Showering in Reykjavik

Despite being an engineer, I'm an extremely non-linear thinker. Tonight I found myself laughing hysterically in my car while driving home after a nice ski.

I was totally rockin' out to the latest Mars Volta disk, and there was some lyrics that mentioned "sulfur." Rather than thinking about chemicals and chemistry, I was immediately reminded of Iceland.

Everywhere in Iceland smells like sulfur--two continental plates are drifting apart, and sulfuric gases from earth's core escape into the water. Even the cleanest water still retains the sulfuric scent, particularly warm water--which outgasses any dissolved gas since water has less solubility as it increases in temperature.(this is also why cold water yields cloudy ice cubes) In this case, it's Hydrogen sulfide gas escaping into the air. So when you're showering, you're essentially cleaning yourself with water that's smells like rotten eggs.

Anyway, I was staying in Reykjavik's hostel -- a really nice place, and I highly recommend it to anyone travelling in Iceland-- and there was only one bathroom at the end of the hall. There were sets of showers on either end of a row of sinks in the center.

The first morning, I stepped in, surveyed the empty room, saw the sinks, and one door connecting to the showers. It had a picture of someone showering, showing a little buttcrack on the bottom of the illustration. I giggled, and walked into the shower area, where there were 2 stalls.

Illustrations were fairly common in Iceland -- when their words for simple things such as "Police" are Lögreglustöð, they have to figure out some way for everyone to understand simple concepts. (Although I'm fairly sure a few girls in my room couldn't understand them, given their odor.)

Anyway, I showered, got dressed very discreetly in the dry area next to the stall, got going, running into nobody. I did this 2 more days, showering on the same left side. The fourth day, all showers were going, except for my one default shower. I hopped in and did my business. I dried off inside the showerstall, and stepped out into the sink area. Immediately in front of me, there was a young woman who had apparently just showered next to me. Across the way, there was a guy.

And then I noticed something I hadn't before. The illustration across the bathroom from me was also of someone showering, but decidedly Male. I turned around and looked at the illustration behind me.....which was of a woman showering.

I briskly, nonchalantly, & inconspicuously stepped out of the bathroom. I don't recall if either of them noticed me at all. To this day, I don't think that encounter has crossed my mind since it happened.

In my defense: This was the first hostel on my trip in which I stayed that didn't have co-ed bathrooms. In all the hostels in Norway, I just walked into the bathroom, grabbed an available shower/stall unit and hopped in, changed, and finished my business in front of the sink.

Apparently, there's different rules in different countries.

.......Some people are weird, man.

Vasaloppet Race Report

I can't find my lobster gloves. I could use my downhill gloves, but I just went down to my car and tried them, but they barely fit without glove liners. So -- it would be impossible to use them with glove liners and hand warmers. And they're full fingered.

I just got a text from the guy I was going to carpool with. He bailed out.

I just did too.

I'm going to stay in and drink coffee & baileys for an even more baililicious morning.

Vasaloppet '08

I'm skiing the Mora Vasaloppet tomorrow. Although the Birkie is my primary focus this season, I really wanted to ski it this year--last year it was held on a lake due to warm weather & lack of snow.

It will be held on the Vasa trails tomorrow at 10am.



I was originally scheduled to ski 58km, but they've shortened it to 35km due to weather.

I will be wearing:
+Gore windstopper fullface balaclava with downhill skiing goggles.
+double layer lobster gloves with hand warmers.
+A base layer, mid layer jersey, and a windstopper fleece.
+my nike running pants over craft tights, over my craft windstopper crotch undies.
+wigwam wool socks.

If I get too cold, I'm stopping at a rest station and quitting. The snow will be terribly slow, and this is only a training ski.

Samsonite!? I was way off!!

So my Super Tuesday predictions weren't quite on. Here are some revelations:

1) Hillary took California 52%-42%, much to my surprise. One thing I forgot to consider was that many Californians had mailed in their votes weeks ahead--including many people who voted for John Edwards--4% worth. I can't think of anyone who would walk from the Edwards camp to the Hillary camp with the option of Obama.

2) Barack is trailing, but not by much. He took Minnesota, North Dakota, and....my precinct. He beat Hillary 204-57. As of this moment, Hillary leads 823-741 delegates--- marginally thin when you think about it.

3) John McCain pulled ahead!!!!! WTF?!?!?! This is crazy!!! Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, James Dobson, Bill Oh'Really?, (m)Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck -- the cornerstone of the Republican base -- has been deriding McCain all week, and he pulls ahead. Seriously, the core is trying HARD. This leads me to believe that Republicans ***drumroll*** are paying less and less attention to them. I'm not a religious man, but the idea of Rush & Bill Oh'Really? getting layed off and having to resort to living on welfare makes me feel happy.

4) America's knuckle dragging YECs stood with their man, Huckabee. (who looks like Kevin Spacey with a meth problem, no?) I made a fatal mistake here. I underestimated the power of....Chuck Norris. (Chuckabee?) Or God. Oh, wait. Huckabee is a far 3rd place. NEWS FLASH! God is trying to tell you something, Mike. Don't get it? Look down. There's a fork sticking out of you.

sidebar: Shit. Someone's already beat me to my next logical blog....Mike Huckabee & Chuck Norris Facts.

Fact: Chuck Norris is so corny that ethanol producers believe him to be a vast, untapped source of alternative energy.

5) A dickless shell of a man wrapped in a BOSS suit, Mitt Romney took $35,000,000 from his bank account, and set it on fire. When I see that guy, I think two things:

a) Giant Douche
b) "A fool and his money will soon be parted"

6) Perhaps I'm taking the horse before the cart, but the numbers of people caucusing are staggering--particularly in the bible belt. Georgia, Arkansas, and Missouri all went to George Bush in 2004. On Tuesday, the numbers voting for Barack and Hillary handily outnumbered those voting for the GOP's top 3 in these states. I suspect Ron Paul's voters will split about 50-50 to the democratic & republican candidates in November. Even Colorado -- with it's mega churches -- went handily blue. I suspect this is courtesy of continued reverberation from Ted Haggard, who just got ejaculated ejected from "restoration therapy."

Super Tuesday Predictions

The super bowl wasn't worth watching, but Super Tuesday is going to be interesting. Here's what will happen.

1) Barack takes California, Illinois, and perhaps the lead in super Tuesday. Hillary is too conservative for California. Don't think so? Ann Coulter will campaign for Hillary if McCain is elected, because he's "more liberal" than she is.

Hmmm. Perhaps this will increase the chance that she'll hook up with Henry Rollins.


2) Romney will pull even or ahead of McCain. McCain is probably the greatest challenger to the either Hillary or Barack, but how he's ahead of Romney is beyond me. McCain is missing two very, very important things if you're a Republican: the support of Rush Limbaugh, and the support of James Dobson. Meanwhile, most people sense that "Godstitution" Huckabee is going to drop out soon enough, and Romney's magic underwear definitely qualifies him as the wackier of the two, slurping up that 7% of America's creepiest.

McCain may have had the support from center-right Americans, but he made a big mistake about a 16 months ago. He was still opposing the Bush admin over torture, as a man who's been tortured himself. And then, he spent one weekend behind closed doors with W & Cheney, and out he came a believer in our torture policy & the Bush Admin. What really happened here, was that Bush pledged his support in '08 if John would just shut his f***ing mouth about Iraq & Guantanamo. Not long after that, GWB's support dropped below 30%, and McCain realized he got the short end of the stick. This is why he's looking waaaaay older than he actually is....he sold his soul to Cheney.

Cyling and Sexual Dysfunction

All due respect, but after reading this article, I'm pretty sure that Bjorn Andersson, despite being perhaps the best cyclist in triathon, can't get it up.


There's a huge amount of triathletes & cyclists these days that seem to obsess about body position to improve aerodynamics. The type of people that fit into this are generally the cycling equivalent of photography measurebators, and spend lots of time hanging around in online forums.

These people, fortunately, won't be reproducing. Seriously; who in their right mind would place cycling aerodynamics over the ability to use their genitals? While I may get laughed at for the spacers on my bike's stem, I will be having the last laugh when I show your dissatisfied girlfriend my O-Face.

Electronics

I have a weird phobia that I'm going to share with you.

I hate buying electronics.

Heres some proof:

Computer: Purchased in August 2002. 2.2Ghz, 500mb RAM, & DVD burner all still working fine.
Computer Monitor: Purchased in September 2002 for $25 dollars from a classified posting in my old apartment. Not bad for a 17" CRT.
DVD player: Christmas 1998.
TV: 19", purchased at Best Buy right after Christmas 1998, because I didn't own a TV to go with the DVD player. Now in storage.
Rio MP3 Player: Purchased after my last one broke in March 2003. Online, refurbed. (it still works; much longer than my Nike which lasted maybe a year.) It has 64mb internal memory.
Camera: I'd always wanted a nice digital, but it took me til 2005 to buy one. I'd been relying on the camera of my cellphone for a year. It worked surprisingly well. Right before my Norway trip, my digital broke, so I bought a very similar one. On Amazon. I think this one kinda sucks, and I have my eyes set on a new one. Hopefully it won't be for a while.
Cell Phone: over 2 years old, acquired for free when my old phone, also nearly 2 years old was returned to verizon in a class action lawsuit. FYI--Razr's are JUNK. It's on the verge of breaking, and I'm dreading buying a new one. It keeps telling me I'm using an "unauthorized charger."
Heart Rate Monitor: My favorite device, a Garmin 305, acquired from Amazon in September 2007 when my Suunto broke. The Suunto was purchased from Steep&Cheap in May 2007 when the Nike broke. The Garmin is mega sweet because it allows me to have one device for all 3 bikes, running, skiing, mountain climbing, and whatever else. It gives me heart rate, real-time speed, altitude, navigation, and other stuff I haven't discovered yet.
Stereo: Probably a decade older than me, It's a hand-me-down from my mom. She bought it from one of my dad's friends, who had in his NDSU Sigma Chi room back in the day. It has 2 large no-name speakers, a record player, and an ancient Kenwood receiver. (I threw the reel-to-reel out a few years ago.) The volume goes from 1-10, but anything over 1 is too loud for an apartment dweller. I'm sure 2 would register as a 4 on the Richter scale to my neighbors. I look forward to cranking up futuristic music in my future home on this thing.
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul. Winter 2002-2003. I will never need to buy another electric guitar.
Amp: Marshal MG100. circa spring 2003. Loud enough to play the Metrodome.

Why is this? I don't know--it's totally irrational, but walking around in Best Buy or similar stores creeps me out. It always gives me a not-so-fresh feeling. Perhaps much like the feeling most women get when someone says the word "moist" in passing conversation. That kind of feeling. I hear nothing, but my cerebral cortex hears someone saying, "moist, moist, moist, moist," while wandering around at Best Buy.

I haven't even bought DVD's in recent history. I asked for & received 300 & Anchorman for Christmas 2007.

It could be that I just hate spending money on things I deem to be non-essential, but this has been going on much longer than my frugal nature has taken over.

I hope nothing breaks this year. I've not budgeted for any electronics.