Favoured Fixies #7 Davis, CA

Otis Redding

I do have a number of other fixies to post, but since the deluge of pictures I've already posted I felt it appropriate to post something else for a change.
I've been listening to Otis Redding as of late. I really cannot express how amazing this man is. Some of the best songs ever written (certainly some of the best known) were written by this guy, " "Respect", and of course "Sittin' on the dock of the bay"

I know this isn't news to anyone, that Otis Redding is amazing, but it's a nice departure from the Punk, Hardcore, and Screamo I've felt like listening to lately.

Favoured Fixies #6 Davis, CA

This fixie (no brakes front or back I might add) is purely beautiful. pictures do not do it justice.
I really wonder how wonderful it must be to ride this.
ahhh.

I feel almost dirty putting pictures of this bike on the Internet, it's like exploitation.

Favoured fixies #5 Davis, CA

this is a rather nice bike I ran into today, it's an old convert with a nice coat of spray paint. I had the luck of speaking with the owner (he came out as I was taking the photos). this bike isn't truly a fixie as it can freewheel, but it is still quite nice. The back hub is actually a BMX hub which makes some serious sense for money saving, the bike is rather nice, and I would quite like it. the gentlemen who owned it was quite niece.

favoured fixies #4 Davis, CA

wowie, there sure are a lot of nice bikes in Davis, especially on a nice sunny day like today.
I've a feeling that with another few days I'll have all of the fixies that go on campus photographed, which will be quite a shame as I'll have nothing else to distract my lens.
luckily I can think of at least one (a lovely gray fixie with a license plate for a spoke card) which I've been lusting after and have yet to see while in the possession of my camera.
on that note here starts a long long set of posts with various fixies I favoured today.

Favoured Fixies #3 Davis, CA

I've got a bit of a thing for those old Peugot bikes. they seem like a lot of fun, and of course are the perfect fixie conversion. this one is rather nice, so nice I even parked my bike next to it on the way to philosophy. you can tell mine by the spray painted racks, the CD front reflector, and the keep Tahoe blue sticker. under all that ugly spray paint and dirt is a beautiful Fuji Royal from the seventies.

Favoured Fixies, #2 Davis, CA

I'm not going to make this blog a bike blog or photoblog or anything drastic like that, but i've been on the outs with writing in it because I've no readers and I've no time. I figure that taking pictures of things that interest me (at this point in time very nice bikes of which there are so many in Davis) and posting them here might give me more interest, if not increase readership.
most of the bikes will be fixies, because until (and likely even after) I get my fixie put together (it may be a while for monetary reasons) I'll be a bit obsessed.

on that note here are some pictures of a lovely fixie I saw in Davis which I would love to draw your attention too.

Favoured Fixies, #1 Boston MA

While I was visiting my girlfriend in Boston I saw this very nice Fixie, since I was with my girlfriend who I see far too infrequently and we were eager to step out of the literally freezing cold into a nice Indian restaurant I was only able to get one good picture, and one horribly blurry one which I won't torture you with.

I like this bike mostly because it's a fixie, thats really the key quality here. the color scheme is nice and all and it certainly seems like a wonderful bike, and I like it even though I much prefer fixies with drop handle bars or bars with a slight upward turn at the ends, but really, I'm on a fixie fix (excuse the pun) so I'd likely like it if it were a converted ten speed about 30 years and three paint jobs out of its prime.

So I just finished my first quarter at UC Davis.
I got an A in my Neurobiology Physiology and Behaviour class. about that I'm quite excited.
in my psych class I did alright, in my chem class I did as well as I expected I would do, and in my math class I did horribly.

the fact is that the class was conducted poorly and I understood little of what was going on.
when I did homework I didn't really understand it, and the things we covered just didn't click.

It's looking like I'll have to retake it.
but I think I can inch it in next quarter, and I guess that's what matters. I really hope that it works out better this time, because really I feel bad for my abysmal performance. the truth is I've never done that badly in anything.

I guess there's a first time for anything. But I was hoping that retaking a college course wouldn't be one of the firsts I encountered.

Ghost World

I never pictured myself as the sort of person who would read comic books.
I've always loved books in general. Reading is definately one of my favorite things to do, but comic books never really caught my eye.
About a week ago I saw this article on BoingBoing.net about the release of the first issue of a particular comic for free on the internet. The comic had been out, but the first issue was going to be free for download.
I didn't have all that much to do so I figured it would do no harm to read it (because I do have interest in some internet comics, but that is definately a bit different than comic books)
the comic was called Transmetroploitan. I read it, and it was absolutly amazing. went ahead and found the local comic book store, and picked up a collection of some of the transmetropolitan comics. while there Ghost World caught my eye. I had heard of it (partly because it had been a movie, which I had not seen btw).
I read the first little bit and it looked good but not perfect. I bought it anyway.


I read it just now (I felt quite dorky, though, I cared less and less the more I got into the story) and it was amazing.
I can't even really describe it.
it's not all that involved, and I'm sure I could explain the story fine, but I could never do it justice.

You have to read it.
well I guess you don't have to, but you'll definately be missing out if you don't.

UCLA Tasering Incident

I'm sure that this has been coverd so much in the past week that its nearly up to overload, but as a UC student myself, and having interest in a preventing abuse of power in organizations more wide reaching than the UCPD, this seemed like something on which I needed to post.
It's possible that as a member of one of UCLA's sister universities I have a different view on this incendet. Not meaning that I don't think it's wrong, more meaning that it also makes me feel that perhaps the people who I am paying to protect me (because I am indeed paying this univeristy for all of their services including those of our police force) are more interested in the power relationship that we as students permit them to have, in interest of saftey, than they are in actualy protecting our safety.
That the prime officer involved in the tasering was only suspended, especialy after a long record of abusive behaviour, is an agregious error on the part of the UCPD.
(a list of these prior incidents in which this officer, one Terrence Duren, has been involved is on boing boing)
I had considered organizing protests at UC davis, but upon hearing that an independent investigation was under way ceased plans. Hearing that the only consequence for absuing someone, and threatening the absue of others who object is a suspension, has renewed my desire to protest.
I don't want to, and indeed dont intend to, pay for a police force which beleives itself to be above question.
We'll see what happens.


With any luck we can gradualy weed out all of the Terrance Duren's in our police forces, and stop paying to be abused.

EMT Jobs

It's almost time for me to begin looking for a job. Among other things, that means that I will soon either have to trim or shave my beard, or at least try to groom it. I've been hoping for a serious job on a ALS ambulance, but looking at job openings that seems less and less likely. This summer I'm intending to work (for the last time) at the summer camp I've been working at for the last few years. Taking two months off is not conducive to a good employer employee relationship. For these reasons I may have to take a small inconsequential transfer job on a bls transfer bus. this wouldn't be bad in and of itself because hours would be better and I'd have some expirence to show for future job searches, but it doesn't feel like real medicine. its important to have good transfer services, but that's not what prehospital emergency care is about. I'm not an emergency medical technician to take stable patients from one place to another. I want to deal with real medical issues, and wil trauma, and with darting through trafic at 2 AM with a gunshot patient in the back of my bus. it feels like that would be the best use of my skills, and i'm afraid that a transfer bus might just allow my skills to atrophy.
if I can get a job with a ALS bus, that's all the better, but if it has to be transfer so be it.
I also must say that I don't slight transfer service as unimportant, it's simply not for me.

oh, and incase you didn't catch on bus is the shorter slang for ambulance.

Midterms

You wouldn't expect my posting to go up durring midterms, but somehow that seems to be what's happening.
perhaps more time spent on the computer means more time for procrastination of the blogging sort.
I'm thinking that thats likely the case.

My RSS feed now works

the title says it all.
I have my rss feed working again. there are subscription links on the right side of the screen.
thank you so much for reading.

Eating Red Meat increases risk for a certain type of breast cancer

According to a Harvard run study red meat increases a womans risk for a certain type of breast cancer. this particular type of breast cancer is hormonaly driven.
Red meat has already been shown to contribute to one's risk for colon cancer.
further study is needed to fully coroborate the findings, but it's not looking good for red meat, or those who provide it.

here's the article from MSNBC

"Red Meat May Raise Breast Cancer Risk"

The Communist manifesto in Cartoon form

this is quite brilliant. the imagery works perfectly for the communist manifesto, and I gather that whichever view you take on communism you could see that interpretation from the images.
though I don't beleive revolution is the answer, some of this rings true, regarding the ever present influence of money on our lives. like so many other groups, it seems that the ideas and intentions of the early communists was not flawed, it was simply their method.

my RSS feed's been on the fritz, and I'm not sure how to fix it, as I'm a few years removed from being the computer geek I was.
I'll figure it out I'm sure, especialy as trouble shooting techniques don't change.
hopefully it'll be fully working soon.

After a good book

After reading a bood book there's always that period of time in which I don't do anything.
maybe I'm in deep thought, or maybe I'm not thinking much at all, but either way I do nothing.
there's really nothing for me to do.
maybe I attend to bodily functions... maybe
but beyond that, I don't do anything.

I can't really talk about a good book right after it either, or during it.
It's like I need time to digest it. to fully have it in my gut.
I never feel like I can explain a book to someone, and though I ask the same question of everyone else, I really don't know what to say when someone asks "what's that about?"
Do I go into the plot line, or do I give a short misrepresentitive summary.
I really don't know. most times I choose the lady behind door 2.



It's a bit nice having that block of nothing after reading a good book. I rarely have a block of nothing. I do badly with empty time. I can relax and do things that aren't work, that I enjoy, but I must be doing them.
sometimes napping, or lying about is it's own thing, but really I'm always thinking at the pace of a jet linner. only after a good book and during meditation do my thought's slow to a pace that people would call normal, or if I'm lucky, to slower.

the point behind all this is that tonight I finished reading a good book
it was "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk (the man who wrote fight club)
I had that period of sitting alone content with rather slow thought.
the moment that state left me, I was writing on a napkin about that state. in my usualy quick thinking slightly OCD state.

Classes so far

my chemistry class is killing me. I should be sleeping right now so I'll be well rested for the mid term tomorow.
the fact is that it's not that hard, I just can't stand it. I gaurantee that Organic Chemistry will be better, so will Biology, Physics, and so on. I just can't really abide by this relatively easy, sort of annoying general chem.
it feels so useless. Ugg, I wish I didn't need this as a basis for basicaly the entirety of the rest of my career.


On the up side my first NPB (neurobiology physiology and behaviour) class is going wonderfully, I think I may be one of the only people in the class who actualy understands it. It feels quite good. for our midterm I already took on thursday I didn't really study, I simply helped other people study. I suppose it's a good thing I understand it when others don't as it's one of my majors.

my psych class is good, it's a bit boring as it's research methods and that's not really all that intriuging, but I get to be a research participant (have research done on me) for the class. It's either that or write essays (because it's unethical to force people into being research participants)
It's quite exciting.
a week from monday I have an expiriment, I'm not sure what it entails, but it's relatively long, so I'm excited.

my math class is a bit annoying, and I have no inclination on how I did on my midterm friday, but we'll see, and then I can tell you more.

In a completely random bit of fact.
I still love Julie.
I wasn't sure if that was evident from my last few posts.
I just didn't feel like having my entire blog dedicated to her, because let's face it, that could get really old really quickly for folks who don't know her, and my readership is small enough as it is.