… is lining the bottom of the cage this week.

On a sad note, we are giving the birds away. They are going on Craigslist as soon as we get back to town. Hit me up if you are interested in 4 finches+cage.

We are pretty amped to have two road trips back to back. The firm is closed Friday, in observation of the day that Jesus first set off fireworks. Sorry for the sacrelig’. It was something funny that Reagan once overheard a Long Islander saying, and we have joked about it ever since. Anyway, we are off to Newport, RI for the weekend. We shall be spending Independence Day with our good friends the Truscotts. The weather forecast currently calls for patchy rain. But, we can always hope. I took the photo above, right before we got on the road last weekend, and that was pretty much the only time that we saw rain the whole weekend. Fingers crossed, we will have more of the same luck. I’m guessing that the blogging will be pretty sparse between now and Monday. So, have a happy and safe 4th of July.

Just sayin’

I seriously can’t believe that it is July 2009. I guess part of it is likely due to the fact that May and June were just one large rainy blob. This year, NYC missed the June rainfall record by 1/4 of an inch. Now, get ready for a bunch of randomness.

Today is also Canada Day. Isn’t it funny that Canada Day shares the same month as USA’s Independence Day? Also, the Declaration of Independence was actually finalized and executed on the 7th of July, not the 4th (according to historical facts compiled by David McCullough).

Last random blurb, for today: In GQ, this month (the one with Sascha Baron Cohen on the cover), there is this awesome article about NASA. The last I heard about NASA, Dubya wanted to go to the moon again, and eventually to Mars. Then I heard about Obama drastically cutting NASA funding, and I assumed that nothing was to come of the future lunar or martian trips. Welllll, I was wrong.

Did you realize that the shuttle flights are set to be phased out next year, and for the next 5 years after, Americans will be carted into space by the Russians? I had no idea. I also learned that The guy who got us to the moon under Kennedy, was the same guy who developed the Nazi v-2 Rocket in WWII (which helped the Nazis pulverize residential London). What!!??

As far as the future plans for lunar, and eventually martian landing go, things are in full swing. The rocket that will carry the astronauts is called the Constellation. The logo for the ship has been commissioned to the guy who did the design for the Star Trek the Next Generation logo (no joke).

This whole article made me wish that I would have studied harder in school, and wish that I didn’t have such an aversion to math. If you have a nerdy bone in your body, I strongly suggest that you check out this article.

Reagan and I were able to take a little road trip down south, this weekend to Virginia Beach. Some of our friends have access to a great beach house down there and invited us to tag along. For the most part, the weather was awesome. It was mid 80’s for the entire time. Sunday was a little overcast, at times, but still pleasant beach weather.

It was really cool to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. I saw a thing about how they built it on Modern Marvels, one time and had been curious about it ever since. I also loved watching all of the ship traffic come in and out of the bay, while we were there. We even saw an aircraft carrier on its way out to sea.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner in Delaware. When I came outside afterwards, there was a group of guys with motorcycles, in the parking lot, by our car. One of the guys had done his whole bike up in red carpet. Hahahaha. It was awesome. I snapped a couple of shots (below) and chatted it up with the riders for a few minute while I was waiting for Reagan to come out.

We had a really great time down there and were glad to become a little better acquainted with some of our friends and their families. More photos can be seen here.

Les Claypool is legendary in the realm of bass players. I’m not just talking about bass guitars. Claypool is not afraid to break up the stand-up bass and bow on occasion, to wow the masses. His infectious ultra-complicated slap-heavy bass playing is the backbone of the group Primus. Primus is not to be confused with, and is in no way related to Prius, which is a weak little tin can of a Toyota hybrid car.

When I was in high school, the group released an album called “Sailing the Seas of Cheese.” It was an amalgamation of the weirdest/coolest music that I had heard, at that time in my life. Claypool also does vocals and has a very Kermit the Frog-esque voice. Despite the odd vocal quality, Claypool’s voice doesn’t detract from the music, as much as it does give it character.

When I first obtained a copy of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese,” I was in the beginning stages of learning to play bass guitar, myself. As I would listen to the album, I though that there was no way that all of that noise was coming out of a single bass track played by one person. It was not until attending Lollapalooza 1994, and seeing Primus live, that I truly appreciated Claypool’s skills. He is amazing to watch.

The song that I’m sharing today is from the seas of cheese album. It was one of the more heavily played singles from the album. It is called “Jerry was a race car driver.” Give it a listen.

Ugh. I go away for the weekend, and this is what happens.

Sorry, that this is going to be kind of a rant. So, skip it and I won’t be offended. I have been really frustrated with my running for the past couple of weeks. I have been having problems with my ITB (I think), since the BK half marathon. I ran it with some new shoes that have less support and are made for a more neutral stride. I didn’t think that it would make that much of a difference. I thought that maybe they were just wearing out (since that also tends to make the knees a little sore). So I switched to some even heavier shoes with less support. After that I noticed the problem getting worse. It was to the point that it hurt every time I would descend stairs.

I started reading a lot of articles about knee pain caused by running, including a few that gave me ideas on some stretches to do. I also talked to the people at  the running store where I shop, about it. I started doing the stretches and it seemed like things were getting better, especially after I switched back to my old shoes. After my race last weekend, I didn’t have any pain at all.

Then yesterday, I wanted to run 12 mi.. It had finally stopped raining, and I was home early enough to do the whole run before it got dark. I could only make it about 7 and 1/4 before the knee pain was too much. What is wrong with my stupid legs? So freaking frustrating!!! In fairness, It could be because I haven’t been doing the ITB stretches since last week.

When running in pain, everything else starts to bug the crap out of me. I start hating what ever song is playing in my headphones. I get pissed off at all of the people who aren’t walking or riding on the correct side of the path (especially on the bridge). Of course I never say anything to them, or even give them dirty looks. This is the best part:

For whatever annoying reason, the GW generally only has one side that is open for pedestrian traffic. I prefer it when the south side is open, because there are no stairs, and the breeze is generally blowing north (blowing exhaust away from the path). Last night I had already done several laps of the bridge (was already in pain and pissed off) when an 18 wheeler came across spewing thick black smokey exhaust. The breeze was blowing it all straight into the faces of the people on the ped path. The stuff smells like a trash fire.  In an act of defeated anger, I pulled the collar of my jersey up over my nose, and gave the driver the bird as he drove by. He probably didn’t even see me. Or if he did, he was probably laughing. It’s kind of pathetic the way that I let myself become indignant just because of a little knee pain.

On a positive note, I plan to be at the beach for the next 2 weekends in a row. Which means, no shoes getting in the way. I heard that running in the sand is supposed make your calves super toned. So, maybe if I work really hard, I can get some sexy calves like Reagan’s.

… is lining the bottom of the cage this week.

Timing has not been my forte, today. First I had the train incident, this morning. Then, as luck (or lack thereof) would have it, the only 10 minutes that mother nature decides to make it rain today, occurred right as I walked outside to go get a passport photo taken. As a result,  any and all customs officials who look at the document for the next 10 years will be able to see my impersonation of an angry drowning rat.

On the bright side, there is a Wendy’s right across the street from the place that I had my photo done. I never really eat lunch, and I never really get to have Wendy’s (since there is no veggie-burger for Reagan). So at least I was able to stop in and grab some JBCBs, which I have not had in quite a while.

Another possible upside is that the angry look on my face, may actually come to my advantage. During my travels abroad it is possible that upon viewing the photo, any customs agents who were thinking about giving me trouble, will think twice. At least he will if there is any truth to the excerpt in the image below:

This, incidentally, was taken from the book “Ghosts/Aliens” (by Trey [Robert] Hamburger), which was given to me as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law, Nathan. I’m still making my way through it. This was one of my favorite parts, so far. All tough guys have mustaches and crew cuts.