A bit more month-end hodgepodge.

Which of course isn’t to be confused with the month-beginning or month middle hodgepodge you are familiar with around here;

I don’t want to be one of those people who complains about the amount of mail they get. That tends to be irksome. If I was to complain about anything it would be my own ability to read, respond and post it in a timely fashion. Then again, I complain about a lot of things I do (or don’t do, as the case usually is) and generally have stopped listening to my nagging.
Before we get into anything I would like to officially introduce our newest in advertisers. His name is Adam Ziskin and he mans the helm at O2 Rainwear, straight outta Portland East;

O2 Rainwear makes a number of jackets, and an array of pants. I am particularly excited by Adam’s inclusion in the family due to the fact that I plan on hitting him up for some new ‘draws. As it turns out simply cutting two holes in the corners of a garbage bag for your legs lends more to a fashion faux pas than it does actual protection from the elements;

Anyway, if you should find yourself in the market now that the weather is beginning to turn everywhere but here, please contact Adam to say hello.
Real quick I would like to mention a ride I recently did with this fellow;

His name is Jake and is the driving force behind The Steel Wül Cycling Club. I’ve known Jake around the way for a couple of years since I was very thoughtfully included in the 2009 Steel Wül Cobbled Classic. He is the kind of a fellow who you will go out on a ride with and actually return a better person.
On our adventure together, we zigged where I usually zag (and proceeded onto a private road) which found us deep in wild dog and banjo territory, but all the while enthusiastically discussing cycling trivia (which he retains by the boat load), firehouse politics (he’s a local battalion chief), and the parallel of getting lost on a bike and spending younger days solving the problems of the world with your friends in a vacant lot.
It’s rides like this that make me proud to be a two wheeled scofflaw.
Back to his site for a second though- It’s filled with some pretty amazing stuff, but what has taken my attention recently and stuffed it in its pocket is this piece on Trent Klasna.
I’d known of Trent for years, though what really secured him in my heart was while attending his retirement race at the 2005 San Francisco Grand Prix, witnessing him leaving the course, riding though through the crowd, and entering the apartment we were partying in (the residence of his then-girlfriend) and cracking open a beer (photos of which I would include if I could find them), from the holder he would eventually sign for me;

It turns out Trent and Jake are former teammates, which opened up a new set of discussions.
If it pleases you, spend some time on the Steel Wül site. It’s full of all kinds of treasures which will be sure to inspire and delight.
Onto a topic which is sure to do neither, I, like I’m sure many of you did, watched in quiet disbelieve this past week, as police forces in Oakland unleashed all manner of hell upon the Occupy protestors.
As usual, Keith Olbermann sums it up perfectly;

Oakland is a city which is near and dear to my heart. My mom was born there, as was my grandmother, as were her parents before her. I’ve grown up watching the city fall down and get back up again. It’s a rough and tumble place, to be sure, but I always was confident that one day it would be able to get out of its own way long enough for the world to see it as I do.
After Wednesday, I no longer think that is a possibility.

My heart is breaking.
From that point to the next one, DPow! of The Minneapolis West Design Haüs brought the following to my attention;
“This is a music/film pairing that is even better than Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz!”

Sometimes you just have to see things for them to make sense.
Then from Charlie, I got this bit of fodder;
Stevil,
When I saw your post today, it reminded me of piece I made the other day. I took a screen shot and then continued to take screen shots of the newest file open until I arrived at this;

Other than that I just wanted to say the GOD HATES GRAPE SODA sticker is RAD.
Keep up the GUD WERK.
I leave stuff I can’t figure out how to do in other people’s capable hands.
Then again, a fourteen year old white girl who can’t rap can figure out how to upload several dozen videos showcasing her marginal talents onto YouTube and I haven’t figured out how to do that either, so that’s really not saying much.
There’s a bunch more stuff on deck, but as usual, the cracks are wide and there’s room enough for all of it to slip into the abyss. We’ll get to that bit of the hodgepodge later, unless of course we don’t.
It’s Friday. You know what to do.