Hlee Xiong is editor for 18XEEM, a Hmong Cultural magazine. She asked to use some of my photos from Hmong New Year in her publication. I gladly agreed, and volunteered photos from the Mother's Day 2007 shoot with Geri and her Grandmother, Chau Vue. Hlee asked for information about her Grandmother's long adventure of a life, which Geri was kind enough to offer. I wrote the article during the middle of February. During this time, Chau Vue passed away.
Last Friday, the magazine was waiting in my mailbox. Geri and her family should receive copies soon. I sincerely appreciate the Yang family's kindness and their being so open with this article. And thanks to Hlee Xiong for the opportunity.
The Chau Vue's incredible story can be read here.
Race will be timed, probably 60-90 minutes. Winner will have collected the most photographs of Norfolk's Cheesy Mermaids.
Tie-Breakers will be determined by Indian Leg-Wrestling.
"Can you recommend a nice bicycle for me?"
I get this question every once in a while, so I'll can it here for future reference. As you can see, I do my best to absolve myself of accountability in the face of customer dissatisfaction. This particular response deals with Road Bikes (the last road bicycle I owned was in high school - a Western Flyer 200lb piece of cast iron I won in the local newspaper subscription sales contest):
If I were buying a road bike, I'd look at and try out a few different new frames. Especially to see if i'm more comfortable with traditional or compact frame styles. And then I'd look on craigslist or ebay for that same frame style in a 1-2 year old model (probably more C-list than ebay so i could actually go see the ride in person/test it out).
Because components are so expensive, buying used seems to be the way to get the best gear on a bike (ie, Ultegra vs. Shimano 105, wheel upgrades, etc). Plus a lot of really well off people tend to buy expensive bikes and find out they don't like riding, so they'll use them very little and sell when bike season begins. Their mistakes can be your opportunities.
This, of course is only one way to shop. You can also just buy within your budget New, knowing that a shop will do your tuneups for life (or they should - it would help to ask). And then you can upgrade components as you wear parts out / budget it in.
As you can tell, I stayed away from dropping name brands. I just don't know who is really great when it comes to road bikes. Even with MTB or track bikes, you can really fall in love with a frame because it's what you ride all the time, and the seatpost/saddle/bearing/brakes are dialed in to what you like. But since that's your only reference point, you can't draw from the experience of riding a few thousand miles on a potentially better frame.
Your website makes quite a claim about the quality of your Dura-Ace products:
"Top of the line performance for serious cyclists... "
Based upon my experience, "top of the line performance" does not include 14T track cogs lasting over 4,500 miles. Maybe I'm not serious enough. Yeah, that's got to be it. Because had I paid full retail for your cog, I would be Seriously heated right now for blowing my investment.
Let's hope this 15T cog from the same line lasts at least 10k miles, considering I'm giving up about 6 gear inches.
"Three key words have emerged as the theme for the latest DURA-ACE system: Speed, Smooth and Strength. '100% Power Transmission' is the goal pursued by the fusion of these three concepts. Lance Armstrong used Dura-Ace to win the Tour de France seven consecutive times."
I'm pretty sure he wasn't riding that same DA groupo all 7 years.
I hope you all choke on your smug sense of self-satisfaction, you jerks.
Sincerely,
- R. Kurtz -Bicycle Commuter
From Family Guy episode "And the Weiner Is," during a Gun Club's family firearms safety video:
Race is based upon "The Clash of the Titans." Checkpoints will be various statues in Norfolk, Ghent, ODU, and Portsmouth. It's called Medusa's Revenge because "The Statue Race" is pretty boring. The manifest will ask specific questions about the statues or their dedication plaques to ensure good sportsmanship.
Winning the race will depend on your knowledge of the Portsmouth Ferry schedule and landing points, which could subtract or add 30 minutes to your time.
13 checkpoints over a minimum of 13 miles (not including ferry travel distance).
The red ones will be single-sided Spoke Cards. The full color will be backing for the double-sided Prize Cards.
And, yes, I did find all 3 prizes for next Saturday.
That's right. The statue race has a name. Hopefully people will show, and hopefully they will have fun.
Many thanks to David in Portsmouth for all his help.
See you there!
(or at least new to me)
my 3 year-old backpack's finally on it's last seams. 12 seasons of biking, hiking, falling, grocery runs, rain, submersion, dragging, and dog-chewing are at an end.
finally, it was time to grab one of those waterproof backpacks I so covet. as always, budget was a big concern, so I searched the Russian Roulette marathon that is Craigslist. friday afternoon, I sent a USPS money order to Portland, OR, and by yesterday, Wed nite, I got my bag back via UPS. a 4 month old, perfect-condition bag, purchased at 50% of Retail. no small feat for a product from a bag company who, based upon my research, never has sales.
i celebrated by new acquisition with a little grocery shopping. afterwards, i tooled around Naro Video looking for an old Cronenberg flick for about half an hour.
by the time i got home i noticed i had been adjusting my posture repeatedly to compensate for the load. obviously, i'm not an Army Ranger hucking 80lbs of gear around 40 hours a week.
so, i checked the difference weight on the bathroom scale: 47 lbs
- bike chain (usually around my waist)
- 3 packets of Kung Pao powder
- can of peanuts
- stick of Pepper Jack cheese
- 2 cans of Campbell's Chunky
- 2lb bag of plain Grits (insert redneck joke here)
- floor mop replacement sponge
- bag o' oranges
- 2.5lbs of chicken breast
- 12 pack of Miller Lite, to replace what i've stolen from Michelle
- 3 dvd's - Hiroku the Goblin, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, The Brood
- 5lb bag of Kokohu Rose Sushi Rice (so much better tasting that long grain, imho)
hopefully i'll get stronger and faster riding loaded down. the bag is freaking huge, though, and i found myself tucking the Wings for the morning commute, to accommodate for the occasional shoulder-check.
i think i'm satisfied, but i do feel that this may be a bit much on the summer morning commute, considering the sweat-in-business-clothes factor. we'll see...
and I get to pose as a bicycle courier, telling tall tales of death-and-traffic-defying mortgage document deliveries. for joy!
