Where Do I start, where does it end?

With all the doom and gloom amongst us, the economy, the political mess and health care fight, the Afghan war and on and on. Just got word that a mutual friend of a friend has Cancer, this after a family friend had a cancerous kidney removed and is still recovering! My faith in most things is very troubling to me, here I sit entirely content and as of today all family are in good health and living good productive lives! I scratch my head in wonderment as to the chaos going on around me, knowing tomorrow it could be our turn for the bad news ,or the trajedy, knowing full well there is no antidote for trouble free living! Watching the news today and all of the political mess of the left versus the right, the open minded versus the closed off religious right. People are dying while we wait to pass a good health care bill and yet we are most intrigued with the bottom line and the insurance companies need to make their money by the Billions, people are dying without insurance to pay for health care and we drag our feet while Americans die for the bottom line. Even read where Frank Schaeffer spoke of some of the madness on Maddow and on court TV having to testify in a case where a religious family prayed for their daughter to recover from Pneumonia instead of taking the sick child to the Hospital, it is against their religion to seek out medical attention, As Frank mentioned, where are the death panel protesters now, this type of mindset is very prevalent in the radical religious side of the fence. Mr. Schaeffer would know, he was a Evangelical prodigal son and got out of that life and became aware how ridiculous that mindset really is, now he shares in books and in various pubs nationwide. But to get back on topic, the crumbling of society is a scar proposition. where will we be if health reform does not pass, watching Republicans celebrate for one, meanwhile the people they are elected to serve go further not-served and chalk it all up to lies and fear mongering and instilling excessive doubt for any change whatsoever! People are a fickle beast, on one hand they want to believe everything they hear and can spread a rumor in a heartbeat, but when life and limb are at stake they do what they do again, listen and believe the firs bit of nonsense they hear. The people are spreading hate and fear and deceptive rumors of killing old people and fascism,communism and socialism, if only they could believe in realism they would be a dangerous breed for sure. I salute Mr schaeffer for his devout stand on his life change and realization that sometimes we are wrong and can make the change and improve our lives for not only ourselves, but many others that cross our paths. It's understandable that people all have different fundamental belief systems and ideals and a position religiously, politically and socially, but common sense sometimes needs to override the status quo and what one normally does is not always applicable , one size fits all is long gone and this ever -changing world requires free thinkers who can adapt and think on their feet and help save not only the youth of America, but the rest of us as well

State of my Status

All is well in the Saurusland motel these days, school is back in session and things are pretty good at this time. My dodgers are doing great and need a few piece of the puzzle to get where they need to be, high school football is in swing and the boy is playing for a rival high school now but at least playing, might have to go see him play a game once my anger subsides a bit! The golf game is getting better and the swing is becoming a more consistant smooth affair. The Prozac crew has met a few times here recently and always a good time for sure, the board is going strong and keeping it real on a daily basis. my Blog here has bee a little slow, my laptop took a dump and is in the shop being repaired as i write so hopefully can make additions more frequently and keep my shit updated, so stay tunes and hope all are doig great and that postivity has enveloped your world, cuz my shit is signed sealed and delivered daily to wherever i step... yeah i have it that good, thank Goodness! be good , be strong , be yourself and fuck the Masses

Retirement Of Mat Mladin!

Mat Pictured with Wife at Fontana 4-09

It was a sad day for me and a happy day for Mat Mladin, the 7 time AMA Superbike champion retired after Sundays race in New Jersey. For me it was a long 10 year run of following my favorite racer and male athletic figure. Mat was really the reason I got involved in Sportbikes and was always my inspiration to watch and learn. After watching him get nipped at the line by Duhamel in the 99 Daytona race i knew he was my racer of choice. Throughout the years he was not really liked in the pit area as he was the consummate professional, always looking for a way to get faster and making friends at the track was way down on his list of things to accomplish. Mat didn't make friends and even made some fierce rivalries with his win first attitude. Winning his Championships in 99,00,01,03,04,05, now after Ben spies squeaked out 3 straight he gets the crown back in 09. Mats professionalism and get things right attitude was always an inspiration to me ,I enjoyed watching him at the track looking at data ,talking to his crew while other riders were out checking out the girls or laughing with their buds, not Mat he was all Business and went about things in that manner all of the time. The man would always give u straight answers during interviews and at times was fined for his open comments about the way the organization was running things. Looking back on some old video and some DVR material i have saved of Mat it really makes me appreciate the level of dedication and sacrifice he had to endure for the past 18 years of his racing career. Becoming a father in the past 6 years has made thing even more difficult for him to get out and race with the family being put a close second during the race season. But as this, his final season progressed you could see the fire in his eyes go away, he lost Ben Spies to WSB and had no real contender to push him and test his skills, sure there are some damn good racers here now but none that could push Mats buttons to go like the mad worker he once was. With a huge lead and the competition seemingly at his mercy, he started to not win every race, you could see he was going through the motions and waiting for the season to end. With the new organization totally fucking the series up and taking away real Superbikes for slightly more than store bought machines. His team lost their motivation and drive and coupled with No Ben Spies to push them, racing wasn't much fun anymore. But he brought home his 7th Crown and will retire as the AMA's winningest superbike racer by more than45 wins on the closest winner, 82 wins and over 60 pole positions to close out his AMA career. The series is doomed until somebody else picks up the torch and carries it again, Spies ,Mladin, duhamel, Russell,Gobert,Oliver all the great ones are gone and that is what I entered into this great sport was watching the superstars compete against each other. Now I wonder where I'm going to get my racing fix, WSB with Ben spies seems to be it, but he will dominate that series like Mat did AMA and then go the Moto GP and be thrown to the wolves , but he will win there as well. i hope Ben realizes how important having Mat Mladin as a teammate truly was in his developement, to push and to show the level of work that needed to be done every week was a just a glance to the next pit away, although he's never acknowledged this, i believe Ben is very appreciative for having Mat to teach and show him how to win the tough races, every race they raced against each other was a battle and this has helped him overseas. I will miss Mat Mladin every Saturday and Sunday on Speed TV racing for us all, but i guess being able to retire at 37, own 3 homes,2 planes and your own the largest motorcycle supply business in Australia leaves him with something to do and the family to spend all of the time he so graciously shared with us every race weekend. Hope he still Blogs and Tweets otherwise we may never hear from him again, he is a private guy... Thanks for all of the memories!!!

New School Year

Well the kids are back in school and all the shopping has been done, hell week in football over and the regular season ready to begin in earnest here in a week or so. The new school year brings about many beginnings to some new ends for me, the oldest teenager will be going into the Marines in February after a January graduation from school, the younger boy who is attending a new high school for whatever reason is doing whatever it is he does there and playing football. the wife has started her 22nd teaching year as a school teacher and it looks like a good year ahead for her. The the Marine bound boy is determined to become a Marine for whatever reason he assumes that this will make him a man , might do so but what will he learn and what skills will he possess when he comes back to the real world and has to get a job? I tried to convince him that joining one of the other branches of the military would allow him the opportunity to learn a trade or a viable craft in which to apply to the real world when he gets out, but he stands hard on the fact that becoming a Marine is more important because they are the real men in the military. I'm not even going to try to arrange a thought with that mentality but it is what he makes of it and if manly stature is that important to him than hope he gets what he thinks he deserves, just not thinking for the long term is not a good thing and putting your self in harms way for meaningless wars is not something I promote for any man or woman period, let alone my own son. But lessons in life are sometimes learned the hard way and life is reality check waiting to happen and it will do what it is supposed to do.... Reality bites doesn't it? As for me , the job is great the environment in which i work is awesome and the benefits are plentiful. Just entering my 2oth year her at the same job for the Govt is a testament to my fortunes, good job , great pay , easy work and dealing with people all day that need my help. So all is back on schedule, the boys in school, the wife back working and the weather in socal is incredible, the Golf game gets alot of practice and the motorcycle not so much but when It does it really works like a champ. I guess there is something to be said for routine, it allows most of us to get back into a comfort zone and be more programmed form the free for all head scratching freedoms of time and efforts that we all crave when we are working but when we have free time it seems we can't figure out how to utilize it and its more trouble than having a routine and work to be attending on a regular basis. I guess human Nature has a way of catching up to u s and when we ask for something and get it it Isn't always what we truly wanted or needed in the first place, so back to school is a good thing for the young ,it puts the in a place to learn and makes them accountable for 8 hours a day to be committed to something besides them selves and their own self interests, me I'm always at work enjoying the days and enjoying the days end that allow me to get home and enjoy my family and Friends ,the weekends are an accentuation of all of those things and some extra sleep ,some more gym time, golf and all the things we like to do. times are great!

Another Good One Taken Away!

In this all too familiar tone I say , we lost another good man today, no not in the middle east or in the streets of L.A. But right here in my home town of Oxnard, Ca. I kind of made me sick to my stomach to get the text from my wife saying she read where Former 84 Bronze medalist shot Putter Dave Laut was shot and killed in his own home by intruders. As it turned out he was kind of ambushed while checking out noise coming from his backyard after the dogs were barking incessantly, he went out to check it out and after saying the words"What the Hell are you doing here" he was shot 3 times in the head and killed, not even a chance to be rushed to local hospital to be revived. So here we have a local legend, a family man and a great influence to young and old alike taken from the family ,Friends and associated who remembered him as a gentle giant and a peaceful man , always helping out others and always trying to be that positive in others' lives. He was a teacher, a coach and the Athletic director at one of our areas worst schools, Hueneme H.S and was working on helping athletes get physicals at the school so they could participate in Football for their school. Well later that night he was gunned down and will never be that influence of positivity that he had always bee. I remember as a 21 year old watching the LA olympics in 84 and feeling a sense of pride in Dave as this Oxnard boy was representing his country and himself on our behalf, and proudly so, he accomplished a Bronze medal in the shot Putt. It really pains me to think that his wife and child, his parents and friends will be without the gentle giant who died so violently ,so quickly, and never had a chance to say goodbye to anybody. I feel for his wife and his young child who now are left with that huge void he always filled and now it appears empty and silent. How does a person move on from this , this senseless , needless taking away from somebody who was so good, all taken away by somebody who had nothing and will never have anything but the blood of a good man on his hands. I only hope that they find the person who did this and can make an example out of him and show the rest what happens when you take away somebody who gave so much to so many and now is gone. As I said this really hurt me and made me think that we as a society are not safe, not even in the good neighborhood which Dave lived in, but we are all targets and all have to be ready for that day when we might hear the dogs barking and hear that noise coming from outside. what will we do, how will we approach this? I can only say I have lived this scenario in my mind too many times and am thankful that i have 3 large Dogs who can give me the warning I need with their barking and running about, but is this something I should pursue or just make the call and wait for a police response. I can only say that to protect family and self I am locked and loaded and will use whatever force needed to do so, but the saddest thing about that scenario is that is not how I live , not what i believe in and not how I want to live my life thinking that there is somebody out there who is trying to harm me and my family!Since I've already established that there is no God to protect us, I guess we must do it ourselves and be stronger than the scum and be smarter than the dumbasses who want to take our precious lives from us all. I am sorry that Dave Laut is gone and sorry that his family feels the sadness that they feel, but i think in his tragic death we learn a lesson, not everyone lives under the same rules that we do and to fight against a dirty fighter , you have to do the same just to compete. Well that is a fight I am not losing so i continue to arm myself against this even going as far as teaching the wife how to lock and load in case it happens when I'm not around, this is so sad but the reality of what this place has become, survival of the most prepared I hate to say, but it could be the old west all over again. i hate feeling like this but won't allow anybody to hurt those i love

Homeless

After watching the Movie "Soloist" last night it made me re-think the ongoing problem of the homeless in our society. I've always been enamored with the homeless, it's a sad ongoing issue around our country and it seems to be escalating with our current economy and more people a paycheck or two away from joining the ranks of the homeless. Being a fortunate person and gainfully employed, spouse as well and make a good living doing what we do I always ask myself"how did that person get to that point" As a rule I make it a point to talk to the homeless wherever I go, various cities I've visited always leave me compelled to seek out, and not run from a homeless person. My main objective in conversing with them is to learn, to empathize and try to understand how a person could end up sleeping in an alley next to garbage and filth. At what point does a person give up and succumb to that lifestyle, these are the things I've long searched for. Over the years I've been able to correlate a few common denominators , one being drugs and alcohol , others being domestic violence, loss of loved ones or bad relationships and marriages that they were never able to recover from. Other times you have people who are generally not all there and the streets make them more so after a while. It is a very rough and tough life and have had many Homeless people tell me their stories, some by showing me bullet wounds, or knife wounds or scars obtained in a scuffle of some sort, it is survival of the fittest. So when a homeless person approaches me ans asks for money or something, and I have the time , I will always ask the same question," How did you end up here on the streets" if they are willing, than i will give them a fiver as a rule, if not, a $1. My aim is never to exploit their bad way just to try to understand how life's precious sanctuaries have been taken away ,or given up on, the lives we call normal, with four walls and a steady job and a pile of bills to deal with each month. The daily struggle for survival enthralls me and it grips me so much that it hurts me at times. When i visit my fiends in downtown LA , not too far from skid row where the soloist is based, I always see and feel the remnants of the homeless as we sit there and drink that $3 cup of coffee and that $9 sandwich and converse with each other about family and jobs and upcoming events that we share interests. WE will encounter 2-3 homeless men or woman with their shopping carts filled with their life's possessions and sometimes they ask for money, or a smoke and we usually oblige and watch them walk away with their lives in that cart. I am generally moved and touched at their plight, my friends are better at hiding it than I am, that feeling of being uncomfortable because I can afford the things that they dream about sends that guilt all the way to my innards! My obsession with the homeless runs deep and it makes me sad for them and sad for a country so rich and so wonderful in all that it has to offer, except for the few homeless, last estimate was 90,000 in LA alone but that number has grown for sure. I always had this thought that I would make a difference and do something about it, even to the point where I still think that I want to live as a homeless person for a year and then a book detailing the life and time all chronicled with my play by play and somehow have pictures taken to illustrate the plight of my journey. My ultimate goal would be to donate most of the proceeds from this book to the Homeless cause and bring an awareness to the people who have it so good. But knowing that most people do not want to see, hear or be involved with Homeless people at all seems like a fruitless proposition but the thought is still vivid in my mind. I do realize that some of these people are there on their own volition and that many mistakes had been made to get them there, but the humanistic good ,loving side of me makes me cringe to think that a person has to beg, borrow or steal to get their next meal and shelter is never guaranteed , but fought for. Because i am blessed and i have everything that I will ever need, to include family, friends and a support group that would never put me on the streets if I lost everything I have, how did those people lose it all and end up with nothing, most not even a faith in a God that apparently is off duty for these people, who know, this Country is in sad shape ,we need to care for all people ,even the ones not wearing Abercrombie and Fitch and smelling like Chanel!

Label Whores!

So much of what we do and who we think we are are based on labels! The clothes we wear, the car we drive and the neighborhood we live in all somehow determine where we stand in society... or so most think. I sicken at the thought of people today "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality to feel that they can fit in. The age of $250 True Religion Jeans is upon us all and infuriates me to the boiling point. the fact that a pair of 501 Levi jeans is over $50 now is very sad, but those aren't cool enough for kids or adults to wear anymore, they'd rather look cooler, or think they look cooler in a pair of jeans that look like some Northern Californian sprayed Pixie dust on them and said it was ok to dress like a woman, even if you're a man? The fashion world seems pretty much dependant on Hollywood for its guidance. If Britney or Jalo are wearing something it is now cool and accepted, regardless of how hideous it may be. Then you have the people driving cars they can't afford and have to look good when they are on the road to the $12 /hr job and the nice BMW with the cool wheels, probably leased and the kids at home wear walmart and second hand clothes to compensate for this... nice ? But with all of this being said there is something about a good quality pair of jeans, or car, or athletic shoes that somehow justifies is price. To be able to afford nice stuff is not a crime, to think that you must buy nice stuff and become a label whore is something different altogether. Here is the disconnect with people, the guy who buys a $25k Harley Davidson and ride a few thousand mile per year to the local watering holes to be seen on Harley, the love of riding is not there but the culture of the Harley Label is more important than the ride itself, for me being an avid motorcycle rider is a crime, ride hard , fast and plenty and stop when you're done riding and eat and relax, not 4 times along the ride to show off how shiny your overpriced toy is. This mentality to look cool, and then perceive yourself and cool and part of any culture for the sake of belonging to something that is perceived to be "cool" is as a Man , counter-productive. The difference between me and say my co-worker who owns a Harley is this, when going out for a ride I would say, "gonna ride 33 this weekend" the Harley rider will say," gonna take the Harley out to Neptunes the the Rock store, then meet my other Harley buddies at the coffee bean, did he forget to mention , "the Harley" pretty bikes but useless for doing any real riding. By the Way , My Ride is a 2007, GSXR1000 with all of the necessary upgrades and the areas faster riders as the pilot, enough said about that, there's more technology in my rear Ohlins shock than on any Harley made...period. Today's young kids are really in trouble and have been bitten by the fashion bug frenzy. have 2 teenage boys, one will buy the cheapest most practical school clothes, a pair of Vans that he likes and some black t-shirts and call that his school wardrobe, the younger of the boys will then go out and buy some 514's ,a pair of DC's a quicksilver tshirt or two and call this his school wardrobe, oh and he has a pair of true religion knockoffs he has failed to return to a friend of his brothers, so he is the label whore in our house. All things being equal I must say that certain things I like are very expensive, but almost none of them are household names outside their element, like golf equipment, Taylormade and Ping are a few clubs that i play, now some newMizunos, none of which are the most expensive in their field,nor the most popular however all respected names in the field of golf and functional for the game. For my motorcycles always get the best shock on the market, best pipes and brakes, all which serve a purpose and keep me safer than the stock equipment, my car is a stock white pickup which serves me well and hauls my motorcycle in the event of a long distance hookup that allows me to drive it there and unload. live in an older house, my childhood home that I bought from my mother and am content living there, not fancy but functional. Very simple clothes, hate to dress up and just seems that being cool was never an option, living within my means and my tastes has always taken precedence with me. I live very simply and very practically, i have owner nearing 20 motorcycles in the past 11 years and this is my only true vice if i have any at all, i love my bikes and have fallen in love with my 07 GSXR1000 that has been with me longer than any bike I've ever owned, I've always upgraded to the new model which explains the high number of bikes, that and my wife had owned 6 of those 20 bikes. So i am a simple guy with dual income , nice living, can afford the nicer things in life and sometimes get them because I like something, but never have i used somebodies' ad campaign or seen somebody have something that I said I had to have because a certain person wears it, drives it or would be seen differently if I owned it. Being somewhat practical and being my own person may sound boring and nondescript, but the reality of it is that succumbing to somebody Else's social structure is a marionettes string away from being the puppeteers main attraction. Think, live , breathe and exist in your own space for crissakes. a label will never determine who you are, but could show others how hard you are trying to not be the real you. When others start paying my mortgage , then i will care about their opinion, til then, keep trying to find the real YOU!