NIPS!

don't make it easier or nicer, make it greater/The Old Man in the Sea has caught fish before, but none of the previous ones have mattered

This is the house we lived next to. It's the house my wife's dad grew up in, it's also the house she grew up in. They are going to build a house that satisfies the property lines. It was completely gone in five hours.

I've worked the entire two week period of spring break. I tutored the first week, and moved bricks, cut a crap load of wood, and painted the second week. Wednesday was riding night with Jimmy downtown. It was more of a tease than anything.

This guy at this coffee bar asks me about my bike everytime I go in there, he also gives me free coffee and pastries. He talks a little fast and drags out the last word of sentences of four or more words with a gradual rise in pitch: "do you ride with a break?" "No, I don't." What kind of skids do you do? I've been doing these short skids but they've been hurting my knees. So what kind of skids do you do?" "Whatever keeps me out of trouble." "Yeah, right." He hands me my free espresso and I go outside and nose into my journal so as to avoid any other bike talk. He's a nice guy about it all though. When some girl told him the cream was out, he responded: "nobody cares asshole," and handed me my free espresso.

He has a bianchi pista with every possible modification. I've never ridden on a new set of tires. I ride fixed because it's the simplist form of something and it makes you do things that can sharpen your bones. I skid whichever way will keep my ass in the saddle and off someones car. Whatever style point you can pull out of that, put 'em back.