Tubby children and chromies...

I had two little chubby kids on BMX bike come into the shop tonight looking for inner tube valve caps. I showed them the usual “chromies” (stupid chromed skull, eight-balls, and other ridiculous shapes of caps that kids dig), but of course they did not have enough allowance money from the chores I’m sure they ignore. So, being a softy manager like I am, I dug around in the back and found some used plastic caps we had laying around and hooked them up for free. They left excited. Half and hour later they show up asking for another set. I realized my mistake in creating a new set of local mooches that will now bother me on a regular basis. I told them the freebies were a one time favor, and that they’d be charged for any more. My sales guy on staff tonight joked with them that he didn’t know why they were coming in to see us when there was a parking lot full of cars that had the same kind of valve caps. Kids of course do not recognize sarcasm, and my sales guy does not know how to relate to kids. Ten minutes later I spotted our chubby little friends taking the valve caps off my own pickup (today was one of the very few days I actually drove in to work, rather than ride a bike.) Not knowing that I watched their little heist, they marched in later to show me how smart they were- that they had come up with some caps on their own. I asked where, and they said they “found” them. So I asked if they had happened to “find” them on the pickup outside, and how the owner might feel about their “find”. They actually determined on their own that the truck must be mine and handed over the caps. I gave them a little lesson, and they appeared genuinely sorry. After they left, I went out to put the caps they gave me back on my pickup, only to discover that they gave me back the free plastic caps I had given them, as I had chrome caps originally on the truck. Little bastards…

Short trip through a long time...

This past weekend, Alison and I took a very short trip through quite a few places. Adam and Jamie (my brother and his wife) drove from their home in Texas up to Minot, ND, where my parents live, so we decided to swing up ourselves to see everyone. The trip was only a couple days, but took me through quite a few memories of places I’ve spent a great deal of time. Friday night, we drove to Grand Forks, where we spent our first night at our friend David’s. I started getting the feeling that I’d never left last August, and that we were still Grand Forks residents. There were so many cues everywhere that were so familiar that it felt I’d never moved on. Green and tan Pipers overhead, UND campus, all my old apartments, the highways I’ve spent literally thousands of miles road biking on, Happy Harry’s (the dirty IV in the arm of Grand Forks), the list goes on. Even filling our car with gas at a pump I’d visited regularly on the way out of town (towards the airport) gave me serious de ja vue. Edward told me once on a visit back to GF after he had been gone a while that it was really weird to be back, and I sure felt it this trip. Everything was exactly the same, except that almost no one I know still lives there. Anyhow. Next up was Minot, where I grew up. That was a little less familiar, cuz it’s been so long since I lived there. The thing I noticed there was how “Minot-y” everybody is. I can’t quite explain it, but every location in the world builds a sort of conformity of feel to it’s residents. Everyone fits a sort of mold after enough time, and you don’t find it anywhere else. And when your town is located far away from nearly everything out on the prairie, it sure becomes it’s own world. Glenburn was next, which is the farm community my mom was raise near, and the family farm just outside of “town”. The people there are nothing like the suburban families I’m surrounded by here in the Cities. They live a life in the open, doing work completely foreign to those in the urban/suburban hustle. It seems to be a shrinking world with nonetheless deep roots. Interesting to see. We traveled through Bismarck on the way back to the Cities to attend a birthday party for my uncle Randy and my aunt Lynn. Once again, Bismarck has it’s own “feel”, completely different from any of the other places mentioned. I’d describe it as a the product of open prairie roots with Midwestern and Native values, combined with the modern suburban need to expand. Once again interesting. Basically, in even a short time, a traveler can pick up on drastically different “feels” of the place traveled, even if they are only a couple hours apart. The other places I’ve lived and traveled- SLC, St. Louis, Moab, Kenora, San Fransico, CO, WV, the Pacific NW, etc., etc., have such diverse living experiences. There are no two places exactly alike, and that makes traveling one of my favorite ways to spend my time. Too many experiences in life to sit in front of the TV.

On another note, I was also able to hear Adam play his trombone again during this trip. My aunt Avis in Minot, plays with a jazz combo call Java Jive Jazz, and they invited Adam to be a featured guest artist at their Saturday night show. Adam can manage to not play for months, and then get up in front of a venue and play a whole nights set of pieces he may or may not have ever seen. Impressive. And beyond that being entertaining, it was good just to focus on some music. Even though I don’t do much playing myself anymore, music has always been important to me. I’ve always thought of it as a sort of audible form of feeling. But I’ll save that for another day, this entry is getting entirely too long. As you were…

Return to rock?

Alison and I went out to visit Interstate State Park NE of the Twin Cities this past Sunday in search of rock climbing options here in SE MN. I'm pleased to say that the park does contain some decent rock for the midwest. I will be able to keep slightly interested in rock climbing during my continued time in the mostly flat lands. We are receiving a new rope from a good friend of mine (thanks again David!) in exchange for some bicycle overhauling, so we'll be able to dust of our other gear and get back on the real stuff. I'm out of climbing shape, but bike wrenching has kept my forearms and fingers in decent condition (beat up and calloused), so I should transition back ok.
In other news, I received the best tip I've ever gotten at a job yesterday. I sold a pair of Speedplay Zero Series pedals (friggin' sweet) to a local roadie, and he gave me his pair of Speedplay X Series pedals that he was upgrading from as a tip! Nice. I had to pick up a set of cleats for them, but thats a small price to pay for a $150 set of pedals. Not so bad. Al and I rode out in the Stillwater, MN area yesterday for the 4th, and they performs quite nicely. They're much freer than the Looks I've been riding in regards to the float, but that's the point (sorry to bore those non-cyclists reading). Anyhow, it was an impressive tip.
Alison and I are heading to ND for the weekend. Adam and Jamie are coming up from TX to visit home, so we decided to meet them there so everyone would be together for once. Doesn't happen much. We're pumped to see them, and Mullet too! We haven't seen our fat pet since we moved back from UT in January, and we miss him! Mullet, you better not die before we move to a place that allows pets again. I think he's got several years left if we control his fattening. The little guy's not fond of exercise. Anyhow, we'll be staying in Grand Forks tomorrow night (that will be weird), and continuing on Saturday morning for Minot, where I did my growing up. Well, part of my growing up. That seems to be a continuing project.
Well, I've got to rest up for another big shop day (today was 12 hours; more tomorrow). Don't waste the summer, get outside!