Loose Cats

over there on the right - yeah over there - I suggested that someone lose the cats. Tarik, although covered in pickled cat juice or something, graciously replied that he looses the cats every morning. (By graciously, I mean he didn't offer to drive to Atlanta and beat me with a 10lb bag of Meow Mix.) Heh, I thought... Loose the cats, loose cats... hmm that's a funny phrase. I should be able to find something humorous around here on the web to plagarize. I mean, c'mon... Loose cats, promiscuous felines - this is the internet, there's crap like that all over the place, right? ... That's what I thought too. At least a 'Far Side' comic or something.

Well there's a lot of 'loose cats' on the internet, but it's not funny. Seems people take loose cats very seriously. 30 pages of Googleness and barely a snicker to be found. For or against, loose cats is not something people find levity in...

See for yourself: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22loose+cats%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

okay - so I'm just feeling prickly because Stacy was too tired to go see Lez Zeppelin with me at the Variety Playhouse. Bet there were some loose cats there.

- taz

cool song: Cool for Cats - Squeeze

smoky mountain view

Occasionally it's nice to get out of the city. Although I wasn't really feeling up to it, Stacy and I decided to stick to our plan to go camping this weekend. On the way up, we stopped at her parents' house where I took this picture.



That's the view from their front porch (looking north). The tallest point in the distance is the peak of Wayah Bald. My little Canon PowerShot doesn't quite pick it up but you can sometimes make out the tower. The Appalachian Trail climbs Wayah before heading northeast to Wesser Bald and then down to the Nantahala River.

Someone please remind me again why I stay in Atlanta...

- taz

cool song: Unsatisfied - The Replacements

pt. 2

until... I got home. That's when it hit me. Food poisoning or the quickest onset of the flu I've ever had. I'll spare you the disgusting details - and believe me, they're disgusting - and just say that my bathroom now qualifies as a Superfund site. Aside from the fever, forceful emissions (fore and aft), headache, and general unwellness, the thing that really bugs me is that I purposely skipped having a beer or drinks at the show so I wouldn't feel like crap at work the next day. Feeling like crap woud be exponentially better than how I feel currently - day 2 of laying in bed and making sure the toilet is no further than 10 feet away at any point in time.

Guess this is some cosmic/karmic payback for complaining about jury duty and a bad internet connection.

time for my next dose of Imodium...

later,
taz

Rainy Day Wilco

Wilco played Chastain Park ampitheater Tuesday. Wilco's latest album is titled 'Sky Blue Sky'. Georgia (and most of the southeast) has been under drought conditions for the past couple of months. I had concert tickets. Can you guess what happens next?

Yes - it rained. Irony? Not really - it was entirely predictable. But then again, I'm not much of an optimist. Or so Stacy says.

A slight drizzle started while the opening band (whose name escapes me) was playing. Turned to a heavier sprinkle during the intermission and by the time Wilco was into their second or third song, a steady rain which lasted throughout their set.



Turns out this wasn't a bad thing. Unlike most summer showers we have in Atlanta, this wasn't a thunder/electrical storm to send everybody running for the nearest building or cover. Just a really pleasant, warm summer rain. And with an unexpected benefit... my most recent experience with concerts or bands in clubs has been less than enjoyable. Seems the trend is to call everyone you know on your cell phone and tell them about the great show they're missing instead of watching the show. Or if your friends are with you, talk loudly over the music about your after show plans, etc. Maybe I'm just getting old and irritable, but I seem to remember going to shows to see the band. Or maybe I just used to go to shows that were so loud that you couldn't talk over them.



Anyway - the rain had the unexpected affect of subduing this annoying behavior and everyone got to enjoy a pretty damn good show. The band played mostly songs from their latest album and the previous one, 'A Ghost Is Born', the sound was almost perfect (could have turned up Nel's guitar a little in the mix) and as Jeff promised early in the show, they played until the rain stopped - which happened during the second encore. If Wilco is coming your way, definitely get out to see them, rain or shine.

Go here to see if there coming to your neighborhood - www.wilcoworld.net

All in all, a fun evening. Until.. (pt 2)

- taz

oh yeah... cool song of the day: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart - Wilco (of course)


update: the opening band was 'Low'

listen to the colour of your dreams

cool song: Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles

Chicken feed

Where else can you find a picture of Elmo and a giant chicken feeding baby chicks?

Disclaimer: I live with the giant chicken. Elmo lives elsewhere.

- taz

annoyances

Wednesday I got a notice in the mail that I had a package of some sort that I needed to sign for. I was a little puzzled because I wasn't expecting anything although I occasionally buy bikie stuff on ebay or swap with friends. I didn't pay attention to the sender name, just signed the slip and stuck it back in my mailbox wondering what forgotten goodie would show up Friday.

Get home this evening and 'shit!' - my bike goodie had turned into a registered letter for Jury Duty. Great! Oh well, it's not the first time. In fact, this is the fourth time in about 10 years. Isn't that a little high? If there's 5 million people in the metro Atlanta area, there's gotta be at least a million in Fulton County. Maybe I should play the lottery? Anyway - the last three weren't a big deal. One pool on standby for half a day before being dimissed, a civil trial where I was released during voir dere, and another standby pool that was cancelled the day before court. No actual trials.

So while I'll muttering to myself and sorting through the other mail, I think - wait a minute - I don't remember getting a registered letter before. I open the summons and find I've been selected for Grand Juror duty. 'SHIT!' Every Tuesday and Friday for the next two months, starting July 3rd. So much for a long 4th weekend... It's a good thing my big trips for the year have already happened. I guess that explains the registered letter. Can't pull a 'lost in the mail' excuse for not showing up.

And what's wrong with my damn DSL? Since Monday I haven't been able to stay connected for longer than 15 minutes and after 9pm it goes dead completely. Not dead exactly, the DSL modem shows a connection, but doesn't respond or show any activity when I tried to logon. hmm... Is it capacity, bad phone line, or what? Works fine in the mornings for Stacy, but let me try to check email and nothing... (Earthlink btw)

Okay - as problems go, these are not that bad. I'm sure everyone has worse - I do. Just a littttle extra aggravation to add spice to the week.

cool song of the day:

The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - Sufjan Stevens

and one from yesterday since I couldn't get online:

She Comes in Colors - Love

later,
taz

Cool Song of the Day

you know... just something I heard today on my ipod or the radio or whatever...

I'll give you two to get started -

Autumn Sweater - Yo La Tengo

Blow Out - Radiohead


Haven't got any direct links yet so if you want to hear these, you'll have to work a little. Anyway - check these out and let me know what you think.

Looks like I can make some kind of list over there on the right so maybe I'll keep track of these (or not - we'll see).

- taz

Davidson adopted

My Davidson has found a new home. Thanks to everyone that inquired. Although I did 'sell' the frame, I like to think that it was adopted. I'd only put about 1000 miles or so on this one, but that's still 50-75 hours - enough to form an attachment and I'm glad to see it go to a good home (thanks again Sadiq).

The Cirque du Cyclisme vintage bike show was this past weekend. I'll post some pictures soon but if you weren't there, you missed it. The bikes are great but the people are better.

Check out the Classic Rendezvous website and listserv for more info - next year it moves to Virginia:

www.classicrendezvous.com

www.bikelist.org

- taz

Villefranche sur Mer

Just outside of Nice... I love this little town.

Photo taken last month.

-taz

Picnic!

Sunday, the Intown Touring Club had a picnic at Grant Park. When I first heard about it, I was a little skeptical. First time bike rides frequently have a lot of no shows and picnics, like pot luck dinner parties, can be the same. You know, four people show up out of the thirty that said they'd be there and everyone brings potato salad. So a bike ride ending with a picnic, while sounding promising, was probably going to be a disappointment.

I was wrong.



Fifteen or so riders met at the square in Decatur to ride to the Dekalb Farmer's Market for provisions and then on to Grant Park, for the first Intown Touring Club picnic. Several others rode directly to the park and we even picked up a couple of other riders on the way. Most impressively, all the supplies - grills, coolers, water, beverages, charcoal, etc - were brought on bike. Big props go out especially to Charlie and Byron with the XtraCycle and the bike trailer and Katie with a heavily laden Atlantis touring bike. The ride was a casual, meandering social pace to the park. Kind of hard to do anything else with these loads. And the food was excellent - with the mid-ride stop at the Farmer's Market ensuring that everyone had their favorites - there was enough food that we were begging strangers to share some. Topped off with beautiful early summer weather and a wiffle ball game, the picnic was an outstanding success.



Can't wait for the next one...

Here's some pics of the picnic (and the transportation) and a link to the Intown Touring Club page:

http://intowntouring.googlepages.com/home



Hey, batter! batter!



More photos from Byron here: http://picasaweb.google.com/byronrushing/ITCPicnic

- taz

More Bikes for Sale

I'd mentioned previously that I have several other bikes or frames that I'd like to sell. A couple of people asked if I'd post a few pictures, so here goes...

Click on the small photos to supersize.

The picture on top is a late 70s (?) Richard Sachs. It's currently disassembled - I'm offering just the frame and fork. It's 56cm c-t with a 56 top tube. I'm a little ambivalent about selling this one, I may just have it repainted. But if the right offer comes along... I should mention that the rear has been cold set to 130 so it will take current wheels - as you can see by the DuraAce and Ultegra nine speed group in the picture. For some people that's a deal killer, for others a plus. Personally, I like to ride and prefer Ergo/STI shifting so it's a plus. If you feel differently, it was done by a previous owner along with the red repaint, so don't yell at me.

Next up is a Ritchey Road Logic -



Again, this is not a complete bike - in this case frame/fork, Shimano 600 headset and Shimano Octalink triple BB.
I'm guessing the vintage as around 90-91. Paint is pretty rough. Lots of scratches and some touched up with a white that doesn't match. Very nice riding bike though. I think these bikes are very underrated. These are built by Toyo, the same company that builds Rivendell Atlantises, Rambouillets, etc., and then finish work by Tom Ritchey himself (or so I've read). There's some nice touches here that don't show in the picture, like a fillet under the down tube/head TIG weld to add a little strength and the seattube swages into the bottom bracket to stiffen that area. Enough sales pitch - check out the Serotta forum to hear some independent comments on this bike.

Last for now - Dave Moulton Fuso.



Pretty frame, don't you think? Man, I really need to repaint that wall! anyway ... This is 55 c-c seattube, 56 top tube. Which is a 56 by Dave's method of measuring. You can find out plenty about this one from Dave's website and blog. We've got two other frames by Dave in the house so this one is available, but I'm not in a hurry to see it leave.

Dave Moulton's website: http://www.prodigalchild.net/Bicycle.htm

Dave's blog: http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/

and Richard Sach's website: http://www.richardsachs.com/

That's enough shilling for now. If you're interested or want more info, leave a comment or drop me an email.

- taz

Hey Mister, wanna buy a bike?

I have a bike for sale... Actually I have several bikes I need to sell, but lets start small.

This is a Davidson Impulse frame and fork, size 53. Nice lugs, internally routed brake cable. Has a nice Shimano 600 headset and (for now) UN72 bottom bracket and matching water bottle cages.

There's the usual nicks and scratches, but no abuse. The typical for a nice but used bike.

This is a very nice bike, but just a little too small for me. You can find more details about Davidson here

http://www.davidsonbicycles.com/html/home.shtml

and here

http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/davidson-91/



I'm thinking $325 plus shipping costs. I'm open to offers but no bike trades - I really need to pare down.

Okay... if you've got some super stunning bikie something in a 54-55 that I wouldn't be able to live without once I know about it, you can try. But it's unlikely.

And if you've need a bike or frameset in 55 or 56, I've got others.

I'm going to Le Cirque du Cyclisme (vintage bikeshow in Greensboro, NC) next week and can bring it there if you're interested, saving some shipping.

thanks,
taz

Maybe next time, I'll learn how to enbed my links - stay tuned.

i got a blog (I gotta blog?)

Okay - so this is blog post number one. Hmm - if i've got a blog, this whole blogging trend must be on it's death bed.

Anyway...

So if you've stumbled across this page 'cause you're looking for interesting discourse on buildings, food, buildings and food, or just Talking Heads - sorry. Well - maybe Talking Heads occasionally. But don't expect interesting or much of a discourse.

Then what's this particular blog about? Nothing really. My best guess at this point is a few random thoughts about bicycles, music, current or not so current events, general venting. You know - the same kind of (deathly boring) stuff that everybody else does - only with worse grammar and spelling. The typical online diary, except I'm too lazy to update frequently or regularly. At least based on past experience with these types of things.

If you've read this far you might as well post a comment. How did you get here? Thoughts/interests on bicycles? do you even care about bikes? Favorite Talking Heads song? Hey - I'll start: 'Take Me to the River' - today anyway.
Next update: July (heh)

Later,
taz