, in the dark, with minimal tools. I also looked at my brake light, why it wasn't working. 2 of the three wires that attach to the LED circuit board were off. Problem was, I couldn't get one of the screws out to get the light out to fix it! So, no rear light for now.



I'm working a half day today. As soon as I get home, I'm heading out solo to Grass Valley for the last Throwback Thursday of the year and see my broskis. I'm taking a more scenic route to avoid the deathways. 166 miles, solo, day after major repair, no brake light, and supposed to rain... what could go wrong?



GO GIANTS!!!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Se me subió el muerto.

This is our Halloween costume plan. Day of the Dead bandito and bride. Can we pull it off in time?

Gargoyles

Cuddle Monkeys



Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Damage Control

After work I took care of sick wife by making her some soup, then headed to the garage to take a look at the full extent of the damage to the XS. I'm not sure HOW it happened, but it looks like the brake rod wrapped around the wheel spacer and then snapped. Maybe it somehow snagged. Bizarre. I was lucky enough to be going slow enough to not wreck.



The brake pivot, brake rod, and brake plate lever all got damaged or destroyed. I managed to pick up a new linkage for $10 off ebay. I have only tonight and tomorrow to get it fixed or I'll have to ride my KLR to Throwback Thursdays. A KLR is not very vintage.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Rainy Ride

The first day of rain in the Bay Area and guess which day my ride was? I put my bike out in the morning in overcast, walked out 5 minutes later and it was sprinkling. "It will blow over!" Lucas and Patrick met over at my place and we headed to the meeting spot and all the other guys (Dave, Ted, Francisco), got some coffee, and took off. "It will blow by!"







Rode Redwood Rd, was fun, the alternative route I chose was closed off, so we headed back north to some of the twistier, sketchier roads to get to Orinda and it just started pouring and fog everywhere. Everyone was soaked, and those without full faces were wishing for full faces as the rain hit our faces like beebees.





We finally decided to give up the ghost and charge home.

Photo by Lucas




Photo by Doug


3 blocks from home my brake rod decided to snap and wrap around my axle. I need to get that taken care of stat as I'm riding to Grass Valley Thursday for the last Throwback Thursday, and Halloween is the 49 Mile Ride.