Telling it like it is

Time for another name that tune. I've put almost the entire track here because this one isn't that easy... ♫ I remember when you said that I'd be the only one, Here I'm alone, Don't be afraid, Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen if you feel alone. I remember when you said that I'd be the only one, Here I'm alone, Don't be afraid, When I close my eyes you're all I see, the only one, Here time has gone, I'm not afraid, I hear your voice, I call your name, I say a prayer, Amen, Down on my knees, I feel you breathe, I know you're there, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. I remember when you said that I'd be the only one, Here I'm alone, Don't be afraid, Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen if you feel alone.... I remember when you said that I'd be the only one, Here I'm alone, Don't be afraid, When I close my eyes you're all I see, the only one, Here time has gone, I'm not afraid, Amen. ♫

Well the storm is here. Not so much of a storm as a typical English day though. Dark, low-lying overcast clouds and constant drizzle of rain. I suppose it might be snowing in the mountains but it's just not cold enough down here in the valley. Oh - about yesterday's DVDs. Redline - cheesy. Super cheesy. "Push for cheese" cheesy. I'm a fan of bad films but this one was just awful. It was partly saved by the presence of the pneumatically inflated Nadia Bjorlin (whom I'd never seen before but appears to have been separated at birth from Tiffani Thiessen) but apart from that - well - it was sort of like the Garfield movie ethos applied to The Fast And the Furious. Nadia - bork bork bork.... Grindhouse on the other hand was highly entertaining, especially the hanging-on-the-hood car chase at the end. Now that was impressive.

There's a definite nip in the air outside today. There's a big storm coming in and with the way it feels out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see snow down to the valley floor in the next couple of days. So to pre-empt that, I mowed the lawn last night and cleaned the bike this morning. I don't have to go outside all weekend now if I don't want to :-) So this afternoon I'm going to veg' out with Redline and Grindhouse on DVD. Mmmmm. Cheesy.

Now I'm not even vaguely religious, but when a major deity's son turns up in a box in our elevator in the morning, it's good enough for a picture. The best bit is the "Fragile Do Not Drop" notice. I guess he was out on a bender last night and didn't know when to stop turning water into wine. Some alka seltzer will take care of that. Either that or it's the second coming, although you'd have thought it would have been a bit more grand than just stuffing him in a box and fedexing him to a simulation company.

I suppose it was inevitable. I've come to the end of the line with the healthcare "insurance" company. They basically said "take drugs for the rest of your life or pay for it yourself" (although in a far more roundabout way). I don't know why I bother paying the premiums. In fact I think I'll just opt out completely next year. There's clearly no point in having health insurance - it doesn't pay for anything. Well - nothing modern at least. I'm sure if I was to hack a leg off with a pitchfork and use pig's urine, dung and other dark-ages "medicine" they'd pay for it. But procedures that have only been in accepted use since 1980? Forget it.

We're back. The rides this weekend were great. The weather was much colder than last time around - obviously. Friday's ride was down to Escalante over Hell's Backbone, then off to Panguitch through Red Canyon and back. There was a great long stretch of newly resurfaced road somewhere out in the boonies where we did some speed testing. My GPS showed a max speed of 134mph. Sweet. Coming over Boulder mountain on the way back we had to contend with 50mph side winds from the oncoming storm, which made some of the corners interesting. However, I discovered that apparently I do have the speed, stones and skill to get my Tiger all the way over, as I touched a toe down in a long sweeping right-hander on the way back. Scared the crap out of me - I had no idea I had it in me :-) Saturday morning we took off down route 72 and then were going to do Fish Lake. We got to the turnoff and looked at the mountain ahead only to see it covered in clouds dumping snow and rain. Brett and and pre