Plain Apples

April 23, 2012

New Home

Well, I moved out here to Norfolk this past January to try and finish school. I'm about to finish my first semester here at Old Dominion University where I hope to finish a BS in Physical Oceanography in the next couple years. Anyway, just thought I'd update my blog.

September 15, 2008

damn gas crisis! i got shit to do!

May 27, 2008

28 miles on the James River from Eagle Rock to Buchanan VA.

March 9, 2008

The last thing you read before you get pwnd!...... After many hours of sweat, blood and cursing. We finally managed to change the clutch disk, flywheel, and transmission of Matt's 1993 NISSAN nx2000!

February 23, 2008

The Hat!!

Its only the greatest hat ever. The famous bicycle tinkering thinking cap inspired by Forest Gump himself.

February 22, 2008

Flagstaff!!!

Hell yea, freakin white out conditions at snowbowl! middle of the week so there were no lines and the powder was just right.

seriously who sleeps in the freddy cruger suite and lives to tell about it? any good ol' boy from VA, thats who damnit!! we ain't sceerd o' shiet!!

yea, buddy ro' sit ya self down yonder an' leme' tel ye' a story young fellur!

January 16, 2008

January 8, 2008

Dream House

Well I think this is the house I'd like to build for myself one day. I like a lot of the designs at this Ross Chapin guy's website. I like how simple they are but still have a little character, i dont think i could ever live in a plain box of a house. Its gonna need some personality, and this is one of my favorites. I don't know if it's what I want to build on the land I'm trying to get in TN. I think I want to put a little bit simpler cabin on that land. Maybee something like this:

I think this will be a little more appropriate for TN, I'm not sure where I'd build the other house. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

December 30, 2007

Well i guess I'm in a bit of a talkative mood right now. I just feel like typing for a bit. i apologize for the lack of punctuation and capitalization. lately my life has been a bit plain. i do pretty much the same thing almost every day. i bike to work, assemble bicycles, sell bikes, then bike back home where i check my e-mail and just kind of space out looking at sailboats and little cabins on the internet for an hour or two. after that i watch some TV, mostly just change the channel back and forth looking for something that actually entertains me, which i never find but none the less search for which takes up another couple hours, then i read until i fall asleep. so obviously im a little worried. granted one or two days a week i spend large sums of money at the bars. so ive pretty much lost my way in my grand scheme of things. i lost my license a few years ago for DUI, and just never bothered to get it back. ive been half assed trying to get it back for about a year. ive just never been one for red tape, i hate paperwork, and "the system" just doesnt make any sense to me. its not like i didnt learn a lesson or anything. believe me i will NEVER drink and drive again. actually the only reason i even want to get my DL again is so i can join the merchant marines and start a career. i catch a lot of shit from pretty much everybody i know for wanting to become a merchant sailor. my friends and family all think its a waste of time and dont really do anything to encourage this goal. but thats ok nobody thought id finish my bike trip either, granted i probably wouldn't have if mike hadnt have been riding with me, but still. im determined to at least try being a sailor. the main reason i want to work at sea is so i can learn as much as possible about traveling the worlds oceans. my true life's dream is to sail around the world and live aboard a sailboat. most of these dreams are to be blamed on books, ive spent the last eight or ten years reading fiction and non-fiction books about merchant marines, circumnavigatiors, pirates, how to guides, etc. now im planing on building a small sailboat in my carport. hopefully i can use it to learn how to sail and then eventually sell it for a small profit so i can build a little bit bigger boat for coastal cruising. ive always been a bit of a dreamer i guess, but it keeps me occupied. unfortunately lately ive hit a bit of a tarpit. i havnt really been very productive lately. im hoping to change that. i guess thats part of the reason i decided to start writing this, i always think better while i write and it helps me make decisions. i also have some land down in TN ive been trying to buy. i havnt made a payment on it for a while because money's been a bit tight since my roommate left. but i believe all these things will change with the new year. ive got a pretty sweet plan for the next couple years, i just cant get the first step started. i just need to catch a break somehow. well, i guess thats all i have to say right now. if somebody actually reads this feel free tell me to shut up and stop whining.

December 28, 2007

Holy Crap.

This is so freakin cool!

December 27, 2007

I just really like this mans words.

A Rolling Stone

There's sunshine in the heart of me,
My blood sings in the breeze;
The mountains are a part of me,
I'm fellow to the trees.
My golden youth I'm squandering,
Sun-libertine am I;
A-wandering, a-wandering,
Until the day I die.

I was once, I declare, a Stone-Age man,
 And I roomed in the cool of a cave;
I have known, I will swear, in a new life-span,
 The fret and the sweat of a slave:
For far over all that folks hold worth,
 There lives and there leaps in me
A love of the lowly things of earth,
 And a passion to be free.

To pitch my tent with no prosy plan,
 To range and to change at will;
To mock at the mastership of man,
 To seek Adventure's thrill.
Carefree to be, as a bird that sings;
 To go my own sweet way;
To reck not at all what may befall,
 But to live and to love each day.

To make my body a temple pure
 Wherein I dwell serene;
To care for the things that shall endure,
 The simple, sweet and clean.
To oust out envy and hate and rage,
 To breathe with no alarm;
For Nature shall be my anchorage,
 And none shall do me harm.

To shun all lures that debauch the soul,
 The orgied rites of the rich;
To eat my crust as a rover must
 With the rough-neck down in the ditch.
To trudge by his side whate'er betide;
 To share his fire at night;
To call him friend to the long trail-end,
 And to read his heart aright.

To scorn all strife, and to view all life
 With the curious eyes of a child;
From the plangent sea to the prairie,
 From the slum to the heart of the Wild.
From the red-rimmed star to the speck of sand,
 From the vast to the greatly small;
For I know that the whole for good is planned,
 And I want to see it all.

To see it all, the wide world-way,
 From the fig-leaf belt to the Pole;
With never a one to say me nay,
 And none to cramp my soul.
In belly-pinch I will pay the price,
 But God! let me be free;
For once I know in the long ago,
 They made a slave of me.

In a flannel shirt from earth's clean dirt,
 Here, pal, is my calloused hand!
Oh, I love each day as a rover may,
 Nor seek to understand.
To enjoy is good enough for me;
 The gipsy of God am I;
Then here's a hail to each flaring dawn!
And here's a cheer to the night that's gone!
And may I go a-roaming on
 Until the day I die!

Then every star shall sing to me
Its song of liberty;
And every morn shall bring to me
Its mandate to be free.
In every throbbing vein of me
I'll feel the vast Earth-call;
O body, heart and brain of me
Praise Him who made it all!

--- Robert Service

December 13, 2007

This is the "Caliber 35LRC", which i would eventually like to sail around the world and live aboard. This is my ultimate dream in life, while most people mortgage a home and land, all i want is a boat and the freedom to sail it anywhere in the world.

This is the "Vacationer", the second boat i want to build. This is a much larger boat than the GIS. The GIS was 15ft while this boat is 26ft. The Vacationer has a small interior cabin with galley and room for 2 to sleep comfortably. I plan to use this boat as a means to learn a little more about extended cruises of up to one week. While not technically a blue water boat it would certainly be capable of coastal cruising and I may be able to sail her as far as Florida! Anyhow it will be a fun project if i ever get a chance to build it.

This is the "Goat Island Skiff", the first boat i plan to build. It's supposed to be fairly simple and inexpensive to build. I think it will be a good practice boat for me to learn both boat building techniques and sailing skills.

November 17, 2007

A great day of riding on the New River Trail of Southwestern Virginia. I rode with a bunch of guys from the shop, Scott, Billy, Dave, and John. Very fun!