'Clicking and Clacking' into eternity

In case you missed it, Tom Magliozzi, the older brother from Car Talk passed away recently, on November 3rd, 2014, due to complications from Alzheimers disease. Tom and his brother Ray hosted Car Talk for 35 years.

Tom in his infamous ratty MG convertible with his beloved dog

         
I grew up listening to this show. It was the one program my Dad allowed me to listen to on NPR ( the rest were produced by Satan, apparently). Every Saturday mornings at the Thomas house the hilarious antics and notorious guffaws of "Click and Clack the tappet brothers" could be heard from somewhere in our house, usually accompanying me via my little portable radio while I raced to finish all my various chore duties. In all honesty, I have never stopped laughing along with these wonderful reniassance men. (Both brother hold degrees from MIT, a fact not generally known).

"Saturdays will always be synonymous with chores, pancakes, and Car Talk."

Tom's resplendent laughter always brought a smile to my face and lasting joy to my heart. Click and Clack have also challenged me to stay interested in mechanics and passionate about not just cars and moped but not to take it all too seriously, sometimes the best (or only) solution to a problem really is to laugh it off. 

They also challenged my non-mechanically inclined nature with their brain-melting "Weekly Puzzler's," notorious listener submitted story problems involving mathematics, logic and outside-the-box solutions. Although I never did get around to submitting my answers taped to the back of expensive luxury goods and sent it off to Harvard Square. I wonder if anyone ever actually sent them the cool/luxury goods they requested Puzzler answers be attached to? 

Do you guys still listen to Car Talk reruns? They are as enjoyable as the old ones, and I always seem to learn something as well as laugh my ass off. My sincere condolences to the family for their immense loss. You may never know the full impact of Tom's legacy, but it goes to show how love, laughter, and passion of one great man can have a ripple effect that lasts forever. And I know I am not alone in my belief that the ripples of Tom's laughter and legacy will live forever. RIP Tom Magliozzi.
For a link to the NPR story and an excerpt of a classic episode click this LINK

Kurt Cobain's bizarre, rarely heard 1988 cut-and-tape cassette remix featuring dozens of samples including his own demos.

(Via Boing Boing, Courtesy of Dangerous Minds Blog)

Spokane is Reading Swamplandia!

HEY! Spokane is Reading the fantastic novel "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell. The young novelist's debut masterpiece was caught in a 3 way tie for the Pulitzer Prize a couple years ago, and it is a real gem. I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you enjoy gritty tales of the south, and southern gothic genre inspired by the writing of Flannery O'Connor and Joy Williams. Russell will be here in Spokane in 5 weeks to give a free reading at The Bing on October 16th at 7pm.
LINK

It's All About The Fish Lake Trail, WA.

This is a short video from a couple days ago, on April 25, 2014. I ride home from EWU on this wonderful trail about once a week, year round. There is hardly ever anyone else on it. Fish Lake Trail goes from Cheney, WA to downtown Spokane, WA. It's about 16 miles, slightly downhill the whole way (obviously, that makes it slightly uphill if you start at the Spokane trailhead just off Sunset Highway. A good way to do this is take the #66 STA bus from Jefferson Park and Ride (all STA busses have free bike racks w/ room for two bikes), get off at EWU, or at the big Safeway shopping complex, then ride to the downtown Cheney then ride down Cheney-Spangle Road - the intersection where The Mason Jar cafe is located ( I think I say Cheney-Spokane Highway in the video, but that's incorrect, sorry). There is a nice wide shoulder on the left hand side. The trail head is around the first big bend, on the left, across from an auto shop. Have fun. Bring a couple water bottles! (Click on images for full size pics)

Looking South to Columbia Plateau Trailhead from the Cheney-Spangle Rd underpass. (This is the Fishlake Trailhead and parking lot a quarter mile from downtown Cheney). This goes to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (about 3 miles from here). CPT then proceeds 130 miles to Ice Harbor Dam near Pasco,Wa and Tri-Cities. To safely (and quickly) ride the large rail ballast, you'll want extra knobby tires (preferably you would rent or borrow a "Snow Bike," and slightly deflate the tires) especially past Martin Road near Sprague.
 (See "Crazy Guy on Bike" link below for a great blog about the CPT).

Frozen springs in winter. I have ridden from Cheney many times in the winter without seeing a single person!

Fish Lake and Trail

The missing link. Here you must veer onto Cheney-Spokane Highway for a bit until you reach Scribner Trailhead turn-off. Some people ride this anyway even though it is private property. I have never done it. From what I've heard, you're gonna want a mountain bike to safely attempt it. Word has it this section may be completed in the next year or two, hopefully!

Flooding in March, 2014.

Ice on Fish Lake, early Spring 2014.

Fish Lake/ CPT Trailhead as seen approaching from downtown Cheney.

Scribner Trailhead.

Scribner Trailhead. FLT will be underconstruction here starting June 6, 2014.

Scribner Trailhead rail crossing. This is a very active train track! It is also quite uneven, so be very careful while crossing.

Fish Lake Trail Links:

traillink.com
Inland Northwest Trails
Spokane Outdoors
Proposed $45 million Spokane County Park Levy (2015) : This proposed Parks and Rec levy would  fund the completion of Fish Lake Trail/CPT "missing link."
Crazy Guy On a Bike : Venturing south on The Columbia Plateau Trail clear to Pasco and the Tri-Cities? Check out this guy's blog. As far as I'm aware he is one of the few brave souls who have actually ridden the whole 130 mile trail through the remote Central Washington scablands.

Happy la diada de sant jordi!

Much love and roses and books by shakespeare and cervantes to all!

This fascinating holiday comemorates Saint George, legendary slayer of dragons. It also honors the anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and of Cervantes, the father of the novel, as well as the famous Peruvian author "Inca" Garcilaso. It is customary to give women roses, and to give men copies of books by one of these authors.

As a side note, a dictionary supposedly belonging to and annotated by Shakespeare himself has been discovered. Check out this review of a new book about what the annotations reveal of the Bard: Shakespeare's Own Dictionary

Bullshit Mountain alert!

Did you know that Dove's so-called hypo-allergenic soap for sensitive skin can actually cause hand dermatitis, which is severely dry,itchy and/or cracking skin? I found out about this irony the hard way! Apparently the moisturizing cream contains perfumes that will dryer hands out and/or cause skin irritation. Use of word "hypoallergenic," is totally unregulated by the FDA, (similar to "natural" products) so manufactures get to use it for pretty much whatever they want. My PCP said to just use good old cheap Dove or Dial "White" bar soap. Dermatitis can also be caused by excessive handwashing which reaches that natural oils out of your skin, or by exposure to chemicals such as gasoline or anything else and an automotive shop, as well as strong dish soap, and certainly by a combination of all of these factors, as well as dry weather.

Knights of Badassdom movie review, or Next time you get an all star cast, don't blow it!

"Knights of Badassdom" hit a home run, then forgot what it was doing.

     I was really digging this Spokane, WA filmed movie which I caught at its last local showing tonight at The Magic Lantern. That is until they killed off some of the best characters midway through the film. I could not believe my eyes. These characters had established so much gravitas, and so much potential to carry the film through the troubled, blood stained waters it was about to cannonball into, especially as Dinklage had eaten a bag of shrooms and  hilariously trip out, complete with flowers in his hair. 

     Disclaimer: I get that Knights was meant to be campy and B Film whatever. But it had some really intelligent storytelling going full steam ahead till it decided to apparently just say FUCK IT, who cares about story" way out. I mean, they had some belly- laugh funny scenes! - rocking out in the auto shop, getting high and drunk in the Castle mansion (which my Grandma actually lived in for a couple years!), and the scenes hamming it up LARP style in the festival parking lot AKA The Fields of Evermore. 

     I was led to expect a similarly affecting climax and resolution, or at least a smart denouement, but everything devolved into mindless, disturbing blood and guts gore after the murder scene in the outhouse. It was hard to see a locally made film with so much potential, so many great actors, just fall apart in front of your eyes. I am starting to see now why it took them 4 years to release it.  

     I left the film trying to keep laughing the way I did during the first half, trying to give it an A for effort, but it was honestly more an "oh well, better luck next time" laugh. Next time you get an all star cast, don't blow it. Btw, the castle mansion that the main character lives in, pictured below, is really cool. i used to love visiting my grandma there when i was a kid. she lived in a little apartment on the top floor. check it out if u r in spokane. its at: 1323 w 8th ave. on the lower South Hill, near the excellent Huckleberries organic market cafe.

The life of my favorite post-modernist author, Prof. Dave Wallace, the finest writer of his generation. Insightful documentary by BBC. Hanged in 2008 by his own hand.

                                          The life of my favorite author, Prof. Dave Wallace.

Check out this inspiring short film to writers and creative folks about when you recognize your crappiness you must keep on practicing until its not crappy.

Short film by Daniel Frohlocke based on a David Shiyang Luis interview with Ira Glass, host of podcast/Public Radio show This American Life.

thoughties

I miss the feature in iTunes that let you listen to the music peoples computers in your vicinity over wifi. Maybe it still has that and I just have not been hanging out in coffee shops as much as I used to. I definitely have not been listening to music as much anymore whilst I study, write or read.

But it was a cool way to learn about new to me music.

Sometimes I would be amazed at how similar my library was to the others. Sometimes it was a bit disturbing; as in are we all just in the same category of audience? The 'white, mid twenties, hip but not hipster, demographic?'

 I dont know much about circular logic, but I want to learn more, about circular logic.

I have my  iPhone plugged into my stereo amp, the one I won at my high school senior all-nighter, a silver TEAC little thing. I've lost the wood speakers in a move a few years ago (i'm still not over that), but the amp keeps rocking even though its been 14 years (this June) since that fateful raffle night out at Spokane Community College when I won a rad stereo with my single raffle ticket. That was the first and last thing I ever won in a contest.

Anyhow, my iphone is rocking shuffle mode and its blowing my mind with song i haven't heard in eons, like probably years maybe, songs i forgot I even had and some i didn't even recognize. Inspired me to make playlists/"mix tapes" stolen directly from the random shuffle mode.

Its sunny and I sit on my desk with my back to the sun pounding through onto my back now stripped of the blue tank top i put on because it makes it feel like summer.

Snow covers the lawns and the streets in Browne's Addition are white too, and hard packed. Thank you City of Spokane plowmen for not plowing the cities densest population neighborhood.

Speaking of snowplows, earlier today I saw one on fire on the side of the freeway near the airport. It was awesome!

Ice cycles surprised me with their pointy, menacing presence. Nature's perfect murde
r weapon. No prints, no weapon to even begin to worry about anyone ever finding.

My cat, Pippi, lays behind my on her side, little white paws pressed against the dumb plastic slicing more holes in the film i put over my windows in an effort to keep the north winds from stealing my apartments meager 2 heater output. Holes I try to tape with packing tape, but I can't keep up.

"I could waste a fortune, 

if I had a fortune,

Life has been good to me,

it has,

been good to me."

- Sergius Gregory

2013 My Year in Review- Happy New Year!

"Stay the course"

Nick Thomas' year 2013 in review.

Highlights:

1. Completing year 2 and starting numero 3 as a full time 32 year old college student at Eastern Washington University. "Non traditional" is what that is called. I like it! Though it was stressful, challenging, and I entertained fantasies of riding my moped off into the sunset of some other, less broke occupation, I stuck with the plan. I heeded the "STAY THE COURSE" signs hanging all over my apartment. 

Katie at EWU. Go Eagles!

It has been a joy to have my sister Katie transfer out to EWU this school year. She was accepted into the excellent Social Work undergrad program there. We also both successfully passed Math 115, (my second time taking it) and are now done with math classes hopefully forever. I also finished my last science credit, and my first Spanish class.  Just two more quarters of Spanish and I will be done with all my General Education Requirements.

In the fall I also was hired as a staff writer for The Easterner, EWU's student run newspaper. I greatly enjoy this job and am learning so much about the field and the process of writing, editing and publishing, as well as the web/social media components that are critical components of modern news writing and gathering.

My great looping 2013 US road trip.

Last summer I commuted weekdays to paint houses in Seattle, swim in the freezing Puget Sound, then I spent a month on the road criss crossing the great USA for my first time coast to coast, and actually more like a big loop, a la "Blue Highways" (by William Least Heat Moon, anyone?). Drove from Spokane to Denver then vanpooled to Portland, ME then raced my 1979 Puch Magnum moped on the Pinball Run from Portland to Key West, FL, then vanpooled back to Denver where it was flooding.

Then drove to meet Alicia in Brekenridge where her cousin Ben and his wife Molly live. We did a bunch of spectacular hikes in Colorado, and then north to Grand Teton National Park where we hiked with Kelly, Alicia's longlost college friend who is now a park ranger there. We had an amazing road trip together. It was the perfect way to end what was surely one of my most hectic, yet adventurous, most eventful summers of my life.

Me mopeding southward, somewhere in South Carolina.

Thanks to all the people who sponsored me and my moped for the big race. It was so amazing, both physically and emotionally draining and exhilerating. I never thought before this trip that I could function on 2-4 hours of sleep a night, for ten days straight, or ride an old, finnicky moped 1,200 miles by myself. I pushed myself and my endurance and I made many new friends too, and saw so much of our incredible, diverse continent that was new to me. I feel honored and humbled. Since we started school the day after we got home on late September, I had not had the time to process the summer much, as it was such a blur and so stimulating I was in serious sensory over-load till now.

Alicia ponders the 3 hour trip back down Paintbrush Canyon,
in Grand Teton National Park. In a thunderstorm.

Thinking back to last new years, Alicia's brother-in-law Justin said that last new years seems like way in the past. I totally thought the same thing. A year ago we were in Detroit, just hours away from a 6am flight back to the Pacific NW after a week in Northern Michigan visiting family. Alicia's friend Cheryl took us to a great bar where we had yummy local brews and then Alicia flushed her drivers license down the toilet. We panicked a bit as we were scheduled to catch a 6am flight home and she had no other ID. Calling the airline they said to just arive 3 hours early to leave time for extra security checks. So we continued to party and proceeded to sleep for all of 45 minutes before getting up to drive the airport and first return our red 2013 Ford Mustang rental car. Everything went without a hitch and we returned home safe and sound on the first day of 2013.

Granny's memorial service, July 30th at Oceanside Beach, OR.

Granny Kay Thomas, 1927-2013. She was the last
of my grandparents, passed away peacefully,
though unexpectedly, on April 7.

April marked the passing of my dear Grandmother Kay Thomas. She lived to be 86. After falling and breaking her hip 3 years ago she started the inevitable rapid decline common after such injuries. She lived the last few years of her life at Rockwood Retirement Community just around the corner from her longtime, beloved residence at Rockwood Apartments. "Granny K" (as she like to be called) lived a long full life, and was ready to move on to the great beyond. My father and I were humbled to be at her side as she passed away very quickly on a Sunday night on April 7th. She was a unique, special person to me and always loved me and her other grandkids in her own way. She encouraged me to look at the world as a chance to find beauty and be creative wherever I was. 

She taught me to make paper from native grass and organic matter, took me to museums and on walks in parks, birdwatching at Turnbull wildlife refuge and to countless lunches and ice cream treats at her various favorite spots over the years like Rosauers Family Restaurant, Huckleberries, The Two Seven Pub, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, and TCBY. In July the extended family traveled to Oceanside on the Oregon Coast to scatter her ashes near her one of her favorite landscapes. Her remains joined with the tides of the mighty Pacific. I miss you Granny K.