Stone Balance

My father, the sly dog he is, mentioned an interesting blog the other day about stone balancing( I can't remember the name ) and I was like " What !!! ".

What's stone balancing? I just clicked the link and there it was.

Magnificent serenity flowing through balanced rocks.

At first I was confounded, How does it work? I thought it looked fake, but then I picked up the phone, cynical and called my pops and he said, "Just try it..."

I ventured out front of my house and there they were. A few dingy rocks scattered amidst a rain runoff erosion.


Wow.


It felt very soothing, like meditating, and when I first did it I was instantly hooked.
Try It.

I can't wait to get my hands on some bigger stones...

Time, it flys.

In the blink of an eye, I've lost a few weeks. Job hunting, House-hunting, pregnant woman-calming: It's a blur. I can't believe it's been more than two weeks since I've last posted to my blog. I have not abandoned the new-found world of blogging. Just still trying to find my beat, the comfortable walk. I've got too much to say, so grouping it into nice categories is what I'm after. I'm trying to focus to allow further exploration into what really means something to me, and not just flounder, wasting keystrokes. Which, so far, I seem to have no trouble doing most of the time.
Brainstorms like el nino erupt daily, all centered around the focus. What focus? I really just want to post questions about anything to get most of them off my chest. Will anyone answer? I' I want to touch subjects most people are ignoring, for whatever reason. Well I'm back to my chaotic mess of a plan for this blog. I wish I could just stick to my mustache monologues and be done with it, but the setting is all wrong,...I'm working on it, my next house will have a dedicated room for audio recording,. I'm just too much of a stickler to listen to car noise and bad acoustics while I got something to share,. while shaving. Until then.

Another day, dreaming about motocross

Well I've had to put a slight hold on the Mustache Monologue's recording sessions. I have to find a suitable area to record and shave at the same time, as my bathroom is too close to my sleeping fiancee for me to be chatting with my ipod at 6:30am. I think I can just shave in my car before I leave for work. This should be much better for the acoustics as well. More from that later this week .

I bought a 1991 Honda XR200 on Saturday, for $900 from a guy in Western MD. It's beautiful, looks like it's only been ridden around someone's property, never seen a trail at all. This will give me something to play with while I wait for a month for my Ducati to get fixed. Ram Cycles in Gaithersburg is doing the the work , the guys there are great. I can't wait to hear and see my new Zard Full Exhaust system either.

Quite a bit more brainstorming for the blog direction, currently I'm trying to incorporate several blogs into a few of the wine sites I've done in the past. After really looking into the blogosphere regarding the wine industry, I see quite a future in conversational marketing with regards to these products. Reading Ross Dawson's blog , lots of great stuff about the future of this medium and it's business applications, well worth a read.

Mustache Monologue 1

This evening I would like to upload the first in a series of installments entitled

"The Mustache Monologues"

Mustache Monologue 1.mp3

In which I share my morning thoughts with you over a shave.

Currently an electric, Norelco Model #5814XL, amidst maintaining a pretty solid mustache and small sliver under the center of my lower lip for over two months now.

Green Cadillacs

From BusinessWeek Green Biz
The new hybrid design is a smart blend, combining a new organization of the gas-electric drive train with GM's existing engine technology that imperceptibly turns off cylinders at cruising speeds. The combination improves mileage at both low speeds in the city and at high speeds while cruising on highways. GM pledges this approach will deliver a 20-25% mileage boost overall, even on big SUVs and pickups, and without sacrificing the horsepower American car buyers crave.

Reading about General Motor's laggard response to our consumption concerns, a hybrid Escalade would be nice...
But the gas mileage might still only be 12 MPG with that big 6.2L engine they use !


Soon there after, the 2-mode hybrid will appear in 2008 models, including a hybrid Cadillac Escalade

My current 1998 Cadillac Eldorado was one of the first GM models to introduce the turning off of cylinders at highway speeds, and it makes a considerable difference in my gas mileage. From around 20-22 MPG in the city and on my commute to work. While when I'm cruising to New York on 95N going at least 70 the whole time, I see around 30 MPG. All the while I've been wondering,

"Why hasn't this system been incorporated into all their V8 engines?"

And a few years ago I read about a 'Hydrogen Combustion Adapter' to retrofit existing gas engines to allow the burning temp of the gas to get much higher because of the hydrogen injected. This led to stated MPG gains of 40% on the SUV's they were fitting them on. I believe it was a Canadian company that made it. I haven't been able to find anything else on it since. Anyone hear of this ?
I'd love to get 40 MPG cruising a '59 beauty...

A Beginner's Blog Brainstorm

The rain was falling all weekend in my head about jumping into the blogosphere the 'right' way. Yes, I realize there is no "right" way, but you understand. Just educate myself a little more before really posting a few times a day in a 'less than focused' direction.

The initial question I kept asking myself was,

"Should I have different blogs for different passions / aspects of my life?"

and the answer I've come to so far is

"Yes, but not too many, or just one, but efficiently structured....ahhh I'm still thinking about it ....."

Dissecting the closer and more passionate aspects of my persona, I came to realize that outside of my profession and my external interests and hobbies there are a few quirky things I'm incredibly passionate about in my personal daily life. I really could blog about quite a few subjects, as I'm sure many people could as well. But another question kept ringing...

"Should I ?"

I would really like to hear other people's opinions regarding these sometimes idiosyncratic passions I have. I believe whole-heartedly that this is the ideal forum to indulge my obsessive-compulsive needs to converse about this kind of thing.
I put it to a friend yesterday like this regarding the blogosphere and myself.

"Of all the people I PERSONALLY interact with on a daily basis, a very small percentage actually and honestly care what I'm asking or talking about."

I went on to express that especially with the fact that my personality, (ahem) brutal honesty, turns another portion of my potential companions away as well. Realistically leaving me with very few people to honestly talk to about what I'm curious about or just feel like randomly expressing." - ( Just for the record I AM capable of existing in a realm of niceties and BULLSHIT for the sake of smiles and society's commongood, but I'd just rather not LIE all the time. )

"So enter the blog," I said, "where people decide to find ME and what I'm talking about and make their own decisions to join my conversations, instead of me wasting my time ( and pissing some people off ) trying to honestly converse with those that don't care, don't want to, don't like me, or just don't have the time..."

"Wow, you've found the perfect world for YOU! " He said.

I really think he's right.

the fair was a blast

worth a thousand words or more.....