Summer Trips

If you haven't checked in awhile scroll down for new posts. I'm trying to get an email list together of people who are interested in outdoor/adventure activities this summer. If those of you that are interested could email me at hprover47@hotmail.com I will add your name to the list. Hopefully I will be able to announce activities in time for people to plan accordingly. Anyway, enjoy the new posts and always vote Rover!!

Ah, The Germans.

Last night I spent the evening at a birthday party for a friend of the fiance's. Not especially bloggable in itself, but I met two new German friends at the party. For many of you the previous sentence brings about vivid (ok, very blurred) memories of a cold night in Brooklyn with two drunken Germans, a sleeping Italian, and one American loudly screaming "SCORE!!!!" The similarities were not lost on me either. My new acquaintances were named David and Marcell (which, according to David, is a dog's name). I discovered something very interesting about my two new friends. David grew up in West Germany, and Marcell in East Germany. David is a carpenter, Marcell owns a very profitable business (yeah, I know, and he's my age!). The interesting thing was that there was a very obvious role reversal. David openly criticized Marcell for his frequent vacations and "business trips" to Europe. Marcell defended that, as the owner of a company, he is working all the time (and would tap his temple every time he said this) and has much to think about. Eventually the conversation deteriorated to the point of Marcell scolding me for not being a McLaren fan, and David for being a Schalke '04 fan. David mainly scolded Marcell for having a dog's name. I just enjoyed the German beer. Anyway, fun times all around and Marcell wants to catch an F1 race sometime. Should be interesting.

Vote Rover!!!

I know many of you are waiting for the results of the latest Formula De race on Rover's Racing World. I promise you I have scheduled it in after dinner so they will be up tonight. However, I now have a matter of more pressing (read entertaining) importance. A coworker has encouraged me to start a write-in campaign for Pennsylvania Governor. I figure why not? So here it is. I am officially announcing my candidacy for Pennsylvania Governor in 2006. I view myself as the people's candidate. While others are hobnobbing with the gambling lobby and other heavy hitters, I am keeping it real with my immigrant friend at the 7-11 and that lady that stamps my electric bill at the borough office. While I do not have any influential family members, and never belonged to the Free Masons, I feel that we can really make a run at this thing. So remember, write me in on May 16th!! I will provide further details on my platform in later posts.

I'm a Picker, I'm a Grinner, I'm a Lover, and I'm a Sinner.

Most of you are already aware that I have a "problem" with bicycles. I guess that the basic issue is that I love bikes, they more frequently do not love me. When I was younger my BMX disobeyed a direct order and ran me into the side of a parked car. Several years ago when I was riding "professionally" my bike intentionally hit the only rock in the road, sending me sprawling down a hill at 20 mph, and leaving the driver of a minivan desperately attempting to avoid hitting me. The latter incident left me without the ability to walk for about 15 minutes (and without the desire for about 3 days), but some credit should be given to the bike. That accident set in motion events that lead me to meet my future wife. While those old stories are great, my current cycling problem involves a 1970s Raleigh road bike, and my attempts to rebuild it. Initially things went well. I began my efforts by disassembling and overhauling the hubs of the front and rear wheels. The front was easy, but to get to the hub on the rear you need to remove the cogs and freewheel (the grouping of gears on the rear wheel). This required the purchase of a special tool. Being my father's son I relish any job that requires one to buy new tools, but was greatly disappointed in the amount of time it took this tool to arrive. Needless to say, when it did arrive I began the job in earnest. The procedure was quite simple, place the tool in position, attach a suitable wrench, and apply force in a counterclockwise direction. The manual said that it might require considerable force to remove the freewheel, so I wasn't all that surprised when It didn't come off immediately. After my fourth attempt I was beginning to get a bit frustrated. The manual also suggested that, for added leverage, you could place the wheel in a vise. I do not own a vise, but my future father-in-law does. I packed up my items and headed over to the fiance's house. Upon arrival I made an interesting and, in hindsight, important discovery. The vise was not mounted on the table with bolts, but was instead held in place with "C" clamps. Undeterred, I mounted the wheel in the vise, and applied counterclockwise pressure. The freewheel did not budge, but the vise began to slide across the table under the pressure. I tightened the clamps and tried again, and again. On my third attempt I heard a loud crack, and was dismayed to find that my freewheel was still firmly affixed to the hub of my bicycle, but the force of my turning had broken one of the clamps. Embarrassed, I promised to replace the clamp and returned home. I began to wonder if I wasn't missing a step somewhere, and decided that I should disassemble the entire hub unit with the exception of the freewheel and cogs, a procedure that was not recommended in the manual. The rest of the parts came apart with ease and I was quickly looking down at the wheel's bearings. I didn't notice anything additional in the structure that would alter the removal process, but decided that I would go ahead and remove the bearings awhile while I was in there. The fact that the freewheel was still in place made it difficult to reach the bearings and I quickly found myself poking at them with a screwdriver. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of my favorite tools. It is one of those multi-bit screwdrivers where the end is a hexagonal hole that you can place a variety of different bits into. What caught my eye was that the hexagonal hole appeared to be about the same size as the bearings. I could slide it overtop of a bearing and then push the bearing out of position and into my awaiting grease pan! The plan worked brilliantly for the first several bearings, but as I was removing the final one I heard an ominous click. I must have an exceptional eye for size, because that bearing fit perfectly into the end of the screwdriver. The problem? I forgot that the screwdriver is magnetic. I now had a bearing stuck firmly at the far end of that hexagonal hole rendering useless the bearing, the screwdriver, and ultimately the entire rear wheel of my bicycle. I attempted to remove the bearing using some small nails, refrigerator magnets, and a tweezers with no success. Eventually I just went to bed. In one day my mechanical idiocy had destroyed a clamp, a set of bearings, a screwdriver, and my entire rebuild project. The next day things got a little better, but not great. The bearing issue was resolved by a coworker and an electromagnet (yes, we have electromagnets at work), and the freewheel was taken to my local bike shop, something I hate to do. I will keep you updated as my project further degrades toward the inevitable point of total failure.

Plain Old Funny

Here is Skippy's List of things he's not allowed to do in the military. Very funny. The Game Night Crew should also explore his site because he has a great idea for a zombie survival board game.

If You Only Watch One More Movie Before You Die.

Suddenly, a mob was rushing toward him, shouting and cheering and struggling
madly to reach him, to make sure that he was alive, to touch him, and from the
touch to know again the miracle of living, to be men in their own right, freed
from bondage, outcast no more, liberated, their faith in God's mercy justified,
the nobility of mankind vindicated, justice at last accomplished and tyranny
once more overcome. Men wept, unable to restrain themselves. Men with tears
streaming down their faces kissed the GI on both cheeks - the salute of
brothers.

Citizen Soldiers is finished. As it became clear to me that the end was near I began to ask myself, "What will I do now?" A question that the common WWII GI did not ask himself. He knew exactly what he would do because he had spent months and years huddled in cellars and foxholes thinking about that exact thing. The book itself is defined by the final chapters. After pages of endless combat that leave the reader feeling dirty and tired, the work ends with a distinct message of goodness and hope, making the story as a whole incredibly valuable, if not essential, to read. I recommend it to all.

Speaking of distinct messages of goodness and hope, if you can only watch one more movie in your life watch I Am David, its the story of a young boy who escapes from a Soviet concentration camp with a letter that he must get to Denmark. That's about all I can say without giving up the plot, but it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. My Dad recommended it to me and he certainly did a great job.

To answer the question of "What will I do now?" I have just started reading The Journals of Jim Elliot. I received the book as a Christmas (or should I say Holidays) present from my sister. For those of you who don't know, Jim Elliot was a missionary to the Auca Indians in Ecuador in the 1950s. The Aucas murdered Elliot, turning him into an international hero. I must say that I have been sadly disappointed with the first thirty pages. I do, however, remain optimistic. The first journals were written while Elliot was in college, and let's be honest, weren't we all a bit disappointing in college?

Hello My Pretties

My enormously huge office clock now reads 0448, meaning that I am well into hour 13 of my most recent workday marathon. I have attempted to use my time to make a final push to finish off Citizen Soldiers, but my weary mind just can't make sense of the words anymore. I must hand it to Ambrose, it took my over 350 pages to find a point of contention with him. Which may be a record for me. You know, you can call George Patton a lot of things, pompous, jerk, downright strange, but please, please, don't call him chickens*#t. Other than that the book is top notch. You may wonder why I haven't finished the book yet seeing that I've been reading it for months. The answer is that I only read it at work. There are a few benefits to my job (other than the ludicrous holiday pay policy).

Also in the entertainment world, I caught a screening of Munich last weekend. I think that I was looking forward to this movie more than most since I have been a fan of the story ever since I was a young boy sitting on my Baba's knee. You see, while most young red blooded American boys were being raised on tales of famous athletes (I'd list names but I don't know any), I was raised on tales of Churchill, Ben Gurion, and the infamous "Pug" Henry. I was aware of the epic of Munich long before the story met its end in the 1990s (a fact that the film doesn't mention). The film itself was excellent. It further supports my belief that any movie under two hours long just isn't worth your time. Beyond the historical story that I feel had to be told, Munich tells of the personal cost of killing, and does it very well. If you've seen the film, and want to know more about the psychological end of things I highly recommend On Killing by Lt. Col. David Grossman. Anyway, its a great film, very dark, but great.

To top off the evening I will regale you with reports of my feats in bowling. I have reached the end of the season for my league and leave the boards behind as the proud owner of one brand-new bowling ball, and a high score of 94. I am awesome.