Commute Clot

I love Wikipedia. To me it represents the closest we've come to my childhood dream of being Spock on the starship Enterprise. I always wanted to tilt my head back, look at some undefined point in the air, and say "Computer..." Oh the things I would have asked of the starfleet database.

I've been reading entries related to fitness and biking lately. For example, traditional gearing is easy to grok, but internal gearing was a mystery until I read this.

Today I found an excellent entry on Critical Mass. Now I know what it means for massers to go corking. Be sure to read the entry. The historical notes involving the mayor of San Francisco and the 2004 Republican National Convention (separate events) are readworthy.

It looks like this counter-cultural phenomenon has a toehold here in our community, although it looks like a mischievous MySpace user somehow grabbed ahold of the group. LOL, etc.

I'm not connected with the hipster cyclists in town, so I'm not sure whether these rides actually take place here. However, today is the last friday of this month, so today would be the day to see them if they do.

Anybody ever done this?

FSCK me

FSCK me
Originally uploaded by p0dunk.

Come back to me, baby...you can do it! Twice in two days that my filesystem spontaneously remounted itself as read only. Can't be a good sign.

Bay to Breakers 2006

Bay to Breakers 2006
Originally uploaded by bluno.

Discovered that there are a couple of pics of us on bluno's Bay To Breakers photo set. What a great morning that was: start the day with friends, beer, and a parade of beautiful freaks. The only way it could have been better is if my pants didn't keep falling down.

Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished
Originally uploaded by p0dunk.

The girl behind the checkout counter noticed the cloth bags and the backpack, and guessed that we were walking. When we said we were on bikes she said that she would probably ride hers, if only she could get up early enough.

Holmes lake

Holmes lake
Originally uploaded by p0dunk.

Commuting by bicycle to the bus stop was first suggested to me on this bridge in the fall of 2004. The world seemed so huge then, so it took of a long time to warm up to the idea. Today was the first time I crossed this bridge since I became a bike commuter. We went out of our way to get tea at mill south before getting groceries. A much smaller world now.

Fabio The Glorious

Fabio The Glorious
Originally uploaded by p0dunk.

I needed a test subject for setting up mobile photo blogging, and this creature was willing to take time out of his busy schedule to help.

ouchie

Some of life's lessons are known and freely dispensed by everyone, and somehow I still don't absorb them. Take "wear sunscreen", for example. Sensible, obvious, easy to remember...and unheeded. It must have been the song of the sirens. I suppose it's good to be reminded every once in a while. The arms, head, and neck are all great. It's just the knees and the back of the hands. I miss my knees the most. I use them more than I had given them credit for.

First 50 mile day

This morning I rode down to The Mill to sit on the deck and make some progress in the book I need to finish for my reading circle. I had just finished my mocha and the brain was hitting full stride when Erin and Syd came by on a couple of fixies, and invited me along on a ride. At first I didn't want to change my plan, but then I remembered that I had my new arm coolers and sun hat in my bag, and hadn't yet taken them out on a long ride to test them.

You see, I was tragically born with dangerously low levels of melanin. I have a "ruddy complexion", as they say, and therefore a high risk factor for skin cancers. Indeed, just a couple of weeks ago I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my right cheek using a procedure called MOHS Surgery. (Leaving me with 6 stitches: 4 on the surface and 2 below.) Rather than abandon my desire to get into bicycle touring, I'm learning about ways to fight the sun. Today's ride was a great workout, and it proved to me that I could protect myself. By the end of the day I had four small burns the size of a homemade chocolate chip cookie: one on the back of each hand, and one on each knee. This problem can be solved.

Today's route took me from The Mill out on the mopac to Eagle, south to Bennet, and back along Highway 2 back home. Before this ride, my humble distance record was a mere 28 miles, and my rough map measures my journey so far at just shy of 50 miles. A spectacular distance by my standards. It was not long enough to sate Syd and Erin, though, so we parted ways at Bennet: I made a bee-line for home and they went wherever it is that amazon women go when no one can keep up with them.

All in all, a fun day. I'm going to add 11 more miles tonight when I ride down to Duffy's to see Her Flyaway Manner.

A cell phone's blood on my hands

Bicycle commuting has changed everything. I especially like how I have been dropping pants sizes, although this means revamping my wardrobe. I'm taking this opportunity to learn about the exciting changes in pants technology. Indeed, I have been missing out. I bought a pair of pants with a special cell-phone pocket in them -- an awsome innovation, worthy of a spot in a trouser hall o' fame.

The addition of this feature should come with a warning label: "ACHTUNG! modify your laundry protocol so that you check this pocket!" Most expensive pants ever when you factor in the cost of replacing your Motorola v710. And the lost pictures and phone numbers.

The silver lining to this story is that I was never happy with the v710. It was so frustratingly close to being the right phone: it had Bluetooth, but the OBEX protocol was disabled. OBEX is the protocol that makes it possible to download pictures from your phone to your computer (as opposed to mailing them to yourself) and upload ringtones from your computer to your phone (as opposed to buying ringtones). Note how disabling this protocol forces consumers to buy things from your carrier. Funny coincidence, that.

My replacement is an e815, which fortunately had the OBEX service enabled right out of the box! (Others have had to hack their e815's to turn it on.) Thank you, Alltel. You don't suck as much as I thought you did.

So last night I transfered my first free pictures to my Mac, and uploaded some nice, subtle ring tones. I felt so free. Next step: make some of my own ring tones with Garage Band in my copious free time.

Destined to become a rock star

My friend Bob just called me to tell me that he just bought an Eric Johnson signature Stratocaster, probably a lot like this one (I haven't seen it yet). He's convinced that he has sold is soul to the devil. Today is 6/6/06, right? Well, the serial number on his new, black guitar is EJ06660. So tonight I'll have to pedal over to his place with a sixpack of the most satanic beer I can think of.

Anything Anheiser Busch makes should do just fine.

I found the specs for this instrument on the Fender product page.