Blood on the Ice

Attended a small town hockey game here in McCall, Idaho.  What an awesome slice of America.

Cleaning the blood off of the ice

Kitchen Window

Saw this guy and his buddy playing outside of the kitchen window yesterday so I was ready with the Nikon V1 when he showed up again today.

Washtucna

On the road to McCall, Idaho and stopped in Washtucna, WA for some photo ops.

Curing TMCS

I’m reluctant to buy the Garmin GPS bike computer because I already have a GPS on my fancy Windows 8 smart phone.  However, there are two problems with using a smart phone as a bike computer: one phones are not weatherproof so you can’t mount them in a visible location (i.e. to your handlebars) and two the phone (at least my phone) goes into sleep mode when inactive for sixty seconds – so I’d have to touch my phone every minute to keep my stats visible - not possible while wearing gloves.  It seems that these smart dudes at WahooFitness have come up with a solution.

This appears to be a sweet set-up.  You get your HR data from a chest strap, you get the cadence from a bike mounted sensor and you get all the other GPS type stuff from your smart phone.  What a great solution for TMCS (Too Much Crap Syndrome).  Only problem is that it isn’t available for the Windows Phone.  Screwed again

The Crap We Cherish

Yesterday my son and I stopped by an estate sale on our way home from a morning of skiing at Alpental.  I guess I’ve never actually been to an estate sale before, and I must say I found it a bit depressing: you simply walk into a home where everything looks kind of normal – albeit with small stuff scattered all around – the only real difference being the small price tags attached to everything.  It was easy to see that the folks had lived in the house for quite some time and that they were fairly affluent, but honestly most of the stuff was junk: a dusty sewing machine, an old typewriter (my son didn’t even know what it was), and random glasswear.  I suppose that maybe there had been some descent furniture at one time, but anything of value had either already been sold or carted away for sale at a higher price.

All of this stuff had been purchased, used and held onto by the former owners of the house, but in the blink of an eye it all went from cherished possessions to nearly worthless junk that was being sold for a nickel or a dime.  It was a wakeup call for me as to determining what is important and what isn’t.  Family, friends and a few things that are actually worth owning (like a good bicycle) that’s what’s important, the other stuff, well someday that’s all going to be garbage.

Pick your crap wisely.

Keeping Your Feet Dry

Originally I bought these shoes from Xtra Tuf as something easy to slip into when taking the dog out for a walk, but as the wet Seattle winter has progressed they have become my everyday shoe.  Mine are the 5” neoprene Xtra Tuf II’s and warm, comfortable and totally waterproof.  They look cool too.

These Xtra Tufs are a male alternative to the fashionable, yet surprisingly practical, knee high Wellington boots that all the gals are now wearing.

The Seattle Look

On one of her visits to my then new home of Seattle my Midwestern mother commented “the girls here are so pretty, so natural, so happy.”  Twenty years later I still agree with her, and this is why I was so shocked on Saturday night.  My wife and I had gone to a movie over at Lincoln Square in Seattle’s eastern neighbor of Bellevue, and the entire mall was jammed full of chicks that appeared to be taking their design queues from reality television.  When did Bellevue become Jersey Shore?  The place was so tacky I could hear my shoes sticking to the floor.

Luckily, on Sunday, I found myself eating lunch at Homegrown in Seattle’s Queen Anne district, and lo and behold I was back into the arms of my beloved Seattle: Blundstones, baggy jeans, down jackets, knit beanies, that’s what I’m talking about.  The Seattle look is natural, clean, cool.  Sandwiched between snow and salt, we have a natural beauty here, a beauty that is reflected in our style.

This natural, comfortable with oneself style is what I attempt to emulate at Greenlite HeavyIndustries.  Good honest clothing, meant to be worn.  Made here, by us, for you.