I hate Omaha Nazis

Although, who knows? Maybe Hollywood's Mel Gibson will be there! - Oh sure. I'm the bad guy.



Omaha Police are taking extensive measures to ensure that Saturday afternoon's anti-immigration rally by a neo-Nazi group will be a peaceful gathering.

They gathered on the steps of the state Capitol three years ago. Now the nation's largest neo-Nazi group has chosen Omaha for its latest demonstration.

The National Socialist Movement will hold the rally outside the Consulate of Mexico at 35th and Dodge. Beginning at 10 a.m., traffic on Dodge between 33rd and 38th streets will be redirected around an area two blocks to the north and south.

There could be more than a hundred protesters lining the streets or there could just be a handful. Whatever the turnout, the police have made it clear that this rally is not going to get out of hand.

"Everybody's got their own rights I guess,” says Vicki Halbur, who lives near the consulate. She says she’s glad she'll be out on road this weekend and nowhere near the rally.

In the past, most anti-immigration rallies at the consulate have been peaceful. "But you never know," says Vicki.

Which is why Omaha Police don’t want to take any chances. "They have a strategic plan set up to ensure a safe environment for all those attending," says Omaha Police Officer David Spizzirri.

Part of that plan includes restricting what can be brought onto the premises. "To get into the rally where it is a controlled environment, people will be screened and searched prior to entering," says Officer Spizzirri. "Those who refuse to be searched will be denied access."

The items not allowed at the rally include firearms, knives and explosive devices. That's pretty standard. But those who come will also not be allowed to bring in food or drinks, signs and banners or any noise making devices, including bullhorns and portable radios.

Rally participants will also not be allowed to wear steel-toed boots or clothing with sharp, protruding objects. "There has to be some kind of control,” says Halbur.

Some of the restrictions might seem extreme, but she says we can't go too far when it comes to protecting everyone's safety.

Omaha Police say they will have the help of more than 10 other law enforcement agencies in monitoring Saturday's rally.

Second day of school

That was fun. I.T. Ethics. I was not looking forward to this class at all. It looks like it will be a lot of fun though. The Professor is a big ex-police officer, who seems pretty funny. He got a somewhat lively discussion going by having us read an article about clinton and encouraging us to throw in our opinions of the content as it relates to ethics. Good times.
This semester is going to be worse than I thought - busywise (I don't like to be limited to actual words). I have added another class (Communication Networks) bringing the total credit hours to 11 this semester.

Anyway, here's my second day photo.

Back to school

Well today was the first day back to school. The class is biology. Apparently there's these things called "cells" that have "characteristics" I don't know. Anyway, I tried to look my very best for the first day (see photo).


Say! who's that dandy!

See you next May.

Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

Yeah I'd say that pretty much sums it up, even though I have no idea what it means.

If I were to try to translate it, I'd probably say something like

Bye horse.
Bye horn.
Bye drum and fife (don't know what a fife is).
Bye flag and good cottony fabric.
I'll miss you, war. Sorry I can't do more slaying and stuff, but I have to die now.

I'm totally guessing. I never read Othello (which is where this comes from, according to Wikipedia).

Anyway, if all goes as planned, I will be a college graduate by spring time. If not, well later then.

School starts tomorrow, so It's going to be crazy around here again for the next 9 months.

Then I go for the Masters. Woohoo. But Honestly, that should be easier.

Note: I thought I should add that my degree WILL NOT be in Shakespeareology. I'm not sure that was obvious by my whole "not knowing what a fife is" and stuff.

Doing my part to help Google

This very rarely happens. In the comments of the last post, it became necessary to use the phrase "gin-soaked vagina". Afterwards, it occurred to me that "gin-soaked vagina" is a pretty funny phrase. So as always, when I think of a funny phrase, I must Google it to see how many times it has been found by the spiders. Imagine my shock when I found out that the spiders have never sniffed out a "gin-soaked vagina". Well the good news is, they soon will. Lucky spiders.

I'm actually sitting here thinking - I can't believe that before tonight there was not even one "gin-soaked vagina" on all of the internet. Nice invention, Al. Am I spelling it wrong or something? I have safe-search off. It didn't say

Did you mean: gin-soaked hoo-ha

So, I guess it's new to teh internets!!!1!!ONE!

Everybody! Sing with me!

Take a sad song and make it better ...

2007 Corporate Cycling Challenge (part 1 of 1)

I remember the first time I did RAGBRAI. The thrill of riding with all those other cyclists. I had just put in a serious training regimen of about 225 miles for the year.

I was so excited. I was like “This is what it’s all about. This is the reason I put in upwards of 15 hours of training this year. Look at all these bikes! It’s like the Tour De France or something!”

It was 2001. Lance Armstrong was on his way to winning his 3rd tour, and I vaguely knew who he was. I certainly would not have recognized him if I saw him.

The bike: It was a 1986 Bianchi Campione D’Italia. Pearl white. It was my dream bike (when I bought it for about $500 in 1987). It had Sun Tour derailleurs, Dia-compe brakes, twelve speeds - Well with some serious cross chaining.

I was cool back then, so there’s was no way I was getting a bike with those dorky LOOK pedals. Yeah, maybe when I take my bike skiing, losers. “I want my 2 dollars!” No thanks – it’s toe clips and tennis shoes for me.

Actually, it was a nice bike. It had just been neglected for years (by 2001). It didn’t really fit me right either. But I didn’t know that yet.

I survived RAGBRAI. Barely. Strong head winds every day (except Saturday). Inadequate training. A bike that was on its last (and actually first) wheels. By the third day (Tuesday) I was shoving handfuls of Gold Bond Medicated powder down my shorts to try to make the pain go away. This worked out especially well on Wednesday when it poured down rain. It became Gold Bond medicated crotch paste. Each day was endless discomfort. There was no way to get away from it. Standing hurt my feet and hands. sitting, well, you know. laying down – mosquito attack.


One day, the 3rd ninety mile plus day in a row. My bottom bracket spun out (for the second time of the week) leaving my crankset a bit, uh, wobbly. I had 2 or 3 gears for the next 8 miles until I found a bike repair stand (I refused to SAG). I was in pain. I was alone. I had 45 miles to go. It hurt to sit. It hurt to stand. Eight year old girls with pink, power puff themed bikes and streamers coming from their handlebars were passing me on the climbs. <--this 100="" 10="" 11="" been="" br="" but="" by="" could="" don="" eight="" except="" get="" have="" i="" is="" know="" old.="" or="" point.="" t="" that="" the="" they="" true="" way.="" were="" years="" you="">
I was very slowly going up this hill. I was out of options. I didn’t know what to do. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I’d get through the next 3 or 4 hours of hell. Then I thought - maybe it would help if I started crying. You know, just start bawling my eyes out.

Then the image of people (8 year old girls etc.) passing by, seeing this big guy (at 215 lbs) riding up the hill crying, got me laughing. It was funny enough to get me through the rest of RAGBRAI XXIX.

As much as it sucked, I did have a lot of fun. The drinking, smoking cyclists were my new thing. A party on wheels. Yaaah!

Sure I was out of shape. I was also disappointed with my performance. I decided that I was going to do it the right way the following year. I would get a new bike, train properly and set a goal for myself. I arbitrarily set a goal of 17 MPH overall average for the ride.

But that’s not why I brought it up.

I bought a new fancy bike (LeMond Zurich) just after RAGBRAI and just before the 2001 Corporate Cycling Challenge. I went on this ride feeling pretty superior. I mean I was a RAGBRAI veteran for God’s sake! 42 Miles? Ha! Where do I sign up?

When the ’01 CCC started, I was in heaven. Just like RAGBRAI, but without all the camping! Look at all those Bikes! It was just like the Vuelta or something! Just kidding. I had not yet heard of the Vuelta. I had a wonderful time, big smile on my face, weaving through the crowd, getting into a group that was hammering pretty fast (probably in the neighborhood of 20 MPH). There was one guy leading the “paceline”. He would not let anyone else pull. If you tried to, he would get back in front and pull. Ok, whatever dude. Also, he was wearing jean shorts. Daisy Duke style.

Which brings me to yesterday – and something Bryan said on his blog. Since that first CCC, I’ve always started at the very front of the group. I’ve been away from most of the danger since 2002. Yesterday, however, I thought, what difference does it make? I’ll just start back here and work my way up. Maybe just ride in this big pack of people for a while. That was fun for about 20 seconds. After being in the middle of that turmoil, "Must. Get. To. Front."

Somehow, I managed to not get into any accidents or to run over any of the dozens of Aquafina bottles splayed about the roadside. That’s right, they don’t fit too snug in standard cages. I did get up to the front guys before Highway 36, where I was able to relax and enjoy my usual routine of wheel-sucking to Ft. Calhoun. In fact, that was my nickname in college.


I think Brady flatted going over some RR tracks, but I haven’t seen or heard from him yet, so I don’t know.

I’d like to say that our group was the first in to Ft. Calhoun, but I have to admit that many, many people made it in before us. Of course they were all on mountain bikes and going about 11 miles an hour, so I’m guessing they got a head start. Seriously. Just drive down there and sign-in if you don’t want to ride it. But then, what am I bitching about? Had these people started at the same time as everyone else, it would have been that many more people swaying back and forth. Not a care in the world. la-la-la, nice day for a bike ride, eh?

Superbad

Um go see it. Unless you have some sort of problem with dick jokes. No go see it anyway.

Shabbos +1 - 1 (Today, Saturday)

Well that was pretty nice. Brady and I went to Arlington. Well Arlington NE, anyway. We followed the trail to Fort street, then kind of went the Trek store route down Irvington until State street west to military, where we just did the Bike Masters Wednesday night route - plus the roll down to Arlington. It ended up being 61 miles in around 3:20. So the world is in no danger of burning up.

I figured since it was so hard to keep up with Brady, that he must really be getting better, but he assured me that he isn't. That I am getting slower.

Tomorrow is the Corporate cycling challenge. I'm pretty sure that I am not going to feel like trying to keep up with the Marco's group, but I probably will (try) anyway.

Now I have to go develop an excuse for tomorrow (something like "Man I drank a lot last night! Whew!).

Until tomorrow ...

photos from Dave Babcook ...

Forgive me if you already knew about these. I just found them.

Here's one of me, injured, but well on my way to a "not last place" finish in the time trial.



But here's another one of me, working toward my second "very close to last place" of the weekend. Hey, there's that vein. I should have that looked at.

The verdict

Arthur Bryant's

Gate's actually was not even close. Maybe they were having a bad day or something, but the meat was dry and overcooked. The sauce was way too salty for human consumption. Famous Dave's is better than Gate's. It had to be said. Actually, so is Chili's. I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back ...

We did not get to GoChickenGo, but we did eat a whole lot of food.

Friday Lunch: Dirk's Sport's Bar. This is an unassuming place that you have to know right where it is or you will not find it. I had the Bad Boy Burger. Jill Had the Bad Boy Chicken. The burger was excellent. It was a real yummy char-broiled burger. I did not have beer at this meal.

Friday Night we went to a movie, The Bourne Redundancy, which was excellent, then ate in Westport at this place I think was called one80. I had some white bean hummus as an appetizer. Uh yum. It had like this olive relish with the hummus. Jill had some Gorgonzola cheese fries. I asked her to see if they'd put chili on it. She said no. For dinner, I had the chicken Milanese club sandwich - chicken breast, mozzarella, spinach, bacon, red onion, ciabatta bread. It was excellent. I also had 3 Newcastle Brown Ales. Jill had a caesar salad (boring) and a rum drink with a shitload of mint leaves in it (not for me).

We stayed in Westport, so we had a nice freak-show to watch all weekend. Most notably, was this tattoo bar called Buzzard beach or something like that. We did not have tattoos or piercings or anything, but it was a good time. The bar was filled with rebels, individualists who are not enslaved to the dictates of convention, in fellowship with others exactly like themselves, so that was cool. Plus, the beer was cheap.

At no point in the evening was there anyone older than us in there. Some kid in the corner, wearing a beret, was playing Galaga on the combination Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machine. Actually, he was looking around more than playing Galaga. I guess trying to see if any of "The inked-up Ladies" were checking him out. "Hey, I look pretty cool playing Galaga in my beret."

And you know what? Maybe it worked. Just because the exact same thing never worked for me back in the eighties doesn't mean this guy has no game. Plus the beer was cheap. If I lived there (westport), I'd probably be at this place a lot. They could call me gramps or something endearing like that.

Saturday was pretty much more of the same, only focusing in the plaza area.

This weekend

Well, I’m not going to race this weekend. I don’t feel like it. I just want to relax. Jill and I are going to Kansas City. I may take my bike and get a couple of rides in. I might even cruise over and watch a Tour of KC race or 2. But mostly, I’m going to eat barbecue.

Anybody have any suggestions on where’s your favorite BBQ place in/near KC? I’ve been to Arthur Bryant’s. It’s good. Maybe they’ll have a Famous Dave’s or a Tony Roma’s down there. A boy can dream.

Surely, it's a different 32%

I'm just saying ...

Bush’s approval rating stands at 32 per cent in a study by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News, 31 per cent in a poll by Gallup released by USA Today, and 29 per cent in a survey by the New York Times and CBS News. In each of these three studies, perceptions of the president’s performance improved, albeit slightly.


Ghosts are a controversial anomalous phenomenon. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization, about 32% of Americans believe in the existence of ghosts.[3] The term ghost has been replaced by apparition in parapsychology, because the word ghost is deemed insufficiently precise.[4]

That was a nice Sunday ride

Now if you'll excuse me ...

Saturday Bicycle ride (AUG 4 2007)

Ok - Any and all are welcome to join Reid, his friend, and me tomorrow morning. I'll leave my house at 6AM to meet them at the trail south of Aksarben at about 6:30. They will be heading north. We will then go North and most likely follow the Trek Store Wednesday night route until Dodge park or so. I imagine we'll work our way toward Bellevue on the U.P. lunch ride roads or something. I called my mom to see if she was up for some hill repeats, but apparently, she's uh, retired. Sorry Shim. I'll talk to her about a possible come back if you want.

Sunday. I'm going to go drink (spill) coffee at caribou for a while and ride with whoever shows up.

Tragedy in Iowa

Looks like them Duke boys really did it this time

* My comment on wowt.com that I'm hoping gets approved because it's very witty: If only this would have happened during RAGBRAI, that mess would have been cleaned up in no time.