No ride today. Leg strengthening. And weekending.

Passed me on this morning's ride: a powerful lady in training drafting an accomplice on a trail bike. Heard the muffled "putt putt" of his dawdling two-stroke first, then they whooshed past at a healthy 35 mph or so. Saw them later in the SBUX parking lot, but they chose Panera Bread next door for their AM chow.

Two points of similarity between her and me: we both ride Treks, and we both drive Volvo wagons (into which we dump our cycles).

TODAY'S RIDE: 10 miles or so with mild inclines--but on the mountain bike (which, unlike my road bike, isn't a Trek). The mtb is fun (like being on my old Redline BMX mount), but feels so slow and heavy compared to the road bike.

I am turning this blog into a LIVESTRONG fundraisding site ever-so slowly....

(forgive the palsied sketch--today was the first day I carried my sketchbook and brush pen with me on my ride! This meant that when I finally stopped for my latte reward, my hands were a bit beat up and shaky (the grips on the mtb have to go).

CRIMEWAVE! The movie. An Ellis recommendation. I sketched for the first thirty minutes or so, and then--DISASTER. My limp-wristed grip (good for flicking fine lines and adding energy to my work) failed me, and my brush pen went whizzing out of my hand--and smack into the center of a cushion on our newly upholstered couch.

Yikes!

Blair tried to clean it off--and she did a good job!--but it's not perfect. She is distraught.

SO there was no more sketching of CRIMEWAVE. That means no chance to do Tomothy Carrey (sp?). Sorry Ellis.

Here's more of the page. And yes, that's a young Charles Bronson. My Sterling Hayden is unrecognizable....

Two days in a row! Now that's corporate bug fixin'.

And yes, per my FaceBook blurb re: this dude as living Mark Segovian Tribute, our subject was even wearing CREEPERS.

I have just signed up for another LIVESTRONG Challenge, this time a 90 mile bike ride in Autin, TX in late October. I will be giving the BPB page a make over to encourage support for cancer research genrally--and my fund-raising efforts specifically.

So hold onto yr hats--and loosen yr purse strings!

OK. That worked. Now to add an image (it's the reason we're here, afterall--isn't it?).Success! Hope I can repeat this tomorrow.

I haven't been able to post since the last one--a week? More? Blogger keeps crashing. Will this go up? I am looking to install Firefox and see if that saves my bacon...sheesh.

This was a group of young people who were debating some kind of interior design decision. Students from a nearby fashion school? A committee from a church? They seemed serious and fatigued by the whole thing. But there was no fighting.

Spotted at the Pasadena SBUX that's right there after the 110 ends (and with a Metro train station next door).

This one's depressing.

I feel like she should have a word balloon filled with a single quarter note, a la Charles Schultz.

In the comic strip world this would denote whistling.

(Something I can't do.)

(Hashed the hand--I need to be more patient.)

(...and use less italics.)

I love that this barista looks a little untidy...and stoned.

Yes, day two. I'm going for a Mike D.-like streak here.

Only 498 more days to go!

You know Mike D., don't you? The guy with the blog The Slappy Picture Show.
(Hint: he is the world's fastest famous-ish animator currently working in video games--I defy any animator [over 34] to beat him in the 400m)

(He will kill me for that last bit)

Check it--BPB returns! It's time again to embrace my fellow man, searching them out at their morning watering hole to celebrate our common humanity with a hasty rendering.

This is the cover of one of my little Muji sketchbooks--does the Japanese-ness make me seem more hip? You can check them out at Muji.com (?)--and you can order not only these sketchbooks in all kinds of handy dimensions, but also their quality $4.50 disposable brush pens, from which nearly every image presented herein has sprouted. Cool!