Reward for 125 mile Pre-Klondike Ride

Hugs for you Brendan....

From the Chris Ploch site

"We had a great ride today including a couple of ferry rides and an awesome tail"

Check for yourself

Just merely pointing out the facts folks. As a journalist, these things are important.

Pessimism

I really can't deal with pessimism very well. You know the old saying: "my glass is always half empty", the "Schleprock" thing, black cloud following you around stuff. I try and be positive and look at life the way a newborn does...well almost every day, life is filled with fun cool things to figure out. I think life is all one big puzzle. We have to display good Karma in order to figure out how the pieces go together. We do this in many ways, religion, politics, teaching.

A robot told me that we are programed with a micro chip but I think that is crazy talk. I think we are given fear along the way. It is like, should our situation not "end up" really positive, lots of money, serenity, boats, cars, (I will not put golf in this) things might be really, really disappointing. I am convinced that we harbor this manipulo-program-guilt-conformation gland or micro chip or whatever to sustain life, to try hard to survive. So the human race will keep things going. Some are equipped with relentless pursuits of achievement. I may have had a swig too many of that, I will own it. Hey, if it all falls apart, I will worry most about my employees, not me and mine. There are others in my circles, who simply rock at "making it".

Fact is, some of the happiest people I have ever met live in mobile homes, live pay check to paycheck. Dudes, attend a family reunion in Cedar City MO sometime, that is a party, ride up in one of your best Voodoo Cadillacs, have some BBQ and a PBR, listen to the generations of happiness. God Bless those mobile homes.

Where is this?

Nobody will get this.

Bauer

Send me the photos of the after party at Klondike brotha. I want to see how skinny I am compaired to Tank.

Ugly is faster

The Hawk called me the other day. I was in Indianapolis drumming up some bidness. He said "yeah, while I was turning down New Ballwin Road I looked up and caught an eye full of some magical goodness" the other day. Snot green I told him, snot green, look out for the speed of the Gawd of the Snot Green.

Thrasher

There is a reason he is in front in this picture. It is because his downhill is just plain sick and he has to stop and wait from time to time. I am not certain, but I think he is wearing the Missouri State Championship Jersey in this photo. We had been decending for an our on Two Elk, just past Vail Bowls, if you have been there. That is the Hawk in back, go Tequila eh D? Carlson and Keister, me in vintage D-fish which is for sale, by the way.

Thrasher Aka, The Smartest Man in the World.

Bruising Exploitations

Man. I got like five calls and a very concerned wife because of the last post. I am also thinking that some of you might have revisited the reasons why you trust and/or engage me from time to time. There lies the issue. Do you really trust anyone completely?

Forget about it. I didn't get arrested and I didn't get the graduation party booked, though stranger things have happened. The photo image (remarkable resemblance to "Colorado" Ken Keister by the way) was cropped and faded to resemble a dream or fantasy. I suppose I took a risk thinking that you might not actually have thought I would run with no shoes the three miles from Hanley to Skinker (0ne way), while my wife and kid ordered me a pizza. Umkay?

Today's lesson: You can't believe everything you read, or listen to, or watch on TV (that is a given) but how can you tell if somebody has a private agenda centered on personal gain, when coming to see you or setting up an appointment to "check in" after a "long time no see"? Have you ever had an old friend call you up after not seeing you for a while and the next thing you know you are sitting in an hour long Amway network marketing sales pitch? A water filter supplier inventory purchase endeavor? An Ozone re-placer service sale? AL Williams Investments? Excel Communications? Let me tell you something, it is a helluva lot easier spotting a multi-level marketer than what I call the "Slick Willy's", fishing for business prospective. Two tickets to the Village Idiot concert please?

I have a friend. I won't mention his name. He made a chunk of money selling stuff. He took the company big and when it sold, he made a lot of money, millions. I asked him several years ago what he was going to do now?-- now that he doesn't have to worry about an income. What a prospect, not worrying about money? Suddenly one of those cartoon cloud vignettes began to appear before me. I stared aimlessly and drifted into a fantasy of how I could help him solve his problem. I would simply set up an appointment, get on the other side of his desk, pass on some of my hidden, back burner ideas, ones that might have had legs, ones that would most certainly include me doing something with his money. I began to think about it. How I could provide the pitch, how we could "partner", how he would have the easy part, come up with most of the money. I on the other hand, would run things, the harder part. I was willing to do it.

Before my dream became a reality he looked up at me and said: "My friggin full time job is to keep people from taking the money from me".

POP! The vignette was gone.

So, I was thinking this morning, is it clear what Pfoodman is all about? Or do we just come across as exploitive, using strategic philanthropy, to our advantage, pushing the health and fitness buttons, the education thing?

The reality: the concept has gotten bigger and better and the company is growing. We are changing lives by supporting charities, encouraging high school and college kids to think entrepreneurially. Developing young citizens who "get" un-conventional thought process in regards to business, re-invention, and fulfillment. We are doing our best to encourage our client base to think healthy, speaking out about health and nutrition, trying to be good role models. We are introducing functional food products within our own distribution to help build the business, more lives changed, better resources for our clients.

And we also provide a solid service, selling food from our suppliers and paying them promptly. We are good citizens, all 200 of the employees of Pfoodman, our families and those who count on us to perform.

Anyone who reads this blog has likely gotten a dose of what Pfoodman is about. We feel there is huge benefit to our stature in the community, doing what we say we do, emerging as a hometown success story, giving back for the purpose of moving forward. Pfoodman is about culture, one that lives and breathes reality and fulfillment through helping others. There is purpose this way. It is important.

Pfoodman sells food. We add value by adding services throughout the supply system. We create markets for ourselves, incubate new businesses and fuel the process by cataloging and teaching our success story to anyone who will listen. I feel strongly that if a company provides this to a community that the community should embrace the business accordingly. We exploit our story, our emergence and carefully cultivated process for achievement. Call it exploitive, but call it real. No bad karma here.

Roller Blading at Cafe Manhattan

We were asked out to dinner Sunday night with the Raskas clan. We do the family thing with them. Nice people, lots in common. Drew is a 15 year old prodigy on the guitar and I have been inspired by him to continue to play, thereby setting an example for my daughter to play and now we have guitars stacked along the walls of the house because of it. I am getting ready to set the basement up as a recording studio and I will have an album out soon. I found my Breedlove acoustic under a bale of dirty clothes in Natalie's room yesterday, she is so grounded.

Natalie and Drew are friends and did a talent show a while back where Drew played the guitar and she and another friend, Beth, sang "Perfect Day". Drew was a good sport, playing some pretty advanced stuff to a simple song. The girls did well too, even though they needed to dance like Fergie, but didn't . Anyway, it was a far cry from the stuff he normally plays in his band, The Beginning of The End. He was a good sport to do that for those girls.

So I didn't know where this place was, Cafe Manhattan. I thought it was where the Manhattan Express was, next to Starbucks on Wydown. Turns out it is right around the corner. So me and the girls (and Beth who had joined us for the evening) were returning to the car from a quick "turnaround" realizing we were at the wrong place. All of the sudden I hear this schhuuuugggghhhhhh, and this roller blader damn near takes me out in the middle of the sidewalk. No warning, no alert, nothing. He must have been going a good 15 miles an hour, never said a word. Scared the hair right off my head.

So I take off running after the guy. I was wearing my new "Jesus" beach shoes from Florida that I had bought from the Wiki Tiki surf shop down in Sarassota, so I couldn't get a kick out of them to save my life. They were slowing me down so I shed them in one full cyclomotion, handed them to Janie and said, "go ahead and order, I have some business to take care of".

We headed east down Wydown, past Big Bend where the dude ducked in between the hedges near Clayton School. I was thinking, I would fall back, let him get a gap then double forward and body slam him up by the entrance to Forest Park. I was feeling a little worn, from two full days of bike racing. The DRJ was tough, I had to be at my best. Lets face it, he had wheels, I was in bare feet, collard shirt and cargo shorts.

I saw him dart in between one of those goofy looking hybrid Honda's and a blazer with an Airstream attached to it. Next thing you know, blam, I am laying face down in the grass with handcuffs by a one of those mounted police. Turns out the rollerblader was yelling "stalker chasing me" all the way down Wydown. I couldn't hear him because my bare feet were slapping the pavement so hard it sounded like an applause of feet slappy kenya. Here I am, limping because I was barefooted and a blister was starting to form on my toe, I am gaining on this guy and he plays the "stalker" card. It was a brilliant move on his part. Nice. I was almost close enough to get the jump before the sudden rude awakening.

Well, turns out the cop and I went to high school together over at Country Day, we asked each other where we went to high school and all. I always say Country Day, because, well, somebody said to say that once as a spiffy remark to a St. Louis Cliche. I am not native. He believed my story and agreed that it was all one big misunderstanding. He offered to have my shirt dry cleaned but I refused. He gave me a catering order for Pfoodman, for his nephews graduation party at the house down in Crestwood. You never know when you are going to get an order.

He gave me a lift back up to Hanley and Wydown at around 90 MPH with siren and lights, that was cool, to Cafe Manhattan, were a group of eager listeners awaited. I nesteled in to my whole wheat pizza, piping hot, from the ovens of Cafe Manhattan.

Klondike

A two day stage race at Klondike in St. Charles County kicked my tail this weekend. This course always suits me somehow, because it is technical, fast and moderate all in one course. It is an allrounder type course, needing a little bit of everything in order to finish. I used gears, as I will for the rest of the season. A couple guys catted up to expert class on their singlespeeds and were glad the did. It was a fun race with a great group of people whom I have admired for years.

Let's face it. The freaking newspaper article that came out made it necessary for me show up and attempt a decent finish. My old fat ass needed to walk the walk, so I have been training my tail off, sneaking out here and there, one upping the DRJ, my other team mates, whomever. Amy Bertand of the Post Dispatch listed my category as expert so there was a heck of a lot more pressure, I don't consider myself to be that fast, but things are getting better than prior years. Last year my season as an expert was pretty poor. There was lots going on in life, sick parent, moving, other stuff. I have always wanted to get to the fitness level where I could keep up with Lil Buddy and Shuck. Brendan shelled me all week in Colorado last year. We are all fairly competitive and now it is even more so.

I didn't even get legs until October of last year, barely in time for cross season. As far as cross goes, I don't even get to feeling good until week 4. Lots of pain getting acclimated to anaerobe. So I have kept the fitness since October and did a little more specific training this year in order to see what I could do. I was pleased with this weekends race, even though I flatted in the short track. Ted Weiss, my team mate was there and had a great showing. So, thanks to everyone who held back today and let me squeak out a top ten finish.

I usually purchase a shot or two from Kurt Jambaretz of Action Images, he took this photo of me using Cyclocross skills to get through the hairpin switchbacks on Hogs Back decent. If you have never purchased something from him try and do so, he keeps showing up and has got to be the best photographer in the business. Plus, the dude was sporting a Pfoodman shirt. Nice.

The Hawk and BMX

The Hawk hasn't been around much. Been traveling, spending a lot of time with his daughter, a good thing. But the other day I thought I heard something of huge proportion--that he had ordered a freaking BMX bike and he is going to give it a whirl. Earth to Freaking Hawkins???!!!!

Uh, just for the record D, I will not be buying a BMX bike. I saw the haircuts that Tim K used to wear back in the 80's, back when he had his own bike named after him, back when they wore those little leather suits, looked like they were ready to land on the moon for Gawd's sake. I am not going to be a part of this cult, this attempt to draw in the weak minded, your plan to JimJones my cycle weary mindset.

People won't understand, you riding around on a little bike, wearing "wedding singer" style hair, skinny leather ties, jordache jeans.....

I know what that style is about--this 45 year old hunk-o-goodness will remain lycra bound on a mountain bike only. Word.

Re-Invention Spew of the Month

How much re-invention spew can you take? Move on if you have had enough RRR. (re-invention-rah-rah.)

I notice when people take control of theyself, and kudos are in order from time to time. Therefore, I will embark on a new quest, make it a point to call out those who make the jump from old to new, regardless of how big or how small. Re-inventions come in all sorts of sizes, achievements, and often without the help of platitudes, unconditional restraint and/or programing. Sometimes it is simply time to get up and get on, bootstrap. Sometimes a life changing experience forces the change. Regardless, it is as exciting as the birth of a baby when you experience it.

I think we all do in one way or another. Get sick of "being" one way, and somday make an effort to "be" another way. It is Epiphanistic. You wake up, take a whiff of a half empty glass of day old Starbucks and set out on a new course, a new adventure, a new garden of forking paths.

[inject shameless plug begin] Now, this concept can also be inspired by one of our "Oxygen Inspired Experiences" found at wapiti. [end shameless plug]

Kathryn Pfremmer gets the award this time. For embarking on her decision to return to school at 47 years old, for re-connecting to a life of fulfillment by helping others, particularly the aged. Identify your angels and keep them close by, Kathryn. They like what they see and believe in you.

Charitable Marketing and other Dates

By the way Pfoodman has its charitable calender finalized for the summer, you can find where we will be, usually a party or a function raising money for something, building our brand equity, something like that.

Wapiti Adventures is also up and running, soon we will soon announce the details of our products and services. If you haven't checked out the site, by all means indulge yourself. Go here to check out Wapiti.

All of our activities are posted on the Pfoodman site. Go here to see wassup for the summer.

Also, if you think you would like help promoting your charity, give me a shout. We would like to help.

Starbucks

Yesterday near the end of the day, I leaned back from my chair in my office to toss a half empty cup of room temperature Starbucks in to the trash can. There is always a half empty cup of Starbucks on my desk, in some state of decomposition, ready to be tossed in to the trash. I only drink a half of a tall, (or of a medium) because the grande is too much, or too little, or is it the other way around? Whichever. What really chapped me was the fact that my trash can was already heaping full of half empty Starbucks cups, intertwined with news articles, clippings, notes from the day, "buy me" mail pieces, and other global warming attributives--deleted by means of the trash can.

My trash can is simply too small. I should not have to empty it more than once a day.

Kevin started two weeks ago. Came in to the Pfoodman family in an effort to keep my trash can from overflowing. Because, as Kevin and I agreed, my head is like a trash can, filled with stuff. I reckon the coffee is a metaphor for the energy, possibly the fervor that I have for the business. Sifting through the stuff that comes our way is a process and it pretty much fills up my week. What doesn't fit ends up in the trash and if I don't empty it, it overflows and lands on the ground where I'll step on it, kick it from one side of my desk to the other. Moving more stuff in and out of the office reduces the space I have to be me. More stuff to sort through, more process, half empty cups of Starbucks, taking over my world.

I was at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy the other day and had a cup of coffee before addressing the students at a business etiquette seminar the other night. I told Chris Lupo the Director of Food Services that his coffee tasted like water and that, if I could see my fingers on the other side of a glass, through the coffee, it did not pass the test. Starbucks will be going in by the end of May, one size.

Lame excuse

Yeah, so I have been busy. Lame excuse, I know. I wonder how disappointed you all must feel when logging on, finding nothing here. Clouds fill the cubicle that you reside, lunch doesn't quite taste as good as it did, co-workers seem argumentative and your glass seems....half full/empty, life is like being on a deserted island with nothing but a soccer ball to talk to. Sad really, I understand.

This is a busy time of year for us. We wrap up our college operations and get ready for the summer. As a business our summers are filled with a selection of charitable marketing events. I am proud to say that just yesterday we inked the deal with the National MS Society to provide again, year number 5, the food and VIP festivities in Columbia MO, in September. We have some killer things planned. Pfoodman will have a team! Wapiti will make its debut!
That is all I can really say about it right now. We will be making a huge impact on the bike tour and details will be forthcoming.

Thanks to Jerry Orzano who will now formally referred to as "Orzo" and Craig Basler anointed "Boz". They are pretty much making it happen. Orzo did his first century last year and found the benefits of cycling to be that which fits his lifestyle, one that reduces the space in his garage to make room for a stable of bicycles. My goal with Jerry will be to get him back in to shape, encourage him to try mountain bike riding, because it is cool. He is also a smart guy, way smarter than me.

Boz is already way addicted, Mark at Ballwin Cycles has a direct ship pipeline to his house from Gunnar cycles, I hear. I am fairly certain he is in to the Chris King Wizzeroos that I have also come to be so fond of. We will be improving the core competencies of Boz racing technique, as a mission.

Stan, thanks for the dietitian stuff. That was very helpful. I think I will quit eating lettuce after sundown, because I am a vampire.

I went to the best UHY seminar Wed. Dr. Suzanne Cohen, Pres and CEO of SmartMouth was the guest speaker. If you haven't heard, SmartMouth is one of the best St. Louis business success stories in years. I was truly inspired by this companies rise to greatness. check it out. http://www.smartmouth.com/

Celebrity MS150 media leak

Craig Bassler emailed me yesterday and intro'd himself. I met Craig at Ballwin Cylcles and we have a mutual Friend, Jerry "Orzo" Orzano. Jerry is heading up the Pfoodman MS150 team and more will be released on this at a later time. We have a huge press release coming out on this but some smart guy leaked it to the local media. I spoke with Thrasher and we decided that the annual trip to Colorado will be diverted in to the July months, since Carlson moved and the Tour of Missouri, MS150 and other race venues need our support during the month of September. Stay tuned for our release on the MS150, negotiations are underway to unveil "Wapiti World" at the VIP tent in Columbia MO. We will be inviting esteemed individuals as well as many celebrity riders to join our team, if you are reading this, you may be one of them. I am thinking Baton Bob here folks. Biker Fox type stuff. Real celebrities, not fake ones.

Ploch

As far as Ploch goes...damn. I sure hope he keeps doing this. I was talking to Lil Buddy the other day, or maybe it was Thrasher, I can't remember, anyway, I got to thinking how it would be a shame if he were to leave the sport to pursue some sort of work or other career related thing. I was thinking Ploch ought to call up Tilford and see how and the hell he lives his life, or Tinker maybe, just shoot the bull, ask questions like: Hey, where do you guys get your hair done? Or, how much does a Moots "really" cost? They seem to have it going on, still race at a high level, get to spend a lot of time outdoors, lots of pictures taken of them and stuff. I think Ploch can get to one of those crazy levels if he stays with it and I want to say that I knew him when...... He is an inspiration and a good guy. I would probably sponsor him if I could get a photo taken with him. I should have done that long ago, back when he was riding a GT.

Good luck down there Chris.

Tinker Juarez

Has anyone read Tinker's blog? http://tinkerjuarez.blogspot.com/ I got a link from Ploch's blog and read his blog.

(Did you know that spell check does not recognise the word "blogger"? Is this some sort of Microsoft jab in the ribs to Google? Is Gates all pissed off at Google for screwing up something and taking it out on them by not recognizing certain words? Does Gates even write the spellcheck stuff? Is this even worth your time reading? See what blogging does? Wastes your time with unqualified, undignified, untrained nonsense. The world is coming to and end and blogging is to blame because it has taken over the common media and diluted journalistic integrity.)

Anyway, apparently David "Tinker" Juarez is going to the Cohutta 100, and Chris will have to go head to head with him. Tinker is the pro, hero, masters, mountain bike dude who started doing all the solo 24 hour races and just killing everyone. We saw him a few times, once here at the AMBC race, another time down in Memphis, at the Tour D Wolf, if anyone remembers that race, it was the last of an era, my first sport race I believe. Looks like Tinker still has Cannondale and Volvo as sponsors. For anyone just starting out in the MTB scene, one that seems to be making a bit of a comeback, check out Tinker, he is quite an inspiration for Geezers just getting a go of it. I started the dread lock thing around 5 years ago. They are turning out good.

Kaspar

There are other influences from other people that I find interesting, those who I have met from cycling who keep me focused on high output. There is Kaspar, who is most likely doing crunches or some sort of lunge exercise as I write. Within the hours of 6:00 am and 7:00 am, he will consume an organic mixture of whey, soy and berries. yum dude...yum. I am not sure, but during the coldest of winter months something happens to him. He might come in a half pound heavier than his pre morning release weight of 145. He actually gets fitter during winter months. His legs are tan too and I want to know the secret. I know it has to do with pain and suffering. Nobody suffers like Kaspar does. He takes pain and suffering to another level. I want to know, does he have tubes in the basement? Is there a freaking tanning bed in the basement?! I want my picture taken next the his legs on January 15th next year. I will show the world.

Stan

We finished up our Junior Achievement class last night and I B-lined it to Dierbergs to get a healthy salad for dinner because the girls ditched me and I was on my own for dinner. I spent 27 bucks. Never, ever go to the store for dinner when you are hungry. I ended up with chili, and a colorful creation of magical goodness. For 27 bucks. I tossed in some of those two for one pita chips, some baguette, hell, I was hungry and I ate it all.

So here I am, 5:00 am, suffering from a two pound dosage of foliage and chili, can't sleep, trying to fill up some time. Brilliant caloric intake eh Stan? Right before falling asleep? What is the deal with the lack of sleep and a pile of lettuce? Stan, by the way, is the Dietetic Disciplinarian. Whenever I feel the need to re-connect with my nutrition, I will call Stan, and he will dine at lunch on a three pound hamburger, just after I order my half salad half cup of soup healthy heart sampling. Stan, we will need a report. What is the deal with the lettuce, why was I unable to sleep?

Kevin Miquelon joins Pfoodman Group

Kevin Miquelon – Bio/Vitae – April 2007

Kevin Miquelon has joined the Pfoodman group of companies, as the President, effective April 9^th, 2007, reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Pfremmer. Miquelon will be guiding the company’s organizational & leadership development, strategic planning & execution, and will be directly overseeing all new business acquisition and growth. As a Member of the holding company, Miquelon will also be involved in helping to incubate other business ventures for the company.

Prior to joining Pfoodman, Miquelon spent the past several years as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing leading the charge to re-engineer Concentric Sourcing (a division of The Flesh Company). The re-building and re-branding initiative produced excellent results in addition to building a strong foundation for the future. Concentric’s web-based supply chain management program is ground-breaking for the industry and elevated their “commodity” products to value-added, and produced a unique competitive advantage for the organization.

From 1998 to 2003, Miquelon was Co-Founder and Partner at Incite Solutions, a consulting firm that specialized in business development & aggressive growth, and strategic planning & implementation, working with the upper-level executive teams at mid-market companies. Miquelon did public speaking and presentations to a number of organizations across the U.S. and had appeared as an “expert guest” for the television program Strictly Business. The firm pioneered several proprietary programs including the Building BlocksÔ methodology - proprietary intellectual capital for delivering Sales Productivity Improvement and Return On Sales InvestmentÔ. In 2003, Miquelon sold his share of the firm to his business partner to pursue other interests.

Before starting his own business, Miquelon spent the fifteen years from 1984 to 1998 in the foodservice distribution business. He began as a Territory Manager with Craig Distributing Company and upon its acquisition by Kraft Foodservice was promoted to the management team. During those years, he was directly involved in sales management, sales training, leadership training & development, marketing, sales force automation, strategic planning, food shows, and customer seminars. Kraft Foodservice was later sold and today is part of U.S. Foodservice. In 1994, Miquelon was the recipient of The Kraft STAR Award for professional excellence.

Miquelon is a 1983 graduate from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Business Administration with a major in Finance and a Minor in Economics. He has been married 21 years, is the father of four children, and he is an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, with a particular interest in fly fishing. He is currently a board member and Vice President of Membership for Ozark Fly Fishers, a Junior Achievement Instructor/Consultant, and actively involved in a number of volunteer organizations. He is a Fly Tying Instructor for the Gone Fishing program and has done tying demonstrations for various fly fishing shops. He is passionate about getting kids outdoors and giving back something – “to those who much has been given, much will be asked”. Miquelon also enjoys health & fitness, coaching youth sports, reading, and traveling with his family.

Wapiti shirts are in

We got a bunch of Wapiti Shirts in the other day. If anyone wants one, contact me with your address and size and I will ship one to you. They are way cool, good quality, as will be the outdoor experiences planned for this summer. Get yours....today!

Ken's Candy

Ok, Ken has a new toy. I did a little research. Amazing the likeness of Jan Michael Vincent to Ken Keister. Amazing....

Tanner: [the Landmaster refugees are being waylaid by the "Mountain Men" in the desert] How long have you men been here?

Man: Since everything went to hell.






Damnation Alley, 1977:



The world is devastated by a nuclear holocaust. The devastation causes The Earth to tilt on its axis and this brings about vast meteorological chaos. As the weather dies down mutated insects start to emerge, preying on the survivors. The surviving crew at a US Air Force bomb shelter in the Mojave Desert pick up radio signals coming from Albany. The commander Major Eugene Denton unveils two armored vehicles he has constructed and announces a plan to cross ‘Damnation Alley’, the hundred mile wide strip between areas of radiation hazard, to join the survivors. They set off, along the journey taking on board two survivors, a novice singer they find in the ruins of Las Vegas, and a wild child. But their journey is also beset by giant mutated cockroaches, storms and crazed survivalists.

Lewis update

I was driving my car down Holloway in Ballwin yesterday on the way to an ass whopping from every GNOD in town. I couldn't believe how many geezers were down at Castlewood Saturday and it was going to my first mountain bike workout in two weeks. I am SO glad I took the week off, NOT. The week before I was in Florida on the road bike, too flat to get much of an interval workout. It was pretty sad, my performance. I will now train for 9 days straight as not to fall off. Especially after the all encompassing ego article on re-invention that came out while I was gone. Thanks to everyone for helping me get my health back the last eight years. Enough said about that.

Suddenly a familiar sight drove in front of me. A black sports car with.....yes....stickers! It was Lewis Greenberg, famed artist and color-coffee-conversationalist-of-the-county. I interviewed Lewis a while back. Feel free to catch up on him here in case you missed the article.

Lewis was feeling good and it was great to see him. I felt a little awkward since I hadn't visited with him since our last interview at his home in Ballwin. I needed to follow up as he has a few more things to say. I thought I would give him a direct quote/response to some questions this time, in order not to slant the discussion from my perspectives, which, I was afraid that I had done. Let’s face it. It’s a bit of a challenge to capture what it is he is most interested in "getting out there". I need to be diligent, as this is important. This time I will make sure that he clarifies anything that might have been wrong in the last interview, as well as make an effort to report on things that he really wants to talk about or cares about, like his art.

I am not a real writer, I am a blogger. As a friend of mines ultra liberal mother-in-law told me the other day, “bloggers” don't have any formal training from school, journalism or "whatnot", therefore, they really don't matter when it comes to delivering the justice of the media”. Now Mary (not her real name) is a liberal minded past generative, meaning, she is a lefter, but only in the context of her generation, not mine. She is old enough to be my mother. To claim that blogging is not substantial media drops her in to the box of uninspired do-gooders in terms of her inability to absorb unconventional thought through modern media. The newspapers, CNN, Fox News, are all a bit slanted in my opinion and fall short of that which is real, that which is intellectualized by real people, with real cross sections of opinion in our communities. I feel sorry for Mary; she is being led by the biased machine of common media. Sad, as she had recently returned from the largest peace march ever; the recent peace march on the columns at Mizzou in and effort to bring our boys home from Iraq. She feels good about her work and I was resistant to get into a pissing match with her on politics, and so requested by her son and ex-husband sitting on my right and my left respectively. I told her that her marching was an interesting expression of her interest and if she didn't mind, I will continue blogging as an expression of mine.

So blogging is significant media (I would have told her), she just doesn't understand the concept yet--that newspapers might be a thing of the past-- propaganda hasn't really changed much, it has just taken on new forms and is in a varying state of evolution through electronic media. Armchair opinions on blogs are no different than a letter to the editor, a message or slant of personal agenda from the community.

So that was my reason for doing Lewis's story, the expression. I thought Lewis needed to be explained for the good of the community for many reasons. It was a challenge and I am in to that. I like to express myself. And, I am jealous of anyone who can devote their life to such rampant expression at the risk of everything. He laid it all out there for me to provide a canvas of my own expression for everyone to see. That was pretty cool if you ask me, especially as insignificant blogger as I am. Mary, respectfully, kiss my ass.

If you remember my opening rants you might agree that unconditional expression is necessary if you want to shed the weight of conformity. As I get older, I wish to do this. I happen to live for the day when I can adequately express my opinions and live my life without concern for going against "anyone’s" grain or compromise a relationship with someone who might not feel the same as I on certain things. Being a business owner is the biggest challenge, many things to consider here. However, I am making positive changes in order to embrace the concept of true expression in our company culture; becoming "greener", “sustained”, using the outdoors as a palate, the concept of my distaste for childhood and adult obesity, my emphasis on health and nutrition for life fulfillment, encouraging others to re-invent in to that which is real, encouraging young people to get in to independent business. I am pretty darned lucky to be able to embrace these things and introduce them in to our market, looking for new ways to increase revenues by exploiting the things that are important to me in an effort to change the world.

These are "light" convictions. There are “heavy” ones too, but they will have to wait, as me and my group of kick-ass managers and employees want to make something out of the business that nobody else is going to be able to do. We want to get to retirement, put our kids through school. We will “whitepicketfence” our way to success. True non-conformity will have to wait until then. I don’t want to take any chances. Until then, I will look for real subjects like Lewis, heroes in their own right, those that make life more interesting.

Talking through the window of our cars, I told Lewis we would get together next week and do another coffee conversation. No less than three people stopped by to see who was emerging from the car with the stickers, a 65 year old pearl Izumi clad character on his way in to Starbuck's for some turbo bean burn-up.

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Just Turned 48!

John Strecker Dies

Long time friend of the family John Strecker died the other day. He was the father of Taylor Strecker, my good friend and cohort in the food business. The Streckers lived next door to us in Columbia Missouri, our families have known each other for some 60 years. We will miss you John, say hello to Ralph, your good friend, who proceeded you in death by a year and change.

John was one of those quiet thinkers, kind of like Taylor. You could present an idea to him, and he would internalize it before speaking on the topic. He passed this on to Taylor. I have always thought that he was the spitting image of his father, reserved, logical, well thought. There is a certain quality in all the Strecker offspring, Brad, Debra and Taylor, an intellectual process, that points to John Strecker. He raised brilliant kids, family people, devoted. This was the magic of John Strecker.

He was married to Annetta Strecker of Kentucky. A real Kentucky princess. I love Annetta as everyone does. Her southern hospitality can be found 5 seconds in to a conversation with her. She would do a lot of the talking, while John would soak it all in. I liked that about those two. They just seemed to fit. They complimented each other like a glove. I always admired this about them.

John was in advertising and had a connection to the sales and management of KOMU TV in Columbia for as long as I can remember. He had an impact on many lives in this industry. I remember Angela Woods used to work for him, at the time married to my good friend Matt Woods, atty, in Columbia. Angela regarded John as a mentor and teacher, helping her to grasp the intricacies of media marketing and sales. She absolutely loved this guy, and told everyone how much he had impacted her career. John helped our company do press releases from time to time, always having the right choice of words.

It sucks when you lose a parent. I am at the age when a lot of my friends are having to deal with this. We watch our parents get old, some get sick and die. We battle our own realization of mortality when this happens. When a parent dies you feel alone, a little more grown up and held that much more accountable. You become the replacement sometimes, that which is counted on for wisdom, decision making and sometimes, unpopular opinion. These are the characteristics of a new level of maturity--age. And it marks a point in our lives when we feel that we are just a little more closer to death ourselves.

When this happens it might be necessary to look real close at your own family, others who were close to the influence of the passing loved one. Look real close. You will see the magic-- subtle at first, then very obvious. The spirit and values of your lost one comes shining through. You will find that you have never totally lost them, they have never really left you completely. They live in your spirit and the others, carrying on the image, stature and character to be passed on again and again.

That is the magic. John isn't letting anyone down.

Excuse the licorice

Man, I got back from vacation and fell victim to some major "work responsibilities".

Don' t you hate that? When work gets in front of lifestyle?

"Politics tell us that we can not always be that which is totally non-conformist. Logic tells us the meaning of a paycheck."

My camera got washed. Don't you hate that when you wash an electronic dependency?


Check out King Furby, most likely the best writer to "figure out".
http://fingerbangers.blogspot.com/index.html

Check back soon, I will get caught up.

Ralph