Is it Monuesnesursday already?

Did I tell you guys I got a fourth job? Yay, Capitalism.

Just as I had for the last couple of my years in Oakland, I’ve found a way to further supplement the income from this site, my freelance writing jobs, and the commissioned paintings I do periodically. Instead of being gainfully employed in the weed game, I now am officially a co-conspirator in the pushing of alcohol at Bellingham’s own Cabin Tavern;

Officially, the owners Christian and Kay (Christian, who I first met three years ago) asked me if I wanted to round out door duties on the weekends last August, but have since asked if I wouldn’t mind coming in every weekend.

So, as my first official act of door guy/bar back, I’ve broken up one fight/kicked two guys out, got my face grabbed, and cheek kissed by a random drunk woman with nice hair, flirted with one table of bachelorette partiers, and turned down various offers for sleep replacement supplements.

Now, having spent my formative years in the service industry, I know exactly what a total gong show it can potentially be, but now that I’m back in the trenches have only come to realize that not much has changed, save for the fact that going to bed at 4:00 each morning is considerably easier when you’re a young, and dumb twenty something than a not-so-young, and equally dumb 51 year old man-baby.

Anyhoo, for locals, and non-locals alike- if you’d like to come in (Tuesdays there’s a DJ, all of whom historically have all played a wonderful array of the deepest cuts) and have a few drinks, or some supremely delicious tacos made in the freshly revamped on-site kitchen, or perhaps both, I strongly encourage it.

That is all to say, I feel currently, as I type these specific words, as if I’ve been thrown down an endless stairway of sleeplessness, and realize even after my short tenure why everyone in the bar industry (Sam Malone excluded) has a penchant for the cocaines.

I’m exhausted, and have fallen asleep twice while typing this short intro. If there are a myriad of bad links, or misspellings, this is why, and I beg your forgiveness.

In business news, about three weeks ago I got a curious email from Paul of Atomic Cycles fame, (who, by the way is hosting one of his infamous Klunker runs this coming Sunday);

In the email he asked me if I’d be interested in pushing a game he’d recently developed.

I remember being in middle school, and being super curious as to just exactly what sort of mind has enough moving parts to figure out the development of a game. I can barely remember how to play simple card games, let alone conceive of, and execute an entire board game.

Apparently the sort of mind that can do that is the kind that Paul has;


What an absolute psychopath.

Since I just received it from him, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play, though my friends Craig and Michelle said they’d be willing to give it a spin with me.

Excitedly, I messaged Paul and said I found some people to play with, and in response he said it’s best with six.

So to answer the question that the back of the box poses, because I only have two friends, apparently I do not have what it takes to play the Game Of Truth.

However, as old man winter slowly begins to pull down his pants, and prepares to rest his big dumb ass on my head, my new mission is to make three more friends so I can play.

If you think these sorts of shenanigans sound like a thing you’d enjoy, Paul has actually taken up residence over there (or down there, if you’re reading this on a mobile device) in the esteemed list of advertisers. Click through there, or right here, and get a load of Paul’s insanity for yourself;

Moving on to other topics involving a mad scientist named Paul- Maybe you all have heard that for whatever reason, there’s such thing as International SingleSpeed Day. It’s some cockamamy idea cooked up over at Paul Component Engineering, and it happens to be today;

Do you have an abusive relationship with your knees, and lower back, and perineum? Well, then boy howdy is today the holiday for you, and they would like you to know about it;

Every Monday at 11am, the entire PAUL Component shop staff has an “All-Hands” meeting to catch up on any changes, shop news, or projects. Ever since Covid, this has been held out behind the shop with everybody yelling across the yard to each other. It’s weird, but no weirder than our usual shop vibes.

Last year around this time, Paul announced to everyone that November 2nd was now International Singlespeed Day. We all looked at him like “Huh? Says who?” Then he said it was him and his friend Amanda’s birthday that day, and it was Amanda’s idea, and why the hell not?

Having never created an International Holiday before, I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I got on the phone with a bunch of framebuilders and friends and said “Hey. It’s Paul’s birthday on November 2nd, and he wants everybody to ride singlespeeds. You down?” And of course, everybody said yes, why the hell not?

When the magic day arrived, some folks went riding on singlespeeds with friends or alone, shared their experience on Instagram with the #InternationalSingleSpeedDay hashtag, showed off some cool bikes, wished Paul and Amanda a happy birthday, and everybody had a good time.

So yeah, let’s do it again! This year we’ll sweeten the pot by choosing our favorite #InternationalSingleSpeedDay IG post, and the winner will receive a PAUL Barbarian hoodie;

-A handlebar from Oddity;

-And a prize pack from Squid Bikes;

Don’t have a singlespeed bike? Zip-tie your shifters, take the battery off your derailleur, or ride your grandpa’s beachcruiser? Get creative, there are no rules.

Careful though, you might realize in the process that you don’t need a bunch of fancy new-fangled shiftamabobbers to have fun on a bike…

I am here to tell you that you absolutely do need a bunch of fancy new-fangled shiftamabobbers to have fun on a bike, though. The more internal gearboxes, electronic bits, and suspension wizardry, the better.

Of course I jest, but man, I do loves me some shiftamabobbers.

Anyway, if you happen to be one of the shiftless, get out there, do some grinding, take some hashtags, and post some Twitters, and see if you can’t scoop up some of that sweet, sweet swag.

Maybe next year they’ll ask if I would like to contribute some junk to the pot.

Lastly, and speaking of my junk, I’d like to thank everybody for the enthusiastic reception of the new It’s The Water®™© shirts;

I sold out of all sizes besides XL in just a couple of hours.

Thankfully my printer is a straight up Cracker Jack, and has already ordered a whole batch of new shirts (and was able to track down a bunch of smalls as well). I suspect I should be getting my hands on those in about another week, so keep your eyes peeled to this here site, the IGs, or perhaps the official AHTBM My Space page.

Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait for me to get my act together to get another run made, and between timing myself saying the alphabet as quickly as I can, and trying to recall that it’s not actually Wedhursriday, that may take a little while.