Ok so I hate the idea of leaving this blog behind after 3 faithful years dedicated to it... im bringing the pages from the other blog back to here and keeping this one alive. stay tuned for new blogs. It feels good to be back.

change...

Im changing to a new blog... in the interest of stating reasons once, go to my new blog here http://thelifeofbrian.blog.com/ to check out the new blog and add me to your feed.

The turning of the leaves changes my blues

ok... so... long summer.... finally over. This must be the feeling people up north get after a long snowy winter. Well the temps are finally down and the humidity isnt attacking with quite the same intensity. I have started a new job working with the Y, I am a youth specialist with my own class of 4th graders. They are perhaps the whiniest group of kids I have ever had to work with, but they are good kids. I have a full set of classes this semester, which will be my last semester pursueing my AA degree before I get into my Bachelors program. I have been riding my bike more in the past week then I had all summer due to the fact that I have no gas in the truck, and I have been needing to get to work... I put in over 50 miles last week, it feels liberating.
I have planned a hiking trip to return to my beloved Pisgah National Forest; a friend and I are hiking the Art Loeb trail starting in the Shining Rock Wilderness and ending at Davidson River Campground, where I stayed when I did the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race last year. This time the plans are set and the plane tickets are already purchased, so backing out would mean losing money, and a very sad bRiaN. I am really looking forward to spending sometime with mother Earth and just being out in the wild.
I am hoping that this very depressing summer will meet a very happy end in this hiking trip.

grr

Another summer gone and classes are starting again... I had many plans this summer that got pushed off due to heat and depression. This state can be ridiculously hot this time of year and it wore on me more this summer than i can ever remember. I haven't spent a whole lot of time outdoors this summer and I have been longing for adventure. Im hoping that with the turn of the seasons I will spend some more time getting out and doing things rather than being stuck in this house.

Tooting my own horn

I have always considered myself, with great hubris, to be a renaissance man. I am in constant search of physical, intellectual, and artistic pursuits to please my insatiable palate for humanities. I am ever the athlete competing in running and cycling races, i like to consider myself an intelligent guy as I am pursuing my bachelors degree and read constantly, and my artistic pursuits have included playing the guitar and most recently photography. Well I have one more to add to the list of the arts. For a long time I have wanted to learn how to paint... since i was a kid actually. I always thought i would need to take a class to learn how to handle the brush and know what to buy. I got tired of waiting to find a decent local class and decided to just go for it. I finally got myself a cheap set of watercolor paints, a set of brushes, and some watercolor paper. Over the last two days I have been playing with different techniques and getting to know my brushes and different strokes. I have used some of the bird photos that I have taken as models for my new found hobby. The pictures I am posting are of pictures I have painted so far. There should be plenty more to follow the few I have painted already. The first is my first painting since the finger paintings and paint by numbers I did as a kid, it is a yellow crowned night heron. The second is a brown pelican near the Skyway bridge, and the last there is a tricolored heron. I am getting better with the brush strokes and details such as feather definition and shading. We'll see how things progress as i learn to paint more. :)

Going native

Few of you may know this about me, but I am part Penobscot. The Penobscot native Americans are a canoeing people from what is now Maine and parts of Canada. I really dont know how much of me is native or really who it was in my family that was but I have been told by my family that the herritage is there. And though it may be very little, I still take pride in my canoeing bretheren of the north. Recently I borrowed, with eventual intent to buy (and restore) an Old Town Camper from a friend. I have been out on the canoe 4 times in the last couple of weeks and it has proven to be an adventurous endeavor. I have gotten some great photo opportunites that I would never have imagined on foot, and getting into those tight spots has been quite fun. Nothing beats getting up before the sun and silently paddling out into the reeds or mangroves searching for nesting egrets, roosting night herons, and other wading birds. But as I have AADD (Adventure Attention Deficit Disorder) I am constantly in need of new things to do to have fun, and a vessel such as my canoe is a great platform for adventuring and camping and photography... I think my Penobscot blood is coursing through my veins happier then before i had the canoe and it is certainly a nice addition to the adventure quiver which I use to constantly seek new means of outdoor fun. These are some pictures I have taken on some of my trips on the Camper so far.

Summer SAD

With the end of a very stressful summer semester looming I am hoping to be able to get out and do something worthy of posting here in my blog. I have been out and taken a few pictures in the last couple weeks but for the most part I have been locked inside trying to keep up with classwork.



I am planning a trip to JB Starkey Wilderness Park in New Port Richey for some riding and some hiking and some photography. I will hopefully go within the next couple weeks. I want to try to take it easy along the route there so as not to upset my knee as it has been some time since I have taken a longer trip. well in the mean time... here are some pics ove taken locally recently.

The adventure of life (perhaps a note to self)

Adventure and the pursuit of happiness isnt always full of fantastic views and smooth trails. A lot of preparation goes into backpacking and bicycle touring, and a lot of training and equipment is dedicated to the "what if" factor of adventuring. You dont always expect to use it but things such as first aid and emergency survival techniques are sometimes used. And beyond that even, things that dont make your event an emergency, but just add to a level of discomfort. These are all things that can really get to your head. A persistant rain that causes mud to get all over everything, a headwind that puts your mileage below your average mark, a cold front that brings unexpected low temperatures when you figured a summer bag would do for the trip, noticing an unusually large amount of unused gear that is weighing you down, mosquitoes... do these things take away from the enjoyment of the trip? Perhaps in the moment, but when remembered these things add to the stories you tell your friends. We wear those hardships as a badge of courage, and though while possibly slightly annoyeddurring the trip, in retrospect the story often makes it sound worse than it actually was. My point is that no adventure is ever perfect, sometimes things go wrong, sometimes things just arent perfect, sometimes things can be a little annoying. But we learn to recognize these trailside hardships and love them for what they will become. I have hiked through the mountains of Georgia, backpacked across the Florida Prairies, bicycle toured through most of central Florida's rail trails over hundreds of miles, and have done some canoe camping through out the area as well. What I remember about those trips are the suprises, and way in which I handled them. I am proud of my triumphs, though they came out of diversity. In this same token, I cannot help but look at life in the same light. I am getting to the point where I can recognize a crisis in real life and conquer those challenges with the same perspicacity as I would reaching an unexpected river crossing or a flat tire on the road. We have our doldrums in adventure and life is the greatest adventure of them all. If we can learn how to truely tackle these annoyances with fervor and tenacity instead of beat down by the lack of scenery we can come to truely appreciate this adventure we call life.
(In the spirit of its motivational poster like bantering i figured I would include some of my own motivational scenery shots to go along with the blog post... :) call me a geek if you will )

People are evil

Are people so miserable in this county that they have to bring everyone else down around them? I was nearly run over today by the same guy twice... I went for a short ride around the city just trying to clear the cobwebs and take in some parts of the city I have never seen. Some douche in a gray Cobalt came within inches of me going down a street... i yelled at him and told him to give me more room the first time. The guy must have waited for me to turn around and this time came EVEN CLOSER. If this guy thinks he was going to try to hit me I wonder what the hell could be going on in his life that made him so miserable. And I was on a small two lane road with no other cars coming the other direction. I hate this fucking county... every time I get out on a bike people dont pay attention to me. And this isn't the first time someone has tried to hit me. I hate the thought of it but it makes me want to give up cycling when I realize how dangerous humans beings are to each other.

Bill has made it past half way!

I have been following Bills adventure across the country on his blog for the past 40 days. Its like reading a live adventure book, and I am quite jelous at the views of some of the pictures he has taken during his trip. I noticed the last link I posted to Bills blog didnt work so I found a better link for all who wants to try to catch up to what I have been following. heres the link... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/bills2009ride ...for anyone who doesn't know, Bill Hemme a friend of mine who travelled with me on the guided trip I led last year, is riding from California to Clearwater on his bicycle. It is a trip I too hope to make one day and it seems like an incredible feat. He has just passed his halfway point after just under 40 days on the road. Good job so far Bill and good luck.

the joy of a sad song

Nothing beats the joy of just getting it out of your system in song.

Smelly old books

I have been making it a habbit lately to go thrift store shopping for old books. I have gotten a few neat classics that I am proud to own. Among them a 1947 copy of A Field Guide to The Birds by Peterson, a 1941 copy of Don Quixote, a 1967 copy of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and a 1941 copy of Ben Franklin's Autobiography. They arent really worth much but the smell of old books beats anything else. I really enjoy reading the classics and believe there is no greater knowledge than reading about our past through its literature. I am currently working my way through a 1969 copy of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. The story is great, and I get a kick out of burying my face in the spine and inhaling the scent of old book, and perhaps the decades of life this book has seen, and perhaps the many people who have flipped through these same pages generations before me. What has happened through the life of this book? who owned it? who read it? Why did they get rid of it? did someone who owned it die? The story of the life of this book is almost as intriguing as the story within its pages.
My proudest find to date isnt a book all that old but a very unique book still the same... a 1987 copy of Rob Van der Plas' The Bicycle Touring Manual. The technology described in this book is completely outdated, some of the advice is a bit antiquated and the pictures are classic, but this book was certainly a neat find. It is interesting to see how far we have come since I was a wee 6 year old boy.

Getting in shape and thinking about racing again.

Ok it has been some time since I have mentioned anything related to bicycle racing. In fact my last race was over a year ago. The Karate Monkey has been leaning patiently against the wall in my bedroom for quite some time... oh sure Ive been on the trails... once maybe every three months, but I believe the time is coming that she will spend some time on a race course. I have been putting in some mileage on the bike and on the running shoes, not much, but enough to spark some curiosity about how well I would do if I started training again for the fall mountain bike series starting this september. The scale has been teasing dangerously close to a milestone no one wants to accomplish and I am battling the climb with all my strength... ORRR perhaps with a lackluster, semi-hearted motivation that is held back by my inability to break free of stress (coughexcusescough). For the last two weeks I have riden at least two days for a minimal amount of mileage, I have been attempting to walk more and even jogging from time to time, and most importantly I have been training at my local MMA gym. Now, they call it "mixed martial arts". For my purposes the acronym is doning the new definition "move my ass". With the added intensity and doubled pace of the summer coursework I have spent a lot of time sitting on my ass in the house(coughexcusecough). So to get me out of the depressing, cabin feverish shlump, I have been trying to do some of these things just to get me outside and active. Well.. and also to take my mind off of probability, pascals triangle, and espanol... but the rewarding benefit is double fold... it takes my mind off of things just long enough to revitalize me but it also makes me sharper. And, now that I feel I am getting into a decent enough training regimine the ideas are floating around about racing my mountain bike again. We'll see how it goes... but if I am out there in September, you better believe I'm coming out to win.

Falling from blogging grace.

It seems that every where I look my fellow bloggers are all quitting.. The dream of posting pictures and stories for anyone, and perhaps no one to read is falling off into the jaded land of I Give Up. Well here is an alert to all my faithful follower, I will not quit! The idea of spilling countless rants and stories of adventure through time and space and perhaps just my maniacal quip is a pure and thorough joy that I cannot put to pasture. I dont care who reads my stories and I do not care who does not read my stories but if you read my stories and enjoy them my high horse can certainly be hard to climb down from as the flattery of another soul enjoying my writting as much as I do can be more than this self indulgent braggart can handle. I do not necessarily think that I am anymore capable and perhaps not nearly as friendly as some of those that I have seen fall from the ranks of blogdom, but it sadens me to see the empty spaces of those blogs of you who have disapeared from the land of let-it-all-out-and-tell-everyone-online-your-life-stories. I will surely miss reading your sporatic updates of life, adventure, and nonsense. Farewell my blog jumping friends... farewell.

Advice on roughing it from a softie

Ok so every great adventurer has tricks they pick up over time spent in the bush, on the road, on the trail, in the field... ect... well... I cant say that I am any different. After a few years in the Army and several on my own adventures there are a few things that I have picked up and modified into my adventuring routine to make life easier, and because I can be a softie, a bit more comfortable. Whether you are going hiking in the Florida plains, bicycle touring across the country, camping in the field on an archeological dig, or just going for an over nighter with the family, these are things I have found that have worked for me.

Mat advice... This picture is actually a pair of Thermarest Ridgerests stuffed into a pillow case.
The problem I had with buying the blow-up mattresses is that most of them cost nearly 5 times that of the closed cell mattresses... and the ones I could afford were twice the weight. Now the Ridgerests are a bit bulky but 70$ is better spent elsewhere. Well one way to minimize the size of the ridge rest is to cut it down, you simply cannot do this with any other mattress, and all you really need is enough to cover the width of your shoulders and the length from under your head to your tail bone. Incidentally this works out to be the exact width and almost the same length as a standard pillow case. On a hot night in the Florida plain when a sleeping bag is out of the question and the sweat is making your body stick to your mattress a cool silk or polyesther pillow case is a nice place to lay whether a closed cell or blow up mattress is used.
Another good reason to cut this mattress down is to save a bit of weight... at 9oz the small Ridgerest is already nearly the lightest of Thermarest's offerings... cutting this matt down proved to cut about 25% of its weight to less than 7oz. Less than any other matt on the market for a small fraction of the price, and though the bulk is still there, it is reduced enough to fit into my pack for a summer load(yes both of them). I use 2 matts because I am a wuss and need the extra cushion, but this is still less than 14oz, which is still less weight than many other more expensive matts on the market.
A couple more things about this matt is one; that it is very sturdy and does not get cut like other matts do on rocks, sticks, thorns, roots, etc... thus not requiring field maintenance or home maintenance for that matter. And second, because of this durability I have used them as camp chairs on logs or even on the ground for added comfort, because once again, I am a wuss.

Pillow Advice... Now some purists scoff at the use of a camp pillow in the field... I cannot fathom how on Buddha's green Earth how anyone could possibly go without this loving ball of soft, fluffy down and nylon. Now I have tried the rolled clothing method, the stuff sack method, and even the soft sided stuff sack method... but nothing was comfortable enough for me to get any amount of what I could call sleep on a first night in the woods, on the ground, on a hard and possibly tilted(and usually the wrong way) ground. I use a camp pillow, and I DO NOT regret it, it is worth every bit of its weight and I would bring it before any other piece of sleepy time equipment.
You may also notice that my pillow seems slightly modified... well after severl nights on this guy it has lost a little bit of loft and I have had to use it in tandem with the stuff sack full of clothes so it would hold my head in the right position... well this stitch job kinda serves both purposes in one. By folding the pillow in half i double up the loft and effectively raise my head to a comfortable position, by leaving the opening in the middle I can also stuff a couple things in there, a t-shirt or my pant legs, to improve that loft even more so.
Camera Advice... Now this advice can probably be found in photographer's and journalist's blogs and for good reason. My camera is attached to my backpack by means of backpack straps... These are made by Op Tech USA but other brands are out there. These pack straps take the weight of the camera and distribute it into the backpack straps, instead of on your neck. This also keeps the extra heat of the strap off of your neck as well, which is nice in Florida... anytime of the year.
Clothing advice... Now here in Florida especially the tendency is to wear shorts in the summer... and I couldnt agree more. BUT... I wear the convertible pants that zip off into shorts... two reasons: mosquitoes and mosquitos. As the sun starts to hang low in the sky the stagnant pools of Florida's swamps (and marshes, and swimming pools, and puddles etc...) become a mess of swarming mosquitoes ready to search for your bare ankles and annoy the BLOODY HELL out of you. I dont care how much repellant you use for some reason they always get your ankles and the itch makes it hard to sleep.
When it starts to get late just zip the legs back on (which weigh next to nothing) and tuck the bottoms into your socks. This keeps both mosquitos and other nasty critters out of your pants. They weigh very little so the added comfort is well worth it and if a night should turn cold they are an added layer of warmth as well. You can probobly pick up a pair at REI for around the price of a pair of jeans.
Other tidbits... bring a book, not 3; Leave the Peterson's guide at home, and leave the Edible Wild Plants book at home(trust me if you cant ID it by sight anyway, you probably shouldn't risk it, ask the McCandles Family).
Wool or synthetic over cotton, DUH.
Bring extra socks, and dry wet ones on sticks NEAR the fire at night. dont cook them.
Thin sock liners inside of thicker hiking socks keeps blisters down.
Moleskin... should always be in your first aid kit if the sock trick doesnt work.
Dont forget to restock said first aid kit... not having that itch relief in the morning after you forgot to zip the tent less than an inch further is another annoyance you could avoid by not being stupid.
I've said it and Ill repeat it, bring a water filter, tabs are slow and dont suck water from puddles.
Bring enough dry food that you don't have to cook if you cant find enough water or have stove issues, which is an inevitable annoyance when you're looking forward to that beef stroganoff and only have trail mix to eat.
Do you really need that flask of tequila? the answer is a most certain and resounding yes.

Good things from the garden

Tomatoes, chili peppers, bell peppers, a giant marconi, sweet corn and onions.

(perhaps) unconventional fatherly advice

What would be the reason for even considering walking across the country? The pure freedom? Unencumbered by the reliance on any machine or man made device... or perhaps the ability to hop in the back of the next passing pickup with a quick hello and a thanks? To stop and work for a couple bucks to catch the next bus out of town, to jump in with a friendly passing motorist who may possibly be your new best friend... or have we become so jaded of hitch hikers due to scary stories and serial killer movies? Has the idea of hitch hiking across the country gone the way of the Chia pet? My parents did their share of hitch hiking up and down the east coast in the 70's. Kerouak speaks of it as if it were a standard form of public travel in the 1950's, and the plethora of stories that became his career as a novelist ensued. The heartwarming story of Christopher McCandless, otherwise known as Alexander Supertramp, has more recently brought the idea of travelling the country on a fleeting whim into the minds of the youth (and not so youth) of America. The story told by adventure columnist and writer Jon Krakauer, puts Christopher in the passenger side of many a vehicle including cars, semi trucks, RV's, and even train cars as he thumbed and hiked his way back and forth across the west and eventually to Alaska where he found his final resting place. But the sense of freedom! The reliance and the trust that this guy in the Daewoo who just pulled over for you isnt going to end your trip, before you intended. The sights you may see, the people you may meet, seeing the country first hand with only the things you have on your back that can be quickly thrown into someones backseat. I cant imagine that this could be so easily discarded because some people think its dangerous. Lots of things are dangerous... BASE jumping, motocross, mountainbiking... but the ability to get out and see the country, perhaps the world, and meet its people... I couldnt say I would not jump at the opportunity to do it myself, or that I could ever advise my son that this would be a bad idea.
Perhaps if not by the fate of a wandering gypsy but by the means of travelling with friends who arent idiots. Its important to see the world and meet its people before you can absolutely feel attached to the world that surrounds you. To shed cynicism and don hope for a philosophical vision quest, in search of the wisdom of the open road and its peoples...
There are three pieces of advice I will make sure my son follows through with before I am certain to release him into his life of manhood; 1. Be well read, read the classics and biographies of people who made a dent on our society, and surround yourself with people who also value these things. 2. Before getting a job to make money for yourself, spend some time giving to people who may never be able to fend for themselves. Volunteer, intern, hell... join green peace. 3. Travel the country (the world) and seek the wisdom its people, dont just travel to have a good time, spend time meeting people and sharing stories, and do this travel with friends from fatherly advise #1. Whether by foot or by car, train, bicycle... see the world and learn from her, nothing is more important than learning.

Intracoastal adventure

My brother Chris and I went for a boat trip through the intracoastal waters of the Pinellas on Monday. It was a beautiful day as the weather was cooperative and the water was smooth as glass all day. We motored from Bay Pines War Veterans Memorial Park all the way down to Shell Island and Sister Key where we had lunch and snapped some shots. All was great until on our way back to the boat ramp, the prop somehow disappeared from the boats motor leaving us to have to paddle for a couple miles before being able to get back to the truck.

Dreaming of another day on the road!

Tomorrow I leave mid-day for my first over night bicycle tour in a long time and I am excited. I have been thinking about doing some travel for some time and this is due time. I have gotten caught up in all my classes and am ready to take the trucker out for ;some real life, to breath the coastal air and see some thing I have not seen in too much time. The wind in my face and the the rubber on the ground, my bags are packed and ready to go and tomorrow I leave for an over-nighter. This wont be the first time I have done a one night trip and it certainly wont be the last... it is a great way to get away for a while and get a taste for touring without having to commit much time. It is certainly something I recomend for anyone who may be willing to give it a try. It doesnt take a whole lot... it is possible to do it using a hotel, though I will be going with my tent.. because it is over night I will not need much more than sleeping gear and shelter. If all you have is a bike and a small backpack these over night trips are reachable. You can eat along the route by buying food or even just bringing some power bars so you would not have to bring cooking equipment or bulky food. There is certainly some beauty to be found in over night trips like this because it is a way to get away withoutt having to take an entire vacation... you could do it on a friday or saturday night and be back in time to get showered for work on sunday night. It is a good way to get out and breath some real air and possibly spend a night in a good book. Some nights that Ihave been out in my tent I could spend 2 hours in a book just enjoying the night air. Peace and quiet and the great open. Ill see you on the trail tomorrow if you would like to join me.

Bill and BOBs excellent adventure

A friend of mine and a professor at St. Petersburg College has recently departed for quite the journey. Bill Hemme joined me on the trip I lead around the state in November, our trip then was a 200 mile trip that ended for me when I lost the use of my knee. Bill continued on to finish that trip. He also used my trip as a testing ground for the big journey that was to come. Over the summer Bill will be travelling from San Fransisco, CA to Clearwater, Florida entirely by bicycle, pulling his BOB trailer with all his rations for the journey. As of today Bill has been riding for 5 days and though he has had some delays along the way I suspect that he has prepared himself sufficiently, and will most certainly have some great stories to share. In fact Bill is sharing his story from the road as he rides. Bill brought with him a laptop to record the story of his journey along the way in real time. His blog is on CrazyGuyOnABike.com at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3Tzut&doc_id=5091&v=6a . Go check out Bill's blog and say hi on the guest book.

Garden Update

The garden is doing quite well... The tomatoes and peppers are producing and the corn is flowering. I made dinner the other night with the one red tomato and a chili pepper. The lettuce and spinach I had did not work out so I spread the onions into the area where they were and planted some pole beans as well. The caterpillar problem I had is completely gone.
Nothing is more calming and relaxing than spending time weeding, watering and spraying my garden. It is quite peaceful. The most rewarding part is the delicious food that comes from the work I've put into it. Not only are the vegetables good but Ive followed them every step of the way and I know exactly what went into keeping them clean and organic. If anyone wants some tomatoes, peppers or corn let me know... I will have plenty in the next few weeks.

Studia Humanitatis

“Enjoy the present hour, be mindful of the past; And neither fear nor wish the Approaches of the last. Learn of the skilful: He that teaches himself, hath a fool for his master.”

Benjamin Franklin

In psychology we learn that there are different areas of the brain that are stimulated by different things. Beyond just the idea of left-brain vs. right-brain, but also in the sense of learning new things and learning new ways of thinking in general. By taking a new route home from work we stimulate our brain by the sight of new things, by trying new foods we open ourselves up to new tastes and new stimulation. But this goes far beyond the simplicity of the immediate senses directly involved, it is a spark that increases your capacity. It gives your brain the opportunity for further stimulation and growth, and with it the IQ. Generally people stop growing in their late teens to early twenties, and in fact start the long process of deterioration. This generally happens after high school and into college for those of us who go. But what some fail to realize is that the brain never stops changing, your IQ never ceases to have potential for increase. In high school I learned some things, earlier in college I learned some more things, but the most valuable lesson I have since learned is learning how to learn. To seek out information constantly and to become what I like to call a "lifetime learner" is far more important than any wealth of information could possibly give you. To learn to love to learn and to continue to add to that wealth of information increases the potential for your IQ, and it also prevents you from following the condemned paths of mistakes made in history. From the moment you decide that learning is beneath you, and that you have become as smart as you wish to become, your true intelligence begins its steady decline. You begin to forget what you once knew and without new knowledge your IQ begins its steady decline. You begin to live by fallacy, "learning" things the hard way. Not truly understanding, but finding reasons to explain away the troubles of life. Believing hearsay as fact, instead of seeking the truth in a reputable source. I believe firmly that the study of humanities in general is one of the most important ways to stimulate the intellect, to increase your brain power, and to further your potential intellectually. Taking the time to stay on top of current events, reading how it relates to our history on this planet, studying the impacts of the great men and women who brought great change to our society, even knowing what influences art and architecture has had on our past and present. These things are all important in becoming a well educated, contributing member of society, and to deny the explorations of the humanities is to deny real potential for making your own impact in the world around you. The greatest lesson I ever learned was to become a lifetime learner, and that I can accomplish anything I want. By stimulating my senses and by increasing my education I can truly be a great teacher and a renaissance man. History, sciences, the arts, physical education, music, social sciences, humanities... these aren't just things we have to take to get through school. These are things that make humanity understand itself. By standing on the shoulders of giants(as newton put it) we can understand our future by knowing our past. Or we can be condemned to be frustrated by following the same circles in life and wondering why.

a healthy start -- new diet day 1

I haven't been on the road bike in quite some time. Today I took her out for a leisurely 22 miles around the county. Not enough to be painful but just enough to sooth the aches from the running from yesterday.

My girlfriend and I are starting our own version of the biggest loser. We are shooting for 13% weight loss by the end of the summer and loser buys the victory dinner at the restaurant of the winners choice.

Tonight is our initial weigh in and I will try to keep some sort of report on the site here as to the results and the goings along the way. i will also be shopping for some veggies to start the diet portion of my new weight loss challenge, it'll be nice to bring out my creativity in the kitchen again. I do love to cook! I just hope Ms. cant-eat-onions can stand some of the meals I come up with.

New shoes

Ok... so after a few months of unintentional bulking up, I decided it was time to figure out a way to spark some interest in getting back in shape. Had to be something inexspensive, had to be something that didnt involve driving anywhere, and had to be something that distracted my attention from the bicycle. Now I know what you're thinking... and yes I do love my bikes, but for some reason I'm just in a phase where the idea of getting on the bike just doesn't excite me the way it used to. I decided to purchase myself a pair of Saucony Cohesion running shoes. I used to run a lot in high school and when I was a young private in the Army. Just the thought of running a 10K again has had me thinking and dreaming of the old days. It will be a great way for me to get back in shape and possibly just enough torture to re-peak my interest in my bike possibly in time for the fall cross country series. I will also be training periodically at a jiu jitsu gym in the neighborhood... getting back in shape is exciting me and hopefully I can get back into racing my mountain bike again.

yeah... because its hilarious

Continuing with my silly graffiti theme...

HA HA... brian the explorer!!!

Lake Kissimmee State Park

Over the weekend Ellen and I went for a short backpacking trip at Lake Kissimmee State Park in Lake Whales, FL. The weather was great, the birds cooperative, and the park was a unique experience. We traveled back into the 1870's to the park's "Cow Camp" an authentic Florida cracker cow hunters camp where a cow pen and an original "Florida cracker." The thing is, these aren't your average beef cows or milk cows that you see everywhere on the sides of the interstate travelling through the state... these are scrub cows. 'Whats a scrub cow' you ask? Well the Keys are known for thier little deer, we also have little bovine. These "cracker" cattle, as they were also known, are smaller shorter horned bretheren of the Texas longhorn, that evolved into a smaller breed due to the fact that they were feral and needed to survive in the upland scrublands of Florida. History lesson aside, these are cool little cows and they are a unique part of our states past and present.
From the cow camp we set a bearing for the north loop trail. Along the trail we were suprised and slightly startled by the piercing call of a sandhill crane. I stopped in my tracks to take pictures as this bird was within a few feet of me and I feared I might never get the chance to get a shot this close ever again. Much to my surprise this magnificent bird turned to walk right across my path, close enough to touch! I followed her around for a few minutes and took my fill of shots before I decided to leave her alone. We later found out that this bird was distracting us from the rest of her family and chicks which were hiding nearby in the tall grass.
A ways down the trail we saw some deer in a field of tall grass, we moved as close as we could to take pictures before they ran off when one of the does started kicking any deer that would get in front of her, it was an odd behavior to witness but according to a hunting page I found online this doe must have been the dominant fmale of the group.
Our stay was quite nice as the temperature seemed to get down into the 60's overnight and proved cool and comfortable. We got several pictures of birds and landscape as well as a few of us goofing around. Here are a few of some birds and of Ellen. To see Ellens versions of the weekend check out her pics when she gets around to posting them :)