krinkle.net

It’s true! I swear!

Well sorta, busy/lazy/facebook … whatever the cause of things have been for my lameness around my little corner of the blogosphere, feh. Like I often say when things get slow around here … “That’s gonna change soon!” But let’s face facts, it’s not gonna change all that much. I got big things on the horizon, not big for you, or for most people, but for me, if it all works out … for me.

With that said the holidays are upon us! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I’d like say a few thank-outs to all my peeps more commonly known as friends and family who help keep me from taking a long walk off a short pier. Thanks peeps! I’d also like to encourage everyone to smile at a stranger next week, none of us do it enough.

Okay that’s it for now. I tentatively promise to bring you a new post on Friday or Saturday after the Fat Friday ride Team Wankstas is putting together, but don’t hold your breath … with … gasp … photos! ttyl.

David Cross with the Co-Founder of Vice Magazine in China!

Seriously funny stuff.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

FANTASTIC!!!

Actor, racer, and philanthropist

Paul Newman passed today after a battle with cancer. Most know him best as an actor. Not me. While I knew he was an actor it was as race car driver and team owner that I became familiar with his work. Rest in peace Mr. Newman, you shall be missed.

My blog is turning in to an obituary page, hope this is the last I have to post for a while.

From Sherdog.com:

The body of former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner (Pictures) was found Monday in the Palo Verde mountain area.

Tanner, 37, was an apparent victim of heat exposure.

He had embarked on a camping trip on his motorcycle Sept. 3 into the desert-like region north of Brawley, Calif., approximately two and a half hours east of San Diego.

The native of Amarillo, Texas, was found approximately two miles from his campsite, said his manager John Hayner, of Driving Force Sports, who had known the fighter for four years. Hayner said Tanner went camping to undergo a spiritual and physical cleansing, which was not uncommon for the fighter.

Wow, could this be the first timely post here in a while? It is.

On Friday August 29th Serge and I hopped in to his new Cayman S for a week+ long road trip to see a little bit of our fine country and some good friends.

Packed up and ready for the road.

Things got cobbled together last minute as is often our modus operandi. The important thing was that things actually got together and we were on the road shortly after work. There was only one problem, this was the Friday before labor day weekend and we weren’t the only ones struck by this genius idea. Getting outta of the greater Los Angeles area was a bit of struggle, but we did it.

After a long night of driving we got to Flagstaff, AZ and grabbed a few drinks. A quick stop at the Pita Pit after that and we were off to bed. Nothing like cheap motel beds to get a marginal nights sleep. The next morning we ate some mini muffins provided by our motel and were back on the road.

After looking at some maps I suggested a stop at Four Corners. We stood in four states at the same time, woooooohooooo!

Here’s what it looks like as you approach it and after paying the $3 to get in.

Four Corners was an interesting place. A nice monument surrounded by small wooden booths where local Indians sold wares of all types. After checking it all out we got back on the road heading towards Durango, CO.

On the way to Durango, CO we stopped at the Great Divide. It’s a pretty impressive site.

Once in Durango, CO it quickly became clear we weren’t the only ones looking for a motel. Being Labor Day weekend there were throngs of bikers in town. We decided to have dinner in Durango and rest up a little before pushing on.

The next leg of driving got a bit dicey. We were driving through mountain passes with sporadic and hard rain storms. The Porsche’s traction control came in handy and we got through it all without the slightest misstep. After driving through Ouray, CO we made it to Montrose, CO and decided to find a motel there.

The next morning we pushed on to Colorado Springs, CO to visit The Brothers Sorenson, also known as Nate and James. Big thanks goes out to them for giving us a free place to eat, sleep, and be merry for the couple of nights.

We proved that the Porsche Cayman S can comfortably fit 3 people. Doesn’t Nate look comfortable?

After we left Nate and James’ place we headed to the Garden of the Gods. Lots of big rocks.

After leaving Colorado Springs out next stop was Denver, CO. We had one important stop to make before we left, and that was drive up to Pikes Peak.

We made it all the way up and kept the car on the road.

Here I am standing on a time capsule that was buried in 1999 to be opened in 2099.

It’s a LOOOONG way down.

On the way down there a few signs reminding you to be careful with your brakes.

Of course how seriously can you take the braking signs when this is also there. Then again, what if Big Foot is real?

One of my favorite photos from Pikes Peak. Taken on the way down.

After leaving Pikes Peak we made a mad dash for Denver, CO. Compared to some of the earlier driving this was a piece of cake. Once in town we had to find a hotel. Little did we know that the CEDIA EXPO was taking place that week making hotel hunting just a little bit harder than expected. We finally got a room at the Westin-Tabor which was a nice central spot next to the 16th street mall.

Once settled in I called Christine and she met us downtown for a few drinks.

I like this photo because Christine looks all ‘after school special’ serious.

After a few more drinks Christine and I convinced Serge to stay an extra day if she took the next day off. It worked so I rented a car and we all took off from Denver to visit Boulder and Fort Collins.

Here is Christine fighting the system at the New Belgium Brewery. She was in an especially sassy mood and did not want to play by the rules. Luckily disaster was avoided and we talked the knife out of her hand so she wouldn’t kill our beer wench.

After a long day driving around the fine state of Colorado we ended up at Choppers Sports Bar for Poker Night. Alas Serge and I aren’t poker players so we watched Christine get to the final table before we called it a night.

One more day seeing Denver and dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange for Rattlesnake, Elk, Venison, Quail, and Pot Roast.

The next morning it was on to Vegas, then home. There was on unexpected stop along that route on I-70. It was by a Utah State Trooper who seems to think that the car we were traveling in was exceeding some type maximum speed they claim to have in Utah. I begged to differ but it did not dissuade the Trooper from issuing some type of citation. The details are all a bit foggy.

Needless to say Serge’s car is going to need a complete and thorough cleaning.

Better extremely late than never.

This ’should’ have been post WAY back sometime in April, but I was either lazy or busy or both. Ohhh, both lazy and busy simultaneously! I like that.

It actually all got started the evening before with a little BBQ and movie screening at Pasadena Cyclery. I didn’t take any good photos at the BBQ and left a bit early since I rode my bike there and didn’t feel like night riding that day, or at least that’s how I remember it, April was a long time ago.

The sign lets you know you are either in the right place OR the wrong place.

The pancake factory. Look, it’s Matt from Pasadena Cyclery in the red cap.

Pancakes and OJ, two great tastes that taste great together.

Trek was on hand to provide mountain bike demos of the latest and greatest.

Keith Bontranger in the flesh. Gary Fisher was there too, but I think he was still out on a ride with some folks.

Overall it was great event, lots of prizes for the raffle, and well PANCAKES! My favorite part of the whole thing was seeing the following 2 OLD SCHOOL mountain bikes. The black one is more neo-retro, but they both have a ton vintage MTB goodies. Here are a bunch of photos of each with a bit just a bit of commentary, but not much.

See that crack on those bars? These were recalled by Gary Fisher decades ago. Mr. Fisher even told the owner to get rid them at the event. The owner laughed a bit and said it’s all okay. He, the owner was an interesting fellow, on to his green bike.

Autographed by Gary Fisher!

And with that I close this post. Next year, if I go, I’ll try and make more timely.

Slick tricks in the afternoon.

After spending all of my Saturday energy biking 100 kilometers at the Cool Breeze ride in Ventura it was time to ratchet things down a few notches for my Sunday adventures. I check the Midnight Ridazz site and then decided I didn’t want ride my bike today, but instead I found the Anytime Jam. This aloud me to watch others shred up on 20″ BMX bikes.

I didn’t get any names, but here’s a dude pulling off a tailwhip, I think.

Just as they say “never bring a knife to a gun fight” you should also “never bring a camera-phone to an SLR fight.” Okay maybe that doesn’t make sense, but I should have brought my old Nikon FE2 or even my little Canon point and shoot, but alas, I didn’t. Sorry for the crappy photos.

Another dude going flairy on us. Get it, FLAIRy? The trick is a flair. Okay, I’m no comedian.

While I was watching the BMX action the Venice fixed gear hipster crew speed by.

Yet another dude getting some air during the Pro Jam portion of the event.

Barspin and that is a wrap!

I left before the best trick and highest air portions of the comp. I was pretty whipped out from standing in the sun most of the day. This in addition to all the sun I got yesterday. Overall was fun and chill event. It was cool to see the Amateurs ride and win some good prizes. I don’t know there names, but I would have switch 2nd for 2st, but what do I know they all did good.

Last note, some rider that went by ‘Bob’ went HUGE to try a rear wheel stall of some kind off the back wall of the ramp and ended up clearing it. He didn’t mean to go over and that meant that he fell off the back of the ramp then straight down about 25 feet or so! Everyone RUSHED to the back of the ramp to see how bad he hurt himself . . . he FREAKIN’ landed it! To top it off he eventually landed the trick. Props to ‘Bob!’

UPDATE: RideBMX coverage here.

Tool rentals at your local library!

This is a fantastic idea! Read all about it over at Toolmonger!

5.4 earthquake today

I was walking between two buildings here at work and then strolled over to one of the cafeterias and everyone was talking about an earthquake . . . I had no idea there had been one. Must be my shoes.

Carry on.

Salmon fishing can be a harsh mistress.

A couple weeks ago I hopped on a plane to beautiful Vancouver B.C. Canada with hopes of bringing home more than a couple of pounds of delicious Chinook and Coho Salmon. It didn’t quite work out as I had hoped, but more on that later.

The view from our room at the Westin Bayshore was great. Props to Seth and his points for scoring us this room!

Vancouver B.C. harbor and the air tour port. I think that’s what it’s called, but I could be wrong.

Seth’s favorite beer!

There were high rise condos going up all over Vancouver. Out shuttle driver mentioned the read estate market is cooling off there just like in the US.

Capilano Suspension Bridge. We flew in on a Friday afternoon and had a free day on Saturday so we strolled Vancouver before taking a SeaBus to North Vancouver to visit the Bridge.

It was neat, but honestly, if you don’t have kids I’d say skip it. Head farther north and swing down a zip line or something.

The view down from the bridge.

The view back at North Vancouver from the SeaBus.

This was one FAST kayaker! While we were fishing on Sunday morning there was some type of kayak race and this guy was KILLING the field by a country mile, seriously. Oh and we had plenty of time to watch the race since we were trolling for salmon and it was going S-L-O-W. Little did we know at the time that it was going to be a theme for the rest of the fishing.

After almost 11 hours of trolling we finally hit a fish. Seth was the first to the rod and brought in a 6 pound Chinook Salmon. It got us all a bit worked up, but no more fish were caught this day.

Avo spent most of day two in this position. I dubbed him “The Sleeping Beauty.”

Turns out that wasn’t the worst way to spend the day. We actually got a couple hits, but they didn’t produce fish. On one bait check we had a Rockfish sitting at the end. Brenden our Captain tossed him back in. My reaction was like, what!? He then informed me that they were protected in the area and we could couldn’t keep it. Soon after we caught another Chinook, but it was undersized and had be thrown back. So after roughly 21 hours of fishing and $2000 plus dollars spent on the charter we got ONE fish. It was a bit of bummer, but we smoked some Cuban cigars and some drinks and all was well. A bad day fishing is better than a good day working.

It was just O K.

A decent shoot ‘em up with lots of CGI bits ‘n’ pieces. But, I’m not writing this to talk about ‘Wanted.’ I’m writing because there was a very small role in the movie played by Terrence Stamp. He’s probably one my favorite actors just because of ‘The Limey.’ Thanks to the greatness that is YouTube, here is one of my favorite scenes from said movie:

As mentioned in a previous post I spent my last evening in a pub playing trivia.

Team Monkey Army was assembled and ready for battle. Alexis, Josh, Christine, Laurence, and I were armed with our sharp minds and pints of beer!

Team Monkey Army!

WE WON! Sure the 1st place team after round 5 left early, but screw them! In my hand there is $25 gift certificate to Wyman’s No. 5, the host pub for the evening. Much thanks to them and their crew.

If you’d like to read the full write up on our amazing come from behind victory visit geekwhodrink.com! Thanks to Quizmaster Drew @ geekswhodrink.com for these photos.

With this I close the “I Like Colorado” posts . . . for now. I had great time and send many thanks to my friends in Denver! Christine, Alexis, Eric, Gary, and now Laurence are all great folks who took time out to entertain this Los Angeleno, who knows I might be a Denverite to Boulderite sooner than later.