Nissan GT-R

0-60mph in 3.4 seconds, hitting 100mph in 8.5 leaving Porsche 911 turbos and Corvette Z06s behind. I had a chance to drive another amazing car over the holiday break. In a past post I mention driving a BMW M6 and a Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series. I love driving these cars.

Wanderlust

I've often dream of traveling with a mini-camper; one that encompasses the unified sensibility of minimalism and homey comfort. Except I want to take my legs, thus I may need to change the trailer dimensions.

Click on the picture and text for a larger view.

Vintage Bobcat Snow Blower and Google Toy

My old snow blower, a freebie from Dad, has a cool design. I like the camelesque humped lines. It's cool that it's a Bobcat.
While doing some research on it, I found a blog dedicated to old snow blowers. (Another reason for snowmen to smile.) This blog had a link to Google Patents.
Simply typing in the patent number gave me heaps of drawings and information from the original patent application.
Patent number: 2770894
Filing date: Jul 3, 1952
Issue date: Nov 1956
Great to learn about the Bobcat. Cool to have access to drawings of many of my patented gizmos around the house. May come in handy.

Holy Crap Its Cristmas!

Harris says, "I'm about to eat my ginger bread house. And, it looks yummy."

Who's Up For Winter Camping?

I've been thinking a lot about going camping over the my holiday break from school. Any interest? I've ordered new skis and can likely hook someone else up with skis that'll work. Winter bike camping would be wicked too.

Ullr a Nordic God at ReEntry House

I love reading bike blogs and taking tangential runs via posted links. Now that it is ski season, I though I would try to find a vein of ski blogs for similar reading. I stumbled on Ullr, an arrow shooting Nordic God. I, at once, thought of the Anders(s)on brothers who are also arrow shooting Nordic skiers.

Clicking on a link, I found a local Ullr Ski group who sings at Re-entry House. It's a small web after all.

[-098 and ;lih

Sometimes I like to type random keys into google images just to see what I get. [-098 yields this



;lih offers this up.


Interesting or post traumatic stress?

Monster Trucks!

I've taken Harris to the theater, the ballet and museums, but know the boy knows The Grave Digger.

Cutting a Tree

The family went down to Hampton tree farm to cut our X-mas tree today. Always fun until someone gets crushed by a tree.

Dec. 3rd Commute

Bob Dylan accompanied me on my commute this morning. All rolled smoothly through the light snow.

Pumpkins on Thanksgiving Day

Sad? Happy? Angry? I took this photo just before these three were fed to the composter.

WWJHD

What would Jill Homer do? Nice ride by the river today. Left from Sibley House and rode to the Cedar Bridge.

Gobble! Gobble!

Claire says, "I feel sorry for the tasty turkey."
Harris says, "I feel thankful for the turkey hat I made in school."
Ling Hui says, "I'm thankful to have a happy and healthy family."
I say, "I'm thankful that my Chinese wife not only cooked with potatoes, she made lefsa with them."
Our goldfish are thankful for having lots of food.

Two pictures of the first Thanksgiving.

Below I have posted a painting depicting the traditional European portrayal of Thanksgiving while the text below it gives a Native American point of view. This seems a sophomoric comparison. It, however, simply illustrates the dichotomous presentation of history regarding our continents' aboriginal people.

I'm reading 1491 New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. This is a book filled with an overwhelming numbers of examples of such bias presentation.

One of my favorites listed is the European belief that the people of South America were less advanced because they did not leave stone ruins filled with arches and other examples of compression construction technologies. Instead the early South Americans used light weight suspension building techniques of at least equal sophistication to the stone buildings of Europe.

Information is a good thing to pass at the Thanksgiving dinner table.




This text comes from the Solus Newsletter


When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry -- half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food.

These were not merely "friendly Indians." They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary -- but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect. Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving.

To the Pilgrims, and most English and European peoples, the Wampanoags were heathens, and of the Devil. They saw Squanto not as an equal but as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves.

Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes? And at the "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food -- and signed a treaty granting Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth, the real reason for the first Thanksgiving.

What did the Europeans give in return? Within 20 years European disease and treachery had decimated the Wampanoags. Most diseases then came from animals that Europeans had domesticated. Cowpox from cows led to smallpox, one of the great killers of our people, spread through gifts of blankets used by infected Europeans. Some estimate that diseases accounted for a death toll reaching 90 percent in some Native American communities. By 1623, Mather the elder, a Pilgrim leader, was giving thanks to his God for destroying the heathen savages to make way "for a better growth," meaning his people.

In stories told by the Dakota people, an evil person always keeps his or her heart in a secret place separate from the body. The hero must find that secret place and destroy the heart in order to stop the evil.

I see, in the "First Thanksgiving" story, a hidden Pilgrim heart. The story of that heart is the real tale than needs to be told. What did it hold? Bigotry, hatred, greed, self-righteousness? We have seen the evil that it caused in the 350 years since. Genocide, environmental devastation, poverty, world wars, racism.

Sold

I listed and sold my old blue van on Craigslist. It's funny how I can get sentimental about metal, mostly oxidized, and plastic, largely cracked.

Maybe it's that these scars of age remind me of the camping adventures, the project loads from Home Depot and the bike trips that this vehicle has been a part of. I'm not into anthropomorphizing vehicles, but ...

Standing up for my sweet kickstand

I love my kickstands. Yes, I have them on all my commuter/touring bikes and family bikes except one. Only my mountain bike is sans kickstand. In fact I find such pleasure in my kickstand that I wish I had a double.



Once, like you, I was afraid to embrace the convenient. But now, I've made peace with a comfortable riding position, gears, fenders and a kickstand. What the Hell, I'll put a mirror on my eyeglasses! Did I mention my yellow illuminite jacket purchased on-sale from Nashbar?

These Fredishnesses are no more aesthetically objectionable than other goofy, I mean hip, trends in bikes. Riding's the cake. Why hate the frosting?

Here's a link to my favorite bike porn page. Notice the delicious single and double kickstands.

City/Country Ride

The Twin Cities is a great place. Both urban and natural rides are only minutes, or, in the case of this picture, feet apart. The Mississippi in the background is full of ducks and geese. The bridge supports were full of tags.

PatStroke

I used a program that I have seen on a couple of blogs to test my blog page for gender specific markers. I came out with the following results:

We guess http://heathstroke.blogspot.com/ is written by a man (52%), however it's quite gender neutral.

While I feel somewhat sad and angry at the lack of masculinity assigned to my page. I celebrate and beat my chest to the fact that my brother's page is 89% female and John Q's page is 70% female. I'm sure these two could just cry.

Try it yourself. Here's the link.

Thanks to Jared, my girly brother, for the idea.

09 Civic LX

Here's a photo of the new Honda. I'm hoping not to feel that impending car repair/ will I make it to my destination feeling while driving for some time. I've told Claire she will take this vehicle to college.

However, I have already had a problem. I returned home from the dealership tonight with a somewhat embarrassing story.

Last Saturday while eagerly driving my first new car home. I notice a slight pull to the right and a bit of a rough ride. The next day full of worry I checked air pressure and filled the tires to 40 PSI somewhat below the max 44 PSI listed on the sidewall. The pull to the right was from a low front right tire at 24 PSI. That problem solved, I still had a very rough and shaky ride. I made an appointment with the dealership feeling down about my new car with a problem.

I bragged about how I fixed the pulling problem by adding air. The service tech asked me how much air I put in. Next, he explained that 40 PSI was too much. He explained that the Civic recommended pressure is not listed on the tire.

When he checked the tires all four had 50 PSI. He explained that the pressure gauges on the gas station hoses are poorly calibrated. After letting out 18 PSI the car rode much better.

Still unsure, I asked to take out the test model for a spin. I did and realized that the ride problem came from me putting in too much air.

Everyone was very nice. Nobody made fun of me until after I left.

A Favorite Steamy Poem from the Early 1600

The Vine
by Robert Herrick
(1591-1674)

I dreamed this mortal part of mine
Was metamorphosed to a vine,
Which, crawling one and every way,
Enthralled my dainty Lucia.
Methought, her long small legs and thighs
I with my tendrils did surprise:
Her belley, buttocks, and her waist
By my soft nervelets were embraced
About her head I writhing hung
And with rich clusters (hid Amoung
The leaves) her temples i behung,
So that my Lucia seemed to me
Young Bacchus ravished by his tree.
My curls about her neck did crawl,
ANd arms and hands they did enthrall,
So that she could not freely stir
(All parts there made one prisoner).
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts which maids keep unespied,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took
That with the fancy i awoke,
And found (ah me!) this flesh of mine
More like a stock than like a vine.

YES!!!!!!!!

I feel new optimism.

Post Traumatic Stress,

Hi my name is Heath and I am a blogger. It has been 6 days since my last post.

I’m feeling anxious, like I must update my blog for its four faithful readers. I considered posting about a guy who can do a back flip in his wheel chair. I considered putting up more photos of my kids from Halloween. But these felt forced.

I’m always feel energized when I see one of the blogs I follow post something new. Blogs form connections and are new media for communication.

I feel stress to create a post. Not just to post for others, but to live enough to find something that is worthy to post; something I can look back on in a year and re-enjoy.

Post traumatic stress is more a desire to live enough to have something worth posting than it is to have something to post for others.

Whoopee a Vampire

Claire and Harris donned their mom-made costumes for the first party of the Halloween season. Harris decided to be a Whoopee Cushion while Claire opted to be an immortal vampire. My children have become blood sucking little farts, and I love them.

More Photos from Bike Trip

Family portrait while pedaling, my fully loaded touring bike, and my mostly unloaded touring bike and tent set up comprise this post's photos.

Luce Line Oct. 18-19, 2008

I just finishes stowing away my gear after an outstanding trip along the Luce Line where the trail and trees were covered in colorful fall leaves.

We left from the trail head and rode west of Watertown, had a burger on the way. Upon arriving at out camp site, we put up our tents and built a nice fire. Dinner started with a tin of smoked oysters while our collected branches burned to coals. Later we cooked beans, sausages and thick slices of bacon over the fire. Mixed with a bag of baby carrots and strawberry Newtons the meat and beans made a fine dinner. Of course we failed to bring some utensils, but made do with whittled chopsticks after presenting one sausage as a burnt offering.

The ride home was easy. Me running over a snake and getting a flat tire (not from the snake) led to our longest stops.

Such a fall trip has been, and should continue to be, an annual event.

Ella's Zebra Along for the Ride.

Hi Ella,

Your Zebra is riding in style on a Brooks saddle. He enjoyed the nice weather.

Bike Camping

I started loading up my gear for a bike camping trip with some friends along the Luce Line. We will likely pitch our tents in a secluded spot just west of Watertown.

The anticipation, planning and bike prep extend the fun of such trips. I enjoy thinking about what gear I need to optimize comfort and minimize stuff. A fall night in the woods is wonderful, if you're prepared.

To Harris for Harris

We made our second annual road trip to Harris, Minnesota to have dinner at the Swedish cafe, Kafa Stuga. We decided to combine a fall color tour with celebrating Harris' birthday. We shared a clam and cod fish dinner with all of the fixings. This charming and inexpensive restaurant is only a couple miles of of I35 if you're close.

Cousins

A few photos of the first ever all cousin meeting of the anders(s)ons.

HikeaBike with Jared

Perfect fall day for a ride with intermittent forays into the woods. Finding turkey feathers, assorted poo, wild grapes and other curiosities, we biked, hiked and jumped a creek. I felt like a little kid exploring.

Jared's Salsa La Cruz shined and my old Fuji twinkled a bit too. Good weather, good bikes and good times. Baked squash, pea and beef barley soup for lunch felt right.

DTV Converter Box Review/Consumer Reports

Here is a link to DTV converter box reviews. It looks like there's a big difference in quality that does not correspond with price.

Article sent to UrbanVelo

I just submitted my article with some photos to UrbanVelo. Thanks to John, Sean and Jared for the suggestions. As I wrote and rewrote, it became more concise and less toxic. Now I have to wait and see if they'll publish it.