So, the snow has melted.

And I still have that song stuck in my head and I still feel old but that's life but I am young compared to my peers and I still remember the words spoken to me by a brother messenger in the city of Dublin, (I think he may have been Sumoi but I couldn't place the accent) after he had taken a header snagging on a post in the middle of the street when the Missus and I had asked if he was "Okay" it was one of those spills that was most likely nothing but it could have been something. "I am Messenger I know how to die but not today, not like this." Cheryl was puzzled but I just said to myself. "Well all righty then." because well, I am messenger and I know how to die and I ain't going down like that either. Like the kids say. Know what I'm saying. And if you don't know and can not empathize. FYI GFY. Oh yeah, this time I remembered the camera just forgot to take any pictures, whoops.

Well I danced

It was everything I expected it to be. It was beautiful for that moment, a moment that can happen on any working day, anywhere. That moment when you are all things, you are you, you are the bike, you are the traffic, you are the road, you are as zen mystic bullshit as it sounds you are at one with the universe. During that moment and through out the afternoon I had a song stuck in my head. I couldn't figure it out my first thought. "It's Tuesday?" Yes I had both versions going through my head alternating perhaps because on the ice, snow, hard-pack, slush or combinations there of, the song remains the same but the tempo and style alternate. I couldn't figure it out. After coming home I listened very carefully to the lyrics. This is pretty much a song about a fucked up relationship speculating on why the other party has no empathy. I'm still puzzled. The Loveliest Lady Lawyer in Anchorage is well, wonderful. Then it hit me. Stop thinking male female. Think fucked-up relationship where the other party has no empathy and is abusive. Oh, now I get it. That and I forgot to bring the dam camera.

Feeling old

I've been feeling a little old lately. Doing the sorts of things I used to do is harder, I need a good nights sleep. It takes longer to recover from injuries, I could go on. Then I ran into someone I went to High School with. Both of us doing middle-class married male Cost Co. escort duty. My wife later asked if he was older then me. I thought about for a second. "Actually he's about two-three years younger." It hit me that most men my age well, look my age. I still get carded from time to time, because to the nice young clerk/waiter/waitress/bartender I still fall under the "card everybody under thirty-five" rule. I've never had to seek treatment for E. D. guys, saddle adjustment is key. Anyway right now there's about two inches of new snow over about an inch or two of old snow and ice, more snow is falling. It's been a slow morning, this gave me the chance to put some more aggressive tires on the work bike. Riding a bike in these conditions can be a bit dangerous, just going from point A to B, not so much because the bike has problems but because the idiots you share the road with, do. Now, add in the fact that I will be going fast whether I need to or not. It's in my nature. I should be concerned, I should stay here with our cat for as long as I can get away with, I should think about catching a ride home after work with my lovely wife. No, fuck that. I must ride, I must frolic in the snow on the ice amongst the cars and the morons who drive them, I must stop at "The Messenger Bar", I must ride home after one more then I planned on, Now I must dance!

A twiter

The rain falls
The messenger rides
Cold and wet on the outside
Warm and toasty on the inside
warmed by your smile
While at home the cat naps

Highlights from CMWC Thursday

I had hoped to write this thing out stream of consciousness all Jack Kerouac style while the memories were still fresh in my head. Well shit happens, the memories are blurry. So, we hit the highlights with a photo play. Thursday had brunch, registered, purchased a six-pack of Steamwhistle went to Porno Steve's birthday party, got the chance to meet many wonderful messengers including the three Soumi messengers, shared some cinnamon flavored whiskey with Tofu but I missed the chance to say. "Happy Birthday" to Porno Steve. We took a cab back to the hotel and had a good nights sleep, a very good nights sleep indeed.

A breif message from our sponser

Well I'm trying to piece together the story of our second honeymoon at CMWC I should mention I was a web short for the show "Tougher in Alaska" as seen here. The piece itself is about winter biking but I'm pretty much the star. I'm a star, a bright shining star. In all seriousness there are tougher places to be a bike messenger but where else are your odds of catching a stray from a "gang related" shooting or getting stomped by a moose are about the same. BTW Good luck to you Mr. Bolger and company.

CMWC Getting there is half the fun? or Too much time in airports

We always start these things with the best intentions. My wife is simply not that much of a cyclist. I guess that's because she's nearly perfect in every other way. The plan she'll ride more starting out in the residential neighborhoods and bike paths working our way to the more urban parts of downtown Anchorage because if you can get the hang of those handful of blocks you can extend that to the tens of blocks in another city. We're not talking setting her up to win the alleycat or anything like that, just a nice commuter level of competence. Me, I plan to do some training of my own mostly involving twelve once lifts before the ride home and over-dressing so I'll be able to handle the heat. Both of us get distracted from our plans. Her mostly by work and weather. Me I do okay, on the twelve ounce lifts but the weather kicks the other part of my plan square in the nuts. It was one of the coldest spring/early summers that I can remember. Even over-dressed I was a little cold most of the time. I don't go to race but I do like to keep it as an option. That and I've got this folding bike and running that thing in a closed course race has the same appeal as the first few 10-12 inch snowfalls I rode, the wondering if it can be done.
Next comes the frenzy of packing and medicating for the flight. Time to go to the airport. I tried to keep notes but that soon fell by the wayside. I do have the following. "N is for negativity, null, nasty, nonsensical and if you're flying out of Anchorage it can stand for the North terminal also known as the ghetto terminal. It was originally intended to be the international terminal but it's been divided half international half domestic. It's old fashioned but not in a quaint way more like something yanked out of the seventies and crudely retrofitted for the present." Our flight has been delayed by an hour, no bigey because that will eat into our three hour layover in Seattle. As we wait in the bar I realize this is at least the third time we've had the same bartender, I tip her well when we leave because I see a pattern forming and I may need her goodwill again." The flight it's self was booked through Capt. Kirk then Continental but four of our five segments are actually on Northwest. Three down two up. This first segment is the one on Continental, a fine airline, I've done their first class before they had decent food but their "good" beers are Heineken and Foster's and because it's a late flight our meal is a "snack" Our flight boards finally . So I look forward to my first free drink. I can't recall if they have one Heineken or none, I think it was one before they ran out. The snack turned out to be a plate of cold cuts, cheese and fruit, not bad but not that great. The in-flight entertainment was some movie I didn't want to watch but they do have a nice Jazz chanel among the music options. We made it to Seattle alive. I go outside have a smoke, get some coffee and try to find something lunch like. It's somewhere between six and seven in the morning Seattle time so no luck. We move to the S terminal and see if our first class tickets get us lounge access, no dice, Northwest only gives you lounge access on international flights. We go to the bar, we're surprised it's open. There is a Burger King, it may have been serving lunch but I didn't feel like wading through the long ass line to find out. The bartender tells us that they're only serving breakfast food wise. Well fuck it. We order beers. She asks if we'd like to make them big beers for an extra dollar. We tell her. "Considering that it's seven thirty in the morning we feel pretty decadent just ordering regular beers. Fifteen seconds later she asks me if I'd like a shot to go with my beer for only three extra dollars. I'm thinking to myself. "Look lady I'm a borderline alcoholic but I still have to say 'C'mon it's seven thirty for Christ sakes' " I just say. "No, thank you." A small hassle with our tickets as we board the plane. At this point for food I have to rely on the breakfast served on our flight. Now most of the airlines were quite competitive about attracting your high-end business travelers and they've put quite a bit of effort into making the food in first class better. Once as a child back in the seventies my mother and I were going to visit relatives in Minnesota flying Northwest there was some problem with our flight and the nice gate attendants took pity on us and bumped us up to first class. It was a morning flight. Imagine my surprise when on this another first class flight some thirty plus years later, I was served the exact same cheese omelet with the same two shriveled sausages. There was no in-flight entertainment like all Northwest domestic flights. The one thing perhaps the only thing I really like about that airline is that they usually have this beer from a small Minnesota brewery, it's not a great beer but still it's a nice beer. They were out of that. At this point we dozed or read until we landed in Detroit. Our connecting flight gets delayed for the first time. I see some of the Japanese messengers. I want to go talk to them, say something about how much they deserve to host next years CMWC, I mean I bitch about what an expensive pain in the ass it is to go to these things but at least I can catch a break once and awhile to wit. Seattle CMWC 2003 and NACCC 2005 in Portland. Every year these cats make the trip and the closest to a convenient location they've gotten were Sydney and maybe Seattle. Unfortunately assuming we overcome the language barrier at some point in the conversation I'm going to have to say something like. "Hey it's been great hanging with you but we're about to piss-off to the worldperks lounge and suck down some free drinks and shitty snacks." Turns out we get lounge access at this stop, this saved us easily fifty bucks at the tequila themed bar. Some two hours later we board. I get the last Minnesota micro-brew after that I turn to my new back-up drink Jack & Coke because I liked it once. They were nice enough to give everyone the "Sorry we screwed up" coupon package. I do have to say the level of service from the cabin staff on all the segments was quite good.We arrive and customs was pleasant enough except for getting some nasty black oily shit on on my right hand later my face. We had made arrangements for a ride from the airport. We would have been shocked and stunned if he showed up. I later found an E-mail telling me our flight had been delayed far too long and we were welcome to swing by his place for a BBQ. If we'd gotten that then we would have gone. Thanks Jim, sorry we didn't meet up later but if you ever find yourself in Anchorage look us up. Anyway we check in partially unpack and start looking for food and drink. It's eleven P. M. the kitchens are closing. We try a few places the first being "Spirits" this would later become our neighborhood bar but not this night. We end up at place called "Burgundy" that claimed to be a sports bar. I had a cheeseburger, it was good, I figure it's best not to ask just what is AAA ground beef. A stop at a store for some snacks and sodas for the room and good night. All in all one of it was an annoying journey but it could have been much worse.