Help Me to Understand...

I'm pretty confused...I'll be straight out with it. I was seeing this girl...this amazing, beautiful, sweet, intelligent girl. Things were going great, so I thought. Then it all seemed to change up, like the flip of a switch. Suddenly, she decides that "she's not in the right mind frame for a relationship." This comes out after telling me how she told all her friends about me, told her Mom about me, sent me emails about how wonderful being around me seems...The reason I'm confused is because I shared all the same sentiments and actions. Being told one thing, being drawn in closer and closer, then being shut out for no apparent reason. Now I'm not the kind of guy who hates on women. In fact, I love you ladies, for real! The fairer sex, for sure. But come on, help me out here a bit. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but sometimes I really don't understand why or what you're thinking, and sometimes I don't think I ever will. So what's the deal ladies?

Finally Healed...

My piece has finally healed and I've finally taken the time to shoot decent photos of it.

Wednesdays Project...

Among getting a bunch of stuff crossed off the list of things I had to get finished, I still had some time to build up a couple of mallets for bike polo. These suckas are tall-boys! Standing at a towering 3 and a half feet tall, they should fit taller riders like myself fairly well. No more having to lean waaaaay over to try and strip the ball from opposing players! Can't wait to try 'em out on Sunday.

Farewell!

Last Sat night I got up with the Tyrant crew to wish amazing artist/human being Shawn Hebrank and his wife Merril farewell good luck in their new adventures out in Minneapolis. We swung by Bar to get the fun started, then headed over to Rudy's for the festivities. Highlights include, hanging with great friends, the frite Nazi, randomly running into Drew and some of the EC Scorchers, the class of 60-something reunion???!!!, Tony going bonkers...


-Jason at Bar.


-Merril, Shawn on the far right. (I forget the name of the guy in the middle).


-A study in focus...


-The drink of choice for the evening...

After this, it suddenly became the Tony Tyrant show...bonkers is a good word to describe it all. I think we thought we were going to get the boot at one point in the evening.


-Tony playing the ATM?!?...


-...Doing his monkey impression....


-...ummmmmm...yep.


-...getting ready to rumble with the dip-shit who was trying to lay claim to the pool table...fisticuffs were almost thrown...


-...we just about ended the night here...there's video of Tony doing some kind of weird, interpretive dance with a crazy light show in the booth here...

Fresh Ink...

I went and sat for some ink today with the infamous Shawn Hebrank. After about four hours, we were done. My only regret is that I hadn't sat with Shawn earlier. There's definitely something to be said for a guy who can make you laugh so hard you cry while he's drilling you with a tattoo gun! I'm super stoked on the finished piece! Here're some photos of the process...Oh yeah! Went to the Hartford Crit on Sat. El Bobo raced...came in second in his Jr's race and then hung with the big boys in the Elite Men's race...Adam Meyerson killed it! Check it:


-Peleton


-I think Aidan's in this photo...


-One of the NERAC boys d-ing up on the competition.


-Shawn deep in concentration...


-Finished outline.


-Dropping in the color...telling me some ridiculously funny story, I'm sure...


-The bloody, swollen, finished version...I'll have better photos when the swelling subsides....

T-Town Swap...

Went to T-Town on Sat for the Spring Bike Swap. Had a great time and awesome weather...the swap was standard swap fare...meaning that folks had loads of cash and didn't want to spend it. Saw plenty of crap...a few cool things. Took some photos. Had some bets going about hip-packs so I thought it'd be appropriate to share some photos...


-80's shirt? Check. Dungarees? Check. Hip-Pouch? You better fuck'n believe it.


-Utility belts aren't just for super-heros anymore! They're also for hipster, messenger wannabes. Bathing is out this year too, ditto for laundry....wait a second....is she wearing fucking gaiters??!!!!


-You can kinda see the hip-pouch on this one....you can also kinda see 'Brodie' across the way. Brodie was in the space next to us and he was heavily rep'n everything that is so very wrong with the bike industry today. I think he was pissed that he was missing his frat brother's drunken-sororoity-molesting-barbituate-induced-barbeque. So he made up for it by getting pissed by 9:30 AM, wrestling with his co-workers, and taking a piss in broad daylight in the 1.5' tall bushes behind up. Keep up the good work douchbag!


-Check out the pouch on this fella. It's kinda like a kangaroo or marsupial....radness....king of the pouches. Can't mess...


-It's not a pouch...but when was the last time you've seen a sock for your dreads? Me neither.


-When you're crammed into a 2x4 space for 6 hours on the road, you've got to find creative ways to sleep. Hans, gett'n his snooze on....or vainly trying to end his life because he's had enough hanging out with these dirtbags......

T-Town...

Going to T-Town tomorrow for the annual bike swap...should be a good time. Heading down with Karp and Hans...the last time the 3 of us teamed up, there was non-stop laughing for the whole trip (except when we were eating...too hungry to talk!). Should be a good time. Photos and stories to come soon....Oh yeah! This is pretty late, but congrats to Ken and Dana who now have a beautiful baby girl to add to the mayhem on the homefront!

Damn Kids!

Went out and shot some vid / photos with Tony T and Pete K. Pete's come a long way from the kid who was asking me how to do skids to throwing over-the-bar-cross-foot 360 skids....fuckin' kids....shown' up an old man! I sucked ass, but had fun. Tony'll probably have some photos and maybe a video up on his blog. Check it out!

eh?

This is what happens when bike punks show up to the prom...


-photo by Kelly Jensen

'What'd You Do Last Night?..."

...is commonly overheard at the shop in the mornings. This is what a couple beers and some time on your hands yields...with the added reward of a falafal at the end. Enjoy.

cold weather sucks...

I think I'm having a bout with 'Seasonal-Affective Disorder" or whatever the heck it's called. Every morning I ride to work leaves me in a sour, bitter, cursing mood when I arrive. It's almost mid-April...time for this ridiculous cold weather to fucking end so we can ride in shorts when we get out of work! I'm fucking moving to Cali....BWAAAHHHHHHH!

Mellow Night Out...

Because tomorrow is Easter, a few of us decided we wanted a nice low-key evening out. I met up with Tony, Tina and Shawn and headed down to the Elm City for some Falafel and a few beers @ Rudys. We were back before midnight....plenty of time to sleep before heading to see family for Easter tomorrow.


-Tony Tyrant.


-Tina.


-Shawn.


-Almost finished...


-Freshly devoured.

Photo Dump....

Here are the photos I've been meaning to put up over the past few weeks....enjoy!

UConn B-Boy Battle:








NY trip:
-Went to NY last weekend to hang out w/ Ma Dukes and relax a bit. Random snaps I took...most whilst driving...






-I remember when this used to be forest....


-On the way to Ma Duke's house...






-The road I used to live on...






-Heading back home....






-this is one of my favorites...

After getting back to homebase, I screened up a couple of limited edition Ghostship bandanas. One for myself, and one for the winner of the New Haven April Fool's Day Alleycat. Bandanas are made from scratch on a heavier cloth than what you'd normally find (bandana-wise). Excellent for keeping the cold out of your lungs during a ride. If you're interested in one, let me know. I don't have much material left. The next batch will be a larger run and probably be a little different.

Great Rides....

I had the greatest ride tonight. Went hard for the past 2 nights so I decided to take it easy and do a simple recovery ride. Rode for only 1 hour and kept the HR down and pedaled SUPER easy. It was the warmest it's been all year (around the low to mid 60's). By the time I got out, the sun had started it's downward trend towards setting and there was a soft breeze blowing. Cranked up the Ipod and listened to Heavens...I don't think there was a more perfect album I could have listened to this evening.

I love feeling the cool and warm air swirling around each other at twilight. It's an amazing feeling to be at the bottom of a hill (slightly chilled) and feel the air temp warm up and change as you ride up. That combined with the glazed over sunset made for an amazing ride. The only thing that could have made it better would have been not seeing a soul in sight. Can't always have what you want. Spring smells are beginning to come out...the days are getting longer.....

Pop-Lock...

An eventful weekend! FTE punk rock craziness on Fri night, and a rad B-Boy battle up at UConn last night. My homegirl Ginger let me know about the battle that went from noon to midnight! I showed up after work in time to catch the crew finals and the pop-lock finals. The pop-lock finalists were unreal! They ran about 5 different 'final' battles before they could choose a winner. It definitely wasn't an easy decision. Mix in work (the busy season is here!!!), and a lack of sleep. Went for a two hour ride after work today...was pretty damn cold! My legs were cramping because of the cool weather. An overcast, gloomy New England day. Typical. Just wait 5 minutes....I'll have more photos up later this week.


-During the crew finals. Managed to get a few shots in before the nazi-mc yelled at me to put the camera away. I find it humorous that the people involved in the hip-hop community weren't standing up to the guy acting as the authority figure telling everyone what they couldn't do.