The Red Brick Times

One of my motorycle friends died last Friday. His sister talked to him at 11AM. His brother talked to him at 3 PM. His brother went to see him at 9 PM and found him on the floor at his house and gone from our lives.

Al had been having a bad week. For Al, having a bad week meant that he couldn't go to work for eight hours each day as was his habit. He only had enough energy to work for a few hours. He was a machinist and made complicated things that were parts of larger machines that were, in turn, installed in factories that made things like flashlight batteries and other technical bits.

I first got to know Al when I went to Alaska on my motorcycle for the first time ten years ago. Al and his brother Phil and Byron and I rode together to upper Michigan, across to Montana, and North, through the Yukon to Alaska. We cheated a bit on the way back, taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferry down the Alaska coast back into Canada.

I never saw Al without either a cup of coffee, a cigarette, or both simultaneously. When the summer sun was the hottest, Al needed a cup of hot coffee because, he claimed, "It cools me down."

At one point along the "Top of the World Highway" between Dawson City, Yukon and the Alaska border, Al's bike got loose where it was more rut and swamp than road, and he wound up off of the left side of the road, axle deep in wet mush, still upright, but with a badly sprained ankle.

The three of us hooked nylon straps to the rear frame of his bike and physically lifted both Al and the machine back onto the roadway so we could keep going. He could barely walk, but he kept riding, mostly because that was the only way to get from HERE to ELSEWHERE, where ever that might be. That day, ELSEWHERE turned out to be a motel, bar and country line-dancing barbeque restaurant in Tok, Alaska, which was the Garden of Eden after a day of roads-that-weren't.

Al gobbled up his share of BBQ, with coffee, and left his boot on for a few days until the swelling went down. I think he took an aspirin or two. He was walking gingerly for the next year, but just waited until it didn't bother him any more. "What about a doctor?" I asked him. And he said "They don't know anything more than I do."

For the past year Al was fighting lung cancer. He had good and bad weeks, and long spells where he could not lie down to sleep, but propped himself up at his kitchen table, leaning on a pillow, napping when he could, with a pot of coffee always nearby.

Phil found Al on Friday night, and let us all know later that evening. We will meet in Wellington to visit with the others he has left behind, and will follow the hearse to the cemetary to mark and remember the things that happened to us because we knew him. I wish the weather was better. I want to go for a ride with Al and my friends.
Posted 4:52 PM by Andy (0) comments

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Found on the blog Mighty Girl:
"Musical Roads: In Japan, the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has embedded grooves into sections of roads, which boom a tune up through cars. They’re in the process of planning different melodies for different locations, picking songs that are somehow associated with the locale."

I can see it now; "This Highway Brought To You By McDonald's".

Posted 6:00 AM by whatley (0) comments

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RIP Doctor.
Posted 8:52 AM by whatley (0) comments

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Happy V-Day Mookies! For your V-Day viewing pleasure here's a site with valentines that "no one with half a brain would send on February 14 .... Real cards from Valentine's Days past, some currently considered politically incorrect."
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I occasionally stumble across freeware programs that I find to be useful at home or at work or both. It occurred to me that maybe other RBT'ers would like to know about these handy little tools so, rather than just post about them one at a time (where they're sure to scroll down and get forgotten about before you can give 'em a try) I created a new page dedicated to this sort of thing. If you'd like we could make it a menu pick and, through our collective contributions, let it grow over time. Please let me know if this is of any interest.
Posted 2:26 PM by whatley (0) comments

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My fellow brickheads;

Thanks be to the brick; for without it where would we beat our heads?

As I witness the fall of civilization and the eclipse of the renaissance I must turn to a more personal and local atrophy. I confess to dropping the ball on winter solstice. In fact, I am surprised to see that daylight is indeed increasing without having performed the ceremonial toast. Is there no GOD?

I am confident that a summer solstice will occur. A time and place will soon be revealed that will not soil my new carpet.

As if the decline and fall of the brickhead generation were not burden enough, I must confess my distress with the floundering of our beloved Friends of Wetlands. Some of you may have noticed that the Fowl.org website mentions an August newsletter that you never received. You may also be distressed with the appearance of my photo on the home page.

I am preparing to correct some small part of the way we heathens represent ourselves.
I have taken the first steps to revise the FOWL web site. I will soon post a beta version of the home page. Let me know if you are interested in providing skills or content to this effort.

Sincerely, Ray AKA cosmic ray AKA cathode ray

Posted 8:02 PM by Ray (0) comments

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Unbelievable. How did they keep this under wraps? Google Maps
Goodbye MapQuest.
Posted 3:05 PM by whatley (0) comments

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A bunch of blogs very worth reading. Beauty of design and presentation, breadth of knowledge, wit, literary quality, what the real "blogging phenomenon," is all about, is showcased right here: Fairvue Central >> Bloggies >> Fifth Annual Weblog Awards. We've been present for the birth of a new form of expression, a whole new literary genre, created by people just like ourselves. Something inspired not by profit motive but by opportunity, like rain falling on long parched ground.

Lordy, I do wax eloquent early in the morning don't I?

Posted 5:26 AM by whatley (0) comments

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A blog worth reading. Just Another Soldier

Posted 5:03 PM by whatley (0) comments

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Why don't these two items surprise me?

Facet of Bush's SS plan not mentioned in State of Union:
Participants Would Forfeit Part of Accounts' Profits

He looked far and wide and found just the guy:
Iran-Contra Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad

FYI: The above link to The Washington Post website which requires a login. These worked as of this posting:
Username: alice@wonderland.com
Password: fairy
(In case you're wondering I got that user/pass at Bugmenot.com)

Posted 10:46 AM by whatley (0) comments

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I see you got the archives coming up in the new format. Very nice. One suggestion. Once I go to them there is no apparent link to take me back to the current. Since current is the default how about a static link at the top of the archives ...

[found the HOME link at the bottom, but still would suggest one nearer the top of side menu]
Posted 2:59 PM by jeichenlaub (0) comments

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