Chocolate Cake Nightmares

Do 2 Triple Triangles Equal a Hexagon?

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Do your eyes deceive you? NOPE! Yes, one GT Kinesis and one GT Pulse. Both were manufactured here in the USA. I hope to have these guys built after project "X". I'm still unsure of which route I'd like to go with these? I will most likely do another redrum theme but with some custom redrum cranks, stem, and bars. This spring is off to a great start! See you guys out there!

and yes..in the background that is another tannondale crack which has been added to my collection. (thanks love)

Indio 2011

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:36:00 +0000

So I've recently just returned from Indio, California for the Coachella Music Festival with my girlfriend. For those of you that did not have a chance to make it out this year, there's always next year! This years bands were simply amazing! Arcade Fire was the most impressive band there followed by the Tallest Man on Earth, Jimmy Eat World, Good Old War, The Morning Benders, Freelance Whales & Foster The People. An amazing 95 degrees average for all 3 days with a awesome sunset to conclude the festival. The only downside to the festival was the outrageously priced and not soo very tasty vegan food to select from. The festival did have a amazing strawberry lemonade which we had unfortunately purchased about 4-5 of these at $7 each! These guys do make a killing being a food vendor and charging outrageous prices but hey, people have to eat right? We didn't get to watch the whole set to many bands besides the main headliners because many bands and artists did happen to overlap on set times. I'm glad to have gone this year as this lineup was just if not more amazing as the last time I had went in 2006. Tickets were sold out in a record time of 124 hours! None of this could have been possible without the help of my best friend Corteezy and my girlfriend Jackie, I just want to say THANK YOU & I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

?...?...?

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:25:00 +0000

I'm not one for repainting let alone corrupting this 93 Cannondale Tarck's original paint job (the original paint job was pretty much all coming apart) but I'm pleased as to how this came out! I'm having all the decals redone and I'm pretty excited to ride this bad boy when it's all finished. I am changing one major detail to it tho..but you'll just have to wait and see! I'll be seeing you guy's out and about in the spring!

Spring into new heights!

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 20:02:00 +0000

I hope that you all have had a great Holiday and a safe New Years Eve. Spending time with the family is always great and I look forward to spending my next Christmas eve with the "in's" but before I get ahead of myself, I'd like to say that I'm pretty excited about what 2011 has to bring! 2011 is going to be a great year with nothing but amazing adventures/challenges! So far I've booked Coachella to my calendar and I hope to you see you guys out there too! I'm pretty excited to put together new bikes to ride through out the spring, summer, & fall. I wish I could call out winter too but unfortunately my body tends to disagree with the colder weather and there isn't a thing that I can do about it (thanks Uncle Sam!). This winter alone has been one of the hardest (if not the hardest) seasons my joints have had to adjust to considering I've been on bedrest and crutches for the past 2 months. But things are starting to look up for the better as I think (hope) my body has finally adjusted to the weather and I'm now starting to take it easy and able to walk better! Hopefully my knee and ankle/foot heals up to 100% as I have a couple of new surprises for my FG city riders. I'm now starting to get into the "bike" mindset and need to get things in order for the new season. I hope to have my Caad 9 built up and ready to ride by spring but with other projects that are soo much closer to finished that the Caad 9 may have a bit of a delay but we'll see. Goals for this spring and summer are to be lighter, faster, & stronger than last season. I am very lucky to have a amazing set of friends and a girl that support me and push me and for this I thank you! Things are definitely starting to look up and I hope they are for you too. If you wanna go for a ride and want to start training hit me up soon and we'll link up and if not, I guess I'll see you out there!

My 500 Days of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:28:00 +0000

I wanna start off by saying that I am sorry to all my readers. I have been neglecting my blog therefore have been also been neglecting you (my reader) as well! I've been up and down this entire summer and now that it has come to an end, I will probably be writing here more! I started the summer with an amazing training regiment (cycling & diet) that consisted of constant cycling in the mornings followed by an easy commute to work. I would normally log in roughly 30-50 miles a day and maybe try to get an easy city cruise in on the evenings. My summer started off well until the unexpected happened! Yes that's right I met a girl, unfortunately there are no words to describe how I felt about her except for if you were fortunate enough to have met her with me, your immediate thoughts would have been "I get it". Many of you that know me, know that I'm kind of an arse towards women and pay them no mind/attention but this girl (let's call her "summer"), summer and I "clicked"...(If your familiar with the movie, I'll tell you now that this story pretty much has it's similarities with the movie). I met Summer at a Tuesday bike night (tarck tuesdays) gathering and she was one of the very few girls that was into "tarcking". At first she was just another girl on a bike in my eyes but after seeing and chatting up with her a few more tarck tuesday nights, I had thought to myself there could be more to this girl so I think I'll try to dip my toe into the water. It wasn't really until a Friday night bike ride (Cmass) is when I thought I would give this a shot. In the beginning of the ride I was pretty much chill but was trying to strategize a way to try to get to know her more (hit me up for more info). But to make a long story short, I get a text from Summer later on that evening asking why I didn't hang out with the rest of our group? (right then I knew I had a shot) The next 3 day's went by fast as we were texting and hanging out quite frequently. It was fun and exciting but on the third day is when I attempted to kiss her and boy was it worth it! The timing couldn't have been more perfect (no homo). We spent many nights together but also many nights separated (her call not mine). So throughout the rest of the summer (july and august) we had many ups and some downs mostly due to her fickleness and constant inconsistent feelings, I for some stupid reason didn't want to give up! I'm not one to give up easily unless the other party gives up (which unfortunately was yesterday). Sorry I have to stop. Call if you want the rest/more in depth of the story or I may continue this at a later date.

p.s. we never dated

Track Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:51:00 +0000

As you can see my addiction to track bikes is a little insane but if your anything like me, you like to have options. I'm not one to argue ones style, regardless if it's not my "style", I'll support your decisions and tell you to "do what you do!". I just recently finished up two of my track bikes (09 Cinelli Vigorelli & 07 FTP), which I can proudly say that this is the end of my track addiction! Now it's time to plan a new road build. I've actually made my decision on which route I'm going to go as far as building a new race bike and then a training bike, which one will come first (I still have yet to decide)? I'm looking into building a TIME RXR ULTEAM and a Moots Vamoots RSL. More than likely the Moots will come first because I've been looking forward to building a bike with a BB30 setup, and since the TIME RXR isn't available with a BB30, I'll be building up the Vamoots first. I just need to pay off my cc's first!

Seattle Bound!

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Well it's official! I'm heading to SEATTLE!!! WOOT WOOT! I'll be taking off 5/14-5/17. No, I will not be going alone but with my best friend CORTEEZY!!! Thanks homie for making this happen! I can't wait to head out there and drink coffee and that's all. Just kidding! I'm excited to actually see the Space Needle and visit some friends. I hope their Sushi will be as amazing as their coffee! I would love to bomb the hills out in Seattle but I doubt anyone rents bikes out there (well at least nice ones). If all goes well out in Seattle, I just may buy a one way ticket out there and move on!

Saglife X MashSF

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:41:00 +0000

I just recently (2 days ago) got a new backpack (Thanks Ron!). I've been contemplating on getting a new bag to cycle with and have been back and forth about having to go with either a messenger bag or a backpack? After months of in depth research, I've finally come to a decision and decided on the backpack! I knew I wanted to go with "Saglife" but wasn't too sure on which backpack to with because they have several models. After some research I came across one bag that they had collaborated with MASHSF with! I instantly was all gooogly eyes for this bag, because not only for the makers/designers that designed it but mainly for it's functionality. It has several compartments and a huge main compartment to boot! It's very stealth looking, accommodates up to a 17" laptop, many accoutrements, and has several reflective labels on it. I have also used a whole can of ReviveX water repellent spray on it just in case it rains. Most of my research came off of "Prolly's" website. He actually has done a great job in describing the bag and how well it holds up in NY street riding! Once again I'd like to thank Ron for hooking it up with the bag!

my first chocolate cake

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:57:00 +0000

The year was 1990 and I was in just starting the 4th grade needed some new sneakers. I was constantly playing basket ball with some BK's that my mom had bought me the year before. As I was hustling up and down the court, I started to notice almost every kid (the cool ones) were all wearing Nike Air Jordans! I looked at my feet and asked myself "where are mine?". After that question was asked I started to plan and scheme ways to manipulate my mom into buying me my own pair. A couple of days later I came to a solution! I had come up with a lie and told my mom that my feet hurt and that I possibly have out grown my BK's and told her that I needed a new pair of basketball shoes. She gave me this look (which was the look of "my son's feet hurt") and I thought to myself "YES" I'm almost home free! So the following weekend my mom brought us (my brother, my sister and I) to Lincoln Wood Town Center Mall to buy us some new clothes and me some new sneakers. As we walked into the mall, we started to shop around for some clothing and picked up some new gear for school but towards the end of the trip my mom remembered that I needed new sneakers! I was screaming "YAY" in my head but then she started moving towards "PAYLESS" then I was screaming "NOOOO!". I had to think fast and told my mom "Mom..I don't like any of the shoes there and told her that I saw a pair upstairs at the "Foot Locker" that I really liked!" She gave me this look of "I know what your up to!" but then I attacked with a sad puppy dog look. She gasped and was like "show me!" I ran as fast as I could to Foot Locker and there it was looking down on me, my first and last pair of Jordans that I would own for the rest of my childhood. The Air Jordan VI's in black and infrared. My mom waved the shoe sales man and then looked at me and was like tell him which ones you wanna try on. I looked up and told him the Jordans! He measured my foot and went to the back and grabbed my pair. I tried it on and my mom was like "how do those feel?" at this point I really didn't care about the feel but about the look! I was speechless and told my mom "I want these!". Mom then looked at the salesman and asked "How Much?" His response was "$98.00". My mom gave him a look of disgust and said "WHAT!!!!" she started to head towards the door and I yelled "PLEASE!!" everyone at school has them! That is when the jigg was up, I spilled my guts and my mom knew what I was up to. She stood there while I explained my situation and even the salesman gave his 2cent's. My mom finally gave in and pulled out her credit card and SWIPE! Right then and there I truly and will always love my mom and appreciate all of the sacrifices she has made to get me my first and last pair of Jordans.

Moving Forward

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:05:00 +0000

So I've been thinking of my future plans and where I want to go in life. I always ask myself "am I happy?" and "am I happy here?" Sadly the answer is usually "no" and then I shrug my shoulders and go about my day. One question that I do ask myself and know the answer to is "where would I like to end up and eventually settle" and my honest answer is Seattle. I try to avoid telling people this because they may try to talk down this awesome city but when people ask "why Seattle?" I then ask "why not?" I'm a fan of the west coast and what it has to offer but then again when you move towards the North West you have more precipitation than that of the South West. I personally like having 4 seasons and enjoy precipitation. Although I've never been to Seattle, I can already tell you that I'm going to love it "How?" (one may ask). Well, I know myself and know what I like and dislike. I enjoy an awesome scenery as well as the city life. I was told from one of my good friends that Seattle is kinda like San Francisco (awesome city) but slower. He couldn't have put that description into better words for the city to totally win me over! I enjoy the city life and city night life that is surrounded by down to earth people and if I just so happen to get bored one day, well then I can drive out of the city and enjoy the outdoors. People say that it's raining all the time (I enjoy the rain), it's gloomy (I'm not that much of a fan of the sun), and that people out there are depressed (that's because their losers and need to take control of their life). I plan on visiting Seattle end of May to get a feel for the city and browse the streets on possible residing area's.

New Years

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Alcohol, drugs, & sex will be all around us tonight! 70% of people will be doing 1 out of 3 of these sinful acts this evening, 20% will be doing 2 of the 3, 5% will be doing all 3, and the rest well are just losers. Which percentage will you fall into this evening? I personally will be shooting for 2 of the 3. I'm very excited for the evening planned as I hope it will be pretty eventful! A very close friend from Houston had flown in last night to come celebrate this evening and has brought along one of the Holiest Grail status beers known to mankind with him! Yuengling which is brewed and only distributed out east is one of the best Lagers that I have ever had the privilege of ever consuming will be at our get together this evening for our drinking pleasure. I am truly blessed for all the things that have happened this past year and greatful that I will start the New Year with my best friends and relatives I've ever had! Much love and respect to all! Be safe and Welcome to 2010!

return of the space jam

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:47:00 +0000

I for one am not a fan of retro's and especially re-retro's of Jordan sneakers but if done right (staying within the original colorways) I will make the exception. Early this year it was rumored that the Jordan XI Space Jams were going to be re-retro'd and a possible release date was stated. They (Jordan Brand) had stated that the original release date was for November 23rd but then was pushed back to December 24th. The 24th is drawing near (2 days) and I am personally not a big fan of the patent leather design on the 11's due to nasty crease marks that can come during wear. I have debated on purchasing these or save my money and collect the Jordan IV's that are set to release next month. My main reason for considering buying these is that they stayed true to the original colorway and that the movie had a positive influence on me. What are your thoughts on the shoe and the movie?
FYI:
St.Alfred will release these the 23rd midnight as well as finish line online and possibly eastbay too.

Do you feel it in your fingers?

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:32:00 +0000

or do you feel it in your toes? Do you feel Christmas is all around you and will the feeling grow? Is this the only time of the year we all rack up credit card debt? I know for me it is! I feel that every time I buy a gift for someone, I have to buy a gift for myself! One reason being is that (don't hate me for this) I really can't count on too many people buying me things that make me truly happy! The one person I can always count on is myself (sorry)! reason being is that people think that I'm a hard person to shop for and they fear that whatever they buy me, I would hate it or not be as pleased with it. Of course it's easy just to ask a person, hey what do you want? but the best is when someone can buy you or make you something that lights you up when first open your gift then you know they went above and beyond of what you've originally expected out of your present. Unfortunately I really don't expect people to buy me gifts because they know that I'm high maintenance and the things I like come at a price! The things I ask for rarely come and if or when they do, I now have to compete with myself (because I hinted at an awesome gift for myself) in buying a better gift than what I thought of for myself but for whomever bought the gift for me (make sense?). Unfortunately this year is going to be a tough one because I'm broke (mainly because I'm paying "rent") and all the gifts I'm buying are going to have a lot of thought into it and at a budget...for the ones that will be receiving a gift from me let me say that "I'm sorry and I'll try harder next year!" lol...

needs and wants

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Can you differentiate the two? I often can, as long as I'm not blinded by my awesome taste in materialistic things! I guess this is what has us swimming in and out of debt. If we can separate our needs from our wants we all would be less stressful. All my life I've surrounded my life with "wants" and always put off my "needs", unfortunately many of you can say the same. I've had the privilege of meeting and making some friends that really understood the difference between the two and fortunately their lives we're simpler with no debt, a savings account, and their whole life ahead of them without the stresses of having to worry about paying bills! The main reason for this blog for today is that I just recently received an email from "Coarsetoys" announcing a new art piece release "False Friends" will be dropping very soon. Unfortunately this will set me back quite a bit on paying off my bills. I know this is a want and not a need but here's my situation, I can try to get my hands on another amazing piece of art (retail $650 < resale $1500) to add to my collection and if I decide to sell it later I can always profit from it? or shall I hold all my wants back and concentrate on my needs? I think I already have my decision made but, let me know what your thoughts are...

p.s. Yes, this will make me very happy Randy

the broken reality/the ugly truth

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:00:00 +0000

when I find myself alone in a quiet place I often start to think about the ugly truth about anything and everything. Upon pondering this repugnant reality (but somewhat pleasant to me), I've come to realize that we as people avoid the ugly truth about everything! Who we really are, our true intents, and even our very purpose. Question, when you buy a present for somebody, do you buy a present for that somebody because it's just to be nice? maybe if you hated that person but the ugly truth is that you bought that gift because you didn't want to feel guilty for being the only one not to buy a gift for him/her. Now, say you do buy something for a relative or for close friends, you buy and put some thoughts into it that will always benefit yourself (OMG this is going to be fun). My cousin, close friends, & family may already know this but whenever I get a gift, the ugly truth is that I'm really only doing this to benefit myself. For instance, I built my cousin a bike from scratch although I had other presents in mind, this one came at an awesome price that I was willing to pay & play. I had put together a one off bike that he can call his own and knowing his posse they could not bite this style (my pet peeve). Sure anyone can buy and ride a bike but to ride one that was made for you, in your style and taste is on a whole other level. After the build and having to give the bike to him, I knew 1)he would gloat to his friends about his new bike and 2) how awesome his cousin is. My original intentions were to make him happy and to get him to shut up about buying a fixed gear that we all know he was never to going buy! Now upon planning this build I realized what I was really after, which was 1)building up my "Awesome" cousin status 2)showing off my creativity & taste 3)my vast knowledge of bicycle parts. Throughout the process of this build people complimented the bike and asked constantly "is this your bike?", "who are you building this for?", & "how much does a bike like this cost?" (no,my cousin,priceless). I'm going to spell this out for all my readers, "these are the questions that fill my ego and make me who I am". I don't go fishing for these questions they just come along and what I don't understand is, why do people ask these questions when they already know the answer? I hardly ever answer questions because I'll give you this look and maybe raise one eyebrow until the ugly truth of an answer slaps you across your face and then I'll smile and you go "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" If you've ever received a gift from me or anyone else, ask yourself "why did they buy this for me?" think and then think about it again. I could go on but I've grown tired of this subject. In closing I am awesome and manipulative, and this is my ugly truth!

p.s. I'm Hella BOOJEE!

inspired by the inspired

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

do you ever wonder what inspires you to go on with everyday life, to want to live, to want to write, to be awesome, or to be motivated to do something else? who and what are your influences? majority of people will say "my peers" inspire me and motivate me to accomplish certain goals. I myself look to my peers to open doors for me and once my foot is through the door, I personally think that from here on out it's all a mental game against myself. As broad of a subject as this sounds, I think this applies to majority of situations. Think about the many situations that you've been in and ask yourself this, "Who have I looked to for strength to help me push through this wall that I have hit?" Have you helped yourself or depended on a friend to get you through this? I know that most of your answers are pretty much going to be that you have depended on someone else to help push you through a certain situation. I personally like the challenge of pushing myself through the wall I have hit. I love a mental challenge because it's puts you on a different level and alters your thoughts about how to approach certain situations. For example, I almost hit a wall today after thinking about my workout schedule, I found myself starting to fall off after my cousin has worked soo hard to get me back into the gym (thanks ron for opening that door). Today I had a choice of either raising my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) by doing my hour of cardio or finish a movie I had started about 30mins ago. I didn't turn to my cousin for advice nor did I turn to a friend but I turned to myself and weighed my options. Do I wanna finish a movie that I'd rather watch with my cousin instead of by myself or should I go after my goal (break into the 180's lbs) and just hit the gym. My heart didn't even miss a beat, I stood up off of the couch, changed clothes, and scadadled my fat arse off to the gym because in the end I knew that this decision would be a good effect to later this evening. I hit my goal (189lbs) and me and my cousin can watch "Inglorious Bastards" and laugh about it later tonight. My main trick to what inspired me to hit the gym rather than sit on my arse is this, I didn't think but rather I reacted because through past experiences the more you think about it, the more you delay yourself from doing it and after wasting countless minutes (maybe even hours) of thinking, now you have grown lazy and tired and just don't want to do anything! In this certain situation I applied the saying "actions speak louder than words!" which worked out pretty well, I didn't call anybody and asked for their advise but rather I acted on my own and inspired myself to achieve my goal. After reading this and after you find yourself in another sticky situation, think about what I said and try to alter your train of thought and motivate yourself to push through your tough situation!

chocolate cake holiday nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:03:00 +0000

I am going to start by saying that I'm very luck to have an awesome family, cousins, and friends! I am very fortunate to have my closest relatives and friends stick with me through thick & thin and always help by pointing me in the right direction at my most disarrayed moments. I look forward to what the holidays have to offer this yeas as I am very fortunate to have a glimpse of what my belated birthday/Christmas present will be this year (thanks humberto! although I would have loved to see which portrait of J.D. you had originally picked out for me to have painted). I will be trying hard this year to be able to afford gifts for all my closest relatives (as if my sense of humor and being around them isn't enough J/K!). I can't wait until this Thursday as I will stuff my face with turkey and pass out. Just out of curiosity, how many of you like stuffing? Do you prefer eating it as a side dish, next to the turkey? or stuffed in it's arse? I think it's pretty disgusting to go picking into the turkey's arse for food! sorry I was digressing a little bit. So this holiday season is turning out very good for me so far and I hope you all have an awesome one as well! I just wanna say thank you to my family and friends for being supportive of my decisions, my cousin ron for motivating me and getting me into better shape (not quite jacob yet), & humberto for making blog post #5 real and true! Thank you all!

there will be redrum.....

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:26:00 +0000

not literally, jeez. What I mean is that I have ordered my last track bike (frame only) and I'm sorry to report that it is not a Cinelli x Mash frame and for this, I sincerely apologize to all my fans (j/k). I am having thoughts of how I am going to be building this frame and I'd like to finish is before Christmas. The theme of my bike will be "Murder" as in I will be building up this bike all blacked out with minimal red accents (top headset cup). I have to be careful when executing this theme because the slightest detail like a silver chain can throw it off! It will be a "Chocolate Cake Nightmare before Christmas" my Christmas present to myself! I look forward to this build because this will be my last track bike build! To all of those who know what frame I'm building, HUSH! but for those that don't, I say "Wait for it......................................"

am i interesting?

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:20:00 +0000

today we are going to talk about what makes me interesting? I know many of you probably don't read this (I feel like I'm talking to myself) because you have better things to do. Do you ever ask yourself why do your friends keep you around? I often do when I start to notice when I travel (going out) in big groups (about 6 or more). I ask myself why am I hanging out with these guys/girls or why are they hanging out with me? I sometimes let this go (for the sake of peace in mind) but this time I want to answer my own question. I don't find myself interesting but I do find myself unique, I tend to do things by myself because not many of my friends share the same mentality/humor as I do. Last night I had an interesting conversation with a friend about how our first impressions are usually "Shy" at first but once we get to know each other we open up. I on the other hand will probably be shy for a while (3-4 years) before you start seeing the "666" stamped on my forehead. I find that my shyness draws people to liking me, don't get me wrong I do open up and I can hold a conversation but I don't open up all the way (unless I'm drunk). People often think I'm weird because I collect sneakers and I'm into the not so general stuff that everyone else is in too. So what if I like being part of an exclusive club? so what if I have dreams about rats and cats in a cage, setting them on fire, and then waking up laughing hysterically!? I have tried opening up to some of my friends but one who has a close glimpse of my insanity would be my cousin, unfortunately (sorry Ron). I am lost in writing this post/blog? If you are reading this, what is it that you find interesting about me that makes you keep me around as a friend? enlighten me....I'm curious

the diner that never existed...

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:54:00 +0000

For those that have been my roommate or have seen my room done-up by me can say that I like things simple and try to keep a good vibe to my home. I'll generally try to go with a theme, back in my military days I was and still am inspired by J.Dean (R.I.P.) and had a good collection of 50's & 60's art prints that anchored from the wall of my various rooms. There is one print that I've never owned (due to the lack of space) but now that I've got an ample amount of space, I think I will purchase this classic print but with a Bansky Twist! "Nighthawks Forever" Bansky edition would be a great addition to our "Lounge". Can't Wait!

my distraction to save me from me

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

This information is for the ones that already know me but don't understand me. Do you ever wonder why you are where you are today? I don't particularly mean the more broad choices that you've made in life that brought you to where you are today. I mean, do you ever think about why you are in debt? I'm at a point in my life where I've come to realize that "debt" will be the bane of my existence, I know it sounds stupid but it's true. I try so hard to make it out of debt but why can't I seem to shake off the one thing that keeps me in this constant struggle for the title "debt free". Here's why, I tend to find hobbies that keep me busy and keeps me happy but these hobbies come at a expensive price, and this is the lifestyle I have chosen. My hobbies are what keeps me in debt and it's what keeps me happy right, so why don't I stop? Should I see a therapist about my problems? NO! Why? because like what my cousin always say's "Do whatever makes you happy, buy whatever makes you happy, because IT'S CHEAPER THAN THERAPY!"(FML). Buying the things I want keeps a smile on my face but I'm learning to control my impulse buys and urges to buy awesome things. Here's a little bit of an insight to my way of life, I like to buy things that many others won't have or wouldn't even think to buy. I don't like to have the feeling that when I go out there's a chance someone is wearing the same clothes, sneakers, hats, or even riding the same bike as I me. I like being exclusive in my own way. Take for instance bicycles, I've never thought I would have gotten into bikes if it weren't for my brother and my cousin. To hear them talk passionately about it made me a bit interested and once I started researching it, I found several people throwing their own ideas and styles into their own bikes and I'd love to learn on how to build and work my own bike so I asked myself what better way to learn something than to start working at the source! So I started working at a bike shop and bought my first bike which was the Fuji Obey Track bike (see profile picture, thanks the david). But that bike just got me into riding although I wanted to customize it, I didn't really want to start butchering Shepard Fairey's design. I knew that before I can start customizing my bike I had to learn the fundamentals of building a bike. I tried reading books (that didn't work) but from past experiences I've learned that the best way for me to learn is to have a hands on experience on building a bike. I've spent 2 months plotting and researching on which frame, parts, & wheels I'd like to build. After saving and researching I finally took the dive and bought the 2008 Bianchi Pista Concept and slowly started gathering parts. Once I have purchased all the necessary parts, I went to town and started my first build. My parts list are as follows (I tried not to cut any corners on any of my parts). Like I always say "If your going to do it, do it RIGHT!"
~2008 Bianchi Pista Concept (White), Deda aluminum pista bars wrapped w/ Celeste bartape, Ritchey WCS 4-axis stem (White), Miche Supertype Seatpost, Fizik Arione saddle, Phil Wood Titanium Campy Spec Bottom Bracket, Sugino 75 Crankset/75 chainring (48t black/black), MKS RX-1 Pedals/MKS cages/MKS Alpha Double Straps, Mavic Ellipse Trackwheelset (16t Surly Cog),& Vittoria Rubino Pro's (Celeste)~
more to come but in the meantime ENJOY!

my wolf pack

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:05:00 +0000

"You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my mothers sister brought Ron home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Ron joined in later. And six months ago, when Ron introduced me to Mike and Lucky, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!"

my last track bike.. I swear!

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:38:00 +0000

So today I've decided I will be buying myself an early Christmas present (not really because it'll take a month to get here) because it's all I can think about. I've been pondering this idea for quite sometime now. As I was building up my last tarck bike I was ruffling around in my parts bin and thought to myself "I have enough parts here for another track bike but all I need is a frame, hmmmmm...". Well today I've officially decided that I will be buying the Cinelli x Mash frame. As much as I hate paying retail for anything bike related, I guess I'll make an exception because I'll pretty much have majority of the parts ready to go onto the bike. I'm looking to build this bike pretty similar to how Mash had showcased it, from the Profile Cobra wing base bar down to the H+Son wheel set. I'll try to stay true to it's intended purpose and it's original setup because I'm tired of seeing this frame built up with retarded risers and basically cheap parts. Like I always say and always live by "If your going to do it, do it RIGHT!"

new goodies!

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Yesterday I dropped by the job (bike shop) and picked up my new Park Tools TS2.2 wheel truing stand. I have also ordered some of the necessary accessories needed to start building and maintaining my wheels. I look forward to learning and practicing wheel truing because I find it to be somewhat of a challenge and a quite interesting experience. I've seen many people try but fail to be a decent wheel truer but I'm looking to be an awesome one! Hopefully with some good reading and practice I'll get there. If anyone needs some minor wheel truing or for a lack of better words, if anyone trust's me enough to true their wheel for some practice let me know! But before I can get everything set up (my work station) I'll need to buy a work bench (Pedros Workbench, the david don't judge me!). Once I have everything, I'll post some pictures of my workstation!

momma's chocolate cake....

noreply@blogger.com (iSin) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:48:00 +0000

I've been trying to post something new every day but unfortunately I was basically stuck yesterday trying to find a new template/theme for this blog that would eventually go with my title. I think I picked a good one! Let me know what you think... Well, today is November 10th and it's officially my momma's birthday! Looks like this year we'll have a nice evening out at Bob Chins Restaurant (EXPENSIVO!). I've got a lot of running around to do today. Hopefully they have chocolate cake to serve at the restaurant so that momma can finish her night off with a sweet tooth. On a side note, it's been relatively 2 1/2 years since my release from the Marines and today is also the Marine Corps birthday so to all my fellow Devil Dog's, happy birthday and Semper Fi (no moto)!