Back from Montana

What a wonderful trip. Theo started walking (11 steps in a row!), we hung out with great friends, ate great food, drank a beer or two, did some gorgeous hikes, and caught lots of fish.

It's always sad to leave, this year more than ever. But we'll be back.

Right and Wrong

Olbermann is annoying and self-righteous, but there's a whole lotta truth in here.

The shame is that we're all of us so far gone that we can't even see how far gone we are.

Alberto Strikes Back

Kudos to Contador, who gave at least one of these costume-wearing interfering jog-alongsiding douchebags what they deserve.

I mean, dude was trying to pretend to check his heart rate. Seemed like the yahoos went wild this year, moving away from the realm of overzealous support that has always made these mountaintop stages nervy and into the realm of trying to get camera time by being the biggest "look at meeeeee" a-hole on the mountain.

Too bad more of them didn't get this treatment.

Watch the race. Don't be in it.

Theo Meets Nika

John and Tamara got a new puppy and brought her round to meet the boy. They liked each other.

Horseshoe Canyon

I forgot I had these photos. We went to Driggs for the 4th of July, and I got a ride in over at Horseshoe Canyon one day.


It was so gorgeous, we ended up hiking there a couple days later. You can see the Tetons across that valley.

TR Turns 1!

A baby no more. Theo has joined the ranks of kid-dom. He had a wonderful birthday.

A Great Day

Slept in til 8. Got a nice road ride in. Brunch with friends for Judi's birthday. Bike ride with Cathy and T. Quick nap. Homemade raviolis and wine over at John and Tamara's with all the moms. Now a book and bed. All that, and I got the coolest hat ever, too. Happy Father's Day to me.

Gold Cup

US v. Jamaica on Sunday. Anyone gonna watch?

No Politics

I know, I've made a vow to ignore all election-oriented information and activities until about this time next year. But I couldn't resist at least checking in with the first Republican debate. I didn't watch it, and I won't scour the blogosphere for juicy bits about it, but I had to at least read the NY Times op-ed. And I wasn't disappointed. At least we'll have some comic relief.

The idiocy seems astounding. Santorum, Gingrich, Bachman. I mean, it seems like a Democrat's wishlist, doesn't it? Even the smart one is a few bricks shy of a load.

Mr. Romney, the presumed front-runner, provided almost no details of his economic plan, except to attack Mr. Obama for making the recession “worse and longer.” (He didn’t mention that the recession ended in June 2009.) He said the government’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler was a waste of money and accused the administration of catering to the auto unions. He did not mention that it saved at least 1.4 million jobs and a vital American industry, which has already paid back half the cost.

Gingrich wants oaths of allegiance. Bachman just wants to close the EPA. All this, and Palin isn't even in the race yet. Hoo boy.

Austin:Archers

Oh, I'm going alright. Crazily, awesomely, I'm going. I missed Pavement last year, but I can't miss this.

Might as well live in Portland...

Same weather, better food.

Happy Friday

It was a matter of time, I guess.

Clap Your Hands!

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Hysterical from CYHSY on Vimeo.

New stuff on the way. This is exciting.

Glen+Mar

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova "Drive All Night" from Patrick Glennon on Vimeo.

Love these two.

The Crawler

Theo has mastered crawling from cathy fischer on Vimeo.

NYT on Bin Laden's Death

I hate to say it, but I can identify with how Giulliani feels about the news of Osama Bin Laden's death. He said, in Politico, "I feel satisfaction and some emotional relief, but I don't feel great elation. I watch a lot of the celebrating and it makes me feel a little strange, I don't know. Nothing erases the loss of all those lives."

I fee relieved and ecstatic and proud, of course, but I and I assume many others have been going back over images and stories that I haven't experienced in many years, and they still conjure the same mix of very strong emotions. So I feel a bit unsettled, a bit less high-fivey than I might.

But, that's neither here nor there, whatever that means.

The New York Times has what I have to call, at the risk of being excited over the pure narrative of it, a riveting account of the events leading up to and surrounding the killing of Bin Laden in Pakistan. It's really thrilling reading, like we don't often get in major sources of journalism.

"Sixteen hours later, he had made up his mind. Early the next morning, four top aides were summoned to the White House Diplomatic Room. Before they could brief the president, he cut them off. “It’s a go,” he said."

...

"The commando team had raced into the Pakistani night from a base in Jalalabad, just across the border in Afghanistan. The goal was to get in and get out before Pakistani authorities detected the breach of their territory by what were to them unknown forces and reacted with possibly violent results."

It's a long one, but it's really good. Amid the sea of articles and opinions, don't miss this gem.

This is reason to celebrate, though it feels strange to do so. It's a time to be proud and to think about our place and role in the world.

It's also a time to think about the casualties of not only 9/11 but the "war on terror" that ensued, whatever your opinion of it. As one image that really struck me had it, in a note left at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site on Vesey Street near ground zero on Monday, "Dedicated to all those who fought, suffered, and died to bring us this moment. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

Sunday Rides

I got out for a great mountain bike ride this morning. Just the standard 3 Bears loop, but it's been a while and it was a beautiful, brisk spring day, so it was a tremendous ride.


Then we loaded the boy into the sidecar and took him for a ride around town. And to Bardenay for a late lunch.


We rode the greenbelt for a while and even stopped to throw bread at some geese and ducks. Theo was thoroughly entertained.

New Burial

So I missed out on the vinyl of this. But the digital's now available via emusic and elsewhere, and it's awesome. Burial moves his signature sound forward without simply repeating himself, expanding it without losing the empty, spooky quality that made his music stick.

Ardennes Sweep!

It's been an amazing couple weeks for Philippe Gilbert. The Belgian has become a dominant force in the spring classics and has pulled off victories in all 3 of the Ardennes races: Flèche Wallonne, Amstel Gold, and now the crowning jewel of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Yep, that's both Schlecks following him to the line.

Roll on over to VeloNews for the story.

Sunday

Started the day with a great ride over the Fat Tire Traverse.


Then got fancied up and took the boy to his first Easter church. He cleans up nice. And he wasn't as grumpy about it as he looks.


Then we ate a wonderful traditional ham dinner at Jan's, got too full, and laid around in the grass on sleeping bags.