The worst thing you've ever seen?

What's the Worst thing you have ever seen?

What's the worst thing you have ever seen?

October 1993

I was working at Silo in El Cajon. It was just another day selling audio gear and drinking coffee, killing time. The life of a commissioned salesman. I was up near the front of the store when I heard a shotgun blast. No it didn't sound like a backfire from a car. You cannot mistake the sound a double barrel shotgun makes when it is fired nearby. As I moved to the front window to take a look another blast from the shotgun rang out. As I looked out the glass sliding doors into the parking lot I saw a body lying on the sidewalk across the parking lot about 50 feet away. I pushed between my co-worker Gary and his customer at the front counter and reached for the phone and dialed 911. As I was talking to the Police operator the gunman shot out the front windows of the Family Fitness Center shattering the glass. He walked into the building and you could hear more blasts from the shotgun. As I was describing what was happening to the 911 operator one of our stockers and one of the install guys were running over to check on the first body slumped on the sidewalk. As they reached the body the gunman came back out of gym through the broken glass windows and calmly walked to his brown 280z parked in front of the windows. I told the 911 operator what he looked like, height, size, clothing.Then he sat down in the drivers seat of the his car with his feet still on the pavement. One final blast from the double barrel shotgun and the 'blow back' came. A cloud of flesh, skull, blood and brains came out of the car in a fine mist as his feet lifted from the ground and twitched involuntarily for a few seconds then fell back to the pavement. I told the 911 operator that he had killed himself. She asked if I was sure. I was. I told her what I had seen coming from the car. He had killed 4 people and injured others before killing himself before my eyes. It was a few days later that we learned that he had gone there looking for a girl to kill her. We thought at first that it was just some random killing spree and we had been spared. The media hung out for a couple days. They new the 911 call had come from my store but did not know who had made they call. They wanted to know and kept asking my bosses but they wouldn't say. I eventually told them it was me just to get them out of there. I was interviewed by Mark Walton for PM Magazine. My 15 minutes of fame.

13 years later I still can vividly picture that asshole blowing his brains out in front of me (and others). For him it is over. For those of us unfortunate to have been there that day it pops up in the occasional dream or when I hear what sounds like a gunshot. That's the worst thing I have ever seen.

Tick Tock

Tick tock

Current mood:contemplative

Time

You can lose it

You can keep it

You can make it

You can pass it

You can save it

But you cannot stop it, rewind it or travel forwards or backwards through it (not yet anyway).

We live in a moment of time which we cannot see coming or going only that we are in the moment. The past is billions of moments lost to us and the future is billions of moments which are filled with opportunities coming to us. We cannot know in advance which moments will be important or not so it is imperative that we live as much as possible in each and every moment we can.

Palomar Mountain - Angel of the Mountains

Palomar Mountain - Angel of the Mountains
Oct 2008
Current mood:cheerful
Today was the day I thought some of the other members of the "San Diego Mafia" as Breinne from the CTS forums likes to call us were gong to ride Palomar Mountain. It's next week, lol. For those not fortunate enough to live in the land of arm and leg warmers only in Winter, Palomar is the Alpe'd'Huez of Southern California. The measured part of the climb (for those that like records) is just a tad longer than 11 miles.The "record" is 00:56:00 and it is rumored that a certain individual with a shiny new hip has done it in 00:48:00.
I measured it at 11.7 miles. Now the fun part...the average grade is 9% and the last 7 miles is 11% Average. It's relentless it does not flatten at all. Over 4000 feet of climbing. If you start from the casino parking lot 15 miles away the entire ride is just over 5400 ft of climbing on 46 miles.
This was my first time riding this hill since it is a 65 mile drive to get there and we pay way more for gas here than the rest of the country, price of paradise I guess.
Tall guys can climb (6'3 160lbs) I smoked it! My time was 01:18:00 (9mph average) in an 39x26 gear at 72rpm ave cadence. I got out of the saddle for some of the steeper switchbacks but 95% of the time was in the saddle. I felt good the whole way even though I was either in Time Trail, Climbing Repeat range or Steady State the entire climb.
On the way down I couldn't figure out why my bike was wobbly...it wasn't the bike it was me freezing my ass off! I had to stop and put the arm warmers and vest back on and even then I was still shaking at 35mph. Note to self: practice descending more. I was way too tentative going into the corners on the way down.
I have a new favorite ride.
-Scott

ps. Has it been that long since the first time I rode Palomar? Only rode one other time and it was 3 years ago(?) Time of 1:06

Cycling Poetry

Cycling Poetry?



A rider and their bicycle work as one

gliding through corners on a fast descent.

A give and take in a dance of sublime expression

between rider and machine.

-Scott

Scott | blog on Myspace

Originally written January 24th 2007 for my MySpace blog

"Some Walk by Night"

Current mood:sick

For Christmas I received seasons 3 and 4 of the mid 80's T.V. show "MOONLIGHTING" with Cybil Sheppard as "Maddie Hayes" and a new talent Bruce Willis as "David Addison". They run a detective agency in Los Angeles. Originally set up as a tax loss the Blue Moon Detective Agency becomes Maddies sole source of income after her accountant embezzles the money she earned from modeling Blue Moon Shampoo.

Maddie and David are patterned after Nick and Nora Charles from the "Thin Man" movies of the 30's. If you haven't seen any of the Thin Man movies add them to your NetFlix queue. The dialogue is full of double entendre and 'snappy' banter (homage to Thin Man). Moonlighting was fond of breaking the fourth wall and by looking directly at the camera engaging the audiences with a wink or a knowing look. They even go as far as mentioning the writers during scenes. Moonlighting was not afraid to change the paradigm of series televison and borrow form other sources such as Shakespeare for their own telling of the "Taming of the Shrew" (Atomic Shakespeare). A black and white episode in the style of film noir introduced by Orson Welles that takes place in the 40's during the age of Big Band and Swing. Cybill sings "Blue Moon" appropraitely enough and does a very good job with the crooner standard.

I was home from work sick today so it was a perfect time to have a Moonlighting marathon and catch up with my old friends David and Maddie. I still apsire to be more like David and and to meet my Maddie. Well, that has happened but that is for another time. I was 24 when the showed aired and now I am 44. A lot has happened in 20 years. Some good some bad. The clothing styles are no longer in fashion (thank God) but I still dig the women's hair styles. So if you are looking for something to watch that has wit and humour and lots of dialogue get your hands on all 5 seasons of Moonlighting because funny is funny.

I will end this with the immortal words of David Addison...."Do bears bear? Do bees bee?"