They just can’t get my name right. “They” is everyone. Usually it’s “Siegler” or “Zigler” but this time “Siglar.” At least I had a name tag waiting for me and didn’t have to roll my own with a Sharpie!
Glad I went. I’ve been involved with the Incubator in one way or another for the last few years. Recently I started offering pro bono consulting (marketing), along with several other folks including lawyers, accountants, etc. This is consulting for the entrepreneurs in residence. And there are some very cool startups in there.
One of the coolest, and I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about them yet, is Airplanes Direct. That’s right, it’s like Autotrader for planes. In fact, one of the partners founded Autotrader.com, if I heard correctly. They got an award for “fastest launch” or something similar. The guy who spoke for the company said they figured when the economy is bad people will be selling planes and when it’s good people want to buy planes. Makes sense to me.
Another thing I learned is that this business incubator is the largest of its kind on the East coast. Check it out.
I made this flyer recently for my club’s (Asheville Bicycle Racing Club) big annual race: French Broad Cycling Classic. It’s called an “Omnium” because over the three day event there are time trials, road races and criteriums.
You can get the full size flyer (PDF) and more info about this great bike race FrenchBroadCyclingClassic.com. The site is still being updated. Come out and watch the crits if nothing else. More on that later…
I can’t stop playing with Camtasia. This is a ridiculous and self-indulgent video, but I’m sure someone will like it. This is a great bike ride, and if you’re in Asheville I recommend that you check it out. For my out-of-town friends: come visit and we’ll go for a ride. I have some extra bikes!
UPDATE: The castle I mention in the video is Seely Castle. I believe he was the son-in-law of Dr. Grove and he built the castle as his home while he managed the Grove Park Inn. And, yes, Obama did stay at the Inn, I believe when he was preparing for the last debate. It was interesting to watch because the Inn is literally my next door neighbor.
Also, the times I mention in the video, e.g. 85 minutes to Craggy would be pretty fast for someone who is just a weekend warrior. Plan accordingly.
We went to a great bonsai expo at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. (Don’t let that old school web site fool you, the Arboretum itself is stunning.) I have been interested in bonsai forever and decided to get this Mugu Pine from a vendor in the marketplace. I asked the seller “what kind of tomatoes are these?” but I don’t think she was amused. The truth is that joke is an accurate representation of my gardening and bonsai experience, but I had to get the little guy. Some of the big ones were thousands of dollars. The expo had exhibitions by numerous bonsai clubs from several states. Just as impressive is the permanent bonsai exhibit at the arboretum. I took a bunch of pics and you can check them out at Flickr. Hey, there is a sample below…
My friend Chris Brock is a custom home builder in Asheville, NC. I recently put a web site together for his company, Brock Builders, Inc. They are working on a monster of a house in Biltmore Forest. It’s over 11K square feet with tons of details. I got some pics at the job site this afternoon. The gothic-revival-revival styling may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think anyone can appreciate the art of the framing in this domed ceiling. Or should it be called a vault?
My son Mars and I got to work out with Master Joe Rebelo a couple weeks ago. He has more than a dozen black belts in various degrees and disciplines, and he also the official historian for Kenpo and our art, TAI. Our instructor Derek Croley, Croley’s Martial Arts Center, does a great job getting martial arts big shots to visit and put on seminars. Master Rebelo is a pretty entertaining guy and high-energy to say the least. Mars liked it so much he got “Kenpo Joe” to sign his belt. And we did get schooled, but not as much as the black belts in the class. Near the end of the seminar Rebelo called me up to demonstrate something, on me that is. Mercifully, he changed his mind before I got there, told me to sit down, and called on a young black belt instead. Then, he proceeded to twist and contort the guy’s arms, said “you don’t scream much do you?”, and performed another move that elicited a hilarious squeal.
This one if for my main man Bennie. He was the first guy I knew to have a “serious” skateboard. It was a Kryptonics Krypstick with gnarly see-through pizza deck grip tape, Tracker trucks, and some sweet green Kryptonic wheels. He was cool enough to let me use it to commute to summer school one year in junior high. It was slower than riding my bike but I really wanted to show off that board, even though it belonged to Bennie.
Asheville’s Kevin Shelton has quite a collection of cool boards too. And he’s not just a collector; he once was pro and road for Walker skateboards. Thanks to Push Skateshop Kevin’s collection is on display in their gallery. The gallery, which is probably bigger than the skateshop, regularly has art exhibited, paintings, sculptures etc., but this collection really combines the twin forces of art and skating like nothing else. I didn’t even know about it until I started talking to Rob, the owner, when he was helping out at my son’s skateboard camp last week. He helped Mars learn some new things. Maybe I can get him to coach me.
I took a ton a pics of this collection and had a difficult time picking these few. Shelton also has quite a collection of vintage snowboards and land luges on display, but the skateboards are what do it for me. Here are some of my favorites.
We finished a major renovation project on the house this week. So, we took a break and my daughter Paris and I rode the horses around the yard for a while. From the back the house looks a lot like the Biltmore estate.
Paris’s horse was named Dusty and my trusty steed was called Cowboy. I decided to change my name to Horse for the day just to keep things weird. Our guide told me that Cowboy was a little slow and that I would have to kick him pretty often to keep him moving. Then, she said “I’m not exaggerating.” And she wasn’t. Homeboy, I mean Cowboy, was lazy. It took about 20 minutes until we came to an understanding of who was the real cowboy. After that we’re were trucking along just fine. It’s good to be back in the saddle. Yee haw!
Asheville has more than its share of Art Deco architecture, a good thing. There are a number of reasons for this. I would guess that the main reason is that the town was blossoming into a popular mountain resort in roughly the same period the Art Deco style was developing. That probably attracted architects like Douglas Ellington to come do their thing, or things.
This pic is from the corner of the Asheville Music School. It’s right down the street from my house and my kids take guitar lessons there. The building is not that exciting, but these pilasters are definitely handsome. There are a half dozen or so spread across the façade. The center strip appears to be bronze and terminates at the top with a light fixture. Those blue lights are a nice little surprise in the evening.
That’s right. This is the sequel starring my friend, and amateur stuntman, Robert Brokamp. While on point Robert discovered how slippery wet rocks can be and inadvertently added new meaning to “waterfall.” These falls are larger than they appear in this pic. Look at the third pic with Robert drip-drying to the right of that large rock for a better sense of the scale. Water + wool sweater = wet dog smell. A quick trip to the town Mall Wart for dry duds and all was well again.
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about it.
"I'm Heavy Duty!" was my original blog about everything. Now it's about new music, old records, live shows, stories, memorabilia, garage band demos, anything and everything else related to music. Over 500 posts!
"Heavy Duty Incorporated" is our blog about making things. It can be "art" or clothing or almost anything. If we or our friends make something I like to share it. See for yourself.
