Hooverville Fundraiser

It felt like the beginning of any late 70's early 80's sit com. Three years ago I packed up my 4Runner, waved good by to my friends and slowly drove away from the tiny ski town I had called home. My adventures took me across the highways of the West and eventually had me driving on up to Seattle. Surrounded by skyscrapers and fast moving cars...I had arrived.

Moving from a town with 7 bars in it, to a place like Seattle was a little daunting. I was soon directed to a local tavern that had opened up the same weekend I pulled into town. It housed friendly genuine people. The staff is fun and lively. Peanut shells covered the floor and the walls are filled with memorbilia...not TVs. To top it all off, they let me bring my bicycle inside as there are no bikes racks in SODO. Call it destiny, call it coincidence...I called it home.
On Februray 25th, 2009 I rolled into work and had 10 new text messages...all of them proclaiming that Hooverville was on fire.
After the smoke settled I was relieved to hear that no one was in the bar, and if it was possible, there was talk about when they would reopen. And though no one was hurt in the blaze...the staff are feeling the effects. As the bar had to close, so did their full time employment. Currently, all of them are out of work until the bar can re-open. (ask anyone how hard it is trying to find work...let alone temporary work...right now)

So this Friday is a fundraiser for the Bartenders. Absolutely ALL the proceeds from the evening will go directly into the pockets of staff.

{Even bartenders need to eat}

{gives you a rough idea, and a landmark}

3.5 MPH is the Average...

speed of someone walking.
My Commute time has now effectively tripled.
Do I get up at 4am these days and Obey the Law? Or do I get my self a radar detector and push my luck?

Revenge

is a dish best served cold. And by the time I get mine...it'll have a funky film on the top of it, and will probably crawl off my plate under it's own power.

I was robbed last year at the Brad Lewis Memorial Crit in the U-District. On the back stretch I made an acceleration to break away from the pack instead of sprinting for the finish. And by all appearances, I had done so. However when I approached the finish line, a crafty little bugger by the name of Daniel came around me at the line to steal my victory away from me.

{Photo from Wheels in Focus}

I swore revenge. Mostly to myself, as no one actually heard me. And it's not like I've lost sleep over the whole thing...plotting a payback, working on my 'stink eye', or training really hard this winter to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it until a buddy brought it up the other day...huh...


Anyway...my vengeance will have to wait another year. And my fellow racers will have to wait for another weekend before I unleash the full furry of my winter training...



For this year I'm going to be in Colorado for the weekend. Painting and hiding Easter Eggs with my nephew. Maybe a little bowling with the family. A nice meal. You know, all the wholesome good family stuff.

{I don't know why they don't send me pictures of him with the Johnny Cash shirt I got him}

If you do find yourself out and about Easter morning...and you're in the vicinity of the U-District in Seattle, you should swing on by and watch some guys dressed up in spandex. Riding really really fast. And trying to avoid the inevitable carnage that is crit racing.

Plushie..

Just about a year ago I came across this poor guy left out on the curb.

I have no idea what adventures were in store for this discarded memory. I just hope its journey eventually found it on the Island of Misfit Toys.

Almost exactly a year later, while riding home I happened right upon this poor little Simba sitting on the trail.

{Hakuna Matata?}

I actually approached it with great caution...for fear that someone was actually "in" the giant stuffed animal. Waiting for some unsuspecting trail user to get too close...and then pounce while a giggling accomplice hid in the bushes with a camcorder ready to put the hi jinx on YouTube that nite.

Of course, no one was in the Doe Eyed stuffed cat so I promptly did what anyone would do...I pulled out my handy camera phone and posted the picture on my Facebook and Twitter pages. (my god...what have I become?!) The responses I got from my 'friends' showed up waaaaaaaay too quickly...

-Damn, That's where I left him...and I thought he was lost
-Why does all the cool stuff happen to you? Sweet.
-My son wants me to go there and pick him up.
-Did you give her a ride?
-are you sure that wasn't an acid flashback?
-ditto on the acid flashback...
-dude i knew i dropped that somewhere
-Is there a person in there?
-is their a prison near by?

It warmed my heart to see a few people were actually missing their lost friend, one offered up adoption, and still another was concerned about it's well being and wanted me to make sure it had a safe home for the evening until it was reunited with it's pal...however my bicycle has a strict policy on who it offers rides too...
Some Swine, Be Divine, or Rainier will be Fine...no one rides for free.

I was also relieved that I wasn't the only one who thought there was someone hiding out in the thing. Maybe I have seen too many YouTube clips. Maybe being brought up watching Allen Funt constantly gag people on Candid Camera has made me leery of the weird things I encounter in life. (did I just date myself?)

The acid flashback I had to think about for a moment, but quickly dismissed it as an option when the Trail Simba didn't tell me to find my soul mate or take me on a magical journey through a world made of Bacon, where the Rainier are tame and all the girls are on Bicycles. Besides...I was able to capture the image on my phone...

A prison?! What does that even mean?! How do I 'unfriend' this person?!

Spring seems to have sprung. If this is what the beginning is looking like, this should be a fun summer.

Surprise...

Can be the best offense.

I finally got to see the start list for SSWC in Durango. At first I didn't think I made it in...which totally floored me! I had done everything they requested, and more, to get into this event.

I was postmarked by the right date.

I filled out my check...correctly this time. (turns out using Roman numerals instead of numbers is frowned upon)

I had one of the Raleigh graphics people do an AMAZING job of coloring my application.

Plus, I included an extra application (just in case) that had nothing to do with theirs...just to make sure.

So what the heck?!

I called up my pal Doom and gave him a good ol 'what for' (if you've ever wanted one of his sweet custom vests...apparently now is the time to hit him up) At the end of my rant (which somehow involved Driving Miss Daisy) he reassured me that he'd look into it and make sure I was on the list. But calmly asked me, like any good customer service representative, to go back to the list and double check to make sure I wasn't really on it.

Grudgingly, I checked out the list...AGAIN. I was making my way down the list, reading each name to myself as I went (lips moving the entire time). And as I neared the last page, I took out my phone and was pulling up Dooms number when I saw this....

I don't know what a Fuzzy John is, however I do know what a Sally is. And then it dawned on me...they posted that ALL females that registered were guaranteed entry. So in a last ditch effort to ensure I'd make it in, I used the nickname that's followed me around like the paparazzi follows Britney in Vegas.

In my defense I did not register as a female, I just used my nickname. Their form had something that looked like this...

M/F AGE :

I thought they were asking what my preference would be...

And upon further inspection of their site I caught a glimpse of my 'other' entry...

{It's in there...you just have to know which one it is}

Finding out that SSWC is the weekend around Dirt Demo crushed me. But I've never let something as silly as 'work' stop me before...