Do You Smell That?

Ah the sweet scent of playoff hockey! Dallas whipped up on Phoenix the other night with a 6-o victory. With that win they clinched a playoff berth. The Stars are battling with San Jose and Anaheim for the lead of the Pacific Division. Maybe I'll get some Stars boxers for the Cup run.

Karate Hand Luke & Philo Beddoe

Woke up had some Grape Nuts. Started my day. Called Brandon to borrow a headset press, fork crown setter, cutting guide, and some American hex wrenches. Rode my grocery bike over to Walgreen's to buy some charcoal lighter fluid. Busted open my Tofurky Beer Brats. Lit the coals and sat down to watch George Bush and Nancy Pelosi duke it out verbally on CNN. Brandon showed up with the tools and my Kona Unit 2-9 painted green. Thanks Brandon for making my bike look incredible. But for right now I am feeling a bit Surly. The Kona is going to wait to be built up. Put the Brats on the grill. Started building up my Karate Monkey and flipped the channel to AMC. Cool Hand Luke was on. I decided if I had a son I would make him watch it and then have a discussion about it afterward. The movie was the pefect sound track to Monkey building. The Surly built up real nice and carried me into Any Which Way You Can. I ate the Brats with grill softened onions on some buns with mustard. Drank a couple of ice cold IBC's. Put some platform pedals on the KM and zipped over to Ozone to grab my birth certificate, which my mom sent priority mail. Showed the bike to co-workers. Fucking bike shop dudes. They always grab at your brake levers or second guess your building ability. But I could tell they thought it was snazzy. Rode back to the Speedway Post Office. Stood in line to submit my application for a passport. At this point I came home. It was warmer inside my house than outside, so I hopped on the KM again and rolled over to Clown Dog to hang out and show my new bike and apologize for being a drunken ass Friday night. Cruised home. I forgot what a cool fucking bike Surly's Karate Monkey is. I'll have pictures up soon.

Mustard Stout

I was at the grocery the other day and came accross this stuff. Taste kick ass on my smart dogs. I should tell The Hot Dog KIng to keep some in his van for me.

I think I'm Going Japanese

My sister is leaving Japan and asked me if I could take a week off to help her move. So I'm going to Yokohoma for a week in April. Woohoo!

Stars Sweep The Kings

Dallas Stars sweep the L.A. Kings. Eight games, 16 points. Next stop, Division leading Ducks. God! I can just feel the playoffs coming. This is the best time of the year.

S. E. Racing 29" Stout

As the title of this blog includes Cogs and Stouts, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention this bike. The theme is pretty cool, but already to many companies making a better thought out alternative. No sliding dropouts or eccentric bottom bracket, no integrated bottle opener, no rack or fender mounts, no funky cool handlebar. Oh well, a missed opportunity.
The Stout is an aluminum 29'er with horizontal dropouts, no disc tabs, and a chromoly fork. I already own a Kona Unit 2-9 and have a Hüsker Blü Karate Monkey on the way. I'll stick with what I have.
Well S.E., kudos for the effort and the other beer bikes: The Lager and Draft.

Monkeylicious

Ordered and on the way.

SXSW '07

Went to the Hydrahead Records showcase at the EMO's annex (usually where a taco stand is most of the time). Suffered through the band Oxbow and an acoustic set by some artist whose name I would find out if I cared. Next up was Daughters from Rhode Island. The music had the sound of a carousel spinning out of control in a psyche ward. The vocalist was a highly energetic malnutrioned son of G.G. Allin who enjoyed spitting on himself: into his pants, onto his face and eyes, and dangling it from a string above the audience. Still quite enjoyable. Big Business took the stage. A dude with a fro and an excessive beard. He was wearing a black panther shirt and ripped at the bass like it insulted his grandmother. The drummer understated with what appeared to be gardening gloves wrapped with duct tape. Later in the set a guitarist joined them to fill out the already overwhelming sound. Holy shit! Very powerful set. Next was JESU. Really heavy, really boring. At this point the HOt Dog King down the street was calling. We ducked out to eat. The King had a Queen to help him for the night. I aske for onions while my buddy was ordering the dogs. She barked at me as if she worked for SXSW or something. All was cool. We went back to the show. Now they had a SXSW girl working the door. She informed me I didn't have the appropriate stamp to get back in. I showed her my stamp and she informed me that was for over twent-one and I would need to pay 15 bucks to watch the last band in the tent. Fuck that. We opted to listen and watch them from outside. Pelican was the last band an instrumental band. The were excellent, but I really prefer my metal with a voice. The night was done for me and my back and shoulder were worn. I hopped on bike and rolled home.

Tonight I'm going to see Public Enemy and tomorrow Mastadon free shows, but I have VIP passes. We'll see what that means.

Modano Scores His 500th

Mike scores his 500th career goal. Mike picked up a rebound off a John Klemm slapshot. The goal turned out to be the game winner as the Stars beat the Flyers 3-2.

New Sweater

Okay so this new buying gig at the shop is addictive. I was special ordering a bib for a customer when the sales rep asked if that was all. Damn my weakness. Fortunately the evenings are still chilly enough to enjoy this really comfy wool sweater.