Friday, December 30, 2005

Monday, December 26, 2005

happy christma-kwanza-hannukah

so. people everywhere had their christmas celebrations. i had a good one, to say the least. i must say though, i think the day was good for reasons other than most would. i spent it with my family. we went to conyers, ga. to see my dad's sister (my aunt). they had the usual amount of cooking struggle that women seem to have. then some food. then some gift swapping game. then regular gifts, then we headed home. then the day continued. i went to ryan lingo's house. bobby was over there, as well as ryan's hot cousin. we sat around watching the chapelle show season two. i'm rick james bitch. cocaine is a hell of a drug.

so yeah. we had some mudslides, then followed it with a vodka and redbull. between my two drinks i left and picked up melissa bellemare. she's one of our favorites. so quiet, and always uncertain what she is going to say. it can be funny. we got back there and continued to watch chappelle show. oil? who said something about cooking. ::knocks over water pitcher::

then today i had our "i love you party" or non-christmas-gift-giving-party as i've grown to call it in past years. its to accomodate my mother and grandmother who are jehovah's witnesses and don't believe in christmas otherwise. but we had our thing, and it was good. i took my camera and got lots of pictures. and it died. i need to invest in a battery pack or something. yeah... so i got some hayes el camino brakes for my epic. that should be nice. i'm going to put them on tomorrow before work. it will be so nice to get rid of the vbrakes.

then i went to loco's. the place on 13th st. not to be confuddled with loco's amigos not to be confuddled with los amigos. yeah columbus go figure. but anyways. had a gobbler on rye with no mayo. and baked lays chips. it was pretty good. and now i'm home. tired.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

happy holidays part deux

okay, so days have been better since my last post. work is going good. i got a two hundred dollar gift card to best buy from my bosses. i used it to get a kodak easyshare c 340 digital camera. and we put it to good use last night...

mandy and jd have a tendency to disappear from friendly functions, like dinner last night. so the boys decide to get them back. bobby picks the lock, ethan opens the door, jimbo pushes it open, ::flash:: i get the picture. we all run our respective ways out of their hallway. i go out to the backyard. i didn't think it took, but yep. there is was, mandy on top, back facing us, black thong, jd...somewhere. ha. they were mad. as they should have been. but it was still funny. the picture got deleted though. so ethan and i re-enacted it. we'll have that picture up soon.

went to the tap last night. got there around midnight. closed it down. home at 3:30. sleep at 4:00. awake at 8 for work. at least today at the bike shop is only going to be 10-3pm. we're closing early since it's christmas eve. speaking of work... later.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

happy holidays

i hate this time of year so damn much.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Thursday, December 15, 2005

race face deus xc 110mm x 25.4

heck yeah. i got my stem for my epic yesterday. i put it on this morning. and put my thomson stem back on my surly.

aside from that... i went to the cycling club party at the loft tuesday night. i didn't know that many people there, just glenn, barry, annette, gabe, mike, eddie..., jose, john lapierre, and sheila. i opted not to talk to sheila. jose bought me a really strong drink. it was running loon. a neat wine. i went to work the next day and well, work was work.

i left work, who by now was not feeling weel, then went to tutor frank's little sister. that was pretty much my night. i came home and read my "the art of wheelbuilding" book and went to sleep.

today started out well. i went to cafe 222 to get breakfast. went to work. it was a slowish day. mike greathouse came in and paid for his sx trail frame. byron put mike's new bike together today. i did random stuff to pass the time.

that movie was great.

then i took it back. it was due at midnight. so i got it back in time.

now i'm sitting at home. typing, so that puts me ready to stop typing.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

holiday party

i got a bottle of wine as my donation to the potluck style party. its a merlot. which is pronounced mer-low. yeah.

today at the bike shop was cool. i wrapped up our stocking stuffer things, with clear wrappy paper and ribbon. i told brian i think i need hazard pay or overtime or something for having to work with ribbons and scissors. yes, i know how to make the ribbon curly with scissors. pretty cool huh?

aside from that, i ordered a sx trail frame for mike greathouse. that will be the third in town. starting to become overkill-ish. paul luker got one, and if any more come to columbus, he may just ebay his. whatever though. its a cool frame.

thats all. i'll have an update either tonight or tomorrow about the party and how it went. thats all for now.

so. what is up. or rather, what has been up.

i rode my bike sunday at buddy's land. and i walked some of the old trail, moving branches and logs out of the way. i might go back this weekend and mark off some lines with orange tape. then get the guys to start riding them.

today was a wierd day. i woke up. went to my parents to get a shelf. brought it home. cleaned up my room. wrote a check for my car payment. mailed it. worked. ate lunch. worked some more. and bam. 5 o clock. it was nice how fast the day went by. i rode home. then walked back up to picasso's. ate some pizza. walked home. and that was my night. i wish i could have seen some friends or something, but sitting at home isn't all bad. i found some good bike porn. www.nsmb.com oh yeah.

sunday afternoon jimbo and i ate at texas roadhouse again. we tried to sit in this girl erin's section. a girl my parents set me up on a date with like two years ago. she wasn't there. but this other girl was cool. jimbo tried to get her to come with us to picasso's that night. she was "working." we need to find him a girl.

that puts me unchronologically here. typing. so i'm out of things to say.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

trail x. again.

work has been good. winter time has slowed us down a little, but we've had some rockin days lately. i did a wheel project a little while back. i put every wheel the shop can get in a chart, along with the weights in grams, and the price. now, i'm working on a list of every stem, seatpost, and handlebars. road and mtn. this will take a while.

i rode trail x again today. its nice. i only rode for like 45 minutes or so, but it was nice. and it was 27 degrees when i left the house. i saw mike greathouse on the way there. and on my way home i saw glenn, he was going to barry's house. they're headed down to reddick fl to do the last race of the season. i wanted to talk longer, but was already late for work.

that was that. i'm looking foward to the cycling club party coming up this week. it should be fun. i am done now.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

oh golly gosh

so today i woke up really early considering i got home a little late last night, and set my alarm for 9am. i woke around 7:30 this morning. oh well. worked for me. i took my old messenger bag to the UPS store. i'm sending it in for a credit towards a new bag. www.TIMBUK2.com go there, see their stuff. these guys are going to credit me full price i think, then, since i work at a bike shop, let me get another bag for wholesale. the one i had was a medium. i think i'll get either a large or a x-large to replace it. oh, and i can get custom colors. sweeeeeet.

so i went to work. it was chilly today. it was a good day at work. we had paul luker and james woodling's specialized sx trail frames show up. this frame is sweet. but i dont really NEED one. so.

i left work, rode to the new public library via wyntonn road on my trusty epic. complete with blinky light and helmet light. rode back to downtown. went to the loft for a while. we sat with some friends for a bit. then i left and bounced around the other bars for a little while. i came home early. 11:30 ish. i want to try to ride at flat rock in the morning. speaking of which. i should get off the computer.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

scruffy

so i was scruffy until i shaved yesterday. and this morning i went to get my hair cut. mmm. good.

went to work today. it was work. good times. went to tutor after that. then swung by my parents house. then downtown. ate at picasso's. then to scruffy's. sat with alec from judybug's. he was drinking wine. i had an irish coffee. then coca cola. lots of coca cola. then buddy bought me a drink. i chose jager bomb. then the bartender bought me a crown and coke. it was strong. took like 30 minutes to drink. riley yielding and down town adam brown (from flipside) were playing. they were good. then i came home. and here i am. 1:20 am. not too late. days like today i love going to work at 11am. yeah.

Monday, December 05, 2005

i think its broke.

hello. server. work.

weekend

my weekend was okay. work was good.

hung out with anna beck saturday night. we had dinner and watched a mountain bike dvd.

sunday. rode my bike. a friend took a bad fall. we were worried he broke his arm. i talked to him later on. he's alright.

james and i rode around and ended up at picasso's pizza for 1.50 coronas. and trivia. anna beck joined us, as well as jd. we had a good time. that was that.

going to work shortly. mondays suck.

jg

Saturday, December 03, 2005

trail...umm...x yeah

so lets call it trail x. a sweet, short, tough, technical, steep, slippery, rooty, phenix city-ish, trail. located somewhere in muscogee county. is it official? of course not. is it trespassing? probably. is it a great ride? hell yeah.

a friend tells me about it last night, for the second time. he tells me originally about a year ago about it, but not how to find it. so i wake up early, like 7 oclock. load up the car not knowing if i'll even find it. get there. ride around. see a "trailhead." turn in, go fast, twisty. drop to my small chainring. a 22t. i go uphill a bit. and turn. its nice. turn again. speed down a hill, then after scrubbing off way too much speed, walk up the other side. the second time i ride this part, i haul ass down, then all the way up the other side. i finish this wooded section. i remember some of his directions... and see something that looks promising.

i enter the woods. the trail is solely located on a steep hillside. very similar to phenix city near the dam. i ride some of the network. this part is not a loop. trails criss-cross like a spiderweb. i finally figure out the planned direction. i ride out of the woods to notice the connector between the first wooded section and the second. sweet.

so i go back. ride the first section. use the connector to the second section. ride it like 4 times. still in the 22t. shit. wussy.

then i start wondering... how could i ride mountain bikes for years in this town, and not know it was there. then i remember hearing of phenix city. i lived in columbus my whole life without hearing of the 'trail of tears.' so... i wonder: how many other trails are around town that nobody knows about?

pedal hard
jg

Friday, December 02, 2005

more pics





so these are random pics from my "joseph bike pics" folder.
thanks for looking. pedal harder.
jg

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

more pics







thanks for looking.

jg

more tsali pics

work work work

days have been going by. i took sunday off from riding my bike. and monday. but tuesday i rode in phenix city. just for an hour or so. i had a flat. and got my bike incredibly dirty. then work.

we went to picasso sunday night, monday night, and tuesday night. i spent too much. mandy is working this week again. she quit a few weeks ago. but is back. she gave us a few free drinks. that was that.

so work again today. it was good. tomorrow will be good too. i leave around 5pm. i'm going to flat rock to ride my bike. it should be good and cold. can't wait.

i think i'm going to elijay to ride on december 11th. if anybody wants to go, let me know. thats all for now.

later.

jg

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

new bike/tsali trip

woooooo hooooooo

i got my new bike ordered last monday, it showed up thursday. i put it together thursday night. oh yeah. took the bars, headset, shifters, cassette, stem, chain, saddle, grips, and rear derailleur off first thing. i set it up with

chris king pink "pretty and strong" headset
easton ec70 carbon flat bars
thomson stem
fizik gobi saddle
esi silicon grips
sram x.0 gripshift
sram x.9 rear der
sram 990 chain and cassette

oh yeah. its still a little on the heavy side. the wheels, seatpost, and seatpost clamp are all gonna eventually go in favor of lighter parts. plus, i'm going to lose some weight in the mean time. i'd say its mid upper twenties weight wise. i'm also going to pull the tubes out and go stan's noTubes. it might get some hayes hfx mag plus ti/carbon disc brakes as soon as i can figure out how to route the brake hose.

thats it. tsali rocks by the way. we rode 3 miles to the trail from our cabin, then 14 miles at tsali, then 3 back to the cabin, then drove to fontana and rode 13 miles. so 33 on saturday. then sunday rode the right loop, the left loop backwards, then the left loop the correct direction, then county line road back to the parking lot. 28 miles. hell yeah.

thats it. now some pictures.

at the shop. roughly 1:30 am friday morning.

at tsali, on the left/right loop overlook trail. about 500 feet above the lake in the background.

me passing some guy (who wasn't in my age group) at the finish line in gainesville, ga

chris king pretty and strong headset and sticker. pink baby. $2 of my purchase price went to a breast cancer research foundation. heck yeah. this is one of only two in columbus, georgia.




Sunday, November 06, 2005

athens and bars

i have gone to the bars a couple times now since being 21. went to scruffy murphy's in columbus and drove up to athens last night to hang out with ryan lingo, brian nalley. we went to a place called last call. it was my second time going there. i went about three years ago to this date... and sat at the same booth and tore my jeans on the same nail that bobby tore his jeans on some three years ago.

and on my way home i decided to stop in atlanta to hang out with bobby at georgia tech. we just walked up to a diner. i had soup. and lots of crackers. and water with lemons. so now i'm waiting for bobby to get upstairs and say peace out homey, or later man, or some other cliche'd goodbye. then drive home.

i sold my specialized enduro on ebay last night. to a guy i know. hmm. and hopefully i'll get my new bike on the way tomorrow. thats all for now. peace.
jg

Friday, October 28, 2005

21

tomorrow i turn 21. hell yeah.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

blibbity blobbity glam

i dont know. stuff has been cool. i got my second item on ebay now. i'm going to do a race in a couple weeks. thats all for now. nobody reads this anyways. joseph

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

i want to ride my bicycle...




so i got my surly put all the way together. heck yeah. the white one is the surly. the newest one. the white and black one is my specialized allez road bike. it is an allez comp frame with a campagnolo chorus 8 speed gruppo.

i rode tonight at flat rock park. it was fun. i had my lightset, the helmet mount one, and a blinky for a tail light. i had a flat. thank goodness it was up front, or i'd been fooling with a 15mm wrench in addition to my pump, and tire lever. note the single lever. i used my allen wrench set as another tire lever. dont recommend it though. i enjoyed it. i rode the first loop, the loop across the rocks, the kiddie loop, and the middle size loop. i found out the kiddie loop is .31 miles. the medium loop is .66 miles. the larger loop didn't get clocked because my chain slipped, i got flung foward, and my left ankle met up with the end of my pedal. needless to say, it hurt a bit. so that was it. later.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

goodbye weekend 2

its sunday. the week went by quick. i had an ebay auction end. started putting my singlespeed together. its not done, but close. its rideable, to and from work... but not off road yet. i'm getting a surly flip flop hub this week. so next weekend, i'll be ready to roll. work has been okay. brian and i set it up so i leave at 5 on thursdays. work 12-5 on monday, and 11-7 tues, wed, and friday. then like 10-6 on saturday. i wish we could either close or open a full day on mondays. its just so tough saying our hours. "12-5 monday, 11-7 tues through friday, 9-6 on saturday."

i rode my road bike wednesday. only about 32 miles. with a 16.7 mph average or something. slow-ish. i would have ridden friday morning, but i slept in or something.

today i'm going to get jazz for the first time in a few months. it sucks that its been so long since we've hung out. i've just been busy.

i worked at flat rock this morning. sprayed round up type stuff where the trail will go. we just need people to ride it now. bye

Friday, September 16, 2005

ebay rules

what up

just got back from picasso pizza. sat outside and watched tons of drunk, and some soon to be drunk, people walk by. we called it a night as some army guys began arguing with marines, and wanted to fight simply because one was army and one was marine. i started thinking... marine has more letters than army, so we win... but what about coast gaurd?

so my instigator frame was on ebay for all of 12 hours and i got two bids. the second one met my reserve of $100. now, it has 6 days left and could go up more. that rocks. i think ebay will charge me like 8 bucks at most to sell it. but still $120 minus 8 is still more than i got now.

i might try to ride tomorrow morning before work if i can muster up some awakeness. we'll see. thats all for tonight. peace.

jg

Thursday, September 15, 2005

buy my bike!!!

i have entered the ranks of ebay-ers. i am trying to sell my surly instigator. i put my reserve at 100 bucks. we'll see if it goes. work has been okay. i'm going to try to sell my enduro in a few months too. we'll see how that goes...

ahhhh!!!!! im going crazy.

so joey's funeral is tomorrow. i'm going to try to go to that. then work. then, ahh, the weekend. later. jg

Monday, September 12, 2005

r.i.p. joey

a friend of mine shot himself recently. it sucks to get news like that. oh well. if anyone who reads this is the prayer type, please pray for him.

joey kopiness 1983 (?) - 2005

later.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

i suck

i just got home from a ride that was supposed to last 50 miles or so... i was riding with cat. 4 and 3 racers though, and after a few hills, i was toast. these guys are like muscle, lungs, and legs. and i am not. i'm hoping to plan and follow a training routine for the next few weeks. i want to try to go back out with them and surprise people. of course, that will probably not happen, but... its worth a shot. anyways. i'm just delaying going to the bike shop. saturdays we open at 9 but it is usually slow for the first couple hours, hence, 9:55am and i'm listening to g n r sweet child o mine. drinking the remaining cytomax in my water bottle, planning a comeback.

i got the kanye west album last night. so far i've only listened to about three or four songs really. i heard the first eight or nine, but only really listened to a few of them. i like it. and whether or not an individual agrees with him, i think it took some balls to say " george bush hates black people."

on another note, i have adopted a section of trail at flat rock to be my own, i will mark it, maintain (?) it, and make it. and barry said it may be called the joseph grimes section. that'd be cool. hopefully people wont hate it. hmm...

well, i need to go to work so... ::thinking:: ...i guess this is it for today. maybe someone will read this. or not.

Friday, September 09, 2005

lately

things have been sorta "ssdd." same s'tuff' different day. wake up, waste time for the first few hours of the morning. go to work around 15 til 11. work until 6 or 7. count the drawer if i'm closing. etc. leave.

lately i've been making a solid trip to picasso's pizza. leave work. go there. drink cream soda. was going to go last night but didn't.

at least i've been riding my bike some more. when i was living over near chs, i was driving too much. i was parking in the free lot off front ave. i moved all my stuff out of my temporary housing last weekend. i still don't have a bed. that sort of adds to the process of leave work, go somewhere, wake up early, go to my place, shower, eat, make lunch, watch cnn, check my email, ride my bike to work, get there early, get coffee at judybugs, sit (as i'm doing now), then actually go to work.

i've been riding flat rock a lot. tom and i want to ride in the 24 hours at conyers race. don't know how the finances will go for that though. my car tags are due. $264. damn it. should have kept the jeep. but anyways, flat rock has been a quicker pace trail than phenix city. and similar to bartram's trail, but a lot closer. i have adopted a bit of trail out there (at flat rock). i need to go out there and work on that. hmm.

thats about it for today. later.

jg

p.s. i miss my singlespeed so much. i'm trying to sell my surly insigator frame so i can finance the new one. argh.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

bars, drunk guys, bikes

thursday night. rode at flat rock with rick powell. 9 miles. thursday night.it was fun. my friend bobby justgot his student loan and was buying lots of people drinks. and gave me (Indirectly) $150 for my singlespeed. so now i have a hundred dollar bill hidden under a bicycle chain box in my room. i need/want to sell my surly frame to a kid in alabama. then comes the surly karate monkey.

so last night we went to picasso's pizza and this guy passed out in the bathroom. the security for the tap came over and dragged him out to the curb. they set him in a chair. about an hour later, still hadn't moved, the EMS showed up. it was a scene. we left there and went to the big city club. a friend of ours gotus in, and was bartending. awhile later, we noticed another friend was dj-ing. so we hung out for a while. and left. went home. had some coffee. talked some. went to sleep.

going to ride shortly in phenix cit y with rachel and the usual guys. should be fun. blah blah blah. so, anybody reading this? no? i didnt think so. figures.

jg

Thursday, September 01, 2005

night rides rule.

i rode at flat rock last night. started at 8:30 or something. it was fun. i rode the first wooded section, then crossed into the second loop section. i rode the kiddie loop about three or four times. rode the larger slickrock style section for a lap too. the trail is coming along real well. i will hopefully be able to work on it some this evening. may try to night ride again.

i have solved all my bike problems. i NEED a karate monkey. i'm gonna sell my SS and already want another. but i wanted a fixed gear bike too. answer = 29" mountain bike rigid fork v brakes flip flop rear hub two sets of tires. waBAM. a SS commuter and mtn bike. now i just need another $200.

just don't drive for two or three weeks. there's the money. just to mention it, gas here is 2.89 a gallon. works well for me because i sell bikes. so people are buying bikes to not have to drive to work. it rules. except for the fact this is america. and people wouldnt start riding their bikes when environmentalism was the issue. they wouldn't ride when everyone was overweight. but when gas prices threatened their dollars, hell yeah let's commute says our average money hungry american. oh well.

jg

Saturday, August 27, 2005

pedaling along

days go by

tom and i are planning to race at conyers for 24 hours of adrenaline. i've been riding my bike as much as possible. i am going to sell my singlespeed to bobby. he's at georgia tech. he's gonna give me $125 for it. my surly frame is for sale too. i think i'm getting $100 from a kid in tuscaloosa for it. that'll give me some dough to either rebuild a singlespeed for me or to build a fixed gear road bike.

work is good. i'm salary now with health insurance. but 6 day weeks are killing me. thats going to change, or i'm gonna be working some more 11-5 shifts.

i have a plan... work at the shop until april or may. then move to snowshoe west virginia. i want to work there as bike patrol or mechanic and or sales. then move down to brevard or boone or somewhere north carolina. hows that for a plan? later.

jg

Saturday, August 13, 2005

blah blah blah

aside from that, well, i have been working bunches. 48 hours this past week. i've been trying to ride my bikes as much as possible. my current living condition is interesting. im living with three girls that work at fountain city coffee. amanda, andrea and abbie. my current commute to work is a bit further than it used to be. it takes about 15 minutes. but is mostly downhill to get there. i went screaming through a yellow light on the corner of veteran's and 13th st. doing about 28 mph. that was about the most interesting part of the day. i worked. it has been busy at work.

thats it for now. pedal hard.

jg

Monday, August 08, 2005

changes

Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,
but things change, and that's the way it is.

[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]

(Come on, come on) That's just the way it is. Things'll never be the same.
That's just the way it is. aww yeah...
[Repeat]

I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.

[Bridge]
[Talking:]

We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh

[Bridge 'til fade]
Some things never change.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Monday, July 25, 2005

critical mass

today we did our first critical mass ride in columbus ga. it was a success in some regard. we rode from the bike shop on broadway, up 11th st. we turned left on veteran's parkway. we turned left on talbotton road. then we turned left on 2nd ave. the hill up 2nd ave. was a bit of a tough time. i had to help adam weibaum's son up the hill. we continued down to 10th st. we turned right on 10th st. then right on broadway. while on the ride, annette wanted to ride single-file. wade (and myself) wanted to ride two abreast. a lot of the other people kept swerving around the road. my boss (buddy) was swerving around, slaloming the lines between the lanes. i don't know what to do about that.

if we do this again, i want to have a talk before we roll. i need to stand up on a chair or something and read off some rules. i'll have to remind people to not get out of our lane. i'll have to remind people (buddy) not to swerve around the lanes. we'll have to come up with a solution for getting split up at red lights. it happened three times today, and was tough to get back together. i think, as well as (who just suggested it), that me or tom should ride in the front, brian should ride in the middle, and me or tom should ride in the back. i think we should decide to ride two abreast and not worry. because people were trying to pass us and that wasn't going well. and kids. they need to listen (better) to everyone, especially tom and i (and their dad), because they have a tough time riding a straight line. so we'll work on that. but all in all it was fun. and the tv channels and two people from the paper should have a great influence on spreading the word in town.

thats all from me now. except to say that last sunday i rode 102 miles. that was fun. peace. and keep the round side down.

jg

Monday, July 11, 2005

just another monday

yo to all,

its been rainy as hell as of late. some hurricane just passed by us.

johnathan had a party at his house saturday night, which we attended. i was d.d. though and my sprite remix didn't give me enough courage to take to the dance floor, so we went home a little early. the party kept going and ended in a small brawl. guess we got out in time. then went to see bewitched. it wasn't as bad as war of the worlds, but not too much better. then we sat at jz's. watched robot chicken. then went to hamilton station for poker. i got off to a bad start, then had a winning streak. i started losing again. we were supposed to go play halo and i was trying to go big enough to either start winning, or go broke and be able to leave. i finally went out with trip fours to a full house. oh well.

today i went to the bike shop early, placed an order, checked on another, and came home. we closed today because of the supposedly bad weather. but its been pretty sunny all day. hopefully i wont get in trouble for closing the store and it being sunny after all. i just hope i can get forty hours in this week.

in other good news. i think having a diploma got me better insurance rates. my geico car insurance quote was like 300 per month. it went down to 181 a month. but my parents plan is a mere 143 per month. i think i'm gonna stay on it. and go get some food right about now.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

snowshoe. road bikes. fireworks.

since the last entry i've gone to snowshoe, west virginia. i've been riding my road bike.

work has been fun. we've got the tour de france going. so lot's of people have been coming in and time goes quicker when there's tons of stuff to do. on the same subject as the tour... my road bike is fun. i've got in about 125 miles since i built it. i would ride more, but was out of town.

anyways. its time for dinner.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

the path of the righteous man...

is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. -jules

the missing rock

our rock radio station in town has a contest going on... they took their rock (their logo) and hid it somewhere in town. i haven't found it yet. the first (and only) prize is a sea doo and 1000$ in furniture from somewhere in town.

i'd like to win. i'd sell the sea doo and donate the furniture to a needy family. then buy a bike with the sea doo money.

i found out what memorial day was for. and i knew what july 4th is. speaking of holidays... i go to snowshoe on june 24. that should be considered a holiday.

going to work now. jsg

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

halo it is...

we've had some good few nights of halo at 106 b 7th st lately. and a three day weekend. go to work tomorrow though. but thats okay. cleaned our whole place up yesterday. then slept until noon today. memorial day. another holiday that i dont know why exists. is that the same as july 4th? but a good excuse for people to drink beer and have barbecue. for some reason my credit card shows i have negative credit. but i've made a couple $100 payments in the past week. it should be okay. hmmm. my car payment is due in two weeks. i got to go get more checks, then send one in to citizens bank. wherever they are.

i want a road bike. i hate my figure. back when i had a road bike i was good looking. hmm. i think im gonna get a langster after i get back from snowshoe, if finances are good. peace to all. or to none.

j.s.g.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

chapter 6

so then the train came whistling into town, with it came dan and jen, the two craziest people this small town had ever seen. they got off around 9:22am and went into howard's bed and breakfast. there they met alison. she wasn't her usual self, tired and grumpy. she cheered up enough to say hello and start telling them her life story. dan and jen listened because they didnt want to hurt her feelings by telling her to shut up. dan had eggs and ham; jen had hashbrowns. jen likes hashbrowns.

After checking in and putting away their things, they were ready to explore what wetumpka had to offer. the strip of three stores downtown, the office depot, and the strip clubs. if there is always one thing in a small town on a big highway, its strip clubs. there has to be something keeping the truckers from getting off at other exits. the most popular trucker in these there parts was bob. bob was a big guy, wore a scruffly beard, and had a little yorkie along for almost every haul. bob went, unusually, to the antique store and ran into dan and jen. he said, "i haven't seen y'all around these here parts." this scared dan and jen because they hadn't met any huge truckers with scruffly beards before.

so dan says, "we aren't from this area, sir. we're from the city, on vacation." well, bob liked them right away and introduced them to the other folks in weumpka and took them to big birthday party at the jones' house. that's where it got interesting.

chapter 7

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

blah

howdy folks who aren't reading this.

i graduated a couple weeks ago. it was boring. took three and a half hours. i ate a big late lunch/early dinner. steak. mmmm.

over the past few weeks i've been working nearly every day and riding every day to work. i've been able to ride a good bit too. like really ride. went to flat rock saturday, cause i stayed out too late. lol. then sunday we went to conyers. this army guy that was on his first mountain bike ride took a nasty, nasty fall and slid down the rock. the bike toppled a bit further. we got paramedics out there. we had to help them carry the guy back up to the ambulance. then we finished riding the second half of the trail. it was tough. nothing like conyers to start up the summer riding season.

i'm done. work, bill paying, halo-ing, sleeping, waking up, eating, riding to work, and repeating to go take care of.

joseph

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

cane creek direct pull

oh well. no spare parts for the singlespeed. got some cane creek brakes coming. they look nice.

i ended up riding at flat rock. and today worked from 9 until 7:30. long day.

i got my wireless router set up. ha. im going bed.

i walk on saturday. fun.

jsg

Monday, May 09, 2005

blibbity blobbity bloo

i dont know.

i worked today. had to fix something tom screwed up on. didnt getg out of work until 6:20. we close at 5pm. anyways. i rode to work again. rode home. my car didn't move today. saving gasoline feels so good. my dad and mom brought my bike work bench down today. its in the corner of our living room. that inspired me to mess with my singlespeed. i wanted to take a link out of the chain to tension it up some, but had to put that link back. It was too short. so i put it back, then went to adjust the brakes and the screw i needed fell out. it was stripped. oh well. ill try to find a replacement tomorrow in our spare parts bin.

i think i am going to go ride after work tomorrow. phenix city. that should be fun.

last night i saw "sin city." It is really one of the coolest movies i've ever seen. its definitely got that tarantino feel too. i have a hunch he did more that just guest direct. plus its this really cool black and white with random splotches of color sort of thing too. for example, dwight's converses were red, but everything else was black and white. or goldie's hair was gold. plus, its got the girl from gilmore girls in it. as a prostitute. she doesnt get naked, but she is definitely hot. so is marv's (i think) parol officer. anyways. go see the movie before it gets nominated for a boatload of awards.

joseph.s.grimes

Thursday, May 05, 2005

new apartment

its been a little while since i posted. i am officially done with school. forever. i took my final in renaissance art history at 1 o clock. i actually did pretty well on it. plus... last week i turned in a 4.5 page paper. it was supposed to be 10 pages. he gave me a A-. i was really happy with that. i should have got less, but dr. brown sort of likes me.

i got a $625 surprise when i got home... my final installment of a scholarship check showed up. i get to pay down my credit card a good bit. and maybe get a new pair of mtn shoes. hmm...

oh. just to brag. i have 3.0 Mbps internet. if you dont know, thats fast. hehe.

Its currently cinco de mayo, and 18 minutes after i started typing this post. so im gonna stop, and go pop the top. that rhymes. i dont know. anyways. joseph.s.grimes

Sunday, April 24, 2005

summer is coming.

nobody is going to read this, so i feel like i am wasting my time. but anyways. i got a new email address. its josephgrimes@gmail.com. its neat. it has POP and i can use that through the apple mail program on my computer. anyways. i also just got Tiger 10.4. its the newest OS for mac. it comes out in two weeks. hmm. arghh we be pirates.

school is wrapping up. i have a speech tuesday about my final math paper. it should be fun. not. anyways. work is going well. i forgot to order a shifter, but other than that things have gone really well since i assumed the role as store manager. i gotta give reggie credit though cause she is the one that really set it all up.

on the more personal side for updates... i am coming along well with my collection of tools for my bike workbench. rachel be jealous. i just got a Park p-handle allen wrench set. a few weeks ago i added some cone wrenches to the collection. i have a pedro's screwdriver set coming in this week. i should be able to do all repairs soon from my new apartment. i also built a rear wheel for my DH bike last week. its a perfect match for the monster front wheel. hadley DH disc hub. Sun doublewide 24" rim. DT spokes. black everything. its stealthy. i like it. it sounds good. tickticktickticktickticktick. thats how it sounds. yeah.

i am about to clean our back yard at my parents house. then go to flatrock park to try to help with the new trail.

joseph.s.grimes

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

icycle dh results

Thought i'd put this up. i dont know if i am much of a downhill racer or if ill just do better jumping off stuff... but here are some results from the race i did back in february. brr.. it was cold.

Beg. Men DH
Nick Kerr 3:08

Joshua Hennessey 3:11

Leif Kruse 3:19

Joseph Grimes 3:30

Frederick Livingston 3:46

Wesly Miller 3:57

Chris Ward 4:05

Eddie McElyea 4:07

Owen Simpson 4:08

Ben Bryan 4:10

Tim Wilkie 4:17

Tim Beeching 4:19

Steve Barker 4:27

Tony Ledbertter 4:31

Darrin Tinsley 4:43

Cory Weldon 4:55

Richard Beytagh 5:35

and if youd like to compare(http://www.sycamorecycles.com/icycleresults.html) my time (on the same course as) to the sport and expert racers times you can see for yourself. 4th beginner...would be 9th sport, or 13th in expert. hmm... i could have gotten 1st in expert women. yeah. thanks for actually reading this if anyone gets this far. joseph.s.grimes

Sunday, April 10, 2005

cold coffee is gross.

stuff has been okay. trying to get a house its not going so good. or well. if youre an english person. been riding the collection of bikes a bit. mainly my enduro. rode it to work, and in p.c. recently. rode the bighit once lately. rode the singlespeed a few weeks ago. broke that chainring. sucks. getting new ones currently. waiting on my hadley rear hub. will be a sweet ass wheel. black spokes, hub, nipples, and rim. yeah. i got my final math paper back yesterday. it is all marked up. whatever. like i am supposed to fix it all by thursday. ha. tuesday night here i come. i need to see jazz. and take him camping this coming weekend. looking at hawley usa as a possible place to work. its over in lexington sc. probably move somewhere in 2008 or 2009. i need to pay my car down before i go anywhere. or sell it.

jg

Monday, April 04, 2005

it sure doesnt feel like 12:15 am.

maybe cause its really 11:15 pm the previous day, and we're just being tricked into thinking today is today. last week was busy. i decided to not post anymore since nobody cares enough to read this page. or at least nobody wants to comment. but thats okay too. "...i awoke, and faintly bouncing round the room, a never ending coral maze..." phish. i rode my bike today. skipped breakfast. tried to convince myself that a granola bar was enough. it wasnt. and i was reminded by the hydration gods that youre supposed to drink water before youre hungry, cause your head will hurt for the rest of the day. speaking of which... i just got home from johnathan zarley's. we played halo for the last few hours. i wanted to get jazz today. i havent seen him in a while, but his mom was like he's grounded. oh well. i am currently typing aimlessly for whatever reason in a sort of stream of consciousness style. whatever comes to mind. astronaut. get the idea. also been thinking about a song thats close to my heart.

Crazy how it feels tonight
Crazy how you make it all alright love
Crush me with the things you do
And I do for you anything too
Sitting smoking feeling high
And in this moment it feels so right

Lovely lady
I am at your feet
God I want you so badly
And I wonder this
Could tomorrow be
So wondrous as you there sleeping
Let's go drive 'till morning comes
And watch the sunrise and fill our souls up
Drink some wine 'till we get drunk

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
And is this real or am I dreaming

Lovely lady
Let me drink you please
Won't spill a drop, no, I promise you
Lying under this spell you cast on me
Each moment
The more I love you
Crush me
Come on, oh yeah

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is this real or am I dreaming

Lovely lady
I will treat you sweetly
Adore you I mean you crush me
And it's times like these
When my faith I feel
And I know how I love you
Come on, Come on
Baby

It's crazy I'm thinking
just as long as you're around
And here I'll be dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
To each other we'll be facing
My love
By love
We'll beat back the pain we've found
You know
I mean to tell you all the things I've been thinking deep inside
My friend
Each moment the more I love you

Crush me
Come on
Baby
So much you have given love
That I would give you back again and again
Oh my love
Meaning I'll hold you
But please please let me always

yeah. im going to bed now. peace to all, or none.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

spring break

all in all this was a good spring break. went to fla. came back and found a bad ass house on 18th ave. gonna move in may 1. cant wait. got a easter basket. going to a non-easter dinner today. worked my three days. my feet hurt. not anymore, but they did hurt. i got a thermos. its neat. so i can ride with coffee and not spill it. gonna stop typing. i feel like mark. nobody cares about me. tear...

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

all good things must end.

i guess thats a cheesy cliche, but its true. we got to west palm beach sunday night, and tomorrow morning around 9am, it will end. we're hopefully gonna hit the turnpike around 9 something and begin our nine plus hour drive home. and then i work three consecutive open to closes. woo hoo. i hope to go ride in thomaston sunday. but i am gonna have coffee then go to sleep. goodnight to all. jg

Thursday, March 17, 2005

a birthday and a sad day

rachel turned 23 or something like that... hence a birthday

and the u.s. senate approved drilling for oil in alaska.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/16/arctic.drilling.ap/index.html
sort of depressing.

i worked today. well yesterday, since its thursday now. also st. patricks day. wear green.

i need to go to bed.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

today is the day my life changed forever...

i finally got my computer. it seems like years, okay 10 days, since i ordered it, but it was def. worth the wait. i'm gonna go back to playing with it some more.
powerbook g4
80GB
512MB
DVD-r
it goes on...

:)

Monday, March 14, 2005


me trying to look cool Posted by Hello

Sunday, March 13, 2005

::cough:: ::sniffle:: ::ah-choo::

being sick sucks. my throat hurts, and i had a raging fever. my head hurts too, but thats the least of my concerns. i searched the house for advil. none. tylenol. none. cough syrup. none. seeing the trend here? but yesterday had its high points too.

1. worked on a habitat house.
2. took a three hour nap on a saturday.
3. had a saturday away from work. woo-hoo.
4. my iPod shuffle shipped from suzhou, china.

for anyone concerned...click here...or here...i dont know if these links will work or not.

5. i watched american beauty for the first time. i liked it a lot.
6. had a huge steak for dinner.

but oh yeah. i was sick. if anyone actually reads this i'm sure you'll be thinking what a douche or deutsh or doosh or however its spelled, but i hate feeling shi++y. and when you feel shitty and complain, just remember me. i think feeling sick, especially when you didnt bring it on yourself, is a reasonable time to complain. i mean if you go out and roll around in the snow naked, thats probably your own fault if you get a cold. but whatever.

i rode my bike friday night in phenix city. i rode the enduro with newly installed fox vanilla rc coil shock. i also had to zip-tie my headlight on the handlebars. forgot my mount, oh well. it was a good time. i rode for about an hour and fiteen (yes i know its fiteen) minutes. and i did a bunch of climbs. dont ask me why. it seemed like a good idea at the time. and as i was ready to leave my shock started making noise. i probably should have put a small layer of grease on the bolt that the shock bushings sit on. hmm. anyways. i was gonna leave out the cool trail, but didnt want to put up with an extra twenty mintues of schquweek-schquweek (you get the idea?) so i wussed out.

today may have so far been the laziest day of my life. i woke up around 8am, still feeling like ass, in a cold sweat of fever and my moms crazy thermostat antics and fleece pants, chawing on cough drops and trying to hock (haugh?) up a big wad of snotty stuff from the back of my throat. sorry for the details, but its imperative to knowing how shitty this morning was. i kept alternating sides, laying on my left, then rolling over to the right, trying to figure out which way was better. neither was. i managed to go through about twenty cough drops, and only remember opening and popping about five, guess i got good at it in sleep. i finally got up to get some oatmeal and drank some vanilla soy drink i found at publix. i went back to sleep. i finally got up when i realized i was drooling and well, thought to myself, this is enough. so i crawled into the shower and was comforted by really really hot water. i dont even remember if i actually soaped up and got clean or if i just enjoyed the really hot water equalizing the temperature of my fevered skin. but i managed to stay in bed until about 12:45. thats probably the most wasted time of my life considering i went to sleep around ten thirty last night. oh well.

i think its karma.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

mmm. whiskey

had to change that song. my powerbook is on its way. yippee

jg

Sunday, March 06, 2005

coffee. mmm. good.

i bought a powerbook last night. :) its 11:11pm. make a wish.

i rode my bike today. jumped off dangerously tall stuff.

i have to work tomorrow. ugh.

double space.

later.

joseph

Thursday, March 03, 2005

update for nobody

tonight i did a night ride in phenix city. i rode with patrick. he finally got his rmx. i did the black ladder drop twice. we did the rock ladder drop by the river. we both rode the logs a couple times. i rode the tall ladder by the logs. we both did the jump into the valley up by the construction. i did the ladder near the rocks on the exit trail. i was proud of that. fo sheezie.
thats it

make like a tree and leaf.

ha.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

"this one's called two step..."

Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions You laid down and gave to me just what I'm seeking Love, you drive me to distraction Hey my love do you believe that we might last a thousand years Or more if not for this, our flesh and blood It ties you and me right up Tie me down Celebrate we will Because life is short but sweet for certain We're climbing two by two To be sure these days continue These things we cannot change Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to this mouth Grown tired of water all the time You quench my heart and you quench my mind Celebrate we will Because life is short but Sweet for certain We're climbing two by two To be sure these days continue The things we cannot Celebrate, you and me, climbing two by two, to be sure these days continue, things we cannot change Oh, my love I came to you with best intentions You laid down and gave to me Just what I'm seeking Celebrate we will Because life is short But sweet for certain We're climbing two by two To be sure these days continue Things we cannot change... Things we cannot change

Sunday, February 20, 2005

where's my honda? ...zed's dead baby, zed's dead.

i was just thinking about that quote, which i had to explain today to some friends, and realized that is probably not true at all. it probably didn't take more than Butch (Bruce Willis) to drive back to the hotel, and i dont think that is enough time for Marsellus Wallace to call his boys and have them "get medieval on (Zed's) ass." Even if Marsellus's buddies could have gotten there, i think they'd still be using their "blow torch and pliers." anyways. zed wouldn't be dead for a little while longer. unless of course butch meant that zed is basically dead. who knows.

my weekend was ok. did a night ride last week. tuesday to be exact. it was fun. i didnt have any afternoon classes thursday, so that was nice. karlie and i rode bikes. sunday we played halo at john zarley's. paris hilton's tmobile sidekick was apparently hacked releasing hundreds of star's phone numbers on the internet. my buddies tried calling a bunch of them from camo phone but got voicemails and busy signals. as raiford put it, a bunch of celebrities are gonna be getting their phone numbers and emails changed. i have to go now and get karlie. peace.

jg

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

joss stone rocks.

so the weekend was good. i worked. saturday night was fun. we went to john zarley's party until it got busted. went to sleep 4:30 am-ish. went to buddy's land and helped finish a huge north shore style obstacle. maybe not huge. only like 12 or 14 feet high. its good. we rode that. jumped the step up's shaun has built. went over to the three story drop. hurled ourselves off that. went to the skinny... i wussed out. its about a foot to two feet wide ladder bridge that curves back and forth, reaching a height of about 6 or 7 feet. then it goes from a foot and a half wide to 5.5 inches wide, still 6 feet or so tall, slopes down and drops onto a much wider (16 inches) landing ramp. i couldnt get myself to ride onto the 5 inch part. oh well.

monday was good too. (hearts). i went to work for a little while. gave karlie her rose, teddy bear, brazilian thing, card, and most importantly, chocolate. we hung out the remainder of the day. we walked around the bike trail in phenix city. she cooked me dinner. we hung out. had some coffee, and i went home around 1 am. it was the best valentine's day of my short life, and hopefully we'll spend some more together.

I'm about to give a presentation on the non-denumerability of the continuum. peace.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

whew.

thought karlie was gonna dump me. that was scary. but it is all good now.

aside from that, my day was ok. i am sort of sick, just have the sniffles and a stuffy head. and the trade off for feeling better is sleepiness. even with the non-drowsy tylenol sinus. i mean, its cool if you're gonna get a little drowsy, but dont put on the box non-drowsy. i wonder if there is any difference between the night and day tylenol sinus? maybe just the box is different.

i've added a nifty toy to the sidebar of my blog. it should be right about

<------ there

or somewhere. ha. i wanted to ride tonight in phenix city, but couldn't cause i would have gotten more sick. so i took over karlie's laptop and am basically wasting time. i did manage to pay my tmobile bill. and check my checking account balance. which is never the same as what i think i have. sometimes its over, sometimes under. i know its just cause checks havent cleared or whatever, but thats stupid. i have to write three more short essays for renaissance art. ugh. and dr. howard is like "study topology." that presentation is in like a month or so, but i do need to start. double ugh. that would be ugh ugh. i guess

i wonder why, when your nose gets stuffy, one side seems like theres a cork in it, and the other is like a highway for snot. and during the day, they swap. anybody else notice that? like right now, my left side is the clogged one, and my right side keeps getting wiped on my sleeve. but earlier it was the other way. i guess its good cause neither sleeve gets left out. you know? ha.

being poor sucks. i was hoping to tutor this kid today and get $25 but he was like, i dont have any questions, what about tuesday?" which is cool. but i was hoping to have 25$ cause it would help get ... oh wait, can't say what i'm getting for valentines. ha.

go to hell sometime. its cool.

thats all. gotta go dry out my shirt sleeves. gross.

peace-idity (TM Joseph)
jg

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

days go by (Buddh

its tuesday morning. my 11 oclock was canceled so im taking advantage of computer usage. still no idea how i finished at the race. still hoping for 4th or 5th. rode my singlespeed to school today. found out i had a midterm in my concepts of fitness class. probably did shitty. i skipped class thursday and missed the review. its actually hard if you forgot to study. ha.

i got a refreshing email update from kelly n. she was at the NOC while i was in fontana, 15 miles away. oh well. i thought about going over to NOC to see if she was there but... laziness and gas money lackage (did i just make up a word?) took over.

yesterday was fun. me and karlie took my dog for a walk, then i picked jazz up from school. then me and him rode bikes to johnson mill lofts and found out prices. hmmm. then we went back down the riverwalk to fountain city. had a smoothie and coffee, caught up with karlie and rode bikes with her some. we called it a day. took jazz home, ate dinner with my parents, then studied for math.

lets think about zack. MAN, IT IS ALL GOOD.

peacery (TM Rachel)

okay. its 10:55 pm and i am adding more.
i went home, did some homework, karlie came over and we took a nap. i had renaissance art at 1:3o pm. after that i had subway, then worked on math. had my 4:30 class. went home. finally finished The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. That book coupled with my Asian Religions class really has me appreciating and wanting to study Buddhism more. The best thing keroauc (Ray) examines is the possible co-existence of Buddhism and Christianity. He doesnt rule out other religions either. Ray commonly mentions God and Boddhitsavas and Lord Buddha and karma and dharma and angels and makes no distinction. The other cool thing about the book is the degree to which kerouac describes nature. Ray and Japhy go on innumerable trips to the mountains of California, Ray spends time in the woods in North Carolina at his mother's place. He spends the final chapters of the book in solitude on mount Desolation. Desolation. That sums is up. He is alone with the world and its beauty and his thoughts and that is all the truth for his sixty days that summer. Ray contemplates the few animals he sees, he examines the simplicity and wishes he could always have it. He (Keroauc) describes in grand detail the environment and makes up words to assist in these descriptions. I definitely put this book at the top of my favorites. I'd say The Dharma Bums, The Inferno and A Clockwork Orange are currently tied for my favorite books. Next on my list is a Biography of the Fourteenth (current) Dalai Lama. It sucks he had to flee Tibet after China occupied it and destroyed thousands of monasteries. Anyways. Flibberty-jibberty-wazzle. Yeah. I dont know either.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

downhills are down hill right?

its sunday. i dont remember the last time i posted anything. friday night i stayed at the bike shop until 11 or so cleaning my bigHit. then we left columbus at 9am saturday. got to fontana at 2:30pm. we checked in. ate. were lazy. rode three practice runs. determined whoever chose the course for the downhill was on crack. the first half was real fast and real good. no tech sections, just superfast with about a 60ft drop on your immediate right. about halfway down it flattened out, then came the climbs. yes climbs. it was a pain in the ass...well really the quads and my calfs but thats all. my first run time was 3min 30sec. my second run would have been better but the muddy rooty switchbacks got the best of me. i went over the bars. wasted a few seconds, cursed a good bit (to let the crowd know it was me...) and rode slowly the final fifty yards to the finish. dont know what the time was, but the first run was better. i know i didnt finish top 3 cause i would have gotten a medal, but maybe fourth. so we drove back in a zigzaggy fashion. ate with karlie's parents in marietta and are soon leaving to head to a poker game in columbus. peace.
jg
p.s. i fell pretty good this morning. took a tree to the neck under my full face helmet. it was nice. did i mention the race was at night. pitch black? had a 32 watt light though. yeah...

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

its been awhile...

since i could... find some time to post. okay. i had stained in my head sorry. so the past week has gone by. since last monday... school, work, an ice storm, a big brother of the year award, one quart (i think, wish we'd go metric) of starbucks ice cream, lots of (really) good sex, two homecooked meals by my favorite karlie, and one bike ride in phenix city have brought me to today. i have made some progress in the dharma bums too. i am reading about two chapters a day. i need to finish, just so i can start a biography for servant leadership. classes are good. i am really starting to like buddhism as a faith and culture. i'm slowly working some of their thoughts and practices into my everyday life. (key word slowly)

aside from everyday stuff... i am going to the icycle mountain bike race saturday. its gonna be my first downhill race, and its at night. but i ordered myself another lightset yesterday, so i'll have a total of like 40 watts on the front of my bike and helmet. yeah. as of today, me, karlie chris, john vasilis, patrick, and ben are going. we're gonna try to make a party out of it during the afternoon. theres a xc race we'll probably watch some of, then go eat something, then i race at "dark thirty." anyways, ill write more about it all later and post pictures too.

been working out a good bit. spring break watch out. kidding.

its time to go learn about buddhism and make fun of my teacher's outfit, he wears the same blazer everyday. not like i'm guilty of that...(corduroy jacket)... ha.

jg

Monday, January 24, 2005

raining cats and dogs

dont remember if i wrote about saturday. it was hectic. saturday night we went to ruby tuesday, then rented the graduate and got abuot halfway through it before sleep took over. sunday i ate with my parents. then karlie and i took my dog kasco for a walk at the riverwalk and then to rachel's house. her dog and mine didnt make friends as we'd hoped. oh well.

then we got karlie's pictures developed from boone, nc. theyre good. then we finished the graduate and started bridget jones diary. we'll probably finish it tonite. we're about to go to school. peace.

Friday, January 21, 2005

relief

relief finally.

its so good to have someone that can make your day better just by seeing them. :)

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

work schmerk

last week, for the first time since working at the bike shop, i thought to myself "i dont wanna go to work today." i thought the same thing today. this whole software thing sucks. i stared at a computer screen for five hours. ugh. cant wait until we get done.

karlie is the best girlfriend ever. i still cant believe i am so fortunate. i am looking foward to what the future holds for us, but i dont want to jinx anything, so thats all im gonna say about that.

i have a meeting at the pastoral institute for servant leadership at 8am. on a completely different note... we finally finished "how to lose a guy in 10 days." we started it like tuesday last week. and on another completely different note... i am going to do my first downhill race on feb. 5th up in fontana dam NC. and the race is at night. how cool is that? should be nice and scary. but we'll have lights. and hopefully a "pit crew" of buddies and a few coolers. hehe.

goodnite

Saturday, January 15, 2005

a short post

went to work today. it was super hectic. our "go live" date is nearing, and emotions are flying. not to mention i got a call simultaneously from wisconsin and somewhere else. while there were twenty people in the store. and trying to sell a bike at the same time. left there, got karlie, went to see meet the fockers. left there, went to a keg party, got hunch punch spilled on me by some girl. on my substitute teacher jacket, we played a quick (i lost first) and embarrassing game of never have i ever. then promptly called it a night. leaving for SC in a few hours. peace and bugs.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

pink is for wussies

i realized last night that this blog is becoming a means of communication... its like "who needs phones when you have blogs?" well, maybe not that extreme.

continuing where yesterday's post left off...i went to senior seminar. it should be nice and challenging. we have to present a chapter of our text to the class, choose a research topic, present that to our class, write a 8-15 pg paper on the same topic, and (optional) present the same topic to the school's student colloquium. he said that would pretty much be an automatic A for the course though. hmmm. and we have to formally write the solution for a problem on our weekly problem sheet. the subjects range from college algebra to real analysis and abstract algebra. should be fun.

i left class and went straight to phenix city to ride with kevin and matt. we got there right as the sun was setting, and relied on our trusty lightsets to keep on track. granted only one person reading this has any clue what the trail is like out there...but its truly like riding a different trail. i for once felt like the wussie of the group. matt and kevin, both in their 40's, were hauling ass down twisty unforgiving singletrack. during the daytime, you can pick and choose a line around roots and depressions, and well, at night your main concern is just staying between the trees. i remember one specific section when i got a little too proud... i'm like "man guys, this section separates the boys..." and it really does, especially in the dark. its up by the dam, after you start coming back south, theres inumerable switchbacks and a series of uphill sideways log crossings. i made it over the two difficult ones and then spoke my pride, and then clipped my handlebars on a tree. i think the tree actually just jumped out, but who knows. so that really put me back in my place. we did keep a pretty good pace, we rode 7.3 miles in about 2 hours. thats not really a good pace for the standard XC trail, but anybody who rides the trail of tears in PC, alabama knows. Its sorta like the cirle of trust. Meet the Parents? well, maybe not a circle of trust, but anyways.

so i left the trail around 8:30pm, went home, showered, went to attempt calculus problems i had no idea how to do (its been a while). ddand a bowl of kashi rice puff cereal, and diet v-8 splash (made with splena not aspartame, mmmm good) and came to school. i get to go skiing this weekend. should be fun. peace love and bugs.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

school is cool

hehe. what a goofy title.

i am not going to type much, as i have yet another class starting in about 37 seconds, yes i know i will be late, but man it is all good. i had health at 9:30am, then non-western culture at 11:00, then wore a toga to my art history at 1:30pm, then worked out, it felt so good, then came here (library) and am currently running late for senior seminar in math.

this semester is going to be awesome though, my non western professor was like: "we're going to watch seven years in tibet, last samurai and sailor moon." okay, were not watching sailor moon, but i was singing that barenaked ladies song...anyways.

tonight, around 2am is officially a month of boyfriend-girlfriend-ness between me and karlie, or rather karlie and i, whichever you prefer. that makes me happy. i cant believe she put up with me that long. hehe. and if i remember correctly, there is another kb having their one month soon. anyways, like a built in reminder.

leaving for class, then riding mtn bikes in the dark. woooo hoooo.
jg

Sunday, January 09, 2005

great days

friday night was a good time. i went to fountain city around 9:30 and listened to BJ and joel and this other guy play guitar, and it was slow so karlie got to sit down with me a bunch, and i looked at bike porn online. And we left and well...thats all. hehe

woke up next to her, which is such a great feeling. I went to the bike shop and we were pretty damn busy. And Lisa, an older lady that rides, brought me and byron a margarita in a water bottle. That made work much more fun. I got to leave about an hour and a half early, and walked around broadway with karlie and joel. So i went home for the first time in a day or two, and headed back downtown. I hung out with joel most of the night, we met and hung out with karlie's roommates (before she even met them) and played Halo2. I was embarrassed after the first couple games, but got warmed up and won against brian. kevin succeeded in putting me back in my place, and that was it for halo.

sunday morning i woke up, met Josum Grillo (a badass ranger guy) at the bike shop, and we headed over to the trail. we rode for about three hours. I had a personal first, Yay! there's this skinny ladder by our log rides that lots of people ride up and over, but as far as I know, Paul Luker was the only person (before yesterday) to launch off the top. I did twice. It was super F-in scary, because the landing is almost vertical (so it seems) and about a foot and a half wide.

So I ate lunch with Karlie, worked a crossword puzzle, cleaned out my car, sat through a "talk" with my mom, then went to play Halo 2 with the boys. Karlie showed up and eventually went to the other room to spy on their location with the flag. she's getting the idea. we were playing headlong CTF and they had some really good flag hiding spot. haha.

now its monday, I'm at school. Found out this morning my perfect schedule ain't so perfect. our servant leadership class that was supposed to meet three or four times this semester is now meeting EVERY friday. What's up with that? Oh well. I got really good oatmeal earlier at Publix, that made breakfast good. later. jg

Thursday, January 06, 2005

school...yay!!

its thursday, i work today, tomorrow, sunday and monday. ugh. we're doing a physical inventory of the store. that'll be fun. not. i rode my singlespeed down from home today. it was a good ride, i had like a 14mph avg. the past few days have been really good. i've been with karlie a bunch. i know she's getting tired of me, so i'll try to find something else to do tonight.

night before last we (me her denise and april from kinnucans) watched "meet the parents." i liked it, never saw it before. now i need to see meet the fockers. i cant believe it, but my parents have already seen it! so last night we (me her) watched garden state. its a semi-artsy film with zach braff and natalie portman. and to my amazement, natalie portman said fuck. anyways. its a good movie. watch it.

so school is starting monday. well, for me it starts tuesday, not to brag or anything... but i have the best senior year spring semester schedule in university history. ren. art to 1800, golf, concepts of fitness, servant leadership biography, senior seminar in math (think i am gonna research topology), and asian religious traditions. all my classes are tuesday thursday, and for my first semester ever, i dont have ANY night classes. wooooooooooo hoooooooooooo! thats all for now. i have a quizno's turkey sandwich waiting to get eaten. yum.

jg

p.s. for anyone posting, please put your name if you post. thanks. :)

Sunday, January 02, 2005

wasted days

its sunday evening. i have succeeded in doing absolutely nothing today. i woke up around 8am, took a shower, went back to sleep until 2 or so, ate lunch, slept some more, went to fountain city for coffee and inspiration to write in my journal, and now i'm about to eat dinner. i am feeling better, at least my fever is gone.

i miss karlie. she is in atlanta, but moving back to columbus tomorrow. i'll be seeing her tomorrow to help her move in to Rankin. thats all for now. jg

Saturday, January 01, 2005

123RUB

i finally made it to the ER for something other than a mountain biking accident. ha. the other day i had a 104 degree fever. it sucked. but i'm feeling better now.

last night was a good time. i spent it with rachel, wayne, suzanne, ashley ? c/gra(i)g ?? coach jim, cheryl, and a twelve year old Yale grad. okay, thats an exaggeration, she's at least 16. so we just hung around wayne's place and i watched everyone else sip/gulp away at an assortment of mixed drinks. i didn't partake (the codiene cough syrup and alcohol dont mix) but did have a sip or twelve of champagne. we took off around 1:15am or so.

I didnt do much the rest of the day, took a four hour nap, then went to wayne's to watch The Thomas Crown Affair. thats about it. going home to go to sleep.