hate crime

as a society we are use to the term hate crime, but to clarify a hate crime is crime motivated by prejudice. typically a hate crime is directed at a group of people or an organization. however the hate crime i'm focusing on today is one that is directed at genre's.

i don't understand how people can hate an entire genre of music. i'm so sick and tired of hearing people say, "i hate country music," "i hate rap music," or "i hate pop culture mainstream music."

i believe that all music is created equally and should be treated with respect because it is after all music. all music has it's time and place. not all music is appropriate all the time, but you can't discredit an entire genre of music because you dislike a song or two. if you are one of those individuals that claims to hate a genre of music i would challenge you to stop being such a small minded nit and open up to the idea of challenging your social stereotypes and musically narrow ear. with a greater grasp and appreciation of all music genre maybe you will become more enlightened and not such a nit.

gestation

Thought of this question awhile back. I've asked a few and the responses have been really interesting. So, here it goes!

If you have to pick one animal to be carried in the womb for it gestation period which animal would it be?

Ranttastic

I ranted the other day about dogs and horses and their owners ettiquate in the post bike path bitches. Since then there has been two new developments on this topic.

The first is just an aspect that I forgot to mention that my good friend Thom Kneeland pointed out to me. That is the dog owners with the retractable leashes are just as dangerous, if not more so, then the dogs off leashes. Just because the leash can extend to 30 feet does not mean that you should allow for that. I don't know what would be worse hitting your dog, having it bite me, or being closelined off my bike.

What I really don't understand is that as a dog owner you are setting yourself up for major losses because you are responsible for any damage caused by your animal whether that is personal injury or damage to equipment. Don't be stupid. Be respectful!

The second issue is I, well really my blog, is now blacklisted and cannot be viewed on a web browser at Musicians Friend. I don't really have anything to say to this other then; really? hahahaha that's funny!

creating new words is fun

new word is: supdate

origin is: concatenating "whats up" and "update"


definition #1 is: "yo! what's up? give me the update!"


definition #2 is: "hey baby, how you doing? ready to grab some dinner? maybe a movie?" (this definition is more of a stretch with this new word, but still worthy of mentioning.)




word creator: me
definer: missy kieffer

Bike Path Bitches

I'm an animal lover. I am a pet owner. However, I don't appreciate a lot of pet owners mentallity. I don't care how great your dog is, how friendly, or obidient he/she is. There are leash laws for a reason. I don't understand why dog owners feel they have the right to have their dog unleashed on the bike path or mountain biking trails.

No matter how amazing your dog is the safest thing for everyone is if your dog is on a leash. It will chase people because that's their normal genetic response. It will bite! Or, it will get hit. None of these situations are going to be pleasant for any party involved.

Also, while I'm ranting about bike path etiquette, people riding horses should have to clean up the horse shit off the path. That is the one thing that dog owners can seem to do adequately, and lets think for a minute, who takes bigger shits dogs or horses?

I just know that one of these days I'm going to come around a corner and while running over horse shit will hit someones stupid dog and it's going to get ugly.

Sense (since?) of Humor

I'm not the funniest guy in the world, and I am definitely not aspiring to be a stand up comedian. However, I do think that I can be fairly quick witted and clever. At the very least cheeky and fun. An interaction a few weeks back changed my sense of humor ego a lot though. 

A couple friends of mine and I were talking and one of them mentioned a slight lack of desire to travel very far to race his bike. I followed up his comment, without thinking much before I spoke, that I was racing as much as possible, near and far, because "it, bike racing, was more fun then hookers." He looked very shocked! Calmly he said, "I wouldn't know." At that point I was back tracking on my words as much as possible.

It made me realize that maybe I'm not as funny as I thought and that not everyone gets my sense of humor.

Oh You Silly Hipster!

Recently I was pondering over the social novelty that is Hipsters. Mostly my thoughts were turned to them because I don't really understand how this movement has happened. A major launching point to my curiosity was because I was checking out LA's bike shop's, Mellow Johnny, website and I was surprised at how hipster the site is. Made me start asking all kinds of questions.

What items sell really well at a hipster bike shop? What would I sell in my hipster bike shop?

I bet you would find a lot of items not traditionally sold in a bike shop at a hipster shop. I think that a cigaret vending machine would be a huge success. Items such as cycling shorts or jerseys wouldn't be found on the shelves. You might be able to have a marijuana vending machine too if you were in Cali. Are there hipsters in Cali though? Beanies, touks if your north of the border, would sell like hot cakes.

Originally I thought that to run a successful hipster shop you would want to sell footwear brands like Adidas, but now I think that might fall outside of the counter culture non-mainstream lifestyle code that hipsters live by.

Don't get me wrong. I fully support free thinking, indie-rock, bad art, and flannel shirts. I just can't help but wonder sometimes: what shampoo do hipsters use?

Twinkle Twinkle Lullaby Freaking Out

Last week I got a phone call from my almost 3 year old nephew about 9pm. He was asking me to sing him a lullaby. Him, his mom, and I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star over the phone. Well, to be honest, they sang the song and I fumbled along rather awkwardly trying to remember the words.

I have kind of a weird brain that typically allocates a lot of memory resources to songs and song lyrics. I was surprised that I couldn't remember the lyrics! My nephew wasn't very impressed by his uncles lullaby skills either.

It came down the line that I needed to brush up on my lullaby knowledge. I have been doing research and looking up lyrics. Do you realize how long and hard of a song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is? Well, incase you didn't/don't:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When there's nothing he shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

In the dark blue sky so deep
Through my curtains often peep
For you never close your eyes
Til the morning sun does rise
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are"

That is not an easy song! I am actually really stressed out about this. What long term impact will occur for him if I can't learn this song and be able to sing it with him? I don't want to be remembered as the uncle that couldn't sing Twinkle Twinkle Little star!!!

If the Condom Fits

While traveling recently I have noticed that there a certain locations that sell condoms in their bathrooms through coin operated dispensers. Now, I've noticed this before, but I hadn't really given it any thought. But last week while using a bathroom in Sutherlin Oregon at a Chevron I actually took notice of it and gave it a good hard contemplative thought.

This is what they look like if you've never seen one before!

Through my amazing powers of reason (thank you Southern Oregon University!) I was forced to ask this question, "when did the sale of condoms in bathrooms originate from and why?"

I would be so scared just to find myself in this bathroom. The last thing I would be looking for is a condom.

My first theory is that it was a marketing strategy by the condom company's. A strategy similar to Pepsi or Coke and their use of vending machines possibly. Or maybe there was originally a commission (e.g. the OLCC ) that was put in charge of controlling when, where, and how condoms were sold.

This bathroom is less scary, but I still doubt I would be concerned with a condom.

I haven't been able to answer my original question yet. But it has left me with yet other questions, like why are condoms still sold in bathrooms? And, why are condoms sold in bathrooms that seem the least likely for someone to actually need to purchase a condom? Why don't you see condom vending machines in bathrooms in bars, pizza shops, bike shops, coffee shops, or movie theaters (i.e. places that don't conveniently sell them on the shelves ten feet from the bathroom)? Is this a good economy for the condom vending machine market?

I think all these questions are good condom for thought!

New Project

Here is my newest project. It is inspired by an ex-coworker and my best friend. Ex-coworker once said that she would really like to know what goes on in my head. Why? I don't know. My best friend and I have amazingly inspirational idea's and conversations, and for a while we have talked about documenting them. Why? I don't know.

Both of those factors have moved me to create this blog where you will gain some insight into what goes on in my head and some of the great idea's and conversations that come out of it.

Read it and weep!