Bike vs. Trash Truck

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Written by andy
Friday, 20 August 2010 12:54

Im on vacation at our usual haunt: The Outer Banks. My family has been coming here since about 1967 – when I was in diapers. The little cinderblock house we stayed in back then is long gone. Come to think of it, so are the cottages we stayed in up until about 1980.

The Outer Banks has matured along we me. I dont feel responsible for it but it is a good fit. When I was a kid, there was just kid stuff to do. There was only Cahoons store and the Travelers Inn for softserve ice cream. The entire town closed at about 9:00. As Ive gotten older, there has been a lot of development and many places that young adults would be interested in going to came along. Family restaurants have always been here so its a comfortable place. Over the past couple of years Ive become a bike freak and thats great as the localities on the islands have started putting in wider shoulders and bike paths.

However, the Outer banks really isnt my favorite place to ride. I hate the wind. You can bomb along at about 25mph heading south but when you turn around and head back north, youre in for it. That tailwind that was shoving you along now exacts its revenge. Regardless, I need to keep some of the fat off of my frame so I try to get in a 20-30 mile ride every morning. The winds yesterday were pretty light so I did around 30 miles.

I awoke to a pretty stiff wind this morning and decided that I was going to cut the distance to 20 miles. I took off and was cruising at about 22 mph the whole way south. Very enjoyable but I had gotten a late start and the sun was starting to creep up. I was getting hot. At the turn-around point I stopped and horked down about half a bottle of water, decided that there was nothing for it and started back.

Early on in the return trip I decided to simply set the pace between 16-18 mph. It was starting to get hot and I wasnt going to burn myself up that early in the day. About halfway back I got buzzed by a trash truck. He came up close and, with no oncoming traffic, hit the gas to pass me and didnt even swerve into the other lane. That scared the crap out of me but Ive had a couple of close calls in Manassas before (not that close tho) so I kept moving. I was down to about half a bottle of water (0ut of 2) when I realized I was about a mile from the beach house – things were looking up!

At this point, the beach road narrows somewhat and the wide shoulders really do disappear. I usually stick to riding the line and that works ok. Traffic usually moves around and gives everyone room to breath. Well, my luck ran out with a trash truck. I was watching ahead and could see that the sand had blown out onto the should and it was pretty deep – I was going to have to get out into the road to get around it. I turned my head to see a trash truck some distance behind me. I moved over onto the line and looked back – he was holding his line and wasnt going to give me any room!!

I started thinking I need room, I need room and then I started saying it out loud. Well, it was quickly clear that the rotten fink had seen me and wasnt going to give me any room. I did the only thing I could do – take my chances in the sand. It took about .5 seconds before I realized that the bike wasnt going to skim over the sand. It was going to sink and stop on a dime. I remember thinking and then saying: oh s**t, this is going to hurt right about when the bike stopped and I went over the handlebars.

I was right. Im positive that the only reason I wasnt badly injured is that I landed in the sand. However, my left shoulder dislocated when I hit the sand. I rolled over and sat up. Oh my god what pain that was – white hot and then it got worse when my shoulder popped back in. I was rolling around on the ground. Of course the truck never stopped….but several joggers and riders did. The lady across the street shouted are you ok? I replied no and she went inside, never to return…A guy named Allen had stopped – he was jogging – and made it clear he wasnt going anywhere until he had me back to where I was supposed to be. Luckily, we were only about 6 houses down (yes, I was that close) from where I was staying. Allen threw my bike over his shoulder and helped me get back to the house. Thanks a ton dude. I hope I can pay your kindness forward one day.

I have talked to the doctor but havent been to the hospital. The doc said to wait it out a bit to see what happened so Im doing that. Im very sore and in some pain. Im pretty crabbed out right now but I think Ill be ok in a couple of days. Doubt Ill be riding down here anymore….

UPDATE: x-rays are negative but Im in an arm sling. Sorry for leaving that bad word in there….

Could/Should and the Mosque

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Written by andy
Wednesday, 18 August 2010 06:57

The last job I ever had (working for someone other than myself) was at a call center in Herndon.  It was initially run by a guy named Joe but he kind of fell out with his partners and was replaced by a guy named Andy.  Andy was a serial entrepenuer – my understanding was that he had started and sold at least 2 other businesses.  Andy was a great guy who mostly ran the company from his house on the eastern shore.  He and I were both into woodworking, we got on pretty well and talked quite a bit.

Andy might quibble with my characterization but, from my enlightened perch, it is my estimation that he was a product of the 60’s.  He was in college when all of that “stuff” happened and he also participated in some anti-war demonstrattions.  At lunch one day over at the Mongolian Grill ( loved that place – best food ever – don’t know if it’s still there tho) He recounted one demonstration he was part of where a bunch of people locked arms and blocked the Key bridge.  It was, naturally, part of a war protest.

According to Andy: “We met up on the VA side of the bridge, made our way out to the middle and then just formed a human chain accross the bridge.”  I asked him: “what about the cars?”  He indicated that there were sufficient police around (they knew this was coming) and that the road had been closed.  He then told me “the thing that I’ll always remember about that day, the thing that will always stick in my brain wasn’t so much the anti-war slogans and complaining about the cops trying to stifle our freedom of speech.  That was de rigeuer.  It is my memory of a particluar police officer who, as part of a police line, walked directly up to me and held up a can of mace.  The police were on bullhorns telling everyone to disperse – that the bridge is a major highway, etc etc.  So, I at some level, I knew that we were causing a lot of trouble and that there would be consequences.  However, I don’t think I was ever more surpised in my life than when that cop pushed the button on that can of mace and discharged it into my face.  I don’t know why I was surprised.  I shoudln’t have been but I was….”  Andy then kinda trailed off there and looked off into space.  I asked him “what happened then?”  What happened?  Well, we ran like hell or at least as fast as you can run with a face full of mace…

Our constitution clearly protects what Andy and others were doing so they could do it.  Should they have done it?  Well, it seemed like a good idea right up until that police officer’s finger pressed the spray nozzle. 

The folks that are considering building that community center are probably well within their rights to do it.  Should they build it there?  Our way of life, our constitution and our ideals demand quite a lot of us as Americans in situations like this.  I can tell you from my experience at the sharp end of the stick that defending someone’s right to do something wildly unpopular (like put up signs of a certain size or conduct marches and demonstrations) is very difficult.  People don’t like it and they aren’t interested in the details.  Those folks in New York should consider carefully.  The amount of forebearance demanded in this case might just be too much to ask.  Sometimes even we lousy Americans deserve a modicum of consideration.

Green Day Concert

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Written by andy
Thursday, 12 August 2010 09:33

Went to see Green Day out at Jiffy Lube Live (hate that name) last night.  Man, was it hot.  Miserably hot.  I’m still dehydrated.  I don’t believe that the show was a sellout either.  The parking lot wasn’t that full, at least when we got there, and the venue didn’t seem crowded.  Maybe the economy, maybe people have had enough of Green Day…dunno

It was my daughter’s first concert.  We had talked earlier in the year about her going to a concert and I had indicated then that I really didn’t care who she went to see but that the first one would be with the ‘Rents in tow.  That didn’t seem to be a huge deal but this was an odd experience on a couple of different levels:

My first concert was the Van Halen 1984 tour.  It was at the Cap Center over in Landover and I rode there – around the beltway – in the back of a pickup truck.  You can well imagine that my parents didn’t know about that little stunt.  Further, my parents really had no idea who Van Halen were (are?).  I showed my mother a picture of David Lee Roth and she remarked that he looked like a pervert…:)  How is this differnt than today?  Well, not only do I know who Green Day are but I own every album they have released.  I knew the words to every song they played last night and Green Day wasn’t really one of those bands that I grew up listening to: there was nothing seminal or formative about my contact with their music (that was done long ago by the early metal bands – along with a significant dash of classical) but I do find it listenable.  I also believe them to still be relevent to the current social milieu as opposed to the Stones or other band of yesteryear.  The Stones play great stuff but I wouldn’t catagorize it as an up to date commentary…

So, that’s one level on which this was an odd experience.  This isn’t to say that there aren’t people around my parent’s age that I don’t share musical interests with, I do.  A fact of potential significance is that Green Day isn’t one of her go-to bands but she does know their music and likes it.

Another level is the “awkward factor”  She and I haven’t really discussed it (probably better if we dont) but I can well imagine that it’s a shade awkward to be standing next to your parents while they sing along with the band and dance.  The only saving grace is that she had a lot of camoflauge: Green Day’s first album was released in about 1990 so the crowd is filled with folks my age who brought children her age!  It was funny to see her stand there, when everyone had their arms up in the air (I’ve never been an arms in the air kind of dude), she leaned over and asked me “what do I do?”.  This struck me as a bit odd but I told her: do whatever you want.  It’s a rock concert.  If the singer is up there carrying on, demanding that you put your hands in the air and you don’t want to then don’t.  He ain’t the boss of you.  Nobody is…well, except me of course…:)

The only point that made me feel a bit awkward was when the singer had some off-color things to say.  If I were there with the wife or my buddies it wouldn’t bother me and I’m sure that in the USA of 2010 my daughter has heard it somewhere before but never while we were standing next to one another.  It reminded me very much of when I went to see a King Arthur movie with my Mother when I was a teenager.  There was a part of that movie where Guinevere was briefly nude.  Awkward! Fortunately it didn’t last long….

Overall, I’m glad I was there with her and I feel like if she does go see a concert with her friends (10 years or so) that she’ll be better prepared for what she will find there….Oh, the concert itself?  not bad….

The grande’ Topsy Turvy experiment

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Written by andy
Thursday, 5 August 2010 07:13

My family has always had a garden.  When I was a kid in the 70’s, we had a big garden in the backyard which I was press-ganged into tending.  In return, I would setup a table on Grant avenue and sell the produce for extra money.  Back in them days, there was no bypass so there was tons of traffic and a reliable traffic jam during rush hour.  It didn’t last long but it was enough.

After Sarah and I moved back to Manassas from our brief stay in Ashburn/Leesburg, we started a garden in the back yard.  That was nice.  We moved the garden to the back yard of the office when we moved the business so we could free up the back yard.

We still have that garden up there but this year I was walking through Southern States and noticed that they had Topsy-Turvy planters on sale.  I had seen some of these in the past and I decided to pick up a couple.  I also picked up a couple of bags of soil.

The first thing to know about the Topsy turvy is that is a bag of dirt: no more, no less.  That bag of dirt is heavy.  I started off with a decorative garden post to hold my plants but that was a laugh-riot.  That fancy girlie-man pole had no chance.  I ended up digging a post hole and putting a 4×4 post in and 2 steel brackets on opposite sides of the post in order to hold it up.  I briefly considered a steel guy-wire but decided that might be a shade over the top.  I’m not trying to contain rampaging elephants, I’m trying to hang a couple of plants….

So, on to results:

Pro:  No weeds to pull and very little space consumed.

Con:  You have to water the things every day.  That’s a pain but not too bad.  The plants grow vertically up at first but when the weight gets to be too much they kind of twist and hang down.  At this point, they seem to lose water then and wilt so I watered the hell out of them and they seemed to recover.  I haven’t been too impressed with the yields.  The few tomatoes we have picked so far are picture perfect but there just aren’t very many of them.  I’ve heard that you are supposed to prune the leaves but the box didn’t say anything about that.  I haven’t drawn iron-clad conclusions but based on what I’ve seen so far I just don’t think it’s worth the hassle.  The main garden has a sprinkler pre-rigged.  All I have to do is turn it on for a couple of minutes if it’s dry….and I don’t have to do it every day.

Like I said, I’m not writing it in stone, but I suspect I’ll be re-purposing the 4×4 next year….

It’s a sad day…

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Written by andy
Tuesday, 3 August 2010 07:19

I’ve been stewing on what exactly to write regarding the terrible accident that took the life of a Nun and injured 2 others on Sunday morning.  Clearly my thoughts and prayers go out to her, her family and friends.  I wish the other two Sisters a speedy recovery as well. 

As for the guy that precipitated this mess, well, he shouldn’t have been here.  I can tell you that, as one of the guys who sat through the meetings with ICE and unltimately voted to support 287(g) in Manassas that I understood the idea of prioritizing the available resources so that they focused on the “real” bad guys (btw, this has been the Federal policy the entire time we have been in the program).  This type of winnowing makes a lot of sense, both then and now.  We all prioritize our available resources to where they are needed most.  However, I can also tell you that I never imagined that “prioritizing” would take as long as it now seems to.

Indeed, “prioritizing” seems to have run off the tracks.  This guy, according to a DHS press release, was first processed by ICE almost two years ago (thanks bvbl for the timeline).  Two Years during which he was arrested several more times and ICE didn’t bother to hang on to him.  It seems like “prioritizing” has become more like catch and realease….or maybe just catch and forget.

Go read the timeline over at BVBL – even if the words that Greg uses offend you (you can get an immediate apology over there…:) look at the arrest record for this suspect.  If the record is right, the suspect appears to have been arrested about 4 times (2 DUI) and served about 20 days in jail….I know that times are tough (the state just cut $500,000 out of the budget for the PWC jail) but are we really in a position where the courts and DHS just can’t get it done?   If that’s the case, the United States Government needs to spend some time soul-searching about where our resources are committed.  Their responsibility is first to those that pay the bills…..

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