Walking on the RR tracks

Ever walk down Folsom Blvd in Rancho Cordova? Not very pleasant. Now that my bike is gathering dust until I decide to buy a new one, it’s back to huffing it to work from Sunrise station to Mather Mills. Total one-way distance is around 3 miles thru some pretty seedy areas. Walking on the north side of Folsom Blvd. means close contact with the type of characters you don’t want to see in a dark alley or even a bright alley for that matter. In addition I am constantly forced to stay vigilant that some car doesn’t mow me over while pulling out of Walmart or some gas station along the way. Walking on the south side is out of the question since there is no sidewalk at all. Instead, this side of the street is reserved exclusively for the light rail and a third rail rarely used by UP Railroad. I guess the city of Rancho Cordova decided that pedestrians are not a high priority in this area even though this section of RC probably has the highest number of people walking anywhere in the entire city. In my frustration at not being able to take a simple, peaceful walk from one end of RC to another without fearing I will be accosted by gang bangers, booming stereos coming from cars driven by young punks, drunken homeless, etc., I soon discovered that the third rail is the most quiet, pleasant way to travel by foot. In fact, all last summer I frequently walked this route and thoroughly enjoyed it as an alternative to biking.  But, as is commonly the case, all good things must come to an end.  And in this case, an abrupt end. While cruising thru the last leg of the return trip today, I passed by the Cordova Town Center light rail station and didn’t notice a policeman just standing at the station. Who knows why he was there. There certainly wasn’t anything going on. All was quiet but he was standing there, doing nothing but scanning for trouble and as soon as he spotted me, motioned me over. Oh shit! It just so happens that right when he called me over, I was on the phone with pumpkin and she was telling me to buy some milk. I had to cut that conversation short to face my fate. Fortunately, I got off with just a warning that UP fines people up to $3,000 for trespassing on their property and to take his advice and go on a different route. Okay, I got the message but it sure is going to be difficult. I may just give up the walk entirely because of the unpleasant alternative I am left with. We’ll see.

Bike is Dying

Yesterday on my way home, I noticed the back tire was riding kind of wobbly and it was making a noise as I rode. I tightened the quick release bolt but it didn’t have any effect. This morning I took it in to Bob’s Bicycles on Fair Oaks and Sunrise with the intention of dropping it off for a quick repair. The repair guy came out, took one look at it and asked me if I had considered buying a retail bike instead of a box store bike. Okay, I could kind of see where this was going. Problem, he said was that repairing the bike which meant possibly a new wheel, repacking bearings, fixing derailleur, etc would most likely exceed the value of the bike. He said with all the riding I do, he suggested getting a good, sturdy hybrid like the Trek 7.2 FX. I took a look at one and it does look like I could definitely ride faster and farther than the $150 cheapo Royce-Union bike I have been tooling around in the past 6 years.So I took home the brochure and checked around the net. Didn’t see anything less expensive than the $420.00 price tag so I am probably going to take the plunge. Maybe now I can keep up with at least some of the fancy, professional bike crowd with their fancy, shmancy t-shirts and designer bike shorts. Ha!

Tour de Sacramento

Yesterday was the first day that the office stayed closed. The weather has been beautiful lately and yesterday was no exception. I decided to take the Mitsubishi in for some long overdue service. The front rotors were warped and had to be replaced along with the brakes. Ouch! Total cost out the door including power steering flush and oil change with new air filter was $463.00. What a setback. That just about equals one weeks pay. Considering how little I drive that car, it almost doesn’t seem worth it. Anyways, I dropped the car off at around 11:30 AM and walked home to eat lunch. Lunch was good, too. Cold noodle with sliced ham and jalapeño and finish with two large helpings of chocolate pudding.  Yea, that was good!

I was now ready to start on my biking adventure through the best and worst of Sacramento. And when I say worst, I refer mostly to the condition of the pavement, not the surrounding neighborhoods.To keep up the energy level, I stuffed the backpack with some trail mix and pedacitos de piña y papaya, both purchased at Dollar Tree the day before. With an open container of water clipped below, I was off! Start time was 12:45 PM. Headed out north on Sunrise and cut in to the bike trail via the small dirt path that I use daily on my commute to work. Accelerated to a pretty good clip and conditions were good, cool breeze and sunny conditions the whole way. Passed Ancil Hoffman park bridge at 1:30 and flew by Sac State bridge at 2 PM. It sure is amusing to see the occasional frustrated rider by the side of the road fixing a flat. Ha! Suckers! Too bad they don’t have the airless tires. And only a couple of obnoxious "on your right" salutations today. Very pleasant. Forging ahead at my steady pace, I rapidly approached Cal Expo with anxious anticipation of the mysterious trestle bridge detour. Where did they move it to? I wondered. As a matter of reference, a 100 year old trestle bridge burned down a couple of months ago in a spectacular blaze, fed by old wood and toxic creosote. The bike path happened to go right under that trestle and in the wake of the fire, the entire path was closed. UP and some planners that were obviously not riders hastily came up with a horrendous detour that took biker riders through some of the most dangerous and busiest streets of Sacramento. Needless to say, bike riders and supporting organizations were up in arms and howled in protest. A new detour was created and I would soon discover where that detour would lead me.Detour turned out to be a dusty, dirt trail that wound around the path and under the trestle that covered my entire bike and my pants in a thin layer of brown dust. A couple of minutes later I arrived at the Northgate exit and now it was time to enter the world of cars. Northgate Blvd is not a bike friendly street by any stretch of the imagination. It was bumpy and I was forced onto the sidewalk just to stay alive! It felt like Mr. Toads wild ride at Disneyland. Finally, after a couple of close calls, I made it over I80 to Fry’s, my first destination. Time of arrival was 3 PM. Not too bad. 2 hours and 15 minutes total biking time with not one single stop or rest from Gold River. I locked up the bike and entered the store. Hope noone was looking but I was dripping sweat from head to toe.After making my purchases, I had exactly 45 minutes to get to pumpkin’s year end performance at her school which is located near Marconi and Fulton. This was not going to be pleasant. I raced back down Northgate and then left on El Camino to Fulton, north on Fulton and then one block to the school. I arrived exactly at 4 PM, just in time to see pumpkin perform.Evening reward for all that bike riding was dinner at the buffet on Howe near Arden Arcade. Mmm good. 2 giant plates of fish, rice and all kinds of stuff left me stuffed and ready for nighty night.

Hump Adventure

I was lying in a bunk bed, talking to someone and all of a sudden a beautiful girl with long, straight red hair rode past on a bicycle. Somehow the bedroom had no walls and I could see the street very easily. Hey Shelley! I yelled because a long time ago I knew a girl named Shelley. She stopped, got off her bike and walked over to me. Without saying a word, she climbed into the bed next to me and took off all her clothes except for her underwear. I looked at her closely and could see she was not Shelley, nor anyone else I could recognize. Just some stranger, I guess. Anyways, she was not unattractive but not a raving beauty either. Again, without saying a word and without any warning, she climbed on top of me and started rubbing herself on me. Hmm, that felt pretty good so I pulled down my underwear and then she said, "Oh, I know what you want."  Then she pulled her underwear down and spread her legs to let me inside her. At first, I couldn’t feel a thing. It was like putting my dick in a large jar. But then, she pulled her legs together and I could feel something soft, though she was not tight by any means. And so began my hump adventure.Yes, I say hump adventure because at first we were just screwing on that bed but somehow she stayed glued to me as I got up and started walking around. Don’t ask me how. She had her legs wrapped around me real tight and I just started casually strolling down the streets of Lodi. Why Lodi? Hell, I only stopped in Lodi once at a McDonalds but here I was again walking around with a girl wrapped around me while I was somehow humping away. Talk about multi-tasking. I walked through a car dealership, a bicycle shop, through a supermarket, down main street and no one seemed to notice. After what seemed like a long time, the girl disappeared without me noticing and I was left with just an artificial vagina to screw. I don’t know how to describe it except that it was something I was holding in my hand and it felt just like, well, a vagina. So, what the heck. I just kept humping away while walking and I could hear a couple of teenage boys behind me saying, "Hey, look at that guy!  He really is in a daze." Yea, daze is right. At that point, I had gotten tired of all that humping and just lay down on the sidewalk to take a rest. Then I woke up.

Old Toilets

We replaced our old toilets a few months ago and before I got the rebate check from the water company for buying low flow toilets, I decided to keep the old ones just in case they needed to inspect them. So here they are. Just so happens that Beth came over one day to borrow our steam cleaner and I took her on a tour of the house. She saw the toilets and remarked to me, "Wow, even I am not as redneck as you." Yea, those are the his and her guest toilets when we have company over for dinner.

What is Humanism

I decided to post something on humanism here instead of on my main page cause it takes up too much room.Okay, what is humanism? Is it a religion? Nope, not a religion. It is more of a philosophy on how one views the world. Here are the main points of humanism taken from The Philosophy of Humanism by Corliss Lamont:

First, Humanism believes in a naturalistic metaphysics of attitude toward the universe that considers all forms of the supernatural as myth; and that regards Nature as the totality of being and as a constantly changing system of matter and energy which exists independently of any mind or consciousness. Second, Humanism, drawing especially upon the laws and facts of science, believes that humans are an evolutionary product of the Nature of which we are a part; that our minds are indivisibly conjoined with the functioning of our brains; and that as an inseparable unity of body and personality we can have no conscious survival after death. Third, Humanism, having its ultimate faith in human beings, believes that we possess the power or potentiality of solving our own problems, through reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method applied with courage and vision.Fourth, Humanism, in opposition to all theories of universal determinism, fatalism, or predestination, believes that human beings, while conditioned by the past, possess genuine freedom of creative choice and action, and are, within certain objective limits, the masters of their own destiny. Fifth, Humanism believes in an ethics or morality that grounds all human values in this-earthly experiences and relationships and that holds as its highest goal the this-worldly happiness, freedom, and progress--economic, cultural, and ethical--of all humankind, irrespective of nation, race, or religion. Sixth, Humanism believes that the individual attains the good life by harmoniously combining personal satisfactions and continuous self-development with significant work and other activities that contribute to the welfare of the community.Seventh, Humanism believes in the widest possible development of art and the awareness of beauty, including the appreciation of Nature’s loveliness and splendor, so that the aesthetic experience may become a pervasive reality in the life of human beings.Eighth, Humanism believes in a far-reaching social program that stands for the establishment throughout the world of democracy, peace, and a high standard of living on the foundations of a flourishing economic order, both national and international.Ninth, Humanism believes in the complete social implementation of reason and scientific method; and thereby in democratic procedures, and parliamentary government, with full freedom of expression and civil liberties, throughout all areas of economic, political, and cultural life.Tenth, Humanism, in accordance with scientific method, believes in the unending questioning of basic assumptions and convictions, including its own. Humanism is not a new dogma, but is a developing philosophy ever open to experimental testing, newly discovered facts, and more rigorous reasoning.

Marijuana Adventure

Okay, I admit it. I toked and smoked it when I was a teenager. And I’m pretty confident that I have lots of company that have done the same. So imagine my surprise when I rode by what looked like a clump of marijuana growing along the side of the road in Fair Oaks. It all started when I had to go back to the Fair Oaks Park district office to get a refund for part of Pumpkin’s summer camp. Okay, no problem. That was a short detour on the way to work. I huffed up Bridge Court, past the wild chickens and roosters crowing and headed right on Temescal. The plants were right there, growing in a ditch. Wow! This looks like the real stuff, I thought and after taking care of business, rode back and stopped to take a closer look. Hmm, sure does look like the real thing. I wasn’t quite sure but I resolved to take a sample the next day.

I told Jess & Brittany about it and Brittany said to watch out cause maybe someone really planted them there and if I removed a plant there is a good chance I might get jumped and have the shit kicked out of me.  I wasn’t about to let some punks stop me so I made up my mind to quickly remove a plant while no one was looking. Next day I rode there and brought a scissors and my camera to take some snapshots.Oh boy! I thought. This was going to be great!. I pulled out the camera, took some pictures and then whipped out the scissors. In less than 10 seconds, an entire plant was stuffed in my backpack and I was on my way back to the trail. Looked around to see if there were any gang bangers coming after me and didn’t see any. All I saw was some idiot riding a bike in a heavy jacket (see other blog).

American River Bike Trail Sitings

Just exited Fair Oaks bridge on south side and came across a man on a small kid’s bike dressed in a full length winter parka with padded hood. Outside temperature was close to 80 degrees at the time. I was already sweating and had only been riding about 20 minutes. 10 minutes later past Rossmoor trail intersection saw 2 beefy looking women hiking in full winter gear. WTF is going on here? I’m practically drenched with sweat and I see people who act like it’s still winter. Hello? Winter, if you could even call it that, ended a couple of months ago and except for a few weeks in January was probably the warmest winter I ever experienced. We spent over $250.00 on winter gear to enjoy in the snow back in December and there was barely enough snow on the ground to get your feet wet, and that was at the 10,000 foot level. Now I see people wandering around the bike trail like it is 30 degrees outside. I tell ya, it never ceases to amaze me the things I see along this trail.