Monday's Missives

There were a lot of people at Willie's Picnic who needed you to know they had served

• Recently a kid passed me on his sport bike going at least 90 mph. He was wearing shorts, flip flops and a T shirt. It struck me as odd he was wearing a helmet. I guess on balance it is a good thing but if you suffer full thickness skin loss over 60% of your body after you meet Mr. Pavement and skid to a stop 100 yards later you are still as likely to die as if the loss was third degree burns occurring in a fire. A connected thought: the vented and armored jackets available today are great- they really are but it is interesting to me how the gold standard and best bang for your buck for protective clothing on a bike is still leather.
• It is 06/22/2014 and it is raining cats and dogs.

  

  Yep, that is Willie behind that screen

• A funny thing about the 2003 invasion of Iraq: Everything our government said about Iraq to gain support for the invasion was false but all the same reasons were absolutely and demonstrably true regarding North Korea- belligerent threat to a neighbor who is our friend, weapons of mass destruction, gross violator of human rights...
• My Columbia rain jacket is working out great- it is light, compact-able and not swampy at all and looks great. It draws compliments and questions every time I wear it.
• Some pretty sweet footage of Neall Ellis and his gunners- a Fijian and Frenchman at work in Sierra Leone.

  

  Big hat is big

• The new tires on the truck make it ride nearly like new. The new gas shocks will complete the effect and it literally may ride better than new as the tires and shocks are both better than original equipment.
• Yesterday I bought a tool at Sears. I fussed when it rang up at twice the marked price- it had been on sale and the price wasn't changed on the rack. He sold it to me for the listed price and then pulled the price off the display. The last time that happened there I was a told a price on the phone and they again tried to charge literally double the quoted price. I didn't feel like arguing and left and didn't go back for 3 years. Sears- what an odd anachronism. Who is surprised they're going under?
• FG's dumb cat is on the back of the couch rubbing and butting my head with her head.

  

  I don't even know where to start