Aspen Pix 11/29/08

Brendan and Rachel at the Aspen FIS World Cup Giant Slalom.




Senator Schwartz with the Wagui cows.

Today's cute calf is tomorrow's delicious Kobe Steak. Yummy!

Greetings from Aspen

Where the beer flows like wine. Or was it the other way around? I am trying to post this from my phone so we will see how it turns out. The snow is finally falling here. It was bone dry when we came up Wednesday night but now we have over a foot on the ground. The women's fis world cup giant slalom was today. We also went to a ranch to see some Wagyu cattle (aka Kobe beef). Not many trails open and the coverage is boney so we will wait to ski. I will post some pictures in a few.

Happy Birkey Turd Day!

All hail the two day workweek!

Thank Jimminy Cricket for a short week as Swiss Family Alford spent the weekend in the hospital getting TSA shot, prodded, gassed, lubed and tuned. Not a whole lot of sleep for the parents and we 're both aching all over from holding the little weasel all day for various exams and procedures. He hates the hospital. We hate the hospital. Thankfully Trout won't remember these visits but Chainsaw and Highroller may need some intervention (in the form of lots of alcohol) in order to forget...
That said we're out, medicated to the gills and ready for T-day! Thank J.H. Christ someone invented pecan pie cuz I'm going to self-inflict an entire pie on myself this weekend! What is Jesus' middle name anyway?

Let's be thankful...

Hard times will pass. Life is indeed, good.
Jess, Bryan, Vern (Dad) and me leave for Illinois on Tuesday. We'll try to bring back some picks of us jumping dead farm animals.
We all have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for all of you.
Even you Sean.

You asked...

So not much news here... Vinny P celebrated his 4th Birthday, do you like his new shirt?

No really, what's up?

oH YEAH! Homemade pizza and snow!

What's up Doc?

Wazzup! Times are tough troops, night has fallen across the land and belts are tightening even as we all deal with our own personal losses and remaining challenges. I'm reminded of an old Disney short where a broke Mickey and Goofy serve up a single bean in wafer-thin slices... In a mere month though we will have our shortest day of the year and then start gaining precious daylight minute by minute. Snow will coat the mountains deep and silent and at least in the SSSS (Steamboat Springs Single Speeders) cell of bIKE cLUB the wheels will be in motion, plans will be laid out in meticulous detail on the back of a cocktail napkin that will subsequently be left at the bar only to founder found remembrances and hastily executed, much less meticulously detailed trips of the sort you are perhaps familiar with. Just to wet your whistle I'll say that the SSWC will be held in Durango in 09 on the 6-9th of August (August Invitational planning? Done!) and the Laramie Enduro Aug 1. Such planning can wait though and for the next 30 days until the solstice the SSSS will heal old wounds, regroup, plant seeds, sharpen knives, load bb guns, write letters, bake prodigious amounts of pie, cook soup, read and of course work on our Manifestoe as we wait to spring like panthers into 2009! I urge you Footsoldiery to do likewise, gather your chi into the shape of a diamond, clear your calendar and avoid wallowing in the depths of despair, unless of course you are racing cross in which case please shower after wallowing. Will there be a 12/20 in 2008? Does the Pope shit in the woods? Will someone talk his wifely domestic partner into accompanying him on Tickler V: the Wrath of Khan on the Sat after Thanksgiving? We're gonna make like a sheepherd and head out! These are the old wounds I'm talking about, wounds you can't ignore but must constantly pick at like crows, or lance like the festering pustules they have become! Tickler V 11/29/08. Don't be there! Instead leech you own boil whatever it may be, clear the slate, wipe clean the scoreboard and prepare for greatness in 09!

Matt's Interview

This was really a lot of fun. Our friends Brandt & Sarah (Briee's older sister) did a interview with Matt about 3 years ago. Here it is! Enjoy!

Interview with: Matthieu Chesaux

How long have you been in _____ (family history etc):

Eight years, before in Texas. Originally from Vermont.

What's one of your favorite things about living here?

The plethora of outdoor activities and the sunshine.

What's on of the worst things about living here?

Spreading suburban disease and all its intendant evils.

What do you do for work?

I work for an architectural firm, project manager.

Did you go to school? What's your specialty?

Grad school in Texas, undergrad in Vermont and Texas- Arlington. Not that many good things in Texas unless you live there for a long time.

What's with your tattoos?

No tattoos just self-inflicted wound scars.

What kind of animal would you be?

Pigeon or  a crow. They can live almost anywhere, but a pigeon cause I can poop on humans.

Do you have dreams on a regular basis? What?

Not that I remember. When I do they are relatively ordinary.

Say something obvious

Something obvious

Do you like to cook? What?

A little bit. Simple things like veggies and pasta.

Are you persuaded politically?

Mostly in terms of a lesser of two evils leaning democratic by necessities.

Say a word that you don't know its meaning

Puerile (which Matt knew the meaning but said that he had to look it up recently)

What were you doing in 1987?

That was my gap year between high school and college, roofing, gainfully unemployed.

What were you doing in 1994?

That was another gap year. Decided to end undergrad and went heavy into architecture. Worked the lifts in Stowe Vermont too. 

What's your favorite punctuation mark?

The ellipsis. A very versatile mark, keeps you from having to finish anything. 

You are all alone on the top of the empire state building, what do you yell?

I wouldn't yell anything. I don't feel that need.

Best explanation for why a manhole covers are round?

The diameter of the the cover can't fall through the hole.

What is something that can make you shiver? 

Loni's cold hands.

What is something that can give you a headache?

Cigarette smoke, biking too hard too long.

Pick a sport that you would play professionally

Freestyle BMX or surfing, but surfing would probably win.

Say something about you that would make people like you

I can empathize with various people.

Say something that would make people dislike you

Far too critical.

Have you ever started a fire without matches?

Yes with a magnifying glass.

If you were the president, what would be your highest priority?

Education reform and providing a college education for everyone.

What's your favorite vegetable?

Corn on the cob.

If you found a hundred dollar bill on the ground what would you do about it?

Share it with Loni

Elvis or the Beatles?

Beatles

Who do you relate more to big bird, snuffalupogus, cookie monster, captain America or spider-man?

Cookie monster I guess, I understand where he's coming from.

What philosopher do you find the most amusing?

Nietzsche. Paragon of indestructibility, no one really knows what he's talking about but it isn't as difficult as it seems.

What poet?

Les Claypool. Not really a poet but his songs make me happy.

Abstract, realism, or surrealism?

Abstract

First book that comes to mind?

The story of THE. Daniel Quinn.

The smartest and the dumbest thing you have heard lately...

Dumbest: the other night at a restaurant "so I woke up in my tank top and than I didn't know where I was- and I wasn't wearing any underwear..."

Smartest: I was listening to a guy who was describing his son and how he was asking him about the press industry and he said his son asked him "daddy, what do these things do?" and he responded "it turns".

Try to sum it all up (your motto?):

Ignorance is strength. Thanks to George Orwell for that. 

Eeew, what stinks?

Pepe Le Peu

By the power of GreySkull!

manly bike for sale

this guy says it best...pretty funny
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/765370039.html

bIKE cLUB Voting Guide 2008

After a long, and I mean looooong, campaign it all comes down to today and the myriad of ballot choices, candidates (yes there are more than two) and amendments means it is easier than ever to become confused so the Uber Ancestors On High have created this handy guide to insure that no more than an acceptable # of drones are lost, crushed, flayed or lasered in Election Day violence. Pay attention Cyclonauts!

Now one of the pictures shown here is of an army of laser weilding Daleks, ready to fry your carcass down to a puff of acrid greasy ashes. The other is a bunch of voting machines. Do not get the two confused! If approached by a Dalek screeching "Exterminate! Exterminate!" flee rapidly in the opposite direction while crouched over and zigging and zagging in classic broken field running style. For that matter if a voting machine starts screaming "Exterminate! Exterminate!" I'd defenestrate yourself immediately (so long as you are no higher than the third floor of course) and or wet yourself profusely. Running is probably also a good idea at this time.

Daleks, no wait, voting machines!

Also genuine volunteer election officials should look like hippies, NOT Sleestaks. If they look like Sleestaks (at left below) you're vote may be fraudulently recorded as "Kill Chaka!" instead of a valid entry of "Go Barack the vote, whicky whicky woo!" or "McCain/Palin, what could possibly go wrong?"

Finally of course steer clear of any curtained off alcoves that could shelter operatives from the hated BLTFFL (Boulder Ladies Tropical Fish Fanciers League), rabid Squirrels of Mirkwood, Spiky Tufted Death Gnomes, pixies, sasquatch (albino or fully pigmented) and/or Triffids.