Green Hills of Africa

"We tried to take pictures but there was only the little box camera and the shutter stuck and there was a bitter argument about the shutter while the light failed, and I was nervous now, irritable, righteous, pompous about the shutter and inclined to be abusive because we could get no picture. You cannot live on a plane of the sort of elation I had felt in the reeds and having killed, even when it is only a buffalo, you feel a little quiet inside. Killing is not a feeling that you share and I took a drink of water and told P.O.M. I was sorry I was such a bastard about the camera. She said it was alright and we were alright again looking at the buff with M'Cola making the cuts for the headskin and we standing close together and feeling fond of eachother and understanding everything, camera and all. I took a drink of the whiskey and it had no taste and I felt no kick from it.
"Let me have another," I said. The second one was alright.

Not a bad read if you feel you might never have the chance to go to Africa and kill big animals like Hemingway.

thank you minneapolis

though i can't imagine minneapolis will ever read this, thanks guys. just rode over from you to st. paul, and the experience has made it abundantly clear that you care more about your biking community than your twin city.
"bike lane?" said st. paul. "no, we don't have a bike lane in the winter."
"though it's not perfect, at least we're gonna try to plow the bike lane for our two wheeled comrads," said minneapolis.
and so the two cities differed.
there's nothing like riding in the dark as far over as possible on marshal ave, sometimes on the inside solid bike lane line, sometimes just on a bunch of snow, while cars creep snugly by you. thanks for not hitting me.
summit ave? even worse. rode on the dumb side walk.

winter is upon us

do you love your daily commute?

we never did see lake agnes

I went backpacking last weekend with my brother, Tyler, and my friend Eric on the Superior Hiking Trail. Woodpeckers, chasing the sun, hot water bottles, frozen water bottles, fantom bodies, amaretto, visible breath, smoky campfires, and the benefit of the doubt that those prints in the snow were left by foxes. The leaves were off the trees, allowing us to see deep into the woods and Lake Superior off in the distance. Things were just cold enough.

compare and contrast

i was looking at some old photographs i had taken today, and found some intriguing similarities. i don't know what this is supposed mean, but it might be fascinating. more on this at a later date.