i thought something was horribly wrong in our bathroom until i realized it was me - my pee was stinking up the place. it took me a moment and then i remembered what it was - the dang asparagus! google it and you'll find plenty of sites that explain why, yet i like this one part:

...asparagus contains a half-dozen sulfur-based chemicals identical ones found in other such lovely smells as rotten eggs, garlic breath and skunk spray. There is some controversy in the scientific community over exactly which by-product, or combination of by-products, causes the asparagus urine smell...

mmm, a controversy over where the smell comes from! so there you have it - i can both make it AND smell it.

i'm asking some friends to go out and get in an accident so that we can all see the report online, but we have no takers. so far this morning their is an accident every 8 minutes. i've had friends that would see an accident and then try to watch for it on the news. there are far too many accidents to be shown on tv. crazy friends.

this is a wise-acre video on microsoft redesigning the ipod packaging in the beautiful microsoft look [i wonder if they use pubisher to do the layout].

march.ate

woohoo! the vuelta de bisbee is coming up in a month plus. past winners include greg lemond at age 16 in 1978 [crikey!], bob cooke [the «color» commentator on the tour de france coverage] in 77 & 79, and Jeannie longo in 02. i used to think it was so cool to see the coverage in our daily paper, and quite often it was nasty cold. bisbee is a wonderful area. the tucson bicycle classic has been nixed for the year *sniff* so even though i would have ridden it just to be dropped, i guess i can't do it. rats. so many of the races are in march/april and i'm not nearly in form. oh well. i guess there are the summer crits/time trials/hill climbs. they aren't the same, though. i did find out from phil from pima street bikes that i've broken another rear axle on my bike. that makes 2 or 3 - must be that «cheap» campy record stuff i'm using.

one of the great cycling stories of all times here.

It has been said that Poulidor answered no fewer than 38 attacks from Anquetil and his team that day...

yes, 38 attacks. i could answer 2 with a 20 minute break between them. the 3rd attack i'd be thinking that coming in second would be nice.

mulch.nyner

down the street from the last place we lived there was a little house of psychicness. once a year they would hold a psychic fair and wouldn't you know it, it would be the windiest/rainiest worst day of the year. it would seem that the psychic people would know better. i wouldn't waste a buck on them if that is extent of their skills.

still no bike, but i do have a pair of team jerseys so now i'm proudly flying my teams colors. seriously, it is cooler than i thought. i'm so used to just riding around that now i feel like i'm part of something larger. i believe there are 60+ people on the team, 3 of which i could probably recognize on a bike, 2 of which i could recognize without a helmet. good luck on one of them waving to me and me waving back. [oh yes, today i brought along some hand pruners to take off a pesky branch that was hanging way too low - i could pass under it if i was on all fours]. along with the bike riding, i've been growing my hair out [jake plummer did it, why can't i] and today i have some antennas.

they are great. no wonder i am referred to as the golden child, though i do believe i will once again be called «chrome dome». i haven't combed or brushed my hair since ’88, and i probably wash it once a month or so - it is very healthy. the kicker is all my friends that used to say «ew» now wash their hair once a week or less. don't worry, my hair still gets wet in the shower.

completely beautiful - seriously. click and be quiet.

In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days - with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.
An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you'd know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.
But when you get it right, you get it right. The goal at the beginning was to deliver a "really simple, visual celebration of colour". We think you'll agree the results speak for themselves.

too freaking early on the 10th

3.45am, guns, cops, swat, swat in our house, evacuation, holed up on a bus then a neighbors house, swat tanks, explosions, waiting, waiting, going home at 12.45
at work, tired, on tv. more later. and no, that is just a screenshot above.

march:13|2006

oh, how about some photos, as well of a «shot» of yosemite sam's house.

don't you love the picnic bench? there are other photos of them sitting down on them, making the trunk look like they were set for a picnic.i'll try to post some video from our neighbors. they video taped the swat inching up with the swat tank and setting the charge on the door and then backing up and rolling out the orange wire to set it off. they tried to call us and some other neighbors and got no answer and that was when the realized that all of us were gone. he decided he should let the officers know so he used his car remote and beeped the horn. i would have died to see the swat guys spin around and look at him him sheephisly waving from his front window. turns out they were overlooked. i am now referring to them as the forgotten ones.

oh yes, it rained on saturday and snowed down pretty low - this is over my neighbors trees and you can make out the power poles. the last real rain was oct 17 or so, and spittle in mid dec. so 130+ or 88 days, depending on how you want to count it.

mar-co. unlimited #15

today was the second day riding my fixed gear bike to work. i was thinking of naming it my panic bike as i am unlearning lots of my old habits. i almost couldn't stop - once i clipped out, how do i remove my butt from the seat while my left leg is still going in circles? i rode SO tentatively yesterday, getting a little skittish while coming down the palo verde overpass and making a hard right turn. today was much better as i didn't feel the need to slow down 200 yards from a stoplight. i was taking a corner really fast and i attempted to stop pedaling so that my pedals wouldn't hit but i didn't have that option - i had to pedal through it though it frightened me. the biggest thing is staying loose - if i attempt to stop pedaling the momentum will lift me off my bike. i'll need to learn how to do track stands and stay motionless, maybe ride backwards, and the one i don't think i can do yet is bunny hop - how do i lift my bike up while still pedaling? i've always wanted a fixed gear bike and i can already feel the flaws in my pedalling. here is my bike before and after the conversion [you can see the cable to the rear brake is now missing]:

how about a shot of what used to hang off my bike and now the clean version:

notice the cluster of gears both front and back, the brakes and dearailuers? now when my wheels move, my pedals move - both forwards and backwards. below is a closeup fo the clean drive train.

st. cow patty day

yes, arizona beat wisconsin, and yes, we are wearing plastic green hats at work [okay, i was wearing a green garden hose looped over my head and shoulders]. we'll probably lose to #1 seeded villanova tomorrow, but since could make stickers today, we sure did make a bar some of us patronized today very happy. i don't think the little badger looks all that happy.

mulch|20

i am whupped, but still somewhat invigorated. the last few days of last week marcomoso was pulled to help run our 4 color press. i had both my work and his work to do, plus attempting to get things done for this quarters encounter. i spent all but a handful of hours either getting slides or helping set up/direct the flow of the night. after that, i had to read up and plan a lesson for the next morning. my back aches. but it was good and fun, and i'm sure God enjoyed it all. which leads me to the next part:

why i appreciate matt, or «i don't sing like him, i just create stuff like he sings»

i've tried to verbalize/discover why i enjoy matt leading me in worship as much as i do. part of it is that i think the sound resonates with me more, as i don't think the lyrics do all that much for me, but even so, i don't think that is what reall does it. glennyth baltreau has often said that matt bleeds worship, and i do believe that is what it is. don't get me wrong, i'm sure everyone could say, «we've got great worship» and «oh yeah, i've seen great people lead worship» but i would think that would be assuming too much. matt needs to be experienced to be understood. but here is the flip — matt is a decent musician, does well leading a band, but that in itself doesn't lead us into experiencing God. i think that is the route most people take: good songs + good music = good worship. maybe even toss in some moving images or pretty slides, candles and other stuff. maybe even the best talk ever. matt still has special ingredient X, and that is that he IS worshipping God wholly and completely, doing it right in front of all of us in a way that only he can do. i am awed and moved by his intimacy with God, the rest of us in the crowd be damned — i know he is probably thinking a little bit of us, but that isn't what is driving him. he is singing directly to God — we just get to see it happen. how can i not be moved, to reach up and touch God's hand and say «yes, you ARE the one».

when i wasn't having to check on slides/lights/cues [which i didn't have to do much with - the people doing them were doing fine without me] i would sneak in front of a column to keep from blocking anyone as well as not freaking out the guys working with my voice. there i could sing, and inside i have started to feel like i sing with matt's voice, somehow tagging along with him as he is already inside with God and he is helping me to forget the world and enter God's presence. i think i spent most of those times struggling to sing through the tears — how could i NOT be moved by God? with matt allowing us to see his intimacy, i'd say that is a true worship leader — not a song leader[i'm no genius on this subject]. matt wasn't trying to impress anyone with skill or talent, or wow them with words, he got up front and starting interacting with God. i don't do it that way — if i tried to lead in that way, i don't think people would see it as an intimate moment as i'm not gifted in that direction. i wouldn't bleed worship, i'd probably pooh it. matt bleeds it out so easily that it isn't messy, it is just as it should be. matt worships first, leads second.

maybe that didn't make sense, but it comes down to experiencing being led that way. there is a lot to be said about God being there in the first place, i'm just the one that isn't there. but i do think i bleed worship, and i play another instrument along with the band, just the slides, the lights, the feel of the experience. i think i do it, just differently. by itself, art is far quieter, more contemplative, but mixed in with other things it takes on a life of its own, it bleeds worship in a different way, from a different angle. once again matt has taught lead me to a place i wouldn't have gotten to on my own. yes, i appreciate matt. he fuels one of the engines on my plane.

this, of course, drives the conversation to «why don't other things fuel your engines» but i'll save that one for another time. i still spend plenty of time experiencing God, but to do it in a room with friends and atmosphere and sound - i, we, don't seem to get to do that enough. being there for God in moments like that is similar to those dreams of falling. good times, good times. what was it that the celts believed, that there were «thin spaces» where God could be more easily felt?

other comments from the encounter: sharwn
and photos, too

second day ’o spring

still no bike but i'm getting more comfortable on my fixed gear monster. i still need to work on track stands at lights but that will come later. right now i'm working on smooth pedal strokes around the whole circle, as well as getting my legs supple again. i think i'm getting strength from starting off in a somewhat low gear, 69.4 gear inches or so. i'm trying to learn what my cadence is from my speed, which is easier said than done. these are rounded to the speed, too.

cadence	speed		cadence	speed
51	10.5		110	22.7
58	12		116	24
63	13		121	25
68	40		126	26
73	15		131	27
82	17		136	28
87	18		141	29
90	18.6		142.5	29.4
100	20.65		150	31

so what is the big deal, you ask? most riding should be done in the 90-110 range, usually closer to the 90 side. notice how i only need to spin 5rpms faster to add a mile an hour to my speed? supposedly this should work to my benefit in sprinting - i can be riding along at 90rpm and then stay in that same gear and ramp up to 31mph and spin my way out. of course, that is just what i have heard. i know i've gone over 150 and i think i've come close to 160. i really want to go race on the track and see what happens as you only have one gear. so far i've hit 29.4mph on this bike [note the bold numbers]. we'll see if i can do any better.

woohoo! i just got the email that my bike is in, but i won't get it until thursday. rats. we'll see if i can get it any earlier, but if i've waited this long, i can wait longer.

much-windu 22

Wired News: The real cost of gas, you argue, is $11 per gallon. How do you get that figure?

Lester R. Brown: Part of that cost is being deferred; part is being paid now. The study that I cite is the most detailed one I've seen. It parallels in methodology the study the Centers for Disease Control did on (the) social cost of smoking cigarettes. The costs to society of smoking a pack of cigarettes they calculated at $7.18. And they included two costs: the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses and the cost of lost worker productivity from those illnesses.

In the case of the cost of a gallon of gas, they included a number of costs: the cost of treating respiratory illnesses, the damage from acid rain and climate change. And that's a very difficult thing to do. There's a quote by Oystein Dahle close to a decade ago now, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was for many years Exxon's vice president for Norway and the North Sea. He said, "Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth." That's a lot of wisdom distilled into those two sentences.

i am the ruiner of good things, but this goes back to my suggestion that everything be run past a group of high school boys for approval - they'll find everything that is wrong. case in point: on sunday during a presentation the speaker kept going on about the intimacy of adam and eve in the garden. repeatedly. they also had the image above on the screen. after a little bit i went bad and asked the person next to me, «hey, over there on the left - is that what they meant by intimate?» go here for a better view, but caution, church porn ahead. as i began with, i am the ruiner of good things [and don't get us started on choich songs - we can kill a lot of them].

murch-a-lurch 24

ah, that was supposed to be the LEFT side of the painting above, not the right.

marching onto the 26th

man i wish i had more time to write - i must, i must. over the weekend we went to the international wildlife museum [which has gotten grief over the years about it all being dead animals] but was very much like a museum i've seen in movies/books. i was surprised at the size of some of the animals and then we entered the great hall. there had to be at least 100 animal heads mounted, huge elk and moose [i had no idea]. it was phenomenal. i'm seriously going to suggest it to my friends. i stand amazed of animals.

march 28, 2006 @ 10:35am

i finally have my bike - woohoo! it is very very light even though i am not. i've got discontinued pedals to put on it and i'll be good to go. i looked forward to plenty of miles on it.

30 days of march

olive popped up on im twice this week and once last week - good chatting. it is fun being let in on what is going on in her life as well as feeling somewhat proud like a parent as she moves and grows. she told me about the house they live in and how it is a resting place for all kinds of travelers. she hasn't worked in months, but the days are packed. a group swung by last week [psalters & myspace]:

Nope. Joy had e-mailed them to get the show arranged. Somehow she found them, but it turns out we have mutual friends in a bike community in Minneapolis called the Scallywags.
It's all these weird, underground Christian communities that are starting to connect. I was telling Heather that music, what they're doing traveling around, is helping shake people of their apathy, yeah, but it's also connecting all our little groups that feel alienated and anomolous... That music is going to be the tie that binds all these groups.

yes, these little groups here and there, all linked and with common friends - i find that very exciting, not to mention that they are in places most of the choiched would find uncomfortable. who can see that people are hurting/needy/poor if we live in communities that are often wrapped around looking hunky-dory? i did have to ask what «utilitarian» meant, and i like it

I've started dressing more utilitarian, though. Rarely do I really dress up.
Like, always wearing layers so the weather doesn't affect me, and fingerless gloves, and a backpack with a flashlight and a pocketknife (which I need to find a really good knife)..
And a bandana. That's my big staple. ;)
carharts and Batman belts with tools attached and dreads so you don't need to bathe as often.

batman belts - cool. she added this, too [can you read the excitement?]

AND!!! AND! Joy was at the church elders meeting last night--since she said she is staying, they said "well, good 'cause you're a titan, meant to be an elder"--and she's gonna tell me more about what they said later, but it sounds like they were discussing this change and this call to step up and be a titan as well. And someone said that they think I"m gonna be able to touch more people than anybody in the congregation 'cause of my flexibility/friendliness.
11:46:37 AM Isn't that cool? Like, *other* people are noticing the change. It's not just me.

and this:

12:33:59 PMI am now thirty years older, and three days have passed. Basically, I've accepted that I'm supposed to stay here for now, that God is about to do amazing things through us. And I realized that I care really deeply for these people. And especially Justin, and I learned that if you really love someone you'll let them go to be better than they are now.
12:34:40 And I learned that it's okay to be angry with God if you seek him to help you overcome your anger, if you go and really reason it out with him. That's he's big enough and strong enough to hug you while you kick and scream.
12:35:41 PM And I learned that much of the isolation and alienation is fabricated, things we tell ourselves or things that are told to us to make us really forget about seeking God. They're traps that the Devil can use.

12:35:57 Yeah, I've never cried so much in my life. ;)

this all makes my insides happy and lighter. to end this whole bit, i'll include this:

12:49:58 PM You know what's funny? On Saturday night, this little girl came over to help us cook for the band--her name is Kindred. Anyway, she comes up to me and says, "I'm going to call you Olive." Isn't that weird? Randomly. Out of the blue.

last day to march

i ran across «i remember california» from rem this morning. i still don't know what to make of the song [remember, i don't think in words like other people do - things don't make sense to me]. so awkwardly sad while trying to grab some very personal nostalgia shared by a lot of people engrossed with the cali lifestyle that seemed to be a huge fabrication [at least to me]. it reminds me of northern cali somehow. many would say that green was a sellout for rem, but the different sound really stuck with me. it was how i felt as i entered my second year of college and started playing more volleyball. intense and haunting. i've got a long list of songs that have melted in the story of my life and cannot be removed.

quote of the month

from a friend who is undoing his false reality of what he thinks is going on - a rough place to be.

yeah, but i keep noticing new things.... its not gonna stop, so i need to learn how to deal with.
i feel like a lego set that was made as a car. but now i'm being dismatled/reassembled as a buzz, but all at the same time. i don't feel functional as either a car or a buzz. i'm just a messy heap of legos
its difficult to think about who i thought i was and who i'm learning i am. i was way cooler in my head