its not going to stop raining. evah.

happy weekend
Originally uploaded by faster panda kill kill

its been raining since i got up at 7am. and it was raining before that. i can hear in my sleep. its a superpower. be jealous. people are being washed away trying to cross creek crossings in their cars. i think 7 have died so far. or maybe 2. either or. my backyard is a swamp. i'm afraid to step off my curb and be swept away in the little street river. i hear the currents of those are deceiving. so i will sit inside and drink coffee and do work. and knit. and play with dogs. and have a fine breakfast with g. we watched the devil and daniel johnston last nite. i recommend you see it. an artist and madness. he has a strong connection to austin. we fight each time the city or corp. tries to come in and paint over his hi how are you drawing on guadalupe. we like kooky artist here. alot.

on friday i had to ride over to my mentee's school and drop off a card i made for her. i had intended to deliver it to her in person last week. but she didn't come to school all week. i saw her the week before and we had a great visit. she told me she would see me the last day of school. but she never made it back in.

she has missed over 60days of school. and will have to repeat her grade. makes me sad. would be nice if a parent in her life would make attending school more important and take on the responsibility of getting her and her sister there every day. i left the card at the office for them to address and mail. i sure hope it reaches her. my intentions of staying in touch over summer will not happen now. i wish her a good summer and look forward to seeing her in the fall.

here is the card -



and here i am during my ride back from her school. i timed it all wrong and got caught in a downpour. the ride is about 20min and so my silly yellow plastic rain thingy did little good. after a while in it though....i began to have fun and enjoy it. once you are soaked - it doesn't really matter anymore. thankfully i had some gym clothes at the office. hay. at least they were dry. i did a few pushups too. you almost can't help it when you are in gym clothes.

note the fast boys fenders in action. they are beautiful and functional. its only when you spend 20+min out in a torrential downpour that nothing short of a fully enclosed bike rain poncho will help. i am working on his website today. they will be available for purchase in about 2 weeks. i love me some fast boys.

legs....what are they good for....

absolutely nothing for this lady. one day a segment of the population of the human race will evolve into having no legs. maybe some shunts. stubs. or feet will evolve into round nubs that can be fitted into some contraption that will roll you around everywhere. this isn't my photo. its from here - apparently a guy took it from his window in seattle.

i'm pretty sure i can see this baby mouthing the words: WTF. i'm outta here as soon as i can walk.

oh. hay. hi friends. ;-)

Frankenbike is Saturday. noon to 5pm. beer. bands. bike parts. Scholz Garten 1607 San Jacinto. info

and

First Annual Veggie HotDog Eatin Contest. Saturday 1pm - 3pm. Scoot Inn. 1308 E. 4th St. info

here are photos from the Yellow Bike 10th Birthday Party last Saturday. the good shit. that was fun. i drank too much. or maybe i should have eaten dinner beforehand. blurry rides home are funny.

you can see them here too

a bike memorial for a neighbor

Debra Prokop lived in our neighborhood. she was stuck by a car and killed at Ave G & 44th on may 20, 2001. since her death, many have kept the spray-painted memorial for her fresh.

I didn't know her. she was a gardener for several neighbors and a part of our community. and she was a bike commuter. Last year a fellow neighbor and cyclist, George Wyche, Greg and myself re-spray painted the bike memorial where Debra Prokop was hit and killed on her bike in Hyde Park. We are going to be spraying it again tomorrow, Saturday at 11am. Please join us if you like or are in the neighborhood. Ave. G & 44th.

Here is a short little video of our spray last year.

together we ride from iridemybike on Vimeo

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don't forget about the Yellow Bike Birthday Party Saturday at Ben's Long Branch BBQ. 5pm - midnite. more info and see u there!

yellow bike art show wraps

work got me a new macbook pro
Originally uploaded by faster panda kill kill.

the laptop has a brain and a camera. built-in isight. i gotta be careful in front of it.

the yellow bike art show went off great. tons of folks showed up. the gigantic praying mantis bike that chomped and gobbled up cars showed up. we showed our reels of little bike movies. nathan has made a few movies of his friends riding old tandem bikes, called tandemonium. they were fun. i put a reel together of most of the little movies i have on the site and on vimeo. there were DJ's spinnin and a guy with a mic and a b-boy drumkit. who got everyone dancing.

here's photos from the show. but first. this thing grows in austin. its ginormous. and sadly, it dies after blooming. - at least it goes out with a showy bang.





who will survive? and what will become of them?!



speakin truth



my 85 photos on the wall that they were kind to hang. movies being shown from the ledge above.



riding home from the show i rode up on this lovely working horse being hosed down after a nite of pulling carriages on 6th street. farm in the city.

silverman to the rescue

silverman
Originally uploaded by faster panda kill kill.

silverman was spotted at eyeore's bday party. the annual drumfest, beerdrinking, costume wearing fringe to normal city wide party of austin texas. he lept into action when someone was spotted tripping and about to spill his beer.

this smogblog has gone for electroshock treatment. thank you for hanging in there. all 3 of u. and that includes my interweb surfing pie dog.

updates since we last gathered:

• i got a natural bristle toothbrush
• i stared out the window
• i haven't set out any beartraps in the front yard just to see what happens
• i have dranken alcohol and ridden my bike. separately and together
• i have wondered what you all have been up to
• work got me a new 17" macbook pro - dont hate me
• banking on the idea that everything happens for a reason (or not) either way, no matter
• watching the full series of six feet under and crying at the end of at least every other one of them. i'm a sap.
• eating grapes

here's to the silver superheros. even if just for one day.

friday may 4. yellow bike art show and party

yellow bike party and art show
Originally uploaded by faster panda kill kill.

be dere. lots of bikes. beer. music. bike art. friends. i'll be showing bike movies i've taken of you local guys over the years and photos too. DJ katherine and DJ orion will spin the records. ride over. make your pappy happy. more info



couple more photos from last year...

yeller pedicabs came through.



cargo bikes are sexy. so are free bread carts.



carnival stars attic ted played. i love attic ted.

be aggressive

i wanna make movies like this.

i heard a word and the word is moonlite cruze 10pm wednesday, MAY 2nd congregate at lamar ped bridge.

to start off the full moon week, we had a crazy woman drive down our street at what one neighbor described as 60mph, run a stop sign without even touching the brakes and plow into the house across the street from us. well, she took their fence down, skimmed a tree, took a porch pole support out and crashed into their outdoor fireplace thing. greg heard this loud explosion and ran outside to see this smoking car in the neighbors yard all fucked up. he ran over and nobody was in the car. after police arrived, a postman said he saw a woman staggering down the street shortly after this happened. of course we want to know what was playing on the radio when greg ran up to the car? metallica. that's appropriate. thankfully nobody got hurt in all this melee. later that day i read they found a woman's body in a alley off 38th street. no foul play suspected. wha? a dead body is laid out in a alley and no big whoop. hmm. prison rules...i see...

so tomorrow is the real full moon. i suspect wolves will fall from the sky and terrorize the villagers. course, this is austin. maybe we can talk them into a bike ride and a few six packs of lone star instead.

hay may is bike month. ride yo bike. here's some stuff to do.