This year's Amerivespa is coming to Chattanooga, TN. Perhaps I will go, especially since Evan and Kelly are moving to Knoxville about that time. A golden scenario would be for us to help them move their stuff, and then head south to the rally. Of course, that would be complicated, if I suddenly got up the courage to actually buy a scoot and ride it to the event. I'm sure my butt would hurt for weeks, and it's hard to pack many moving boxes on a scooter unless you live in Asia. But it would be a story....

Next week Brooklynne and I are going on vacation with her family to the beach. For some reason, I have been itching to build a kite while we're down there and fly it. Has anyone built a kite from scratch? Any pointers on materials? Garbage bags? Newspaper? Tissue paper? I've read of alot of options.

I stumbled across this video online today. I might try this out even though I'm suspicious of the rice idea. Can that be real?

Talk among yourselves.

When we launched into the cluth repair job this weekend, we did so trusting that the Haynes manual we bought would give us enough information to effectively do the job. For the most part, the manual was adequate, but there were alot of details that were left out that would have been very helpful to a driveway full of novice car repairmen.

So I wondered, why aren't there websites that give that kind of information. Undoubtedly, the new web medium would be a better source of information now that digital pictures can be taken, modified to include helpful labels, and posted to a website in only a couple hours time, at most. But after searching, I have been shocked at how little information there is online. Most of the tips and instructions are of the hardly helpful sort, and posted in tiny bits and pieces on hundreds of outdated forums and message boards.

I think someone should start a new site. Something kind of like Scooterhelp.com. For a beautiful example of what I'm talking about, check out this page specifically, which has, I would guess, enough information for even the most unmechanical of my friends to easily change the brakes on a classic Lambretta.

Let me tell you about a really enjoyable weekend. Matt Wallace brought his 1996 Nissan 200sx over to my house and the two of us set out to replace the clutch. We got some help from a few guys--Jesse, Richard, Mark, Alex, Aaron, and dad--but the going was slow and the car is still not quite together again.

This is actually the second clutch I've worked on in the past couple years. Evan and I replaced the clutch in my civic a couple of years ago, and at least the weather held up this time. When we did the civic, we had to work under a tarp in a light rain.

The job went steadily forward for most of the first half. We did some head scratching because the Haynes manual we bought was less than explicit in several instances, but we eventually got it sorted out and got the transmission separated from the engine. Getting the transmission back in was the tougher job, but we eventually got that taken care of as well, thanks to a 2 x 4 and some well-placed ratcheting straps. So, I think we're basically one drive axel and a couple of tires from getting Matt back on the road again.

Brooklynne was busy this weekend too. While I was under the car, Brooklynne spent the weekend shopping, picking strawberries, and relaxing by the pool. Why can't all weekends be as great?!

And what would a Memorial Day weekend be without a cookout to top it all off? We even took time out after getting the new clutch put in and headed over to the Weinards' house to partake of Chad's famous barbeque.

I just ran across the Orchid orientation video. Enjoy.

Yesterday, Ryan Wade, one of my longest childhood friends was in town, so I ditched work to hang out. First, we grabbed burgers at Dain's on 9th Street, then we headed over to the Regulator to pick out a book for my sister (happy birthday!), and then we planted ourselves on the couch for the Champions' League Finals.

Ryan and I have been friends since 4th grade, and its always refreshing to find that even though we live a thousand miles apart, we can just pick up where we left off. Ryan is just a good person. He's still living in Austin, TX, working for a subscription business news service during the days. At night, he has completed recording his final album with his former project, Midori Umi, and now he is working with a new group that plays blues-inspired stuff more akin to the Stones. I can't wait to hear the new sound.

As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow is the European Champions' League finals between Manchester United and Chelsea F.C. If I can manage it, I will go somewhere downtown to watch some of the game, perhaps the Downunder Pub. Not that I really follow European soccer, but I like the idea of soccer gaining popularity in the US and I'm excited about supporting a soccer culture.

That being said, I need to adopt a team to pull for. I choose Chelsea, and my reason follows this analogy: Chelsea is to the Dodgers as Manchester U is to the Yankees.

Chelsea wears Dodger blue, they were known for many of their early years as the Pensioners (see the Brooklyn Bums), and they won a club-defining league championship in 1955.

Manchester United, on the other hand, is reputed to be the richest team on the planet, known as one of the most successful teams in history, is loaded with high-paid superstars, and is a very fashionable choice among casual fans. They also have players that are fun to hate, like Wayne Rooney.

So here's to the blues. In their honor, enjoy this fine piece of sports poetry.

The Day That Chelsea Went and Won the Cup:

"Of course as a result of an astounding thing like this,
A host of other strange events occurred.
All folks and things were opposite to what they really are
And the happenings were really quite absurd.
On the day that Chelsea went and won the final,
The universe went simply off the reel.
Great Sir Harry Lauder used a five-bob postal order
To stop his shoe from rubbing on his heel.
The sun came out in Manchester and funny things like that,
Jack Jones, M.P. played golf and wore a kilt and Winston's hat,
And a pigeon hatched a guinea pig and blamed it on the cat,
On the day that Chelsea went and won the Cup."

1. Sad to see that Alex is transferring, but you can hardly blame the guy. I wish him luck at his next stop.
2. Manchester U vs. Chelsea in the first all-English Champions League finals, Wednesday at 2:45pm. Did you know there is a CONCACAF (North and Central America plus the Caribbean) Champion's League? I didn't know that until this morning when I was reading the soccer news. No wonder soccer can't make it in this country when no one knows about the major events.
3. Saturday, we had Aaron and Sara over for Burgers on Brooklynne's new grill. They were awesome. Nothing is better than grilling in the backyard with friends and eating outside on a perfect day.
4. Before the friends came over, I had a productive day including mowing the grass (Brooklynne mowed the backyard), trimming the bushes, cleaning out (most of) the gutters, tilling the garden, and going for a hike in Umstead Park.
5. We got our garden planted before the rain came yesterday. The area we use for our garden gets really muddy when it rains, so last year we made hills running down-slope to channel extra water away from the plants. The result: the worst drought in recent memory. So this year, we made hills running across the slope, like you are supposed to do. The result: standing water between the hills. I told Brooklynne I was tempted to plant rice in the spaces between the rows. The good news is that I think we may be in good position for the drier part of the summer.
6. Here's a list of what we have: cucumbers, basil, cilantro, carrots, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, watermelon, and maybe cantaloupe. I say maybe because there may have been a mix up what we think is cantaloupe may actually be more watermelon.
7. Here's a list of what we are not planting that we planted last year: broccoli, hot peppers, beans, peas. The jury is still out on a pumpkin.
8. We watched Gridiron Gang yesterday. I give it a B-.

Have you ever seen a place and thought, "I have to go there one day?" Well, that's what I thought when I saw this video of El Caminito del Rey in Spain. Looks like I need to hurry, though--that path doesn't look like it will last much longer. Maybe I should add a category called bucket list.

The UNC community seems to be universally pleased by the announcement that Holden Thorp will be the next Chancelor of the University, and as the news spread around I kept thinking, I know I've heard that name before.

Then this morning it struck me. Holden Thorp was my professor in Chem 21. My Chem 21 class is also renowned for my stirring rendition of the "Photosynthesis Rap" (written to the beats of Coolio's Rollin' with my Hommies and performed in costume) and my A+ essay that used Star Wars as a metaphor for electron orbitals and spin. I always knew Holden and I had a connection.

Chem 21 is also one of those classes I wish I had back. Yesterday, I had a laugh with Dave, Elizabeth, and Skip about how much of a slacker I was in college. It's funny in a way, but when I think seriously about it, I think I was way too immature to take advantage of the opportunity that college could have been. I wasted alot of potential for 2 and a half years before I realized that, and by that time, it was mostly too late.

I hope I get to hang out with Holden again some time, and I hope he remembers me (he knew all of us by name by the second week of class). If he does I might tell him all of this and see what he says. That would be an interesting conversation.

Maybe the voting idea was a bad one. Scooters wasn't even on the list and it got two votes (kind of). Robots also got two votes (also kind of). I thought baseball cards got one vote, but when I logged on this morning, I discovered a second hidden vote that shows up in my backend, but will not publish to the site for some mysterious reason (sorry Marsh). So here's the deal: I'm going to make a robot theme for June, a baseball card theme for July, and a scooter theme for August. At the end of August, we'll vote again for which one will exist until the next time I get the creative itch. Democracy at work.

My plan to pick a winning theme was dashed by my readers not picking a clear winner. So I'm holding a runoff between the three options that got two votes.

1. Baseball Cards
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Robots

you've got until tomorrow to vote.

Erik Reichenbach is maybe my favorite Survivor ever. Brooklynne and I got into the show through her parents, who are faithful viewers, and we have enjoyed watching the show since season 7 (the current season is 16). But in the 10 seasons I've been watching there has not been a single Survivor who has been as excited to be on the show as Erik. Yes, he was gullible and naive, and he will go down in the books as having lost on undoubtedly the dumbest play in Survivor history, but there is something nice about whole-hearted (even if unfounded) trust, and he did not show one once of hostility, resentment, or invective in his parting words. He was truly just glad to have been part of the show. I want to be a person like that.

In other news: women are sometimes evil (see above).

Also, this article caught my eye this morning. If I ever get that fat cat professor job where I can teach a class on any topic I want, I'm going to teach a class on the history of technology in sports, and how expectations and perceptions of human performance have changed as technology has developed. More obvious example might be instant replay, performance-enhancing drugs, safety equipment, the different iterations of mass media technology, novel materials, etc. etc. etc.

It's time for a new theme. Click "continue reading" and vote for your favorite style and I'll make it happen. This will be like the hairstyle challenge, only less damaging to my social life. Leave your vote in the comments, and I'll take the most popular suggestion on Saturday at noon.

I'm no economist, but here's the scenario as I see it. If gas is $5 per gallon, people are still going to buy it. So let's say we suspend the gas tax for now and give everyone a temporary break. People will still buy gas, and probably more of it, and the price will go up to the current level or even higher eventually. So after a short relief, we would be paying the same amount, only the money would be going to the oil companies instead of the government. Nothing changes and we pay more and more for the opportunity to pollute the earth.

Scenario 2: We go ahead and add more taxes on the gas, to the point where the growth in demand is slowed. Now people suffer in the short term, but prices level off and the government has a large surplus of revenue it can spend on developing alternative fuels, which are cleaner and could potentially drive down gas prices. The resulting oil markets would encourge the oil companies to invest their own dollars in alternative fuels, lest they be replaced by new energy giants.

One path hurts now, the other hurts forever. But I'm not running for president....

If you live in NC or Indiana, today is the day we have all been waiting for. I did not have the chance to do profiles of the local candidates, so if you want to read about them, this BCR page has a compilation of links to the newpaper profiles and endorsements. If you live in Durham, I encourage you to vote for Michael Page and Ellen Reckhow for the Board of County Commissioners. Other than that, you're on your own. Feel free to leave your opinions (if you have them) in the comments.

Happy Voting!

A little Monday morning humor to get your week off to a good start:

Thursday, I posted a list of stuff I hoped that we would get done during the first mountain cabin work weekend. Here's how we did:

1. put grass seed on the banks of the newly cut drive
2. build a porch and steps for the tool shed/temporary bunk house
3. plot the property with the GPS
4. build fire pits at the shed and the future building site
5. survey the building site to get rough elevations for drawing up building plans
6. cut up downed trees to establish a firewood pile
7. establish a BB gun shooting range
8. climb a tree and tie a rope swing
9. scout out a potential disc golf course

So we did alright. We also got a start on some of the other items. We staked out a potential footprint for the cabin (#5) but when we squared it up, the back corner came too close to the driveway, so we may have to shift the cabin down the hill slightly. We also started to cut a pile of firewood (#6), but we didn't get far before the chainsaw died on us. And we did spend some time shooting the BB gun, but we didn't have the time to build a permanent range (#7). The last two items were completely skipped.

Follow the link below for pictures and more desciptions of the weekend.

Brooklynne's mom flew in yesterday and the two of them put Halleigh in the Curve and headed to Chicago for Ben's boot camp graduation. Last time I heard from them, they were about to cross into Kentucky. They will be in the windy city until Sunday.

So, what am I doing while they're gone? I'll be in VA, participating in the first work weekend for the fabled mountain cabin. Here's the to do list:

1. put grass seed on the banks of the newly cut drive
2. build a porch and steps for the tool shed/temporary bunk house
3. plot the property with the GPS
4. build fire pits at the shed and the future building site
5. survey the building site to get rough elevations for drawing up building plans
6. cut up downed trees to establish a firewood pile
7. establish a BB gun shooting range
8. climb a tree and tie a rope swing
9. scout out a potential disc golf course

If we get all of that done, we'll be doing really well.

On another note, my obscession with sailing continues. Sometimes I surf for sailing blogs to read about other people's journeys, and the other day, I stumbled on the Slow Times, written by Tim and Hannah (pictured above in 2003). Although they are in a trawler, not a sailboat, the site pretty much captures what appeals to me about the idea of cruising the ICW from Maine to the Keys. I will do that one day, but until then, I satisfy myself by reading what others have done.

Obviously, I won't be blogging again until Sunday, so have a good weekend!