This morning I was offered a cup of coffee. Becky asked if I wanted anything in it (ie, honey, sugar…) I thought to myself, “should I ask for something white to balance the black?”I usually start my day at home with a latte or an americano, with a splash of moo juice. But this was not a mooment.

What came out of my mouth was a surprise to the young lady who was simply trying to give me a cup of joe- before we started our morning meeting.

“Black is Back, all in, we’re gonna win
Check it out, yeah y’all c’mon, here we go again
Turn it up! Bring the noise!” – Public Enemy

She looked at me with a WTF look on her face. I replied, “Do you know PE?” With a little more explanation of why I could bust out such phrases and the influence of rap on my life and our culture it laid the topic to rest. Until tonight. I wanted to get the “song out of my head” so I listened to the first version I came across on the Tube: Bring the Noise.

Then I thought to myself, how did they think to come together with Anthrax for that gig. Follow the leader and Walk This Way. I couldn’t stop there and went to the first personal experience that I had signing along to the black and white in junior high  in Ebony and Ivory.

When I was making up a list of “boy names” for my second child I put George on the list. This was out of adoration and respect for my paternal grandfather, George Krapp. Yep, I said it- Krapp. Elsworth is his adopted name. Some crazy story that needs to be captured for what we do know.

Who Do YOU Love by George.

Seth Godin wrote, “The question is: now that we know these people, will we listen to them in an effort to understand? Tom Friedman famously wrote that there’s never been a war between two nations that had McDonald’s franchises in them. I wonder if we’re going to develop a new sense of mass, one where it’s harder than ever to demonize a group that contains your friends, even if they’re merely online friends. Or, are we going to get better at hating people we know, at de-personalizing our experiences…”

Then again, Who Do You Know?

Skiing is all about picking the right lines. Whether you’re going up or going down.

Well, my backcountry buddy, Al the Mountain Man, and I headed out into the Mt. Baker Backcountry for a fun little tour. Our objective was not to get crazy, but rather just have a mellow tour and capture some photos of the surrounding mountains. View photos our Spring Skiing trip.

Al had the camera and wanted to capture me coming down a nice fall line on the backside of Artist Point. Here’s what unfolded down the Fall Line: 

When I was a kid, we went to Attitash, NH in the summer to ride the Alpine Slide. We didn’t set out from our home in Kirkland, WA with that as a destination, but it was one of the highlights along the way. My mom is a planner and with the help of AAA in the 80’s, we had Trip Tiks leading us around the country on our own version of National Lampoon’s Vacation. Out of respect for the past and Chevy’s character, I may just start calling my dad Clark.

While Davidjellis seems like a total dork in this video, he’s a gravity junkie, just like the “rest of us”

He set the world on fire with his NO Brakes video in Mieders, Austria.

This is BIG NEWS.

Bellingham, WA – March 18th, 2013 – Violet rides her pedal bike without training wheels. The big bike, MYSTIC*, doesn’t have her balancing mechanisms attached, anymore. Violet has graduated beyond training wheels and is going at it full throttle. 

Understand, that she has been enrolled in “bike class” for many years- riding in a bike trailer behind Heather, as soon as she was able; poised in a milk crate on the back of my recumbent at the age of 2; perched in the back of our tandem, from her comfy vantage point as the Stoker (to be)- has given her the knowledge and incentive to be able to self-propel. As Andy Wallis says, “It’s a Lifestyle”. Yes it is! Today my little monkey made it happen.

We live in the Ham. Ours is a cycling community and it all starts close to home. Beyond the Usual Suspects, we’d  like to thank our neighbors, The Vanyo Family, for sharing their space, kids, and LILY (the no pedal bike) with us as a motivator to ride sans support; Charlie & Hazel Heggem – Charlie is an old friend and thought leader in the world of cycling and has encouraged Violet’s cycling endeavors ; Kyle at the HUB; Lance Romo; Kulshan Cycles; etc. really, do I need to list you all?…

LIVE on Violet TV! We were lucky for a private moment with the SUPERSTAR for an interview, capturing the moment.

What goes up, must come down.

The Daredevil

Hope you enjoyed. See ya OUT THERE!

*We name our vehicles. Mystic is the Trek bike that Violet is going to ride for the next couple years. Our van is named Bubble, and she’s a girl (proclaims V)- we live in the Bellingham Bubble and it’s a bit like driving around a fish tank- for everybody to look inside (tinted windows Coming Soon). Our other boats, bikes, skis, and things all have names too- Thanks again, Baldy.

As a curious young lady, Violet (4) asked me the other day, “Dad, do you believe in fairies?”

“Of course I do Violet. I believe in a lot of things. Why do you ask?”

“I want to meet a fairy” She replied.

“Okay, we should go look for some tomorrow,” I suggested. “I think that we could find some Snow Fairies up near Mountain Baker. Should we go out in the woods and see if we can find some fairies OUT THERE?”

Needless to say, she answered with a resounding “YES”

To make sure that we covered some good ground and got deep enough into the forest that we’d be alone with the fairies we chose to launch into a new form of travel- Ski Sledding! I’ve been working this up in my head all season and the time had come! After breakfast, we went to Haggen’s and picked up a sled for $16, took it home and a couple of holes later, we were good to go.

Violet and I geared up and headed out.

See full Photo Gallery.

We headed out in to the sunny day. Took the first left and went out to check out the river.

Here’s our Downhill Run. The sled wanted to take the lead. Here’s how it went:

We were finally back on the flat, bundled up, and close to the car. A bit shakey, but fun (x2):