This blog is no longer being updated.

This blog is no longer going to be consistently updated.  Instead, please visit my new and improved blog (with a much more professional approach) available over at http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com, and be sure to leave a comment, and I'll get back to you!

Thanks so much!

So what do you think?

Twitter updates on the left hand bar, yes or no? Or just move them down below the tags? Hmm...

I'm the next member of the Trail Crew

This sounds like it’s straight out of a fairy tail: free riding trips, free riding gear, a high-end loaner bike (that may become yours), and all you have to do is take pictures and promote it like crazy on the internet? Yep, definitely a daydream straight out of my head; what more could I ask for in life?

I would be the perfect rider to do this for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am very comfortable using the internet to publish content. I have been a member of Facebook for several years, and regularly update my profile with status updates and pictures. I am always posting photos here on my blog, and most often they're all about mountain biking. I take loads of pictures of trails I've ridden, and pictures of my bike and bikes I've ridden are definitely sure to sneak in there and take up some web space.

As well as those, I am one of the top content contributors on the hottest mountain bike site on the web, singletracks.com. (Click here to check out my profile.) I participate there in the forums, as well as submitting reviews and photos for trails and gear.

Finally, and most importantly, I just straight up love to ride for the sake of riding. I get out and hit the singletrack whenever I possibly can, and wherever I can. I have lived and ridden in Wisconsin, Montana, Colorado, and Georgia, and have visited many states in between. I'll be moving from Athens to Dahlonega, Georgia in about two months, and will have all of the best North Georgia singletrack outside my back door, and will be within easy striking range of the world-class singletrack in Pisgah. With trails like that in close proximity, I can lay a BEAT Down on any bike. And, since I'm living in Georgia now, I get to ride ALL YEAR ROUND; no time for ski season anymore! It's just singletrack all the time!

So sign me up.

Email Update

When I was back in Wisconsin, I had several people ask me whether or not I was still writing/emailing updates/blogging etc., and I actually have been updating my blog frequently... very frequently. However, since I've been updating and working on the creative side of things so much, the administrative side has gone a little slack. So here's a quick update for you.

I haven't been writing nearly as much lately. Randomer's focus has shifted even more heavily towards photography, or at least pictures (as many of them don't measure up to Mr. Meurett's expectations of photographs... that would take A LOT of creative energy).

I have written a few interesting things lately:
Miracle Mercy
706 update
You Gotta Want It!
Practice Makes Perfect

Also, remember when you get on Randomer, you can browse for posts by topic, such as "quality" for all of the best posts, mountain biking, rock climbing, a commentary on life, and Jesus Christ (although all of the writing links are most of the recent "Jesus Christ" posts).

Other items of note...
I AM ENGAGED!!!!!! Most of you probably know that, but that is so HUGE that I CAN'T GO WITHOUT MENTIONING IT!!!


Also, was just up in Wisconsin for a visit, and I'm in the process of uploading the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of photos from my trip.
You can find the first couple of rounds of rock climbing photos from Red Wing, MN here, here, and here.



Also, some shots from mountain biking back at Levis here.



If you browse back a little ways, you will probably run across a load of photos from past mountain biking exploits, such as this one from a trail up north of me a little ways:


And there are many, many more pictures on there way (including a whole bunch of rappelling pictures!) So check back often, glance through some snap shots of my life, and have a good day! (Oh, and shoot me an email if you want!)

Condrun

I've been getting a lot of hits from condrun.us over the past couple of days... I went over to check it out, and it is a neat little blog surfing tool.

Hey, the more people, the merrier!

Black

And Randomer is going.... black.

Hundreds of pictures

So I seriously have hundreds of pictures from my trip to Wisconsin that I want to post, including a slew of awesome climbing and rappelling pics. Here are a couple more from Sunday at Levis Mounds:

I'm behind...

I am crazy behind on posting photos on here!  Sorry guys... I will try to do a better job, scheduling posts and such stuff... I'm going to be posting a ton of pics over the next couple of weeks if that's ok, i'll try not to throw too many in each post though!  Be sure to keep checking back for all of the new pics!

(So that english was reallllly sketch, huh?)

Blast from the past label

Meaning

Something or someone that returns after a period of obscurity or absence. It is normally applied to things that that were thought fondly of previously and are making a welcome return - particularly pop songs.

Origin

Used first by US radio DJs when introducing old records. It isn't clear which DJ coined this, and no one lays especial claim to it.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/66500.html

500 posts

Randomer officially has over 500 posts!  Most of them are probably frivoulous, but 243 were deemed good enough to receive the "quality" tag, and 208 of them included pictures. Everything labled as a commentary on life, was some sort of commentary on the human condition or life in general, and everything labeled "Jesus Christ" was about the most important topic of all!  I also posted a lot of stuff about skiing, mountainboarding,  mountainbiking, and snowboarding.  

So go check some of those 500 posts out!  

Cheers.

Email Update

Hey everybody!  It has been a little while... but in case you didn't know, Randomer is back up and running! Check it out here. I sent out the first update in about 6 months or so (if you missed it, click here), and since then I have been updating Randomer regularly.  Only, it has basically evolved into a photo blog, for a couple of reasons:
1. I am too A.D.D. to write a huge bunch of stuff all the time.
2. I am too A.D.D. to read so many other people's extensive writings, so I figured everyone else wouldn't read mine, because that just takes a lot of time.
3. Pictures are cool.
(Ok, so I'm not really A.D.D.)

Since the last time I sent out an email:



The CBC youth group went out and delivered the Thanksgiving Dinners




We had our last youth group in Montana :(


My time at Central Bible Church came to an end :(


It started snowing in the mountains of Montana


Thanks to the CBC youth group, I had plenty of Dew for the journey


Trooper said good bye, too


Sarah made me a cake!


I embarked on my 2,500 mile road trip


I stopped in the middle of nowhere


I got a lot of gasoline


I stopped and visited A-dawg in North Dakota, and we gamed it up


I drank some Big Rig


We went to the Mall of America... and stopped by the Lego store



We visited family and friends in the Midwest


We had this really cool Christmas tree


We also played some Risk...


And I taught Summer how to Ski!


Now I'm down in Georgia, and we had a crazyily warm Christmas... it was surreal!

So it has been a very busy month or two.

And happy 2009!  It is going to be an amazing year people!

Blog List Thingy

There is a new blog list thingy with some decent blogs in it... it is pretty slick, shows you which blogs have new posts and what not... if you are interested, or really bored.

why blog

I also blog because I love to write, but there is a bit more to it than that. I feel like I have an excessive amount of creative juice sloshing around in my body, and my blog is an excellent way for me to exhibit the creative side of me, and to let other people enjoy it in their spare time. That’s why my blog isn’t just writing, but also includes an abundance of pictures, and even some videos, which I have taken/created.

http://ignorminious.co.uk/index.php?a=193&textonly=false

F.A.Q. in Disguise

By Goo

Q: What is Randomer?

A: Randomer is a website where I publish my writings, videos, and photographs as well as those of others who wish to contribute. It is basically an outlet for all of my creative energies.

Q: Why the name "Randomer?"

A: All the websites that I have worked on prior to this one have always had a specific topic, and I always wanted to add other nonrelated stuff. Now this website, this website is so random that it's Randomer. It's perfect!

Q: What is Randomer about?

A: Have you not been paying attention? randomer is about absolutely anything and everything! That's what makes it so great!

Q: Why is it designed with frames?

A: Please see one of my first articles ever: "Why Frames?"

Q: What can I do to get involved with Randomer?

A: There are a whole load of ways that you can get involved:
1. Be sure to get on the monthly email update list by emailing me athalogods@hotmail.com
2. You can post whatever you want on the message board: comments on articles; your own writings; links to your videos, pictures, blog, myspace, or website; or post absolutely anything else you want.
3. You can also email me one of your writings or pictures or videos for publication as an official Randomer article. I haven't turned anyone down yet!
4. Visit the Link to Us page and spread some of the banners around.
5. Just read some articles, and enjoy!

Q: Why is the title of this article: "F.A.Q. in Disguise?"

A: Because these aren't actually frequently asked questions. I don't usually get asked questions, so I'm making up questions that I might possibly get asked, and then answering them. Actually, I'm constantly doing things like this in my head. For instance, I'll imagine a situation that I might find myself in, and I'll work it all out in my head: what I'll say, what I'll do, how the other parties will react, and so on and so forth. In reality, those circumstance don't often end up playing out half as well as I imagined they would. But every now and then, something turns out better than expected. That's always a pleasent surprise.

Post a comment here.

English Woes, and other Ramblings.

By Goo

Written 10/27/06

I am so sick of English class. I have two English classes back to back 7th and 8th hours for all of first semester. First quarter is almost over, and it is really starting to tell. I can’t handle it. It is just too much English. My nerves are starting to get frayed, all I care about is skiing, and English is just getting to me. 7th and 8th hours are my worst hours, too, because all I am thinking about is getting out of school, and I cannot concentrate on English. I totally bombed the last essay in Advanced Composition, and I have to turn that short 500 word essay into about a 1500 word essay by Monday, and I haven’t added anything yet. And this weekend is the Fall Fantastico (yes!) and that will suck up all of my time tonight and tomorrow.

But really, doubling up on English is a bad idea. I really wanted (well not really really, but decided I should) take these 2 classes, and they are both only offered 1st semester.

Why am I not posting this as a blog? Well, it does have a central theme running through it; not just “um, I worked a lot today,” and because it is “Randomer.” Hey, I thought of a great catch-phrase/slogan for Randomer: “A running commentary on life.” Now if Randomer was a running commentary on life, that would be amazing. That’s is what Randomer should evolve into: a running commentary on life (with mountainboarding videos). That would almost be too limiting. No, maybe it wouldn’t. I will ponder this.

While I’m at it, I am currently pondering moving the bulk of my website to my home computer.
Reasons for:
1. No popups
2. Limitless space
3. No uploading (if I’m at home)
4. More options
The most prominent being no popups. How annoying are the popups to all of you? They really annoy me. Leave a comment with your opinion.

Reasons against:
1. Sphosting server is more reliable than my home computer
2. Limited/no stat tracking services
3. Will not be able to work on website unless I’m in Neillsville
4. No messageboard/will still have to rely on the sphosting message board. It wouldn’t be completely self sufficient. Not that my website is right now, because all the images are hosted on photobucet, and videos on either google or youtube.

Those are my thoughts. Leave a comment if you have any profound insights.

I should probably start working on that English essay.

Post a comment here.

not in a writing mood

Well I just got home a bit ago from the Plumbline hayride/bonfire. It was interesting, to say the least. Pretty decent overall.

Afterwards I ended up going to the skatepark and actually skateboarding in the skatepark for the first time ever! It was pretty fun. I could roll in right off the bat, and I learned how to drop in on a small lip. I haven't dropped in on a quarter pipe yet... maybe next time. But yeah that was a load of fun!

I'm hoping to go mountainboarding tomorrow morning before work. We'll see how that all pans out.

This is a lame blog. My blogs are lame. I am not in a writing mood.

If I was to write a Blog, This is what it would say.

By Goo

A little update on the life of Goo.

You know, I do have a blog... a myspace blog... and I do sometimes post things in it. But mostly they are Randomer updates. And no one reads it. And I'm not really into blog writing, although I think I would be if I didn't have Randomer. But Randomer is much cooler and more professional. And I don't usually just write about Random nothingness that has occured in my life. Oh wait, never mind, I do. But it is quite different from a blog. Usually, I feel like writing a blog and detailing every thing I have done in my day every day would be a little... how should I put it... exposing? to say the least. I don't want to tell you what I've been doing. If you really want to know, you can email me and ask me yourself. I was thinking this morning (or it may have been last night) that I could kinda do a blog on the news page and have it be a news/blog page. Because if I did blog in a blog, I would like it to be on Randomer... and as of now that's the only place it would fit. I could always make a new section, though. So if i was to write post a blog today, this is what it would more or less say.

A lot has been going on in the life of Goo, which coincidentally happens to be my life as I am Goo.

Now that we have that confession out of the way, I've been up to both a lot, and not much at all. The not much at all part is basically not much mountainboarding at all, not much hanging out with friends at all, not much of anything in any of those categories. I have really wanted to mountainboard more lately, but it has been way to stinking hot out. Plus, I work 8 hours a day in the heat, and I usually want to relax at night

And that's the a lot: work. I've been working A LOT.

Now mountainboarding. I was thinking about going for a sunrise mountainboarding session tomorrow morning, but I might be having a couple of friends staying over night, and my friends aren't very early risers... if we're talking 5 o'clock early type getting up time. But I really want to go riding, and I really want to do more filming of good riding and good riding locations because I want to enter a video in the Ground Industries Peep Show Video Contest. You'll probably hear more about that in the future.

But as far as physical exercise outside of work, there hasn't been much except for a little biking.

Speaking of biking, this past Wednessday was sweet. I worked an 8 hour day shoveling woodchips, that was pretty intense. I came home from work, ate supper, and decided to go for a bike ride. It is 4 and a half miles from my house to Levis Mound, and I've been wanting to try biking there, riding single track, and biking back. So I did just that. I biked a 4.5 mile warmup, and when I got to Levis, I biked for quite a while (most of it climbing the mounds) and then I rode 4.5 miles back... all this after an 8 hour day of work. It was pretty intense. The whole ride lasted an hour and forty minutes. It was sweet... a really good workout.

This past Monday I bought a car. That's right I BOUGHT A CAR! Finally! I've been waiting for a very long time to buy one... and I finally did.
The details:
Price: $2,400
Year: 1997
Make: Pontiac
Model: Grand Prix
Mileage: 182,000
Engine Size: 3.8L V6
Color: Dark Green
Oh yeah and its a 2 door coupe.
It was in very good condition, the only major mechanical defect being that the passenger side window won't roll down. But I've got working air... so HAH! The interior is excellent, not a scratsch. There were 2 small rust spots on the exterior, but nothing big. The only concern I had about buying it was that it had 180K on it. But the long and short of it is, I bought it, and it is sweet! I love it... yeah I am still super pumped and its almost a week later! Well, not quite a week. But it is great! I'll be sure to post a picture of it up sooner or later.

What else is there... not much.

Post a comment here.

Archive by Topic

The Official Launch of the "Archive by Topic" Pages.

By: Goo.

This little blurb is being written to highlight the official release of the first "Archive by Topic" page. The first one is (drum roll please) "Mountainboarding." Don't tell me you didn't see that coming. Mountainboarding is the natural choice because

A: The majority of Randomer material deals with mountainboarding.
B: It is the only one done.
C: It is the only one started

It is also my intention that all of the Archive by topic pages be visitable by a direct external link. So it'll be:
www.randomer.sphosting.com/[insert name of topic here]
So for the mountainboarding one, it is:
www.randomer.sphosting.com/mountainboarding

Oh yes, I almost forgot, the main access point for these pages will be from the archive page. As you well know, you can visit the Archive page by clicking on the link to the left. If you go there, you will notice that all the "Archive by Topic's" are at the top, and that the normal "Comprehensive Archive" is below that. (The comprehensive archive will continue to be updated monthly.

Feel free to post any feedback about this website update.

P.S.
The next archive by topic section will probably have something to do with all the fictitious stories published on Randomer.

About Randomer

By Gregory Heil

4-20-06

Note: This was written as the intro for the "Randomer "In Print" Volume 1" publication.

You may have just pulled this publication out of your mail box and gone “Hey, this is from Greg Heil! But what the heck is Randomer? I remember when he used to publish the Clark County Gazette, but that was ages ago.” Well let me tell you that all of your questions will be paired with answers in just a short bit.

Now, to get everyone on the same page:
In case you did not know, for quite a few years when I was a kid, I published a “newspaper” of sorts which was basically comprised of my writings and other random stuff. Well, I eventually kinda grew out of that stage, and pretty much stopped writing altogether. I think it happened about the time I started going to public school, which may have been to blame. Yeah let’s blame the rotten public school system, hoorah! (I wonder how many teachers are going to read this. That will be a laugh!) Well my life changed dramatically, a lot for the better, some for the worse, who can tell. But anyhow I arrived in English class last year. That is where the beginnings of the idea of Randomer first started forming in a dark recess in the back of my skull, but it took a while to become something. Basically, Mr. Worachek and his stringent rules/guidelines pissed the living hell out of me. It makes me really mad, really really mad, when someone tells me how and how not to write. But for the moment I was just really pissed off at English class. Then, in American History and Biology, we did this project on the Monkey trials of 1920 something, which was basically a whole evolution deally bob. Anyhow, there were several different roles you could do, and one was journalist. I was like “Hey, I know how to do that, that’ll be easy, I’ll shoot for that.” So I decided to do a special edition of the Clark County Gazette for this school project, and it was mostly rubbish articles about the mock up trial etc. etc. But, there were some articles outlining the past of the CCG, and some of the views that I have expressed earlier in this massive paragraph. Now we are getting really hot, because that was it. I started seriously thinking about writing again. I came up with the actual concept of Randomer, where I right about any random thing. The beauty of the name being that it is not actually a word, showing my flagrant disrespect for English class etc. and any laws that come along with it such as random things that prohibit run on sentences even though they can be so cool to use because they are so absolutely random that no one would even know what had hit them once they got done reading said sentence because it had strayed so far from the original topic that they couldn’t even remember where it started so they will have to go back to the beginning just to remind themselves because I’m going to be mean and not tell them where it started so ha. Another part of the original Randomer concept was to do it online, because about the time I quit writing I took up website design, so I decided to combine the two passions into one.

Let's start a new paragraph, just for the fun of it. That basically brings us up to the start of Randomer. The first news update on the site was May 5th, and I’m aiming this newsletter thingamajobby to be complete just about then. Also turns out that May 5th is El Cinco de Mayo, which is pretty random. How neat. So this is the one year anniversary of Randomer, the Randomer “In Print” issue.

So in case you haven’t caught it yet, what Randomer essentially is, well it’s a website. And it is updated many times a month. The URL is www.randomer.sphosting.com so please go, check it out, and enjoy. But Randomer is not just a website; it's an idea, actually more of an ideal. But I’ll talk about that a bit later.

As for what is actually on the website, you will find:
-Writings by me
-Writings by Ben
-Many pictures by many people
-And even some videos

If you’re interested in contributing, let me know.

A little bit about the contents of this publication:
None of this was written specifically to antagonize anyone. Or maybe it was. I’m never quite sure. Oh well. So if you do end up taking offense to anything written herein, well then it must really suck to be you because you’re one of those people who take offense at every fricking thing someone says to you. But if you feel the need to voice your opinion, I totally am down with that and there is a message board section on the website (http://randomer.sphosting.com) where you can do just that and say whatever you want. See, that’s one of the founding principles/ideas behind Randomer:
We should all have the freedom to express our opinions and beliefs how we want to, and not have to conform to someone else’s rules or standards. So use the message board to write whatever you want, and maybe I’ll publish it if I really like it, who knows.

Post a comment here.