Living w/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Unintentionally Funny Headlines

2011-07-10T18:26:00.004-05:00

This was seen in Google News-Madison today. Given the lengthy scandal, I'm thinking someone has heard that line before....

Without Chemicals, Life Itself Would Be Impossible

2011-06-18T14:36:00.013-05:00

The names have been changed to protect the innocent, and to comply with my employer's social media policy

The slogan in the post's title was actually used by Monsanto many years ago. I decided to revive it because without chemicals (performance-enhancing chemicals, that is), leading the company I work for in the Get Up and Ride Wisconsin cycling challenge would be impossible.

Because my chemically-injured body's first choice is always to shut down, I take three different medications throughout the day which are considered by any modern sports authority to be performance-enhancing, although only two of them can be detected by the tests currently in use. Keep in mind, this is just to get me back to an everyday level of functionality. If I ever donated my blood and it was given to a normal person his head would probably explode.

Still, I wonder if anyone at work knows they're being beaten by a man disabled by four different chronic and incurable medical conditions (even though I am fully ambulatory). I am a man who became this way by being poisoned, and who even to this day has all of those heavy metals and toxins in his system. Surely this would be a disadvantage, but I'm guessing all they can see is the miles.

I still have to take a great deal of precaution when riding the bike. I continue to wear respirators, I have to keep most of my skin covered up so it doesn't absorb everyday toxins in the air, and I avoid traffic and stick mostly to the bike paths. But it's nice to get out every once in a while and see what's going on around Madison.

Today I went on Madison's 2011 World Naked Bike Ride, fully clothed, for medical reasons. I figured since I had to wear clothes I'd put on a safety/reflective shirt, a bunch of flashing safety lights on my bike Sun Dog, and stay in the rear of the pack, to protect all of the naked riders in front of me.

The ride was a little smaller this year as opposed to last, partly due to Wisconsin's current political climate, but the public's response was truly amazing. As the ride went down State Street and around the farmer's market on the Capitol Square, a roar of applause, clapping, and laughter erupted as the ride went past. By virtue of riding in back of the pack, I witnessed a continuous wave of people running out into the street to take pictures of the group as it made its way further down the avenue. Some of these people even outran me and I was on a bike, although I was not pedaling very quickly at this point. Sometimes there would be 5-6 people shoulder to shoulder running behind the group like a football team's offensive line, just trying to catch up and get close enough to take a pic.

It was a good-natured form of protest, and it also added 9.8 miles to my miles biked total in the Get Up and Ride Wisconsin challenge.

Unintentionally Funny Broken Neon Signs

2011-06-11T22:06:00.003-05:00

On State Street in Madison, Wisconsin.

Think about it.......

The Dangerous, Dangerous Streets Of Madison

2011-06-02T20:29:00.020-05:00

So far I'm up to 199 cycling miles and I've burned an estimated 9,355 calories, although that number is probably based on a smaller cyclist and not a 220 pound man artificially soaked with testosterone. It takes more energy to get a 220 pound man rolling than it does a 180 pound man, hence, my calories burned is likely to be a higher number.

Again, it is important to note that most of my daily witnessing of traffic violations come from not the regular streets themselves, but where Madison's bike paths (where 95% of my bike riding occurs) merely intersect regular streets, or in a bike lane (supposedly a protected area) which parallels a regular street. This self-denial of regular street riding is mainly because of my aversion to automotive smog, despite wearing one or more respirators. A bike rider who spends most of their time on regular streets probably see much more than this.

My weakened respiratory system is also boosted by an oxygen concentrator, and because my insurance company won't pay for Provigil that was prescribed by a fully-licensed environmental doctor and which medicine fought the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome with few side effects, I have to take a high dose of a much cheaper and relatively harsh stimulant to stay awake, and frankly, it's better for me to burn off some of that energy cycling than it is to just sit there and take it. So before anyone is foolish enough to think I am healed or back on my feet & somewhat normal again, all of this is just another one of my over-complex coping strategies to deal with the cards multiple chemical sensitivity has dealt me. My engineer's drive to make all of the pieces fit together efficiently has no doubt helped to rewrite this unique situation into a workable solution.

Yesterday, silly me, I forgot to turn on the mini-cam. It's a real shame because I really thought this mod rocker chick at James Madison Park was checking me out, and I wanted to go back and see if the objective perspective of a mini-cam lens would see the same thing.

What I did see during the ride, and what the mini-cam would have seen if it had been turned on (IMO, like the mod rocker chick) was:

Too many cars not yielding right of way to pedestrians and cyclists in a marked crosswalk to count.
One moped driver not yielding the right of way to cyclists in a marked crosswalk.
One cyclist in a dedicated countraflow bike lane not yielding to a cyclist (me) in a marked crosswalk, who then gave me the stink eye because he thought I was in the wrong, despite me having the pedestrian right-to-walk light AND the contraflow lane has it's own traffic light just for bikes, which told this guy HE was supposed to stop. Stink your own eye and follow the rules, you know what a red light means. (PS-I'm a top-heavy 220 pound guy on a loaded-down trekking bike, and you're a 160 pound guy on a stripped-down fixed gear bike. I was wearing a helmet, you weren't. If we had actually collided, I would have come out on top, in a manner of speaking, and I would be able to sue you for my bike's repair bill. Your bike was also missing the flashing white headlight in front, as required by law 347.489(1)).
One cyclist who couldn't hold their lane on the bike path, crossed the striped line dividing the two lanes of traffic, and nearly had a head on collision with me, while I was holding my line in my lane of the bike path.
One cyclist who was riding down the wrong side of the road (near the curb on the left side of the road), and who made me to move over, rather than her simply moving to the correct side of the road in the first place. At least this person wore a helmet, but if she can't figure out which side of the road to ride on, there may not be much upstairs to protect.
One car illegally using the bike lane as a right turn lane.

Just follow the rules, people. In nearly all of the cases listed above, those in the wrong knew they were breaking the law.

Believe it or not, I'm a cycling advocate. I've ridden in cycling advocate events, and I'm not just talking about Critical Mass. I'm with a group trying to meet the mayor to discuss cycling and pedestrian safety. Car drivers ignorant or unwilling to follow cycling/pedestrian safety laws are dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians because the car is usually a 2 ton vehicle that has every advantage against a cyclist or walker, but two cyclists colliding isn't going to be pain-free either, especially if one of them isn't wearing a helmet. And the bottom line is, IF EVERYBODY WOULD JUST FOLLOW THE LAWS we'd all be safer.

Sadly, this tradegy recently occurred in Madison. The driver of an SUV ran over a cyclist and was dragging her down the street. A truck saw what happened (the driver, apparently was unaware.....and probably texting while driving) and pulled in front of the SUV to get it to stop. When the SUV driver found out she had run over the cyclist, she got back in her SUV and tried to drive away, which was when the cyclist went from being injured to facing life-threatening injuries because the SUV driver actually drove over the injured person to get away. Then the SUV driver hit another parked car and drove away from that.

The Dangerous, Dangerous Streets Of Madison (AGAIN!!!)

2011-05-26T19:20:00.006-05:00

So far I've biked 110 miles, burned more than 5,000 calories, and I've saved over $40 that would otherwise go to gas.

Here are the atrocious acts of the dangerous car drivers that my mini-cam captured today, on just one trip:

A car driving on both lanes of a two lane road, with half of his car in the opposing traffic's lane, on the underside of a hill where a person topping the hill from the other direction would not see this driver until it was too late

A total of 11 cars which did not yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk, despite the car drivers having plenty of time and space to come to a reasonable stop

Two cars using a bike lane as a right turn lane. They could have run me over if I hadn't seen them starting to crowd the lane behind me and I deliberately slowed to let them pass first. Apparently, some Madison drivers have no freakin' idea what a solid white line means

All of this came from one random bike ride, on random streets, at a random time of the day. And it's like this day, after day, after day, in a city which has bike friendly reputation, but where many of the car-only drivers still have no clue about the laws that they are supposed to follow, laws which are supposed to keep everyone safe.

Why is this important to me? Because I don't want to be another tragedy until everyone figures out that driving cars has extremely important responsibilities that come with it, responsibilities (and laws) which the pictures and personal experiences above have shown are being completely ignored.

The Dangerous, Dangerous Streets Of Madison (AGAIN!!!)

2011-05-24T18:52:00.028-05:00

Here's the atrocious and illegal automotive violations witnessed today:

A teenage male driving the wrong way on a one way street and in the bike lane, trying to fake side-swipe a jogger who appeared to be a friend of his. Here you can see his car clearly positioned over the bike lane, and just a few inches from the bridge wall, the jogger is about 15 feet in front of the car. The bike lane is marked by the double/solid yellow stripes

Three cars which did not yield to pedestrian/bike traffic in a marked crosswalk. They could have easily stopped, they were moving slowly and going uphill, but noooooooo, these actions would make it seem it's apparentley a car driver's God-given right their keep his foot on the gas, no matter if Wisconsin state law says they have to stop

Three more cars like this big honkin' SUV which not only refused to yield to pedestrian/bike traffic in a marked crosswalk, but they ACCELERATED after I placed my bike's front wheel and two feet into the crosswalk (which legally indicates that the crosswalk was in use). If their actions don't say "try it and I'll run you over!" I don't know what does. And this particular crosswalk has a big sign in the middle of it that says "STATE LAW-Yield to pedestrian traffic"

I ask you, regardless of my own personal opinion, wouldn't it be best for everyone to just follow the laws already in place? Is that so hard? If one person follows the laws and other people don't, it places the one person who follows the laws in danger. If most people don't follow the laws, the danger for that one person who does increases exponentially.

Ultimately, I think it means that no matter how much a city or state incorporates cycling transportation into its infrastructure (props to all of Oregon, Wisconsin/Madison, and Minneapolis), and no matter how many of those citizens cycle as opposed to driving, until the driver-only population educate themselves (because cycling and pedestrian safety laws aren't normally incorporated in driver's license exams), nobody is safe.

Even the other drivers.

All I want to do is to get from point A to point B safely. But no matter how safely I do so, my health is at risk until the drivers learn the rules and responsibilities of operating a car. There's a reason why these things are already law.

The Dangerous, Dangerous Streets Of Madison

2011-05-23T19:16:00.006-05:00

My doctor wants me to ride my bike 3-5 miles every day. The chemically-injured body is under constant attack, due to its hyper-sensitive nature and the prevalence of toxic chemicals in the everyday world. If I don't exercise regularly, my body just starts shutting down as a defense mechanism. If I exercise, it has the effect of jump starting my body, especially my metabolism.

In the past two weeks, I've biked 84.1 miles. Most of these were on one of Madison's many bike paths, so it should be especially concerting that in the brief times I've been on regular streets I've seen:

One young male texting while driving (illegal in Wisconsin).
A soccer mom in her minivan texting while driving.
Four cars driving the wrong way down a one way street.
One driver using a bike lane to pass a slower vehicle, which is not only illegal but extremely dangerous: they could run over a cyclist or cause a wreck. The bike lane, which is between the regular automotive lane and the curb, is about 1/4th the size of an automotive lane. To squeeze by the passing car also drives over the regular automotive lane and is at risk of clipping the slower car.
One car using a bike lane as a right turn lane, which is also illegal, and they came within inches of clipping the car waiting at a red light in the automotive lane.
One car with two wheels in the automotive lane and two wheels in the bike lane, apparently, just for the hell of it.
A college coed who passed me within inches of my bike (which is illegal, if the car can't allow for three feet of space between the bike and the car they are not supposed to pass the bike).
Two cars using a bike & bus only lane as a regular automotive lane (yep, it's illegal).

This is why I've said several times that if I get hit by a car while on my bike I want my friends & family to subpoena the driver's cell phone records. If the driver is using the bike lane and hits me, it should come as no surprise that I attached a lipstick camera to my bike and I use it whenever I ride so that a video record will hopefully be preserved, unless the car driver runs over the camera too.

I have to admit that there is an added component to this equation, something which if I didn't have, my time on the bike would have been much lower. It's doctor-prescribed supplementary testosterone. Granted, I was testosterone-deficient before all of this and the supplementary testosterone only puts me back at normal, pre-injury levels. I'm by no means having an elevated testosterone level, the cream only puts me at the normal amount for a man my age. The fact that it's a cream which is absorbed slowly through the skin, as opposed to the mainline injection method athletes and body builders use, also slows the way in which the testosterone is introduced to the body. But I control the time at which the testosterone is administered, and by doctor's orders, it is applied at different times of the day, including the time right before I go for a bike ride.

Finally, to be testosterone deficient and haven gotten somewhat used to it (the doctor and I talked about testosterone therapy for a while before finally starting it, it was by no means a haste reaction), and then to have a normal amount of testosterone, well the effect is to relatively feel energized to a certain degree (one symptom of low testosterone is a depressed energy level). That's why I've added supplementary testosterone to my list of personal MCS definitions: I call it go go juice.

This Just In: Polls Show Americans Know Fast Food And Processed Food May Not Always Be The Best Option, But They Eat It Anyway

2011-05-17T19:49:00.015-05:00

Hot dogs in water

A Harris Poll basically found out that most Americans know the importance of eating organic and chemical-free food, but from that same report the bottom line seems to be that the majority are either too lazy or without the culinary knowledge to prepare their own meals.

For many years now I've thought that home-economics or the culinary arts should be mandatory in high schools. For a minority cooking is a talent, but for the majority I think that cooking is a skill, something that has to be taught, learned, practiced, and tested through experience. Cooking was by no means whatsoever a talent for me.

A major cultural shift occurred during my generation, mothers started working full time. When that happened they stopped cooking and no longer passed on the culinary and societal lessons that were heretofore passed down year after year.

Compare a pre-80's recipe book with a 2010 recipe book and analyze the level of preparation and difficulty. The difference seems to be that the pre-80's mothers had kitchen experience and a day's time to construct the meal, post-80's layman's recipes seemed to become much simpler and faster after the cultural shift).

Furthermore, for some of those in today's age, even the idea of a "recipe" is beyond their skill level or willingness to learn. I have a niece who doesn't even know how to boil water for hot dogs (which were pre-cooked, by the way), and a nephew that won't eat anything but boiled hot dogs, a brand-specific macaroni and cheese offering, and a certain company's chicken nuggets.

The result is that there are now generations who feed themselves entirely with processed and fast foods.

Ironically, if the masses were willing to truly take the steps to not eat chemically-laden foods and not just know the difference without being willing to act upon it, the free market would be able and willing to provide that service.

Slim Pickins

2011-04-17T19:50:00.018-05:00

The Dane County farmer's market has two seasons. This is due to the producer-only requirement that most other farmer's markets don't have, and which makes the Dane County farmer's market such an example of local sustainability. Anything sold at the Dane County farmer's market has to be grown and created in Dane County. Although some things like meat and cheese can be produced year-round, everything else, especially that which falls into the "vegetation" category, is only available during the spring and summer seasons.

The Dane County farmer's market is insanely popular, as can be witnessed in the farmer's market and the faces of the farmer's market tags. I was quite surprised that on the farmer's market opening spring weekend for the 2011 year, only one-third of the vendors showed up.

The chefs for the local high-end restaurants shop early in the morning. They can always be identified by the wagons they pull behind them carrying the produce bought at the farmer's market. One of these chefs was from Graze, Madison's hottest new restaurant

Granted, it was cold and wet, and because it was Wisconsin, all that was mixed with snow despite being well into the period of time most other states would call the spring season. This particular day also featured 35-45 mile an hour wind gusts, quite unusual for this state. For those of you who follow the news, this was the focal point of the triple-front weather system that devastated the mid-west and middle America.

The tea party had its annual post-April 15th rally in Madison this weekend. Because Madison is Madison, there was also a huge counter-protest to the tea party protest that dwarfed the actual number of tea partiers in attendance.

That's no reason for the vendors to stay away. If anything the protests have been incredibly profitable to many local businesses, something that has been reported ad-nauseum in the Wisconsin press. You'd think if there was a guaranteed 10,000 or so number of potential customers around, the farmer's market vendors would use that to their advantage, regardless of political orientation. Thus, I was surprised to see only a third of the normal number of vendors on this particular day; maybe 50-55 instead of the normal 150 for opening weekend.

The vendors which did stick around despite the miserable weather seemed to be rewarded for their determination, relative to the disproportionate numbers of the crowds in attendance. I never saw a single tea partier buy a single thing from the vendors.

I bought some spinach, burdock root, sunchoke, red onions, and because I don't care what my breath smells like anymore, ramps. All organic, of course.

All organic except for the prescription testosterone cream. When I first became chemically injured my hormones were tested several times in an effort to find the source of what would eventually be diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome co-morbid to multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury. At that time, all of the hormone levels were normal. Now that the crazy chemicals and metals in my body have come home to roost, normal hormonal levels are out of balance because the chemicals and metals have taken the place where the body would normally absorb nutrients, telling them "The club has closed. Go home"

One by one, be it pituitary hormones or the male hormones like testosterone, I have to find pharmaceutical supplementation for things my body is no longer capable of producing or absorbing.

It's not a good position to be in. I hope nobody else finds themselves in this situation, but until all of the American or other worldly societies are aware of the dangers they face, one by one, they will join this unwilling fraternity.

Update: the lower number of vendors is probably due to the extended winter in Wisconsin this year. Today is April 18th and we are expecting more snow tonight. It's not uncommon for regions this far north to get a springtime snow every now and then, but the temperatures have been consistently lower than normal for this time of year. Because that affects the crops, if the crops aren't growing some of the vendors will not have anything to bring to the market. The vendors which did show up Saturday, those who sold produce and not just meat or cheese, were the well-established farms that had a highly diversified selection of crops, especially the tubers and root variety that can handle a winter-like spring. These farms also built their own greenhouses, whereas smaller farms are less likely to diversify or make capital investments like greenhouses. Not yet, anyway.

Update II: I made a vegetarian omlette with the spinach, ramps, and onions and it was pretty good. Something about the ramps worked well with the flavor of the eggs and spinach, I might try a quiche or casserole with them next. The sunchoke and burdock will be going into a stir fry. Burdock is a starchy root without a lot of flavor but which absorbs spices very well. It is believed to have medicinal benefits. I normally shred or julienne it, mix it with some chili powder, ginger, and lime juice, and then pan fry it. Occasionally I'll splash it with some Worcestershire sauce as well. After that, you can put it on just about anything-tacos, fish, burgers, you name it.

What I Want On My Tombstone

2011-04-06T20:17:00.006-05:00

If I am on a bike and I get run-over by a car, I'd like two things:

On the tombstone, it would say "He wasn't wearing a helmet, but he was wearing his respirator."
The other thing is, and I think I've mentioned it before, but if I am run-over by a car I want the driver's cell phone records supeona'd to see if they were talking or IM'ng at the time.

For any other circumstance, it should say "He finally made it to Purgatory."

Chad Vader Reports For Fox News

2011-03-05T18:31:00.013-06:00

The following post makes no personal endorsement about the protests or Fox News, only that Madison is a pretty cool place to live:

Madison is the birthplace of many zany things, like the boom box parade, where an organized marching band paraded without playing a single instrument, but which instead had each member carrying a "boom box," all set to the same station. It was the first (and perhaps only) place to have a frozen, sunken Statue of Liberty and a mass-planting of pink flamigo s on Bascom Hill (a picture of all three are on that same page).

Madison is a unique place; it's collective sense of humor and it's support & acceptance of anything considered to be a deviation from the norm is one of the things that has always endeared this town to me.

Madison is also the home of Chad Vader, a spoof on Star Wars' Darth Vader, where Chad is the under-appreciated manager not of the Death Star, but of a grocery store. In actuality, most of the scenes are shot in the Willy Street Coop, a cooperative grocery store specializing in whole foods, organic foods, and humanely raised meats.

Blame Society Productions, which writes and films the Chad Vader episodes, just created a new spoof where Chad Vader gets a job reporting for Fox News about the protests in Madison.

It would probably be fair to say that some people in Madison didn't like Fox News to begin with. That is their opinion. But lately, those same people might say that Fox News has made it easy for them to not trust the network, because as Media Matters reported, Fox News flipped a graphic that stated a poll found 61% of Americans supported collective bargaining so that it said otherwise, and then Fox News showed a violent clip it labeled as "union protests" while the Madison protests were being discussed.

The Madison protests have been extremely peaceful and positive. The police even released an official statement thanking and complimenting the protesters the one day where Americans for Prosperity bussed in many opposing viewpoints, the only day out of the last three weeks that there has been any opposition whatsoever. If memory serves correctly, to date, not a single person was arrested and only two tickets have been issued (one for a guy unplugging all of the cables off a Fox News truck, and he wasn't even from Madison but Chicago). Some people probably suspect that showing the clip may have been an attempt to mislead Fox News viewers into thinking the Madison protests were violent, but mostly they think it's funny because the video clip that Fox News showed had palm trees in the background.

And the people and protesters of Madison have run with it.

Trust me, in Madison we have snow, persistent below-zero low temperatures during the winter, cheese, microbreweries, bikes, about a million Toyota Priuses, and more Green Bay Packer paraphernalia than any state should have. The one thing we don't have is palm trees. Never did, never will.

Until now. Inflatable palm trees have suddenly become a part of Madison culture, like the pink flamingos and everything else.

Thank you Fox News, for giving Madison another inside joke and another reason to be proud of who it is.

Update: It looks like Michael Moore was at the protest yesterday, and not only did he give a rousing speech, he even managed to sneak in a joke about palm trees:

Update II: One of the Marshals providing security at the Capitol Building says that Fox News made "an inaccurate description" of the protest.

Update III: Michael Moore tells his story about Madison "The scene in Madison is nothing like what they are showing you on TV or in the newspaper. First, you notice that the whole town is behind this."

A Deep And Sincere Apology

2011-02-25T19:05:00.062-06:00

I must admit it was interesting seeing how tens of thousands of people, from all walks of life, peacefully assembled and spoke passionately about their rights. In the midst of that, several elements which affect my health, emotions, and cognitive functioning changed and I'm afraid I wasn't fully aware of it until now:

I recently increased the dosage of a medication which causes irritability, and I'm now at the limits of how much of this medication the professional medical community thinks a person should take.
The medication is also causing insomnia. I did not react to it quickly and underestimated it because a chemically sensitive person body often reacts to medication or changes in dosage levels differently than normal people, likely because the chemical sensitive body functions abnormally. I thought I could weather the storm and instead I was snow blind.
A doctor mandated a major change in diet which began the same day the high dosage of medication began: no more flour of any kind (bread, pasta), and no more sugar of any kind. Because my body is so weak it has had trouble making the adjustment to the diet, and it affected how I think.
Witnessing the protests exposed me to an excessive level of chemicals, exposures I haven't experienced in years and something that I was not prepared for. Normally in public I wear a respirator and carry a note from a pulmonologist explaining the respirator, but after two moves I lost the note and I didn't want to scare anybody by wearing the respirator in a politically charged environment where people might think I was trying to conceal my identity. I actually attended the protests several times, and the subsequent chemical exposures caused "brain fog," or cognitive dysfunction, among other things, and I may not have been completely aware of everything a non-chemically injured person would have been. At the time I thought the exposures were only causing fibromyalgia pains. Those of you who have experienced brain fog will understand what I'm going to say next, I may not have been totally aware of what I was doing. In retrospect, I should have known that walking into a building filled with thousands of people, even for the briefest period of time to drop off donated food or sleeping supplies, would be very damaging to my health. With the effects of the prescription meds, the insomnia, and the new diet, I wasn't thinking too clearly.
I have not immersed myself in everyday society in a normal fashion, or stood shoulder-to-shoulder with any group of people since the chemical injury in in 2007. Thus, I may have lost some social skills, although now it seems I haven't forgotten them.

I'm still suffering physically from the chemical exposures. The fibromyalgia has returned in a major way, I have a dull widespread pain in my back and it is moving to my neck, a sharp pain is in my knee. RAD has me coughing all of the time and I'm somewhat dizzy.

I've been much more fatigued this past couple of weeks but I don't know how much of that is due to the chemical exposures, the medication, or the insomnia. As I have said before about a year ago, fatigue may affect perception because the brain no longer has the energy required to ensure the full nature of a thought and it can't complete the entire transaction which is the normal thought process. It certainly devastates the memory as well (but I'm no doctor). The mental dysfunction has lessened enough for me to "wake up," metaphorically speaking, and I realize that I am coming out of a significant brain fog event.

Today I went back and looked at the blog and I could see that some things were written which never would have been said under normal circumstances, if I had not been under the influence of a high dose of prescription medications (prescribed by a licensed doctor), adverse health, and temporarily impaired cognitive function.

I went back and changed the posts to correct the matter and re-wrote them to be fair to all sides. I took out any statements that may have been considered damaging or untrue, and each post started with a sentence advising the reader that the posts are merely one person's personal opinion, that it only reflects one and certainly not all perspectives, and that I may not be correct in my opinion. Ultimately, I decided to remove all the posts from the published material. I am still recovering physically and mentally from the disastrous combination of events which affected my body and mind. Because I have not recovered completely and as such my cognitive abilities may not be fully restored, I felt there was a chance that my evaluation of the re-written material may not be as accurate as it should be, so I decided to play it safe and remove them altogether. Due to the medication and diet changes, the lack of sleep, and the brain fog, I can barely remember writing them, and that was only a week ago, so I don't think I am ready to publish anything other than an apology.

I apologize to anyone who read the posts and thought that perhaps things could have been presented more objectively. Madison is the epicenter of free speech right now, but there's no reason why the speech shouldn't be fair.

While re-writing the posts I had placed an invitation in this message for anyone to feel free to contact me and and I would delete the material they did not like. Since the posts have been removed altogether, that specific invitation was no longer needed, however, everyone is welcome to contact me and tell me their concerns if they so desire.

It won't happen again.

The next step is to scale back on the prescription dosage. That was probably the biggest factor in all of this. As far as the diet is concerned, I will now try to ease into it rather than following it completely from day 1. Chemical exposures will have to be avoided entirely.

It also means there won't be anymore posts about the protests in Madison, I simply can't get exposed to chemicals like that again.

Liquefied Memories

2011-02-17T20:22:00.001-06:00

I just liked the sound of the phrase. It reminds me of the titles for some of my old artwork.

Size Isn't Everything (At Least Where Cars Are Concerned)

2011-02-05T20:47:00.012-06:00

That is one big truck

Whenever I see SUVs and trucks they're almost always being driven by a single person, on solid pavement in good weather, going on some not so important run to Walmart for paper towels (in other words, when other types of transportation would be more efficient).

Recently a fake ad was made which is not only quite funny, but that satirizes both the big SUV/truck buyer and the ads which are created to attract them. It can be viewed here.

Hopefully it will all be over soon.

Test Kitchen: The Perfect French Fry

2010-12-15T19:26:00.018-06:00

Behold, the ultimate French fry. These actually have a little snap when bitten

I have figured out how to cook the perfect French fry. The taste is beyond expectations and the dual texture of a crunchy exterior and the soft, fluffy interior that you have always dreamed about has been realized. And best of all, the process requires less time in the oil than others, so in some ways it is healthier than standard fries, but the basis of better health goes far beyond just the oil they are fried in.

Fast food employs a multitude of unhealthy chemicals that are used to extend the fast food corporations' profits: preservatives, "flavor enhancers," anti-foaming agents, you name it. If you eat fast food, you consume these unhealthy chemicals.

I recently noticed that a fast food chain treats their fries with disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate. You may have heard of that before, because it is used as a dispersant when drilling for oil, as well as a stain remover and a hair remover. In French fries and other food, it is used as a preservative and color retainer. It keeps the French fries golden brown and uniform in color, even after frying.

That franchise has also done some good things. It has sensitivity alerts in their menu listings, and they apparently don't hide behind the regulations that allow a company to not list chemicals like chlorine that are used in the production process but that are not added as an ingredient outright, or where the FDA allows generic descriptions to protect trade secrets. An example of this is a certain fast food company's bacon which has 18 ingredients, mostly pertaining to smoke flavoring. And as the chemically sensitive will tell you, the phrase "plant source" doesn't mean it is healthy. Even cyanide can be produced organically.

As mentioned previously, I won't publish the French fry technique because building a French fry themed restaurant around it is item #247 of the never-ending list of great ideas that will never happen when dealing with a full time job and chemical sensitivities, including co-morbid fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. But I can still dream, and I ask you: take a look at the 100% natural, perfectly cooked fries above and ask yourself if you'd rather have those or a chemical stew of artificially colored French fries. If I had my own French fry restaurant with nothing but healthy, natural fries, vs fast food cyanide fries, that difference would be a point I'd be driving home on every commercial like a Mad Max 18 wheeler full of gas going downhill with no brakes.

Deep Fried Cheese Curds

2010-12-09T18:58:00.014-06:00

DEE-LI-CIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, but no pics. As a matter of personal safety I never take pictures when dealing with a stovetop of super hot oil. If I did, you'd be reading about my test kitchen/lab experiments with Belgian fries, where I figured out how to achieve the soft, fluffy fry interior with a hard, crispy outer shell, but which is actually more healthy than the other French or Belgian fries because the fries are cooked in the oil for only half the time with either method. I'm keeping the whole process under wraps in case I try to commercialize the idea.

As far as the cheese curds, thankfully, I am surrounded with organic cheese producers and I cook the curds in grass-fed, no antibiotic and no-hormone beef tallow. This all came about after I finally made poutine and had leftover Wisconsin cheese curds to deal with. Poutine is pretty good, but the appreciation for it may be temperature-dependent; the colder it gets, the better poutine tastes. Since I'm in a northern state like Wisconsin it would not be surprising if I made poutine again, although the next time I might throw in some nitrate-free and natural bacon into the mix.

Deep fried curds have a crunchy exterior, similar to sweet & sour chicken, except that it is filled with juicy cheese. Cheese curds are a little denser than regular cheese so it isn't as stringy as what I remember basic mozzarella cheese sticks to be. Yea, I say unto you, deep fried cheese curds are a sublime combination.

Just like gossip and Lou Cheese on a date, deep fried cheese curds are best served piping hot...in disco shorts and roller skates. Deep fried cheese curds make a great movie snack/popcorn replacement, or whip up a couple of ranch or honey mustard dips to serve them at a Superbowl party, provided you can keep the guests who enter your house chemical-free. Tell them "I'll be serving deep fried cheese curds" and you might get your wish.

The recipe used tonight can be found here, using free range, chemical-free eggs, non-aluminum baking powder, organic wheat flour from Kansas, and, well, natural healthy substitutes for everything including the oil. Sadly, that's how far society has come, where a person has to seek out chemical-free, natural components for something we eat.

We have to go out of our way to find natural food.

Scenes From The Park: Winter Edition II

2010-12-07T20:48:00.003-06:00

Carbo-loading on acorns before the first snowfall

Getting in one last swim....

Sunset over a fallen tree and frozen lake

No kidding

Before the snow, the fog. Every morning for two weeks straight looked like this until the lake finally froze over

It's a shame every morning doesn't start out this way....

No Safe Haven

2010-12-03T07:57:00.007-06:00

If the air in San Francisco was any worse, she'd be wearing a mini-skirt

Bad air is every one's problem.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy and the California Air Resources Board examined airborne lead isotopes in San Francisco and they discovered that one third of that specific type of pollution originated from China. That means:

Everyone, not just the chemically injured/chemically sensitive, should be concerned with air pollution.
Due to the autonomy of countries regarding local regulation and the ability of air pollution to travel internationally, global regulation is necessary.
As previously mentioned, bad air is every one's problem. Your race doesn't matter, neither does your sex. Your economic status doesn't matter. Your country of origin, your religious beliefs or the absence of them, your political orientation doesn't matter. None of it does. Pollution is an equal opportunity destroyer, and quite a well-traveled one at that.

Sadly, previous agreements like the Kyoto protocol have largely been abandoned and were instead replaced with polluter-friendly cap & trade agreements. America, which has opted to not follow the Kyoto Protocol for nearly 14 years, mainly bases the refusal to join on economic terms.

Here are the countries that participated in the Kyoto Protocol in 2009. Green is a participating country, red rejected the protocol, yellow means they participate with some restrictions, and gray is undecided.

Here's how it looks in 2010.

So China doesn't just make the majority of consumer goods purchased in America, they also produce some of our pollution. And both get delivered to America's shores and cities. By the way, I say thank you to Canada, eastern Europe, the Nordic countries, Australia & New Zealand for continuing to uphold the protocol.

Back in the States, a BPA ban in children's products was not made law.

As for the first picture and the mini-skirt comment, well someone created a dress that monitors air pollution and reacts to it by contracting, providing a visual cue about the presence of unhealthy air by wrinkling and shrinking. As a chemically injured/chemically sensitive person, the idea is correct but the execution is backwards. The dress should expand and cover the skin in the presence of pollution.

Tiny Homes Are A Big Success

2010-11-30T07:56:00.004-06:00

Yahoo recently published an article on how the sales of tiny homes are thriving despite a poor housing market. Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention how the chemically injured/chemically sensitive have embraced the tiny home movement. For the breathers out there who have yet had their lives altered by toxic chemical exposures, we are attracted to tiny homes because:

The are usually made of high quality, low or no-VOC materials.
Due to their small size, they fall into the category of buildings that do not require construction permits. Most cities don't want to deal with a homeowner every time somebody wants to put up a tool shed, so normally anything under 120 square feet does not require all of the permits that a house over 120 square feet would.
Historically, people who built a safe room as an addition to their original house ran into trouble with permits.
Normal housing is toxic to sensitive people. Personally, I believe it is toxic to regular people as well but their bodies don't report the exposure like it does when one becomes hyper-sensitive.
The homes can be built on a trailer and moved to areas with little pollution.

One of the reasons why I can live in my current abode may be due to it's minimal use of drywall. The floors, walls, and ceilings are made from gigantic slabs of reinforced concrete, not drywall. Everything else in the place outgassed at least a decade ago, except for me. As my friends will tell you, I still outgass on a daily basis.

Several chemically sensitive people have even built their own tiny homes, like Erik and Pete & Mokihana. I had an idea for a home with a couple of original features, but that's as far as it got for me, and with co-morbid fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, that's as far as it will ever get. Since I like to cook, my idea was for the tiny home to have a flat, angled roof on hinges. That way, since cooking in a home under 120 square feet will fill up with particulates quickly and my reactive airway disease demands clean air, I could crank the entire roof open and use the newly exposed space above the kitchen as an exhaust vent.

The other idea was to put vinyl siding on the outside, but not the vinyl siding usual housing features. Instead, I would use what is called slatwall (provided it doesn't hold water). Slatwall is what you see on the inside walls of many retail stores. The idea is that since tiny home storage space is limited, with slatwall on the exterior of the home, you could get some slatwall hanger accessories and use the house's outside walls for storage.

Scenes From The Park: Winter Edition

2010-11-27T22:23:00.007-06:00

The trees have dropped their leaves and the lake is starting to freeze over.

After a long Indian summer, winter has come to town and it aint leavin' any time soon. Here are the pics from my walk around the park during sunset today.

A rock on the ice

Two ducks headed out past the ice

Problem Solved: Eye Protection

2010-10-24T21:32:00.005-05:00

I see you....

A while back I bought my first Griswold cast iron skillet at a thrift store. It totally re-defined the way I see cast iron cookware, and since then, I've been using the ol' Griswold quite a bit.

One problem with cast iron cookware is that the handle gets very hot. Although there are many things with modern-day manufacturing and design that can be done with steel to keep the handle cool, with cast iron cookware your options are rather limited. You can:

1) Deal with the limitations and call your doctor in the morning. Hopefully, he's having a special on skin grafts and you've been keeping some of your donor areas buttery-smooth.
2) Use the skillet but don't touch the handle.
3) Don't use it at all.

Of course, the foodies and chefs know there are some tasks for which cast iron excels. So today I went looking for a hot-handle solution at a neighborhood kitchen store and gift shop when I saw these, onion goggles.

The goggles are meant for protecting the eyes of normal people when chopping onions, but their benefits for the chemically sensitive should be obvious. There are other solutions; despite 20/20 vision I always wear either sunglasses or wrap-around safety glasses when on my bike during days when air quality are average, and ski or swimming goggles on days when the AQI can't be trusted. But it looks like onion goggles would provide the same amount of protection without the spaceman look that the other options tend to create.

I haven't bought any onion goggles yet, so I can't provide an opinion on them other than to say they may be worth investigating, especially if you live in a city with bad air, or if you will be in an environment where your eyes will be affected.

A New Fake Name

2010-10-21T19:33:00.008-05:00

This isn't a new fake name for me, rather a new fake name for a group...of which I may be the only member.

The chemically injured and chemically sensitive like to call themselves canaries, because canaries were used by miners as an early warning system. If there was methane or carbon dioxide in the mine it would kill the canaries first, because their heart beat at a rate much faster than the human heart, and their rate of respiration was equally speedy. For people with multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury/environmental illness/toxicant loss of tolerance, our totally jacked-up nervous systems now do the same thing. In an admonition I hope everyone else will understand, if bad conditions killed the canaries first it meant the miners should take drastic and immediate action to remove themselves from the danger or else:

THEY DIED TOO.

Only now it isn't just the air that's poisonous, it's the food, the water, the clothes, and the furniture, and the personal hygiene products, just for starters.

Anyhoooo, the chemically injured and chemically sensitive (one and the same, quite frankly), consider themselves "canaries". I came up with a new fake name and possibly a new discussion group over at the, ahem, canary report:

The Dead Parrot Society.

This would be the group for people with MCS/CI/EI/TILT who also possess a wicked, if not dark, and rather twisted sense of humor. Granted, my sense of humor isn't what it used to be after trying to work at least a part of the week in an office, because working in an office always comes with a price, like fibromyalgia, but still. It's The Dead Parrot Society. Who else can illuminate the sheer absurdity (if not the utter insanity) of the modern chemically convenient lifestyle with a tongue in cheek and a face buried in a respirator? It's The Dead Parrot Society.

The idea came to me after watching a BBC special on the Monty Python's Flying Circus, which featured the famous dead parrot sketch, as well as it being a play on the movie title Dead Poets Society.

Christmas Shopping-Done, Done, and Done!

2010-10-10T07:53:00.011-05:00

Three one gallon jugs of Wisconsin maple syrup. A single jug goes to my parents and each of my sister's families. The rest of the other stuff is organic produce from the farmer's market that I will be eating this week (foreground) and a vintage Arcade Crystal Coffee Mill #3 (background) I got at a local auction at an unbelievably low price

People who aren't chemically sensitive probably like the Christmas season, no matter what religion they believe in. The family gets together, they go shopping where they might see some old friends or maybe they get themselves a little something special too, go out and grab a bite to eat, catch a movie, that sort of thing. That's how I used to look at it, except with an hour or two of people watching and a nice cup of coffee to enjoy as well.

After becoming chemically sensitive I look at Christmas shopping in only three ways:

Nearly impossible.
A death wish.
Absolutely FREAKIN' INSANE!!!

Actually, number three is directly related to number two, because the insanity of it is trying to be around that many people, in that environment, with this medical condition. That many people equates to that many toxins, and "that many" is too many, way too many in fact.

In order to avoid the crowds for the past couple of years I bought the family gift cards for Christmas, because I could get everyone's gift at once, and I could do it in a grocery store at odd hours and not a shopping mall during regular hours, thereby avoiding the deadly crowds. I still hated to do it because buying gift cards is very uncreative and absolutely no fun what so ever, not to mention the fact that it also has a monetary value tied directly to it. How would anyone feel if they received a gift and the person giving them that gift said "Your love and the memories we share together is worth exactly $50 this year." Gift cards aren't inherently bad, in fact they can be convenient for the recipient, but for a Christmas gift I find them somewhat lacking. At the time I didn't feel like I had any other options.

This year, I have 100% pure, grade A, Wisconsin maple syrup. Just typing that makes me smile. Wisconsin can brag about many things; it's cheese, it's abolitionist stance against slavery, it's history with progressive politics and the fact it was the first state in America to effect workplace injury laws, it's the world's number one producer of cranberries, and although the part of me who wants to be Canadian doesn't want to hear this, Wisconsin produces the best maple syrup in the world....in the world.

When God cries tears of joy, he cries tears of Wisconsin maple syrup. Scientists ten centuries from now will construct a time machine just so they can go back to this day and sample 100% pure, grade A, Wisconsin maple syrup. I'm pretty sure it will cure blindness, AIDS, cancer, poverty, and any social injustice you can think of, but it's too damned good to use for anything but eating. It is just that good.

The genesis of syrup appreciation in my family started when I sent my parents a bottle of the good stuff, as is my habit. Both my parents traveled and experienced the world, consequently they each have a very sophisticated palette. My mother and father are also considered to be very good cooks, each in their own way. The same could be said for their mothers and fathers.

On my dad's side, both of his parents ran an extremely successful restaurant and their success was overshadowed by their sheer bravado, determination, strength, and willingness to be exactly who they were going to be, for better or worse. One my mother's side, my grandfather in his calm, assured, and understated way taught me the best trick in the world to resuscitate a stale cup of coffee-put a pinch of salt in it. And the wild plum jelly that he and his other half harvested, jarred, and distributed annually among the family was legendary. If you passed one of the emptied wild plum jelly jars through an electron microscope you would also see the mouth of a fully-attached Cheese family member still desperately licking the microscopic remnants off the jelly jar's walls for the final sub-atomic piece of plum jelly.

So my parents are the obvious beneficiaries of anything I discover in Madison that excites the tongue and the mind, they will understand it and appreciate it in ways that the remaining billions on the earth will not. It's not a perfect science and there is bound to be hits and misses, but as a son I feel it is my obligation to do so.

For the next third of the family (who are also considered good cooks), it came down to this maple glazed black pepper pork recipe. They needed real maple syrup to pull it off and I sent it to them. Of course they have their own ideas for that recipe and the sweet, delicious syrup, and those ideas they should pursue like any other. One of them could probably use a little more calcium in his diet and another fewer cigarettes and a little less cholesterol, but you get the idea.

Maple syrup isn't just for pancakes or pork chops, although it definitely elevates the dish. You can glaze bacon or ham with it, make maple butter, or maple ice cream. Drizzle it over whipped cream. I pour it on my organic muesili cereal, when I eat muesili cereal. Otherwise, I just snort pure maple syrup. It works.

I'm hoping that's what the final 3rd of the family will discover: the sheer utter superiority that natural ingredients have. The only things that separate me from this side of the family is about 1,000 miles of interstate highway, and the fact that unlike this part of the family, I eventually started to discover (because I couldn't go the chemically convenient route each and everyday) the mechanics and techniques behind all of our parent's and grandparent's culinary greatness. In terms of appreciation, I can only match this part of the family for what our parents and grandparents did in the kitchen. I don't want to surpass this side of the family in the ability to create those things.

The best I can do is inspire them. And there's nothing more inspirational than 100% pure, grade A, Wisconsin maple syrup, so that will be their gift this year. It's not quite the same reason why the other family members will be getting the very same item, but hopefully one day it will be.

Lookout World.....

2010-10-08T18:43:00.006-05:00

The evil antenna is operational..........and don't be distracted by the two benevolent antennas on the right.

The evil antenna won't stay in this position, I cherish the view overlooking the park and lake too much to leave it here. Besides, the antenna is actually sideways. Even with ten foot ceilings inside this baby is still two feet too tall. That messes with the polarity a little bit, what this antenna can do is still amazing. It's on par with the seven foot antenna I built to monitor the marine band, which thanks to a condition called tropospheric ducting, allowed me to regularly listen to US Coast Guard activity around Rochester, New York, which at the time was about 275 miles away.

I've been putting in a lot of time at work, and since much of the time I work from home to avoid toxic exposures, I haven't gotten out to much during the past month or so. This antenna gives me the ability to hear more without having to be close to the source.

Eventually, the plan is to disguise the antenna as a piece of art. Frame it with a colored or textured background, something like that.

PS-Does anyone get the pun in the title?

Lake Wingra Mysteries: One-Legged Ducks And Suntanning Fish

2010-09-19T12:13:00.008-05:00

Actually, the ducks aren't one-legged but they just stand on one leg, tucking the other leg up into their plummage. This is common to many types of waterfowl, and they usually do it when sleeping or during cold weather. The weird thing about the Lake Wingra ducks is that they do it all the time, even when awake and during the hottest part of the summer.

The fish do something else that is very strange, and which is quite dangerous for them. When there is little wind and the surface of the water is very flat and clear, they swim up into the most shallow of the water and then they just stay there, in one spot. They don't swim around and they don't feed, they just stay in one spot.

This seems odd, because any bird like the blue heron spotted last week or the hawk that lives in the arboretum and which is a very aggressive hunter could snatch the fish up very easily, because the fish are so visible and the water is only an inch or two deep. The fish must be aware of the danger because they only do this when the surface of the water is very smooth, and any type of movement sends them swimming as fast as they can to deeper water. So it seems that they are constantly looking through the smooth surface of water for predators. But if you sneak up on them and move slowly, the darn fish just stay there, hardly moving, for what must be hours.

My guess is the sun heats the shallow banks of sand close to the surface, and the fish absorb the heat. Two types of fish do this, mostly young bluegill. The other is largemouth bass that are still in the baby stage.

Bluegill

Largemouth bass

Because it's always small, young fish, they may also be using the shallows for protection from bigger fish, but that doesn't explain why they don't swim and instead stay in one place. And it isn't just one or two fish, it is often entire schools of them.

This last pic I happened to catch a little bluegill as it broke the surface and the water created a neat optical illusion, a kind of bullseye next to its left eye and a water ring to its right:

I was thinking about buying a rod & reel and fishing for dinner out of the lake, because the fully grown bluegill are supposed to be pretty tasty. I dropped the idea when seeing how much the lake is over-fished during the spring and summer. Without a boat, I simply couldn't get to where the big fish were. After seeing this odd shallow-water behavior, I might pick up an aquarium the next time one shows up in craigslist's free items section, grab a couple of baby fish, and then grow them in my own indoor fish farm. I can feed them organic bread crumbs. (Actually, I'd probably never do that, but it's a thought).

Madison In Someone Else's Blog

2010-09-16T16:53:00.019-05:00

Madison had a post about it recently in the Fail Blog. An ambulance was called to assist an Ironman competitor and it had to drive across the Monona Terrace rooftop to get the athlete. Although it's technically a rooftop, the upper-most levels of the Monona Terrace is also a big public space with full pedestrian access. When the ambulance drove over the rooftop the tiles collapsed under all of the weight.

Some of the comments in the Fail Blog suggest that the crumbling rooftop was designed to do that as a security measure called "collapsible fill", to stop vehicles being driven with malicious intent. They are wrong...at least in this case.

After moving into The House of Cheese, which has ties to Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taleisin design school he guided, I knew better. I had done some research on Mr. Wright earlier to figure out why some things in my apartment are the way they are, and in the process I learned about other buildings he designed, including the Monona Terrace. The reason why the Monona Terrace rooftop collapsed is because there is a special drainage system underneath it. In fact, you can read about the type of system it is here, and the document also has a great picture of the Monona Terrace rooftop in the upper right hand corner of the first page so you can get a good look at where this happened. The text of the document tells you a little bit about why such a drainage system is needed.

Besides, Monona Terrace was built in the 1990's, long before Americans thought there was a terrorist around every corner.

If it wasn't for this guy, I'd seriously be contemplating packing up The Mighty Toyota and moving to Canada.

Here's my own attempt at Fail Blog humor:

Madison Style

2010-09-12T19:44:00.042-05:00

I couldn't take my normal route around town on the bike today because Madison hosted the Ironman competition. As you would imagine in a race where the participants run for 26 miles, bike for 112 miles, and swim for a gajillion miles, most of the streets downtown were closed. It sure would be nice if the city kept the streets closed full-time for things like Bike the Drive just like they do the Ironman and not reopen them for automotive traffic while the event is in full swing, but it's a start, right?

Anyway, when taking new routes you see new sights, and some of the things I saw were totally Madison. First up, a car that had been completely covered in a leopard print, red shag carpet, and red dingle balls motif. Of course the phrase "red dingle balls" could describe more than a few people in town or me on just about any weekend, but in this case it was a car.

The trim and fit was actually quite impressive. This person not only has a sense of style, humor, and probably a big fat pre-paid gift card at Joanne's Fabrics or Hobby Lobby, they are pretty darned good with a glue gun and I would guess they are very patient as well. This wasn't something that was just thrown together overnight. Something like this would also take a fair amount of maintenance, and I'm guessing a second car for the times it rains or the driver has visitors who don't get it

There was a collection of porcelain cats, ducks, and a genie in back. The cat on the left is wearing a turtle as a codpiece, something I've considered from time to time

The dashboard had a host of eastern deities applied to it

The leopard print continues with the interior

Then I went by an upscale off-campus student condo. The trash bin was overflowing with around 10 cases of empty beer cartons, two boxes that had been filled with empty bottles of vodka, tequila, gin plus who knows what else, and pizza boxes. At least they chose a pizza company that had outrageously good food, who uses local ingredients and tries to do things the right way

Then I ran across this home where the owner not only provides free water for people, he provides it for their pets (actually, quite common in this town), and he didn't just provide a water fountain for the people (called a bubbler), it looks like this is the 2nd generation of it, the original bubbler is still sitting in the upper left hand corner of the pic closest to the house by the window. The homeowner even incurred the expense to have the signs professionally created and he doesn't seem to mind the wear & tear it places on his lawn. Then again, if you find yourself with a nice place, in a nice town, why not want to share and even pay it forward a bit?

A new part of town, a new bike path

A little bike path love. It won't look like this much longer, winter is on the way

All in all, I think Anthony Bourdain summed it up best. I'm paraphrasing here, but he said something to the fact that a city's future greatness is summed up in its craziness - craziness for love, craziness for food, and craziness for leopard print, red shag and red dingle ball cars, because in that craziness, hints of the greatness to come are evident. I don't know how much of that is Anthony's and how much is mine (besides the red dingle balls), but I'll say this:

The people strong enough, smart enough, and creative enough of greatness are also more than capable of understanding the very real dangers that lay ahead for them...

....but to be crazy enough, that gives them cover. Cover enough to see the truth and the beauty that only a few are able to appreciate, but something that all are willing, able, and wanting to share.

It is not their beauty or greatness, but everyone's. It is as simple as that.

No Sleep, Sherlock

2010-09-08T18:24:00.033-05:00

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together. ~Thomas Dekker

While everyone else was enjoying the final evening of the 2010 Labor Day holiday in the US, I was packing my suitcase and heading out into the dark of night. No, I hadn't suddenly realized it was time to pursue my dream of becoming the world's greatest polka dancer, I was going to a sleep clinic to get an overnight sleeping test, called a polysomnography test.

Basically you go to a special clinic, you get at least 50 electrodes glued to various bodily locations, and then you sleep while the clinic records the results.

It's a pretty big deal. Just to qualify I had to fill out a 40 page questionnaire, and that is no exaggeration. Only after you pass that do they set up an appointment for the sleep test, and then I received not one but two different mailings from the clinic listing the guidelines for the visit: When to take my normal meds, when to eat, many things NOT to do, a specific hygiene protocol that had to be followed due to the cleanliness required to make the electrodes stick to the skin overnight, all cell phones had to be turned off before entering the building, etc.

And what a building it was, a brand new, state-of-the-art, subterranean sleep facility.

And because it is in Madison, ample bike parking was provided and it was being used by two employees. This is the only part of the structure that is visible, and basically it's just the entrance, a stairway, and an elevator. On the bottom floor there is a labyrinth of hallways and special rooms

The subterranean part I found odd, unless it's actually a secret virus weapons facility where the government is testing their zombie-pocalyspe formulas. As I was approaching the building with my pillow and pajamas in hand, at first I felt like a little kid going to spend the night at a friends house. Then when I actually saw the building, I thought:

1) It really is a top secret government testing facility. If they do infect me with a zombie virus, maybe it will backfire and turn me into some kind of superhero like it did the mysterious and lightening-quick protagonist in the movie "V for Vendetta". And if it doesn't, heck, I feel like a zombie half of the time anyway after getting multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury, and if the fibromyalgia acts up I walk like a zombie as well.
2) Does every building in Madison have to look like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? When it's a medical research park like this one, or an IT research park where I work, every building is based on Wright's prairie or industrial style.

The main reason for #2 is that the design is well-suited to the Wisconsin environment, something FLW was very familiar with. The windows placed highly on the walls just below the roof allow light into the buildings, even during the winter when the sun is at a very low angle, and the lack of direct sunlight means you don't get your furniture faded or ruined. The long, almost flat roof allows the snow to melt faster, provided the architect oriented the angle correctly so the snow received direct sunlight all day. On a regular house's roof line, only half the snow would melt, the other half would be in the shadows. Frank Lloyd Wright may have been an arrogant, unrepentant philanderer, and sometimes the engineering didn't keep up with his vision, but he knew a few things about design.

So I entered the place, got buzzed in through the security doors and was escorted through the maze of the building's lower layer until the "guest suite" was reached. It had the standard hotel-like appearance, except with a ton of medical equipment stuffed into every single nook, cranny, shelf, and corner.

The microphone by the bed was mainly for patient-technician communications, that or they like listening to people talk in their sleep

I changed into my pajamas and then sat in the chair you see above. Then one of the sleep technicians rolled a cart into the room and spent the next hour, at least, attaching the electrodes to my skull, chest, sides, and legs. They all connected to that device behind the chair hanging from the portable rack that looks like an oversized remote control. Before connecting each electrode the skin was swabbed, but not with an alcohol-based fluid. I don't know if this was due to my chemical sensitivities or if they simply used a non-VOC swab to begin with. Then the same area would be wiped with a cotton towel, and the glue was placed on the skin and the electrode attached.

Then something really weird happened. I sat in the chair, fully wired, and the technician left the room and began speaking to me over an intercom. When I started hearing the disconnected voice, my suspicion that I was about to become a zombie experiment began to arise once more. Then this remote controlled camera swung around and pointed right at me while the technician started giving me a set of instructions to follow. Zombie Town, here we come.

In addition to the regular remote controlled cam there was an infra-red camera, and I'm pretty sure they had some kind of sonar or sound wave mapping device there as well. If this doesn't say top secret government testing facility, I don't know what does...actually, I do know - one of the doctors is named Nazi Khan, how's that for a clue? In all fairness, Dr. Khan probably thinks someone who calls themselves Lou Cheese should be in a pysch ward, not a sleep center

As it turns out, it is policy to take several pictures of the patient's neck and jaw line for the sleep doctor to review later on. The pictures were taken through the remote controlled-camera, then the technician came back into the room and he walked me and the Medusa-like explosion of wires coming out from all directions of my skull over to the bed. After that the technician left and began speaking to me through the intercom again. This was to calibrate the facial tracking software and all of the cameras that were going to be watching me all night. They could even tell if my eyes were open or closed at anytime during the evening.

Finally, the technician came back into the room and told me it was time to convert me into a zombie, err, I mean begin the test. He asked me a couple more questions, I asked for and received an extra blanket, he hooked up EVEN MORE measuring devices to me, including one on my left index finger, and then he asked what my normal sleeping position was. At this point I found out I was the dreaded side-sleeper.

Apparently, most people sleep on their backs, aka, back-sleepers. I've never been a back-sleeper, I've always slept on my side, it's just what seems natural to me. I also refuse to watch TV or read a book in bed, I consider the bed hallowed ground, it is for sleeping and sleeping alone. I just figured that people who sleep on their backs do so because they go to sleep watching TV or reading. To me that's an abomination that devalues and interferes with sleep.

But sleep clinics love back-sleepers, because side-sleepers have a tendency to unintentionally pull out the electrodes when switching from side to side. The technician was cool with it, he would just have to mention in the report that I'm a side-sleeper. Finally, it's time to shut out the lights and go to bed with at least 50 wires stuck to your skull, sides, and legs, with oxygen meters on your fingertips, bands wrapped around your chest to monitor the breathing, and Lord knows how many cameras on you, watching every move, even in total darkness.

I had a little trouble falling asleep, which for me is extremely rare. Once asleep, I fell into my usual post-MCS/CI disrupted sleep pattern, where I fall asleep and hit the REM state, wake up, fall back asleep for a shorter period of time (usually for one more short dream), then I wake up/fall asleep/wake up/fall asleep/wake up, where the sleep times get increasingly shorter with each cycle and the waking times get longer.

My first dream had me with my middle sister, the one we call Nonze (pronounced know-nze). We were with 10 drop-dead gorgeous (no pun intended, the weren't zombies) fashion models (5 male, 5 female), each with a high tech rifle, including my sister. We were driving around Los Angeles shooting the rifles at targets. Having once owned a rifle in real life and having become a pretty good shot with it, I tutored my sister on how to hold the rifle, body position, and proper breathing technique until she was able to get her shots grouped in very closely, better than the fashion models. One of the male models had a pet polar bear which was still a small cub and it was quite playful. When one of the models complained about the job I said "Hey, what's so bad about it, you get to be driven all over the best parts of Los Angeles, AND you get to shoot a rifle, which at the very least might come in handy when that polar bear gets a little bigger" and then I woke up.

In my second dream, and I'm sure as heck not going to get any points for creativity here, I was the test subject in a sleep study and I was laying there all hooked up but the study couldn't begin because I was supposed to be paired with a chimpanzee but nobody could find it. Then I woke up, and after that point I was unable to sleep long enough to hit a REM state.

Then the technician came back into the room and said the sleep study was over. It was morning. I could take a shower and wash all the glue off my skull and then I could grab a complimentary breakfast (which I couldn't eat due to MCS/CI) and be on my way.

I also had another form to fill out. I rated my quality of sleep as average, but I also scored my waking state as more tired than normal. In fact, I felt like the waking dead... in other words, like a zombie.

Does this look like a guy who had a good night's rest to you? The lines on my face are from all of the wires plugged into my skull, and the pajama top is unbuttoned to take off all of the electrodes that were on other parts of the body. Yes ladies and gentlemen, at one time I was a 230 pound weightlifting machine who had to get my clothes custom tailored because nothing off the rack would fit my muscular proportions. Now I look like I should be on the Faces of Meth web site

Luckily, I haven't lost my sense of humor. Another sign of good luck, my tongue had not turned blue, green, or black yet, so the zombie juice they gave me hadn't taken effect. The camera is at an odd angle because I don't think photos were allowed, and just about every area in the room was viewable by that rotating remote controlled camera

My hair is like this because of the glue that the sleep clinic used to attach the electrodes to my skull, although I bet every morning there are at least 100 hookers in Las Vegas who wake up wishing they had the same excuse...think about it

I showered, got dressed, and went to the patient lounge to see if there was any organic fair trade coffee (A likelyhood since it is Madison). There wasn't, but I had 1/2 a cup anyway, thinking there were enough minor chemical exposures during the past 12 hours to probably make me a little sick anyway. Three other patients were in the room, one man and two women, all about my age. None of them had wire marks on their faces, which I immediately realized was because they were the much-favored back-sleepers. I looked around to make sure I was in the right lounge and that there wasn't a shabbier, low-quality lounge for the side-sleepers somewhere else, but there wasn't.

I left the patient lounge and headed towards the exit. After taking the elevator upstairs, back to the land of the living, I paused before opening the door to the outside. I half-expected alarms to sound, lights to start flashing, and for the words "DANGER - DANGER...THE QUARANTINE HAS BEEN BROKEN.....I REPEAT, THE QUARANTINE HAS BEEN BROKEN" to come over the PA system, but it didn't. I walked to The Mighty Toyota and drove back home.

It was a beautiful, cool but sunny morning, so instead of going straight indoors I walked around a bit. To be honest I began to feel more refreshed, and a little more alert once I was outside and back home. To live directly next to a park and the lake has been a real Godsend to me. Although there are some bragging rites to living in a building with ties to a legendary architect, I truly like the fact that it overlooks and has very easy access to both a park and a lake even more. Ironically, after spending the night being hooked up to a bevy of high tech machines monitoring almost every bodily function I had for the past 12 hours, it was when I took a walk through the park with nothing more than the clothes on my back that I once again felt connected and part of this world.

On the following day my results came in. As expected, my sleep quality was lower than average, but it was primarily a neurological issue and not an easily classified respiratory issue that was causing the problems (I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea around 2000/2001 due to excessive neck girth brought about by weightlifting, that was much easier for the medical community to digest than MCS/CI/EI/TILT). Consequently, I was not diagnosed with sleep apnea this time.

That means no love for Doctor Jones, and no Provigil for Lou Cheese. The exact stats:

256 minutes sleep time.
62% of the time was asleep, 75% is the norm.
My sleep time oxygen intake was 93% of normal, which is just another way of saying it is 7% lower than normal.
My pauses in breathing during non-dream states is 2.1 per hour, it jumps dramatically to 8.5 times per hour when dreaming. 5 times when dreaming is the norm.

Ironically, I was advised to sleep on my sides to try and improve the breathing during sleep. I've got a meeting scheduled with a doctor next week to go over the results in greater detail, at which time I'll tell him that side-sleepers may have had it right to begin with.

My final word is this: If you have difficulty sleeping a sleep study might be worthwhile, but unless your difficulties are caused by a well-established medical condition, treatment may not be effective. It would, however, give you data to show other doctors, you better believe I'm sending the results to my MCS/CI doctor, an Environmental Medicine specialist. Also, if you have MCS/CI and you developed electric/magnetic sensitivities, you may not be able to take this test. You'll be lit up like a Christmas tree as far as your sensitivity is concerned, although such a thing isn't going to affect the breathing-deficient but otherwise normal people.

Regarding the sleep center, all joking aside, the center was very well-run and the staff was highly professional, even if it all did seem a bit mysterious. I guess the reason for it being in a subterranean dwelling had many purposes:

In the scientific setting, natural light must be removed or else the variable has to be taken into account for each and every patient. Humans can measure sunlight even if the eyes are closed, and the components of their brain and metabolism will react accordingly. The most efficient way to remove sunlight from the equation? Build underground.
A subterranean sleep center will not have to use it's AC or heating systems as much, and if they can keep from using them, the patients will not be disturbed when the fans turn on or off. Otherwise, once again, it has the potential to influence every single result and possibly invalidate them from serious peer-reviews.
It's easier to contain an internal zombie outbreak.

Scenes From The Park

2010-09-05T12:15:00.003-05:00

Ride Report: The New Me

2010-09-05T08:44:00.010-05:00

To test my Halloween mask respirator concealment idea, I donned the disguise and rode my bike to the weekly Dane County Farmer's Market as usual. People's reactions were exactly what I expected from Madison; a few laughs, a few stares, a few approving nods, a few "Oh my Gawd!"s, and a couple of people who were really weirded out by the sight of a real-life 230 pound demented Howdy Doody doll riding his bike down the street. But for the majority of people, it was no big deal at all.

Perhaps the reason for that is when you are in downtown Madison, you can literally see anything. Case in point, on this very day I went down University of Wisconsin's Library Mall, a very public space where downtown Madison meets the UW campus, and I saw this, I shirtless man on his hands and knees getting his head shaved bald. If he was wearing leather shorts I would have thought it was a S&M thing, but he wasn't, so I guess he just didn't want to be a ginger anymore. I'm fairly certain he was getting his back shaved before I could get the camera out, so I figured it would be best to move along before they started shaving anything else. Seriously.

Move your head to the left, please....

If someone gave my bicycle riding character a head nod, I would respond by twisting my head and lifting my jaw to the side, like when a puppy hears an odd sound for the first time. It allowed me to acknowledge their response and still leave both hands on the handlebars. Plus I imagine it added to the spectacle, which is what they were reacting to in the first place.

One woman with blue hair really got a kick out of it so I flashed her my hand sign. I have my own hand sign, it's like the famous shaka/hang loose gesture, except that the pinky and thumb are oriented on the X/Y plane so that the fingers form an L and not a Y, and I hold the hand still instead of wiggling it because I don't want to give the newly bald ginger guy any ideas just in case he has a pair of leather shorts at home.

The crowd at the farmer's market was the worst I had ever seen, probably because the one of the town's biggest events, The Taste of Madison, was setting up to take place after the farmer's market was over.

The event had multiple stages for entertainment, but the stages also reduced a significant portion of the area's bicycle racks, and in this town that is not a good thing. I had to check three different streets before I could find a place to lock up my bike, Sun Dog

It also presented dangers for someone who is chemically sensitive, because twice as many people were there-one group for the farmer's market and on for The Taste of Madison. And twice as many people means twice the amount of toxins in the air. Luckily, I only needed one thing, 100% pure Wisconsin maple syrup, for my sister and her family in South Carolina so they can try an amazing and easy maple glazed pork chop recipe

And the farmer's market was PACKED. The Taste of Madison is getting too big for it's own good, when I attended back in 2006 the lines started forming an hour before the event began, and you spend way more time waiting in line than eating. I think half of the people at the farmer's market this year were there simply to get a good parking spot before TTOM began

When it's this crowded The Jaws of Life strategy won't work because there's never a break in the crowd and you can't see what any vendor is selling. So here's a trick that any Madisonian can use, be they a normie or the chemically injured: simply walk BEHIND the vendors, on the street-facing side of their tents. Worked like a charm

The test run of the mask went well. I learned that only a cheap half mask is going to be usable, wooden or ceramic masks cannot be easily changed to widen the mask's eyes or to create holes for ventilation. The mask used this day certainly needed some modification, so it is likely most of the others will.

I also learned that women with blue hair really like the idea, that or they have a demented Howdy Doody doll fetish, which is fine by me. I really don't care what people's sexual interests are, as far as I'm concerned it's none of my business. And she doesn't need me per se, just the mask and someone to wear it.

Although the pedestrian traffic was fairly laissez faire about the whole thing, other cyclists and automobiles were far more likely to give me the right of way when indeed it was mine (cars usually don't), and they even surrendered their own right of way at most intersections. I do not yet know why there was such a difference.

The plan moving forward is to continue to develop a masked bike riding persona, I may even break it off and use this one for all of my fat tire cruiser bikes and continue the bandanna/visor/topknot style for Sun Dog, because that bike normally gets taken for longer rides and the mask isn't really suited for anything but a short ride. But I definitely plan on on creating a more surreal type of appearance and less of a threatening one.

A New Me???

2010-09-03T17:28:00.009-05:00

In a recent post I said when riding my bike, I may try wearing a mask over the respirator instead of a bandanna on the outermost layer. This is so people will not react to the respirator or think I'm trying to conceal my identity with it, instead they'll just see the mask and react to whatever it is meant to portray. So I picked up a cheap Halloween mask and made it respirator and bike ready.

First thing to come off are the fake eyes, I need full visibility when on the streets. Ventilation grooves were discretely cut into the mouth and the lines in the face

I'd rather use a pale, expressionless mask like Buckethead, (he plays the Halloween song at :30) or perhaps a Venetian Mardi Gras or ceremonial Asian mask, but this one was cheap and it'll work as a prototype to see if the idea is worth pursuing any further. I also cut this mask's smile more deeply when putting in the ventilation grooves so that the smile will be more obvious, which undoubtedly will cause confusion on the part of the witnesses because the theme of this mask is otherwise very macabre

This is what the mask will go over, it is my basic Madison set up. The topknot look with the hair is for heat dispersal, and the bandanna on top also catches all of the sweat, because the meds I'm taking right now cause me to sweat profusely. The lower bandanna still covers a respirator, the difference between here & Cleveland is that since the air is cleaner here, I don't need to double fold the bandanna in a perfect triangular shape (so there were two layers of cloth between the outside and the respirator). In Cleveland the extra layer was needed for added particulate filtration. In Madison I only need one outer layer, so the fold can be lengthened to cover my neck. The bottom is tucked in under the shirt

And yes, ladies, my eyes really are that blue.................

Except for here-the finished product. Yep, it's pretty freaky, but then again, Halloween isn't too far away

Side view

The chemically-injured elite will understand why I'm taking such drastic action for a bike ride. After three years of seeing weak and easily scared people react negatively to the sight of someone wearing respirator, I simply decided to try something different. And to some of the Madisonians, it might not seem so strange after all. That's what I love about Madsion.

I was also thinking that as dangerous as bike riding has become in the age of 4,000 pound SUVs, teenage drivers, driving-while-texting, and the modern day driver's often incorrect but nonetheless immense sense of entitlement, wearing something that attracts attention may actually be safer for me and anyone else who adopts the strategy.

I will say this: if I do die on my bike, no matter what I'm wearing, I want the driver's cell phone records subpoenaed to see if they were on their phone in one way or another at the time they caused my demise.

Found At The Thrift Store

2010-09-02T19:59:00.006-05:00

First up, a Fabrice de Villeneuve tapestry that somebody framed. This thing is gigantic. It's really not my style, but I have some wall space to cover and the frame alone is probably worth $100 or more. I figured if I found or created something else I could repurpose the tapestry and keep the frame. Besides, it was cheap: my price? $1.58.

Yes, $1.58. I'm not kidding.

Next up, a no-name cast iron griddle. It's 7 inches across and has a "7" stamped on the handle, given the lettering I think it's from the early 1900's. I mainly got it because 1) I didn't have a cast iron griddle yet, 2) I could use it for an upcoming post on how to season a steel or cast iron pan so that it is as good as a non-stick surface piece of cookware, and 3) it was also cheap, I think I paid $2 for it.

A Griswold Number 6 cast iron skillet, this model was made from 1897-1920. It is in near perfect condition and it may have never been used. The only problem is the previous owners didn't keep it seasoned and the cooking surface dried out and got a little rusty in spots, but that too can be fixed with my Super Secret Ultra Spectacular seasoning technique. I already had a thrift store-found cast iron skillet this size but it wasn't a Griswold, I'll probably donate the old cast iron to my niece & nephew who are going to college and who I hope one day will learn to cook. I could also give the old cast iron to my other niece & nephew who do cook, but they'll need to tell me the want the pans, and since my offer of a free complete set of stainless steel pots & pans went unanswered (I never use them anymore after developing the Super Secret Ultra Spectacular seasoning technique), I don't think they'll be interested. The Griswold I paid a relatively high price for, $12, but I could get my money back for it on ebay if needed.

Unexpected Guest At The House Of Cheese

2010-09-02T19:21:00.004-05:00

There was a strange looking bird out by the Lake Wingra this morning. My guess is it's a Great Blue Heron, but I don't know much about birds or waterfowl, other than the fact that the ducks at Lake Wingra poop a lot. I couldn't get too close to the bird above, as you would imagine from such a frail-looking animal that nature didn't bless with an abundance of natural defenses, it was very timid.

No sooner than I took this pick it flew away. It was unusually tall, about 3-4 feet. It looked like it's feathers were wet, it had probably just finished hunting for food. There's a shallow bank by the lake just a few feet from where this pic was taken. The water is very clear and on a day when the wind is calm you can see down to the bottom and all of the small fish that are swimming by. In fact I was heading to that exact spot to takes some pics of it when I noticed Big Bird over there.

Later in the afternoon I saw a hawk hunting a squirrel in the same spot. Now that is one majestic, graceful, and powerful bird. Unfortunately this time I did not have my camera with me.

Living by a lake has it's advantages.

Ride The Drive: The Day When Bikes Ruled The Roads In Madison (for a little while at least)

2010-08-29T19:21:00.071-05:00

Madison recently held an event called Ride the Drive, where a select number of city streets are closed off to automotive traffic but which are still available to every other form of transportation, mainly bikes. It is very popular and the number of participants was estimated to be around 50,000, although many of them were here just to see Lance Armstrong. It would probably surprise no one that a bike-crazy town like Madison holds the 7 time winner of the Tour de France in very high regard, in fact he's perceived as a two-wheeled rock star. One teenage girl actually broke out in tears when she saw him.

Lance Armstrong gave a speech in Ride the Drive's opening ceremony. As most Madisonians expected, on his way to the podium Lance healed all of the sick, created peace in the middle east, and cured the world of AIDS & ignorant teabaggers. Then he told a joke at the expense of Brett Favre, which will always find a home in Wisconsin.

This was only a fraction of the crowd who came to hear Lance speak. My modus operandi was the same as usual; hang back, use my portable communication receivers to listen to the radio chatter of the police and event coordinators to find out what is going on, not to mention the details regarding the where and when

Rear view of Lance at the podium. This guy is so popular he even has a crowd behind him, of course that's also an accurate description of his riding style

After the speech Lance spearheaded the pack along the Ride the Drive route. Madison bike nuts will like to know he was riding one of Trek's belt-driven bikes, it looked like a customized version of the District

Then came an endless sea of cyclists. After all, with 50,000 of them, it's going to take a while

At this point I would like to offer the city some constructive criticism:

The density of riders will always be the greatest at the beginning of the ride, especially when Lance Almighty is there to kick off the event. That's a problem when you start at the Capital Square, because you are directing tens of thousands of bikes on a three lane route, then suddenly subjecting them to a right hand turn and a simultaneous narrowing of the road from three lanes to two (at State Street), all while going downhill. People were crammed in like sardines, and it was a very dangerous situation, especially with all of the little kids around who have never ridden in a large group before. It would be far better to open Ride the Drive on the expansive, consistently wide, and flat John Nolen Drive. Madison probably likes having the camera-friendly Capital dome in the background, but wasn't the site for the Capital Building chosen so it would be visible from any part of the city? You'll see it in many of the pics to follow.

That's enough for now, here's the rest of the ride:

A few guys on tall bikes were there

But mostly it was just A LOT of people on bikes. There were some joggers, roller-bladers, and other forms of non-combustible transportation, but the overwhelming majority were cyclists

A guy on roller blades. See? Told ya...

Tandem recumbent bikes were there

A few art bikes were there. This man was dressed like Fred Flintstone

And Madison being Madison, where many of the residents have a light-hearted sense of humor, several groups of people were wearing costumes. For example, there were two different groups of young women dressed up in bee costumes. One group had the full-on bee outfit, the other's style of dress was more whimsical and interpretive, but the second group also had a rider with a big batch of flowers in the front basket of their bike. When the two groups stopped side-by-side at a red light, the old fraternity brother in me was hoping a cat fight would break out but it never happened

Many people had their pets with them, in some fashion or another

Even some of the vendors rode bikes

Much like the rest of the country, Madison is going through a food cart revival. This is the town's newest food cart, Caracas Empanadas

Another great thing about Madison is that whenever there is a big public event, individuals and groups independent of the sponsored function find creative, enjoyable ways to add to it. For example, this group of women got dressed up and were performing a synchronized dance routine to some loud music. They were having fun, all of the people who rode by enjoyed it, and it made a good event even better. What more can be asked for?

They even decorated their bikes. Me thinks there is a carbon fiber bike underneath, if it wasn't for the front brake and all of the glitter this looks like it might be the infamous $8,000 stolen fixie

I wasn't the only disabled person there, in fact there were a surprising number in personal mobility devices of one kind or other. I think I was the only one of them who is still ambulatory

More power to ya, little lady. I'm pretty sure she went the entire 6 mile route, too

Speaking of my disabilities, it was right about this time in the ride when the chronic fatigue syndrome monkey jumped on my back. I found a place to park the bike and lay down for a while. I have no idea what the building is used for, but it had some cool graffiti, and it reminded me of the urban decay photos I used to take in Cleveland.

Because brain fog always accompanies periods of chronic fatigue and you can never accurately gauge your cognitive abilities or the state of dysfunction in those situations, I figured I would use the camera as a tool to determine readiness. If I could take 3 good (or at least viewable) pictures in a row, it was safe to go out again.

Not yet, rather shaky, but it might make a good profile photo over at the canary report, the other one is getting rather dated

And after about 20 bad photos edited out of this series, one decent pic, although I failed to notice at the time that the vertical orientation was slightly off

Two semi-decent, slightly off-kilter pics. That's good enough, it's not like the city streets are going to be closed off to cars forever, might as well get out and try to enjoy it.....

A shirtless grandfather was there

A grandmother with a red mohawk was there. I tried to thank all of the volunteers as I rode past them, I got a big kick out of the radical grandmother and gave her and the other volunteer a thumbs up. They returned the favor and seemed to enjoy the unusual man who rode past, probably thinking it was some kind of a costume and not a medical necessity, although now that I think about it, all bikers would benefit from having air filtration when they ride, even on days when the normies think the air is clean

The day certainly looked beautiful

Ride the Drive had all sorts of side events going on. You didn't even have to own a bike, the dream bikes charity would loan you one for free. There was also a music stage powered by bicyclists, sidewalk chalking, all sorts of activities for the little ones, helmet fitting and numerous kinds of demos, etc

There was a multitude of shady areas along the route where one could rest and take a break from the heat

The hipsters would even let you play bike polo if your clothes were tight enough. You were automatically in if you were a heterosexual man wearing woman's clothing, you worked a minimum wage job but had a $1,500 custom fixed gear bike, or had a PBR tattoo on your inner forearm

The woman's roller derby league, the Mad Rollin Dolls, held a skate camp

Apparently, it was a unisex skate camp. You know, I've lived in places and among social classes where women like the Mad Rollin Dolls would have been shunned, only because of their appearance. It doesn't matter what people look like, it only matters what type of person they are and how they influence the world around them - and in this case it's a positive influence. Who cares if someone looks a little different? Take a look at the faces in these pics, everyone is smiling, everyone is having a great time, and the Mad Rollin Dolls have supported some worthy causes. This was simply an amazing, understated, joyful moment and it is EXACTLY why I take so many chances to leave the safe house, my protected, environmentally controlled surroundings. You would risk it too if your entire life was stolen from you

Enjoy it while you can big man, when you get older it's much more challenging to make a woman smile, unless of course you go to pick them for a date and you show up with your scooter. They would probably find something like that cute, at least at first anyway

There was even a yeti sighting. No, I'm serious, that is what the act of witnessing this man in person is called. You can read more here (1) (2) (3). To non-Madisonians, please understand that the name is not derogatory, it's a term of endearment and names like these are part of Madison's culture. Besides, this guy can take care of himself, he's probably close to 7 feet tall. It's only a matter of time before Madison gives me a name of their own, most likely something related to the Sand People in Star Wars, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, or "El Bandito" due to the use of the bandanna

On my next trip around town, I stopped to take some architectural study photographs. I also saw that one of the buildings had an amazing mural on it, something I drove past numerous times back in 2006 and never noticed, because I was always driving and going by too quickly. It's amazing what you see when you slow down and trade two wheels for four.

Architectural study

Mural

If you're in Madison and the person next to you has a communications receiver on and it's tuned to local event operations or the police, it's not an undercover agent, it's either me or Scanner Dan. Another reason I always have it on when outside is because it will alert me to situations that are potentially dangerous and possibly lethal to someone who is hyper-sensitive to airborne particulates and chemical spills. For example, during Ride the Drive's early hours, there was some sort of problem at the corners of Lake Street and State Stree t, where I normally go when riding bikes. I missed the first part of the transmission, but it sounded like either a car's engine caught fire or there was some kind of construction that kicked up dust so thick it was described as a fog with a visibility of zero. And that type of "fog" is very, very dangerous to people with MCS/CI/EI/TILT. Thanks to the communications receiver I knew I should stay away from there for a while.

Anyway, back to the ride:

Thanks to the communications receiver on was to hear the multitude of complaints coming in from all of the car drivers after the roads were initially blocked for Ride the Drive. Cars dominate the roads for 363 days a year (Madison had Ride the Drive twice this summer), and on this one particular day the roads weren't even blocked for 5 minutes but all of the drivers were crying like babies.

Another piece of constructive criticism for the city, because I truly want Ride the Drive to prosper and the dream of 20 by 2020 to be achieved: make Ride the Drive a complete experience and don't tick off the car drivers so much by routing the traffic completely around the Ride the Drive streets and not through them. If you don't, you get pictures and experiences like this one:

And a picture speaks a thousand words

Let's close it out with a few pics from this year's first Ride the Drive event that occurred during the month of June. In these pics kids didn't have to worry about traffic and they could just be themselves, and after all, there's a little bit of kid left in all of us........

Faces Of The Farmer's Market

2010-08-28T17:57:00.022-05:00

Open for business

I only had to get one thing from the Dane County Farmer's Market today, my single meat item for the week: grass-fed, hormone-free, no antibiotic beef. Since I wasn't going to be shopping much, it allowed me to hang back and do a little guerrilla photography.

These pictures have the usual themes of family, isolation amidst a sea of people, and the innocence of youth. There's also a couple of pics just for the sake of capturing the experience of the farmer's market, because many of the people with MCS/CI/EI/TILT can no longer leave their home. It's therefore something of a self-assumed responsibility for me to get out and try to witness events that they can live vicariously through.

First I had to get to the farmer's market. As it turns out, today is freshman move-in day at the University of Wisconsin dorms. The number of freshmen moving in was unbelievable, but UW really had it planned out, volunteers were everywhere, and they even supplied big carts to haul stuff in and they provided temporary parking for the parents doing the moving. The only problem was the volume of people, no matter how well-planned it was, the number of incoming cars was overwhelming. Only one car could enter the parking lot about every five minutes, and there were at least 30 cars in line.

The line to unload vehicles at just one dorm was 3-4 blocks long. You know every dad sitting behind the wheel was thinking "I have to pay $8,000 a year in tuition AND wait in line for an hour to unload?!!!"

After I got through here, it was a short ride to the farmer's market

Crap! The Dane County Farmer's Market was packed. I was hoping the freshmen move-in horror stories would keep people away, but it was another beautiful day in Madison, and an afternoon at the farmer's market is an awesome way to enjoy it...even if you have to wear a respirator and do all sorts of crazy things to avoid chemical exposures..or sometimes you do all of those things and still get sick

You can tell winter is on it's way. Even in the late morning/early afternoon the shadows are getting very long, but it made for some interesting photographs. I've bored you enough, here are the pics from this week:

This guy looks familiar....

Welcome to the party, pal

The Kind Of Man I Used To Be.....

2010-08-19T20:22:00.018-05:00

I ran across some art I created a few years back.

Art comes and goes with me, I get really into it for a while, then something else grabs my interest and I pursue that with scientific-like focus, just like I did with guns, weightlifting, a Master's degree, bikes, and oddly enough now, collecting vintage 1970's porcelain enameled cookware. Eventually, no matter what the current interest is, I always come back to art.

Readers from The Canary Report art discussion group will recognize the piece I call Joy Button, which is a visual metaphor for a certain part of the female anatomy.

Everything else is far, far more innocent:

Antique

Party Girl

Blue Star

Inner Glow

Red Ball

Flu Bug

The Eyes That Bind

Hitler Cut Out

and

A Victim Of Your Own Invention

Joy Button. Now that I think about it, "Joy Button" would be a good fake name for a female, especially if she was a porn star. That one is going in the new fake name book, follow the tag for previous names

Pink Ball

Untitled

She Sees It

Untitled

Some Kinda Rose

You Know You're In Madison When.......

2010-08-15T18:10:00.011-05:00

...you get married in what must have been a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme, and 100% of the people who see it think it's the greatest idea ever, and everyone admires your creativity and rather theatrical sense of humor

...there is bike path crime. This is not a road, it's a bike path (the one I renamed The Wheeze of Cheese) and someone broke glass over it which could puncture the tires of cyclists

...buildings have elevators for bikes. Yes, it's true. This is one of Madison's better-kept secrets

And this bike elevator has one heck of a view of Lake Monona (the Indians liked it too)

You know you're in Madison when...bikes have their own bridges

...bikes have waterfront parking

...bikes have their own vending machine. I use it to put free air in the high-pressure tires, but it also has lube, bungee cords, wrenches, and energy drinks, everything one would need for a bike ride or a weekend in Las Vegas

...everywhere you look, there's a lake

...the hippies have their own holiday. Madison is the birthplace of what is called Hippie Christmas. Most of the apartments the University of Wisconsin students occupy have leases that expire August 14th. The new leases start August 15th. So on the 14th the students haul their trash and anything they don't want out to the curb, and the landlords haul out anything else the students left inside. Given Madison's Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle mentality, anything left on the curb is free for the pickin'. Above, you see a man going through an 8 foot tall dumpster looking for neat stuff, his wife/girlfriend is going through the overflow on the ground. Technically, the students are homeless for one night so they camp out with all of their belongings on the street or in overnight centers set up for them, until moving-in day comes around (slideshow) (video)

...when you can ride your bike with a concealed breathing apparatus strapped to your face and nobody thinks you're a terrorist or that you covered up your face to rob them

...bikes are used as a memorial. This is a ghost bike. Much like when a roadside accident resulted in death and the victim's family mark the area with a cross and flowers, the ghost bike is used to show where a cyclist met their fate at the hands of an automobile driver

R.I.P.

I don't know who David Nieft was, but he had some pretty cool and thoughtful friends & family

And finally, you know you're in Madison when...the city builds a bike path and the cyclists and lucky property owners plant wildflowers all along the path

Rainy Day Fridays

2010-08-13T18:45:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite phrases is from Jack Kerouac's On The Road, "we sat around dumbly smoking butts from ashtrays in the gray light of a gloomy day". For the record, I don't smoke. But the idea of the gray light of a gloomy day in some way resonated with me, and I have never seen such a day since when I didn't think of that phrase, the characters in the novel, and how it was really the true life experiences of Mr. Kerouac that he so skillfully described in novel form. I guess that's the sign of a good writer.

In Madison today, we have a gray, gloomy, rainy day. It has rained all day, alternating from periods of moderate rain to heavy downpours, back to moderate, and then back to heavy again. There has been no sun whatsoever, but it hasn't been half bad.

After you live in a semi-arid climate, you see the rain differently. It's not something that annoys you, it's something beautiful, natural, free, and for the most part, absolutely necessary. In semi-arid climates nobody complains about the rain, they understand it and appreciate it, even if it's an inconvenience for those with a nine to five lifestyle.

Outside Casa del Queso, aka, the House of Cheese

I was working from home today, so instead of looking out the window overlooking a park and a lake that was filled with people in non-stop activity like picnicking, playing soccer, throwing the frisbee, walking the dogs, riding bikes, sunbathing, paddle boating, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, and flying kites, instead today I looked out and saw the rain and my own reflection in the window.

It was a nice, private, fulfilling moment, although I don't know quite why.

Then I thought "Hey, with all this rain, there's probably plenty of activity on the scanners I can listen to". The private moment was over, but yet again, that wasn't such a bad thing.

There wasn't too much activity, after all only three of the scanners were on

Computer-controlled scanners, the wave of the future, no pun intended (radio enthusiasts will get it *hint-think "wave")

A rather modest collection of antennas compared to my previous apartment, but most of them are still packed, and I don't have a living room that features a 2 & 1/2 story cathedral ceiling and skylights that allows me to build indoor 30 foot antenna towers anymore. Plus, hehehe, I have a new antenna that is not pictured (mu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)

The new antenna really is quite evil.........

Scenes From The Park

2010-08-04T20:26:00.007-05:00

There are certain advantages to living next to a park and a lake, in this case Wingra Park and Lake Wingra. Today I caught some late-day, near-sundown action.

Enjoy.

Found At The Thrift Store (And The Farmer's Market)

2010-07-25T21:17:00.004-05:00

Organic potatoes and organic garlic (gonna make some somosas with the potatoes), organic coconut/raisin/oats granola, some more fine, fine Wisconsin grade B maple syrup, all-natural meat-based dog snacks for a dog in Kansas, organic carrot and organic garlic & onion crackers, wildflower honey, banana peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies, no-spray raspberries to make raspberry wine, two thrift store glass bottles for the wine, and one totally bad-@ss enameled cast iron pot from Belgium. The long-time readers know I have a thing for enameled porcelain pots with groovy 70's designs, it's a hobby of sorts. Plus, it's a damn fine piece of cookware, the darn thing weighs about 5 pounds

Most of the perishables will be mine, the ones which will keep a while are being sent to my folks, who thanks to my mom's kitchen skills and my father's world travels, they both ended up having one heck of a refined pallet. Now they get to sample the finest that Wisconsin has to offer, .

I also found a Griswold #4 cast iron skillet. They tend to go for a pretty high penny on ebay, in fact the exact same model sold just yesterday for $35. I already have a cast iron skillet this size, but I figured I'd try it out and see why Griswolds are in such high demand. Plus, after the move to the new apartment is complete I plan on sharing my pan seasoning techniques with the blogosphere, because I've figured out a way to create non-stick pans without the actual, poisonous, non-stick coating. And I'm not talking settling for something that is almost non-stick, or the Internet braggadocio that foodies always proclaim when their technique falls short, I'm talking totally and completely non-stick, and only using natural products with a result that exceeds the well-documented and perhaps exaggerated performance that you will easily run across elsewhere on the web when searching for articles on how to season pans.

Besides, I only paid 71 cents for the Griswold #4. Just 71 cents, including tax.
.

I've rehabbed cast iron skillets in much worse condition before

After The Exodus

2010-07-24T20:56:00.003-05:00

The unpacking begins. I swear I didn't have all of this stuff at the other apartment

I Hate To Say I Told You So

2010-07-22T08:56:00.006-05:00

Faces of the Farmer's Market post, Saturday, July 17th:

"It's not just bad food that is giving them cancer and chronic diseases...."

I hate to say it because as someone who received the less-than-lovely gift of four chronic and incurable medical conditions as the result of an intense, prolonged chemical exposure, well, at times I suffer so much that I hope that no one else has it happen to them.

And sadly, these are just four links I came across while casually surfing the 'net, I wasn't even looking for these articles. There's more reports out there:

According to this article, painters have a 30% higher risk of developing cancer

It is reported that food coloring is carcinogenic and causes hyperactivity in children

Women who use household cleaners may be at a higher risk of breast cancer

There Goes The Neighborhood

2010-07-21T22:31:00.007-05:00

The exodus continues, in fact, it's almost complete. Only the bikes, the bed, and some select kitchen items remain, everything else is at The House Of Cheese.

One by one, the bikes are making their way over.

Mr. Pringles, the first bike I restored

Silent But Deadly, aka Slappy, the ultimate tanker

Moving the bikes has been bittersweet. In some way they represent a new start, because I could never ride them in the hilly outskirts of Madison where I have been living. The rules of physics for a single speed, super-heavy, somewhat antique, and all-steel bike are a little more forgiving downtown. This is because the topography is relatively flat.

At the same time I can't fix the old bikes up like I used to, because after being poisoned at work I can't expose myself to the chemicals encountered when restoring an old bike.

It's hard to look at the bikes without seeing what they could have been. Even though there is something intrinsically joyful about riding a bike, it is always balanced with the precautions and planning that such a ride requires now, as well as the knowledge of what has been lost.

Faces Of The Farmer's Market

2010-07-17T23:51:00.012-05:00

Today it was crowded, crowded, crowded, even at any early hour. All I needed was some 100% pure Wisconsin grade B maple syrup, so I grabbed a bottle real quick and then retreated to Capitol Square's grassy knoll to take some pics, more or less safe from the crowds. Well, safer than being mixed in among them and the chemical stew that is the modern lifestyle. It's not just bad food that is giving them cancer and chronic diseases, one day they might figure it out

First up, the Madtown Liberty Players, a political theater group. They were really good, their performances were very entertaining and the message of each show was quite clear. I had never run across them before, but it looks like they've been around a while. Follow the Madtown link to see their previous work, the one that I witnessed was about a simple Palestinian woman being displaced and separated from not only nature but her God by Israelite settlements, brief photo essay below

The band, which was a casual but critical part of the performance

A Palestinian woman, at one with nature and living simply but she senses something is wrong

Slowly, the settlements approach and widen, engulfing her space but no one hears her protest

No more trees for you

Lady Liberty

Below are just the usual pics, in the usual style and with the usual themes, although I didn't see any disabled people this time out. Enjoy.

The Brothers Grimm

The Watchmen

Lone wolf

Cradle of love

Lost in thought, one of my favorites from today

Daddy's Little Princess

Rockin' n Rollin'

Tree of life

A guy taking a nap with his bike. Hey, I've heard of worse, a lot worse. I'm just surprised it didn't happen in Madison

You Know You Have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Chemical Injury When....

2010-07-14T23:07:00.010-05:00

You tell your pharmacist you need to close the account because you're moving across town and she starts to cry (in other words, you take a lot of prescription medications and consequently you get to know the pharmacist quite well)(last pic)
You train yourself to walk up and down stairs without using the handrail, because handrails always contain trace amounts of hand chemicals, like hand sanitizer, hand lotion, soap, cologne, and the industrial-use chemicals that regular people call lunch. Seriously, have you ever seen someone actually clean the handrails? Ever?
Every time you get a letter from your insurance company you first think "Are they dropping my coverage this time?"
Every time you get a letter from your insurance company the next thing you think is "I wonder what treatment, therapy, or medication that was prescribed to me by a licensed professional and specialist in my field will the insurance company not cover, only because an accountant or the CEO thinks it's too expensive?"

Good morning

I Went For A Bike Ride Sunday

2010-07-13T19:53:00.011-05:00

No reason. Just went. It helps when the city you live in is full of bike paths and bike routes, but the paths are especially nice because the riders are separated from automotive traffic.

The respirator has a bandanna wrapped around it to help hold it in place when breathing heavily, and to catch the bigger airborne particulates. Normal people have no idea what I'm talking about. Chemies have heard it all before

Saw a beautiful patch of irises. This was on University of Wisconsin property, so their red color was probably not a coincidence

Heading up State Street I heard the high pitched sounds of a piccolo. I knew I was close to the source immediately upon hearing it, due to the characteristics of higher frequency wavelengths which travel shorter distances and tend to bounce off objects more than the lower frequencies. Sure enough it was Tom Ryan, Madison's best known street musician and founder of the local version of the World Naked Bike Ride

Typical Sunday on State Street. Crowded, with many people on foot and many of the bike racks were full. If it was Saturday night the population's inebriation rate would be significantly higher, and their actions and behaviors would be influenced accordingly. When I lived here back in 2006 I was here quite often. I was going to start a blog, The State Street Observer, and write & photograph everything I saw and experienced. Now, due to multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury, this adult playground can only be observed in measured doses

There was something going on at the Capitol Square, which is odd for a Sunday. It was Art Fair on the Square, and everything there was overpriced

It's only fair, I took a few pics of him

There was a busker band playing there, and they were good enough to stop some folks who were walking their bikes through the crowd. If you like local music, Madison is not a bad town to be in

Takin' it to the streets. Sidewalk seating at the bars & restaurants is very popular here, my guess is because the winters are so long that when spring and summer hits everyone just wants to enjoy the weather and sit outside. So much so, that some of the restaurants and bars are extending their seating beyond the sidewalk and onto the street

Ladies and gentlemen, do not adjust your monitors. This man has alien hair. Have you ever wondered what someone who earned a 4.0 cumulative GPA in college and grad school looked like? Well here it is. Now that my hair has lost the odd yellowish tint it had for a full two and a half years after getting poisoned, perhaps I should start calling it mad scientist hair. Probably not, because calling it alien hair is a tribute to Leslie, who named it

On the way back to Casa Del Queso, my humble near-west side abode, there was some kind of family/community bike ride going on. These are easy to spot because it's always young parents and their kids, never older parents and their teenagers. These types of rides are also easy to spot because helmets are usually mandatory, but it's Madison. I don't think someone would kick you out if you didn't have one

I'll See You In Court - Naked Bike Ride Update

2010-07-10T13:00:00.065-05:00

As one would expect in Madison, my "let's work more with the police" (or at least have a more productive dialogue with them) approach didn't really set any one's mind on fire. Additionally, those who rode naked and who were ticketed for it are starting to fight the charge in court.

That's not surprising since Madison has a history of fighting the establishment.

Another reason why my perspective is not in tune with the other World Naked Bike Ride participants is because I joined the ride late and didn't see how the police were acting throughout the entire course of the ride.

For example, one of the participants, Cesilee Dean, recently had an article published about her experience. From her account it certainly seems like the police were not following their escalation protocol and they jumped the gun when it came to the use of force. Also by Cesilee's account, the police failed to adhere to the basic standards of respect and courtesy. She will be contesting the ticket in court.

The bike ride certainly changed my perspective, and I was fully clothed and only rode on half of the ride. But I don't give a darn if somebody sees me as a chubby guy anymore, and I have no doubt that anyone brave enough and who was not-so-chemically sensitive that they could ride naked feels the same way, regardless of exactly how society would deem their appearance. I never saw the rider's lack of attire as being anywhere near offensive once I joined the ride, it was a courageous two wheeled parade, sometimes irreverent and light-hearted (another Madison tradition), sometimes serious and direct, wheeling straight through the heart of conventional thought (which exists in Madison as well).

Most of the complaints that initiated the arrests came when the World Naked Bike Ride hit the Capitol Square, where the farmer's market is located. The grievances were filed was because the riders were naked, however, did the complainants know that they were already surrounded by naked people, every day they are at the Capitol Square? Even when there is no World Naked Bike Ride?

It's the bas-relief, folks, the bas-relief on the State Capitol Building.

I was taking some pictures by the State Capitol Building along the theme of man and nature, like below where the lamp seems to be imitating the trees.

Then I looked up and I couldn't believe it: FULL FRONTAL NUDITY (almost)

A topless woman getting her hair brushed. Exposed breast count: 2

A drunken topless woman. Exposed breast count: 4

A definite wardrobe malfunction here. In classical Roman terms, it's called nippelcus slippicus. Exposed breast count: 5

What's that? How 'bout some guys you say? What do you think about this guy, with only half of his johnson covered. Has this ever received a complaint? I think it's fair enough we can call this an exposed johnson. So, exposed breast count: 5, exposed johnson :1

The fact that this guy is almost naked doesn't bother me nearly as much as the fact that he is carrying a sword

Now it's exposed breast count: 6, exposed johnson:1, child pornography: 1

Exposed breast count: 7, exposed johnson:1, child pornography: 1

The sculptor tried to sneak one in here behind the baby, but in a bigger pic, you can see it. Exposed breast count: 8, exposed johnson:1, child pornography: 1

Another nipplecus slippicus. Exposed breast count: 9, exposed johnson:1, child pornography: 1

Another exposed breast and the woman is being groped by a man. Exposed breast count: 10, exposed johnson: 1, child pornography: 1, lewd and lascivious conduct: 1

So my question is, if people hate nudity and they found the World Naked Bike Ride offensive, why aren't they complaining about these naked statues? These statues overlook the farmer's market every week that it is in season at the Capitol Square, and the people that shop or visit the farmer's market normally do it weekly, the bike ride is only once a year. Did the people who complained about the bike ride ever file a complaint about the statues in the bas-relief? Why not?

That is a question I would be asking the complainants in court.

I still advocate investigating proactive policies to reduce complaints at the square and not impose upon the family experience of those shopping at the farmer's market, but I think society and the complainants also need to look inward and review the situation from a more enlightened perspective. Should Cesilee's legal defense or anyone who was on Madison's WNBR wants to see the full resolution bas-relief pics they are more than welcome to use them in whatever means they feel fit. Just go to:

http://www.woofiles.com/dl-200637-VJDue7mH-20100710071010.zip

or

http://www.sendspace.com/file/sqj1z8

Okay, that's enough political and social mumbo-jumbo for now, let's find our zen with an architectural study photograph.

And the veteran readers of this blog already know what is coming next. Yes folks, that's right, we have a new fake name: Nipplecus Slippicus, ruler of ancient Rome. I think I'm related to him. (This might also be a good costume for the next WNBR, or a good protest/build awareness/get the point across technique-dress & pose exactly like the statues, but in real life, with or without bikes)

Exodus, Day 3

2010-07-01T22:35:00.008-05:00

These boxes have been out-gassing for over one year. After I moved I saved the boxes and stuck them outside and in the sun for one year. Madison peeps will be happy to know the tree is up-cycled

In case you haven't figured it out, or maybe I wrote about it but can't remember due to brain fog, but I'm moving one load a day until I am fully moved to The House Of Cheese, aka, Casa Del Queso.

Today you shall see an inner part of the sanctuary, the staging area where the boxes are placed in the old apartment, before they are taken to The Mighty Toyota, the unstoppable early 90's truck that will last so long it will dance on my grave, or at least do a few donuts over it. For now, TMT is happy just to take boxes over to the new place.

Exodus, Day 2

2010-06-30T23:01:00.004-05:00

Thank God for the hand truck. It carries the weight and I just have to move it laterally, and it also allows the hauling of multiple boxes at once. If not for the hand truck, the boxes would be half this amount, at best

Remember when I said the place was well-kept but dated, and parts of the building looks like it's out of The Brady Bunch? Well, here you go, Jan & Marsha will be down shortly, they have a date with Davey Jones

The Exodus Has Begun

2010-06-29T21:13:00.011-05:00

The first item to be moved into The House Of Cheese, a Frank-Lloyd-ish table for a Frank Lloyd Wright sponsored apartment. The sides are movable, I got it at a thrift store for $7 and cleaned it up a bit

What I want normal people to understand is that chemically sensitive people have to be very, very, very careful about the place that they live in. They have to analyze potential pollution sources about them, as well as what the pollution in general is in the air around them. That alone removes the 90% of the options available, and that is only if you aren't a highly sensitive person and you can even leave your house every once in a while. We haven't even begun to consider the actual interior area you live in yet, just the environment that surrounds it.

Then there's the landlords who don't want to rent to chemically sensitive people, because they don't want to pay for the reasonable accommodations that you are legally entitled to. Well, that's pretty much all of the landlords.

So for the sake of argument, let's just say that 99.999% of the residencies that are on the market, chemically sensitive people can't live in them. That leaves .001% of the apartments or houses on the market as potential places that you can live in.....and we are only on line #2 of "1,384,834,539 reasons why you can't just live someplace like everyone else can do".

And even with the spaces that allow a chemically sensitive person to live in them, they still take a lot of work before chemically sensitive people can tolerate them. And by "tolerate" I don't mean getting familiar with a wallpaper you don't like, I mean to even be within 50 feet of it without becoming physically sick, coughing to the point of projectile vomiting, and becoming totally bed-ridden for days on end. And that is just a few of the "1,384,834,539 ways your body tells you that the chemicals surrounding you are not safe", when you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Chemical Injury/Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance.

So when I was offered an awesome place in one of the best parts of Madison, and this place was rent-free since April, you might be asking yourself, "Why didn't he move in?". The answer is simple, the place had to be cleaned. Not a simple vacuum-once-and-wipe-the-place-down-with-a-damp-rag type of clean, but rather to make it clean for a chemically sensitive person.

It has taken more than two months of once-a-day cleaning, about one hour a day, every day. That's about all I can give with co-morbid chronic fatigue syndrome. Once that hits, your day is over. Done. No matter how strongly you may feel otherwise, your day is done. Period.

And yet, before I could move in I needed to remove every chemically-tainted aspect of the apartment's previous tenants. During the past three months I have scrubbed every inch of the new apartment, section-by-section. The ceilings (yes, every square inch of the ceilings), the walls, the floorboards, the part of the wall behind the floorboards, and without a doubt, the carpet.

I cleaned the top of the carpet ten different times and I even bought my own steam cleaner to do it (rented machines would be infected by previous use with standard carpet cleaner fluids, which are just as dangerous, if not more, than the trace amounts of chemicals that were left in the carpet by decades of previous tenants). Then I pulled up the carpet and treated the underside of it, the canvas-like part that the fibers are sewn into. Then I treated the top of the foam padding under the carpet, pulled it out and treated the underside of the foam, and then I treated the concrete floor underneath-I repeated this process three times.

Needless to say, if I ever buy a house, there will not be an inch of carpet in it. Carpets are very, very effective holders of dirt, and unfortunately they also hold the chemicals that the previous tenants have used. So chemically sensitive people not only have to be careful about carpets outgassing (one of many reasons why I am moving to a new place) or the chemicals like flame retardants that the carpet is made of, but we also have to be careful about chemicals that in one way or another that were introduced to the carpet, like powdered carpet deodorizer, or hair spray that didn't land on the previous tenant's hair and instead crash landed on the carpet.

Just how much dirt and chemicals can a carpet hold? Even on the ninth time that I steam cleaned the carpet, using hot water and a variety of eco-friendly cleaning agents, the water was still coming up dirty and discolored.

Carpet. Worst. Idea. Ever.

Close But No Cigar

2010-06-27T17:47:00.003-05:00

Guy #1) Dude, this tastes like @ss
Guy #2) No, it's Assam

I Just Found Out I Like Tea

2010-06-25T20:34:00.040-05:00

Raw chamomile, jaggery, ginger & lemon tea, and that big 'ol bastard on the left is called Hondo. Homer is on vacation

For the past couple of months my body has been engaged in a dietary revolution, casting off the chains of all things processed, and relentlessly pursuing a diet both local and diverse as possible, despite my respiratory challenges and energy limitations which requires stovebombing.

It hasn't been easy, because processed food has invaded nearly every aspect of the American diet, even if you are trying to eat healthy. Grocery store produce is grown on gigantic monoculture farms, and now even the seeds are processed before they are planted, livestock are fed corn despite it being completely contrary to their evolutionary track record and then they are slaughtered, their meat sprayed with chlorine and ammonia to kill the germs inherent in the unnatural and unsanitary feed lot environment. And even the most stock, basic, staple items in the pantry are highly refined and stripped of all beneficial nutrients like sugar.

No, it has not been easy. But it sure has tasted good, and it's expanded my ability to manipulate the components involved with the fine art of cooking. Now I'm making tea.

My latest interest is tea. Tea is like bread and pasta, once you start making your own there's no limit to what you can put in there. And expanding the list of ingredients expands the range of minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants, and all sorts of beneficial nutrients you can put into your body. Obviously, not only is there a health benefit involved, but it also translates into more flavor. I guess it's been about a 3 & 1/2 year journey, which started before multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury/TILT and began with me in the Wendy's drive thru or in the grocery store checkout line with a cart full of frozen pizzas. And to think I once thought about limiting my food budget to $90 a month, which was going to be achieved exclusively through the dollar items at the various fast food eateries, $1 dollar at a time, 3 times a day. That not only speaks to my frugality, but also about my previous ignorance about food in general, and processed foods in particular.

Since beginning what eventually morphed into the flexitarian / Beat Your Meat / buy local / no processed foods diet my body has seen a gradual and very consistent weight loss of 3/4 a pound a week. The 5 pounds I lost at Madison's World Naked Bike Ride was water weight, I drank that back in-but it was probably good to flush out the ol' system. Add a some life and work factors that may have both added and shed a few pounds here & there and I'm down to 225, probably my lowest weight of the year (normally it's 230-235, and the worst the MCS/CI/TILT is the closer I get to the all-time high of 250, which I hit a couple of times in Cleveland). The weight loss seems unusual since I'm still on a relatively high-fat diet, but it's completely unrefined, unprocessed fat like palm oil, beef tallow, and ghee, rather than oil that's been blasted with hydrogen which strips the nutrients and God knows what else away in order to increase its shelf life. My mental clarity is better although I'm still sometimes forgetful, the weird cravings for various edible items is now completely gone, and my portion sizes and overall daily consumption is way down.

I'd have to say the greatest difference is the ease at which I wake up now, I don't always feel like I'm chained to the ground in the mornings anymore. To be perfectly honest, the quality of sleep is average at best, perhaps this has even gone down a bit, unless I'm counting the number of times I wake up each night (which is never a good way to get back to sleep, by the way). The subject of sleep is just too qualitative to tell. Some nights I sleep well, some nights are bad, but every night the sleep would not be possible without a moderate dosage of amitriptyline. Perhaps one day they'll figure out why it works so differently and effectively as an off-label medication for chronic pain, and approve it for such use instead of only officially recognizing it as a drug for the depressed, most of whom absolutely hate the stuff.

The weekly meat consumed:

My one meat item per week two weeks ago: Curried tuna fish. It was awesome.
My one meat item per week last week: Emu. Yes, emu (ironically, a bird well-suited to the environment in Kansas). Got it at the Madison farmer's market. It reminded me of a red natural casing hot dog, except smokier and much, much leaner. Of course, I haven't had a red natural casing hot dog in at least 5 years, if not longer, so a normie might perceive emu meat a little differently.
My one meat item this week: Pork. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, most likely a pan seared pork with spicy collared greens.

Might try a chamomile, jaggery, and just-a-touch-of-molasses tea, too..........

World Naked Bike Ride Revisited

2010-06-21T16:19:00.041-05:00

OK-I have one hour of free time today. Let's see if I can get this post written during that time. Below is a summary of my participation in Madison's World Naked Bike Ride. Since others who participated, or those who are thinking about it next year might find their way to this page many months from now, I'm going to include some observations & ideas in case I cannot join the group for any reason next year and as such, will not have the opportunity to participate in the planning.

Summary:

Time spent on the ride: about 1 & 1/2 hours, but I'm not really sure.
Distance biked: 4.1 miles. (I joined the ride late and only traveled a portion of the route).
Degree of sunburn: 1st, which isn't too bad, except that it was a farmer's tan.
Weight loss: 5 pounds, which was probably all sweat.
Number of Missed Connections posts for "The chubby guy who was probably a cop": 0, but I only check the w4m section.
Multiple chemical sensitivity reactions: Mild fatigue and mild brain fog for two days after the ride. No fibromyalgia. Slightly worse reactive airway disorder symptoms which were gone by the 1st day. Late-developing rash on the outer portion of my left arm (closest to the car exhaust)
Cost: $0.
Number of interesting conversations with semi-naked people: 3.
Number of interesting conversations with fully clothed people: 1.
Number of people who I was able to educate regarding multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury/toxicant induced loss of tolerance: 1. That was not the fully clothed person, if that makes a difference.
Would I do it again?: Yes.

Observations/recommendations:

Hold a couple of fund raisers like a bake sale through the year, and use the money as a slush fund to pay for the tickets of the people who get issued a citation..
The police did not attempt to arrest anyone until a complaint was received, and nobody really voiced a complaint until the ride hit the farmer's market, at which time the number of complaints exploded (some of them may have been placed during the State Street portion of the ride but didn't work their way through the system for a couple of minutes). I have two possible solutions.
The first may not be popular, but consider it a way to preserve your freedom and nakedness for the rest of the ride. The first idea would be to proactively dress before hitting the farmer's market. As much as I am for freedom of expression, there are a ton of kids there, and it is a shared space for all of the city. State Street usually caters to a more adult crowd and their expectations may be adjusted accordingly, but there are tons of kids at the farmer's market. Yes, the human body is a beautiful thing, and people should know it, but a child seeing a naked person might force the discussion that a parent should have with a child before the child is ready.
The other idea is to have the ride leader fly a flag, the kind like you see on the low-profile recumbents. Paint one flag green and one that is red. The green flag means "go naked" and the red flag means "cover up". Or Tom can just fly an orange flag, because it's orange....blaze orange.
The ride could have multiple leaders, for example, leader 1 guides the front of the pack, leader 2 leads the middle, and leader 3 is with the back of the group (the leaders could also be identified by the flags). This way if leader 1 gets arrested, the other leaders fill in and the ride progresses unhindered. And if all 3 ride leaders know the route and the first group gets through a light but the rest of the group doesn't, ride leaders 2 & 3 know the route so everyone can follow them, and the 1st group doesn't have to stop, they can just slow down until the others catch up.
Also, why not stop every once in a while and have a brief, fun event? The Midnight Ridazz in LA do this all of the time, and they stop for pillow fights and things like that. Since the World Naked Bike Ride is partially for promoting positive body image, maybe the ride could stop in a park and we could have some canvases set up for speed painting. Besides, most art models are naked to begin with, or people could paint with their bodies. It's been done many times before.
I would bet a few businesses would let the riders run in and do something crazy, on Willy street anyway. It would be good publicity for them, a way for the WNBR to get some extra camera time on the news, and it would just be a fun, nutty (no pun intended) Madison thing to do. And they could warn the customers to not have the kids with them during the WNBR's expected time of arrival. A drive-thru water/banana/granola bar stand in the Willy Street Coop parking lot perhaps?
Have devoted body painters before the event.
Along those lines, seriously, adopt a no fragrance policy. Not everyone in the ride will be chemically sensitive like me, but the cologne/perfume/sunscreen fragrance plume was more difficult for me to deal with than the automotive exhaust. Besides, most of those fragrances have toxins in them, trust me on this one...
Bullhorns. Besides for use in leading chants of positive slogans, in the right hands it could definitely amp up the humor content of the ride...and increase awareness from the pedestrians, not that a sea of naked people won't grab their attention
A bullhorn could be used to announce the Madison's WNBR pending arrival at the farmer's market, so parents with kids would have time to take their kids into the capitol building for a potty break or to "get out of the sun". Meanwhile, everyone else would be jockying for position to get a good view...and getting their cameras ready. That means more pictures and more free press for Madison's WNBR. Actually, this could be done for the entire ride, and it would serve the interests of the prudish and the WNBR (we could say, hey, we warned you, and once again all the other pedestrians would be taking more pics, looking for the ride, and talking about it later).
Have a "Best Naked Costume" contest, for the best hat or other display which uses a minimum of, or no clothing, but is still very clever and eye catching. This is Madison, you know people are going to come up with some funny/crazy stuff for next year.
Although the police did arrest some people and issued tickets, they actually worked very hard to keep the riders safe. I feel the Madison Naked Bike Ride should work with them a little bit for next year's ride. They don't have to know the route in advance if you don't want to tell them (they knew where the event started this year before it started). But working with the police over the next year will help to deflect any negative feelings they have after being pressured by the uptight people who complained, and those people will also be pushing for more arrests next year. I'll even volunteer for the job of police liaison since everyone thinks I'm a cop, but just be advised I can't have face-to-face conversations with anyone for extended lengths of time unless it is under a very controlled set of circumstances.
In a hybrid combination of the three-headed leader and the working with the police idea, the ride might benefit by having a couple of people, let's say 3, wearing an orange safety vest (or you could just paint the riders orange) who ride on the outside, traffic-side lane. They will be more visible to the cars and they can instruct the other riders to get back into the lane if the police need to let traffic by. I would be willing to bet Planet Bike would donate a couple of SuperFlash lights to put on the orange guy's bikes to increase visibility.
Get a set of GMRS transceivers for the ride leaders to use, and which could also be used to tell the other leaders when the group gets separated or which flag to fly. GMRS transceivers are cheap, too.
Because many bike riders have lipstick camcorders, I think that the orange safety guys/ride leaders should each have one to capture the license plate of any car driver who decides to do something stupid. If that doesn't happen then the ride will have 3 different videos to use for the Madison WNBR web site.
Invite the TV reporters to go on the ride. They may not get nekkid but the ride would get some great publicity.
Since part of the ride is to reduce oil dependence, it would be fairly easy to calculate how many total calories are burned on the ride and use that to promote the next year's ride, and for talking points. You'd just have to get every one's weight in advance, and try to catch the people who join the ride late like me.
A "Keeper of the Water" wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if next year is as sunny as this year. Have one person with some cargo-carrying capacity haul some extra, free-for-the-asking water. I've got a Worksman trike but it needs some work. A "Keeper of the Sunscreen" might prove beneficial as well, just try to find some that doesn't have artificial fragrances added.
Free bike tune-ups before the ride and a two wheeled repairman on the ride if needed. I've got a bike stand the Madison WNBR could borrow for the pre-ride tune-ups, and if people are riding an old balloon tire bike from the 50's they are in luck, that used to be my thing. Not too much experience with modern bikes tho.......

Back to work. It's going to be a long night.

Lou Cheese And 100 Naked People

2010-06-20T18:59:00.043-05:00

A quick note to my more delicate readers: This post is NSFW. But if you like big butts, this is the place for you. There's also a nice little video short here which isn't too risque.

Yesterday, I found myself surrounded by sweaty, happy, semi-naked people, and it was a blast. Granted, this is Madison, where people are sweaty, happy, semi-naked and completely drunk half the time anyway, at least when the University of Wisconsin has a home football game. But there was no football game yesterday, there was instead a protest.

The World Naked Bike Ride. It got started a few years back in Spain and now it's become a global event. It has a two-fold purpose; to protest oil dependence and promote body acceptance (I witnessed a very powerful example of why this is needed later in the day, and reported later in this post). When you put anti-oil and positive body image together, you get naked people on bikes.

Originally, I wasn't going to go. I had two ideas for a costume and neither one worked. The first idea was to find a giant stuffed elephant toy, and wear just the head around my waist, with the elephant's trunk as a phallus. On my back I was going to write something like "Will work for peanuts" or "Peanuts make me C-R-A-Z-Y". But despite Madison being one of the best thrift store cities in America, I never found a stuffed elephant. The second idea was to wear a respirator as a codpiece in an effort to raise awareness of MCS/CI/TILT, but this presented me with a couple problems. My respirators are black, the bike seat is black, and it was a very sunny day, so I knew that things would be getting a little hot south of the border. I also would have to go through what must a clumsy process for guys, shaving the pubes, or else it would look like I was smuggling a raccoon down there.

Being chemically sensitive, I also had to be concerned about the sun. Although there are many "natural" sunscreen products, who knows what is really in them. It's like when food companies sell organically grown produce in BPA-lined can s. I also figured that the route the bike ride would take would be around automotive traffic, and since the skin is actually our body's biggest organ, I needed to protect it from the automotive exhaust. So I figured I would listen to the police covering Madison's World Naked Bike Ride on one of my police scanners, which would give me a constant update on their location, and I would join it, fully clothed, halfway along the way.

So sit back, relax, get naked, and read about Madison's World Naked Bike Ride.

The day started normal enough, with a big bowl of homemade vegetarian stew. Everything but the beans and some of the spices came from the local farmer's market.

This had celery, carrots, parsnips, corn, onion, burdock root, tomatoes, cilantro, and sugar snap peas (all organic). The non-organic, non-farmer's market items were black beans and pinto beans which I bought in 5 lb bags. The spices were sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and arbol chili peppers, minced garlic cloves, cumin, basil, oregano, and paprika, with a couple of pints of vegetable stock I made & froze a couple of months ago. I threw it all in a dutch oven and heated it overnight at 150 degrees, keeping the temperature low. This kept the texture extra crunchy. Plus I woke up to a hot meal this way

I listened to the police's actions surrounding the bike ride for an hour or so before joining the group. One of the great things about police scanners is the inside perspective it gives you on how the public safety organizations work. The Madison police weren't out to arrest anyone, in fact they publicly stated they weren't going to arrest anyone until a complaint was filed. And it was also obvious that they were keeping the group of riders safe, controlling the automotive traffic, and identifying upcoming obstacles.

There were no complaints for the first hour. But when the ride went past two of Madison's most crowded areas, the mythical State Street and the farmer's market, the complaints came flying in. Police began ticketing nude riders, and even tried chasing two of them, a white male with brown hair and two ponytails, and a petite blond in blue shorts (that is how they were described on the radio). At this point I dropped what I was doing, got on my bike, and rode out to intercept the group. I mean seriously, wouldn't you want to talk to someone who evaded the police butt-naked? That is someone I would like to meet.

I didn't know it at the time, but my bike was going to become very well known and recognized today. Thanks to The First Ride Rule it has a name, Sun Dog, but that's another story.......

I caught up with the group on Willy Street. Due to the previous complaints and the police presence, the riders were almost all partially clothed by the time I got there. Many of the riders were decoratively dressed, like the cheese head, and many had pro-bike and anti-oil messages written on their backs. Most made direct reference to the oil spill in the gulf, like the guy smeared in oil, another woman was dressed as an oil-drenched seagull. Some of the phrases people had written on their backs were "Less BP, more butt power" "Pedal power", "The oil spill is the real indecent exposure", and "No fumes" with an arrow going down his back to his butt crack. Everyone was very positive, and in a great mood

Here the police are blocking the automotive traffic that would otherwise be passing the riders in the left lane

Whenever the group stopped at a light, two things would happen: they would drink water and either disrobe if the police were far away, or throw on some clothes if they were close

Just lettin' it all hang out. What is truly ironic is that this is one of the streets that had the new bike boxes installed, but none of the bike riders were on it

Proof that I was fully clothed, although I could not be wearing any pants and still take this picture. The cord running under the respirator is a tactical earpiece for my police scanner. I can't help it, wireless communications is both my job and my hobby, and I've always been an information junkie of sorts. A police scanner gives you access to all kinds of information. If you ever want to know what REALLY goes on in town, get a police scanner/communications receiver. Only one out of every thousand police calls is covered on the TV news, but it's what doesn't get a news story that could be important to you. With the right frequencies you can also get advanced warning of storms, traffic delays, and all kinds of private business info

The shade! Finally!!

The public response was overwhelmingly positive and good-natured. I tried to take a few pics of it while on the bike. These guys paid us no mind at all, probably because kooky sights can be common in Madison (its casual acceptance of alternative viewpoints and the rights of individual expression are some of the things I absolutely love about this town), and maybe they didn't notice us because they were half naked themselves

In what was a very surreal moment, as I was riding down the road I looked to my right and noticed I was being passed by a guy in a Speedo and Guy Fawkes mask. I broke out in laughter. You just had to be there

The seagull lady

Front view

Rear view

This man took a picture and gave us a thumbs up, you can see the reflection of some of the riders in the window

An Asian family was leaving a small neighborhood grocery store when Madison's World Naked Bike Ride went by. The man and the son were grinning from ear-to-ear, probably thinking YES! AMERICA ROCKS!!! YOU CAN RIDE BIKES NAKED HERE!!!! The woman, perhaps raised in the traditional Asian household where woman's roles are strictly defined, was a little surprised to see semi-naked women in the group and she had her hand on her chest in that exaggerated inhalation/open-eyed expression like she was about to faint

As mentioned before, everyone was in a great mood, talkative, and outgoing bell non-stop.

In Madison law, bike riders have to use a bell or their voice to warn pedestrians on the multi-use paths, often incorrectly called bike paths. I made an alerting device out of a microwave beeper, a tamarind candy box, batteries and some wire

I had a nice little chat for one of the riders during the final quarter mile. Basically, I gave him an abbreviated description of that which is called multiple chemical sensitivity/chemical injury/toxicant induced loss of tolerance.

The last part of the ride was uphill, and the steeper grade claimed those in costumes and on single gear bikes as victims. They had to dismount and walk the bikes up the final part of the journey

The end of the road. Everybody took a big breath, drank a lot of water, and began to celebrate the ride. This was a problem for me, because once the group was in a central location and not strung out in a long line along the roadway, they created a plume of cologne, perfume, Axe body spray and fragranced sunblock. Immediately the invisible man who shoves needles in my nose returned (in other words, my sinus cavity was reacting to the toxins in the various fragrances)

This was truly a ride about promoting a positive body image. You don't see any Hollywood hard bodies here, but everyone rode happily and without shame throughout the town

I tried to get the camera to do a panoramic thing, but this is all I got. As a man, I can't read the instruction manual. It's a rule

I'm surprised there weren't more tutu's there

After the chem exposure I had to bail. I didn't know how to get home, but I discovered a way that is almost entirely by bike path

Another discovery, a newly built overlook on Lake Wingra that I never knew was there, even though it's literally in my back yard. This was shaping up to be a very good day

The bike path not only has an overlook on the lake, it takes you right by a beach. Yes, a beach, in Wisconsin. This is less than a mile from my apartment, Casa Del Queso

Right about this time I stopped to get some water at a water fountain. Two girls who were sun bathing came up and started talking to me. They were walking on the street a couple of hours ago when the Naked Bike Ride went by, and they didn't recognize me because I looked like the world's worst-disguised undercover cop, they recognized my bike. Welcome to Madison. It's a bike crazy town, and my bike has the new bike look just like cars have the new car smell.

They asked me about the ride and what it was about. When I mentioned that a reason for the ride was to promote positive body acceptance, one of the girls said "I could never do that with this body". Normally, I would think this would be a little odd coming from a girl in a bikini, but because I just came from Madison's Naked World Bike Ride, I immediately realized the significance of her statement. People have been trained by the TV and the magazines to expect the perfect body. Ironically, even the TV models & actors don't have a perfect body, but the result is the same-we become ashamed of ourselves and our bodies.

After talking to the two bikini-clad girls I then talked to a man who had converted his vintage Trek mountain bike into a commuter. This talk had nothing to do about body image or the hypocrisy of mainstream religion, we just talked about bikes and health. Then I rode through the remainder of the park on a beautiful summer day.

It just keeps getting better. Part of the way is a former "pleasure drive" where people could only coast their vehicles through, but which since has been closed off to automotive traffic. This runs along the banks of Lake Wingra

The air was so clean and free of particulates that I did something crazy and reckless. I took off the respirator. This is my way of going naked

I went back to The House Of Cheese and hosed myself off. Luckily, I had just installed a luxury multi-head faucet in the upper floor's shower. Afterward, I decided to take Sun Dog out for one last ride. Since I had been wearing the respirator the entire day, the chronic fatigue syndrome monkey hadn't jumped on my back yet, and besides, it was an unusually beautiful day, and quite simply, bikes are fun. You shouldn't even need an excuse to ride, just hop on a bike and go.

I rode up to the capitol building downtown and had stopped to get some water when a woman's voice came up behind me asking "What did you think of the ride?". I won't mention her name because the police might still be looking to pin a ticket on her, but we'll just call her Lady X. She participated in the naked bike ride, and as it turns out, Lady X was the petite blond who the police were chasing earlier. This time I didn't know if it was the bike, the respirator, the cop clothes, or my alien hair which gave me away.

When I got back to The House Of Cheese, there was a jazz festival in the park. I took the moment to reflect and take some pics

Because it's Madison, many people rode their bikes to the show

The wagon was used to carry things like coolers and blankets

I whistled at the dog to get it's attention. It worked

This woman had the right idea-ride a recumbent bike and you'll always have a seat. She also used her helmet as a hanging basket to hold other items

Dusk. Absolutely, positively, my favorite part of the day

Faces Of The Farmer's Market

2010-06-12T20:31:00.017-05:00

Well folks, it's time for the second installment of Faces Of The Farmer's Market.

Enjoy.

He bought her flowers, that is very sweet. Madison's farmer's market sells a lot of flowers and house plants

Like mother, like daughter

Like father, like son

Ditto. They're even wearing the same shirt

Don't worry, this is not a real person. This was a promotional mannequin in front of a store that faces the farmer's market

I did not Photoshop this dog's eyes, they really are that blue

This guy brought a ferret

This juggler must have been a great entertainer. He had people laughing, clapping, and even screaming with joy

Invisible stairs

Asleep at the wheel

Rust never sleeps

Bonus points for letting your child have a mohawk, points deducted for smoking in front of him

Typical teenager--texting. Typical parent--worn out.
What's really funny about this pic is that you could take my sister, the one we call "Nonz", and her daughter, then put them together and the picture would turn out EXACTLY like that one

A mother asked me to send her the pics I took of her & her child playing peek-a-boo with the dad. Here they are (click the pics to enlarge):

I'm going to call this next little guy Charlie. He's a ground squirrel that had a sweet set up. He'd hide in the bushes when someone was eating, and as soon as they'd leave he'd run out to where they were and grab any crumbs left on the ground. Even in the middle of a city nature finds a harmonious and symbiotic relationship with man

Here's looking at you, kid