Urban Iditarod

I just came across this website, finding a link to it from the Bay to Breakers Salmon Runners page.

Urban Iditarod Race

This could quite possibly be the coolest race ever held.
Its too late for this years event, but next year is a definite must.

Picture this:
Many people dressed up as dogs.
Said people dressed up as dogs harnessed together and attached to a shopping cart.
Shopping cart is filled with beverages of choice.
A "musher" is standing behind shopping cart.
Entire ensemble races other teams through the traffic of San Fransisco.
Teams required to make numerous "rest stops" through out race, to guarantee that dogs are well watered.

I can't imagine it getting much better than that.

Homestead

Finally posting pics from my trip back home to visit family and friends. The sis and I had fun taking pictures out on the gandparents farm. My grandparents were dairy farmers, and although retired for all practical purposes, they still have a couple of steers in the old pasture.


JoJo got into it a little more than I did. How ironic that I happen to be wearing my WWGBD t-shirt. Aren't we cute!!

Lady like as always. In case you're wondering, the lawn globe that looks like bowling ball, is actually a bowling ball.

The parents pets. I won't go into this. Words would fail to describe it. At last count, I believe my mother has five cats in the house along with the dog, but its hard to tell, since you don't actually see some of the cats. They just lurk around for food when you aren't looking. Its much like feeding ferrel cats in the alley way behind your apartment, except in this case the ferrel cats reside inside your house. Actually, in this case, most of the alley way resides in your house, including the smell. This can actually work out kind of handily, because neither you nor the cats have to walk as far. Kudos to JoJo on that last picture of Badger. (He's the black and white cat wearing the sock) That's a really good pic.



These are the other pics I found on the camera after giving it to sis for the morning. Apparently she was drawn in by the garage, and its lack of organization. And of course the large concrete deer, its kind of a staple.

Blog spam, WTF?

I just got blog spammed! Essentially some !@#$ posted a generic comment with a link to an advertisement page. WTF? Is this common. I guess that's why you have the option to only allow registered users to post.

Update: I just saw another friends blog with a spam post, this one even more obnoxious, and from a registered user. (Most likely a bot registration, the blog was empty) This could suddenly become a problem, but hopefully the guys at google are smart enough to figure it out shortly.

July Critical Mass

I did Critical Mass Sacramento for the second month in a row, and this time things went much better, and it was a really enjoyable ride, in contrast to last month , when there were some issues.

This month, the police came with a much better attitude. It probably helped that the next level of command in the police force showed up to observe. The same shift supervisor was there, except this time, he was really polite, and didn't talk down to us at all; a total 180 from last month when he had with a complete hard ass attitutde. To further improve matters, the riders had a better attitude. We talked about what we wanted to do, and decided to stay on the large one way streets, where the police said they wouldn't have any issues with us taking up an entire lane and going as slow as we wanted.

Some the retro, hippie, "The world is against me, and although I claim to want to make a change, in actuality, I gain self worth from simply causing protest for any cause, regardless of the reality, and purposely refuse to practice self hygiene because it further reinforces my outcastness from society, and gives me reason to think people hate me" people were there, but after the mass decided to NOT push the police, they left. Way to support the cause doorknobs. We ended up having about 15 riders do the ride.

So, the ride started, and it was really fun and relaxed. The police again gave a motorcade escort, but with not as many motor cycles or squad cars. "Beer in the Park", oh sorry, I mean "Concert in the Park," was taking place, and we decided to circle around it to have people see us. Concert in the park in Sacramento, takes place in downtown, where they fence off a park, put in a beer stand, and have play, from what I've heard, are decent local bands. It's supposed to be fun time. Parking is defintely an issue though. As we circled the park, we came to a spot where a large white SUV had simply double parked next to the park, and put it's hazards on. The irony was not lost on anyone. Here we were, supporting responsible use of the roads, yet, being under constant police watch, yet here someone with an uneccessarily large SUV was, totally blantantly, and illegaly blocking traffic, which caused the mass to have to move over to a second lane to pass, now leaving only one lane for traffic. The head motorcycle cop stopped his bike, put on his bubbles, and picked up his PA to address the park. "The white Expedition needs to move right now!" A short pause. "You're blocking the bicyclists." This brought cheering from the mass.

Like last week, we ended by going over the west bridge, hence entering West Sacramento, out of the police's district. They apparently got permission to follow us this time, and two of the motor cycle cops came along. At the end of the bridge, we took a break, got water, and chatted with the officers for a while. They were having a great time. It was nice weather, and they were getting paid just to ride around. We then continued down the park trail to jump on the I street bridge, to take us back across the river. Most of the mass peeled off to enjoy the rest of "Beer in the Park," while I headed home, to make it to the rock gym for Friday climbing.