OK.... I really don't update this at all anymore, nor do I intend to. I do have a new blog that I started back at the beginning of the semester. Check it out: http://oxygentobreathe.blogspot.com/

I'll probably check this every now and then just to see what ya'll are up to, or you could just add me on facebook.

ryan

I just scored the deal of a lifetime on these:




They retail for over $400 and I won an ebay auction for them at $135!!!

now I just need to decide on how and with what I want to build it up with.

Well, I just received my first bill for school... fuck. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I knew it wasn't going to be cheap.

I'm stoked on seeing...







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96QRVfto7OM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI

Can we please move on to some new trends? If I see another bike with ultra narrow straight bars, deep v rims, and absurdly over-geared drivetrains I'm going to lose it.

A: your bike looks like shit and...
B: it probably rides like shit as well.

Fuck You

Ryan

So I recently got home from a solo trip to Fruita the other day. As expected, the trails were fantastic, the weather was great, the campsite was green with plenty of shade... but there's hundreds of stories describing the trails of Fruita with accompanying photos ranging in quality; some exceptional, some horrific (that's why you won't see any of mine in this thread.) I'd like to talk about something else.

What struck me about this trip wasn't necessarily the quality of the riding in Fruita (which is exceptional, of course) but just about how something new makes you rethink and revisit the things in life that have become normal or routine. If there's anything that makes driving 20 hours one way worth it is what you bring back with you. For starters, it changes the way we view our home trails upon returning. You begin to see new lines that's you've ignored countless times. You can rethink the flow of sections of trail and even come to appreciate what before had become common and in some cases boring.

Much like these trails, the memories of new friends can profoundly effect the way we see the relationships we have back home. Even if these are friends that I may likely only see that once, there's the lasting impression we can make on one another. In some ways experiences like this can remind us there's always something people can find to bridge the gaps between one another. In our daily routine it's easy to dismiss someone based on their ideals. But when we pluck ourselves out of our daily existence, I think we allow ourselves to be more gentle towards one another.

Mountain biking has always been more to me than just a way to keep in shape (which I don't do a very good job of anyways....), or a method of getting from point a to point b. It's a way to reconnect to the world we ignore. Vacation time is often times viewed as getting away from the "real world" and in some ways it is. But it can also be a timeto re-imagine the world.

So here's to new adventures, old trails, friends old or new and, of course, mountain biking.

This really might be the strangest thing I've ever seen.....

Well, it's official as of today! I passed my EMT certification test.  Now I just need to find a job.

Along the same lines, I got my first acceptance letter from Ball State today.  One step closer to nursing school.  Things are looking pretty good right now.

It's good to get out and ride again...

I'm heading west to Fruita, CO in a few weeks to take in some spectacular riding and camping for a few days.  I was thinking about going later in the year, but I decided that now was time before summer goes into full effect (i.e. crazy desert heat) and I won't have to feel bad about going without Erin as she'll be back in Nebraska visiting family... plus it'll be nice to have a little time to decompress before I find a new job as an EMT (whenever that might be......) 


As always, there's an open invitation to anyone who may want to join me. 

I passed my EMT state practical exam!! 
All that's left now is the written/comp. test which should be no problem at all.

I also have a job interview set up for Monday with St. Vincent's ER dept.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything of significance on here, so here it goes...

I'm getting dangerously close to being finished with EMT school.  I'm already in the process of applying for jobs in ER's and with some of the ambulance services around town.  I'm trying to land a job in busy ER or an ambulance service with a high 911 dispatch.  I'd really like to get as much experience as possible to build up my resume.  My goal is to eventually land a job as a flight medic/nurse (obviously more school and training, but more on that soon....) Anyway, all that's really left at this point is passing my state practical and written exams.  The practical is May 2nd and the written is to be determined at the moment. 

Along the same lines, I'm also in the process of applying to nursing schools.  It looks like I'll need to spend my first semester or so (assuming I get in) taking care of some prerequisites.  I'm trying to get into the accelerated programs seeing as how this would be second bachelor's degree.  It would be easier to get in to the normal programs, but that takes quite a bit longer.  The only real downside to the accelerated programs is it's a true full-time commitment.  Everyone I've spoken with in regards to these programs highly recommend not working at all mostly because the work load is pretty intense for such a short period of time.  So, we'll see how that goes.

So biking... yeah, I've been able to get out 3 times this year.  Between work and school, I really don't have much "me" time.  By May I'll be done with classes and clinicals which will free me up for a little while.  Needless to say I'm pretty out of shape which, well, sucks ass.  

That pretty much catches things up.  My life as of late has been pretty monotenous lately, but, I enjoy what I do.  I can honestly say for the first time in quite some time I'm very happy with the way most things in my life are going.  I feel like I'm on the right track and it feels good.

ryan 

I have a new car.  It's an '08 Honda Civic Si sedan.   It's quite the change from a Subaru wagon. 

Think of 20 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.  Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good.

No being cool, which albums have you actually listened to thousands of times?

These are albums that I at some point went through a period of listening to over and over again.
In no particular order...

1. GZA, "liquid swords" -not the first hip-hop album, but certainly one of the hip-hop albums that drastically altered the way I thought about and listened to hip-hop. Absolutely revolutionary.

2. Fugazi, "13 songs" -first 'hardcore' album. Also my first 'hardcore' show.

3. Pavement, "crooked rain, crooked rain" - 'range life' still, more or less, sums it up for me.

4. Botch, "we are the romans" -changed the way I thought about what hardcore is/was/should be.

5. Refused, 'the shape of punk to come" -while 'we are the romans' changed the way I thought about hardcore, Refused pretty much solidified my opinions on what hardcore is/was/and should be. Still so far ahead of what most bands are doing 10 years or so later.

6. Converge, "petitioning the empty sky" - like every other fan of hardcore/metal, I shit myself the first time I heard the song 'the saddest day.'

7. Pearl Jam, "ten" -yup. there was a period of my life where i loved just about everything pearl jam did. kind of a guilty pleasure nowadays, but I can't ignore the fact that I loved this band for a couple of years running.

8. In My Eyes, "nothing to hide" -simply put, my favorite posi album. that and some of the greatest guitar sounds on a hardcore album

9. public enemy, "fear of a black planet" -first hip-hop album I ever owned. changed the way I thought about music, period.

10. metallica, "...and justice for all." -my first true metal album. I think I got the tape in 8th grade? By the time I was in 10th grade I had gone through 3 tapes and had purchased a c.d. by then.

11. Nirvana, "nevermind" -first CD that I ever purchased.

12. Beatles, "white album" -first album I ever purchased with my own money.

13. Atmosphere, "seven's travels" - 'I caught you trying to hide your smile behind your glass but all your secrets become a swing set when you laugh.'

14. Beastie Boys, "Check Yo Head" - Holy shit! I'm going to listen to this right the fuck now!

15. Shostakovich's 8th string quartet. if you know it, you'll get it.

16. Get Up Kids, "four minute mile" -used to listen to this alllll the time.

17. AFI, "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes" -Might have caused permanent hearing damage. This album seriously got me through some tough times and bad relationships.

18. The Promise Ring, "Nothing Feels Good" -Poppy goodness! I just feel warm thinking about this album.

19. The Smiths - I don't know if I can choose a particular album. They're a band that I'll never tire of listening to at any point in my life.

20. Bane, "It All Comes Down to This" - Reasons Not Rules....

lately I haven't been able to stop listening to these two albums:





what can i say... cold weather has really put me in the mood for gloomy dubstep lately.  

So I pretty much spent the bulk of my Sunday watching all of Lost season 4.  Anyway, I think I figured something out:  Ben put the plane at the bottom of the ocean, not Charles Whittmore.  There are two reasons I say this.

1. There's a line in one of the episodes regarding the bodies that were dug up that suggest that Charles is looking for Ben because of the bodies.

2. More importantly, why is Frank, the helicopter pilot, even alive?  Frank is really the only person not on the island that knows the plane at the bottom of the ocean is a hoax.  IF Whittmore put that plane at the bottom of the ocean, why wouldn't he just kill Frank or even pay him off?  Charles has nothing to gain from hiring him if  he's the one who put the plane at the bottom of the ocean.     

Is anyone else as excited as I am for season 5 to start??!!  There's  a few things I hope they resolve in the next seaon: 

-Who is Charlotte really?
-What's with the Sahara Desert?  an archeological dig finds a polar bear skeleton with a dharma collar and it's where Ben winds up after he moves the island.  Was there another Dharma station there?

I just found out a little while ago that one of my uncles in North Carolina is dead.  We're not really sure what happened as he lived alone (and was pretty much a recluse later in his life) and was found dead in his house after no one was able to get in touch with him for 2-3 days.  They're doing an autopsy to determine the cause of death, so as of now we really don't know much in regards to how or what happened.  They have ruled out any foul play, however.  There was no signs of a break-in, murder, etc.  

He was always one of my favorite uncles.  A true individual in every way imaginable and played a large roll in  influencing my theory that church is a complete waste of time.  He was the only one in the family that Grandma wouldn't drag to church when everyone was together.  I think on some level she decided he as beyond "saving."  I remember begging to stay home on Sunday mornings with Uncle Neal.  It never seemed fair that he got to watch football and "the wrecks" and we had to get dressed up and go to a Southern Baptist church. 

So it goes.....