Saturday, April 30, 2016

2016/04/30 - Weather, Pretty Girls












The weather continues to suck here in Arvada Colorado.

Regardless, finally after two rest days (more like restless days), I got out of the house for a bike ride. It was 32 degrees and snowing. As you might imagine, I had the bike path all to myself.

I started out with good intentions for a long ride, but ended up doing the bare minimum, and was happy to get home and into a hot shower.

This weather reminds me of New York. It rarely rains for days here like it does back east.
.....

Here's a shot I took this morning of Helo and her girlfriend Alex.










Later,
Steve

Friday, April 29, 2016

2016/04/29 - Egg Mess

Here's a tip!

Never heat up cold hardboiled eggs in a microwave.

I made some hardboiled eggs yesterday and this morning Val put two in the microwave for 1 minute.

At 45 seconds we heard an bang! One of the eggs had exploded, leaving the inside of the microwave a mess.

As if that wasn't bad enough, when she cut into the second egg, that one also exploded, leaving the kitchen a mess.

Later,
Steve

Thursday, April 28, 2016

2016/04/28 - Imaginary Conversations, Fortitude

I have some of the best conversations with family and friends when I'm all by myself.

That probably sounds crazy (and may very well be), but it's true. For example, I was excited to meet with my friend Tom this morning for breakfast and during my ride to Boulder I was thinking about all the things we could talk about and found myself having an imaginary conversation with Tom.

Funny thing is, the real conversations never turn out as well. 
.....

I'm trying to psych myself into going for a bike ride today, but so far it's not working.

It's cold (36 degrees), drizzling, and I could use a break after 11 straight days of riding.

On the other hand, the little voice of my cycling addiction whispers that it would actually be good for me to get out, if only to build grit and fortitude. 

What would Patton do?

PS: I didn't go. Patton is coming over to slap my face.


Later,
Steve

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

2016/04/27 - Horace & Pete Final Review

I haven't written in a couple of days, mainly because I've been binge-watching Horace and Pete, and the show has put me in a gloomy mood.

I finished this morning and here’s my final review:

The 10 episode story takes place in a family owned bar in Brooklyn, NY with a 100-year history and a severely dysfunctional family.

The series is collection of family tragedies, which although compelling, are also disturbing and sometimes shocking.

The tragedies are interspersed with comical barroom banter and current topical conversations covering touchy subjects like abortion, trans sexuality, suicide, religion, politics, homosexuality, etc.

Perhaps the best part of the series is the casting of the main characters:

Louis C.K. plays Horace  the latest generation of “ Horace's” to run the bar together with his brother, the latest generation of “Pete’s”, played by Steve Bussumi.

Pete is a recovering psychotic who spent most of his former life institutionalized, but now manages to live a semi-normal life on medication.




Eddie Falco plays Harold and Pete's sister; a rude, ice-cold bitch that finds out she has cancer.





Alan Alda plays their uncle; a crude loudmouth who says whatever is on his mind, no matter how rude, insulting, or insensitive.




Finally Jessica Lange plays an attractive alcoholic barfly who was the girlfriend of the previous “Horace”, who recently died.






At times the dialog is a little improbable, and Louis’s acting skill pales in comparison with the others. It seems like he is limited in his number of expressions, and spends a lot of time hiding his face behind his hands.

Steve Buscemi, on the other hand, plays an out-of-character award-winning role, especially in the scene where he bursts out crying after hearing bad news.

It’s common for comedians to have a dark side, and this series, which he admits is partly autobiographical, reveals a bit of Louis’ dark side. Personally I wish he would stick to comedy.

I think the show is definitely worth watching for the great acting and the shock value, but not at the current price of $31.00 for the season.  I would wait until Netflix picks it up.

Later,
Steve

Sunday, April 24, 2016

2016/04/24 - Horace and Pete Initial Review

Last night I watched the first episode of Horace and Pete.

I loved the format. It’s more like theatre than TV, or like watching a play on stage.

I thought that the acting was outstanding, the dialog brilliant, and the story line compelling.

I also found it to be slightly depressing, definitely not comedy, and not a feel-good first episode. 

Then on my bike ride this morning, I decided to listen to the Mark Maron interview with Louis C.K. again, and this time it was much more meaningful now that I saw the first episode.

I thought it was funny that Mark Maron called it more of a tragedy than a comedy and Louis himself admitted that it was the opposite of up-lifting, that it was down-pushing.

Oddly though, I found myself thinking about the story all day long, and wanting to know more.


I wound up watching the second episode a little while ago and now I'm hooked. 

Later,
Steve

Saturday, April 23, 2016

2016/04/23 - Snakes!, Are You Smarter Than An 11-Year Old?

I saw this nice size bullsnake alongside the bike path this morning.

Bullsnakes are commonly mistaken for rattlesnakes, but they are not poisonous.

Here's an excellent YouTube video showing the difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFcQSA3bgvk
.....

I gave this real-life problem to Heloisa this morning:  

Steve was using a new floor cleaner to clean the kitchen floor this morning.

It was product that you have to mix with water before using.

The mixture called for ¼ cup of floor cleaner per gallon of water.

Steve didn’t want to make a whole gallon; he just wanted enough of the mixture to fill a 25 fluid ounce container.

How many teaspoons of floor cleaner did Steve have to use?

Are you smarter than an 11 year old? Email me with your answer. My email address is in my profile (see "View my complete profile" in the right-hand column on this page).

Later,
Steve

2016/04/22 - Horace and Pete, Flat Bike Mike

Have you heard of the TV series Horace and Pete?

It's a web series created by one of my favorite comedians; Louis C.K., staring himself, Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, Alan Alda, Jessica Lange, etc.

It's set in an old run-down Brooklyn bar, family owned since 1916.

I ordered the first episode at: https://louisck.net/show/horace-and-pete and will let you know what I think when I finish watching it.

PS: I heard about it from the latest WTF podcast by Mark Moran; "EPISODE 700 PART 2 - Louis CK". Check it out at: http://www.wtfpod.com!
.....

Mike and I did a 32.3 mile ride last night on bike paths, but first we had to repair TWO flat tires on his fat bike. We pulled at least 6 goatheads out of his tires. I think his new nickname should be Flat Bike Mike!

Later,
Steve

Thursday, April 21, 2016

2016/04/21 - Bear Creek Lake Park

For a change of scenery today I tried the C-470 Bikeway.

I wound up inside Bear Creek Lake Park and lost. I had to turn around and ask directions to get back to Morrison. 

Looking at the map I see where I made my mistake. 

Actually I didn't enjoy riding alongside the C-470 traffic exhaust, so my accidental detour was welcome.

Humm... Bear Creek Lake. Is that something like Mount Quandary Peak?

Later,
Steve

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

2016/04/20 - Marathon Ride

This morning's ride was a marathon, not only in distance (26.2 miles), but it was also an event.

I had a time constraint today, so I had to get started quickly after my parental duties, in order to get in a long ride.

I'm really enjoying my long flat bike path loops, but I have a bit of a dilemma. If I ride my road bike, it's a longer loop (30 miles) and I have to ride on CO-93 for 2 miles alongside steady 55 mph traffic with a good shoulder. If I ride my mountain bike, I can cut off 5 miles, but the dirt has to be dry. It also has 1.5 miles on Easely Street which has intermittent 35 mph traffic and a poor shoulder. Neither option is ideal, but the short annoyance is soon forgotten when followed by 20 plus miles of safe bike path.

As a result, I'm still searching for the magic route that can be done with either of my bikes, with zero road traffic danger. 

Today's scouting trip was a disaster. 

What looked like a viable solution on Google Maps, got me into some real street traffic, and disoriented for a little while, before I figured out a way to get down to the Clear Creek trail.

Then, after finally finding the trail, I got a FLAT!

Luckily I did an equipment check before leaving the house, and had everything I needed fix it. Otherwise I would have been in trouble because I forgot my wallet and I was 13 miles from home.

Later,
Steve

2016/04/19 - Test Message

Can someone please send me a test email message using the email link in my profile?

It doesn't seem to work for me, but someone told me that gmail will not forward a message to me if mine is the originating email address. 

Thanks,
Steve

Monday, April 18, 2016

2016/04/18 - Big Foot

Well maybe not THE Big Foot, but it was definitely a big foot (8 inches), as you see from the plastic ruler on the left.

Years ago when I lived in Nederland, I was walking through my property with my dog Satchmo unleashed. 

We came upon this track.

"Let's get the hell out of here Satchmo"!

Later,
Steve

Sunday, April 17, 2016

2014/04/17 - It's snow use, Is that a bear?, The Bomb

Welcome to Colorado!

This is what I woke to this morning, and it's still coming down!

It is hard to believe that only a few days ago we were enjoying a long stretch of temps in the 70's.

Something tells me that my exercise for today will be shoveling snow.

As my dad would say: "It's snow use!"
.....


Many years ago I tacked this marmot picture to my cubical wall at work.

I remember one day a co-worker asked me "Is that a bear?"










And finally, "The Bomb".

This was one of my first creative pictures that I did in my home darkroom. 

It's actually an image taken by scanning a B&W print of a negative of an overexposed color slide. 

I love the shadows of the pigeons.

Photography has come a long way since I took up the hobby in 1982.

My guess is that most young people nowadays don't know what negatives, slides, or darkrooms are.

Later,
Steve

Saturday, April 16, 2016

2016/04/16 - Room for Expansion, I'm turning Japanese, Sangre De Cristo shots

About five years ago when I moved to Golden, I bought a nice KitchenAid knife set, that came with one of those chopping blocks with slots to insert the knives.

It was a packaging nightmare. Each individual knife was wrapped for child safety, making them very difficult for me to unwrap. :-)

When I was finally finished unwrapping all the knives and fitting them into the appropriate slots in the chopping block, I was left with a huge pile of torn heavy brown paper and thick clear tape.

I was also left with ONE empty slot.

I went crazy searching through the box and paper chaos looking for the missing knife, all the while wondering how I could possibly return this mess to Target.

Finally I decided to look on the box for help, and sure enough, a little asterisk prefixing tiny letters read the words “Room for Expansion”.

I had to laugh aloud, thinking about the Madison Avenue genius who thought of this as a way to cut costs, meanwhile spinning the missing knife as a "good thing".


I wondered if the next new-and-improved model would offer TWO empty slots for expansion?
.....

Did you know that Asian men in the US on average make 13% more than white men?
.....


Have you visited the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range in Southern Colorado? 

Here's some shots I took in the winter of 1992 from a small plane with 3 friends.



Later,
Steve