Utah should be known for things like this:

 

 

 

And not things like Neo-Nazis and scuffling mayors.  Curtis Allgier made national news Monday by shooting his prison guard escort to death while at a hospital for some scans.  He claims it was an accident and that he didn’t want to kill Corrections Officer Stephen Anderson.  With a face covered with tattoos of white-supremacy, I’m not exactly sure where he thought he was going to go and hide.  Not only is he a racist bastard, he’s a total idiot.  The county is charging him with aggravated murder and three counts of attempted murder for his time spent in an Arby’s trying to avoid the police.  There are no felony charges for bad tattoos.

 

Despite Mayor Rocky Anderson’s attempt to prosecute a developer who “bumped” him a few weeks ago, a city prosecutor has concluded that criminal charges won’t stick.  The mayor pulled from his ACLU past and stated, “Anyone who grabs another person or butts them with their belly or chest is engaging in unlawful force.”  So, according to the mayor, most football players are using unlawful force and should be prosecuted.  The mayor’s personal space was most definitely violated, but he has been violating my personal space over the last few years every time he opens his mouth.  Rocky, who stated last year that he would not seek another term in office is starting to hedge his bets and indicate that he might run if he doesn’t think the other candidates are good for the city.  The movie Rocky III was not all that good.  Neither will be your term if you run again.  Please leave and go do your environmental thing like Al Gore on someone else’s dime, not my tax dollar.

A few items of note:

 

I rode in the MS150 Bike Tour over the weekend.  I completed 140 miles over two days.  The first day was 100 miles in the sun and heat.  I was dehydrated at the end, even though I was sucking down water and energy drinks like crazy.  I also have racing stripes – I got a little sun burned through the holes in my helmet.  Actually, I can barely see them now – it wasn’t a bad burn.  Overall, the event raised $1.3 million for the MS society of Utah.  That is quite a bit for an event like this.  Thanks to those who supported me.

 

Of interest to me is that the FDA finally passed a rule establishing regulations for the proper manufacturing of dietary supplements.  Just a few little things like production in a quality matter, not containing contaminants or impurities, and is accurately labeled.  Actually having the amount labeled in the drug is such a novel idea.  You can read about it hear:

 

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01657.html

 

Oh, and it looks like I’m a friend of Mitt Romney now.  Well, according to the letter I got in the mail today, if I donate some money, I will be a friend of Mitt.  Well, I don’t exactly feel like buying Mitt’s love.  Besides, his hair scares me.  I think he is the adult version of Eddy Munster.

 

 

 

So, I’m not going to get pictures of Monument Valley up until next week, probably because I’m lazy and ran out of time.  I took a lot of pictures and did name them and put them in order, I just did not get around to shrinking some of them so I could put them up on here.  I do have this picture though.  If you have not seen the movie “300” on the IMAX screen, you really are missing something.  Not sure what that something is, but I like it.

 

 

 

 

My MS150 bike ride is this weekend.  I leave tomorrow for it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I predict mild sunburn and a sore arse.  It is going to be HOT on Saturday – pushing 100F.  But it will be a dry heat.  Maybe I’ll remember to take pictures.

An 11-year-old boy was killed by a black bear on Sunday at a camping area in one of the National Forests not too far from Salt Lake.  Everyone is up in arms about it asking how it could have happened.  Well, bears happen to be one of the largest predators on the planet, and Utah has black bears, so…

 

The bear was hunted down and killed.  Apparently, the same bear had been bothering other campsites earlier in the morning.  The thing was looking for food.  The Yogi Bear comparisons aren’t far off here – this thing was looking for picnic baskets, or whatever was around.  Bears are smart, but they also prefer to stay away from people.  The problem is, people in the woods are dumb and leave food out.  The bears smell the food (they have a very good sense of smell) and they come looking for it.  This campground has no bear boxes or rules about protecting food.  People just go along like they were in their own homes.  If you have food on yourself, on your clothes, or on your sleeping bag, a bear may mistake you for food.

 

It was right for the authorities to kill this bear.  This bear had actually eaten part of the kid.  That would make him more fearless in the future and willing to get close to people for food, or even go after another camper.  Most bears won’t eat people; they just maul them or run away.  For the most part, black bears are afraid of people.  As soon as a bear starts eating people, it will continue to do so.  The best thing to do is keep people and bears away from one another, or at least discourage the bears from coming close.  The only bear out there that isn’t naturally wary of man is the polar bear, and that is because they live in an environment where anything that moves is a potential meal. 

 

The people around here need to get over the fact that we live in the West amid mountains that have bears and cougars in them.  From time to time someone is going to get attacked and even killed because people are stupid.  The Forest Service probably needs to do more to educate people on camping in bear country and put up the big metal boxes for storing food.  It was a tragedy, but it will happen again because people have very short memories.

I spent last weekend in Monument Valley.  I'll have some pictures up later. Maybe.  I've got a 150 mile bike ride this weekend.  I'm pretty much done getting donations at this point.  I collected enough to get a jersey. 

 

While in Monument Valley, I saw plenty of 4X4 vehicles, but nothing like this:

 

 

I haven't figured out how the thing's motor can even get those wheels moving.

 

Speaking of cars, I'm looking for a new one, or at least a newer used one.  It sucks.

So much to ramble on about and so little time.

 

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson got in a little tussle with a building contractor the other day.  The mayor seems to be a bit of a magnet for things like this.  Not that the contractor is innocent, but the good mayor’s way of handling tense situations is to make them worse.  If you ever find yourself in a negotiation/mediation situation, and Rocky Anderson enters the room, I recommend you jump out the window.

 

People thought they saw a UFO over Salt Lake yesterday morning.  Turned out to be a miniature blimp that had “accidentally” gotten loose.  Looks more like the guy who makes this things got some free advertising from the local news.  Good job!  It makes you think though – ever since digital cameras and video equipment has gotten cheap enough to be everywhere, you don’t hear about nearly as many UFO sightings.

 

But the best has to do with the bride that got kidnapped by her parents last year the day before her wedding.  This woman, Julianna Myers (formerly Julianna Redd) was taken by her parents from the Salt Lake area to Grand Junction, CO and held there overnight.  The parents brought her back the next day after the wedding was to take place.  Evidently, they really did not like this guy, or the idea of their little girl getting married.  Julianna has been enjoying minor celebrity status in the area since then and her 15 minutes of fame keeps getting stretched out as the media covers her parents’ hearing this week.  This couple has been married for less than a year, just graduated from college (they are both in their early twenties) and they just had their first kid (pretty much 9 months after the wedding).  Julianna, I hope this guy was worth it.  My prediction is that you two will be divorced within 5 years and you will have at least 2 kids hanging onto you as you figure out what the hell went wrong.  I’m sure you’re parents will still not be talking to you at that point. 

 

And a couple from Park City, Utah were sitting behind that jerk of human being, Mr. Andrew Speaker, who, knowing he had a nasty case of tuberculosis, got onto an international flight anyway.  They won’t know for another month if they are positive or not.  Way to go, Mr. Speaker.  I hope you get debarred.

Some time ago I posted a picture of Senator Clinton that looked as if she were about to eat who ever it was she was talking to at the time.  Since then I have been trying to find odd pictures of the candidates to post, but the only odd photos I’ve seen have been of the president.  Go figure.  Here is one I found of the other candidate from New York.

 

 

He looks like he wants someone to pull his finger.  You know he can’t win because he has no hair.  I might vote for him just because he has no hair, but probably not.  I think this cartoon I found is more appropriate.

 

 

This cartoon was done by Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star.  I think he is dead on.  It is a spoof of the ride Ben Carpenter took on June 6.  Whatever Giuliani has done in the past will be forgotten when Mr. Law and Order, Fred Thompson steps up.  What has the man done politically?  I haven’t a clue.  But he played one hell of an admiral in Hunt for Red October.  He would have more potential of being another Ronald Reagan then any of the other candidates, but whether he could pull it off would be the great unknown.  I know he is a senator, I know he is from Tennessee, but other than that, he’s just an actor to me.  Giuliani cleaned up New York City, made Times Square a place to be, and handled the September 11 attacks very well by coordinating things as well as could be given the circumstances.  But which one has had the better face time? 

Been traveling for work lately and haven’t had the time to write much.  Haven’t been keeping up with local happenings either.  I could rail on about the Real team ownership and how they continue to make themselves look bad (now it is parking issues), but I’ve gotten frustrated enough with that whole thing that I would rather just not acknowledge their existence.  Pretty much the same think I do with the NBA.

 

I’m still trying to get ready for the MS 150 Bike Tour later this month.  I’ll be doing long rides on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend in an attempt to get my butt ready for what this is going to feel like.  I’m looking forward to it though.  You should check out my participant site if you haven’t recently.  Feel free to donate something if you would like.

 

News of the dumb: there is now a new physical ailment – Wiiitis.  Dr. Julio Bonis got it playing tennis on his Wii, so he wrote about it in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.  How the human species has made it to the top of Earth’s evolutionary ladder is beyond me.