JackAscii

Straight Outta Compton and I took a trip to Brimstone Recreation Park this past Sunday to do a little trail riding. Per the official Brimstone trail map, the trails are rated either easy, moderate, or difficult. For the most part, we tend to ride the moderate trails as they provide some challenges but not anything thats going to get us KO’d. The first moderate trail we attempted was 95 (also known as the “Mike Branch” trail). Anyway, roughly five minutes in it became a apparent to me that the recent rain had washed it out and made it nearly impossible to pass. So…we turned around. This was pretty much par for the course for the rest of the day.

The good aspects of Brimstone were that there were lots and lots of trails to ride and that each trail seemed to have some type of interesting  (sarcasm) site associated with it. The bad aspects were that the trails were not always clearly marked which resulted in team clueless (me and S.O.C.) getting lost from time to time.

Anyway, not much more to add. I only took a couple of pictures and completely forgot to video record anything. Anyway, here is a picture of S.O.C. sitting on his ride in front of a mammoth 4 ft. waterfall. This particular waterfall was clearly marked as a point of interest and even had its own fancy sign posted out front (a sign for a 4 ft. waterfall seems appropriate). Here is a picture of my ATV in front of the monster pond. This location was exactly as interesting as the waterfall.  Without a good back story on why its called the monster pond, this pond pretty much sucks.

Quick anecdote… Near the end of the trip S.O.C. and I visited the Rob Sexton Cemetery. Prior to arriving at the site, we had seen maybe 3 people over the course of the 3 hours we had already been on the trails. However, once we got to the cemetery, we ran into two dudes and a kid. One dude had a sidearm, one guy didn’t have a shirt (not sure if he had pants either – he never turned to face us – thankfully), and the kid did not appear to like city folk too much. Anyway, once I took the whole scene in I began to wonder how long it would take the authorities to find my body. Honestly, who looks for a body in a cemetery.

Trip Summary

Total Trip Miles: 40

Total Trip Time: ~ 4 hours

Total Hours on ATV since Purchase: 14.7

Total Miles on ATV since Purchase: 123

Not to be outdone by Chevy and Chrysler’s recent success in re-releasing models previously retired, Ford is going to bring back the 1977 classic cargo van. Details are still emerging, but early word has it that it will either be called the Ford Pervert or the Kidnap Cargo Van. Dealers will be required to conduct a full background investigation on all potential buyers.

McJack@ss (mic ‘ jak ‘ @ss) – 1. An employee of the McDonalds fast food chain who engages in clown-like activity . 2. Anyone who thought the McRib was good. 3. A parent who encourages their child to play in the McDonalds play area without first allowing their food to settle. The end result of this type of activity is vomit and or an unappreciated odor.

Inverted rubber – Rubber that contacts the ball with its smooth surface, and is glued to the rest of the bat with its pimpled surface. With a larger contact area, this type of rubber generally produces more spin than pimpled rubber, although some rubbers are designed to have the opposite effect.

JackAscii’s Comment: It’s no surprise that table tennis is not often discussed in public. I feel uncomfortable typing the phrase “inverted rubber”.

Pimples – Rubber that contacts the ball with its pimpled surface. Produces different effects on the spin compared with inverted rubber due of the reduced contact area and flexibility of the pimples.

JackAscii’s Comment: Terrible term, equally terrible definition. As a group, ping pong players are not the most attractive assemblage of folks*. So why throw gas on the fire with this term? Couldn’t it have been called Spinners or Bespeckles (found this using the ole thesaurus – in your faces!)?

* For perspective, ping pong players are not as narly as those guys from Best Buy’s Geek Squad, but still a little more trollish than your average Chess enthusiast.

Third ball – The stroke hit by the server after the opponent’s return of the serve. Because the serve can be used to make attacking difficult for the opponent, the third ball is frequently the first strong attacking stroke in any table tennis rally.

JackAscii’s Comment: Third Ball. It’s two more than my buddies college roomate.

Above is a graph representing the age distribution of my home town, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Below is an announcement from the local newspaper, the Oak Ridger.

Go Wildcats