…and by the way, I had to have a deer tick pulled off my butt cheek yesterday. Where it came from? I do not know. I’ve gotta stop rolling around naked out in those fields….

Well I’m finally back home. Graduation is over and I left north carolina to come back to rural new york for just over a week. Then I’m off to Alaska for two weeks with one of my friends. I’m filming the whole trip. Hopefully I’ll have time to edit a bit and throw some clips up on youtube.com for you all to see. If not I’ll at least upload my photos when I can find a wifi signal. It sure is nice to be home and hear nothing but the peepers at night and the occasional train, rather than the drunk 19 year old downstairs in the parking lot. I’ve been taking a ton of photos since I’ve been home. I figure as long as I have the digital camera I might as well, so I’ve been snapping way more than I should. That’s what is great about digital though, if you don’t want it you just erase it. Problem solved. I’ve got quite a few things planned during my time home. I want to get out to Allegany state park and do some hiking and mountain biking, along with photography out there. This whole area is so beautiful with the trees and hills and river. It’s really a photographers dream, and I appreciate it a whole bunch more now that I’ve living in Wilmington, NC, home of the SUV and self righteous Christian. I’m also planning on spending alot of time with my dog, because well he’s my dog. I saved his butt from the pound a few years ago and we’ve been like “peas and carrots” ever since. I wish I had something interesting to tell you guys, but really I’m just planning my trip to Alaska, visiting with family and trying to soak up as much time outdoors as possible. However, I did put a new saddle on my mountain bike. None of that expensive crap either, I took it off my old “eco terra huffy” and slapped it on my trek. Nothing against Bontrager, but that huffy seat is super comfortable compared with the one that came on the bike. Oh well, I’m heading out now, gotta get up early and buy a new prosumer camcorder, final cut pro and a sleeping bag for the trip to Alaska. have a good night, and godbless!

…and old video I found on my friends computer today that I got a slight kick out of.
Anyway today me and a friend went to New Bern, NC. He’s looking or a job up there, and I thought it to be a good chance to get out of the rat race in Wilmington. New Bern beyond the new influx of fast food restaurants and shopping plazas is a beautiful city. perhaps one of my favorite I’ve seen on the coast. There’s a few reasons for my liking of this town. The first is that it doesn’t have any of the pretentiousness that Wilmington has. The guy who ran the coffee shop, and subsequently explained to us the lowdown on the area said he moved from California to New Bern to get away from the “rat race.” He thought people were too caught up in seeing who could have the more expensive car, or bigger house. These statements rang very true with me. The coffee shop along with many of the buildings in New Bern or nothing more than revitalized buildings from the city’s earlier history. The Coffee shop for example was wide open, the doors at the front were inviting and it had look that I could only describe as a brick barn. Laid back, comfortable, and as I’ve said not a hint of pretentiousness. There’s also a slew art galleries and little shops that definitely reflect the low key, creative vibe of the city. I for one really relate, and find that aspect very inviting. The most important aspect of New Bern however, is a little shop on the corner where Pepsi Cola was invented. Anyone who really knows me well, knows that I can easily go through a 12pack of diet pepsi, or diet dew a day. I probably could drink upwards of 20 a day if I’ve got them around. So not knowing ahead of time that the city I was visiting was the birthplace of the drink I thrive off, well what could be better. Beyond all that, the town is right on the water. It has yet to be really developed, but like I told the guy at the coffee shop, “give it ten years.” So what I can say is that it is a really nice town, one that I could even see myself living in if I ever decided to stay the east coast(literally). Since I have no plans for that though, I guess all I can say is that I imagine Wilmington was like that once. In fact I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, “You think you like Wilmington NOW? You should have seen it before you came here!” Anyway, great day, good road trip all in all. I’ll drop the links to a few photos below.

http://apachepilgrims.blogspot.com/

My Friend’s blog, he’s a recent convert to cycling, and he doesn’t like SUVs.

My heart breaks being a Buffalo fan. That city is cursed and its fans doomed along with it. How you go from being the best regular season hockey team to looking like a bunch of southerners who’ve never put on a pair of skates before is beyond me. There are no words that can voice my frustration, so I won’t try. Go Sabres….. : ( … To help my grief I went onto the sabres forum to see how other fans were dealing with this whole debacle. I saw one entry that struck a chord with me so here it is, “What’s wrong with losing? We are the most losingest city in all sports, which at least gives us a distinction of some kind. Bettwer to be the best at losing than to win one and just be another town with no character. Go Bills, Bo Sabres, keep coming up short so we can be the best at not winning!!” So here’s to sucking for the next 50 years!

Gas is now 3 dollars and then some. I say good. Nothing hits home like a swift kick in the pocketbook for us Americans. I would say that cutting down on your driving should be motivated by things like the environment and all around fitness. Don’t tell Suzy Q soccer mom driving her brand new Suburban though. If gas prices going through the roof is what it takes to get people talking about other forms of transportation than I’m all for it. I’m in the process of buying a touring bike as we speak. Something that will get me around town and that will be it’s only purpose. I’m looking at buying something older, steel frame(aluminum is for pussies), 21 gears all that jazz, but definitely something that is meant for transportation. I’ve got my road bike and mountain bike, and I’d like to keep them as they are. Back to my point though. It just strikes me funny that the only good way to get our attention is to hit us where we are always focused, on the money. Don’t get me wrong, we need money to get by in the society we live in, but I think lately people have become so focused on material possessions and having more than the person in the house next to him that they’ve lost the focus of what life is really about. It’s not about earning over 100K a year and having a nice car. Let’s face it, we’re all going to be dead one day and then those things will be meaningless. People need to focus on what really matters, friends, family, keeping the earth healthy for future generations and teaching the right values to those people. Hopefully, and there’s a lot of hope in that, we will start focusing more on the things that matter, instead of the materialistic rat race that is inevitably going to be the doom of the human race(not the earth though). The more and more I ride, the more I think bikes are a great way to do that. Hell, they may even save the world. ….oh ya, GO SABRES!!!!!

Long time no post right? I’ve been pretty busy, excuses I have plenty. I’m in the process of moving from my house to a new apartment - almost done, though. I’ve been logging in some miles on my 4runner during this whole process. It seems like you have everything and then boom, you forgot the vacuum cleaner or something. Then it’s a mad dash across town, through the traffic and endless lights - only to do it again once you have what you left for. On top of this whole moving debacle I’m trying to find a job for a little while. I need to find a job for three months because I’m going to be gone for most of October(hopefully) helping Scott Coady film his “Collegiate Tour Baby.” After that it’s time to find a solid job for a year until grad school which I have yet to apply to. I figured that I wouldn’t need to go to grad school, but now I see the error in my thinking. It will probably turn out for the best though. In this year off I’ll have time to gain more experience, make some money to pay the bills and be able to concentrate on things I want to do like hiking, camping, starting film festivals etc. Speaking of festivals, the one I want to get going in this town seems to be looking up. I’ve talked with a few festival directors by phone to get opinions and ideas. All of them were very helpful. As of now I see it being an international festival which is based through UNCW. That way funding and publicity isn’t such an issue. Having it at UNCW or at least run by them will allow for distribution deals and an automatic audience. Besides getting students involved is the way to go because in the end this festival is about changing people’s ideas about the environment, and who better to affect than students who are going to go out into the world and hopefully reflect the ideals they believe in. However, all of this is a long way off. It’s going to have to start small and do a snowball effect like every other festival. I’d like to be the festival director, but I realize once I leave next year that I won’t be able to do as much of that, so maybe co-director will be an appropriate title after I go to grad school. That is fine by me, because in the end it’s not about me, it’s about getting the message out and changing the way people think. As long as I can help do that or at least initiate the process I will feel somewhat fulfilled. Other than that I’m just planning my trip to Alaska with my friend Jeremy Payne. That’s going to be from June 10-24. We’re starting in Anchorage and slowly working our way northward to Denali and finally Fairbanks before departing southward again for the plane trip home. I’ll be recording the entire trip and making it into a travelogue. I might even be able to post some of it on the blog using Youtube.com if I have enough time to go and capture some of it while I’m there. If not I’m sure I’ll be posting plenty of photos and updates as long as I have an internet connection. That’s all for now. Do me a favor though, sit down for a few minutes outside, or take a walk and just observe the nature and sounds around you. It’s quite relaxing as long as you don’t have cars whizzing by or 19 year old, fresh outta highschool college students yelling how drunk they are. Also, drink a Coors original. I’m campaigning for that beer to make a comeback.

This is a post I thought my friend should write. It was his idea but I encouraged him because he’s a much better and wittier writer than myself. Anyway I recently got him into biking and he’s been riding as much as he can instead of driving. Believe it or not he only spends about 20 bucks on gas a week now. Anyway here’s the post and I’ll provide the link to his blog because he often has witty posts that some of you more cynical people will enjoy. ———————–

Boycott Gas, Save the World! (yea right)

I saw on CNN today that there’s some massive chain e-mail going around suggesting that everyone boycott gasoline on a certain day (I think it’s May 15 – but that’s not important). Unfortunately, I did not receive such a message myself, probably because I had to block the newsletters the American Family Association was sending me a while back due to my inbox being assaulted like bombs over Baghdad with their anti-homosexual/anti-abortion/good-golly-I-just-love-Jesus-and-my-brand-new-SUV chain mail. I’ve a feeling folks like them were at the root of this stupidity (for a definition of “folks like them,” look up Dr. James Dobson/other Christian® literature/supporters of Geroge W. Bush/people who are onto the liberals’ conspiracy commonly known as “global warming”).

Whew – that was a mouthful. I think I should consult my local union about how to get welfare/WIC since I feel like I have carpal tunnel syndrome … or at least the mere whiff of it.

Let’s talk about the positives of this whole notion. Ready? I’m going to list them here:

1). Their intentions are good.

Thankfully, the good folks at blogger.com have supplied me with ample bandwidth to accommodate such a long list of good things about this idea. Seriously, though – how is not buying gasoline on one day going to do a damn thing – especially since the majority of the participants in this scheme will just top off their tanks the day before? So the gas companies will lose out on a day’s profits – somewhere around a couple billion dollars. Is that going to put a dent in an industry that will make about that much more the day before? I know I got a free calculator from that Land Rover dealer the other day – where did I put it … I’m going to get to the bottom of this.

Here’s the thing – and why the drive for such a gesture comes from a beautiful place filled with butterflies and lambs – we just arrested six would-be militants in New Jersey who are suspected of plotting to shoot up a military base. Plus, in some little shit hole Muslim country, video was released of a children’s program where a Mickey Mouse-wannabe told its toddler-comprised audience to kill Jews in the name of (one of) their Gods. There was even a four-or-so-year-old singing along and reiterating his aspiring message. We definitely need to cut WAY back on our dependence of oil – especially that which comes from these countries!

Are the orchestrators of this oil-boycott mission seeing this? I don’t think so. They’re just pissed at the thought of gas jumping to over four-dollars a gallon – that’s the “evil” they’re trying to prevent. Could you imagine what it would be like to drive one of those new GMC Diplodocuses with two 30-gallon gas tanks and actually have to pay four dollars a gallon? That’s an expensive way for real estate agents to get to work or doctors’ wives to take their children to tennis practice at the entrance of their gated communities – but they’d pay it anyway since you just can’t put a price on safety. There are all kinds of unsafe drivers out there, like hybrid owners, pedestrians and even bicyclists. The potential for danger on the road is almost unspeakable … it’s best to equip our loved ones with wheeled-bulldozers. Besides that, Benjamin Franklin said it’s our American right to boast all the money we make.

Once again, I’m off on a tangent. Here’s my point.

If you want to make a dent in the outrageous profits companies like Exxon-Mobile, Texaco, and Shell are making, you have to actually stop using their product. Don’t just stop buying it. Utilize public transportation, walk, carpool, or even – God forbid – ride a bike to work. Today I witnessed the culmination of why we Americans have got ourselves addicted to oil like David Hasselhoff is to alcohol, the exact reason why we prefer to either imagine global warming doesn’t exist or blame it on China. Two women outside my work (on Wrightsville Beach, of course) were chatting on the sidewalk in front of some metered parking spaces and when they got done, each turned and got into their own eight-cylindered SUVs. They had no passengers.

There is a theory out there that global warming might end up being a good thing, that if we keep on throwing CO2 into the atmosphere with our cars and increasing the temperature of our planet, the rate of evaporation will increase (which it does when it’s hot outside). This will lead to more cloud cover (since we all know clouds are collections of evaporated moisture) which will lead to greater reflection of the sun’s ray, ultimately lowering the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. While I personally believe that this increased cloud cover will do little more than trap all those lovely little greenhouse gases (known as primary pollutants) and actually lead to further warming of our climate, I am aware of, acknowledge and respect this other theory. Problem is, women such as the two I saw climb into those mobile mountains today don’t even know it exists. They – and so many more like them – are so preoccupied with keeping up with Dr. Jones that they’ve become blind to what’s going on around them. Consequently, we are all at immediate risk because of our unwavering ties to militant Middle Eastern countries which promote terrorism. Worse yet, our children’s children are at risk due to the adverse effects this selfishness is having on our planet.

If you really want to lower the price of gas, do something to reduce the demand for it. It’s a basic fact in economics that even this English major knows: as demand for a product increases, price (and profit) will do the same. Reduce that demand and watch the prices go down. But until we quit bitching about it in the lobby areas of out PTA meetings on Tuesday nights and actually cut back on how much we use the shit – you know, really do something about it – it’s just going to keep going up and up. Ladies and Gentlemen, ride a fucking bicycle!

In the spirit of cycling I’d just like to add a few phrases I heard the other day in favor of cycling that I got a kick out of.

1) Own the road.
2) Fight terrorism, ride a bike.
3 The roads of today are the bike paths of tomorrow.
4)Dirt…it’s not just for paving anymore
5) One day cyclists will rule what’s left of the world.
6) No oil…no problem.

Sorry I’ve been pretty busy lately trying to graduate and all. Anyway I’m in the process of moving from my house to a new apt, so I’ll be busy for the next day or two. I’d just like to say that if I don’t get a chance to post within the next few days I’m predicting a Buffalo Sabres win over the Ottawa Senators score 3:1 Buffalo.

This is my first post from my new computer. I just bought a new macbook pro with all the fixin’s. In all it cost me over 4grand. I’m still mac retarded so I found it necessary to buy the parallel software so I could still run xp on the mac. Plus I don’t feel like buying programs again that I have for windows which otherwise wouldn’t be compatible with my new mac. I really don’t have a lot to say. I just wanted to put a post up using my new mac. A sort of milestone thing, sort of. Fear not my pc. I will still keep my old pc for all the thousands of photos and crap I like to keep that I just don’t want to pollute my new mac with. This is sort going to be my “work” computer, even though I don’t have a job. All my editing, photoshop stuff will be done on this. Plus probably lots of yahoo pool. I bid thee farewell. Oh and just in case some of you didn’t notice and I’m sure you didn’t. I’ve added a section in Rants to include my miles I bike instead of drive. I’ve had it with driving in this town, so if I can bike it, I will so I’m going to start keeping a log of my miles. I wish I had a touring bike…

Quick post- I don’t know how many of you are watching the “debate” tonight, but Jesus this is bad. The Democratic one was just as bad. All these guys are a bunch of lying hacks who are trying to do nothing more than boost their own personal fame and power. Never trust a politician. People that are attracted to politics are dipshits 9 out of 10 times.

Ahh…Wilmington. I love the smell of development in the morning.