This sentance no verb.

So I had to put off leaving for my trip till Sunday. The good news its only for convenience, nothing major. I get to visit a good friend Jeff in aspen, ride hard and far.. no problem there.. just the heat and being away from my awesome girlfriend will suck. I will keep everything up to date here, posting more info as things change :)

Breif bouts of insanity. So next week i go on a trip for a while - say from here to way over there and back again. Its one of those trips where I am excited and at the same time a bit nervous... Se I know I'm a bit of a nut.. but i missed out on going to alaska earlier and it hurt big time. So my prize to myself is the national juggling convention in winston salem north carolina. A trip to see my sisters, and then I explore Canada on the way back! I'll do my best to keep people up to date and share some snapshots, I'm planning on some insane shots based on the weird hours and strange destinations. :) Will miss my Cindy though.

newtvillage

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

This photo taken right before the horrible catastrophic crash onto the surface of the sun.

For 6 years I've had a friend - My Aprilia Caponord, I rode across country several times, rode it to the arctic and lived off of it for quite some time. Silly, its an intimate object I know, but Its still been a wonderful ride. My BMW R1200GS Adventure is practical, built with German precision, advanced suspension and antilock brakes, traction control.. Still it lacks the horsepower and pure passion the Capo had. I'm glad my friend James is the new owner, Its staying in the family. I had NO idea I would feel so sad. I'll miss my Capo.

So I was at a birthday party where a photographer showed up and gave the birthday boy a framed print of one of his photos. I personally wasn't impressed with the photo, but that is a matter of taste. I thought "Hmmm I wouldn't mind giving one of my prints to people I like" Then I was like wait a second.. the photographer was a guy I didn't like, very full of attitude and self centered smugness. I truly DO NOT want to be that guy.. So, I ask your honest opinion, If I gave you a print...

Poll #1385919 Gift or Narcissism
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I give you a print of one my photos, do you:

Honestly I understand both extremes..

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Bertrand Russel:

"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."

Happy Easter, I like the fertility bunny thing and the chocolate - but unless you show me proof, I still think your teapot christ thingy took a dump behind the bushes like everyone else.

I would like to volunteer my services to help tea bag some republicans... I'll even go jogging first to sweeten the pot :)

The only legitimate use of the greatly loathed <blink>-tag: Schroedinger's cat is not dead.

So on friday I rode my MV Agusta F4 - and noticed the turn signals went out... So when i got home i put it on the lift and determined to poke it till it screamed. Saturday epim  and elfboy23 drug my ass out of bed and we went on a ride, I took the Benelli TNT Sport. romping around the santa cruz roads, down bonny doon i felt the front brakes start giving out.. Mentaly I was well.. hmmm. Airbubble? Other concepts went through my head but i was optomistic.. The boys lead the way through traffic on highway one and I followed suit but a little more carefull since i now had only my rear brake. We stopped on pacific and debated lunch when epim  notted my front wheel was covered with brake fluid... DOH! Well over lunch I debated risking riding it home.. and decided with the high tourist level any moron pulling out making me swerve would make me go down on that slick oiled front wheel. elfboy23  was nice enough to go get his truck while I had a coffee at cafe pergolessi, and we headed home. We had a fun evening bar b queing with elfboy23  and tragydie and my girl Cindy.. elfboy23  helped me tinker with the MV till we basicaly figured it was the Relay, simple to replace. Thanx Adrian! Anyway today I wanted to do some errands and hopped on the BMW R1200gs Adventure. My car. What could go wrong I thought? Wouldnt it be funny if tonight ide have a 3rd bike issue? Do I like pissing in fate's cherious? HELL YEA I do! Five minutes later the BMW Died. Just DIED. Some electrical issue... My darling Cindy came over in her car, we tried to jump the bike off her car.. nope.. not the battery! No longer wanting to abuse Adrian's generosity, I called Timmah, an awsome friend.. he came with a trailer and we belted the beast down and now it waits at tims till tuesday for the dealerships to open.. I have to call for dead BMW's Benellie brake lines, MV Agusta relays.. ooh my!
I had someone ask me if i was done for motorcycles for a bit... I think thats funny.. might as well ask me if I'm tired of breathing yet..

So growing up in Ohio, things were a bit older then in California. Case in point, here is the Fitzwater family graves that were behind my backyard. I would hang out here thinking of my own mortality, at the time it was adjacent to the fields I would go dirt biking in now totally filled with tract homes. So I would sneak a cigarette from my well kept stash, hidden away from my family that never knew I smoked, kick back and think about these people that I never knew, some that died before the States were states. I know some were killed from small pox, some passed from old age, at least one suicide - People that only lived on in my imagination,hiding slaves headed to states that didnt have a return policy,  fighting indians, plowing fields in the wild wild west that was ohio. (I know most of you think of the wild west as john wayne and texas, but there were a lot of good indian wars in Ohio believe me :) )  Every now and then my dog Noopy would bring home  a bone she had dug up from here, I would return it. Kids would pick up one of the smaller stones and toss them in my familys pool, I would have to swim down and bring them back to their resting place. The Tract homes that are where the cattle would graze let it grow high in weeds, a friend growing up had just cleared them before I took this photo. This family plot is a moment of time I love, so I thought Ide share a moment from my time. I wonder what will happen to the fitzwaters with the expansion of tract homes encrouching into history.