Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

Blog: Thoughts and Commentary

November 2007

11.29.07 Hour and a-half ride tonight- I could have ridden longer but jeez were toes cold!! Temp was 25. I've got pretty good layering now- base layer, long sleeve jersey, Founders insulated bike jacket and a nylon windbreaker on top for the torso. Jersey shorts, leg-warmers and over that another long jersey pant. Hands were okay in the gloves.. but the toes! I have a set of neoprene cycling booties over the bike shoes but my toes (still sensitive all these years after near frostbite in 1972) got too cold to ride longer. I need to investigate improvements there.

My bike computer is also not working- not sure if it is simply the cold has killed the battery or what- so my last three rides are estimated mileage.

11.26.07 Got a couple rides in the last two days, twenty-plus miles each day. Nothing worse than riding by stinky roadkill ... except perhaps running OVER it- ugh- hit a dead possum, didn't see it soon enough and bump-bump!

11.23.07 Friday ride! The western chapter of the MMBA had a group ride at Yankee today at 100pm. About 16 people in all showed up for the ride. I just did one lap of about 13.5 miles in the 31 degree temperatures. The trail was very leaf covered and small obstacles were difficult to see, causing riders to occasionally slip or bump their tires in the trail.

11.22.07 All other webpages modified to "htm" pages, instead of "asp."

Thanksgiving- off to Jan & Bill's for dinner and beverages! I brought my traditional squash ravioli for dinner. Jan makes both vegetarian and meat based gravies to accomodate the various dietary preferences.

11.15.07 Cool ride tonight- 35 degrees. I wasn't too cold though my toes and outside fingers did get cold near the last few miles. I rode 28 miles by the time I got home. And the house was locked! I didn't think to take a key because the house was full of teenagers, but they weren't there and I remembered some words about bowling. I rode down to the nearby bowling alley but didn't recognize any cars or see them inside (but they were there). So over to the local Dunkin'Donuts where they know me and let me use their phone to call Joni. She was soon to be leaving work so I rode home and sat in my car to warm up. I gotta get a house key in my tool kit (I have a car key in it).

11.14.07 While preparing for Brenden's graduation party, Joni found some old photos- one has me, Jeff and Dad. The other has Patrick at age 5 with dad. I put them on the family photos page.

- and what is it with jerk drivers on the road?? This morning, traffic moving along at about 75mph but busy, car after car. A big Chevy pickup passed me (not sure if he was behind me at some point or not). Anyway, he passes me and as we catch up to slower right lane traffic I move into the left lane behind him. I ease over to the left, riding the line, in order to see around his truck to watch the traffic ahead- and his truck drifts to the left and impedes my view. I ease over to the right, riding the center line and lean onto my center console a bit to see traffic- and his truck moves to the center line, again impeding my view. At first it seemed coincidental, but after moving left and right numerous times and finding his moves mirror mine, I now get a bit ticked off. After all, what's the point? He has no problems viewing traffic in his stupid monster truck. What difference did it make if I was trying to watch traffic? I finally had enough of this random road idiocy. He'd left a gap of about 1-1/2 vehicle lengths between his truck and the car ahead, so when I had an open right lane for a stretch, I punched the pedal and zoomed around him. He saw me do this as I cleared his front bumper and attempted to speed up and pin me in the left lane, but I squeezed in anyway. He rode my bumper for a quarter mile, then backed off. Shortly afterward he moved back to the right lane and took exit 55- so what was the point? Stupid.

20 mile ride tonight- I used all my Blackburn lights- nice and bright! Two wide beams on the handlebar and a spot beam on the helmet.

11.12.07 My often-exchanged debates with acquaintences regarding theism vs non-theism typically terminates once we get to the "what created everything" argument - i.e. everything must have a cause. Their position is that everything must have a cause .. well, of course, everything but the deity.. so they leapfrog over that and just explain away that, well, the deity of course doesn't REQUIRE a cause...

I found this article by Kieth Parsons quite fascinating, his arguments really echo much of the statements I found I've made- though I don't take any specific credit for these arguments. It is in fact a proof-positive that the ideas for a non-deity universe are quite logical and self-explanatory and not all that complicated.

I really liked THIS line pulled from the article: ...the insistence upon an explanation of the universe in terms of creatio continuans is just another instance of the propensity of theistic apologists to create a mystery where there is none, and then offer God as the tailor-made answer to the pseudoenigma. EXACTLY!

AND- what is it with parents these days??? We've got Brenden's friend Mac staying here because his dad kicked him out. Mac's girlfriend was kicked out of her house but was allowed back home after a week- the two were literally sleeping in a tent in our back yard (we only found out recently). Brenden's friend Emily was now booted from her house - she's going to stay with her grandmother but will be limited getting to school and work because her dad is taking her car since his name is on the title. Jeez- Hey FOLKS- you idiots- your parentage role does NOT end just because the kid becomes eighteen years old! Losers!

More website updates- page background color adjusted- header added to all html pages for a more consistent look.

11.11.07 I updated my website today- I renamed the pages from an "asp" to "htm" because the "asp"s could not be viewed on all pages. I also eliminated frames as well for the same reasons. Some links may not work. If you read this and find a link not working, feel free to email me.

11.10.07 21 miles at Ft Custer today- nice ride. The trails are getting destroyed by horses, unfortunately. The DNR is so short sighted.

11.09.07 We got Brenden's grades- he passed the term and is now graduated. He just needs to acquire his diploma. We are now planning his graduation party at a nearby conference hall to be held on Dec 2nd.

11.01.07 No news the first night of November. I DID finally scan and upload the Marillion photos I took in 1997 when Joni and I met the band during a PR appearance at Aris' Disc Shop... Brenden is in one photo at age 7- he's so cute hahahahaha. The photos are as PDF.