finally got off me duff and posted the pics from evan and gina’s wedding. it was a beautiful day, and the bride was breathtaking. i was lucky enough to preside over the ceremony.
i’ve posted a lot more pics as well, from may 2005 back to september 04. sheesh. they were all on ofoto — er, koday easyshare, now — but i hadn’t posted the links in the gallery in months. go check ‘em out!
ever wonder where you’d end up in dante’s hell? birdman found this site, and both he and i are of the lustful variety. here’s how i ended up:
The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Low |
| Level 1 – Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Low |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Very High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Very Low |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Low |
| Level 6 – The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very Low |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 – Cocytus (Treacherous) | Low |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
our new cap’n, gCue, wrote up the report last night … here it is, in all its gory/glory. allegory!
Recap for Week 1
On the blue felt of Edge Bar, the two teams that call this place their home clashed on Opening Day of Summer Pool Season. Piranha 2.0 did battle with a short-handed Scratch This. We won the coin toss …
They put up Spence (6) and we put up me (5). Both players had a little rust and immediately started playing defense. Spence slipped up and gave me a ball-in-hand. I worked my way down to the 8-ball and had to make a tough bank to take the first game. The 2nd game again had more defense but gave me better lies. After executing a long combo, I took the 2nd game. Down 0-2, Spencer decided that he had enough and surged back into the match. He knocked down some long shots and took the 3rd game, which featured some nasty safeties on both sides. At this point, we had reached the first hour of the match … and then things got weird and ugly. The next 5 games included some sloppy play, wasted coaches, bad leaves, and 8-ball scratches by both players. We both gave each other opportunities to close games out, and we both let them slip away with mistakes. The grueling match went the distance and filled up over 2 hours of game clock … I don’t fake the funk, but I couldn’t shake the funk, and I fell 5-3.
Dr. Pain (6) feeling the effects of ’sun fever’ wanted to play next, and he got Will (4) – former MVP of Tuesday league. Dr. Pain closed out the first game with a nice crisp 4 ball run. However in the 2nd game, he had some early slip ups and Will wins out with a 5 ball run of his own. In the next game, Dr. Pain called a timeout with Tweek. The braintrust came up with a risky gambit that failed, and Will capitalized to take the 3rd game. Will needed only 1 more game and Dr. Pain needed to win 4 straight games, so Will was feeling pretty good … but he didn’t realize that there was a Hater-in-da-House, and his name was Dr. Pain. Will snookered himself in the 4th game, and the Doctor collected and won. In the 5th, Pain shot a lovely safety and ran to nice position on the 8-ball … which he then overcut. He called it the ‘worst shot of his entire life’. Still, somehow, someway, Will gave Dr. Pain another shot, and that’s not what you do with Dr. Pain … who, in a tough shot, knocked the 8-ball down the length of the table into the pocket. In the 6th game, Dr. Pain again was able to make the most of his chances to win. And finally the rubber-game, both were drained and exhausted … but Dr. Pain found that extra gear. Dr. Pain ran 4 balls to cut to 8 ball down the cushion, but the ball just died on the doorstep. On his turn, Will was looking to draw the cue after hitting his ball across the length of the table … and the cue found its way to the hole. Dr. Pain easily picks up the gift. Balls-in-hand are his favorite (make what you will of that). Dr. Pain wins! The comeback is complete!
Tied 1-1, Piranha 2.0 put up Emily (4) and we put up Tweek (6) – because we didn’t have a choice. Tweek started out smoove and tried to pull off a long 3 cushion shot (a.k.a. a Granlund Backdoor Surprise) — but barely missed. After chasing some balls around, Tweek takes the 1st game. He came out sharp in game 2 to run 6 balls, but his last suited ball was blocked at every angle. Emily had some strong shot selection to work her balls down. She snookered herself on the 8-ball, but – Boomshaka – she goes cushion first to cut the 8-ball into the corner and takes the 2nd game. It takes magic to beat Tweek, and magic-hour was officially over. Tweek quickly set matters straight and took game 3. In the 4th game, Tweek had to wait until the 5th inning to actually get a clear, make-able shot. He then ran 6 balls to win. Tweek nearly drops the 8-ball off the break to open the 5th game. Tweek went to work and finally picked up that 8-ball that he had put on layaway. In the 6th game, Tweek was feeling it, in fact, he was feeling it so much that he was going to drop his last suited ball with a ‘Color-of-Money’ shot. It involved drawing the ball the length of the table to cushion back past the 8-ball … more daring in-person. He scratched and gave Emily an opening, but she gave the table back to Tweek. He finished it out. Emily fought valiantly, but Tweek wins the match 5-1.
After going 2-1, we forfeited the last two matches. We were defeated 2-3 and lost the bonus point.
Game Notes:
it’s also a motomonkey post. 
i love it when departments collide.
so, you wanna be a bad boy motorcyclist? want to join a motorcycle gang and terrorize the streets? here’s a little instructional video for ya. work safe.
dan b and steve rosenblatt and bill speg and i were all thrilled that we were rewarded with excellent weather. in your face, weatherman!
dan and i slabbed it to state college PA from brooklyn thursday night … the evening started out beautifully, tho the temps quickly dropped as we headed over the poconos. by the time we rolled into the super8 it was 36 degrees. brr.
we rolled out with steve and bill on friday morning. the day started out chilly but warmed up to the 80s — a gorgeous rain-free day. sun a-shinin’ and all that. we were in for a treat … bryce put together an amazing route through southeast PA and WV. the best roads were routes 381 and 250 … and in between we spent a lot of time on a series of roads (starting with aleppo road in aleppo township, in the most SE corner of PA). we were smack in an unrelenting 2-hour session of technical twisties, switchbacks and amazing elevation changes. it was amazing! it was too much for me, though, i was absolutely sacked about halfway in. i could barely walk when i got of the viffer at the gas station when we got onto WV route 7.
we got into the comfort inn at a reasonable hour, and ken (who’s got a smokin’ mustang GT now, the tuna boat is languishing at home) was ready with the beers. got to chat with gary, bob, dave thompson (thanks for all of the routing!), matt roth, and everyone else as the rolled in. don was kind enough to throw us in the bed of his pickup for a trip over to town, for a great dinner at the brew pub.
saturday was a very light day, as bill led us through a bit of an old STAR route that he had brought along. we got a late start. we hit 47, 74 and 16, with some other bit thrown in … the roads were in excellent condition, very little gravel. some great sweepers, a tighter bit here and there. we stopped for lunch at “the jug” in newport, where they were having a cool classic autos show. sweet cars, wimmin with no teeth, ice cream, and a view of the river! we headed back to the hotel and got soaked about 9 miles away … this would be the only rain we experienced the entire trip. no foolin’. so much for a wet weekend!
we whiled away the evening with beers, poolside chats, and some good pizza. i also showed off my accessory fuse panel to some listers. great bunch of folks. great seeing everyone — and josh, glad you could make it!
oh, i almost forgot … apparently the listers in the back pizza-party room stole some birthday cake from a couple of 14 year old girls. great job guys — it was yummy. 
sunday was a high-speed slab run back for dan and me. we made good time … until we were on the eastern edge of PA on route 78. we were caught in some traffic, and like a fool i decided to kill the engine after it had been idling for way too long. the battery had been draining down for some time … and she wouldn’t restart. we were able to get her going again when i gave dan a push and he popped the clutch. no problems from there on out tho. we capped off the day with a *very* fast run through NJ — dan had found a hyundai who wanted to make good time, and we were seeing some great supra-legal speeds with him running interference.
so … a great weekend, great group of guys, and i can’t wait for the next one!
this one btyb the vfr list, by way of the hawk list, by way of a lady named babs. kudos to her for the funny.
When Keener first started telling me about Hawks, I thought he meant birds. When he mentioned going to FEHR — a rally he attended every fall — I envisioned people dressed up in Halloween costumes, trying to outscare each other. [Kinda funny, now that I think about it. Men wearing women's lingerie IS a bit scary, heh heh heh!]
I’m still in the process of deciphering the whole “motorcycle language.” There were certain things that completely! baffled me as a “newbie:”
last night we played on the luxuriously appointed tables at corner billiards, versus corner shooters. nice team, good folk. bad wait service, friendly bar staff. cheap tables if you’re playing their home tean (2 tables for 5 hours each, $30 total). unfortunately (i use that word a lot) we got spanked 4-0 and couldn’t field a 5th player.
match 1: gCue (5) vs alan (6). alan was the long tall trey-parker-lookin’ mofo, big on both ‘tude and ‘fro. nice guy. gCue rocked his world by taking game 1 in 2 innings. alan took umbrage and started sinking balls willy-nilly … luckily he missed an 8 shot. gCue was 5 down, but with a little d & a lot of pluck he came back to win game 2 as well. gCue had to throw alan at least 1 game, so he gave him the 3rd. neighborly. alan was liberal with his advice re: how to rack, but there was no spoiling gCue’s sunny disposition. gCue started on a healthy lead (6 balls), but his 15 was shy and he needed alan to get some balls out da way. alan did, but gCue scratched off that 15 … alan missed da 8 … so did gCue … and finally alan squeaked it in. game 5 went to gCue, he was maintainin’ his advantage even tho his linguistics were failing him; game 6 to alan. gQ had a shot @ the match in game 7, so out came the d again … our man’s d had to out-d their d, who would come out on top? alan. 
sudden death, and the d was a-poppin’ … it was a bitter fight, and gQ held on to the end … but alan came out on top. match to the bad guys.
match 2: dr pain (6) vs lam (4). pain meant business right out of the gate, as he took a 5 ball lead off the break. he missed two easy ones, and lam took advantage … just like that dr pain was in the doghouse. our doctor was having trouble warming up. he caught a break when lam missed an 8-cut, and pain smoov’d out a run to da v. a nice open break by dr p with nothing pocketed led lam to all but run the table … unlucky 4 him he knocked the 8 in out of turn. lam redeemed hisself when he capitalized on a pain miss in game 4, made some shots he never thought he would, and won it. pain was at an SL disadvantage now. lam took da last.
match 3: cappy (3) vs edwin (3). i lost 2-1. tweak, how about that skills clinic?
match 4: tink (2) vs pedro (3). tink was happy to be back after a long, dissertation-laden hiatus, and she rolled to a nice easy win in game 1. yay! and tink danced like a disco mofo. tink got a bit distracted by a bit of strumpet in tight jeans, so she slipped in the 2nd game – shame on her! she thought she’d flushed her skills when the went to the powder room. pedro came on strong and was making shots no 3 should make … it was tough for our girl to keep up. he missed his 8 shot, thankfully … could tink make up the 7 ball deficit? ack … no.
we had to forfeit match 5, as i mentioned. the good news? we won every lag we did! 
shoutout to kittykat for sending on this gem … a brief brief history of the world. what do you get when you stick messrs. hawking, einstein, schrodinger and aristotle in a blender, and add some monty python reverence for garnish? this:
Sub-atomic zookeeper: Shall I bring in the matter particles, then?
Hawking: Certainly, we’ll take a look at these bloody quarks first.
Image gone bye-byes
The Universe: I’m really not feeling these names. They lack gravitas.
The Particle Physicists: You know, we wanted to call the top and bottom quark ‘truth’ and ‘beauty’. But they wouldn’t let us. So that’s what we called our cats instead.
Hawking: *sticks fingers in ears* Not listening! Not listening!
i’m on chapter 5 and loving it.
yikes … i’m a bad monkey … here’s the play-by for last week’s match! we played team yasai at our home bar, dempsey’s. tonight we’re playing the corner shooters at corner billiards.
match 1: fleetwood (4) vs jamal (4). jamal took a honkin’ big lead early in game 1, and raced to the object in 2 innings. he caught a case of the rons, tho, and couldn’t close. fleetwood played steady, caught up … and with a finesse coach, took down his last solid and eased in the 8. good one. fleetwood took da lead in the next one, and for a bit of parity, he couldn’t make his 8 and jamal came from behind to win. there wasn’t a lot going on in 3, a rough one for both gents … until jamal dumped the Q in a pocket. with bih fleetwood won nicely-nicely. and he closed out da match (after chasing the 8 for a while) for a scratch-this victory!
match 2: yuji (3) vs cappy (3). i was pulling some wicked shots out, really random sh1te that just kept connecting … culminating in a snookered bank to touch the 8. i nabbed the win off yuji’s bih. i suxxored in game 2 … yuji was da man. and to make matters worse, i took a dive in the final game as my 11-ball “push” ricochet’d the 8 into the corner. gah!
match 3: gCue (5) vs jim (4). gCue was struggling a bit in game 1, just a bit on the rough side, and cap’n jim capitalized. some inopportune scratches spelled the end. there were a few of those in the 2nd but this time there was no rattlin’ our new leader … gCue won in 4 innings. he was warmed up at last, and proved it by running 5 off the break (ended by a sweet double-bank scratch). jim caught up tho and it turned into a high-inning d-fest. the fiddled with the 1 & 13 for a good hour. gQ got the best of ‘im eventually, and slid his bih in a tight spot to get to the 8 and a w. it takes a steady hand … gCue continued the streak, bringing home game 4 with minimal fuss. he had to make a killer kut to pocket the 8, but no sweat, he is the man, after all. gCue wanted to go home so badly by this point that he came w/in millimeters of sinking the 8 on the break … this made for a very interesting, very *ginger* game 5. jim got that game when our man tried a bank that balked. sudden death then. gCue got out in front … snookered himself … broke out with a blistering bank to pocket the 1 … shot on 8 and a miss! jim played d, gCue banked but missed for bih. some sneaky d couldn’t hold jim back tho … he took the match.
so there you have it … it was a rough week. only 3 players, and we only won 1 match. hopefully we’ll do better on sundaze …
a friendly reminder to all those on two wheels out there — don’t just check your mirrors when making a lane change in traffic (or passing), turn your head to check your blind spots.
i normally do this, it’s second nature. but on saturday, i was heading down to deecee in steady, driving rain. this was my first wet ride of the season, and i was “out of shape” mentally. i was exhausted by the time i hit maryland, and had a long ways to go. visibility was cr4p, which stressed my brain (and wore me out) more than usual.
4 lane blacktop, southbound. i’m in the middle-right lane, going about, oh, let’s say “an extralegal speed”. i want to change lanes, so i check my mirror. clear. i start my lane change, and tho i brainfarted about the head check, i made the lane change with no hesitation, swift and confident. immediately i saw a flash of black in my peripheral vision and my brain goes into hyper mode. car!
of course, time slows down at these moments. i see the car moving fast, immediately on my left (i was moving into the lane previously clear, now occupied by him). he’s moving 10-20mph faster than me. i see him move forward through my peripheral vision, a late 90s black econobox. bam! impact. i’m not sure what made contact but for the moment i’m still vertical. immediately the bike starts a rapid left-right oscillation. not a tank-slapper as the front wheel never leaves the ground, but i was moving left, the impact drove me more into the car, i swerved hard right, recovered, all of this on water … you get the picture. the car continues moving (more rapidly now!) away.
i was able to dampen the oscillation by being firm but not locked-arm on the bars, using the back brake sparingly. my brain was repeating various expletives and images of me going down at these extralegal speeds, when no one could see me due to the rain, etc … not pretty images. but i managed to get back in a straight line and only slowed down to the speed limit (slam on the brakes on 95 in the rain with no viz? bad idea jeans!).
over the few minutes, i was able to relax and take stock. clutch worked. brakes worked. power working. steering good. no damage to me. stand on those pegs, no visible damage to the bike, bodywork, indicators, bars, etc. so i did what any self-respecting motorcyclist would do. i hunted that sucker down.
he didn’t pull over, didn’t even stop to see if i was okay. so i sped up and caught him a few miles down the road. he seemed very apologetic, and i figured it wasn’t worth trying to pull over and yell at him, as i was okay, he was okay, and while he may or may not have been driving recklessly (i figure he was pulling up behind another car at 90 mph or so in the rain, switched into the mid-left lane to pass at the same time i was executing my lane change, and bam), i needed to take responsibility for my own actions — i hadn’t done my head check.
i stopped a while later to rest up, remove the starfish-shaped mark on the moto seat, and check over the bike. when i finally got down to deecee i took a picture of the only damage (which i’ll post later) … a clutch lever bent forward like a mofo. seems that’s what his mirror impacted with. lucky lucky me.
so all you out there on two wheels … don’t forget your head check!!!
