ahhh.

So I pulled the bike out of the spare/junk garage where it has sat all winter, plopped the battery back in and started her up today.

It was exciting. Always is.

We had a really nice day, so I figured I may as well get a quick ride in and then cleaned it up a bit when I got back.

It's amazing to me how good the first ride feels. The entire bike feels incredibly fast, powerful and nimble which I guess comes from months and months of sloppy driving in a car.

I mean, my bike is hardly a jacked up racing bike, but it sure felt like it today. I don't want that feeling to wear off.

During the winter months I made the decision (and it was also made for me) to stick with this thing another season despite toying with the idea of upgrading.

I haven't really pushed it or gone any great distance and I really want to do that this summer. to put the bike through its paces, I guess you could say. I don't know that anyone would consider it a long distance type bike, but I'll go for it anyway. Maybe I'll strap a full jerry can to the back and just fuckin' go for it.

Tentative plans are to solo it to the south. I really want to see the badlands of Alberta, Drumheller and beyond. Crazily enough, unlike (seemingly) everyone else in this province, I've never been through the area.

Also wanting to head north, though... so it's kind of a toss up at the moment

All I know is I actually want to get out there this time.

sidenote: fucking hell did these sanding trucks lay down a lot of shit this winter. My paved subdivision road could be mistaken for loosely packed gravel at the moment, and every intersection seems to be a mess of tiny death trap pebbles. It makes me nervous as hell on a bike, so leaning into a turn is impossible.

It needs to rain like crazy for a few days to clean this shit away.

AND it's so dirty!

Last night I was pretty bored and decided to sort through my massive collection of change that has shadowed me for years.

I don't know if you guys are like me, but when I come home from work or errands or whatever, I toss my change with the rest of it and it just sits there.

A few weeks ago I picked it up (that massive Oilers thing was so full it was jammed) and realized I wanted it gone, for no other reason than it just sits there. It's not even about wanting the damn money.

I also had another cookie tin jammed full, so I dumped it all out tonight.

And you know what? fuck change. This stuff is fucking useless. Anything smaller than a quarter should just be fucking thrown away.

I can't recall the last time I used a fucking nickel or dime or penny, and I probably never will.

I sorted the loonies (37 of them) and the Toonies (38 of them) and then the quarters (millions. I have not counted them) and as for the rest, I don't know. I guess I might sort it, but I'm sick of looking at it all and touching it right now.

It's kind of absurd to me that there are no coin counting machines around these parts. Like Coinstar machines in the US where you can just dump all your shit in and it sorts/counts and they take a cut, I'd totally do that just to shift the fucking things.

Someone told me certain TD bank locations have counting machines you can use for free if you're a member, but that doesn't do shit for me.

I know you can buy little personal ones that count/roll from walmart and shit like that, but I don't know how much they are or how good they work.

Anyway.

Fuck change. I can't recall the last time I used a fucking nickel or dime or penny, and I probably never will.

wikipedia:

"On December 14, 2010, The Senate finance committee recommended the penny be removed from circulation, arguing that a century of inflation has eroded the value and usefulness of the one-cent piece. Presently it costs more to produce each penny (1.5¢) than it is worth monetarily. The Royal Canadian Mint has been forced to produce more such coins because pennies disappear from circulation as Canadians hoard these coins, or just cannot be bothered to use them."

Fucking absurd. I'm gonna start tossing these things.

I did, however find a shilling from New Zealand in the mix which was pretty strange and fun.

Oh well, it will be nice to cash this shit in a have a bit of extra money to throw in the new bike fund, or something.

something hockey.

So the playoffs are about to start, and like every year, I'll watch the games if they are on and follow the Eastern standings with mild interest.

In terms of the Oilers, the season was another last place finish, which sucks, but is still about thousand times better than the previous effort.

Today, they also won the draft lottery, which means another number 1 pick, so another great young guy to play along side Taylor Hall, which means the team is going to be so stacked with talent that it's sick.

The only catch with drafting is that you often have to wait to see the results. That's why this is called a rebuild and there are a lot of "growing pains" but I'm behind this team 100%

Anyway, plenty of awesome shit this year:

like Linus Omark in his first NHL game having the balls to try this in a shootout (and win) that caused such a ridiculous controversy:



also Jordan Eberle's first NHL goal, which is a thing of beauty:



Taylor Hall's hat trick:


And MacIntyre fucking up Ivanans. Fucking brutal:



Word. I'm ready for next season already.

Unreal.

Louis Theroux is awesome as shit, and his follow up documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church, "The most hated family in America" aired a few days ago on the BBC and is really fucking good.

This is pretty entertaining stuff if you want something to shake your head at while laughing hysterically at how dumb these fucks are.

Really.

I am continually blown away by how disgusting and warped this group of people are. I really, honestly cannot even begin to comprehend how any human being can be so sick and easily brainwashed like this.

I have nothing else to say, but I recommend watching it all if you've got an hour or whatever.




Part 2
Part 3
Part 4