Hello,

I started this blog just for the hell of it after reading a few blogs from fellow cyclist friends of mine. Their blogs got me interested in what I might have to say and how often I might say it. These posts will not be strictly about cycling, that was just a title for the blog that came to mind as I was filling out the necessary info......I might change it later. Some of my interests that might get written about on this blog are in no particular order....Cycling, Photography, Food, Working Out ( as opposed to cycling), movies, & trips that I have taken or might take in the future.
Thanks for checking in. If I write something you don't agree with, that's okay. These are my thoughts, not yours.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

WHAT A WEEK

ACTUALLY A VERY STRESSFUL 10 DAYS

It all started a week ago Sunday. Actually according to my brother it started 10 years ago. On that Sunday I found one of my car keys on my brothers key chain. I never gave it to him and money was missing from my car. ( I am a non-smoker so what else do you put in the ashtray). SO that day I told him it was time he found his own place to live after 9 months of mooching of me and my couch.

Monday
    My Min Pin jump off the bed and twisted her ankle. This was actually relatively cheap. I took her to a late night vet in Vegas and got some pain pills. Only $99,

Wednesday
      All four of my car tires were slashed
      It rained and my ceiling was leakin

Thursday
     A cat fell thru the wet spot in my ceiling. I still have a 6 sq. ft. hole. 6 days later.

Friday
     I think everything went okay that day

Saturday
      Came out at 5pm to walk the dogs and found that 2 more of my tires had been slashed
      Made out with some girl at work.

Sunday
      Got home Sunday morning to find out that the same asshole had come back and  cut the other
     two tires.

Monday
     Started parking my car and motorcycle at the ex girlfriends house. She's cool. We get along great.
     I ride my mountain bike over and pick it up.
     BOught a new mountain bike from REI because my brother managed to get the old one stolen.
     it wasn't fancy but it ran good.

Tuesday
     Daytime was fine and uneventful
    I went to be around 1:30am. Couldn't sleep. Got back up around 2am and watch some of
    the Olympics.
    At Approx. 3:15 I was

WHAT A WEEK


ACTUALLY A VERY STRESSFUL 10 DAYS

It all started a week ago Sunday. Actually according to my brother it started 10 years ago. On that Sunday I found one of my car keys on my brothers key chain. I never gave it to him and money was missing from my car. ( I am a non-smoker so what else do you put in the ashtray). SO that day I told him it was time he found his own place to live after 9 months of mooching of me and my couch.

Monday
    My Min Pin jump off the bed and twisted her ankle. This was actually relatively cheap. I took her to a late night vet in Vegas and got some pain pills. Only $99,

Wednesday
      All four of my car tires were slashed
      It rained and my ceiling was leakin

Thursday
     A cat fell thru the wet spot in my ceiling. I still have a 6 sq. ft. hole. 6 days later.

Friday
     I think everything went okay that day

Saturday
      Came out at 5pm to walk the dogs and found that 2 more of my tires had been slashed
      Made out with some girl at work.

Sunday
      Got home Sunday morning to find out that the same asshole had come back and  cut the other
     two tires.

Monday
     Started parking my car and motorcycle at the ex girlfriends house. She's cool. We get along great.
     I ride my mountain bike over and pick it up.
     BOught a new mountain bike from REI because my brother managed to get the old one stolen.
     it wasn't fancy but it ran good.

Tuesday
     Daytime was fine and uneventful
    I went to be around 1:30am. Couldn't sleep. Got back up around 2am and watch some of
    the Olympics.
    At Approx. 3:15 I was scared shitless by what sound like 4 gun shots and my patio door window
    Craahing in to the living room. Turned out it was 3-4 rocks and the windows cracking loudly when they got hit by the rock. Didn't know this until after I called 911 and the police got to my apartment.

Wednesday
     Waited until 3pm to have the window installed. Temp in my apartment reached 95 degrees.
     I was going to buy some 4x8 ft plywood to protect the windows but the window guy had a great suggestion. I took my sliding doors out of my closet and placed them in front of the window. Hopefully that helps until I move
     It's 8pm and I am still waiting for it to cool off so that I can sleep before my graveyard shift tonight.

Gonna spend the next couple of days finding a new apartment. Got a line on a 1 bedroom garage conversion that I will check out in the morning. It's actually about $!00 cheaper than the current apartment. We'll see how it goes in the morning. The I will come home and hopefully get a couple hours of sleep and go apartment hunting. Have to keep it cheap because at this time I don't make shit in my job. I would leave it but I just got benefits.

I don't know what my brother did to the guy doing this but I know it is not any of my doing.....I live a vanilla life and I like it. I don't get into fights or arguments. When I move I will never tell my brother where I live again. I ma done with him. I would change my phone number also but I like it and everybody knows it.


Sunday, July 29, 2012

ASSHOLE!!!!

GOODBYE

     This morning I told my brother, who has been sleeping on my couch for the last 9 months, that it was time for him to leave. He has become too much of an issue for me to continue to deal with it. I have given him a lot of warnings in the past and I finally tired of his shit.

BACK STORY

      My brother is 17 years younger than me and has struggled with drugs since he was a teenager. He went to rehab an couple of years ago and seemed to be doing better so last year when I was losing my house I let him stay there rent free because he had no where to go. During this time I also had him watch my dogs in my apartment if I was working really long hours. Around mid-October I did a century bicycle ride and knew I would be gone a long time so I had him come over to watch the pups for the day. Somehow he ended up staying on my couch. It was never invited but 9 months later he is still here.
      Over the nine months I have had a variety of things come up missing. A Gerber utility tool, my I Touch, a digital camera, money on numerous occasions. Plus he would eat me out of house and home with out bothering to buy any sort of food or maybe even volunteer to walk the dogs without being asked. I have told him that this is my apartment and his friends are not welcome (sounds harsh but I know his friends). This being said I have no doubt he has had numerous friends over. The biggest clue was when he cleaned the apartment after I went to work. Well that and the women's underwear and dildos that I have found in his stuff while looking for my possessions.
     A couple of weeks ago when I got in my car my ashtray (where all non-smokers keep change) was open. I never do this. Then it happened again a couple of days later. So I got suspicious. As a photographer I notice little things that are out of place like that. SO my first thought was to check on the location of my 2 spare keys. I was right. One of them was missing. The next 10 days or so I would look thru his stuff to see if I could find the key. Well the first thing I found was a pipe used for smoking his drugs. Did I say he is a "recovering addict". I didn't find the key but I kept checking everyday. Usually when he headed to the bathroom or was on my patio with the blinds drawn. Today, after about 10 days of looking, I found the key. On a key ring sitting amongst his stuff he keeps on the coffee table. I waited a few minutes just to calm down and just as he was falling asleep I woke him up and asked him " So when are you moving and showed him he key I had found". He was a bit shocked. He excuse was that he had found it on the floor about a week ago. I called bullshit on this because I had discovered it before I left for vacation ( I wasn't going to put off my vacation). He said he got busy and forgot to give it back. You don't put it on a key chain if that's what happened. You put it on the counter with a note. I might have believed him if money wasn't missing again. I then told him that I couldn't trust him and he had to go.
     This is a short version with the basics of the story. I don't know what he is going to do for a place to stay but it was time for tough love. He makes more money than me. He could find an apartment in the shit hole I live in for about $550 a month. He is a union sound and lighting tech he should be able to afford that.
     I love my brother  but I am not going to be stolen from and lied to on a daily basis when I am payng his rent and buying his food. It went on way to long and I finally had to put my foot down.

VACATION 2012

     Took two extra days off form work a couple of days ago and got my ass out of town, I was burned out and I figured I had better do it while I had the time and money to do so. And some one to watch my dogs (more on that in the next post.
     I went up into the California Sierra's and visited Yosemite, Mono Lake, Lee Vining, Mammoth Lakes, Bodie Ghost Town, and Devil's Post Pile. It was very good to get away, even if it was a bit warmer than I wanted, 40 miles down the road it was 105 degrees. Still better than home in Vegas, it was 115 + there.
      The strangest moment was about 5am on the first day just outside of Lee Vining. I got there about 2 hours early and decided to find somewhere that I could pull over and take a nap in the car.I set my alarm for about 5:45am so that I could wake up and shoot photos of Mono Lake at Sunrise. Well my phone alarm has not been ringing properly so  I didn't hear it go off. Around the time The alarm was supposed to go off, while I was sound asleep, I heard a voice call my name and wake me out of a sound sleep. Clear as day. It was so clear that I woke up and looked out my car windows to see who was outside my car. Nobody there. Just my mind. It was a little freaky.

Mono Lake Tufa at Sunrise



   I drove that morning into Yosemite Vally (this was not my intention) after driving into the entrance of the park. I got there so early I just kept driving and shooting the occasional photo. I got to Crane Flats (about 20 miles from the valley) and decided to go and see if the walk-in campground had any available sites for the night. There was no chance the more popular sites were have any availability. Plus it is only $5 for the walk-in campground. It is located right at the base of El Capitan and is traditionally a climbers campground. It was at least 95 degrees in the valley and with the traffic I was getting extremely overheated. I set up my campsite and made a bee line for the village store.....something to eat, ice, and BEER. back to my campsite to cool off and wait for sunset to go and shoot some photos.

Half Dome at Sunset




    The next day I drove back out of the valley, 75 miles, and went to Lee Vining to find a new campsite. Lee Vining is pretty much central to all of the areas that I was visiting. Plus it has all the normal amenities that you will need. I found a campsite at a motor home park and paid for 3 days. I don't mind camping out but at 50 years old I am not so much into roughing it. This campsite has a store, showers, flush toilets, hell it even had classic video games, and electricity so I could recharge my phone and e-reader. After setting the campsite I went immediately to Nicely's restaurant. I have been going there since the mid eighties. Great food for a small town. Seems to have gotten a little pricey but still worth it.
     After lunch I decided to drive out to the Bodie Ghost Town and check it out while taking a few snaps. In all the times I had been to this area in the past I had never gone to the former gold mining town from the 1860's. It was a little warm but I was glad to go there it was pretty cool.

150 Year Old Globe in the Bodie Classroom

Me and a truck in Bodie

The Bodie Stamp Mill Viewed Thru a Fallen Wall 


Over the next couple of days I spent my time going around to the various sites of the area and eating way to much. Overall it was a relaxing trip. I did a bit to much driving and not enough just sitting around.

Devil's Post Pile

Half Dome from Glacier Point

Lee Vining Creek

Food Truck at Mammoth Mountain

Toulomne Creek at Sunrise

Friday, June 15, 2012

BECAUSE THEY VOTE

     I was having lunch the other day at a local Mexican restaurant and I had the occasion to watch a man get into his van. I would say try to get into his van but after about 15 minutes he finally made it in to the driver' seat. The man did not appear to be alcoholically or chemically impaired. He was Impaired though. He is physically handicapped and was using crutches. What got my attention about the whole situation was that I had to walk out to my car to get my reading glasses and had the occasion to peak into his car as I passed by. There did not appear to be any hand (beyond the norm) controls for him top use to drive his vehicle. There is no way that this gentleman can possible control his car and react in a timely manner if the occasion should arise. I realize that the man is handicapped senior citizen and was a disabled veteran but there has to be some point in life when some  one has the power to tell you that you are not safe for yourself or others on the road. I also realize that most seniors never want to give up there mobility and I completely understand this as I have passed 50 and it will be a lot harder for me to get around as I get older but I hope some one will be brave enough to tell me that it is time to ask for help. I also hope that there will be that help to ask for when it comes time.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

RAINBOWS & PARIS

SNAPSHOT

I was on an assignment for the local newspaper last week and I saw this image so I shot a couple of snaps really quick. I learned that I really have to clean my full frame camera.


On another assignment last week I had to get photos of two of the top players of the local university baseball team. In one case I chose to stand in front of the hitter but behind a protective cage. I stood a little to close to the cage and took a line drive off the lens hood on my camera. Got the shot and a small cut on my forehead. Lucky it wasn't a lot worse.



Monday, May 7, 2012

FULL MOON AT THE BAR

 
 STRANGE NIGHT
I knew the full moon brought out strange people but I had my fill on Staurday night.
First I had a deranged homeless guy who stood outside the door of my bar for two hours because I wouldn't let him in. At one point he was point a finger gun at me through the door. We called the cops and had him chased off. The cop said that he had seen him in the Jail 5 days before.
Second, and best, was the fact that at about 5am my two customers, both males in their forties, started to talk seriously about the parenting of Billy Ray Cyrus with his daughter...really, that's what they were talking about at a bar. During the time that these guys were talking I also found out that the louder of the two guys was actually the one who had brought the homeless guy to the bar earlier in the evening (on swing shift)  because he needed a beer and he didn't know the guy was delusional and homeless. I find that hard to believe....it took me about 5 seconds to realize this when the guy first came in the door and I told him to leave.

Monday, April 30, 2012

PARADISE?????

Had an "odd" moment today...a little disgusting also...I was out by the Alliante Hotel & Casino and had to let mother nature clean my colon. While I sat on the toilet taking care of business I was bored so I took out the "smart" phone and began to read the news of the world. Well in order to get to the news portion you have to pass the weather portion. It said that I was in "Paradise" and the temp was 82 degrees...who knew...the Alliante bathroom...the funny part is that when I got up and was done I looked at the weather again it had said that I was now in Las Vegas.....I guess I dropped Paradise in the crapper

Monday, March 26, 2012

MINT 400 OFF ROAD RACE

THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE

Just a few photos from the race i shot the other day for the local newspaper. It was a fun day...but damn dusty and windy






Sunday, March 25, 2012

RECENT PHOTOS

SMITH CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Saw this sculpture in photos by another photographer and felt inclined to go shoot a few photos. The two bands are  the Sin City Sinners and Arena Tribute, both from Vegas.




LOCAL BANDS

I was on Fremont Street in Las Vegas shooting an assignment for the local paper and I decided to kill some time shooting a couple of local bands.












MINT 400 OFF ROAD RACE



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I AM AN ASS

I AM ALSO AN UNCLE

My youngest brother's ex-girlfriend had his baby on Friday. He came back to my apartment today at about 6am and has been asleep on the couch since then. He woke up briefly at about 5pm when I got back home from working out and the movies (Casa de Mi Padre). We had the following short conversation.

Brother: You're an Uncle
Me: I heard
Brother: Oh you got the Email
Me: On Friday
Brother: It's a girl
Me: Cool
Brother: She has Down's Syndrome
Me: That Sucks

Brother went back to sleep.

I could have come up with a better response but I am still fuming over finding what appears to be not one, but two, drug use pipes in my living room while he was gone for 3 weeks, supposedly working out of town. I am honestly trying to figure out whether or not I am going to throw him out. Admittedly probably not the best time in his life for this to happen but He is a recovering meth addict and I don't need this shit in my house. Because when he gets short for money my shit will start disappearing again. I don't know what else I could have said. There is nothing I can do to make the situation better. I already told him a month ago that the kid is not to come in my apartment. Mostly because my dogs have never been around a baby and I don't know how they would react. I actually like kids. I just don't want to own any and I am not doing any babysitting. Did that once. For about 3 years. Convinced me I don't want my own kids. I believe in whippings and beatings to solve problems and I don't want to be put in that position.

Monday, March 5, 2012

UP TO DATE



BLLLAAAAHHHH!!!

I haven't felt much like working out as of late. I am feeling okay, just no motivation. Admittedly I do have dual hip flexor strains and my work/sleep schedule is constantly in a state of flux. But those are just excuses. I was going good for a while in January and February but totally lost it in the 2nd half of the month. I am going to try and go between photo shoots today. Even if it is just for a half hour or so. I am going to stay away from the elliptical for a couple of weeks as this is all I can figure that is causing the hip flexor problem.

RECENT PHOTOS

Hera are a few photos that I have shot recently. Some for the newspaper and some for myself. Some are low res because I just copied them from my facebook page as the original files were on my laptop and I am to lazy to go find them.

Santa in His Hoopdee - I shot this in front of my apartment. Some one set it up and I saw it while walking the dogs    

This is what Fremont Street in Las Vegas has become--SAD, SAD, SAD
The opening act for Motley Crue at the Hard Rcok
  
Vince Neil - Motley Crue

Nikki & Mick - Motley Crue
Munky - Korn
Johnathan -Korn
My Car Family