I've got a new blog with pictures on my other blog:

http://joshuadeathride.blogspot.com/

Ok I promise I'm still the same old cynical, hard drinking, cursing, chronic masturbator I've always been, but I do want to do something good for charity. (Ok I'm joking about the masturbator part....kinda) It's time I regain some karma. SO in that vein I am doing the Death Ride to raise awareness for Leukemia & Lymphoma. If you or someone you know would like to donate money I would be eternally grateful. I've seen these kids in person. It's disheartening to see them with no help. Not even from the government. Leukemia funding hasn't gone up and because of inflation some of the larger organizations doing research are now loosing money.Not to mention many of these patients are uninsured.The L & L Society does everything from covering toll fare to paying for medicine. Please do take a moment to donate if you can. It's better than a Nigerian Princess scam!

I'll also be keeping a photo blog all about my training, at this blog:  My Death Ride Blog

My Donations Page:  My Donations Page

You know I've noticed occasionally when I'm biking through downtown San Fran that we have a lot of low rent drag queens. Like drag queens that seem to have never read Cosmo.A breed of grizzly old men that are a flannel shirt away from looking like they could kick my ass. Basically it looks like some redneck from the Central Valley of California who saved his money, and moved north to San Fran, after realizing he was gay. Then not really knowing how best to express himself, kept his beard, and the shirt that says, "I would rather be fishing" and added high heels for good measure.It seems more confusing rather than relegating someone to being a drag queen. Often I wonder if he is just a homeless guy that couldn't find a decent pair of shoes and said fuck it. To each their own. There is a place for all sexual confusion in San Francisco.

In other news, I've been incredibly sick. So much so that I had to go to the hospital last Sunday. Basically I was having trouble breathing and had coughing fits every few minutes. I got a friend to drive me to the hospital on Sunday morning and was HORRIFIED at the hospital in the Mission District. There was an old black woman who kept grabbing her chest and screaming, "I'm going to have a heart attack in this motherfucker!". There were two gay guys who looked like they had just left a club, with glitter sparkling in the florescent lights. They stood over a friend who was obviously overdosing on some sort of recreational substance. A mexican woman held a rosary in her hand, muttering prayers in spanish as her little girl cried out in sheer pain. I've never witnessed something like that in my life. I got my friend to drive me to Marin, which is where "white people go to the doctor".I felt like such an elitist, but got treatment quickly, so I guess I can't feel too much remorse. Turns out I had an upper respiratory infection. Basically a bad version of Bronchitis. I guess it's common among runners, and endurance atheletes. I've been off the bike and my training regimine for almost 3 weeks now. It SUCKS. I did a 5 mile ride today which is the most I've been able to do in some time.Hopefully the worst is over. Training camp starts in two weeks, and I can't wait. My race team will have a few trainers, a nutritionist, we get massages after races, and we will have a support car that follows us while we are training.How awesome is that? Also I'll be riding the Death Ride (5 mountain passes endurance ride) this July on behalf of the Leukemia Society. I may be hitting everyone up for donations...More details soon!

Recently I discovered that Hulu has added the 3 Stooges to their repertoire of shows.I was ecstatic. When I was a kid we didn't watch much tv. Television was in a language we had an elementary grasp of and there wasn't much programming that was kid oriented other than Sesame Street.Instead we resorted to watching videos my grandparents would send to us from the US. Mainly slapstick comedy from the 30's and 40's. Laurel & Hardy, 3 Stooges, etc. We loved them as a kid.

Fast forward to present time, and my love for the 3 stooges has not diminished. If anything it has gotten stronger. A feeling of wistfullness for childhood, and an ability to laugh at the absurdity of life.

The 3 Stooges is basically blue collar comedy. I mean if you examine the skits, they always have the 3 Stooges as the lead characters, acting essentially ridiculous, but as the audience you are left with no comparison, making what they do seem normal. The other characters in the skits are always uptight baffons, filled with this unjustified, and overexaggerated sense of outrage or indignation at the juvenille behavior of the stooges. For someone that loves breaking the status mold as much as I do, it's only natural I have an undying love of the stooges absurd rebellion against normalcy.

I was watching one episode last night where the stooges went to a golf course in the hopes of winning a tournament and the $300 prize that went with it. As you may expect hilarity ensues. They leave no stone unturned when it comes to parody of a ridiculous (and essentially burgeois) sport.It made me think of how correct they were. Golf is a truly silly sport when examined through comedy.

Anyways a little known fact is that when the US was on the brink of WW2 and public opinion was fairly isolationist the Stooges did a skit called, "You Natzy Spy" that was a parody of Nazi Germany and its politicians.It apparently infuriated Hilter so much he put the Stooges on his infamous "death list".Mind you this came out way before Chaplin's famous parody of Hitler.

Well it turns out that Bill O'Reilly, has made a "documentary" about San Francisco, to give people an idea of what the country will look like after Obama enacts his "socialism". The video: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=55&entry_id=32805&tsp=1

I know I'm still fairly new to the city, but I have a few things to say.He took a VERY small representation of a beautiful city.I've traveled fairly extensively in my short lifetime, but I have found very few places I love as much as SF.

Anyways, he basically had his stooge go around to places where the homeless are known to congregate and film that as San Francisco as a whole.I do agree that San Francisco has a very bad homeless problem, but that cannot be blamed on the local government alone and certainly cannot be used as any sort of crystal ball into the repercussions of a democratic presidency.

I would assume by this film he is suggesting that Republican politics in small conservative towns is vastly superior?If so why doesn't he send his cameras to the rural ghettos of the south. A direct result of Republicans erasing 100 years of corporate regulation, small family farms, and fair labor practices.A sad testament to what a low minimum wage, non-unionized, industry will do to a small town.Driving small businesses away, destroying "main street" and turning its occupants into slaves for Wal-Mart lacking basic health care needs.WOW that sounds so much better than all those crazies out in San Francisco!

Ok I know we have heard all the pundits sigh about the recent victory of the Obama campaign, so I'll try to keep this short and to the point.I just have to say I'm shocked.Not so much by the outcome but by the reactions.I did a short training ride with some messengers and we ended it early so we could watch the election results.I came home, showered, and started listening to music while I washed dishes.The western states had polls yet to close so I thought the results were still far away.

As I was washing dishes, and listening to the new Cure cd I started hearing screams and horns honking.I stopped for a second and wondered what was going on. (I'm not a bright one) I rushed to my computer to find out that Obama had clinched his electroral victory.I couldnt believe it.I walked outside and people were in the streets going crazy.People had blocked off all the streets and were dancing and screaming.It was this huge mass of black people, white people, homeless people, hipsters, mexicans, old people, etc all united in this strange emotion of hope.I have to say I have never seen anything like it except for the fall of the wall in Berlin. My german friends all made the same comparison.I was young at the time but I remember my mother drunk on schnapps kept yelling in German, This is history!

I have to say it is one of the first times in my life I can call myself American before I call myself German.For once I am proud to be American, and I am proud of the way we have moved forward.For once we have not let culture warriors enforce skewered morality at the expense of civil rights.At least in the national election.For once I am not ashamed to speak English in Europe.For once I can feel this national mood and really tap into it.I honestly dont know what my point is, other than to say finally.Finally the bigots have lost.Finally we can repair the constitution.Finally we can repair the disparity of weath.Finally we can repair health care.ETC.

I really dont think that Obama is the cure all, but finally we have a president who realizes there is a problem and admits to it.Obama can I please rest easy?Please?

Am I the only one a little annoyed by the strange status messages on facebook and myspace? These overtly sexual updates about people's lives? Such things as:
Last night was deliciously amazing......
mood:satisfied

Wait did you eat a good steak?I just feel this urge to yell out, "THATS WHAT SHE SAID!", as I high five a friend.I mean what exactly does that mean?They seem to be getting worse and worse.I fully expect in the next week to see a status update that says:
That rim job last night was refreshing!
mood: refreshed

I even saw one recently from an ex that said,
Last night was amazing.
mood:content
Comment below: It was! Hey I think I left my shoe under your nightstand.

I FUCKING KID YOU NOT, that's what it said.I wish i had made that shit up. How does one get home sans a shoe?

If you are part of the overtly sexual status update crowd, please keep that shit to yourself.YAY, someone is getting laid!We are fucking happy for you, but can you please not blatantly rub it in our faces?I hope you get herpes you attention whore.

1.) Don't leave your fucking clothes in the washer on a Monday night. With the exception of Sunday that is the busiest day at the laundromat. Next time you leave your fucking clothes in there for two hours after they are done; when other people need to use it, I'm going to drop a piece of human shit right in the middle of your clothes.

2.) See those rolling metal basket things? Those are for removing your clothes from the washer and moving them to the other side where there is a dryer.Things they are not for:
A.) Your mongloid child to play in.
B.) Your personal folding table.
C.) Something for you to hold on to while you stare at your washer that still has 10 minutes to go.

3.) Please keep your children under control. It's bad enough I have to sit here, with nothing better to do but stare at the wall. Your child kicking the rack of metal chairs I am sitting in, isn't a little bit of "added excitement". It's fucking obnoxious and I have no qualms about stabbing an 8 year old.

4.) If you insist on talking on your cell phone at that tone, FUCKING GO OUTSIDE. There is a bench in front of the laundromat. Don't force me to listen to your inane bullshit conversation about your DOG. I hope your dog runs away and finds a new home to live in, where people AREN'T FUCKING RUDE.

5.) Ok, I know it's laundry day. I think we can all concede that point. I mean fuck, I'm wearing snowboarding pants, and a "Run for the Cure 1998" t-shirt. Regardless please don't wear women's pink striped fuzzy workout pants. I mean I know we live in San Francisco and everything, but you just need to go ahead and chop them off if you feel comfortable wearing those in public. Every time you bend over i see your pasty white ass. Seriously man?

I've always bitched about having a two party political system in this country, and how limited it makes our options. In addition it creates this very strong political machine, that will enact it's will regardless of what the people want. It turns out I'm not the only one, or even anywhere close to the first:

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

--------George Washington, 1st President of the United States

I have always loved music.I grew up with a family immersed in music.My mother is from Salzburg which is a city that has produced some of the best musicians in the world.I grew up playing the piano quite horribly under my mother's expert tutoring.Regardless I wasn't blessed with the gene.My sister plays cello nationally in many symphonies, but to me it was just another of my mother's absurd demands.At least at the time.Of course now I regret my confrontational nature towards music.My musical stature not withstanding I do remember being hypnotized by the music my mother would play.She was a huge Vivaldi fan but nothing could take away from the beauty she saw in the traditional German composers she had grown up with.I was raised with all the greats.I remember coming home as a kid, sweaty from a day of fussball and bike riding, to hear some of the most  beautiful compositions ever written filling my house with this certain sense of peacefulness.Even in my short attention span filled childhood the music had a calming affect over me.Instantly I reverted to this imaginary world situated completely in my mind.The music would put me in a trance. It seemed it was invevitably Wagner and Beethoven that had this affect over me. Recently I came across this song on youtube.It brought back this train wreck of memories so quickly I almost cried.I remember this song so well.I remember whenever my mother would put the record of Beethoven's 9th symphony I would clammor to the record player and put my hands on the speakers so I could feel the vibrations while it played Piano Concerto Number 5. The song made chills run down my spine as cliche as that may sound. I remember almost crying at the young age of 8 and not knowing quite why I was feeling that way.I think Beethoven once said that music enabled action.Such a simple statement means so much to me now. Music forces you to confront certain emotions. It works so many little actions in your mind that are completely out of your control. When i think of music I am thinking of an emotion, and i am thinking of Piano Cocerto Number 5.
Piano Cocerto Number 5

On Saturday as I was biking through the absolutely beautiful Marin headlands, I decided to stop at one beautiful vantage point where I could see the a really majestic lagoon from the top of some cliffs. My sister had called while I was riding so I sat down and took a breather as I returned her call.

We talked about my youngest sister's upcoming wedding, our flight arrival times, and just a general update on our lives. As we were talking I brought up the fact that I was sick of the bullshit chain emails our father sends us. The usual round of trite propaganda, from some random, republican asshole that sees his chain letter as some sort of pseudo celebrity. She remarked that she couldn't understand why I didn't like reading them.

First of all I tried to explain that they are predominantly lies or half truths propagated by conservatives.She asked how I knew they were lies?My response was Snopes. She then remarked that Snopes probably had a liberal bias. I tried somewhat futilely to explain that Snopes was not a political organization.She couldn't fathom that they wouldn't have a political bias one way or the other. I then explained that even the authors of some of these chain emails have recanted their original statements.She stated there is no way I could know that for sure.

Finally I just felt like the discussion was ruining the absolutely amazing weather and view, so I told her I was getting another call and needed to go. I then came to an important conclusion about the modern day conservative.They are completely sure of their political ideology, because they refuse to even listen to reason, or accept an opinion different than their own.They lack a simple human emotion, and one severely lacking in politics in general.Empathy.

Isn't a lack of empathy a characteristic of a sociopath?Not to say that I think my sister is a sociopath. I love her to death, but having a lack of empathy is easy when you don't see the results of your vote. When you don't have to see innocent children killed by an errant bomb due to our aggressive foreign policy. When you have financial security, and don't have to witness a poor black family in Georgia struggling on minimum wage, and trying to pay doctor bills for their children because Bush vetoed the Peachcare Children's Heath Plan.They don't have to witness the painful emotional turmoil a soon to be teenage mother, lacking any support; goes through when deciding what to do with an unwanted pregnancy. These are things that conservatives don't have to witness secluded away in their bubble of ignorance, conformity, and wealth of pleasant distractions.

I really hope this doesn't make me sound like a bleeding heart liberal, but man I am truly amazed at some of the ignorance I am witnessing recently. You would think an unpopular war, a failing economy, a weak dollar, the largest deficit in history, rising gas prices, eroding of civil liberties, bad environmental policies, etc etc etc would actually make people realize that neo-conservativism is a flawed ideology. I guess that would make too much sense....

Right when i start to feel optimistic about politics from such characters as Ron Paul, and Barack Obama, this sense of realism sits in.This sense that politics are politics as usual, and that no one leader can foot the blame.We are living in a country with a flawed system.PERIOD. That no matter how much idealism you bring to the table, our political machine will turn you up and spit you out until you are clothed only with only the truth, which makes a somewhat horrific bedfellow in political thought. Regardless of who the media cheerleads unto the public eye, they are all the same horrific entity. A creation of our selfish, political thought.Where power, not empathy is the rule of the day. You know you really have to admire the conservatives for their backbone and ability to create a fascist republic below our very noses.

So I am sitting here drinking a beer and pouring out one for my homie, the 4th amendment, which was tragically shot down with the help of spineless Democrats, and spiteful Republicans.A founding tenant of this country died today, with the passage of FISA, by BOTH parties.We have seen a real defining moment in this country, and nobody seems to give a shit. We have seen states amend their constitution to take AWAY rights of an individual in such things as gay marriage, and we have now seen our federal government follow suit with such things as the Patriot Act and now FISA.

The American public, well at least the small minority that actually cares what happens in this country; is crying out for a leader. Someone to take a stand against such autocratic abuse by our government.Yet not a soul will stand up and take this stand of leadership.Instead we are faced with a candidate who is basically a carbon copy of Bush, and a candidate that is pandering to get votes at the cost of his own integrity.I have had it.I refuse to vote for either.Instead I will just resign myself to my fate, and pray that cooler heads prevail after this country is destroyed, and they have that absolute power which they so desire.

These people actually exist? (It's work safe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q4MDQ0cDI

GOD Hillary Clinton disgusts me.Are the American people so fucking stupid they buy her bullshit?This new gas tax freeze is the latest in a string of bullshit tactics she is using to win votes.I can barely see I'm so pissed off by her arrogant stupidity. This artice gives a great breakdown of what exactly her proposals would do: http://www.newsweek.com/id/134856/page/1

By the way, why do we even care about this Reverend Wright bullshit?I noticed when i pulled up Google News they had THREE SECTIONS devoted to articles about the Reverend Wright.Apparently the story has hurt Obama in the polls. Please tell me how this guilt by association would make someone not want to vote for him?When i was growing up my parents had us in mass often, but i couldnt tell you much at all about the preists we dealt with. It's like juding me by the dry cleaner i use.GOD politics make me mad in this country.You know if people researched the issues, and were able to see through the smoke and mirror tricks nobody in their right mind would vote for people like Hillary Clinton, or McCain.

Let me just start by saying my current job isnt that bad.It really isnt.I’m writing for a new magazine, that gives me a lot of different tasks to complete that do nothing but help me in the long run.I’m learning the in’s and out’s of the internet startup world, as well as magazine publishing.It has been a great experience at times, and for the most part the more experienced writer’s and editors, have helped me learn tasks that were somewhat new to me.So i guess your waiting for the big BUT.BUT i am facing one of the problems of a startup.Low pay, and a lack of hours.Some weeks we are waiting on developers, so we arent writing.I have had to subsist my income with a night job.A task i do not enjoy whatsoever.Working from 9am to 12am isnt really what i envisoned with my life.All with no health insurance.Yeah.So regretfully i am on the job search once again.

So the first job i applied to was a job with Pearson Education. They make a majority of the textbooks that are used in english language schools across the globe.They are actually the largest publisher of english language books, and also own many subsidiaries such as Penguin books.I honestly didnt expect to hear back from them but i figured that i should at least try, because the company, and the position interested me.Amazingly i heard back from them almost immediately.So today i had an interview.

I got a little intimidated when they sent me the itinerary for the interview.It was 3 HOURS!First i interviewed with the HR director for the San Francisco branch of Pearson.Then i interviewed with the Acquisitions Editor i would be working directly underneath.Then i interviewed with the Associate Editor i would be replacing due to her recent promotion.These were very intense interviews in that there was a lot to absorb about the company, the position, and the staff i would be working with.I was in a daze.The staff was GREAT.They were all very friendly, easy to talk to, and yet extremely professional, and knowledgable about the publishing industry, and the competitive textbook publishing market.I usually do great in interviews, especially ones as high pressure as this one.I think i really did great.I asked all of the right questions, i talked at length about the web development, and freelance pieces i have written.I made self-deprecating jokes at just the right moment.I am very excited about this job.The benefits were amazing.The pay was great.They actually have a gym and showers, in the office so you can work out before or after work.The building was beautiful, and if i got the job my office would have views of the bay, the bridges, and coit tower.This is my wet dream of a job.Working with quite possibly the most respectable publishing house in the english language, having a real office, having a gym in the office, amazing health care, dental, stock options, 401k, etc. So basically i did well in the interview, and my hotel sales background actually helps with this position, as most of the editors have worked in sales.So if you feel like doing your good deed for the day, just will me getting this job.I will be eternally grateful, and so will my body.Working 80 hours a week isnt fun anymore.......