Fun to Drive BMW X6 M

Once again I had the good fortune to drive a truly world class car. Tonight I was tooling around in this elegant beast. 555hp and 0-60 in the 4 second range. Stunning!

A new toy for my ski course

The groomer arrived in boxes today. I hauled it home to start assembly tonight. The Tidd Tech 4' Trail Tenderizer with track setter, say that 4 times fast, will give the students well groomed snow to develop their skills on. Bring on the corduroy.


Anybody have a good snowmobile they would like to give away?

Bikecommudeer

Some riders are gutless.

Thoughts on The Letter C

The letter c is worse than worthless; it infringes on the letters k and s, two outstanding phonemes. Restated, c is a poser letter waffling in sound from s to k; it is nothing on its own. Any word with the letter c may be better written with one of the other two based on the word’s sound. Thus, the letter c needs to be removed from English.

A c supporter may argue that c is needed in words like cheese and chip. However this digraph or letter blend makes its own sound independent of either the c or h. The letter k would work equally well here.

The letter c’s insidious behavior is not limited to it’s wan-a-bee sounds. It has undeservedly removed E from poor students’ grade reports. The letter grades A, B, D E, F would work quite well without modifying a 4 point grading system. c doesn’t belong here either.

It gets worse, fine words like see, seize, sea and even the Spanish si are needlessly libeled by c. None of these plaintiff homophones are even written with a c

Again, the undeserving, c sneaks into our language as a prefix in words like c-section and c-clamp. It fails here as well. A c-section delivery of a baby has nothing to do with a c shape. Instead, based on word origin, it refers to the method of Julius Cesar’s birth, thus cesarean-section. Under the improved system it would rightly be referred to as an s-sektion. Next, c-clamp is equally wrong. The tool would more truly be named a D-klamp based on shape. Note the improved spelling.

I implore you to think about the damage c’s do everyday. A thoughtful pondering to this essay will inevitably have you seeing the alphabet my way.

Sinserely,
Heath Anderson

P.S I must note a key dissimilarity to c’s in musik where they are in the midst of many great works.

Cold Night Hot Fire

Ember swirls @ -27 degrees Fahrenheit from a camping trip last winter.

I'd like to Make

Jared and I were making crude atlatls out of sticks on a hike in the woods with our kids last weekend. I'd like to make one using a bit of care. I'm thinking a dowel or bamboo cane would work for first projectiles.
I could join the The World Atlatl Association, Inc.
For more information.

My Bikes

I've included pictures of my three main bikes. The first one is a Trek 950 that I purchase new in Moorhead in the mid 90's for around $700. It has been solid. I wore out two geared drive trains, ran it as a single speed for a year to now have it as a 1x8. Perfect gearing for its use as a winter commuter. I lubed it up and tightened the rear hub; an adjustment after putting the freehub body in.

The next bike is a 2000 Diamondback XR4. I purchased this a NOS in 2002 for $1000, about $800 below list price since it was a held over two years. This has been a good bike with few problems. I'm, however, leaking some oil out of the front shock. I emailed Shockspital for a price quote and possible diagnosis. I also need the rear wheel trued and tensioned. I will not likely ride this bike again until next spring.

The final bike is my LHT that I purchased in Sept of this year. I cleaned up the drive train and relubed it. I'm very please with this bike thus far. I was fortunate enough to get this bike for cost, $690. It retails for $1,100.

All three of these bikes are mid-level bikes that have served me quite well. The 950 and XR4 have proven overtime to be quite dependable; I expect the LHT to do the same with good maintenance.