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Bryan Strawser

Last Ride in Massachusetts

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 23, 2005

I set off at 4:30pm on what will likely be my last bike ride in Massachusetts. I headed to Massasoit State Park, just four miles away, and the scene of many biking memories over the past year. I’ve likely ridden about 200 miles within the confines of Massasoit…

So there I was, hydrated and loose, in the blue mountain biking top, cruising to the Six Feet Under Volume 2 Soundtrack – “Breathe Me” was ripping through the iPod, I was headed down hill. Life was good, when suddenly…

WTF, where is my bike?

I had been looking too far down the trail and had drifted too far to the right, caught a stump on a pedal, which brought the bike to a near halt, tossing me over the handlebars and into a nice roll into the brush – I ended up about eight feet from the bike.

No major injuries.. just some scrapes and alot of dust and dirt.. even some leaves ended up in my shorts…

So I got up, dusted myself off, and did the best thing I could.

I rode on.

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Filed Under: Cycling, Pictures

AdRants on Six Feet Under Finale:

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 22, 2005

‘Six Feet Under’ Delivers Brilliant, Bittersweet Ending:

Tonight, HBO’s Six Feet Under concluded its five year run ending its final season with a finale full of multiple closures wonderfully befitting the series. Series creator Alan Ball delivered an emotionally powerful finale to a season that began quite…

Technorati Tags: sixfeetunder, Six Feet Under, Television

Filed Under: General

Six Feet Under Ends

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 21, 2005

HBO’s Six Feet Under, as unique and as fascinating a show as any, broadcast it’s final show just a short bit ago. It was an interesting ending, as outlined in tomorrow’s New York Times:

As Claire drove east in a new car – bless her, she had totaled that hideous hearse in her accident – she let her mind wander. Into the young, agile mind came a premonition: everyone would die. Suddenly the show became a montage of the ways all the show’s remaining major characters would leave this world.

The Sidekick and I were half-expecting something else to happen – a fire that kills the family or a plane crash on the way to a vacation. But no, it was something far more normal… and human.

Technorati Tags: Six Feet Under, Television

Filed Under: General

1776: The Battle of New York

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 21, 2005

The hour is fast approaching, on which the honor and success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding country depend. Remember officers and soldiers that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of liberty – that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men

[…]

Remember how your courage and spirit have been despised and traduced by your cruel invaders, thought they have found by dear experience at Boston, Charlestown, and other places, what a few brave men contending in their own land, and in the best of causes can do, against base hirelings and mercenaries.

– General George Washington, August 23rd, 1776

Filed Under: Military, Quotes

Recently Read & Watched

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 21, 2005

Currently Reading



“1776” (David McCullough)

Recently Read



“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)” (J.K. Rowling)



“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” (Mary Roach)



“Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” (Atul Gawande)

Recently Watched



“Battlestar Galactica – Season One (2004)”



“Tilt – Season One”

Filed Under: Books, Movies

It’s Over

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 19, 2005

Back in January, I accepted a promotion to a position in Minneapolis with the understanding that I would be commuting there until the fall when the sidekick was finished with Graduate School.

And so seven months later, we’re almost to the end point.

On Wednesday, the movers come to pack. Thursday, they load the truck. Friday, I set out with Galadriel for Woodbury, Minnesota with an overnight stop in Toledo, Ohio. Fun.

Filed Under: Family, Massachusetts, Minneapolis

Corrupt Idiots

by Bryan Strawser · Aug 19, 2005

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post called “Oh WTF.. you deserve what you get..”, now that some time has passed I can tell the story.

My father is probably the most honorable man that I have ever known. One of the middle children of his parents, he grew up in a small town in Indiana with two older half brothers, an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. To say that this family was a bit dysfunctional is an understatement. Although overtime all have reconciled, my father was the only one of his full siblings to lead a straight and narrow life. An Eagle Scout, he was never arrested, never served time in jail, no drugs, and doesn’t abuse alcohol. His siblings are a different story, but that’s for another time.

My father joined the Navy during Vietnam shortly after high school – during that time he lost friends, his father died from a heart attack at a young age, and became a man. After getting out of the Navy, he married my mother, began working on the railroad, and shortly thereafter had me.. then my brother, and life was good.

The railroad is a heavily unionized work environment. My father, as a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, went out on strike a few times while I was growing up. And that was the nature of the labor environment at his place of employment.

Men of honor are often natural leaders – and thus it is that over time my father became President of the local park board, the founding scoutmaster of my Boy Scout Troop, and eventually Local Chairman (the same as Local President in most unions) of Division 100 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, a position he held for well over a decade. As time went on, he began to run for and win election to higher office within the union – eventually serving on several committees at a regional (or general committee) level.

It’s important to note here that the BLE is the oldest labor union in the United States – they are well into their second century and predate every other labor organization in the United States – even the Teamsters. The BLE merged with the Teamsters a few years back but remain a semi-autonomous group under the Teamsters umbrella…..

In 1997, with my brother out of high school and on his own, and me established in Baltimore in my first major move away from home after college – my father ran for Vice General Chairman & Secretary Treasurer and won. This office represents the entire Midwest and my father would be responsible for the finances for all of the offices and men in that area – a huge responsibility.

The responsibility was even greater at the time because the union was rocked by scandal. While I won’t go too far into the details here, suffice to say that there was a large sum of money missing, and after a federal and a union investigation, the International President asked the officeholders in the General Committee office to resign. They did, and we all thought that was the last we had seen of them.

A few weeks ago, my father ran for re-election for the third time. This last term would have taken him past his retirement date, and his intent was to serve out of term and retire.

His tenure through two terms has been nothing short of a great success. The union has significant cash resources – rebuilt after the scandal. Their bookkeeping and records have been immaculate and without error – and more important my father represented the interests of his men in fulfillment of the measure of trust that men place in those that represent and lead them.

And then, at the election, the man that had been at the helm during the scandal ran for the top job in the office and won. And then his crony won the number two slot. And then the election for my father’s job deadlocked twice.

The next morning he lost.

And so my parents, after nine years in Florida, are headed back to our family home in Indiana – my father to return to running an engine until his retirement in a few years. And thus our lives go on.

After the other two were elected, we all acknowledge now that it is best that he lost – because a person of my father’s integrity simply can’t work with those who long ago lost the trust of the men that they represent. But it still stings for him to go out this way.

I think about the times that I’ve seen my father upset to the point of tears. At my uncle’s funeral.. at the funerals of my mother’s parents and that’s it.. until this election.

So at this point they turn their backs on this whole union experience – and let the corrupt idiots have their way. But if I was a member represented by that office, I’d be watching the money.

Filed Under: Family

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