Id not experienced the joys of bocce ball before, and I found that I was quite fond of it, though perhaps my favorite part was the fact that there were smaller, lighter 'kids balls' that we learned on, and then eventually graduated to the heavier 'adult balls'. There was no shortage of jokes about this fact, again proving that my sense of humor hasnt developed one iota since I was 13.
Oh, there were also some wings in there somewhere too, but I was only reminded of that the next day when experiencing the down side of drinking gallons of crappy beer, the consumption of which was only matched by the intake of spicy food.

And for those of you who had expressed concern for my well being after being told that I couldnt drink, I was actually busted several times at the party by my doctor, each time in an even more compromised position then the last, until fate found me in front of the house unable to recall how a quick release worked.

At some point the good doctor patted me on the head and told me that it was 'all good', which ultimately gave me the green light to totally over do it.
Anyway, from all of your friends and enemies at Swobo, happy 17th birthday (again) Complayna.

Nate got ahold of us to say that his 'The Way Bobby Sees It' DVD got destroyed during shipping, and that hed also recently been tangled up in a hit and run, which left him battered and bruised, but when I expressed sympathy for his ordeal, he simply responded with this;

Elmes sent in some shots of a couple of the Clifbar Two Mile Challenge crew getting, as my old school chum from Boston might say, 'wicked crafty' with a Swobox.
Obviously riding a Swobo bike hasnt yet had an adverse effect of their I.Q.

If necessity truly is the mother of invention, then when youve spent as much time on the road as the Two Mile Challenge team have, delirium is inventions wet nurse.

Bless you both for using your noodles, and congratulations for being the very first to ever offer up a Swobo bike box creation for The Bummer Life. Just for that, email me at stevil@swobo.com and give me the address of whatever motel youre staying at next, and Ill get a couple of our organic cotton t-shirts out for you..

That way the box can maintain its function as laundry mover/sleeping quarters, and the t-shirt can be worn in a myriad of ways- our favorite of which being modeled here by our own Skipper.

Ok, in regards to the list of records I posted on Tuesday, many folks pointed out glaring omissions. I concluded that post by saying that it was a severely incomplete list. Yep, The Refused, The Beastie Boys, Metallica, Jon Spencer, Mastadon, Public Enemy, The Black Sheep, Urge Overkill, Rocket From The Crypt, Uncle Tupelo, The Fluid, Mudhoney, Cat Stevens, Kyuss, Fudge Tunnel, Ben Harper, Pantera, And yes, absolutely Squirrel Bait... For one to say that they would be able to narrow all of that down to just a few would be to say that you only have a finite number of moods, which of course is untrue.
I find that its far easier to pick a favorite food or color then something as complex as music.

However, upon completing the list, and scanning all of those covers and then finding the other covers that wouldnt fit on my scanner elsewhere on the interweb, the byproduct of the exercise was that I took three hours out of my day and reflected very exclusively on something I love dearly.

Its true- I left out a bunch, but when all was said and done, I was left with a feeling of quiet contentment, and that didnt suck at all.

Evan caught up with us about something I love, and something I dont love;

"Stevil,
Thanks for the ups on the site. I got a rad $6.66 tip the other day, I'm waiting on a pic to be emailed to me...

On a sadder note, I ran across these pics tonight, didn't know if you'd seen them. They're beautiful but heartbreaking...

peace
evan

I hadnt seen those, and it did my heart good to see a picture of our old friend Richie in among them all.
R.I.P. Atip, indeed.

Hey, ifin you find yourself in or around the great city of Denver this weekend, dont forget that Urban Assault Ride is about to come crashing down around your ears.

Weve dropped another bomb of Swobo goodness on the organizers of the event, so why not get out there and swoop on some of it? You know if I was there, I certainly would.

Lets get back to the mail bag, shall we?

Jim writes;

"First - I made a group ride living hell for myself by soloing off the front and going all out to try to play keepaway for nearly a half hour on Saturday. Put five minutes into the group, but destroyed my legs,
could barely turn the pedals. After the regroup, we headed up the long false flat/hill finish, and when I went to sprint, I could only turn a steady 666 watts. I nearly fell off the bike laughing. Yep, when your legs feel like hell at the end of a hard ride, it's because THEY ARE HELL ITSELF!

More importantly - check out how food prices in this damn Bush economy are impacting a couple poor people. It's sad, really... The pictures tell the story.

All the best,

Jim"

Brutal. Really, really brutal.

Now in the standard schizophrenic fashion I jump from one topic to the next, heres an email from Monk;

"Is there anymore disturbing feeling then sitting on a warm public toilet seat. It only conjures up images of the horrifying events that must have just transpired? Lord, have mercy on our blackened souls.


Always diligent in bummer life avoidance,
Monk"

Thanks for that Monk, youve really helped kick Friday off right.

Wanna peep a shot of the new Swobo intern?

Weve got nothing but the utmost confidence in her, but Ill be damned if she thinks Im gonna let her keep my glasses. I cant see a thing without them.

Tyler wrote in with a heads up;

"Hey, Stevil, just figured I'd give you a little heads up on an MTV thing that was shot in my town. Lots o' Swobo logos, bro.

Clicky for linky.

...and I stumbled across this photo I thought you might be stoked on:

Yep, those would be interwoven bacon slices for use as insulation between bun and burger.

Tyler"

Thats deliciously horrifying.

And speaking of bacon, as adamant as Ive been about boycotting this years Tour, last evening I was pried out of my funk with an invite to Yafro and Devons house for some home cooked food and a viewing of stage 17 which was projected on a movie screen in their backyard.

The bummer lifes got nothin' on me.

I will leave you with this bit of sweet news to ponder over your weekends from Tobie;

"You need to know about this.

word,
Tobie"

Ill bet his parents are very proud.
Happy Friday everybody. Well catch you on the flip flop.

Oh- by the way, this Saturday the 26th, Santa Cruz Bicycles is having a garage sale that theyve been threatening to throw for several years, and are unloading a whole crap ton of goods. You might not be familiar with that particular unit of measure, but its a big one to be sure.
Anyway, Erin the sales maven and I will be piggy backing on the bash and will have a slightly smaller crap ton of Swobo goods on sale as well, so if youre in the neighborhood, swing on by and get in on the deals.

Until then, then.
S.K.