I need a little boost to hit the holiday with a running start. You can have some too.

Have a great holiday!

[UPDATE] I need some more.

KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW! KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW!

As you may have noticed from the fact that this Friday Afternoon Interlude stands on the shoulders of last week’s, with nary a post between them, I haven’t had much to say this week. It’s not because I haven’t been busy, in fact it’s because I’ve been very busy. Work’s kept my nose to the grindstone, we’ve had guests from out of town, I’ve been biking and throwing plastic at metal whenever I can, and of course those children aren’t going to alternately nurture and humiliate themselves.

So what have I got for you. Well, to start off, here’s some highlights from the finals of the 2005 European Disc Golf Championship. In a major tournament like this one, the top 4 players in the major divisions often play a final nine holes to determine the champion. In 2005, Jesper Lundmark (Europe’s top player and the PDGA’s highest rated player) trailed Markus Kallstrom by 4 strokes, followed closely by Timo Pursio of Finland and Matthias Nilsson of Sweden.

The course is beautiful, the weather’s gorgeous, the galleries are filled with enthusiastic fans, the players throw farther and more accurately than should be possible, and the finish is inspiring. The camera work is as good as any I’ve seen for disc golf, HyzerTV did an outstanding job of covering the event. I also really enjoy the commentary from Greg Catch and Johnny Balls. Some gems:

“Oh! Whaht’s he thinkin’ about dare?”
“Perfect style with the socks and he elevates…”
“There’s three birdies as we wanna see them, and Timo with a… par shot.”
“…he serves it! Look at the elbow like… like a waiter, serving the basket.”
“Ooooooo… biiig arrrrm.”

It’s a good time, enjoy it if you’re so inclined.

And what could be better than that? I’ll tell you what, bein’ on a boat, motherscratcher!

(This is not audibly safe for work, be warned.)

I only have one thing to say to those of you that are saying to yourselves, “he really phoned it in this week.” That’s an insult to the people that phone it in, day in, day out. Phoning it in implies some effort, at least enough to pick up a phone and submit something that barely clears the bar. Honestly, I didn’t even do that much.

I’ll post again when I have something that needs sayin’, otherwise I’m gonna go outside, throw some plastic, ride some bike. Take a good hard look at the muthafuckin’ bike, and have a great weekend.

I have nothing clever to say, no funny stories to share, no stems to wind, no fingers to wag and no hats to tip.

But I can surely offer you, on this lovely afternoon, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer doing an acoustic medley of Spinal Tap and Folksmen tunes, as well as an interview. They’ll have funny and interesting things to say. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, y’all.

How many good things have I been so lucky or blessed to experience this week?

When the weather breaks enough to ride into work in fingerless gloves, a wool layer thinner, sans long johns and balaclava, that’s a good time.

When you take on the previously undefeated office foosball champ, slam fireballs at him from the back row, take a few blurry bombs yourself, and emerge victorious ten-eight… man, that’s a good time.

When the KickBack’s you bought on Valentines Day Special arrive, each box containing two little heart-shaped candies from our sweethearts at Xtracycle, and then they install in about 15 minutes, and then within 30 seconds you can tell that things you thought were perfect have just gotten even a little bit better, that’s a good time. Totally.

When the new laptop shows up, it’s a sturdy chassis with a rock solid keyboard and comes up flawlessly, that’s a good time. When you figure that, with your schedule, it’ll probably take a week to build it out as a dual-boot XP/Ubuntu lappy with all the updates and packages you want, and then you knock it out in a couple of hours, that’s a really good time. Then when Ubuntu sees your wireless, your NVidia video card, and your sound card without any special procedures or workarounds, that’s a great time. When it proceeds to suspend to RAM perfectly, that’s amazing, and when it handles suspend to disk perfectly without any tinkering whatsoever, that’s an unnervingly good time, and you’re not quite sure which world you woke up in. But wherever it is, you want to stay, for good times abound there.

When you came into the third week of the month looking like you were going to hit your goal for riding miles real early, then go away for a 3-day weekend, then get sick and miss several days in the saddle, and come into week 4 lookin’ like you might not make it, that’s a challenge. When you close out week 4 with some take-the-long-way commutes and up-before-light rides through the deep dark woods, including one where it’s almost 50 freaking degrees, and then snuggle right up to your goal so you can hit it on the last day of the month, boy howdy that’s a good time.

Add in all the kissin’ and cuddlin’ and huggin’ I get on a semi-regular basis from them kids and the wife, and it gets a little hard for even a pleasure pig like myself to take. But I’ll take it, and make it look easy doin’ it.

Now, back in my oats-sowin’ days, before there were loved-ones to celebrate with, I’d have a week like this (or at least one that didn’t suck) and I’d return home on Friday afternoon with six tall-boys and a pack of delicious foreign cigarettes. I’d step through the door, check my messages, power up each stereo component, give the amp’s volume control a hard turn to starboard, and share this little gem with anyone in a 2 mile radius who wasn’t fortunate enough to be standing next to a running table saw or a revving Harley Davidson.

And on this splendid, sixty-three degree partly-cloudy Friday afternoon, I’m gonna share it with you. This one’s for those of you out there that want to be free, free to do what you want to do. It’s for those of you that wanna ride, that wanna ride their machines without being hassled by the man. And of course, it’s for those of you who, once upon a time (or, ya know, today) have come face to face with Friday night, trouble in your eyes, and proclaimed, “I wanna get loaded!”

Woo! Woooooooooooooo! WOOOOOOOOOOO!

I guess it’s just been that kinda week.

As a side note on the above, I’d set a goal of 340 miles for February, when I park Nigel tonight that’ll leave just eight more for the morning. Perfect, just need to find a coffee shop about 4 miles away. March gets lighter, warmer, and there’s 3 more days, so 400 seems like the right spot to shoot for. That’s just 15 more miles each week, just one more pleasant hour spent crankin’ with reasonable vigor through these Mid-Atlantic forests as green pixels starts to emerge in the branches. I think it’s gonna be a good time.

Have a great weekend! Do eet! Doo eet now!

[Update]: This week: 101 miles and change. This month: 340.45. That’s clearing the bar and hoping your t-shirt doesn’t catch it on the way over. What a goddam gorgeous morning.

I’m trying to wrap up a bunch of things before I head out for the weekend to continue feting my lovely, charming, older-woman. But I’ve got two for you, both from dead rock stars.

First, a classic from the late Lux Interior. Bad Music for Bad People is still one of my top 50 of all time. I haven’t seen ‘em in years, but knowing that the world is now without him still hurts some. Stick out your can one last time for the garbage man, won’t ya?

The second tune’s from a rock star dead 12 years, but I only found out about it this week, so my sad lower lip is still sticking out about it. I had no idea that Patty Donahue of The Waitresses died in 1996. I wouldn’t even say that they were particularly influential to me, but I liked them and her particularly, cute, sarcastic chain-smoker that she was. She knew what this boy liked.

Have a great weekend y’all, see ya next week.

I needed this, but you can have some too. Enjoy.

This marks the last full week that my wife will have been in her 30’s. I can’t speak authoritatively for her, but from out here I’d say that it sure looks like the highest impact decade of her life thus far.

Being born and going from a single cell to a 5th grader is a big deal, sure. Getting taller, hairier, and goofier before discovering boys, punk rock, drugs, and Marx is a big deal too. Blossoming into something that looks a lot like an adult, attaining advanced levels of education, being involved in relationships and career opportunities that really will go down in your permanent record is a great big deal.

But the 30’s and the whirling myriad friends and events that constitute this part of the ride (as well as those produced in its course) stand tall on a promontory high above the others. Over the last ten years, she’s been through the Pacific Northwest, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and our nation’s capitol, Washington, D.C. All have been charmed, and all but the last were heartbroken when she left.

She picked up a husband (me) along the way, in reasonably good condition and at a considerable bargain, and bred with him (me). Twice. Some say that this is proof that she’s still fallible. I say that may be true, but it means that even though she seems god-like, she’s still one of us.

If this trend continues, her 40’s will be world-shaking. To celebrate, and honor, my lovely, talented, charming, beautiful wife, I was going to post “Happy Birthday” by Altered Images from 1981. But then I watched it and realized that it contains a much higher content of things from the 80’s we actually should be embarassed about than I remembered. You think I’m kidding? Click that link, watch it, and tell me I’m wrong.

So, instead, let’s hear from some of the Greatest Rock Icons of All Time, and let’s start with The King. Take it away Elvis!

Woo! I’m all shook up too! Next up, the Beatles! (Honey, pretend your name is “Saturday Club”, it makes the experience much better, trust me.)

Just wonderful, thanks fellas! And last, perhaps the most famous, most recognized name in Rock History… folks give it up for Satan!

That was great! And, believe me, much less evil than Altered Images. Ya learn something new every day. Every day for 14,600 days, give or take a leap day or 10. That’s a lot of learning, one would think someone this age would be pretty good at it by now.

I think you’re really good at it, Honey, and I just know the next 40 are going to be spectacular. Except for this new Depression, that’s gonna be tough. And the super TB epidemic will suck pretty hard, and of course, the Zombies. But everything after that is gonna be great! I’m a lucky lucky boy for getting to grow old(er) with you, Happy Birthday.

Everyone who’s not my wife: have a great weekend. Everyone who is my wife: get ready to have a really, really great weekend.

Once again I find myself late on a Friday afternoon trying to beat a deadline, realizing that I’ve haven’t provided you with anything entertaining to sustain you through the weekend. Well… I don’t have any stories off the top of my head, and I’ve got to check in this fix in the next 30 minutes, so there’s nothing to segue from.

How about this instead: I wanna hear some Sabbath, so you’re gonna too.

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget that when the bird of happiness lights upon your shoulder, it’s up to you to bite its fucking head off!