Bike Breakdown

I bike in the rain and its slippery and I've wiped out several times. No injury the CBD can't cure. But my bike must have been injured more than me on the day of the pics below. I slipped in the afternoon on the way home on a metal piece on the sidewalk out of work. I almost wiped out again but caught my balance and biked home. On my way back to school the next morning I crossed the very metal piece I slipped on the day before and as I turned to the concrete again my chain went out. I thought it was an easy fix but you can see from the pictures a piece broke making it inoperable. Seems like a weird coincidence I made the round trip before it busted and in the same spot. Weird, dude. And one little piece makes the difference. Apparently these pieces break regularly. Does it show that the designers made the bike vulnerable but fixable due to likely accidents so that the whole frame doesn't need to be replaced? Or that the designers made a terrible bike flaw?

Boil Water or Die!

When I shared this photo and asked what I was brewing, everybody thought it was something tasty but nobody guessed water. After huge downpours of rain in Austin the city claimed they couldn't vouch for the cleanliness of the water that they were pouring through my pipes and they warned us to boil all water we consumed or risk sickness from water born illnesses. I complained to a colleague that the city was negligent in their duties and I was pissed about the situation we were in. She told me to "Man up" and appreciate the fact that we rarely if ever have to do this whereas many throughout the world did so regularly. I apologized for not going easy on the incompetent liberals who run the city. I kept telling people that I wanted to live in the developing world but that the developing world had come to me first. Thank you Austin. You're so great. Everybody loves Austin. And everybody thinks its the greatest. That I can tell you.

Old Tools

My friend got these old tools from his brother who collects them from antique sellers or craiglisters or whoever. I think about my grandparents and great grandparents working these kinds of tools. Those talents got passed down to my Dad but not to me. He grew up in rural farming culture. I got the worst of both worlds, rural and not farming. My Dad told me his Grandpa Key Irvine used to work these kinds of tools but that after Key's passing they were probably sold off by a relative for cigarrette or booze money.

West Nile in Denton

I was a little shocked to see this a couple of years ago. I survived the outbreak without getting infected. Is this a sign that government is doing a good job of protecting us from West Nile or not? I hear them saying "We are letting you know that diseases that can kill you are about. Good luck."

Small Shops in New Mexico

This little village of small shops near Taos reminds you that alternatives to the system are usually within the system. Check out the graffiti on the dumpster.

Small New Mexico Town

I had a similar experience going through these small towns decades after I lived in a small town myself -- I kept wondering what are these people doing with their lives. Small outposts of civilization forgotten about and irrelevant.

Turkey Vulture Tower

On the edge of an upper middle class neighborhood and the rural outskirts in Southwest Austin. The turkey vultures watch and wait on cell phone towers -- gate keepers of something. It's an easy area to access because some of the best street bike lanes are in the middle class neighborhoods of Southwest Austin.