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Why race bicycles?
2007-03-20 21:50:00
You can't fake a smile like that.. and for good reason.Discovery Channel's team rider Alberto Contador (C) of Spain is kissed on the podium after winning the Paris-Nice cycling race in Nice, southeastern France, March 18, 2007. Contador won the stage and the race ahead of Davide Rebellin of Italy. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
More About: Cycle , Race , Bicycles , Cycles , Snowflake

"In the event of an emergency water landing...
2007-03-20 17:29:00
...this aircraft will disintegrate into a billion fiery pieces and your physical being will instantaneously transorm into the consistency of cooked 'chum'..." As a kid flying to Turkey every couple of years, I imagined that an emergency water landing would be awesome fun. There were huge self-inflating rafts! Super-slides to joyfully launch down! (no shoes allowed!) Some of the slides doubled as rafts! Self-inflating life vests! What a crock of SHIT. Then there was that movie from the seventies, where a 747 gently touches down on the ocean without striking a wing tip, and then sinks to the bottom, completely intact.. It's rescued using inflated balloons... Further re-inforcing my delusion that air travel is as safe as jumping into a pool from a diving board, or as safe as riding in a submarine. I'm not pleased about being fed these lies.. My skin crawls with every take off and landing. Wife hates when I bring this stuff up.. I can't help it. Triggered by&nbs...
More About: Event , Water , Land , Vent , Merge

It's going to be a depressing day: Murat turns 36
2007-03-19 04:57:00
in exactly 3 minutes actually. In Turkey, it's even worse, they count the year you're in, instead of the year you just completed. So I'm in my 37th year... Depressing . Seems like yesterday I was walking to grade school munching freshly sliced and salted cucumber... dreading class and wishing I were a grown man..
More About: Press , Sing , Murat , Turn

Kebab Connection
2007-03-18 04:03:00
Not an awful movie, not great by any stretch... and not a movie I'll watch again. The lead character "Ibo" was played by someone named Denis Moschitto?? Not Turkish? I was duped, though I've never seen a Turk with a mullet before.. Ibo had a combination of bad mullet and "hat head" throughout the film.. Favorite character was the Greek guy.
More About: Connection , Connect

I Just Did A Three Way
2007-03-17 05:59:00
It was harder than I expected, but I did it.. and got it right on the first try no less.. I took a deep breath and powered it up and everything worked just fine. I'll make final connections and final-mount everything properly in the morning. You see, our home has a "butler staircase", which leads up to our third floor, which is a separate apartment. Well until now, there has not been any lighting in the two flights of stairs leading up there. So I installed a pair of three way light switches- one on the ground floor, and one on the 3rd floor. For those unfamiliar, these switches are wired such that they both control the same light fixture. In our case PLURAL- I installed three light fixtures in between the two 3-way switches... which made an already difficult task much more complicated. I guess I'm done patting myself on the back. Going to bed. Thanks for reading.
More About: Just , Three

Only in America: Father stabs baby son, throws him from car
2007-03-16 14:31:00
• Police ask FBI's help in searching for father, 30• 11-month-old thrown from car with kitchen knife stuck in back, police say• Father , boy's mother argued in car before incident, police say This baby has a guardian angel for sure as he is now in stable condition. The blade narrowly missed vital organs. I hope they find this parasite and put him away for good this time. -ATFull story on CNNThis is the first installment of my new series "Only in America ". If it happens to fixate upon the abundance of crimes against children in this country, don't be surprised. In America as in every other country, children are often treated worse than dogs treat eachother. But only in America do you see people who treat their dogs better than many people treat their children. We need licenses to hunt, to go fishing, to drive cars, to race bikes, to give massages, to carry guns, to be a plumber or electrician, to fly planes, and to operate forklifts.. But any pair of douchebags can be parents.. ...
More About: Baby , Tabs

Insulters of Turkish-ness beware
2007-03-15 19:44:00
An idea, a potentially stupid one at that, yet one which no one has ever thought of or had the stones to execute: I am going to add a Blogroll to Amerikan Turk which lists all of the blogs out there which habitually "insult Turkishness". Some believe that I am a card-carrying supporter of Article 301....pause...NOT! I will now prove it to you, by gathering all of the toxic waste dump blog sites out there which passionately spew venom, fecal matter and other poisonous tripe towards Turkish people and the Turkish Republic. The size of this list might surprise you, and hopefully give some indication of why it's so important for Turks to be perpetually on their guard against such racism and hatred. Recommendations for inclusion are welcomed. Right now this is just an idea. I haven't done it yet. Maybe I'll come to my senses and re-consider... but I doubt it.    
More About: Kish , War , Ware , Ness , Beware

Sitemeter Hates Me
2007-03-15 17:02:00
Why am I having these problems? Is this a clever way to get me to upgrade to the not-for-free version? Grrrrrr. Meanwhile, my little red Hyundai is about to overtake my Site meter's (last known) traffic count of about 58,000... on it's odomoeter, that is. It's pretty bad when you're driving more miles than you have visitors at your blog. Even worse that you notice it.
More About: Hate , Hat , Item , Meter

Mini-DVR is going back, different one is on order
2007-03-15 13:58:00
I was disgusted with the quality of the credit card sized digital video recorder I bought, so I'm returning it for a refund (less 15% restocking charge).. Also come to find out that the 2 gig SD card I bought from the same people is a fake. No wonder it was only $39. Apparently there is a huge black market for fake SD cards. Found a site last night which describes and shows how to spot the fakes. Not that mine doesn't work.. it does. It's just a cheap knock-off though. Buyer beware! Lately I am more and more attracted to the idea of selling sporting goods online to buyers in Turkey. (mainly for bicycling) I see and hear about what people pay for bike parts, computers and clothing etc, and I want to do something about it. Bicycling and bike racing will be more popular in Turkey if the equipment was less cost-prohibitive... I think I can help.
More About: Mini , Back , Rent , Order , Going

Murat's 2nd race of 2007: Wells Ave Opener
2007-03-12 03:30:00
I minor mishap left Murat with a parched mouth and a scorched throat, so all things considered, 9th place isn't all that bad...
More About: Open , Race , Pene , Wells

Video from Borrego Springs California
2007-03-10 05:03:00
The whole story of this epic day of my recent training camp can be found at Bisikletci.. or just watch this short vid and be done with it.
More About: Video , California , Spring , Ring , Cali

Mini DVR is on it's way
2007-03-09 17:13:00
Murat finally broke down on his cheap-ness and bought the tiniest DVR (digital video recorder) that money can buy. It will arrive tomorrow and I will be racing on Sunday with it attached to my person, as inconspicuously as possible. I've researched this to death, there are so many options to choose from.. This is going to be the starting point, the beta. If this thing does what they say, it will record up to 6 hours of footage with sound onto a 2 gig SD card, all in a unit the size of a credit card, which will be velcroed to either my clothing or my bike. If it records as well as my three year old Kodak digital camera, I'm happy. Question is, should I do a front view or a rear view? Guess it depends upon where I find myself during the race. Stay tuned...
More About: Mini

Quickie
2007-03-07 15:29:00
My latest is posted over at Bisikletci, giving you a run-down and charts of the first day of training camp in San Diego- including altitude profile! Kind to nerdy and stuff, but it's my thing. Other news: Sitemeter is working again, sort of. It's counting visitors, but not recording IPs or dates, times etc. Last visitor is noted to be March 3rd, yet the ticker is moving nicely and matches up with Google Analytics reporting. It looks like a decent weekend is in store for New England... meaning that Sunday's Well's Avenue criterium opener will be well attended on Sunday. I hope to go and make everyone suffer immeasurably in my wake. Why? Because last spring, the first Wells Ave race I did (April 2) averaged 24-1/2 mph.. Last Sunday I raced in California, averaging 27-1/2 mph, without much difficulty. To me, this is a huge confidence boost. I should get back to work, it's bad enough I arrived an hour late.
More About: Quick

Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Turkish Blogs-Volume 3 Final Episode 1 of 2
2007-03-05 05:58:00
Here's the latest activity in the A thru J portion of the Turkish blog matrix:A Foreign Perspective Check the view from his balcony. To die for.A Space Odyysey in English Flat-lining since NovemberAegean Disclosure Movie reviews and why "Dark hands have chosen Turkey" (2/14)almost turkish recipes Mouth-watering Puff Pastriesand misadventures of Adventures from Delhi to Bangalore, if only the whole post would display! Goodly written.Athanasia's Daily Besides a horoscope posted on 2/18 Burcu's blog is flat-liningBaris's World Look at this mess.. Page is only 1/2 full, and everything's just all over the place. Like Ziddi's blog, done poorly.Beton Dans gives us reviews of five movies I'd no intention of seeing, until now (2/12)Binnur's Turkish Cookbook Recipe for Bread with black olivesCarpetblogger Will be visiting us State-side this week. Read a good TO DO List No cow tipping?crebro Meltem is sparring with a Kung Fu grasshopper of her own it seems. One of Ebru's favorite blog...
More About: Episode , Blogs , Blog , Kish , Guide

Blogger Malfunction? or Malfunctioning Blogger?
2007-03-04 05:28:00
I don't know what's going on.. My sidebar appears only occasionally, my daily traffic is down to 1/3 of what it used to be, and I'm getting a little bit angry about it... at myself, of course. Sitemeter is dead to me. I'm having a spell of blogger burn-out, it seems. This just isn't fun anymore. Additionally, one of my new pet peaves is bloggers who do not reciprocate being linked. Petty and immature of me, but it's a real kick in the teeth when you go out of your way to promote and pump up the blogs of others... Murat is sensitive to this stuff. Whatever. I'm going to bed before I put my fist through the monitor.
More About: Fun , Blogger , Blog , Logger , Blogg

Race Report: Long Beach Circuit Race
2007-02-26 18:35:00
Surprisingly, I still had some gas in the tank for Sunday's race. My head was filled with some doubt because the master's event included former national champions galore, among the 130 or so competitors. Even so, and even though my legs were very sore from riding 200 miles in three short days, I had little trouble in the first 40 minutes. The speed was sensational, that is, for the month of February. The course is basically a flat 3 mile dog leg along the coast , with a hairpin at one end and a rotary at the other. Ran into Mark McCormack before the start, he finished a very respectable 4th, considering the caliber of the field. As for me, just as I was starting to feel warmed up, loose and relaxed, a major pile up occurred, (right in the 40th minute) taking out about a dozen racers. This was on a perfectly straight, flat road with a tail wind, so the guys who hit the deck were going 35 mph at the time. I had to grab both brakes pretty hard and came to a dead stop to avoid joining...
More About: Beach , Report , Port , Race , Circuit

Reporting From San Diego
2007-02-25 06:35:00
So much to tell you about! First the BAD:I was given a laptop by my employer, so that I can check e-mail and so forth.. But since our IT department treats the internet like some diseased mutant monkey with two heads and fifteen arms, the machine I was given was armed to the gills with anti-tampering measures.. In laymen's terms, it is impossible to reconfigure the internet settings such that I can use this hotel's free broadband service. Nor can I upload any of the great pictures or videos I've taken over the past few days. I even went to Barnes and Noble today to try the WIFI of my laptop, and wasted an hour trying to get it to work. Not only are heads going to roll, when I return to work next week, but I am sooo ready for a Mac ibook or whatever. I'm so pissed about this I want to smash the machine into 1000 pieces and mail them to our IT guy. Thanks for giving me the ten pound 'door stop' to hump around, as if I don't have enough to carry on this trip. So how am I able to ...
More About: San Diego , Report , Port , Repo , Diego

Packing, Cleaning, Worrying, Drinking: Murat's a Mess
2007-02-21 04:09:00
Just finished cleaning the bike (filthy), taking it apart (sort of) and packing it into a bike box lent to me by my friend Dr. David Schwartz (who was impaled by a tree branch while mountain biking last spring and has wires holding his sternum together). Cost of my plane ticket: $240. Cost for bike box: $80 (each way). If I add a few more bucks, my bike can sit in my seat and I'll be down in the cargo hold... Must do some laundry now, as if I have anything decent to wear. All my socks have holes. I'm sipping wine to calm my nerves. The house looks like, well, it looks like Ebru hasn't been here in a month. All will be forgiven. I'm down to 173 pounds.. So if I eat and drink nothing for the next 24 hours and perform a couple of eliminations, I'll be down to my goal weight of 170 by the time I land in San Diego. 160 and thin as a rail when I return... NOT! (Stranger things have happened) PS: My company graciously gave me a laptop for the trip, just so I can work while on vacation...
More About: Drink , Cleaning , Lean , Clean , Drinking

Murat's the Proud Owner of a 19th Century Cervical Dilator
2007-02-20 02:59:00
I am stunned. One lot of tools I won at auction this past Saturday contains the implement you see pictured. I actually used it yesterday to extract the base of the light bulb which broke off inside of our clothes dryer... I was about to list it on Ebay and was doing my usual research to figure out exactly what it was for.. Then I found this site with images of horrifying tools schematics of how they were used, way back when.. Not for the faint of heart. Strong stomachs only. Scroll to the bottom and you will see a very similar tool, used for dilating a woman's cervix. You can buy mine here.
More About: Cent , Owner , Murat , Proud , Century

48 Hours
2007-02-19 23:46:00
The exact amount of time before my flight is scheduled to depart from JFK. Take out 16 hours of sleep, 3 hours of drive time, 3 hours of packing, 2 hours of bathing and personal hygiene, 4 hours of cleaning up the house, 2 hours of training and exercise, 3 hours of last minute shopping, 12 hours of being at work, 2 hours to disassemble and pack the bicycle, and what's left? 1 hour for Murat to curl up on the floor in the fetal position, shaking uncontrollably in fear.I will never have been so far away from Ebru and Reis, than when I'm in San Diego. Counting the days until we're reunited..
More About: Hour , Hours

Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Turkish Blogs-Volume 3 Episode 6
2007-02-17 04:56:00
Previously on the HHGTTB:Talk Turkey Part One Latest: The Coming of Broken AngelLive From Gybria Latest: Wishful Thinking Only Goes So FarThe Infidel Latest: The Turkish Armenian Debate: Part 6Gulay, Galatasaray, and the Dogs Latest: GULAY HAS A BABY! WELCOME LEANNA The Need To Know Latest: (Due out in March)On to Talk Turkey Part Two:The Coming of Broken Angel... Metin let me ask what I think everyone is thinking in the back of their minds.. What if investment into this film turns out to be a situation similar to that of Hakan Yalincak?? Stranger things have happened! To me, the fact that you vouch for this project means that it's completely legit.. But for those Turks and others who may have never heard of you or I or Leslie and Aclan Bates-Buyukturkoglu, skepticism and avoidance prevails I think.. When I get my tax return, I am going to seriously consider being a contributor.Hillary Will Drop Out!.. I hope not. She's the most qualified candidate out there. It's TIME for a stro...
More About: Episode , Blogs , Blog , Kish , Guide

Seven Jailed For Life In Istanbul Bombings
2007-02-16 21:31:00
Remember this?VideoArticle
More About: Life , Istanbul , Seven , Bomb , Jail

For Nancy Pelosi: Schoolhouse Rock's "I'm Just a bill"
2007-02-16 19:15:00
Here's a more recent adaptation via The Simpsons:
More About: House , Nancy Pelosi , Rock , School , Just

I Love the Eighties: Vintage SEARS Radio Control Truck
2007-02-16 04:03:00
I picked this up at an antique auction a few years ago. Could use some help funding Ebru's trip to Turkey and my trip to San Diego next week.. so I must sacrifice to make ends meet. This is a vintage RC truck made in 1980.. now listed for sale on Ebay.. I have an amazing amount of crap that I don't need. It's little wonder how my income vanishes into thin air every month.. On the other hand, I am going to an antique woodworking auction on Saturday. Will no doubt spend $1000 minimum and stock up on some very lucrative inventory. We'll see. I missed the last auction and figure it cost me about $2000 in profit.
More About: Radio , Love , Truck , Vintage , Control

Buy Ataturk Postcards and Turkish Flag Stickers Here
2007-02-15 18:47:00
My Ebay Store, Reisco Tools & Collectibles is up and running again. I will be adding a ton of inventory in the next few weeks, especially of antique woodworking tools. Take a peek at what's offered today.
More About: Card , Post , Kish , Stickers , Tatu

The Bridges of Merit Parkway Route 15 Connecticut
2007-02-15 05:31:00
A trip to New Canaan Connecticut on Tuesday featured a drive down the old Merit Park way, a road which boasts an interesting series of the most finely crafted bridges you will find in one place. Every single one has architectural detail, every one is different, every one has a badge or engraving or emblem or plaque. Sometimes you must look closely to see it. To combat boredom and sleepiness, I went to the trouble of shooting a picture of most every one between exits 53 and 37. Use the FLICKR badge in the sidebar to see the whole series of photos.
More About: Bridges , Ridge , Route

Way Behind the Curve..
2007-02-15 04:12:00
Murat is falling way behind in his projects and assignments! I started some commentary of Metin's blog, Talk Turkey.. and left it incomplete.. I am overdue to prepare my first "Guide to Turkish Blogs" for Serdar's Bloglar Alemi website.. Speaking of which, it's an honor and a privilege to be selected for such a responsibility. I take it seriously and do not intend to do anything half-assed. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Just need a little more time! My own Hitch Hiker's Guide to Turkish Blogs continues.. (Getting a little long in the tooth, I know) After Metin, I'm bird-dogging a few other blogs as targets of my unsolicited opinions and comments. I just returned from a "spin class" and my legs are like veined marble, and sore.. so maybe I'll take a power nap and work on some of this in the middle of the night- when my creative juices flow most juicily.
More About: Curve , Behind

Visit #50,000 today!..and now for something completely diffe
2007-01-13 04:11:02
To commemorate my 50,000th visitor (a reader from Casablanca, Morroco, who was searching the phrase "Sex Amerikan" and who viewed three pages for a duration of 4:29).. I give you the following video. I consider it to be among the top three Simpsons episodes ever. Enjoy this.
More About: Comp , Today , Methi , Visi , Visit

Cost of Iraq Invasion: $357,000,000,000
2007-01-12 10:09:02
Video: War's cost to taxpayer The equivalent of $1190 cash from every man, woman and child in the USA. This averages: $7.76 billion per month for the past 46 months $258 million per day... $10.8 million per hour.. $180 thousand per minute.. $3 thousand per second. I wonder how many families living in poverty could have been fed, clothed and sheltered with this money.. How many who can't afford life-sustaining prescription drugs could have been saved or comforted? How many kids who can't afford college could have completed a four year degree at an Ivy League School? (2,380,000 graduates at a cost of $150,000 each, double that for a good state school) These figures have the potential to DOUBLE when one considers the depreciation and replacement cost of our over-extended military's hardware and equipment..
More About: Iraq , Cost , Invasion , Sion

Lance Armstrong Announces 2008 Presidential Bid
2007-01-11 16:07:02
It's what crossed my mind in the instant that I saw this picture. He has no such inclinations at this time, of course... but Lance looks pretty effing good in front of the capital building, don't you think? The real story is about Arms trong's displeasure with the government's apathy towards cancer. Hear, hear! If this is some kind of "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" posturing, then I believe there might be some hope for this country after all. Call me biased if it pleases you, but I believe that in order to be President of the United States, you ought to be the world's best at something other than invading relatively defenseless countries and causing their disintegration... If that something happens to be mastery of the most physically demanding sport in the world, all the better. Full story
More About: Residential , Lance Armstrong , Presidential