Buda, TX wiener dog races 2009

The fire engine crew was there to resucitate folks who passed out laughing...


Buda, TX wiener dog races 2009 from hjv on Vimeo.

Eerie comments to the BBC regarding the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico

I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from "under control". As a doctor, I realise that the media does not report the truth. Authorities distributed vaccines among all the medical personnel with no results, because two of my partners who worked in this hospital (interns) were killed by this new virus in less than six days even though they were vaccinated as all of us were. The official number of deaths is 20, nevertheless, the true number of victims are more than 200. I understand that we must avoid to panic, but telling the truth it might be better now to prevent and avoid more deaths.

Yeny Gregorio Dávila, Mexico City

The situation in Mexico City is really not normal. There is a sense of uncertainty that borders on paranoid behaviour in some cases. At this very moment, Mexican TV is showing how military forces are giving masks to the people in the streets. Moreover the news is sending alarming messages for the audience. Really, the atmosphere in the city is unsettling, a good example: pubs and concerts are being closed or cancelled and people don't haven thorough information. In this city (and country) there is an urgent need for assertive information, no paranoid messages from the government or the Mexican media.

Patricio Barrientos and Aranzazu Nuñez, Mexico City

Massive events have been cancelled at the National Auditorium - Mexico City's largest indoor venue with capacity of 10,000 - which has been closed. Two soccer games have been cancelled at the Olympic Stadium. A sold out game with 70,000 expected attendance will be played behind closed doors. Another game at the famous Azteca Stadium that would draw an attendance of 50,000 will also be played behind closed doors.

Juan Carlos Leon Calderon, Mexico City

It's eerily quiet here in the capital. Lots of people with masks, Facebook communities exchanging gallows humour, everybody waiting to see if schools and universities will stay closed for ten days (as goes the rumour). All masks have been used up, and we are waiting for new supplies.

Dr Duncan Wood, Mexico City


Yesterday in my office it was a bit surreal walking in to see all in blue masks with deep cleansing of computer equipment and surfaces going on. Let's hope it is contained and does not escalate. The local news is reporting 200 fatalities and reports of flu spreading from areas outside of Mexico City. Given the volume of daily commuter traffic on cramped busses and trains, this may not have to be too virulent to be disastrous in human terms. I wonder what controls there will be on flights in and out.

Will Shea, Mexico City

I work for the government as a head of a computer infrastructure operations department. At work we are doing several actions to try not to expose workers. We sent several home. I support the Pumas football team and the very important match with the Guadalajara team will be played behind closed doors. My family and I are going to stay home all weekend. We feel a little scared and confused with the feeling that we are not given being told the truth. Many people think the numbers of dead people is higher than we are being told.

Marcos, Mexico City

The whole city is affected, I have a very bad feeling about this. Two of my friends at work are sick, they were sick for a couple of days, they went to the hospital and they sent them back to work. The doctor told them it was just a flu until Friday when the alarm was spread, then they were allowed to go home. I work in a call centre and I'm worried because there are no windows in the building so it cannot be ventilated and around 400 people work there.

We all have talked to our supervisor but no one has done anything not even sterilise or disinfect the area. We will be sick soon and, well, do the math - 400 can infect at least another two per day. The authorities say there's nothing they can do since it's a private company and I can assure you, the company I work for is not the only one like this in the whole city. Us workers don't have much protection from our government and if we want to keep our jobs we have to go anyway.

Adriana, Mexico City

I'm a college student in Mexico City, and I can only say that the information that the media has provided doesn't seem to be enough, we do not now how serious it is because they have failed to mention it. There have been two ways of responding to this event, the ones that have entered themselves into quarantine claiming that the government is hiding something much more serious, and those who take this as a joke saying that everyone is overreacting. To put a cherry on top all kind of crazy rumours are flying around - that they are going to quarantine Mexico City, that a school and some specific branches of offices and jobs are going to be suspended for days to come, and so on. I wish more info was available, for example how to prevent it? Have there been many deaths? Is there a threat of an epidemic?

Mari A, Mexico City

I didn't hear about the flu epidemic until last night at 2330. Yesterday the streets were almost empty compared to a normal Friday afternoon. The media is bombarding the same information over and over again, but the authorities haven't said anything new yet, only that they have enough vaccines for those with the flu and that we should avoid public spaces.

Paulina, Mexico City

Two's Up!

Had an awesome day riding in ridiculously high humidity to AC/DC.

Pensive and moody while I jammed to Blow Up Your Video, altogether cognizant of ANZAC Day (thanks to a friend) and an old movie called Gallipoli.


Three is company
Come on,
Last stand
Down to my last dime
I ain't got the sense to leave
The dealers cutting fine
Last draw
Back against the wall
Depending where the money is
Is where I'm gonna fall
Ace high
Hide your poker eyes
I didn't want to laugh too much
When I picked up the prize
Lady Luck
Standing at my side
I'll leave with more than I brought in
And I get out with my life
I get out with my life

Muchos snakes ahead!!!

Rattlesnake Meets Bike from hjv on Vimeo.

I wanted to weigh in on what appears to be a rather innocuous video of me bike riding to some music.

Nature is a brutal and unforgiving bitch, and I lapsed into what seemed like hours of fighting a tangled snake in the bottom-half of my bike in this video. Camera angles be DAMNED. The horrifying sight of watching a half-pinned rattlesnake try to strike your very leg that is mercilessly locked into a metal bicycle pedal is something I cannot erase from my memory. Not in a week at least.

I spent most of Monday morning researching and remembering snake bites of friends and strangers alike. Most of my phone conversations that very afternoon seemed flippant as to the outcome of such an encounter, but my friends (every SINGLE one of them) reminded me how bad a hemotoxicic bite could have been. I'll leave out the details regarding vomiting blood and self-urination, but the reality is that I was about 1 mile from the nearest road, in fairly heavy grass and scrub brush so I'm not even sure the cell phone would have worked in an emergency...

Photo after graphic photo of pit viper bites accompanying gut-wrenching testimony by bite victims made me want to get up and leave work and sit in a corner at home for awhile. This was in direct contradiction to the EXTREME elation I felt just minutes after the event, where I biked like an adrenalized demon through the remaining mile of unknown singletrack while all the RIGHT songs played through the tiny earphones of the iPod.

Proof of a God?

I don't care.

I HAVE SURVIVED, and that which does not kill me makes me stronger.

Retreat to the 1980's

I've been dipping into the 80's in my mind recently...

They seem to represent the best years of my life - full of naivete and excitement. I can still picture many of the formative events in my life that took place between 1980 and 1988. Legos. The beach. Skateboarding. Dungeons and Dragons! BMX. Ostentatious sports cars gleaming in the sun... Fireflies on the side of the road. My first sexual encounter. My first love...

I feel a pressing sadness in recent days, probably due to an unexpected streak of meaninglessness in life and work. Don't get me wrong - I love my job! But the gristmill that is day-to-day life grinds you into obscurity, despite sustaining the comfort of an average suburbanite. Today, I read obituaries in the newspaper. But my thoughts drift back to the tail-end of the 1970's when I stared at a KISS poster my cousin displayed in her room, wondering what kind of person would listen to such demonic music! And why a poster of Andy Gibb was platered right next to that? And did Andy Gibb really only wear tennis shoes in all his photo shoots? Too late now, as he is dead from a cocaine overdose.

So many vivid memories at the turn of my life, when passing the threshhold of manhood was still such a mysterious event. I honestly couldn't explain the electricity in the air back then to kids of the 90's (or even of the new Millenium) - it was a mix of danger and excitement. Will you live past Friday? Who can remember the proliferation of cocaine use and the Soviet nuclear threat? Strange indeed.

And now, reaching adulthood, life is no longer a mystery. It is a dirty, easily-repeatable experiment in base emotions and boredom. If you can learn to be a productive citizen in American society, then you may learn something about what makes you tick. For many, the ultimate lesson is lost. They wander in the fog of the past and hide from the threat of the future. Not sure that is what most people really wanted out of life, kids or no, but it facilitates the "zombie lifestyle" that permeates this country today.

Hope some of us wake up and one day the rest notice.

Crazy RC Mountain Bike

Crazy RC Mountain Bike from hjv on Vimeo.

Me + Flip Mino + Kona Mt. Bike + Leon Creek + Vimeo

Me + Flip Mino + Kona Mt. Bike + Leon Creek + Vimeo = montage at the speed of barf.

If you are susceptible to dizziness or vertigo, fast-forward to the last 30 seconds where I show the actual camera mount.


Trial run of Flip Mino at OP Schnabel Park in San Antonio, Texas from hjv on Vimeo.

The Flip Mino HD goes sailing at OP Schnabel Park

So I decided to pick up a Flip Mino HD this weekend, mostly because I've been wanting to try real-time video recording of my mountain biking for years (some attempts using older 8mm cameras have been a disaster!)


This little camera seemed to do the trick, as it was about 1/2 the size of a pack of cigarettes and weighed about as much (2 or 3 ounces).

I built this tiny mount using some wing nuts, washers, and an old bike headlamp mount and parked the Flip Mino HD on it. Despite being very sturdy, the mount could not prevent the little HD camera from producing "crackling" and "undulating" in the resulting video clips. Nevertheless, it was a pretty cool experiment that is easily reproducible by any mountain biker who wants to record some of their exploits. The Mino weighs about 3 ounces.



My biggest complaints are:

1) Audio sensitivity leads to the track "crackling" or "popping". This is unavoidable.
2) Video quality is poor when the camera vibrates, leading to a "waviness" or undulation in the track when played back.

My biggest recommendations are:

1) Small size
2) Nearly weightless!