Back in the dark ages, when I rode a BMX bike, this shit wasn't even dreamed of. Check out about 3:15 in where he pulls off a front flip-tail whip. Insane.

We are in the middle of a drought here in central Texas. A bad one. They keep putting rain 4-5 days out in the forecast. Maybe 5 drops fall out of the sky. Last summer not withstanding (where it rained almost every day in June and July) we are approaching the drought of the '50s.
That red in the middle of the state. That's us. We've gotten about 6" all year. Normal is about 35". And people insist on watering their lawns...

One of the good things about a Texas drought in the fall and winter is the great weather. I've recently been able to find the time to go mountain biking for first regular time in a couple of years. It turns out that there are a few nice trails here in San Marcos. We've got our own version of the Austin Greenbelt. The last couple of weeks have been amazing.

One of the nicer spots on the Upper Purgatory Creek greenbelt

It varies from wide open

To fun through the trees

Back to the open...

In and out, tight and twisty...

Then there are the rocky sections. Yes there's a trail there. There was a time when I'd work on riding that. Not so much anymore.

Oh, and it's Texas, so there are the requisite poky things. It's not a teddy bear cholla, but it wouldn't feel good...

Fall in Texas...

I helped get Kris a bike earlier this year and we actually got her out on a trail that didn't bite her. This is on an un-named trail in town.

A view from the ridge over the Hill Country. There's lots of rocks out there. Not a lot of trail, but a lot of rock.

I may have to start climbing again, Purgatory has a bouldering area. It may turn into the San Marcos Dualathon. Or better yet the San Marcos Tri: mountain bike, climb, float the river.

So far I've found three areas to ride in town. Another couple of weeks and I may shoot for a Sunday trifecta ride....

Hooray Beer!

Now that the political season is over, it's time for other interests... Here is what I've been drinking lately:

Lagunitas Censored Ale = Dangerously good. It's a great copper ale. Not too sweet. Not over-hopped for the style. Yummy.


Deschutes Brewing Company Black Butte Porter: Nectar of the Gods. This is the best porter EVER. Period. Perfectly balanced. Not too heavy. Recently available in Texas. Now if we can just get AVBC into the state...


Another CA beer recently available in Texas. It's a good example of a Marzen. I'm not sure what makes it different than a Bock, but it sure goes down nice.


It's for a good cause, so I had to pick up a sixer. They are a relatively new brewery out of Fort Worth. A portion of the proceeds goes to protection of endangered and native species. The Texas Blind Salamander is both, and local to where I live. It's o.k., a little sweet and underhopped for my tastes. I want a pale ale to have some bite. Maybe I'm spoiled by my time in NorCal, but Sierra Nevada is a proper pale. It's almost has a belgain flavor with how underhopped it is. Don't be afraid of the hops!


There are a few really good Texas beers which I will get to at some point (Real Brewing Company, Independence Brewing Company, St. Arnolds) and some which I won't since they only serve at the brewery or at bars (wierd Texas laws... Live Oak, North by Northwest, Draught Horse...) and believe it or not, Texas makes awesome vodka (Tito's, Dripping Springs...)

Happy drinking...

'nuff said.


I believe this is from stevemb. If someone knows who to give credit to, I'll gladly correct.

I don't know where this one came from, but Obama as Lebowski... Brilliant.

I've been buried in school so haven't posted anything for a while.
Got this off of DailyKos. I think it summarizes the race pretty well.

So, I hate the horror movies like The Saw or Hostel. Gratuitous violence is not my thing. However, I do like a good sci-fi thriller or something so campy that it's funny, and as such, I was really hoping the new M. Night. Shyamalan movie, The Happening, would be good. It's not. At all. I'm glad he got away from his twist at the end, but at least Unbreakable was fun. If you have even the slightest bit of scientific knowledge, then you will be nothing but frustrated by it. Is it a plant revolt? Is it the government? Fucking tell a story. Groan. Plants don't cause wind. Plants don't "evolve" on command. arrrrrgh.

Finally, a biofuel that doesn't use food crops: Sapphire Energy uses algae to make "green crude" which can be refined to gasoline or diesel, and unlike other biofuels the green crude can be shipped in existing pipelines. Read about it here or here. Competition with agricultural land is one of the problems with standard biofuels. That, and even cellulosic ethanol requires growing large stands of switchgrass, which is a highly invasive non-native plant in most areas. I don't know how much dinojuice could be replaced with this process, but it is a start, and should have the potential to be upscaled more than other biofuels.

Since $5/gallon gas isn't that far off, maybe people will start driving less. I think it is going to fundamentally change how we live. Much of the development in the US has been in exburb sprawl. At $5/gal. people will have to live closer to work, and consider other forms of transportation. It screws people who live in rural areas, and those that have to drive, but for the vast majority of people who have made the choice to commute 40-100 miles per day because housing was cheap in the exburbs, it changes that choice, and urban center areas are going to be a lot more desirable, even if there isn't the same amount of space. Europe has been living this way for years. Now is not the time to own in a bedroom community. I think it will fundamntally change San Marcos. Currently we've got just shy of 30K students. The school plans for a full 30K within 5 years. Right now, at least 30% of the undergraduates commute from Austin or San Antonio. That's not going to be economically feasible anymore. Rentals are going to be a hot commodity. Maybe it will get more people in this town out of their SUV's and onto bikes. I think it's already happening... I see more bikes here than I did 3 years ago.

I know this is old, but fuck it's funny. Shakira and "Danzig" mashup....

Digging out....

Whew. I am one (re)signature away from the M.S. The graduate college approved my thesis earlier today, but because they didn't like the fact that I put "Dr." in front of my committee member's names on the signature pages I have to get it resigned. I've got all of the signatures except one committee member. He'll be back on Tuesday. Maybe now I can get back to things like working on the house and riding my bike. I'm already starting work on my PhD project, and I have a NSF fellowship going in. This means I don't have to teach labs (which I do actually enjoy, but is time consuming) I do have about 15hrs per week commitment for the fellowship, but it's for more money and less hours than teaching at the university. Actually, I will be teaching, but it will be working with high school teachers and students, and I won't be grading or dealing with discipline. The teacher I'm paired with is already almost done with her MS in Biochemistry, so it will be mostly working with her to work on better ways to get students excited about science.

Anyways what this means is that I actually have a weekend off. I'll be spending the summer doing fieldwork, reading, and developing my PhD project with my advisor, at least on an educational level. The rest of the time I hope to spend riding my bike and climbing. Hopefully, I can also make it to my cousin's wedding and my 20yr high school reunion. Maybe even a vacation, although I do have to deal with a seminar class associated with the NSF grant over the summer. Maybe I'll even make a non-political post or two.