So last week, I did the inevitable: I broke Trikeasaurus.

That’s the bad news. The good news was that while attempting to fix Trikeasaurus, the whole episode turned into a simple yet immensely satisfying return to my North Carolina* roots.

You see, as I don’t like cars much, I miss out on one of the great joys of my cultural heritage. Luckily the following image (after the jump) is as close as I’ll ever get to a certain primal yearning that was programmed into me from my youthful surroundings:
Click HERE for more…

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You to everyone who made it to last night’s FlashDance at City Hall! Sooooo much goodness & exactly what our hero needed It was once again stupendous and makes me even more bummed that I did not manage to have a June FD - what was up with that?

Anyway from the Amazing Filipino(?) Dance Squad, to the Flava Flav impersonator to the Italian tourists it was awesome. And even the fact that we got busted and had to move locations all worked out well (see below!). Simply a great FlashDance! I hope you all had as much fun as I did & I can’t wait for August (hint: we’ll be hitting the same spot we always hit for August FD…).

Thanks again for making my night!

3 quick additional notes:

Click HERE for more…

Sometimes, you just need catharsis. My recommendation? Bike around the City on Trikeasaurus on a Friday evening and have BIG fun (say “Hi” to the iPhone 3G line, dance with awesome teenage black girls, rock out with kids having a bike stunt party, make new friends and bike around with them (What up Keith! Nice to meet you Jacob!), then roll into Dolores Park after it gets dark & play yourself some “O-o-h Child” & “No Woman No Cry” works like a charm. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Hey folks -

The last few months have been very draining both physically and emotionally - but the biggest upside of that time is out in the world, and I’m pretty proud of it. For many of you this will be a “oh, that sounds nice” but for a few of you who use iTunes or AppleTV a lot at your house & you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch - you’ll really love this. I do. It is one of my two proudest accomplishments at Apple*.

Introducing Remote…

.ps
And it is free.

.pps
No, I didn’t write the app that runs on the phone, I put in all the stuff in iTunes and parts of AppleTV to make it work.

.ppps
Ok - my second favorite app:
Jared!!!

.pppppps Ok one last cool Remote feature for those of you with AppleTV’s.

*And the other is iTunes’ music sharing feature.

You know when there is one of those things that is seriously cool & you want it, but you don’t want to admit it because that wouldn’t be cool?

Woooot!

My FlashDances won an SF WEEKLY BEST OF THE BAY:

http://www.sfweekly.com/bestof/2008/award/best-flash-mob-1032566/

I think they summarized the whole thing pretty damn well :

Best Flash Mob (2008)
FlashDance, put on by Amandeep Jawa
http://www.deeptrouble.com/flashdance
Step one: E-mail flashdance-join AT deeptrouble.com to get on the list. Step two: Await message with the 411 for the next roving street dance party. Step three: Show up and boogie while onlookers wonder what the heck is going on, or just stop asking questions and join in themselves. Started around two years ago by a Silicon Valley software engineer (the rare kind who actually can whip out the moves on the dancefloor) who lives in the Mission and can be spotted every once in a while wearing a giant disco ball costume, Jawa has been coordinating the dances since he spotted a salsa dance party along the Seine in Paris and thought, “Why not in San Francisco?” He feeds funk, soul, pop, and some Indian electronica off his MacBook through some amps at such locales as the 24th Street BART station or Embarcadero Plaza.

& thanks to everyone who has left a comment over at their website
I’m seriously happy about this!

More Soon!

or
The Man™’s Been Keeping Me Down Watching My Back?

[Ed.Note: For those who don’t know, Trikeasaurus is my 500W tricycle-with-speakers (click here for more)]

So about a month ago, on one of my Trikeasaurus rides, a bad thing happened: I got a ticket. For being too loud & thus creating a public disturbance. The cop in question was kinda lame about it. Many cops have been cool or at worst have just said “turn it down”. Most ignore it. A few have been mean. This one was just lame in lecture and attitude.

Anyway I got this:

Doh! I can’t say I was surprised. I have been warned a few times, and the cop in question gave me a stern talking-to back in November (when I liked the idea of beat cops in my neighborhood & thought they would deter crime, not fun. Sigh. I guess I still like the idea of beat cops.) But all those reasons aside, I guess I knew that a maverick outlaw type like myself (stop laughing!) is always just one “good idea” away from the hoosegow. Given my DWITS (Driving While In Tiger Suit) incident of 2001, & the “Gloating over Political Victories Can Get You In Jail” episode of 2003, you could say I was way overdue.

Before I go on though, let’s make one thing clear: The fact is, I *am* violating the law when I’m rolling with Trikeasaurus: anything over 50 decibels is illegal.

Click HERE for more…

Hey Kids -

So Saturday night we had our first FlashDance of the season at the 24th & Mission BART station, very close to “Deep International HQ. Not surprisingly, this 13th FlashDance ROCKED. Why did it rock? An excellent question, Dear Reader! It rocked for the same reasons FD always rocks:
- great people
- good music (I was pretty happy with the mix - see the playlist after the jump)
- random sillyness (human arch, dancing in the streets, 12 year old (?) break dancing girl, invasion of the Dance Mission dancers, and me serenading the crowd to the Pet Shop Boys’ “You Were Always On My Mind” )

Also for once, someone took some really great pix (Thanks Kelleth!)
(for more GREAT pix just click here)

Anyway - if you missed this one, get on the list & get ready for May when we’ll have another one - I hope you make it!

For the Playlist - click “More” below

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[Ed. note: What follows is a slightly edited (mostly punctuation fixes) version of an email I just sent SOMA Fabrications, makers of my current water bottle of choice. Those of you who know me, know how big my water bottle is in my life. I’ll keep you posted if they reply.]

[UPDATE: They contacted me 2 weeks after I posted this - see the bottom for the update.]

Dear Soma Folks,

First off let me say that I love that you are here in SF & that you make awesome bike stuff. Keep on Rockin’!

The reason for my email though, is my love/hate relationship, no - let’s say “love/deep-abiding-sadness” relationship with your Crystal Polypropylene Water Bottle. The love comes from the fact that as a constant-water-drinker I tried out one of your bottles a few months ago & it was love at first sip. No rubbery taste! Clear and large and clean! I felt a revolution in my water intake was afoot! And so simple! Seemingly, so obvious! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

But a few days in, I noticed that it leaked around the top. Must be a dud I thought, a one-of-a-kind manufacturing mistake, I’ll just get another one! That will be perfect! Sadly no - it still leaked.

Sometime into my third one (having lost my second one) I just tried to ignore the drips of water on my face as I drank, or the small puddle of accumulated leaks in my bike bag. But how much can you ignore at 4 in the morning when you reach for a sip of water in a cozy half-asleep daze, only to be awakened fully by the needle-like prick of ice cold water on your chest? No - there is no ignoring, only sadness.

When I lost my third one, I briefly thought about going back to an older water bottle - but the thought of all those rubbery chemicals that I have imbibed all through the years was too scary to consider. “Maybe they have fixed it!” I thought. This was just three days ago mind you.

So I bought my fourth one, but no, it still leaked. I actually lost it a day after I bought it*, but today, I sadly & resignedly bought my fifth. It seems I am your customer regardless of what happens now. But know that with every drip upon my chin, there is also occasionally a tear in my eye.

yours
‘deep
SF Bike Coalition Board Member (FOR ID PURPOSES ONLY - My views have NOTHING to do with the SF Bicycle Coalition)

*Yeah, I DO lose a lot of water bottles! What IS up with that!?

UPDATE: So two weeks after I posted this, Stan at SOMA Fabrications found my website somehow & responded (I had sent him an email, but he never got it, due to an outdated email address I found for them). Anyway, he was super helpful and interested. But of course, now that I finally got their attention, Water Bottle #5 turned out to not leak. Theoretically, I’m happy about this development…..

Seriously, though THANKS STAN & I do love my water bottle, so I recommend ‘em.

(If you have good pictures from Sunday - PLEASE email them to me - THANKS) [Updated: 4/1 added new picture of “First Dolores Stop” from Chase]

Did you hear Trikeasaurus roll by Sunday? It probably sounded like some Jackson 5 booming from a pair of massive speakers attached to a shiny blue tricycle? Maybe you saw a few people dancing along behind while riding their bikes? Or maybe you caught one of the dance parties that sprung up at some of its stops?

I LUV Trikeasaurus.

I should ’splain:

Trikeasaurus is my musical tricycle:

Click HERE for more…

IF YOU USE A MAC, I HOPE YOU READ THIS. For those of you on Windows, ummmm….. good luck with that.

Hey Mac-using folks -

I *really* *really* want you to buy a Time Capsule or start using Time Machine. No, Apple doesn’t need the money. No, I don’t get a cut or even work on the Time Capsule team.

I ask you to do this because I care about you. And specifically, because I know the horrors of data loss. Think of all the music in your iTunes library, or all the photos in your iPhoto library, or all those things you’ve written, or all those emails that you want to save. Some day your hard drive will die. Or you’ll drop your Mac. Or something else bad will happen. And on that day you will either say:

1. I’m glad ‘Deep made me buy a Time Capsule.
2. F$&^k, I wish I listened to ‘Deep and bought a Time Capsule.

So what am I talking about?

Click HERE for more…