Kid's Reusable Lunch Sack

We're all trying to cut down on consumer waste. Sometimes it seems futile, but it's important to have a conservation mindset if we are to make significant progress on the climate crisis in the future.

This Is Tacoland

Now you know!

Comrade Kid Guesses My Communist Joke

Me: What is guacamole in Ljubljana made out of?

Comrade Kid: "Slavacadoes"

I will return to the gulag to sharpen my wit.

Repo Man Showcase: A Star Is Born

So proud of the daughter for performing the Repo Man soundtrack at the School of Rock. I love the music as well as the movie, which spawned years of oblique references.

The kid was the headliner, as she was lead vocalist on “Institutionalized,” arguably the most iconic of all songs on the soundtrack and the one that closed out the show. She gave a raw, electrifying performance. No half measures with this song -- go wild and loud or go home.

Other excellence included “When the Shit Hits the Fan” on which she played guitar.

Often it was hard to hear the vocals, but as this was a tribute to punk rock a glossy perfection would be anathema to larger aesthetic concepts. Other high points included two rockin' songs in Spanish.

I am so happy the kid wanted to perform the songs of my youth – she could have done a Hall and Oats showcase, the Lion King soundtrack, or just played a tambourine at a drum circle. But no, she chose the raw angst bubbling out of suburban rebellion. Rebelling against what, you might ask. What do you have?

Here is the “Institutionalized” video:

The other songs:

Repo Man    

TV Party   

Coup d’Etat   

El Clavo Y La Cruz   

Pablo Picasso   

Let’s Have a War   

When the Shit Hits the Fan   

Hombre Secreto   

Bad Man   

Reel Ten

Here's a blast from 2013 with "Wilderness Punks"

All the slow cooker food now cooked under pressure

Borscht 

Once upon a time I used the slow cooker several times a month. Now every time I want to cook a slow recipe I throw everything into the pressure cooker.

It's like all my misgivings about the government, extra terrestrial visitation, political unrest are expressed in the way I cook. The apocalypse won't wait 10 hours. Better do things quickly.

I embrace my neurosis and hope for a lighter load.

Mental health stoke!

Thrift Store Score

Rats Love Hide and Seek: Scientists Prove What We Already Knew

Above: Great rats thinks alike -- yesterday both rats at different times thought hiding in a tissue box would be most excellent.

Rats enjoy the game of hide and seek. Any rat owner can tell you this. When you let them out of the cage for free play, there is often an exploratory burst of energy, and then a settling in at the new hiding spot.

Scientists researched this behavior and concluded that for the rats this is a game with specific rules associated with it. Check out the story here.

This is yet further verification of what we already knew, that rats are highly intelligent, social animals that delight in play.

“Buchamos:” The Spanish Word I Invented

The hard truth: Our favorite flavor of kombucha sold out at the market -- mango passionfruit.

Celebrating the love our family has for kombucha, I invented the Spanish word “Buchamos” – meaning, let’s gather and drink kombucha, or “booch.”

The obvious question is why mess with a foreign language I know next to nothing about? Thinking back to the time I was a pseudo (pa-swee-do) intellectual, I learned that all languages mutate and change, and the engine creating the change is need, practically, humor, and everything else one can think of.

And why is Spanish the language of Kombucha? Indeed. At this point, one kid is studying German, the other Arabic. Somehow all of us in this household had a year or two of Spanish and regard it as an important language, even if none of us speak it well.

I commiserate with Spanish-speakers who might get angry with this cultural appropriation. To you I say, I mean no harm, only to celebrate the unique and refreshing taste of kombucha with everyone.

Kombucha stoke!

Wild Shoes Define Start Of School Year

New Sport Attempted: Downhill Mountain Biking

This picture sums up the experience well. You put your mountain bike on a chairlift, then ride it down a trail and try to avoid catastrophe.

I borrowed a friend's bike, which wasn't built or fully configured for this purpose, which slowed my speeds considerably. Downhill bikes have forks with 8" of suspension travel, cushy rear suspensions, and tires looking like they belong on motorcycles.

Still, the experience was excellent -- what's not to like with endless downhill? I kept having to remind myself that this wasn't like skiing, where a minor fall is no big deal. Here any fall, however slight, had the potential to break an arm or leg. Lots of full-face helmets and shin, knee and elbow guards on those who appeared more expert. Also, there was a system of access roads where the pickup truck with a stretcher in the back could evacuate an injured rider.

Another way to get up on the mountain and proclaim stoke!

Shoes From A Vending Machine

It's 3:30 am and you need a pair of sport sandals -- where do you go?

This vending machine in front of the Keen store will scratch your itch. One model, men's and women's sizes, all in dorky rainbow colors.

Here is a solution to a problem I don't yet have.

RTM 2019 Booyah!

Here I am, at 7,000 ft., looking up at the summit of Mt. Hood. This was the Round the Mountain hiking event put on by the Mazamas, a hiking club 125 years-old. In three days we hiked the Timberline Trail, a route of 42 miles with 10,000 feet of hiking uphill, much of it above timberline.

The Mazamas Lodge in Government Camp.