Oct 26, 2007

Google vs. Good Search

Meredith wrote:
The Food Allergy & AnaphylaxisNetwork is asking that instead of using Google or other search engines that you try using goodsearch.com. GoodSearch.com donates half its revenue to the charities its users designate. You use it just as you would any search engine, and it's powered by Yahoo! so you get great results. Just go to GoodSearch.com and enter FAAN (Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network) as the charity you want to support. You can also shop using GoodShop.com and they will donate to your chosen charity. On Nov. 23 FAAN will be honored as Charity of the Day on GoodSearch.com every search made on that day will generate a contribution to FAAN!

I wrote: I just Googled goodsearch.com and I'm not sure I like it. I'm kind of old-fashioned.

Meredith wrote: You’re kind of smart ass too.

I wrote: Have you ever Googled “smart ass”? The results are pretty funny.

Meredith wrote: No, but I Goodsearched it.

I wrote: Whatever. Mom likes me best. Grandma too.

Meredith wrote: Big deal. I got dad. And mom only likes you best because you always try to make her feel sorry for you. It's just pity love.

I wrote: You should be nicer. I'm going to post this conversation on my blog.

Meredith wrote: You taught me everything I know.

Oct 25, 2007

"Good luck getting out of here."

That was the support I got from a truck load of fisherman as I climbed Warm Springs from the back side and bottom of the 7 Oaks dam in gale force winds. They at least gave me a bottle of water (which I packed out), but didn't offer a ride. On any normal day the Warm Springs climb is nothing to blog about, but on Sunday I didn't even begin the climb until I was 4 hours into my ride and I was single-speeding it, 1x1, one-f'ing speed, as Trevor calls it. But even the lack of gears and the intimidating wind wasn't what made Warm Springs suck. It was the amount trash strewn along the two-track that made me want to vomit.
  • Bud Light cans and boxes
  • Coors Light cans and boxes
  • Miller Light cans and boxes
  • Natural Light cans and boxes
  • Water bottles
  • Smashed sewing machine
  • Shotgun shells
  • Medicine dropper
  • Random car parts
  • McDonalds paper cup
From all this trash I can only deduct that fisherman drink a lot of crappy beer, and litter too. Bastards.

So, anyway I survived. I started around 6:15 a.m. at Loch Leven, climbed to the Angelus Oaks turn-out in 40-flat, caught a ride from Johnson, Edward, & Kerrie up to the Jenks Lake East turn-out, rode up to poop-out (cleaned it), cut across to Glass Road and that's where things got interesting. Riding solo out of 7 Oaks (and with a broken spoke), I decided to explore unchartered 1N09. It was a sweet ride. I just didn't know where the hell I was for most of it. Reaching the back side of the dam was a welcoming site, but by that point, the wind was howling and I still had another hour of climbing ahead of me. When it was all said, done and downloaded, I had ridden that damn single-speed more than 49 miles & climbed more than 10-thousand feet in 5 hours flat. In my mind, it kind of makes up for my Everest Challenge failure. Kinda.

The moral of this story is don't litter when you're fishing behind the 7 Oaks Dam and if you want to get rid of sewing machine, take it to the Salvation Army.

On a lighter side, here's a photo of me from Snowmass.

Oct 10, 2007

The Favre Louvre

There was mail in the mail box, no trash in my trash cans and all my checks cleared today, which means only one thing: Brett Favre's birthday is not a National Holiday yet. But, I bet somewhere in Wisconsin and in Mississppi, some poor bastards couldn't cash their unemployment checks.


What has Christopher Columbus done for us lately? He may have been a great raiser of funds, but he was a piss-poor navigator. I compare that to Favre's quarterback greatness, with the uncanny ability to still throw a pick (or two) in the most inopportune times. Anyway, I digress and now I'm splitting hairs. Last Monday was Columbus Day. What they should do is scrap Columbus Day (like they did Abe Lincoln Day) and make it Favre Day. The King of QBs deserves his own day. Afterall, anyone who has inspired so much beautiful artwork deserves his own day.


This is probably my favorite oil painting of Favre. The inspiration for the helmetless Brett came during the 1997 Super Bowl when the triumphant QB smirked across the field, as if to tell Patriots' head coach, Bill Parcels, that he and his Drew Bledsoe-led team had nothing on Green Bay. Packers 35, Patriots 21.


Apparently comic book geeks aren't into football because this gem never made it to Comic-Con. Ironic too, because rumor on the street is that Favre's powers have inspired the creation of many fictional comic book characters. Heroes of course.


The guy mentioned retirement maybe once or twice and they already chiseled out a bust for him in Canton. I bet they already embroided up his jacket too. Coincidentally, the Favre wing of the Football Hall of Fame will open in Summer of 2008.


I'm not a big fan of black and white Favres because it kind of gives me the creeps. Like he was traded to the Raiders or something. But, as far as grey-tones go, this is probably my favorite. Look at the concentration in his black eyes.


Believe it or not, there was a time when the Green Bay offensive line was as helpless as a newborn baby. Favre on the run, like in this classic watercolor, was a common sight. An impressive fact is that this is a self portrait painted during an actual game at Lambeau Field. His paint brushes and pallet were hidden inside the handwarmer that he wore around his waste.


Colored pencils never produced a more beautiful sketch. True, Favre's face is a little on the pudgy side, but you should have seen the spread on the set of Something About Mary. Cameron Diaz gained a pound or two during filming too.

This one defines Green Bay football. In the trenches, struggling for NFL domination, dropping back into the pocket, setting up to throw yet another record braking pass. This would look great painted on the side of my next van.



Okay, let me give it to you straight. This Andy Warhol-esque piece was done during the pain killer years. Still, it beats the hell out of an image of a Cambell's Soup Can or a freaking banana.


The kid who painted this is obviously a better artist than he is a mathlete. Here's the story: Junior claims his subject is Favre, but the number on the jersey is 84, which belonged to Sterling Sharpe. The subject's hands look white, but his face looks black, so this kid was really confused. And how about those eye lashes. I changed my mind. I give this one a one-legged A, also known as an F.


I have no analysis of this tear-jerker painted by John Madden, just a title and the title says it all: Magic Monday Night. I wonder if the old man painted it in the bus, the horse trailer or up in the booth?



Technically this isn't art, in the true definition of the word, but at some point a graphic "artist" had to touch it, so I'll include it. Plus, I like the fact that it's not a Peyton Manning-endorsed product (those are hard to come by) and that it's a battery advertisement. Favre keeps going and going and going and...