Vinyards and Breweries

Jessica and Jon were visiting this weekend, and on sunday we all went and visited a couple wineries and the Red Hook Brewery. There was wine tasted and beer consumed. There must be a way to do this without getting drunk, but its probably so near to impossible that its not even worth attempting.

somehow i ended up shooting the opening of a little salon on saturday. there were free haircuts, wine, and a bit of fashion-ing. it was really good to get out into the city. im lazy and havn't been doing enough of that.

Payment in Guinness

Sitting on a dock on lake washington is damn nice, and i like the freeway right where it is, thank you. The freeway is, of course, the reason people like me can afford to live here. The place was built in the mid 40s, and its so damn pretty there is no way a shmuck like me could rent here, but the dice of brilliant urban planning fell my way.

Stressed out? Have a PBR master cylinder ( or tall boy, if your prefer ) and watch the traffic stopped, making all sorts of interesting mechanical sounds, on the bridge. Wonderful.

Also, I grew up next to a freeway, so I think the sounds that come in my window at night make me feel right at home.








If you know me, and are thinking "i wonder if matt would let me crash at his place if i come visit seattle" the answer is yes. I accept payment in Guinness. Except for Alex Denny. If anyone sees that fellow, please tell him that I will buy him many the pint if he makes it out this way. Bribery has its place.

I went with Evan and few of his friends to a Twins V. Mariners baseball game. There was a predictable amout of tension, as Evan and I naturally claimed that the sporting squadron from our recent home geographical location was superior to the Seattle squadron. Unfortunatly, although many criteria may be used to defend our claim, the traditional tallying of 'home runs' did not bear our argument out.




sorry for the crappy panoramics, but im too lazy to make them look right...and yeah, thats my thumb blocking out the sun.

always some motherfucker tryin to ice skate up a hill

Isabel reminded me to wear my helmet when biking, which I appreciate. A few days ago I was also reminded to wear my helmet by this.




Well... Imagine a few more people and a few more cars, and more color gradiation. I decided not to take a picture of the fellow because at the time I wasnt sure if he was alive or not. If he hadnt been wearing the helmet he prolly woulda been dead. I didnt see any flowers when i went by yesterday, so maybe his brain didnt swell too bad.

The moral I take from this story is that if you live in an insanely hilly city, and are riding a fixed-gear, RUN A FUCKING FRONT BRAKE! And wear your helmet. BUT RUN A FUCKING FRONT BRAKE!

Look I understand the aesthetic appeal of the fixie. I really do. But at some point, there is a real, functional trade off. If you're going to cross the Atlantic Ocean, you dont take a canoe because 'its the most pared-down, purest form of the boat'. There are some things the canoe just isnt designed to do, and just like a fixie, doing 25mph down a 30% incline and tryin to stop on command is one of those things it cannot do.

Sittin' on 25s

Its only a peice of sculpture now, but pretty soon here its gonna be my new set of legs.

from the witch's hat

took this before i left minneapolis

Trip out west

At some point here, im gonna buy myself a new bike. Not brand new mind you, but something that was made post 95, say. As much as i love everything i have learned about engines and my character flaws while dealing with motorcycles, i would also find it lovely to not be giving myself an ulcer along the trip from all the obsessing over my vehicle's needs.

again, i think its a good experience, but one i will hopefully not need to repeat for my whole life.

I made the trip out to seattle, and didnt even have to take a greyhound. all the weather was pretty lovely, except for one really, really impressive thunderstorm near calgary that I did an inferior job of capturing.

Also amazing was Banff national park, which i recommend to everyone. as you can see from my messy and automatically assembled panorama, it is still extremely beautiful even when some kids have made a fort out of their campsite and put a keg in the lake. (bottom right corner)

so some of these pictures are obviously out of order, judging by geography, but the one with the firetruck shows you the spot where i first ran out of charge. i asked the owner of the best western there if i could plug in anywhere, and he told me to just unplug the firetruck outside. hard to miss. thats my battery sitting in the the little platform at the bottom.

so heres the list:

-garbage front brake that got much, much worse. ( got it worked on in b.c. )
-engine rattles too much even for a 78 XS, but i checked this one and the valves seem on...what could go wrong?
-electrical! bike stopped charging, and because i couldnt track it down i just had to run with the headlight off and charge the
battery at night... my trickle charger runs something like 750 milliAmps, and i think its a 20 Amphour battery, so it
never really saw a full charge for the rest of the trip. ran real funny.
-clutch pushrod seal started bleeding oil, which sprayed onto the chain, which sprayed onto the rear wheel. i think its in one
of these pictures that you can see the band on the left side of the tire that was coated in oil. i just took it real easy like
on them left handers. a few days ago i was headed to a job interview on the bike and i touched that section of tire,
probably for the first time. the back end kicked out pretty good, and i was glad nothing like that happened with all the
weight of my bags on the back end, would have been unpleasant.
-also had a problem with a tappet cover that got loose. i noticed this because my pants, gear and the entire engine were
covered in oil. it was the smell of the smoking oil that really got my attention...

So this is where i ended up finally. The last night the battery had gotten a full night's trickle charge, and although i kept the headlight circut connected, i ran with the headlight off, didnt use turn signals, and even tried to avoid using the brakes as much as possible to not run the brake light.

The bike started dying on I-5 in some nasty traffic in northern seattle. The first time it died, i had accidently used my signal, and after that point it just got worse. I figured out that if i kept it reving above 4500, it would run, so i made a run for central seattle in the breakdown lane and managed to get across the bridge before...uh... 'parking' the bike where you see it here.

luckily, the bike stopped running in this iconic and picturesque location. space needle, bunch of clouds....yup. seattle.

Evan came and picked me up, and that was that. Burger and Guinness time.