OK I admit that a 41 year old man finding a day of enjoyment skateboarding might sound strange but I find it centers me and provides a source of exercise that I can't find else ware. That said I spent the day working on my tuck, downhilling in a nearby neighborhood. I lost count of the number of times I went down the half mile hill my legs are feeling the hike back up (gotta earn those runs) so I'm gonna guess more than 20 times and I know I listened to at least 6 hours of music on my Ipod. I wasn't alone in my Sunday afternoon endeavor, there were another 7 folks from CT, RI and MA taking advantage of good weather and a clean road and we had an audience. Nearly 40 or 50 people including a Ct state trooper spent at least half hour watching us fly down the hill at speeds in the high 30's and low 40's. We carried on great conversations with the folks whose neighborhood we were enjoying....as the day wore on the State Trooper broke out his radar gun and started shooting speed checks on us at the bottom of the hill. I think the fastest anyone went was nearly 50mph but they were in a draft train (think NASCAR); the top solo speeds were in the mid 40's. I set a new personal best of 44.7mph which astounded the officer when I returned for my speed slip and he saw how old I was as I pulled off my full face helmet. It was funny how a bunch of 20 something to 40 somethings (I was not the oldest) impacted a neighborhood such a positive manner doing something that a few years ago would have had the same officer responding in a much less favorable manner.


vagabond-punk

The musings of Tony Peters, a perpetual child, no matter where I am I will find a way to climb something or go skateboarding Read more »

starwars up close

OK I have what is called closed angles in my eye's which although I have no symptoms is considered a precursor to glaucoma...I've known this for a couple of years and since my maternal grandfather had glaucoma and my father has the same problem with his eyes I've really just been putting off having corrective surgery since I returned from Japan 2 years ago. What this means is that the eye's drains which are behind the iris are not as open as they should be which can lead to increased fluid pressure in the eye and posible damage to the optic nerve, or so they tell me. Go »

Seriously I am running...

OK maybe running isn't quite the best description especially since I am mostly running/jogging on trails but who would have thought that after 20 years of hating running (and that's an understatement) while in the Navy I am finding trailrunning soo much fun. This all started last fall when I decided that after 4 years the screws in my ankle were still annoying me. Removal isn't an option as recovery from that is a year of minimal exercise/stress which means I couldn't even swim or ride a bike. Go »

the toils of being a home owner

just when you think that everything is groovy boom your furnace burps blowing all the seals and well $6000 later you can have heat again. Mind you it was 12degrees yesterday when this happened and at present I can't keep my house any hotter than 55degree's or the house fills with smoke...not to mention that the soonest I can get a new furnace installed is thursday. Go »

sure ain't kansas

well I've had my MAC for almost a month now and I'm pretty much converted I received my Education edition of Photoshop last week and it didn't take me a day to realized that CS3 is drastically different that CS2...Time to start learning again (not that that is a bad thing)...Thankfully it comes with video workshop I'm about half way through it, funny thing It's kindled an enjoyment to learn again...I Go »

the next grand adventure..........

as a retired sailor I really thought nothing of deploying and leaving my wife with the cats and dog at home while I went off to fight wars, fix submarines and otherwise earn a living.......now the shoe is on the other foot. I am in school fulltime taking care of the cats, the dog the house and whatever else pops up while my wife and best friend moves to DC to take her dream job. Go »

Life and complexity

After last semester's overdose in writing I have been enjoying not having to write at all this semester. Well that and most of my school time is spent in an Art studio....it is mentally challenging, for the first time in years I'm drawing...it's Go »