And Now Introducing….

Hello, doods.  I’m announcing the beginning of a new area, or era, or __arrhea on the site here.  It is my promise to you– with my centuries of experience in shops, dealing with confused customers, drug-addled coworkers, cheating whores for a boss, and fishing with grandpa– that I can answer your questions.  I’m starting and advice and Q/A column here on the DC. 

Your quandries may include, but are not limited to:

  • questions relating to any of the two aspects of bicycle repair.
  • questions relating to dealing with cock shop jocks
  • advice on how to get along with nobody
  • etcetera

I’ll look forward to hearing from you, and as an uninspired-to-write-on-the-site-about-my-own-experiences sort of dude, we here at the DC have decided that this is really the best way for me to stay involved from here moving forward into the next fiscal quarter which I’m sure you aren’t surprised to hear is going to be gigantic.  Was that a secret, Jonny?

Anyways – write me here:  greasewipe (at) drunkcyclist DOT com (spambot proof, so please cut & paste), and expect this wad of brainduke to be slapping the blades of your computer’s cooling fan next Saturday.  If this gains any momentum, it’s surely to be because it’s filled with hydrogen.  Godspeed.

Wipe on,

Snakehawk

About Snake Hawk

good, bad, funny, sad, stupid, rad, has, had. non-joining funhaver from coast to coast(er brake). buster of the chops, drawer of the logos. North Carolina, USA

114 Replies to “And Now Introducing….”

  1. Excuse me, did someone say “Go to school so you can qualify to get a job at a pizza place?” Might I not have read you right???
    Are you still holding up the tattered, plastic handled American Dream banner there?

  2. …nice touch, african single…

    …we’re slowly developing a graphic picture of slappy’s evolving ride…

    …at least a ‘drunkcyclist’ kind a’ graphic picture…

  3. BGW, i found this bit from your article to be especially pleasing:

    “…genes can raise the risk of falling into certain traps like addiction and obesity. In some cases, Stoltenberg said, genes directly make people more susceptible to addiction to a certain substance. In other cases, genes play on maladaptive behaviors, such as impulsivity, that make addiction more likely.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/male-impulsivity-addiction-linked-one-gene-230405521.html

  4. BGW, that’s a good one, for sure, i appreciate your post. NRXN is interesting. my gene-related work so far has focused on DRD2 and especially the TAQ A1 allele. DRD2 codes for dopamine receptors in the brain. the TAQ A1 type is associated with fewer and/or less functional dopamine receptors. the prodopaminergic system is absolutely critical for normal function and so with the A1 allele we see: (continued)

  5. increased impulsivity, increased use of immature/neurotic psychological coping mechanisms, decreased cognitive and verbal skills, antisocial behaviors, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders
    gambling addiction, nicotine addiction, alcohol addiction, severe alcoholism, increased likelihood of relapse in recovery from alcoholism, increased mortality with alcoholism.

    i threw together a literature review for a prof i’m working with. he’s a clinical counseling consultant as well as a counselor educator. much of his work involves addicted clients or clients with addicted loved ones. his strength seems to be in the interpersonal transactions which promote growth and healing in those clients. but he was after something which would effectively counter the typical addict rhetoric which goes “ADDICTION IS NOT A DISEASE!!!” the literature quite clearly describes addiction as emerging from a genetic predisposition combined with psycho-social events (trauma) which result in altered anatomical structure. an altered brain is impaired in its function and this is the very definition of disease.

  6. @Dolak 31
    you should just off yourself NOW and make it stop for everyone else.

    @ BGW brilliant, slappy needs a heavier girlfriend.

    think i hear my singlespeed & flask calling me

  7. “…off yourself NOW and make it stop for everyone else.”

    sushi, i knew i was throwing a softball when i posted that bit about suicide. good on ya for nailing it!

  8. Aw right, I’ve been staying out of this clown show, but I do have an opinion.

    Here’s what’s fucked up: the pharma industry has seen declining growth and profitability in drugs that treat people who are ill. They have done a yeoman’s job of trying to take up the slack by developing drugs that treat mental disorders instead. Recall that about one percent of American children are now considered “autistic” and are on a constant regimen of drugs as treatment. Ka-ching!

    But wait, there’s more. The hot new growth area in pharma are *preventative* drugs for treating mental disorders.

    That’s right, these people (many are children) are not physically ill, nor are they are mentally ill, yet they are on a constant regimen of “anti-anxiety” or similar new classes of drugs. This business is worth billions of dollars. I’ll bet every one of us knows a dude (or a child) taking xanax or ridalin, etc. for “attention deficit” or just in case maybe they might get to feeling anxious. Heaven forbid anything in life might make a fellow anxious.

    Anyone besides me think this is fucked up?

  9. @mikey

    Nope. It’s totally fucked up. What used to be growing pains are now a reason to medicate.

    What used to be a flaw in one’s character is now a disease to be medicated.

    Maybe I’m just old and science is passing me by, but I don’t like it one bit.

  10. mikey, indeed, the end goal of any business venture is: get money. pharmaceutical corporations are no different.

    however, a possible rationale for having a child use benzodiazepines or other antianxiety medicaton is that management of anxiety early on, before age 12, is absolutely critical in achieving normal brain development and function as an adult. children who experience overwhelming anxiety in response to their chaotic home life are at risk for being stuck with emotional dysregulation later on. that is, if they are given unwinnable emotional management tasks as kids their brains will never become able to regulate the intensity and duration of emotional states. an emotionally dysregulated adult is often an addict, “an unlovely creature.” these folks are extremely sensitive and have a difficult time returning to emotional baseline when they go off. they’re no fun to be around.

    with the frequent impossibility of decent parenting many, or all, emotional tasks can be overwhelming and unwinnable for kids. their anxiety and depression can spiral out of control. this is the kind of stuff which prohibits normal development of the brain’s prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate regions which are critical for managing impulses, emotions, and for empathic capacity. my guess is scientists have attempted with medicines to minimize or eliminate some of the developmental damage happening to kids in our nutty world.

  11. …i only posted that, dolak, because it happened to show up on-line within the pertinent time-frame & after a very quick perusal, it seems that for any credence it offers your theories, it also disavows that many more of them…

    …mikey…majorly fucking so, bud…besides the monetary aspects, they’re creating a population of sheep & without feeling like a conspiracy theorist in saying this, i see growing numbers willingly being led along about so many other things, like lambs to the slaughter because they don’t really know how to think for themselves…

    …that kinda shit becomes generational as the ‘duh factor’ gets passed down…

  12. BGW, the article you found is spot on.

    another lovely section states “In no case, however, do these genes doom one to a violent life full of sex and horror films (though some might wish they did). Environment and multiple genes act together to build personality, and there’s no straight lines to be drawn from single genes to certain behaviors,”

    that environment referred to there, in a discussion of addiction, is the trauma found in an unstable, abusive home. trauma is the on switch for addiction genes. thus, addiction derives from a combination of genetic predisposition and psycho-social factors which prevent normal brain development, emotional regulation and cognitive capacity.

  13. …hey, dolak…fuck ‘addiction’

    …you should be concerned about ‘obsession’

    …& maybe your ability to bore people to abject ambiguity…

  14. Same old people saying the same old shit about the same old nothing. Put your cocks away. The time for measuring them is over.

    Go ride a bike or something.

  15. …d2…although tired from the previous nites ‘ohhh, so chippy’ game against the d-stars, my sharks still managed a convincing win over the avs recently, ya ???…

    …dig, dig…(sorry folks – some of us are obsessed with {but not addicted to} the game)…

    …caught a live penguins/shark game awhile back (fin win) & got a minnesota (bg)wild/sharks game comin’ up…

    …long drive but sometimes (several times a season – 3 more, maybe) it’s gotta be done…

  16. I went to the Stars-Avs game the other night in Denver with 40 Hands…it quite possibly could have been the least interesting hockey game I’ve ever seen.

    It doesn’t help that I don’t care about either team. I’m a Rangers fan, and they’ve been hot this season…which, as a Rangers fan, makes me suspicious.

  17. …@saddle sushi…kinda figured who it was intended for but thanks for the inspiration…

    …awesome to throw at appropriate douches…“yo, summers eve, settle the fuck down”

    …nice…it will be plagiarized & used…

  18. …speaking of ‘summers eve’, despite his ‘at times’ douche-iness, i’m actually glad to see sean avery back with the rangers…

    …whilst having done some stupid ass stuff on the ice, i still see the man as a contributor to the game…

    …& beyond sharks, i’m ANY original 6 team fan, so despite no ‘cup’ to the tank, the last few years have been good…& ’94 w/ ‘mess’ was a great fucking win…

  19. have at it.
    Mr. Massengill is always fun to drop on someone too

    have to rely on the rangers seeing as all the islanders seem to be able to do is suck

  20. …ya but look at it this way…they have new really bad 3rd uniforms which are still WAY better than their old 3rd uniforms…gorton’s looked like a sponsor…

    …to be honest, islanders are a shame these days (& for years) because they played themselves into being such a storied franchise with those 4 cups & now, well, fuck, if it makes you feel any better, my old hometown leafs last paraded lord stanley’s hardware back in ’67 which was the last year i lived in the ‘trono’ area code…(a silent tear is being shed)…

    …@d2…fucking cool to move hundreds of miles & here you’ve already got a cycling bud in 40hands to catch games with…props, 40…

  21. …to continue the vein…

    …that sidney crosby is a slacker !!!…halfway through his 1st game back since january’s two head hits & concussion & he’s ONLY got 1 goal & 2 assists against saddle sushi’s islanders…

    …i expect more out of my hockey players…

    …glad ‘the kid’ is back but jeez, the pens w/ malkin have been formidable as it stands…look out nhl…

  22. Yeah. How long til he whines that the goalie was in his way and somebody checked him? Can’t stand that guy.

  23. Holy Fuck a Duck.

    This post has gone from Snake offering help, to addiction, to hockey.

    Only on DC. Only DC.

    I love this place.

  24. …i’ll be honest…‘sid the kid’ i’ve mostly seen in highlight reel wrap-ups…

    …i’ve heard all the ‘whiner’ stuff but not having seen much penguin hockey, i thought it was just flyer fans tired of losing to pittsburgh…

    …live pens/sharks, malkin was awesome…an innate sense of positioning whether he’s setting up to feed or shoot…watching a guy like that live, rather than on tv, could bring a lotta new fans to the game…

    …anyway…fff, hockey is way mo’ betta than ‘hokey’ & a certain somebody’s obsession with addiction was getting hokey…it’s not like he’s out saving lives or careers, it just seems to be this quasi-intellectual blah, blah, blah that accomplishes nothing but his approach & attitude do serve to piss everyone off…

    …so, ya…hockey is a great game & in case you haven’t been enlightened, skating & cycling use most of the same lower muscle groups…’member eric heiden ???…champion speed skater & cyclist ???…yep…

  25. I know it’s already done, but query dolakacracka…to wit, I drink a bottle of whiskey a week and a bag of weed the same. Am I addicted? Please, do I need help? Ooooohh dolakacracka what was my trauma? Shower me with your golden piss of knowledge, please.
    Sheesh.

  26. Snegghawg— what’s the best way to get rid of a really painful saddle sore? It’s tough to ride with this butthurt.

  27. sfb, have you tried a local topical anesthetic for that? the benzocaine in Oragel has been effective for me. it won’t heal anything but it will allow you to sit on the bike.

  28. well, el jefe and triple f, i was scratching my head over the “everyone’s an addict” thing you fellers keep spewing out. so i took a peek at everything i’ve stuck here on DC going back to march of this year. it took all of 25 minutes to find all my comments. can’t seem to find what you’re referring to. any chance you have me confused with someone else? if not, i guess i’m feeling a little embarrassed for you gentlemen.

    i’ve got links to each DC post where i wrote something, i’ll send them to you if you care to look into this a little further. what i’d like to know is: what the hell were you thinking?

  29. …IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR DOLAK…

    …way back @ post #69, i addressed this statement to you…

    “hey, dolak…fuck ‘addiction’…

    you should be concerned about ‘obsession’

    …& maybe your ability to bore people to abject ambiguity…”

    …it certainly wasn’t a joke at the time & at this point, it makes even more sense…

    …you’ve become moronic about the situation, so perhaps you ought to take a real deep look at yourself & to help you do that, consider just how you look to the rest of us…if you have the ability………

  30. I’m John. I’m an alcoholic. Bad thing for me.

    But each man rides how he chooses.

    Except for dolak. He’s a parrot. No thought. No worth.

    Fuck him.

    Let this post end ??

  31. good on ya, joe. substance dependence is as wrong as, say, cardiovascular disease. or contact dermatitis. or the sun coming up. indeed, to assign value judgements to alcoholism/addiction is nonsense.

    the topic, even the mention of a word like alcoholism or addiction, is a potent trigger for fearful reactions in many people as you can clearly see in the comments here. what keeps me optimistic is that there seems to be some evolution of how addiction is regarded. some sanity and reason seems to be encroaching on the usual terror people summon up when thinking about it all as more and more folks wake up and accept the disease model and shit-can the “moral failure” model.