I’m reading this book right now, written by nutzo homo author Augusten Burroughs, called Running With Scissors. It’s written in the ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ vein, which means I like it. Lots of memorable characters and dialogue that is shocking and disgusting. The book is good, but it’s also pretty intense in its descriptions of squallor and various filthy perversions.

In looking at the name of the author, I think back to all the eccentric homosexual people that I’ve known (quite a few actually) and most of them have really unusual names, like Augusten, or Trean, or Milo. I find this an interesting trend.

Side note, my auction to sell my motorcycle jacket has 2 hours left and my reserve is almost met. Hopefully it will sell in a bidding frenzy in the last few minutes.

I just bought 3 tickets to the upcoming Olivia Tremor Control show at the 40 watt. From what I understand, they are playing at some festival somewhere in London I think. In any case, I missed out seeing these guys the whole time they were playing in the late 90s. I always regretted that, and now I have tickets to what could be their last show ever in the states. Needless to say, I’m stoked. It’s not Neutral Milk Hotel, my favorite of all the E6 bands, but it’s really fuckin sweet.

So I have an extra ticket. Brent, it’s got your name on it.

Went out to the Engine Room tonight, found out my old friend Chris Kallio is moving to Charleston. Back in the day, when I was consistently getting fucked up at the ER every day after work, he was the guy serving my drinks. Anyway, he finally decided to break the umbilical cord of Athens and is moving to Charleston. I’m going to try to keep in touch with email. Good luck Chris!

Also, just as an aside, what is the deal with black tank top big boobie bartender at the Engine Room? I’ve never seen her wear anything else. Weird

“The family is looking into whether Thompson’s cremated remains can be blasted out of a cannon, a wish the gun-loving writer often expressed.”

This is excellent. I hope they can do it.

I’m starting to find some good long distance cycling sites. There’s the always fabulous Ken Kifer’s Bike Pages, and I’m turning up more. This one is pretty good too: www.machka.net.

I’m getting pretty excited. I drove from my office to the house taking backroads and found that it’s 8.2 miles to work. That’s an excellent morning commute distance. If I leave my Jeep at the office, I could drive 16.4 miles each day. That’s 82 miles a week, just from commuting, and its really REALLY hilly. Throw in a long ride on Saturday or Sunday, and now we’re talking.

So I need to get in enough shape to make the morning and evening commutes without dying. Right now if I tried, I’d be puking over the side of the Oconee River bridge. I’ll also need to fork over some dough for more cycling clothes and stuff. Right now I’m only equipped for short recreational rides and not commuting.

This is going to be tough, but I’m imagining the sense of fullfillment and victory I’ll have when I can successfully climb Brasstown Bald. I’m not riding it this year but I’m going to take the day off and go up there for the Tour of Georgia stage. I missed it last year. It’ll be cool to see what I’m in for.

Hunter S Thompson is dead.

He killed himself, which is only fitting. I always forsaw suicide for him, with the weapon being either drugs or a gun. He was fond of both.

When I read th.e blurb on CNN’s website, it shook me up a little. I immediately thought of my cousin. It’s no stretch to say that his personal hero was HST. He’s taking it hard, but I think it’s appropriate that he was spending time at a casino this weekend. Not to forget the pain, but to get closer to it. Just be careful you don’t get too twisted

I just discovered this by reading one of my cycling websites. Brasstown Bald Buster Century. I’ve decided that I’m going to do this. Oh, I won’t be doing it this year. A couple of months is not enough time to go from couch potato to Bald Buster. But they’ll be doing it again next year. I have about one year to prepare. 100 mile bike ride, 12000 feet of total elevation. My goal is simple: finish the ride. It will take all year probably to get in shape, but by doing so I’ll fulfill 2 desires. 1 is to get in shape. I’m getting soft and spongy and old before my time. 2 is to ride my bike more. I’ll have to ride a hell of a lot more to be able to do this. My goal is clear. But now I have to figure out just how I’m going to be able to do this. I need a training regimen. Time to hit the internet and find out how to do it.

T-Mobile store? This is what is going in the old Lunch Paper location? What a disappointment! That place would have been perfect for another bar or restaurant. I loved sitting outside, drinking beer and people watching.

I just drove through downtown on my way to the Grit and saw the construction and the stupid T-mobile pink sign. Not only am I pissed because it’s a stupid cell phone store, but T-Mobile is the chief competitor of Postal/Discovery on the bike racing circuit. So screw them.

Damn. Just found out that one of my teachers from ASMS died recently. Dr Dunagan, pot bellied eternal foil of Mr. Murdick. Dr D This sucks.

I was driving home from work today when this guy in a black Civic pulls up beside me gesticulating wildly and yelling at me. I couldn’t hear him because my windows were up and Jeeps are loud as hell anyway. So I roll my windows thinking that I was tailgating him or something and he’s about to scream some shit at me. But instead he says “Erie Pennsylvania?!” He saw my Erie Jeep People sticker in the back window. I almost wrecked into him. We were trying to have a conversation but it didn’t work. He was from Erie apparently.

Anyone remember O.G.Readmore? A cartoon from the early 80s where they would take a children’s book and turn it into an animated dealy? Well, I’ve had an episode stuck in my head forever and I just can’t think of the name of the book. I only vaguely recall the cartoon. Something about a small furry elephantlike creature that could talk who was travelling through time from a prehistoric era. There were some kids and they end up travelling back with this creature. The part of the book that has stayed with me involved all of them being trapped somewhere dark, underground, with these blob like oozes trying to kill them.

If anyone can give me a clue as to what this is, I would be eternally grateful.

Went to the show last night. I was the second one there. My budget was pretty tight, so I drank my allotted 2 beers in the first 20 minutes. I sat and listened to this guy set up a digital recorder. He talked with his buddy for about half an hour about the intricacies of recording live shows. People started to filter into the joint. Then Dave showed up and chatted at the bar. I think he was talking to Pete from the Flagpole. Anyway, he started playing at about 11:00.

I hadn’t heard him play in so long, but he played nothing but Star Room Boys songs. So it was just like old times. Man I missed hearing those songs. If you like good country music, you should make a point of going to Dave’s next show, wherever the hell that is. I wish he still had a band though. or at least an accompanying steel guitar.

The show was great. However, I was practically sober and when I’m sober I can’t fucking stand smoke being blown directly in my face. I also have a near homicidal rage that develops when people in my vicinity are loud as fuck and don’t pay the proper respect to the man or band on stage. So as soon as Dave finished I split. I didn’t get to see the guy that was coming on after. I don’t even remember who it was. Not important.

To sum up: Dave still is the best country singer in town, and one of the best songwriters to boot. Drive by who? Can’t wait for him to get back into performing with some regularity.

In half an hour I’m heading down to the Caledonia to see Dave Marr perform. I’m pretty excited. I haven’t seen him play in years, and never solo. Expect a full report tomorrow.

Got an email yesterday from ASMS. That’s my high school alma mater, the Alabama School of Math and Science. Yeah I know it sounds like an oxymoron. Anyway, they’re having an alumni event in mid march. Three cities in Alabama are hosting them as well as Atlanta. I think I’m going to go to the ATL one. I haven’t seen any alumni in 8 years, with a few notable exceptions. Scott, if you are reading this, you should make plans to come too. Could be interesting. Or it could be a plea for money. Actually, I’m sure it will be both.

Side note, thanks to Jayne for the heads up about Dave Marr’s show Wednesday at Caledonia. I will be there with fucking bells on.

The Eagles lost by 3 points. It was a good game that came down to the last couple plays. I feel bad for Donovan Mcnabb. I really wanted him to win. But the Patriots are just awesome. Judging by the time mistakes made by the Eagles in the last two minutes, I’d have to say that Mcnabb was outplayed and Andy Reid was outcoached.

I mourn the passing of the football season. I now need something new to keep myself busy.

OK, so I’m on the Cloud today. Meghan and I decided to go downtown to eat breakfast, which is a bit of a stretch on our budget this week. We’ve been saving money and paying off debt very aggresively, and we’re pretty tight right now. But it’s a good thing. I love looking at a budge spreadsheet and seeing our debt decrease and net worth growing at a rapid pace. The way I see it, I have one year to plan for just how specifically we are going to save and invest our approaching wealth. For now, I’m sitting at ERC enjoying coffee and Meghan is reading a book called “Running with Scissors”. I don’t know much about this book except Meghan is laughing hysterically at random occasions, and one of the chapters is called “The Masturbatorium”.

I was supposed to go hang with Brent last night but I bitched out on him. He’ll be pissed, but it couldn’t be helped.

Today is the Superbowl. Go Philly! My Steelers couldn’t make it to the big dance, but I’m going PA all the way. (Yes I know they will lose, but I always root for the underdog).

Was waiting for my coffee to be ready and noticed a show poster tacked to the corkboard here at ERC. Some kind of benefit show with Dave Marr and Patterson Hood at the Flicker Bar. It was last night and I missed it. The tix were $20, which is sky high for an Athens show, but Dave Marr was playing! And I missed it! For those who don’t know, he was the lead singer of my favorite all time Athens band, the Star Room Boys. I haven’t heard him sing in three years. Actually I didn’t know he still played, but now that I do, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for his shows. He always used to play every year at the Merle Haggard birthday party tribute. My cousin Jay might know when that is. Any idea?

New food note: Ate this morning at 5 Star Day cafe’s brunch. It was ok, but the portions were small and the grits had the consistency of sand. But the service was excellent and the sweet tea kicked ass. That goes a long long way.

Time to go look in windows with Meggie.

I bought a ton of these at the store the other day and have been eating them. I can feel the caffeine coursing through my veins. Ok, this week is going by fairly quickly. I can say with certainty that I’m looking forward to the weekend. I don’t understand it, but this has been an insanely busy week, with no sign of letting up. Except for the approaching weekend that is.

My old boss Tom and my friend Nick may be coming to town for beers on Saturday. I’m pretty excited about this. I haven’t seen Tom in like 3 or 4 years. And then there is the Super Bowl to consider. The weekend should be nice.

God I’m tired. I’m going to bed.

The best show on TV right now is House. Have you seen this? It comes on Tuesday nights at 9:00. I usually hate medical shows. This goes all the way back to Rescue 911. I really hated that show. Shows like ER, where a million things are going on at one time really can’t hold my interest. This one is different though. The main character is very compelling. Anyway you should watch it.

As an aside, the Geico Tiny House commercial is the smartest commercial I’ve seen in forever.

Picked up a copy of 4 Wheeler magazine and found something awesome. Every year they have a competition called the Real Truck Challenge, where guys bring in these super modded off road vehicles and get to try to break them. This year they have a new version called the Real Truck Club Challenge. This time, a 4wd club gets to enter a vehicle. This vehicle has to meet on road requirements. Basically it has to be fairly ordinary, no crazy mods. Anyway, my old 4wd club, the Erie Jeep People entered and won! I was pretty happy for them. Here’s a link to the EJP site: ErieJeepPeople

They were very friendly to a newcomer to off roading. I had a blast with them.

So I successfully elimanted (for now) the crazy online poker spam I was getting. But now the clever bastards are hitting me with Trackback spam. I’m not 100 percent sure what the Trackback function does, but I think it has something to do with keeping tabs on who is linking to you. Anyway they are now bombarding me with that crap. I tuned my site again and we’ll see if it works.