The Money Pit I Call 'My Truck'

You know, I thought was doing good. I'd finally landed a good job (that I promptly quit a few months later) and was getting ready to settle down. So, I figured, what the hell! I'd promised myself an SUV all through college and I'd be damned if I was going to buy one. My Saturn finally giving up the ghost - well, really all that happened was the clutch finally giving out after about 165k miles - gave me even more reason to buy a truck. Buying new wasn't an option with my skinny pay and a wedding/honeymoon coming up, so I bought slightly used - and, hell, what's 27k miles on a vehicle now-a-days?

Then things started going to shit. Gas shot up to round about $2/gallon almost immediately after I bought the truck. The roof started leaking. The front brakes went. I needed a new serpentine belt. The rear winshield wiper stopped wiping. I busted a foglight. The rear brakes went. The front brakes went, again. The signals only work when the steering wheel is at it's highest position. The hardware fell out of the passenger side "Oh Shit" handle. And a rotation sensor went kaput on a rear wheel. Some of this stuff was covered by our warranty, but most wasn't. And, this all happened in two years.

Now, mind you, most of this stuff was just normal wear and tear and I'm fine with fixing it. Hell, give me the right tools and the time and I can fix most of it myself. It's just that, as an SUV, all the parts are super expensive. And, knowing myself the way I do, I know that I beat the living snot out of this thing, so I put in the best of everything. Fun, fun, fun!

And, to think that I want a boat one day.....

Riviera : Broken Sounds from Chicago, IL

Riviera : Broken Sounds from Chicago, IL

It's funny the things you run into on the net. The other day, I was digging through my CD collection and came across a CD that I had burned for me a few years ago. It was my old college roommate's first studio effort with his band - Sugar Maple Voodoo. The CD was titled Jibe. Anyway, I went and 'googled' them on the web and found this page - MixedWire: News. It had all of SMV's first album studio stuff as well as their long lost, never fully publicized studio album on it. Interesting. Anyway, long story short, I found my old roommate through Friendster and got to talk to him. Come to find out, he's out in Chicago, he's married, and he's playing with this band Riviera. I bought their new CD At The End Of The American Century... on iTunes. It was a $10 investment in his future. How could I not... Not bad stuff. You can hear the Wilco influence, but there's also flairs of everything from Tom Petty to The Grateful Dead to the Stones. Interesting stuff. If you like the alt-country/rock type music, then you'd probably like it.

And, to top it off, they are coming to NYC next month - September 16^th to be specific. I might try and see him. I think it'd be a good time.

Regardless, be sure to check out the site and listen to the band. You never know, you might just like it.

The New Surfboard

I just picked up a 9'0" Rainbow Longboard today. Got it for a steal and the thing is in cherry condition. Just thought I'd toss up a few pictures.

	The Top of The Board
	The Bottom of the Board
	Top Side Artwork
	Bottom Side Artwork
	Funky Glassed-In Leash Loop

Now it's all about getting my knee ready to ride it! Woohoo!

Surfboard Hysteria...

So, with the knee on the mend, I've gone in search of some knew rides! And, what better time of year to start looking than the end of summer when all the poser decide to pawn off their barely used sticks so they'll have some pocket cash to put towards a new snowboard (which they'll ride twice all season).

Lucky for me, I've found a few gems:

First up is a beautiful 9' Tri-Fin Rainbow Longboard. From the description on craigslist.com, it's in great condition and ready to rumble. No, I'm not telling you the link because it's going to be mine, all mine!!!! I've honestly been dieing to get my hands on a longboard since I started surfing and this may just be the way to do it. And, really, where do you find longboards (especially on Long Island) for $250 anymore. Blue Crush and MTV killed that! I'm so pumped about it. With the shitty wayves we get here on the East Coast, a longboard is a necessity. Now, I just need to get my knee back in shape again :)

The second board I'm looking at is a 7' In the Eye tri-fin. Slightly used, but still in great shape, this board looks to be a steal at about $150. It slightly reminds me of a cross between my 6'6" egg and 7'2" funshape that were each stolen this year. Both boards look like a blast to ride. Add these on top of the custom made bodyboard that Brent is making for us (as we speak) and I'll be good to go come September. I've just got to keep doing my rehab, eating my vitamins, and saying my prayers (yeah, I'm an old-school Hulkamaniac - whaddya gonna do about it, brother?!?!) and I'll be ready for hurricane swell this fall :) YEAHHHH!

Atrophy...

It's such a nice looking word - you'd almost consider it to be a nice word considering how it's put together "a-trophy." But, alas, it's anything but nice.

Merriam & Webster define it as the following:

Main Entry: at·ro·phy
Pronunciation: 'a-tr&-fE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -phies
Etymology: Late Latin atrophia, from Greek, from atrophos ill fed, from a- + trephein to nourish
1 : decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue; also : arrested development or loss of a part or organ incidental to the normal development or life of an animal or plant
2 : a wasting away or progressive decline

What in the hell is he talking about, you ask? The answer is plain and simple - my right knee. Tomorrow (08.05.05) will be 2wks to the day that I had my surgery completed and I am far from recovered. My Range of Motion (ROM) is anything but good, there is still swelling and a bit of pain in the area, and - for the first time in over ten years - I can honestly say that my right leg is smaller than my left (hence the above rant). I am not a happy camper to say the least.

Perhaps I've put some exceptional expectations on myself. I figured that I'd be almost ready to rock-n-roll after two weeks. Instead, I'm still rolling in and out of bed at night. What the fuck! PT was started yesterday and it looks like I've got a long road to go, but I'm going to get there. This setback will not beat me! I'm so determined to get in the water before this summer is out. Alright, I should stop bitching here and get back to being semi-productive...more news later (if I feel like it).