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The Aesthetic.

galen — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:54:07 +0000

Part of every moment in existence is an emotion. A different emotion is felt by every person. As far humanity knows, this is true. In my opinion, every a different emption is experienced by every entity. We shouldn’t expect we are above other living organisms. For example. Elephants have memory. Crows and Chimps have tools. (Crows build tools, but don;t get me started on birds). and dogs have the ability to grasp our -human- emotions. I think that we should realize every cognizant organism has a reciprocal response to a particular action. If we realize this then we can finally understand Humanities interconnection with the natural world. And Finally, maybe, we can come to the conclusion that race, gender, age, and ideology aren;’ really that important. On another note, any man that listens to the Beatles, and doesn’t feel a primordial urge, doesn’t know emotion. == must not be alive.

What What.
Chicken Butt.

1 in three chickens has serious butt issue,
Should we really judge them for it.?
In my opinion, chicks with a image issue, aren’t focusing on what’s important…
Harmonica Skillz.

Tschüssi,

GCP.

PS. I’m not going to held accountable for anything I have written here, Look at the time… It’s Thursday.
Well Friday now I guess.

Facebook.

galen — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:54:58 +0000

I realized if I spent way less time on facebook and more time writing on my blog, i would have a accomplished a lot more. Or would I? Is this blog really any better than facebook. I am begging to think that a blog is even more narcissistic. Mainly because on facebook I can interact with other people. And tell them that I like what they’re doing, and look at pictures of my friends/people i’ve never met. (no stalk) Whereas a blog is all about “look at me”, “look what I think”. “isn’t what I said there really ironic?”

I think if someone really was writing a blog for the sole reason of writing down their thoughts, they wouldn’t put it one the internet. I mean, I’m not going to put everything I think on the blog, I’d come across as a lunatic. Sometimes I forget not everyone thinks Like me, example:

So a couple of days ago here at Kathi’s house, I was drinking some ApfelSchorle at dinner time. Apfelschorle is carbonated apple juice, and I really like it because it reminds me of Sparking cider. And who doesn’t want to drink Sparkling Cider whenever you want? Anyways. The Apfel-drank is really really fizzy. Almost too much actually, because when you open a new bottle, no-matter what, it will fizz over and spill all over the counter. Kinda stupid on the Apfel-drank companies’ part. But it could be a conspiracy so you buy more. So i poured myself a glass while sitting at the table. I was taring at all the bubbles clinging to the sides of the cup, when I thought to myself, ” wow, it would be awesome if I was small enough to swim in side the cup, and the bubbels were the size of me. Then I could just stick my head into the bubbles and breath the air, without having to come to the surface when I run out of air.” obviously, to me, this is pretty logical. I laughed a bit to myself, and Tim asked me why. I told him, expecting him to think it was a good idea, and hopefully say “oh ya, that’d be really cool”. This is not what Tim did. Tim gave me a really strange look, and shook his head. Then Kathi’s little brother Philipp, asked what was going on in German. Tim explained it to him, while I shoved the cup under his face so he could see the bubbles i was talking about. Philipp thinks I’m crazy now.

Ciao,
GCP

Kirmisch

galen — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:26:03 +0000

I’m writing this at 3 in the morning, so pardon my spelling/ grammer.

We are now in Germany. Obviously I haven’t updated this blog since late july. But don’t fret, cool stories are on the way. I leave for the states in about a week. Chances are I’ll spend a lot of time at the airport, which is the perfect opportunity to catch up on the documentation of this trip.

West Germany to be exact. Ya, I know, the country is united and all again, but a 45 year hiatus can produce a lot of differences. I was last in east germany almost 2 months ago. A lot of stuff can be forgotten in 2 months (Hell, it takes me about a week to forget stuff) But one thing that is hard to forget is food. In my book food is the one thing that mankind always has room for in the memory bank. What is good to eat, and what isn’t. And if Ima be Honest here, The Doner Kebap in Western Germany is Shit..

On another note the people over here are a bit different. For whatever reason they come across as less friendly. Most of the people I’m meeting are my age, so that could be it. But I remember in Furstenwalde, people were pretty damn nice, definitely rivaling the States (that’s saying a lot too, In all my worldly travels, Americans are probably the nicest to absolute strangers)

It could be the community I’m staying in. I’m living in Wermerlskirchen (which means “Wermel’s Church” ) right now, with Kathi. (I may or may not have had a big crush on her Senior year of HighSchool…) Kathi’s family is pretty wealthy, Having a Sauna in your basement isn’t exactly normal for german households. But one thing is for sure, it’s not just her family.. It’s the whole Damn Town!
Tonight we went to the first day of the City Fest, known as Kirmisch (that’s how it’s pronounced at least… german spelling. It’d be Kurmish in good ole’ american.) And every one had leather Jackets. I know that sounds weird. (it Is!) but leather jackets are the bee’s knees here. And About a week ago I was shopping with Kathi, and she found a nice green leather jacket she liked ( I approved, it was pretty legit. Might I remind you I am an Apparel Design Major) Too bad it cost 200 something euros… I would have immediately left the store, but Kathi Himmed and Hawed for a good ten minutes… 200 euros? for a Jacket? “that’s a good deal though” says Kathi….
Jesus. Everyone owns a leather jacket here.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure there difference in attitude is related to wealth. People here are so wealthy they have little to no intrest in anything outside of their small world. They are so content with their daily lives, they don’t need to think about anything else (I would say Sherwood’s DoppelGanger). Obviously Kathi does’t fit in well with this crowd, but It’s interesting to see how she interacts with people, it’s Pretty similar to how Tim and I had to act in Highschool…
People in Eastern German are defiantly not as well off. 200 euros for a jacket. Out of the Question.
Especially for people my age (Christ, I don’t even have a job!). People in Eastern Germany also want to get the hell out. Only problem is that they want to go west. Ironically they’d probably be a lot happier if they stayed where they are…
Maybe it’s just My American coming out, But I expect people to be a little more friendly, or rather. Considerate.
Any who, it’s just my opinion, And my opinions meant squat.

We went back to Berlin this week because Kathi’s uncle was getting married.
We didn’t go to the wedding.
But we did have a great time in Berlin.
We met a Guy in Doner Kebap shop that had just moved from Turkey two weeks ago.
Possibly one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.

I wish people were less Xenophobic.

Ciao,

GCP

Slovakia

galen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:29:49 +0000

july 28th

on a train right now from Budapest to Zagreb. We’re unsure of what we are going to do when we arrive in Zagreb. We want to go to the coastal town of Zadar. But that’s another 5 hours from Zagreb. Whatever. Future Tim and Galen can decide these things. We’ve just come from Slovakia for the last 5 days. We we’re visiting a Family friend of mine. Adam. He lived in California for quite a few years, and worked for my uncle. He doesn’t really fit in very well in his home town of Martin, Slovakia. There’s around 60.000 people living in Martin, and it’s a beautiful city surrounded by the Mala Fatra mountain range. Adam doesn’t fit in, because he rides a 1400 cc , custom, Hell’s Angel’s chopper. He also has Hair past his shoulders, and full-sleeve tattoos. Adam is a middle school teacher. But his looks are deceiving, and he has been one of the most welcoming and nicest hosts we’ve had on our whole trip. And the first night we got there he took us out to a nice bar and restaurant. We’re Tim and I got cabbage soup.

We went hiking with Adam in the High Tatras, a mountain range with similar qualities to the Sierra Nevada’s, but about half the size. The day started off with driving 2 hours to get to the mountains, only to have the weather crap out on us. As tim and I started hiking it began to rain. But not in the Oregon, drizzle style rain, the Thunder and lighting downpour, of large mountain ranges, mixed with marble sized hail. After standing under a tree for about half an hour, while getting soaked. We decided to hike back down to lake where adam parked the care, and was spending time with his Wife and Son. To kill time while it rained, We all went down to a small restaurant and ordered some Borsch to warm up. After it stopped raining Tim and I went on a 3-4 hour hike up a big glaciated valley.

Tim and I in the High Tatras.

On the drive home we stopped at a small Slovak restaurant and got cabbage soup, and french fries. We we’re served (we’ll we payed for it) ketchup and Tarter sauce, with our fries. Tarter sauce and fries is boss. You can even mix in a little ketchup. I defiantly recommend it. Also cabbage soup= awesome.

The next Day we went to the Mala Fatra mountain range with Adam’s Parents, Pavel and Eva. They are about 60 years old. The Mala Fatras are only about 1700 meters tall but the are still really beautiful. We went on about a 6 hour hike, with a break about two hours into the hike, to get, of course, cabbage soup. (That much cabbage soup in three days was tough on my stomach…)
Later that night we went to a big concert. With punk music, and Techno and House.

Adams parents hiking in the alp-like Mala Fatras

On saturday we had a big Barbecue at Adams Garden with his friends, to Celebrate a good friend of his’s, birthday ( that’s really hard to write and make any sense)
We made pork steak, and cooked goulash over a real fire (that Tim and I started, despite being “City boys”)
We were planning on heading to Budapest the next day Via train. But one of Adams friends offered us a ride. Peter, ones a business that sells stuff in hungary, but it needs to get driven from Poland. So he has drivers that drive between Krakow and Budapest that stop in Martin. So he offered us a ride with one of his drivers for the next day. Free ride? Hell ya. Only catch was that the guy spoke no english. or german. or french. or spanish. or even slovak, ( we knew a couple of words by this point) only Polish. But everything worked out, and he ended up dropping us off right in front of our hostel!

Adam, cooking, as always.

Slovakia is an amazing country. Over 80% of it is lush green mountains. And in the winter almost the entire country get’s covered in snow and get’s ski-fever. If there is anywhere I will defiantly come back to (of course I want to go back to Germany and Czech Republic!) it would be Slovakia. Our guide book said Slovakia is known for Ice hockey, Beautiful Women, Mountain hiking, and Folk traditions. I would add one more (other than putting beautiful women first on the list…) Amazingly friendly and welcoming people. (That’s one thing, it just has two adjectives)

Ciao,
GCP

Abi ’10

galen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:10:28 +0000

Samstag 17:30

Tim and I are on our way to the Abiball. I think we are slightly late, but Tim told me that the first of it is a church ceremony. Nikolas, Tim’s cousing is driving us to Bad Saarow, where the venue is. He’s driving really fast for this tiny little road we’re on, but like every teenager, especially boys, he’s “got it under control”. It dawns on Tim and I that we have to walk the last bit towards the venue, called Am See theater, or something like that. I don’t really know, because as far as I have been concerned I haven’t known what’s been going on for the last couple of days. As we walk down the promenade, there seems to be a bunch of cars parked around a big square building, one side of which is just windows. TIm decides this must be the building, because of all of the waiters surrounding a champagne glass, covered table in front. I agree, and as we walk down the small paved path towards what looks to be the side entrance, we cross infront of the large glass wall, which turns out to be the auditorium where the whole graduation ceremony is taking place. Many of these people haven’t seen Tim in nearly two years, and they are expecting us to show up at the Abiball. We realize too late that everyone can see us, and about 300 paris of eyes are immediately pointed our direction, I mention to Tim ” O shit, we shouldn’t walk this way” and continue “just walk backwards”. Our walking backwards probably won’t make us any less conspicuous, but it kinda looks cool. Just then a couple people come running out of the side door, (they’ve obviously just seen Tim and I through this window of a wall) Yelling at Tim in German, “Fuoisd oiwfoif efoiwefw efoudsoijd ejkeo uif foiwefd f” then the second one yells ” Ja, iudhgi gno uuiffopg osdfien oddmeeiooweekjo iof”. Apparently this is some form of invitational, because Tim is deciding to go inside, and I should probably follow.
TIm and I are really underdressed; as I look around it seems as if everyone is either wearing full length dresses or tuxedos, but not a lot of guys are wearing plain button up shirts, and slacks. We probably could have made some dresses out of some bedsheets, but I’m beginning to think only the guys are wearing tux’s and the girls dresses. Strange country this is. We are immediately barraged by people coming to greet Tim, despite some students obviously performing some sort of ritual at the front of the stage. I think they’re singing some strange magical song. I’m being introduced to waay to many people for me to remember anyone’s names, and unfortunately they’re all guys, as it seems that the ritual being performed on stage is for the girls. They’re singing “No Air” in German. I wonder if they realize the actual song was written in english? O, they’re singing in english now. People are shaking my hand and all I’m doing is saying “Galen” many of them probably thinking this is some form of greeting, as they seem to be responding with “Galen” and not introducing themselves. Unless of course they’re a lot of Galen’s here, that’d be cool, albeit very confusing. All this while I’ve pretty much been staring at the stage, because that’s where the prettiest girls seem to be located. All of sudden everyone stands up and starts heading to our little group of guys in the back, Tim pulls me off to the side and everyone passes. giving us very bizarre looks. Probably because of our dress, but also because, somehow, every young person that walks by us either wants to shake our hands or hug us. Maybe we’re some sort of deities, or has Tim been brainwashing his friends via email and Facebook? if so, that’d be one good psychological study. Soon we’re outside talking with people. I don’t really know what’s going on, but soon I’m talking with people about our trip, and Tim is nowhere to be seen. A girl named Sina is asking me about lot’s of stuff, especially America, as she is going there next week. She has a jewel glued to her front tooth or something. It’s very bizarre, but I think it’s kinda cool. Then Tim appears and introduces me to his english professor, who, surprisingly, is very good at English. But I kid, sometimes language teachers aren;t very good at the actual language they teach, as I have experienced with my French teacher. Soon I’m hustled back inside to go eat. I’m not very hungry, because tim and I just ate at his aunt and uncles house. Dinner is drawn out for quite some time, and I consume it with staring around at everyone. Soon dancing has started, and people are waltzing. I have no idea how to waltz. Tim and I hide outside in order to not be asked to dance by the many girls that have been staring and giggling at us. Real Euro music has just started, and thus so has the real party.

Ciao
GCP

O Schland!

galen — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:13:50 +0000

Note: I’ve been reading Jean-Paul Sarte’s Nausea. Like Sarte, from now on I will write in present tense, so excuse me if it is slightly confusing at first.
Also This obviously a couple days behind, But because I’m in a timezone ahead of the US, if I wrote contemporarily, I’d be writing about stuff that hasn’t happend yet.. Which probably wouldn’t be good for the balance of the universe.

Donnerstag 17:51
I’ve arrived in Erkner, and am waiting for Sibel and Mia to come pick me up at the train station, I’ve had lot’s of trouble trying to get ahold of Mia, because there is no T-mobile store in the Berlin hBf (train station) and I need a T-mobile sim card for my Phone. I’ve had to use a pay phone to contact Mia, which I’m none to good at because my generation has no need for the knowledge of how to use a pay-phone.
Mia arrives with Sibel, and a third person, Renee, who is driving the dark blue volvo. Sibel and Mia poke fun at how large my backpack is, asking me if I have a tent. “Yes” I respond, which is obviously not what they expected. We drive the quick 5 minutes to Woltersdof, where Mia lives, and she shows me the room that I will be staying in. It’s pretty large, but I think the family must be using it as a storage room as there is an assortment of stuff laying around. A piano on one side of the room has trinkets, and old clothes laying on top of it. Extra chairs are over in the corner right next to the dark brown bureau that reaches all the way to the top of the vaulted ceiling. On the other side of the bureau is a small stool with a sewing area next to. I make a mental note to possibly fix my swimsuit, which is ripped along the crotch, where all of my clothes seem to rip. I don’t know if this is some sort of coincidence, or maybe my swagger . Mia gives me a quick tour of the rest of the house, showing me all of the rooms, including her sisters, who isn’t home. I’m confused as to where Renee sleeps, but maybe I Mia forgot to show me one of the rooms. Mia tells me that she is going to have a barbecue, with a bunch of friends coming over from her school. They’ve just finished their final year of high school, and the day after tomorrow is their Graduation/Prom, called Abiball. I’m probably not going to stay up very late for this “barbecue” because I haven’t gotten much sleep, figuring it will go late into the night, as her parents aren’t home. I take a ridiculously hot shower, as the cold water doesn’t seem to work, even though Sibel and Mia had just told me that the hot water doesn;t work sometimes. I think they’re just messing with me, but it’s kinda cruel, as the water is super hot. Within ten minutes of drying off and changing into fresh clothes, people have started to arrive. I recognize some of them from pictures Tim has showed me, but I’m having trouble remembering all of the names. I’m becoming extremely tired, when Mia and Sophie, ( a girl I just met) have suggested that I take a nap. I consider it, and think that I will still want to eat later. But It’s nine and the barbecue hasn’t even been lit yet. I wander into my room and fall asleep, to arise then next morning at 7:30

Ciao,
GCP

Flughafen

galen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:12:18 +0000

Tuesday afternoon
So I’ve been in the airport(s) since monday now. And Not that I’m getting sick of it, I’ve begun to see how people who work here see the airport. Working for the airlines is less about getting things done on time or doing things efficiently, rather making sure people get one airplane, however that may be. I’ve watched about 5 (?) planes board in the last couple of days, band what the check-in person does. Most of the time they are trying to get people onto planes who: Don’t have the right ticket, Showed up late for their last flight, or Don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing/are completely lost. I’m pretty much in the third category, because I don’t actually have a ticket due to me flying standby ( Thanks Grandma and Grandpa), and I really have no idea whether or not I’m actually going to get onto the plane. It’s like being in limbo, not sure of anything really, I could get a spot on the plane and make it to my destination on time, Or the next three flights could be full, and I wouldn’t move out of the terminal. But I digress, the people working here try as hard as they can to get everyone onto the plane on time, even holding the door (literally) while people run down the terminal to get on the plane. I have a lot of respect for these people now, because the training for this type of job is probably minimal, essentially in the airline biz, you’re winging it the whole time. ( yes I have been thinking of that for a while.)

Sometimes while sitting in around in an airport, I just go stand in lines. I’ve tried this game a couple times, and the goal of it is to move through the line as far as possible without proper documentation. This could be waiting in line to exchange money, but just prior to getting to the window; you just turn and leave. Another one, which I find a little more interesting, is to wait in the First Class, or Executive Member line to get on a plane. I imagine the other people in line are like, “who is this guy? He’s got a mullet and looks like he hasn’t shaved in a couple days.” and to top it off I have a small knapsack made out of corduroy. I talked to one guy wearing a fancy suit about how his merger is going to “cause a lot of problems for the company” and how, ” Bill probably will get the axe.” I don’t know who Bill is, but I imagine him as a bigger guy wearing a polo and a blazer. He’s has fancy set of jeans and shoes and a nice big gold chain to wear around his neck. Bill is also completely “shiny head” bald, but he has a nicely trimmed graying goatee to show his “wisdom” and “experience”, but is still a laid-back guy who likes a good barbecue. Bill probably played football in college, and got a job as some middle manager for a software company, and is on his way to San Jose for a conference on effective management, and team building. I feel kinda bad for Bill. has he done anything wrong?

I didn’t get on this last flight
Maybe tomorrow.

Ciao,
GCP

All of my Worldly Possessions

galen — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:33:26 +0000

I have not made a blog post in a long time, but contrary to popular belief, I’m still doing things on a daily basis. School Has ended, and I completed my first year of college. College ended being pretty much what I expected, so there’s not too much to say about that. I did make a lot of friends though, that I’ll remember forever ( that’s a little too sentimental for this post… or is it? )

I’m leaving in two, or three? days For Europe. I will be there the entire summer, and this blog will turn in to a journal of sorts. Right now I’m in the process of packing my stuff. I’m using a big green rucksack that my father used backpacking. When I was little he used to carry me around inside of it. I remember being impressed that he was strong enough to carry me inside the pack. In hindsight i probably weighed about 70 pounds, or less. It’s a little strange to think that everything that I’m packing will be my sole belongings for the next 75 days. So perhaps I’m not packing things that I value the most, but they will become the most important to me.

Tim, Mi Amigo, is also going on this walkabout with me. I’m glad he’s going because He speaks German, and is very organized. I think we’d make a good superhero team. I’m the Passionate, Unpredictable, and Brazen one. While Tim is the Calculating, Driven, and Perspectivous one. We’d get into trouble fighting, but in the end, through sheer guts and luck, we’d survive to see another day. Also Tim’s a cool a guy and doesn’t afraid of anything. He just called to let me know that is mother just came home with a plethora of meats and wants to have a barbecue tomorrow. I’m Stoked for the menagerie of Wurst, Pork Chops, and perhaps a Kielbasa?

We’re making a roundabout trip From Furstenwalde Deustchland, to Wermelskirchen Deustchland. Stops should include Budapest. Deep-water Free soloing on the Croatian island of Hvar. and perhaps a quick stop in Germany’s neutral cousin Switzerland. BUt I’m sure she could handle the both of us for very long….

I added tim’s blog as a link on the side of mine, over there ——->>>>>>
It will probably be full of dry, accurate, anecdotes.

Ciao,
GCP

Also, Simon and Garfunkel Rock.

Robots and Bananas #2

galen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:29:21 +0000

% Well, the rover my group and I made was somewhat of a success. We pooled together our efforts, and probably spent somewhere near 30 hours of lab time working on our program and rover. For the final test we had to make it go around a course in a certain time, using a light sensor, it followed a black line. It took two temperature reading from heat lamps, and then fired two little arrows into certain boxes, depending on what the temperatures were. Our robot, which we named “The Scorpion’, did pretty much everything right, every time, but it’s aim for the arrows was a little off. The night before the project was due, we changed our program slightly in order to fix the aim, but in our haste, deleted the code that actually fired the arrows…. whoops. Our robot went around the course correctly, but when it tried to fire the arrows nothing happened. We were confused and shamed to say the least, as the arrows had always worked. I had even made a CD with Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” that played while the robot did it’s duties, yet the arrows didn’t fire. I began question the citizenship of our robot; I mean if It wants to be American, it should be able to fire it’s weapons, and even more disappointing was that Chuck, one of the group members, Is an ROTC Marine…. or so he says, I think he may actually be a part of the Peace-Core; and could have sabotaged our rover, turning it into a granola eating, Birckenstock wearing, hippie. Either way we came out of the competition with a score of 445 out of 500, but as it turns out, We have a report that is worth nearly 1000 points, so I guess it wasn’t that big of a failure.
% I emailed Kenji, (Head Honcho of OBRA) and he upgraded me to Cat 4 before the next Banana Belt. This meant I could race with Joe and Chris sunday morning, which was quite fun…. but I’ll get to that.
% Saturday morning I awoke to a phone call from Tim: “Hey, you going on the ride this morning?”
” uhhh yeah, what time is it?”
“It’s at Ten…”
” uhhh… What time is it now?”
” Nine forty-five….”
% Tim and I rode out to the Beanery for the group ride. Which consisted of pretty much everyone on the Cycling team. I figured the pace would be moderate, as Joe, Chris, and I were racing the next day, and Joe would attempt to control the pace. Not So. Chris ( A small man in stature, but powerful, actually, Chris is really really fast, He’s easily the fastest one on the team.) and I jumped to the front… and in the word’s of Jens Voigt ” I really enjoy putting other people in pain” Needless to say, Joe soon came up and told us to “stop being so Frisky” and thus I started to think about cat food, and other animals for pretty much the rest of the ride. We rode Cherry Pie route backwards, with a strong headwind for the first half. After a about 2.5 hours, half the group split off to go home, and We decided to go up Sulphur Springs, a pretty steep 3 mile climb. Joe and Chris, being old, hung back with Tim who was suffering like an old mule, as he hadn’t riden in about 1 and a half weeks. I went with some guy (I think his name was Jordan… or Robert?) He was pretty fast, but died about halfway up, and I dropped him like a bad habit. We then rode into town were I got some coffe with the group, and Lounged the rest of the day.
% Sunday, I woke up again at 5:30, and got a ride with Chris and Joe to the race. Chris has a Like ’98 honda Accord…. that is actually a really nice car, it’s defiantly underrated. It’s pretty roomy, with a nice quite ride, and the matching tan exterior and interior looked pretty classy. I think If a dog was a car, this would have been a Golden Retriever. We got to the race and my dad was there with Thomas, who was being very loud. I think pretty much half of OBRA recognizes Thomas, and could soon become some sort of mascot….. just a suggestion. My dad gave me a bunch of Clif bars, and I warmed up for the race.
% I just sat in the first lap, seeing what the pace of a cat 4 race is. It was slow. I think if I had sat in the entire race, I could have coasted for nearly 2 hours. But I didn’t do that, it’s not the Peterson way. Halfway through the First lap, Chris broke away with one other guy. They dangled there for the rest of the lap, While Joe and I controlled the front. The eventually sat up, and got caught. I pulled with Joe for a while on the second lap to keep the pace High. But as Joe and I drifted back to rest, Someone went on a solo-flyer. Unfortunately there were a buncha’ lazies sitten on the front, and he got a pretty good lead. Joe And I spent the entire third lap, pulling, and Echeloning for a while, in order to pull him back. Just as we caught him, another guy went. As we closed in on about 5 miles to go, the Official pulled up in the car and told us we were going to be neutralized, right before the finishing climb (there goes any advantage I had over anyone). I was very mad, But yelled for us to catch the guy up the road before we went neutral. We then caught him and slowed. The we were told that we wouldn’t be going neutral…. fuck. Everyone jumped, and the pace went from hard saturday group ride, to really fast sunday race… I positioned myself on the shoulder, with the plan to attack from the edge of the rode, so I wouldn’t get boxed in. This worked pretty well, and as we reached 200m to the finish (a steep climb). I accelerated around people, momentary getting stuck behind a bigger guy, ( I actually had to brake, uphill, in order not to hit him) and Sprinted for 3rd, but right as I came to the line A guy passed me and beat me by half a bike length. But 4th is still pretty good for my First cat 4 race. Chris got 2nd, behind a Team Oregon guy who sat in for the ENTIRE race. Good tactics there. Good thing OSU was there to pull in all the Breakaways. But it’s not like he had three other teammates or anything in the race, or sat second wheel for a while and never pulled through. No it’s fine, I’m not bitter. Joe got 6th right behind a junior rider…Granted Joe probably pulled for 50% of the race… no joke.
% It’s pouring rain right now, and I need to do intervals today… Trainer?

Ciao,
GCP

Robots and Bananas

galen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:58:47 +0000

I’ve Been doing this project in one of my class, it sounded pretty simple in the beginning, “build a robot, make it go around a track, take some temperature readings, then shoot an object into a bucket.” I was all like, ‘ya that’ll be easy’ and ‘cool we get to use legos’. But it turns out robots aren’t all that simple… weird right? I thought robots just did what you tell them to. I guess robots are more like dogs, you tell them to do something, and they may or may not do it correctly; but even if they do what you want, there’s no guarantee that they will next time. because of all of the trouble related to the robots, I got a ride up to the first Banana Belt series with a T.A. for my robot class, (I had no I idea he was in ChemE)

Joe and I left Corvallis at about 6am. (Yes, I can get up that early. In fact I got up at five-thirty and had a Giant bowl of oats, probably a little too Giant if I may say so, as I later regretted the amount of fiber present in oats.)
We got to Hagg Lake for the First Banana Belt race , a three part series, at about 7:30. Joe’s race didn’t start until about 9:30, and mine didn’t start until 12:45. Joe raced really well, and so did another OSU guy in the race, Chris, they got 2nd and 5th, respectively. I think in a couple of months we may have a pretty strong group of OSU cat 3′s.
Unfortunately my race didn’t start until forever and I rode around the race course about 2 times, so I got a good 17 mile base before my race. The race started off pretty wild, with lot’s of attacks and pretty fast. In fact it didn’t really stop until most of the way through the last lap. I attacked with too other guys on the first hill in the second lap. We got a pretty good lead but unfortunately the second guy who pulled through was really slow. I restarted the pace line, but it was too late. If there had been a couple stronger guys we could’ve done better. Then for the next two laps, I look long pulls at the front to put others in pain up the hills. There were two UofP guys in the race who seemed like the strongest other riders. They also had super nice bikes… with tubular carbon wheels, in a Cat 5 race. It goes without saying they were jerks and I got spit in the face when one of them spit, right after pulling through, knowing I had just gotten into his draft. With about 2k to go a guy split off the front, I chased for a little,b but realized he was going to fade. Unfortunately, the rest of the group decided to chase downhill, which was fine by me, because I just drafted for the next minute, resting. When we got to the hill crest right before the finish, things went nuts. Everyone started accelerating, and those big cat 5 guys, 200+ pounders, they go pretty fast down hill. I jumped and got into someone’s draft just in time. We started to pass everyone in the far left lane, and I was about to go around him, but just then a car pulled into the oncoming lane, right on the finish line. I don’t know who let the car through, but I had to slow way down, as did the guy in front of me. We lost all chance of a good finish and I coasted to the finish. I let the official on the side of the road know what I thought of the car being there. But seriously, a downhill sprint finish at 40+ mph, and a car don’t mix too well, I’m just glad no-one got killed, which very easily could have been the outcome. Next sunday Is an uphill finish, which I’m glad for. I’ve upgraded to the cat 4′s which means I get to race in the morning, and not sit around all day in anticipation.

After I got back to Corvallis, I went to a European dinner night. My friend Tim is in the European Student Association, and because he was MCing the event, I went there was also a possibility of free food, and I’m also friends with some of the ESA people. I showed up a little late, and sat with a random couple, because there weren’t many seats left. Luckily I had dressed formal, because pretty much everyone was wearing ties, and/or dresses. I just watched the show, which included, Beethoven, some Ukrainian folk songs, and Tim asking European trivia to the audience. I also got to eat some great food, which I had helped cook as a test run a couple of weeks ago. After everyone left. I helped clean up with the group. I also got tons of free food. Apparently I dressed really well too, as multiple people asked me if I was Russian. So I guess the Euro mullet is pretty damn good. And I have good style.
All in all I had an awesome 18 hour day.

I’d like to leave you with a video I found on the internet. It’s probably my favorite song right now, and I’ve listened to it about 25 times on my itunes in the past week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c2b8IcrQu4

I believe I’m gonna rain,
Ciao,
GCP