Lost in OK

For many years now, I’ve been using webhost4life as the hosting company for my various websites.  When I signed up they offered really top notch service and a reasonable price (especially for .NET hosting, which I was primarily using at the time).  However, over the last year or so, their service has become increasingly unreliable and even at the best of times, extremely slow.  Earlier this week, this site went down unexpectedly.  I contacted support and they told me it would be 24-48 hours for a response to the problem.

So after a break of 16 years, I hopped on the bike and headed out on Freewheel, Oklahoma’s cross state bicycle tour.  I probably should have trained some for the ride because the first several days took a lot out of me and for the first time I came short by 30 miles one day.  However, the ride was beautiful and by the end I was feeling top notch.  I didn’t shoot much, but below are some pictures from the trip . . .

Trying to get caught back up on my photos.  Thought I would share with you a few pictures from this year’s Norman Music Festival . . .

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I needed a little break from all the craziness and I hadn’t posted any pics in awhile, so here is a tiny little gallery of some pictures from last year’s blizzard.

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There comes a time in every man’s life when he is asked to shave his head for a good cause.  While some might hesitate from such a challenge, a proud few refuse to shirk from the cause.  Inspired by my friend Dustin, this year, at 2:00 PM on March 28th at VZD’s, I will be shaving my head in support of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.  That’s right, all fur must go!  St. Baldrick’s helps raise funds for childhood cancer research, certainly a noble cause.  If you can help, please consider donating to this organization at my sponsorship page:  https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/nlorenz.  Even one dollar would provide much-needed help to this critical research.

I’m having a difficult time remembering a film that has incensed me as much as James Cameron’s latest effort, Avatar.  I have never had a great deal of respect for Cameron’s work, the first two Terminator films exempted.  In fact, his greatest commercial success, Titanic, has always been one of my most despised films.  However, with Avatar, Cameron has truly done something monstrous.

I know there have been several complaints about this film that have been floating around, the small controversies about the notions of racial loyalty, the white man’s savior complex and Sigourney Weaver’s incessant smoking.  Even the Catholic Church has strongly criticized the films endorsement of nature worship.  I think all of these small critiques are hitting around what is really really wrong with this film.

I know I haven’t really posted on here in over a year.  Its been a strange year for me and I don’t know that I’ve absorbed it all yet.  Because of this, I haven’t felt any strong urge to spill my soul in words.  But a new year is always a time of reflection, a time to look back and see what you loved and lost during a period of time.  I know it’s an arbitrary point in time, but if there a fixed point to use, it’s as good as any.

A great little short from the slightly bent mind of Rodrigo Blaas at Pixar.  Watch in HD if you have the bandwidth:

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Walter J. posted this interesting little legal tidbit about the bicycle licensing requirements of Nichols Hills to the OBS mailing list:

Sec. 22-221.  Impoundment.

Any bicycle found upon any of the streets, sidewalks, alleys, parks, or public ways, or upon private property not under the control of the owner of the bicycle, and not licensed as herein required, or which does not otherwise comply with the provisions hereof or state law, shall be impounded until compliance is made. Abandoned bicycles shall be seized and impounded for safe keeping by the police department.

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I hate well crafted pop music, it won’t get out of my head.  But they say misery loves company, so for the rest of you . . .