Sport Utility Bike
Awesome video and article from Salon about the Xtracycle Free Radical, an add-on frame that converts your mountain bike into a sport utility bike. I think I'm still a few years away from one of these, but the blender attachment is so sweet! Last weekend at the market, we saw a guy with a Yuba Mundo, which is a bike built specifically for tasks like grocery shopping. He had no problem getting his stuff on his bike, while I was glad that we had driven (since I was still weak from my stomach bug) so I didn't have to try to transport our 5 bottles of milk home in my meager panniers. I also just found out that our CSA today will have a watermelon, which I am likewise sure will not fit in my panniers. I clearly have bike envy.
Anyway, check out the video below for a taste of what can be done with a properly equipped bike.
A Year in the Merde
A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
My review
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
A Year in the Merde is largely what you might expect from the cover. It's a funny stab at French stereotypes: the strikes, the dog merde, the indifferent shrugs. It manages to nail all those things in a funny way, even though they've all been lampooned before. It only falters slightly when it comes to the plot linking everything together. The story following the protagonist's efforts to start a chain of tea rooms in Paris sort of drives the book forward, but at times also seemed predictable and like it was just a bridge between the funny bits. Still, it was quite funny, in the way Brits making fun of the French often is.
Next up is Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.
Recovery
I managed to recover from Thursday's stomach bug enough to ride my bike in to work again today. If I hadn't been able to, I'd have had to ride the bus. Not a big deal, just requires more planning. Plus, I like riding the bike better. Thankfully, after Thursday's difficulties, I was able to slowly work my way back to health on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday I was well enough to eat just about anything, including gumbo yesterday, made with our first batch of okra from the CSA. Yummy. Unfortunately, week 4 of the pushup challenge got sidetracked, so I am redoing week 4 starting today. It's not any easier than it was last week, believe me.
Not much else to say at the moment, so I might as well get to work.
The Raw Shark Texts
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
My review
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Another bit of a mind-bending book for me. Maybe not as much as Brasyl, but I found the concept of, well, conceptual sharks and dissociative conditions rather interesting. Somewhat less interesting were the relationships between the characters, but they worked to their purpose of driving the plot along. My biggest complaint was that the shark scenes were far to reminiscent of "Jaws," but I suppose that's a minor quibble. The book really was quite good, and I'd recommend it as summer beach reading. As long as there aren't any real sharks around your beach.
Next up is A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke.
How I Spent My “Vacation” Weekend
The wife and kids were out of town this weekend, and I had a lot to do even with them gone. I managed to get a bunch of stuff done around the house, including painting the bathroom and putting up the last of the upstairs doors (to the kids' room). Thankfully no one was home for the latter, as I was cursing up a storm getting the thing up.
I also cleaned up the workshop, which had become a dumping ground for all the old doors and wood scraps we've accumulated over the past couple of years. All the stuff is now out on the curb awaiting pickup.
I also did some fun stuff. On Saturday morning, I went to see The Dark Knight (it was sold out, even for the 10am showing!). Good flick, Ledger stole it of course, but if they had just put in one or two more scenes detailing why Harvey Dent went to the dark side, it could have been brilliant altogether. I also went to watch my cousin play Gaelic football on Saturday, only to watch him bust his thumb and chip his tooth. He very dramatically spit the piece of tooth out, completely grossing out the fans in attendance. I haven't heard yet whether he broke it, but hopefully he's okay. Finally, yesterday I took a trip up to Shenandoah and hiked Old Rag mountain. It's probably my favorite hike, but totally unrealistic with kids, since there's a lot of spots where you have to scramble over large rocks, and it's just not a good idea. But great fun for me on my own! I always love getting there early and spending some quality alone time at the top of the mountain with no signs of people around at all. Except for that granola bar wrapper. Fuckers. Even more fun is coming down and seeing the overeager overweight people who haven't even gotten to the rocks yet, almost finished with the single bottle of water, huffing and puffing their way up. On the drive back home, I stopped by the Epicurious Cow for lunch, and had a fine shrimp po' boy sandwich.
And the rest of Sunday I sat on my butt and caught up on Tivo. As it was intended.
Low Car Diet Begins
This morning, I went downtown for the start of the Zipcar Low-Car Diet program. For the next month, I have to keep my Honda Civic parked and try not to drive it. For some of the participants, they're trying to avoid using any car at all, using only Zipcar and public transportation.
I threw myself right into the thick of it, taking the train downtown for the kickoff event. Then after the event was over, I had to figure out how to get to work. I took the train to the West Falls Church Metro, and just narrowly missed catching the shuttle to where I work. Instead, I hopped on the 3T bus and ended up walking about a mile to my office. It was warmer than I would have liked, but I succeeded. On the way home, I just have to walk .25 miles to catch the bus, then walk about 1.5 miles the rest of the way home. The best part so far is that I just started a new book this morning, and I'm 86 pages into it already.
Oh yeah, and if you click on the Zipcar link above, you can find me under the Washington, DC participant list. Mine is the third picture, the giant eyeball. They're supposed to update those pages when we send them emails about our progress. Mine should be interesting this week, since I have to pick up Lisa and the kids from the airport tonight. Unfortunately, the Toyota Matrix Zipcar isn't available when I need to pick them up, so we'll have to take Metro instead. Ellie will be thrilled: airplane AND train both in the same day!
Another Challenge Update
Week 3 of the One Hundred Pushup Challenge was a killer. I tested into the "> 25 pushups" portion after doing 30 on Sunday, and immediately on the first day, I had to start with 25 pushups for just the first set! It doesn't get easier, as you have 60 seconds to recover and move on to 17, 17, 15, then 25 to finish up. My form was... not good. But I pretty much finished it. Eventually on Day 3, this morning, I had to do 30, 22, 22, 20 and 27. I barely eked my way through that, leading me to consider redoing the week. However, after looking ahead to week 4, I realized it wouldn't be that much more than I did this week, so I will forge ahead and see how I do.
On the President's Challenge side, I'm now 86 % of the way toward the goal of 20000 points for a Bronze Award. I should be able to surpass 20000 by the end of next week.
On Monday morning, I'll be headed downtown for the Zipcar Low-Car Diet kickoff. If anyone happens to be near Gallery Place around 9am, stop by and say hi. The requirements are pretty simple: don't use your car for a month, and see how it goes. I have to send them email updates every couple of weeks, and I might record a video of my commute or our trips to the market or something. In return, I got a free Zipcar membership for the year, $150 driving credit for Zipcars, $250 MetroCard for riding the train or bus, a copy of How to Live Well Without Owning a Car (which I already read and own a copy of) and a free one year membership to the Washington Area Bicyclists Association. Not a bad haul, I must say. That MetroCard should definitely help on those bad weather days. Who knows? Maybe I can eventually sell our second car.
St. Louis Kriek
No, not made in St. Louis, but in Belgium. Interesting choice, given the Anheuser-Busch/InBev goings on of late.
Deep garnet color with light pink head. Fairly decent lacing on my tulip glass.
Obviously, I get a good deal of cherry in the aroma, on the sweet side. The taste smacked me in the face with nostalgia: Luden's cherry cough drops. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I loved those cough drops. It's just not what I'd expect in my beer. There's a bit of tartness in the aftertaste too.
Not all that great, I don't think. Too syrupy and sweet for me, even if that's what I was in the mood for.
Overall rating: 2.9
Challenges Update
I completed Week 2 of the One Hundred Pushup Challenge this morning. So far it hasn't been too terribly difficult. Sometime this weekend, I will do another test to exhaustion, to see which column I have to do for weeks 3 and 4. I'm pretty sure I'll be in column 3 (the hardest) again, since I should be able to do more than 25 easily. One thing I do need to add is situps in the off-days, to make sure I stay well-rounded.
In the President's Challenge, I have 13413 "points," meaning I am roughly 2/3 of the way to a "Bronze Award." Not too bad after only a month of recording the data. I started getting points more quickly now that my biking speed has gotten faster, and I'm no longer in the "Moderate, 12 - 16 mph" but in the "Vigorous, faster than 16 mph" category. It's a big difference too, I have found that I can stay in the big gears going up hills for much longer. I am still definitely winded once I get to the top, but I'm getting there much quicker, which makes me feel good. And this morning, I raced the bus and won for the first time. We were both at the same stoplight, and when it turns green, the bus takes a short detour to pick up a couple of passengers while I go straight. The bus usually catches me before I get to the end of the mile long stretch, but this morning, I beat it by a good 30 seconds or so. A good way to start the morning.
Something Worthwhile on MySpace? Impossible!
And yet, there it is: Sid and Marty Krofft's MySpace page, complete with "Krofft Kwikies," 4-5 minutes versions of the original episodes of all your favorites: HR Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost and more. And yes, the special effects on Land of the Lost are just as freakin' hawesome as you remember.
This is going to kill the rest of my lunch break....
The first Land of the Lost "kwikie" is embedded below.
Found via io9, the cool sci-fi blog.
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