Stupid Hurts

Wednesday was the weekly meeting of “Food not Bombs” to cook and feed people in Little Five Points. I try to help them when I can. Our personal ideology is a little different so I make it a point to learn from them as much as possible. It is also nice to be able to help out a decent cause thats helping out where others groups aren’t. Plus they work amazingly hard to make things happen. And I love the guys in the local group who work week after week to feed these people.
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Recently one of the stores they were getting donations from got a new produce manager and started refusing to help on the grounds they believed we were keeping the food just to eat instead of feeding others with it. So I was asked to take pictures this time. I have several from past weeks as well, so it will be nice to have a contrast to show them how big it has gotten.
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We spent several hours preparing dishes before heading out to pass out food. The food was well received, and went extremely quickly. Everyone was glad to see us come and liked everything we had to offer. For some reason there does seem to be a social stigma associated with accepting a free lunch for some people, so some seem insulted when we offer them food, but all in all things went really smoothly.
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Leaving “Food not Bombs” I ran into Rafael and several other of my friends practicing bicycle tricks in a parking lot where I was coerced into shooting a few more pictures. Luckily it was perfect lighting conditions for tracking shots. So he got in his zone and rode out a few leg over skids while I shot. I really enjoy the amount of movement that’s shown in some of these shots.
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Lots more can be found in the gallery here.
The Stupidhurts Gallery

Over at an Atlanta cycling based web forum. Faster Mustache. There was an interesting point/counter point discussion on the Critical Mass that occurred Friday. I spoke with my dad who witnessed the San Fran Critical Mass the same day. He spoke of the herd mentality, and how these things can go either really well. or really badly.

First off I love the variety in the cycle culture found in this city.
I just moved here to atl recently, and I have been on my bike every day. Talking to people, riding with people, and visiting bike shops. One thing I have learned is a lot of people have a generally different cycling/more aggressive style than I am used to seeing in other parts of the country. At first when everyone I met had a, “I have been hit by a car,” story I thought it was only drivers, but after a little observation I learned it was just as much our fault as cyclist as theirs as drivers.

The Atlanta CM was an interesting experience for me. I have ridden in cm’s in several different cities and countries. And have gone so far as help organize one, but this was easily one of the largest I have been involved in. Of course when you have this any people on bikes in a herd you have issues. I tried to do my part to do what I could when I could to help cars that were lost in the pack make it to a safe exit point, but with communication being at a premium it proved difficult. Plus the fact I didn’t know any of the other riders it also proved to only make it more difficult. Only while blocking intersections was I able to learn who to talk to to help things flow a little more smoothly. While CM’s don’t have a leader there are those who provide a sort of back bone and structure. I thought while riding some of the side streets that this mass was going great, but once we got to Ponce de leon. It did become painfully obvious why a lot of cyclist say they can’t ride down Ponce alone. And I was able to see just how a large Mass can be harmful to the cyclist/driver interaction in a city. The angry reaction from drivers at the intersection near the Majestic was a perfect example considering the fact we blocked traffic for nearly seven minutes or about 3-4 traffic light cycles.

I noted from several people that this one was a lot more spread out than than usual as well. But watching some of the cyclist involved it would have made me uncomfortable to ride a lot closer to some of them given their skill level. After announcing in a clear loud voice, “On your left,” several people didn’t look or check their blind spots.

Though riding is healthy for the human psyche it cannot cure all ills. All riders carry some weight of diseased spirit. Still, better we ride than vegetate.

I had just gotten my [tag]lucky[/tag] [tag]socks[/tag] on and was tossing stuff into my [tag]backpack[/tag] in an effort to get ready for [tag]work[/tag], and I thought to myself, “I haven’t taken my [tag]camera[/tag] anywhere in a bit.” Well, tonight I am glad I did. (And before anyone even bothers to ask, I really do have a pair of lucky socks, I wonder if my life would be different had I taken them to [tag]Oklahoma[/tag] with me?)
I decided to head into work early. Partly because of the fact I am sick and I wasn’t sure if I was physically capable or getting to work or staying at work, and partly because I wasn’t sure if I even had a job anymore.

Friday night I choose to start celebrating [tag]Halloween[/tag] a little early and went to the 4th annual Witches ball instead of going to work. A bunch of my friends went with me and we even managed to talk my mom into going and having a little fun.[newline]
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I got to see a lot of interesting costumes and well thought out costumes, and a lot of people who were well..just running around half [tag]naked[/tag].
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It was really worth skipping out of work for.

So I went into work tonight and found out due to a scandal that had nothing to do with me directly. No one noticed that I didn’t show up to fill my post last night. I decided there was no real reason for me to point that fact out for anyone.

On the note of upgrading Stupidhurts.org I decided it was best to let well enough be. I looked over the documentation and over the back end code. As my buddy Jake pointed out to me a bit back, this site is held together by spit and love. So if it ain’t broke I really shouldn’t be trying to fix it. Plus I would lose several rarely used but very awesome features like the Stupidhurts map and voicecasting.

Even though I haven’t had a [tag]motorcycle [/tag]in way to long, I still have my last [tag]helmet[/tag]. and at the request of a friend I took a picture of it, while doign so I took the time to find where I had lost all of my other helmet [tag]pictures [/tag]and a few of my motocycle pics.

So now for a bit of randomness
My first helmet was all black and got split in half on my first wreck in Florida. So I purchased a new one in [tag]St. Augustine[/tag]. It fell off a shelf and the front half broke off. So I decided at that point I should buy quality helmets.

First was the blue [tag]Fulhmer[/tag]
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then the white icon
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can you tell i like dragons
then this one
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at which point I fell in love [tag]Suomy[/tag]’s and that is pretty much all I will wear
Unfortunately Sherrif Joe and company still have that one
and the current one
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Now I just need a new bike!

Oh and a bunch more pics in my gallery now to

So I want either a [tag]tri[/tag]-bike or a [tag]fixie[/tag] next.

If i just happen to find $5000 bucks on the ground I would love to get one of these.
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But the odds of that are pretty slim, so more likely than not it will be a fixie since they fall closer to the $200 dollar price range

So this is my final night in Orlando before operation “Home for the [tag]Holidays[/tag] begins.” 600 miles in 10 days by [tag]bicycle[/tag]. I am pretty excited and it looks like the weather will be perfect the entire time. I have a few small last minute preparations to make, but I am still really excited and ready to get started. I will try my best to keep the site updated while en route.