Back when I was a young guy racing bikes, Tycho's was one of my sponsor. They paid me to win races and I did.

Tycho's even had a big executive party at one of the stages of the Tour of Texas and I got to meet L. Dennis Kozlowski. Everything was great, I had an apartment, a van and travel money I was doing pretty well for an eighteen year old.

Then the execs at Tycho's hooked up with Paul Newman and they just dumped our team to sponsor Paul's car racing team -- like the guy doesn't have enough millions from being a movie star.

They just pulled the plug on us mid-season and it pretty much crushed what at the time was one of the best teams in the US, sure 7-11 was better, but they had much deeper pockets and we had a good deal of wins and top riders to be a formidible underdog.

I know bicycle racing was an obscure sport back then. And I am truly grateful that Tycho's sponsored us because it really made my life much better. I was still below the poverty line, but I was making it.

It may be sourgrapes, but to this day I won't buy any Newman dressing or food, it's overpriced garbage anyways. He might have me legs broken for this, but I think he's disgusting.

As for Dennis, he's going to do hard time and I wish him all the best. I wonder if Paul Newman's going to visit him at Riker's.

I used up about three seconds of my fame working as a stunt driver for a tv show Lady Blue http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089455/ They needed some bike racers for a scene in which Det. Katy Mahoney (Lady Blue), supposedly the female version of Dirty Harry, is having a conversation with her fat boss, played by Danny Aiello, who is busy getting a hotdog from a street vendor. She looks up and sees the bad guy and runs across the street to nab him. By the time her dumb male boss figures out what is going on and tries to follow her the traffic is heavy and he gets hit by a biker (me). Well he wasn't supposed to get hit, but they made us redo the fucking scene so many times I figured I'd throw a little excitement into the mix.

Since then, I have maybe used about another 15 seconds. I am hoping to stretch it out I guess.

Although 3 sounds like a low number, I can't think of many people who are also a 3, except for Bill Gates and neither of us are technically in the database. Even unknown Canadian actors like Patrick McKenna (who rocks) is a 2. It probably would be a fun game to try and figure out the actor with the highest BQ.

So I rank a "3" with Bill Gates, who paid Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynomite, to be in a microsoft inhouse movie with him. So in a way, it may not be cool to be a three, but at least I got paid and not the other way around.

Hi, this is my first journal post, so I figure I'd tell you who I am. I chose the name woodsrunner as a shortened form of courier du bois, the guys who traded furs before the Voyageurs.

I have always seen the internet as an extension of the fur trade, so I thought the name was appropriate

You see, back in the day adventurers left France and went to the new world seeking furs from the natives. They would trade European things like pots, pans, guns, knives and mirrors for the Native's furs. Funny thing is, the used furs were the most sought after so the natives were getting freaky high tech stuff for their garbage.

today, we use computers rather than canoes and the trading is just as wierd.

Anyhow, the woodsrunners figured out the fur trade early and made good money. Enough money that the government decided they should be getting involved. In order to get their share they started licensing the traders. This is where the Voyageurs come in, they were the licensed big boys working for big companies. The lowly woodsrunners were made illegal and either had to buy in or get out. This is sort of where the history of the internet is. It's still a world of woodsrunners, but slowly the big corporations are buying up all of the rights and I can see a day where you will need a license to use the internet.