2016 - I Have More Thoughts

After some time to reflect, here are 10 things I think; 5 good, 5 bad. 

Five Reasons President Trump Will Be Just As Bad As You Think: 

1. Emboldening the Nutjobs.  This is likely to be the worst of the whole deal.  It's not even about anything specific that Trump does or will do, just a general environment and attitude that makes racism and xenophobia OK.  The only way to combat this is consistent, loving but firm application of values of inclusiveness.  It's gonna be tough, but potentially also rewarding (more on that later). 

2. Immigration.  Of all the crazy things Trump has said, the one he probably will follow through on is immigration.  I don't think the next 4 years will be a good time to be an immigrant.  Unfortunately, he doesn't even need new laws to do this; there's a reason they're called illegal immigrants.  This is sad, and one can only hope there will be some restraint. 

3. Climate Change.  There was already plenty of reason to be afraid that we weren't doing enough, fast enough, and that's only going to get worse under President Trump.  My only hope is that market forces will rise to the challenge, and solar/wind/renewables will be able to genuinely compete in an open and free market. 

4. Iran/The Middle East.  I think he is actually going to follow through on dropping out of negotiations with Iran and taking a hardline, which is terrible, terrible news. 

5. Corruption.  Trump just doesn't seem to be too concerned about the truth and about propriety.  I fully expect there to be nasty scandals and a lot of really shady goings on. 

Now, Five Reasons Trump's Presidency Won't Be As Bad As You Think (And Might Even Be Good): 

1. Infrastructure.  I think Trump's first act will be to invest heavily in infrastructure, a la the CCC.  This could be a really good thing; we need more jobs, and we need better bridges/roads/internet access/etc.  This could be a really great win-win. 

2. The "Austin Effect".  Having lived in both Portland and Austin, one thing I noticed is how fervent and ardent liberal support is in Austin.  I attribute this to the siege mentality in Austin; with so much conservatism around, you never take anything for granted.  I think this Trump moment is a galvanizing wake up call for people that really care about a kind and generous future.  If there is any good news, it would be if a new movement of people who refuse to regress is sparked. 

3.  Russia.  You may feel vaguely uncomfortable watching Trump sing the praises of Putin.  But, taking a step back, it is genuinely a really good thing for the world if US-Russia relations improve and normalize.  Like it or not, I think the one area where we can say Obama really did fail is in understanding Russia.  Consider the opposite: the continued drift towards a renewed cold war.  I don't think that would have been good, and now maybe it won't happen. 

4.  LGBTQ issues.  I'm not saying Trump is a great guy.  Deep in his heart, he might be a weirdo.  But publically, at least, his administration should actually be an ally for most LGBTQ causes.  I feel - perhaps naively - that we have turned the corner on LGBTQ issues, and there is no turning the clock back.  I don't think even rural America cares much about this issue; they just want jobs. 

5. The Inevitable Moderation of Reality.  We are already seeing the moderation of Donald Trump.  Call it "being presidential" or just the business smarts to be magnanimous in victory, but Trump has already dialed down the rhetoric a ton.  I was drawn to Guiliani's quote when asked about putting Hillary Clinton in jail: "If it isn't as bad as some of the exaggerators think it is, then I think the best thing to do is forget it and move on."  Or how about Trump meeting Obama in person and talking about how much respect he had for him?  Look, the guy might be slimy, but he isn't stupid.  He's not running for president anymore, he *is* president.  One can hope he is at least somewhat sane. 

2016 - I Have A Few Thoughts

I have a few thoughts.  You will forgive me if I take the time, right here at this moment, before the actual outcome of the election is known, to share my thoughts.  In this pregnant space we have time for reflection, and I find myself reflecting on two things.  These aren't new things; I've written about them here before, but they seem more relevant now than ever before.  Here's the short version: compassion.  One, for yourself, and then two, for other people.

Here's the long version: first, I am reminded of a conclusion I came to a while back: invest time and thought in those things you can affect, that affect you.  Some people call this "think globally, act locally".  Others use the Serenity Prayer.  The concept is the same: when you ego attach to things you can't control, you give up your power over your own life.  For myself, this realization came through sports.  For years, I was a diehard Rice Owls fan.  I lived and died by their football team, and to a lesser extent the baseball team.  I agonized over every game, poring over statistics, sucking down news reports and podcasts.  I invested in their successes.  And there were some; the 1994 victory over Texas (a 100-1 chance).  The College World Series.  Sadly, though - at least for me - the Rice Owls have never been terribly good at sports.  This is quite sensible; Rice is a great academic school, and the student-athletes spend more time being students than athletes.  One day, I was watching a game - I can't ever remember which - and I literally began having heart palpitations.  I was so tied up in the outcome I couldn't breathe.  I hung on every play.  They lost that game, and in that moment, that mattered to me very deeply.  I was sad; distraught.  I felt awful, like the world was a random, cold, unfeeling place.  You may laugh, but if you know any sports fans, you know the feeling.  And then - quite suddenly - I had a realization: I wanted them to win, so badly, but there really wasn't anything I could do.  I was powerless.  I wasn't playing.  I was watching other men play a sport and allowing that to decide my happiness.  And I decided - right then and there - I would never do that again.

So as this election trundles to its completion, I am reminded of that version of me, watching other people do something I have little to no control over, and attaching my happiness to the result.  I am not suggesting that one should not get involved in politics, nor that one should not buy an occasional ticket to a Giants game.  But the things that matter are the things happening right here and now; your breath in and out, your family, your job, your community.  Those are things worth getting upset over.

So that's point one: don't get attached to things you can't control.

Point two: compassion for others.  I've written about this before in this space.  We have been so lucky the last 8 years.  We've seen amazing progress: a black president, marriage equality, an attempt at universal healthcare.  Those of us "on this side" see this as the march of progress: of a civil society improving itself, of the rule of logic.  But there are many who do not agree.  And we have been unkind to them.  And now we reap that fruit.  When people are angry, it does no good - in fact, it does a great deal of harm - to deny them that anger.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again: you cannot legislate away racism, or hate.  You cannot outlaw bigotry.  That is dangerously close to using hate to wipe away hate, and that never works.  You will only convince someone to stop being racist by showing them the love of someone different than them.  You can only stop bigotry by showing the virtues of a life of acceptance.  If you pass a law that says "Thou shalt not be a bigot", you do only two things: sow future disobedience, and incite anger.  Am I saying you should allow people to be bigoted at the expense of others?  No, I am not.  But my focus is not on the bigot; it is on the person.  If you don't accompany that law with a serious helping of kindness, love and acceptance, it will never stick.  These "people", these "Trump supporters", they are people just like you.  They are my parents; they are quite possibly your parents.  They are real.  They are sad.  They are upset.

Let me tell a brief story; it's a silly story, which maybe will lighten the mood.  I used to work on an online video game for about 3 years.  It was a silly little thing, but it brightened the lives of about 200,000 people.  Did it matter in the overall scheme of things?  No, I suppose not, but then, what does?  It mattered to these people.  Often, things would happen in the game, that made the world unfair; that benefited some people to the exclusion of others.  Some people would get upset, and sometimes, we - as benevolent despots - would act to try to make the world "more fair".  But I noticed something: the people that got the most upset - always - were those whose (quote, unquote) "unfair" advantage were taken away.  They would get mad, rage, quit.  I remember us shaking our heads, alone in our ivory towers, at how selfish they were; at how much superior we were, intellectually, to them.  I regret that, now.

Working class white people, most of them uneducated, and especially the men, used to be kings in this country.  Perhaps that was unfair.  You may argue that it was, and I would agree with you, but it's not my opinion that matters.  We took that from them, and many times, we were not kind when we did so.  We pointed the finger at them, and called them names: racist, bigot, old, washed up, stupid.  We laughed at our intellectual superiority.  And now we are surprised that they do not like us.  That they think we're dishonest, crooked, shifty.  They don't understand the world they now live in.  It confuses them.  They feel a sense of loss.  I know this because I know some of them.  I met one just yesterday, the man who dropped off my storage crate.  He told me he was really wanted to vote for Trump, but he didn't like his policy on global warming.  He was conflicted.  He seemed like a nice guy.  He was upset at where the country was headed.  He might be a racist; I don't know.  I guess I might be a racist too.  Maybe, as the song says, we're all a little racist.  I don't think I'm better than that guy, and neither does democracy.  We both get a vote.

So, my point: kindness.  Compassion.  For everyone, including racists.  That does mean we don't stop fighting racism tooth and nail.  But it's the racism we're fighting against, not the racists.  Racism is an act, but racists are people, and I don't fight against people, I love them.  Some of you will get upset at this: you will say that this seemingly blase and nuanced attitude is just white privilege, that I can afford to be so cavalier about racism because it doesn't affect me directly.  But I am not cavalier about racism; instead, I am ardent about kindness.  I don't forgive racism, I forgive the racist.  I will fight against bigotry, but I will not fight bigots, because it is the wrong thing to do, first and foremost, but also because - as we now see in this election - it is counterproductive.  Making people feel bad about themselves never helps anyone, in the long run.

2016 So, I'm Moving

It's always a bit odd to just kind of announce this sort of thing.  It's a bit presumptuous because it assumes that any of you out there in digital land would be interested.  But I regard the blog as a record of some of the momentous moments of my life, in addition to other purposes, so I felt it was worth commenting.  It felt a bit odd not to.  So, yes: I am leaving Portland, for the sunnier climes (figuratively and not) of San Diego.  There are many reasons for this move.  The most immediate reason is that the company I've started working for - Experiment 7 - is coalescing their headquarters around San Diego and have asked me to move there.  Also very much on the list, though, is my commitment to fitness and the outdoors.  I find increasingly that thoughts of the rain and grey weather up here in Portland are dominating my experience.  There are lots of great things about Portland, but I think that, in the end, it's just not for me.  I don't honestly think that I'm quirky.  At least not in this particular way.  I think I enjoy being fairly run-of-the-mill and achievement oriented.  I like original thought, yes, but I don't really know that I enjoy being super weird just for its own sake.  San Diego may come across as dull, but if that dullness means that I get to run on the beach in 65-degree sunny weather every day of the year, then, I don't know - maybe bring on the dull?  We shall see.  Either way, I'm excited about this change.

If any of you out there have any San Diego tips or tricks or know folks down there, I'd love to hear from you!  I'm still actually looking for a permanent place to live, so if you have leads on that especially I'd love to hear.  And you can look forward to a lot more from me about fitness in the near future once I'm down there.  Which should be soon; the goal is to move in just a couple of weeks!

2016 My Constant Companion - Orlando, FL

This weekend I spent time with my family at The Boardwalk, at Walt Disney World.  Sometimes, when I meet folks, like for example on a date, I tell them that I've been to Disney World about 50 or 60 times - which is true - and they infer from this that I'm a big Disney fan.  And this is somewhat true as well.  I do enjoy Disney.  They do such a great job of making me feel welcome and safe.  But what most people don't understand is that, for me, Disney World - and the Boardwalk in particular - is the most constant thing in my life as an adult.  About 15 years ago, my family purchased a timeshare down at Disney.  They lived in Jacksonville; I was already an adult and out of the house, living in Austin at the time.  I didn't think much of it; it seemed like a fun idea.  I didn't know it would grow to be a center of the memories of me and my family.  Not much in my life has been constant.  I got divorced and went through a series of short relationships.  My parents moved; first to Texas, then back, then California, then back.  I have no childhood home and few childhood friends.  I, myself, moved - first to New York City, then San Francisco, then Portland.  The fact is, my longest memories right now are of being at the Boardwalk.  I can vividly recall getting in a fight with my ex-wife and taking a nap on one of the hammocks over by the Swan.  I remember standing on the bridge near the Yacht Club with my brother when we screamed in the face of a hurricane.  I remember taking my friend Jamie to see the christmas lights at Hollywood Studios.  I've slid down the face of the clown more times than I would care to count.  I met a diehard Republican college woman in the hot tub one time and we're still Facebook friends.  I went on a date in downtown Orlando with a woman who was trying to break into the singing business.  And Disney World and the Boardwalk are where I finished my bike ride in 2014.

Point is, memories.  They're important and, as silly as it sounds, for me this is where they live.

2016 Training Day 4

I'm eager to get back into the blogging.  I've been missing it; I just got distracted by other things.  Today I ran 13.1 miles, or a half marathon.  At least, I ran the first 11.1 miles; I let myself do some walking the last two.  I've really been trying a new approach of, instead of beating my head against brick walls, trying to actually train to my current level, which is why I let myself walk.  I had 6 "easy" miles, meaning that, while I was working, I didn't feel stressed about it.  Then I had  "medium" miles where I could feel the load.  Then, there were 3 "hard" miles where I was struggling, taking me up to 11 miles.  But at that point we were getting into "very hard" terrain, where I'm actually hurting myself.  Unless it's a competition day (and maybe not even then), I'm going to take it easy at that point.  It's not training at that point; it's just self-flagellation. 

2016 Training Day 3

5.3 mi run, 58:31. 

Today sucked.  There's no way around it.  I set out to run a 10K and try to beat my time from the day before yesterday.  Instead I ended up completely gassed by mile 4 and then walked another mile or so and had to basically throw in the towel.  Days like today are tough for me to take.  I feel like a sham, like I'll never get there.  Self-esteem becomes an issue.  But there are things to be learned.  I learned that I need to ramp up my miles slower.  I also think I need new running shoes; I've been trying to limp by (no pun intended) with my old crappy ones, but it's perhaps time for new ones. 

2016 Training Day 2

38.5 miles biking, 187.9 lbs. 

I can already tell that the biggest obstacle to training is going to be prioritization.  Out on the trail, one of the best things is the clarity of purpose.  Riding is priority #1; everything else has to come second.  Today I had a million things to do and it would have been easy to just not ride, or ride shorter than what I had in mind.  But training is priority #1; everything else has to come second.  I rode along the Springwater Corridor; it's a great bike path.  Except I got stung by something right on the head!  5000 miles and only one sting; first time back and I get a big welt on my scalp.  Oh well! :) 

2016 Training Day 1

6.2 mile run in 55:19.  Weight 185.9 lbs.

So, I contemplated what I should do with this blog now that the Pacific Coast trip is over.  And I concluded that what I really wanted to write about was my training.  Fitness and training are becoming more and more important in my life, and I think that reading about others' work is inspiring, so why not write about mine?  It does double duty as a way to inspire me to get out there; the blog will be really sad if I don't!  I realize that reading about me traipsing around Portland may not be fascinating, but hey, I'll mix in some interesting tidbits about gear, philosophy, etc., and maybe even some photos when I do travel. 

For now this is just a placeholder.  Day 1! 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 30 - Carlsbad, CA

As my trip sails off into the sunset, both literally and philosophically, it's tempting to indulge in a bunch of silly philosophizing and over dramatization.  But the truth is, even though some important things are happening, it's not about individual moments, but about trajectory.  It's human nature to assume that today, as a transition day, is somehow more important than other days.  But it was always about the journey and not the destination.  The fact that I am flying today from San Diego to Portland is just that, a lone bare fact.  Absent the context of this amazing journey it wouldn't mean much.  And so my focus is on that journey.  I am so happy that I went on these trips.  I am so grateful to that person who stood in front of the Bend Public Library and agonized over failed relationships, failed careers and the trajectory of a life headed down and had the courage to stick to the decision to head out on a bicycle.  I feel a debt of gratitude to the person that worked those extra months in San Francisco, when I didn't want to be there.  Who took a devastating breakup, 3 separate moves and some health issues in stride and just powered through.  I could have given up - and in fact in 2015 I did.  But this time there was no giving up.  And the trip was everything I could have hoped for.  After the first trip, I felt like I was part of a family.  But after two trips, I feel like I am part of a community.  There is no question that this is now the most important thing in my life besides my family.  This organization - Bike the US for MS - is amazing and Cassie and Don and everyone are to be commended.  But it's the larger community of distance cycling enthusiasts that I'm really excited about as well.  There is so much more to do - the Ring Road in Iceland, Bike the UK for MS, the Northern Tier, the Souther Tier, the TransCanada road (have you heard about this? It's 22,000km long with no cars), biking around Australia, etc., etc.  And racing: STP, the TransAm Bike Race, weekend fondos and smaller events.  Triathlons, too.  Maybe even one this weekend! 

The larger point is, this isn't an ending.  It's just a new beginning. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 29 - Huntington Beach, CA

Today we return to the travelogue portion of our trip after some diversions for philosophy and other esoteric topics.  Yesterday was my last day riding for this Pac Coast trip.  :(  I'm driving the Rest Stop Van today and tomorrow morning I fly out early to head back for Portland and my "real life" (whatever that means!).  But as a parting gift California treated me to one of the more serene and beautiful days riding I've ever experienced.  Most of the route from Santa Monica down to Huntington Beach is bike trails.  I had always thought of LA as ugly.  And, to be fair, the portion of time we spent along the LA River was, in fact, ugly.  But that was the only ugly part.  The rest was wide open beautiful white sandy beaches with a thin bike path snaking through them.  It was unbelievable.  There was also some kind of Beach Volleyball competition happening in Hermosa Beach.  The women were perfect, model quality women literally just frolicking in the sand.  It was like a Beach Boys song came to life.  I was impressed to say the least. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 27/28 - Santa Monica, CA

A few days back, Grant said something interesting, which was that while he was on his tour, one of the cyclists had a strong anti-religion stance.  But during these trips, we spend a lot of time in churches; they donate the space, they donate meals, they are extremely kind and caring and generous.  And so it was interesting for this person to watch that.  And I find that I'm going through something similar.  I wouldn't say I have a *strong* anti-religion stance, but definitely I don't have much use for religion in my life, and I have some negativity around it from growing up Catholic.  I think, to be honest, of it as a bit silly, a bit intellectually and emotionally lazy, and sometimes as judgmental and divisive.  But this trip definitely has softened that feeling, or at least augmented it.  Perhaps I still think all those things above, but you have to admit that churches and religion do a lot of really great work.  I have lamented - not for the first time - the lack of a strong parallel organization that isn't about religion but still does good work.  There are such things, but definitely - at least in this country - if you want to do good, you often end up being involved with religion.  Anyway, I have no conclusions for you, just interesting thoughts.

2016 Pacific Coast Day 25/26 - Goleta, CA

I don't honestly have that much to write about today; I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  We're biking through some beautiful country.  Today and yesterday were both easy centuries.  That means I biked 100 miles both days.  (OK, technically today I've only done about 97 but I'll get there as soon as I get back to camp).  The fact that I can even utter the sentence that biking 100 miles was easy should indicate how far down the rabbit hole I've gone.  But really they were; beautiful weather, tailwinds, relatively flat, great support.  Today I was in a pace line with Mike and Jake.  Easy! 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 24 - Monterey, CA

Yesterday we rode into Monterey.  I was driving the rest stop van but it was a short day so I got to drop the van off and get on my bike and ride back up the beautiful beach path that you see below.  Bike paths really are amazing. 

One of the things I've realized is that I really have to be in the mood to blog, or at least to blog well.  My schedule has gotten a bit off which frustrates me but when I try to force it, it just doesn't work.  Yesterday I sat down at a restaurant and I was starving and I wanted to blog but I basically just had to wait until I'd eaten or it was no good. 

Nutrition has started to become an issue.  I've been feeling the money crunch and so I've been doing...nutritionally unsound things.  :0  And my body is starting to get fed up with me (fed up, get it??).  When I get back to Portland I've got to start upping my nutritional game so to speak.

The views down here really are beautiful. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 22-23 - Santa Cruz, CA

Yesterday was a very nice, if relatively uneventful ride into Half Moon Bay.  We got to explore a lot more of HMB than I ever had before, usually I just drive through.  And last night was, of course, our "Brom", or Bike Prom.  The only thing I have to say about that is that I once again feel so incredibly grateful to get to hang out with such really cool people and have so much fun.  It was just a really fun time.  Today we headed into Santa Cruz - another really nice and uneventful but beautiful ride.  The weather is finally turning warm which is great. 

This afternoon I really wanted to go out to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and ride the rides, but nobody else in the group wanted to do that.  So I did it anyway.  One of the really important things I have been learning is how to have fun on my own.  Don't misunderstand; I would rather be with other people and have a long term relationship.  But sometimes that just isn't going to happen.  Even people in relationships sometimes have to spend time apart.  And I used to be very bad at spending time alone.  But I've been getting better.  I had a great time, by myself, riding exactly the roller coasters that I wanted to ride.  And if I got some funny looks as a single 39-year-old dude, oh well, that's those people's problem. :) 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 18-21 - Olema, San Francisco

This is the longest time I've gone without updating my blog.  My apologies to all my readers; I really intended to make this a daily affair, and so far I've done well but the last few days threw me off my game.  Which is not to say that they were bad days at all.  The first two days were riding days, and the weather was somewhat wet and uninspired.  I ride well in weather like that but I find it kind of unpoetic.  Then we showed up in San Francisco.  There's a lot I could say about the first day in SF.  I volunteered to take the whole crew on a guided bike tour of the city.  It was really fun but definitely exhausting; 14 egos on 14 bikes!  But everybody was cool about it.  I got them to explore some of the sights that people don't usually see, like the Sutro Bath ruins.  Then yesterday was a day off, so I got to see Star Trek with my brother at the new Alamo (it's really nice but the food is expensive).  I wish I could remember more details about the ride but it's all a bit foggy (get it?).  

One thing that's been really nice is discovering/re-discovering how much I genuinely enjoy helping people.  I've had a few opportunities over the last few days to really get to help folks in small ways on the trip, and it's fun to find that you're a good person and that you enjoy it.  It makes me feel really good about myself.  One day we had a minor issue while I was riding and I ended up having to man the rest stop and make cocoa for people and boost their spirits.  I've never thought of myself as much of a cheerleader but I really enjoyed it.  And taking people through the city was fun; I liked the responsibility, I enjoyed being the leader, and I really liked having people say how much they enjoyed it. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 17 - Fort Bragg, CA

Yesterday was a fun day of riding.  Long, and occasionally cold and wet but a good solid day.  There was a traveling musical act on bicycles that we played leapfrog with all day.  And delicious Mexican food for dinner.  I rode most of the way today with Alex, my new Captain Canada friend who wore a big Canada jersey all day for which I gave him no end of crap. 

One of the things that came up today was Buddhism.  We've crossed back into Mendocino county and so we're back in the territory of the Marin/Sonoma/Mendocino Buddhist enclaves, and we passed our first one today.  Buddhism weaved it's way into and out of the period of time I spent in SF, at least the last half.  For a while I was really into it.  I never considered myself a practicing Buddhist and I don't think I ever will, but it resonated with me - and helped me - more than my childhood Catholic training ever did.  I took bits and pieces from it, which Buddhism encourages you to do (unlike Christianity).  To me, Christianity is like a really nice restaurant where you order off a limited menu and then the waiter tells you that wasn't what you really wanted and recommends something else.  Eventually you probably get something tasty.  But Buddhism, to me, is the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.  You don't even have to know what you want to eat, just that you're hungry, and then they put all these dishes in front of you and say "well, what do you feel like eating?" 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 15/16 - Redway, CA

My apologies for not updating yesterday but we had no internet access and also things got a bit crazy.  We rode the "alternate" route down to the Lost Coast through Petrolia.  It was an amazing and awesome experience but also quite challenging (as many awesome experiences are) and it may take some time to process.  It was a very challenging two days for my team, a lot more challenging than we've had so far.  I think that in the long run they will all look back on it as their favorite part of the trip but there's no question it was a challenge.  I ended up having to rescue someone from off the road at about  7 pm after hammering 11.5 miles back to camp to pick up the van.  (Their back brake was messed up).  It was a difficult road which I highly recommend for anyone experienced in cycling but for the same reason wouldn't recommend to any beginners.  Mostly the issue was that the road quality was really torn up which is something you have to have some experience to deal with.  However the road was amazing and the views were incredible.  I didn't take many pictures because we were so focused on getting the job done but I'll show you what I have.  I enjoy being out on the road so very much.  Today after our long 80 mile ride I got to play miniature golf in the dark at the RV park for free and drink a beer and it was paradise. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 13/14 - Arcata, CA

Big props to Thermarest, who came through for me today by replacing my old Bas Camp sleeping pad that had sprung a leak with a new fancy ProLite version, for free.  I know I've been talking a lot about gear lately but when you live with this stuff you start taking it seriously and even getting emotional about it.  :)

It's been really cold and foggy, so I've had a chance to think about the eternal question: too cold, or too hot?  I think I"m in for "too cold".  I mean, it is annoying to be freezing.  I don't like it.  But being too hot really saps my energy and makes me not want to be active, which is a no go. 

I have this dream of making clickable versions of all my blog posts so that you can just go to a map and click around and read the post for wherever I was that day.  We'll see if it happens! 

2016 Pacific Coast Trip Day 12 - Elk Prairie Campground, CA

Today was a nice mixed day of climbing and flats traveling through the northern CA redwoods.  I had some serious issues with my derailleur, both rear and front.  One of my life goals is definitely to get to bicycle repair school; I'd love to know more about what's going on. 

Speaking of knowing more of what's going on, I kept thinking today about my little eTrex 10 GPS.  I spend so much time staring at the little numbers going up and down, both the distance and the elevation.  I was particularly curious about the elevation part - how does it know?  I had always had this erroneous idea that it used the coordinates to look up your elevation on a map but I realized today that would never work and it must work some other way.  And so I read the Wikipedia entries (side note: is any modern invention better than Wikipedia?) about GPS and how elevation works.  And, having read it, I have only this to say: science is basically incredible.  When you read how it works - and you should - you will basically say "no f'ing way".  Reading the description, it's like "that should never work".  But it *does*.  It works so well they can put it in a watch.  It works so well they can sell one for $50 that works within 13 feet.  It works so well that everyone has one in their cell phone.  But it's insanely complicated.  It relies on things like the speed radio signals travel in our ionosphere (whic, it turns out, changes all the time because of weather and god knows what else).  It relies on fractions of a nanosecond timing and the position of 4 out of 24 satellites hurtling through space 20,000 miles up.  If you start to think too hard about it your brain literally hurts, and yet it's one of the most reliable inventions of the modern age. 

It almost makes me want to work for a GPS company. 

2016 Pacific Coast Day 11 - Crescent City, CA

Yesterday I stopped by a Mexican grocery store.  There is nothing particularly notable about this grocery store.  It was at the corner of Sarina and first somewhere in between Coos Bay and Crescent City.  There was, and is, a nice little tree of some sort in the front where you can sit on the ground and eat.  The only things remarkable about this grocery store is that I stopped in the same place on the way north in 2014.  So I stopped again when I saw it.  I bought some food and sat under the tree and ate it. 

Things are special not so much because they are intrinsically so but because we make them so.  Poetry may be in the universe, but certainly we are at least the lens to focus it.  My life is stronger and more meaningful because I rode in 2014, and then acted on that to change my life in a way that made the ride in 2016 possible.  And even though I am the same, I am different, and so that little market is different - through no fault of their own but only the growth of the observer.