Crazy Weak-End, Eerie Moon

Friday Night (8pm), some friends and I showed up at Pizza Man for some supper. They were closed. How does a pizza place stay afloat with crappy business hours like this?

Might be layoffs in this economy, hard telling. We took our business to Stonewall Inn next door. They have good pizza, too.

Over the weekend, I subscribed to Freecycle. Their "application process" made me laugh, so I had fun with my answers to their silly questions.


Weak-end work at the office early Sunday morning. I left the lights off. I wish it was this dark in my office all the time. It would be much easier on my eyes.


Wife's back in the hospital. That Roadmaster that's laying down isn't locked. Still, I'd be willing to bet if a bike thief came along, my cable lock would be cut, my bike would be gone, and that damn roadmaster would still be there. There's a window overlooking it and a security camera right there as well.


My friend hevnsnt wrote "Inside programmable road signs" and then people started "hacking" road signs everywhere. This made front page news on foxnews.com, cnn and several others. Friday night, I saw it on my phone's web browser start page. Fame.


Folding laundry last night. My "helpers" fail. Warm Clothes = sleepy kitties.


I couldn't believe how incredibly beautiful it was this morning, save for the wind. I was in short sleeves. The moon was hiding in the fast-moving clouds.


Here's an up-close shot. I had to either get the detail in the moon and kill off the clouds, or wash the moon out and show how eerie the sky was. The clouds were moving way too fast for HDR.

Blur

That's exactly what this week has been.


Tuesday, I went to the CCCKC Underground Lab to determine what the space needs.  Tuesday night and Wednesday, I worked in Google Sketchup to draw out a floor plan for what I see the space looking like to meet the group's needs. I like Sketchup. 


Last night, I went to the group meeting (Weekly, every Thursday) and presented my floor plan to them. If you're interested, I created a virtual walk-through with Sketchup Screen shots. This morning, Lorin said "It's basically a MAN-CAVE, right?"  Not quite.  A Hackerspace is simply a physical location where hackers, tinkerers, programmers, entrepreneurs and scientists can go to collaborate or work on their projects.  It's very similar to a bicycle co-op except with electronics, computers, robotics and security stuff.

To make things even better, the CCCKC Underground Lab is actually quite easy to access by bicycle, and it's pretty much right along my bicycle commute route. Dude, I mean it's in a freaking CAVE! How cool is that?!


Several members are also cyclists. We joked last night about installing a bike rack in the carpeted hallway outside our door, but in reality we'll probably just wheel our bikes into the meeting room when it's not being used for presentations.

Lunch yesterday. These heating instructions made me laugh.


Riding to Cosentino's (the new/only grocery store downtown) is a good 5x faster than walking there. I was out there and back in a flash. I think the Trek 820 next to my bike belongs to someone who works at Cosentino's. It's locked there every single day, but parked differently each time.


This morning: Felt like I got hit by a truck when I woke up, but enjoyed riding in short sleeves. Mid-40s this morning, and predicted by some to maybe get into the 70s this afternoon.  

Tonight: The first Friday meeting at The Maul with some of my friends.  Like I said, this week's been a blur. 

Random Tunage:
Katharine McPhee - Over It
K's Choice - Not an Addict

Sustainable Living Houston kicks off National Bike Month 2009!

On Friday, May 1, 2009, residents of Cypress, Texas, will bicycle from the Coles Crossing subdivision to the nearby METRO Park & Ride and transit oriented development. By riding bikes to the Park & Ride, and then taking the #217 METRO bus to their work locations, the residents will complete a long-haul, suburb-to-city multi-modal commute without the use of private automobiles.

METRO has recently installed bike racks at the Cypress Park & Ride, and these will be used to secure the bicycles. There is also limited space for taking a few bikes in the sub-floor storage compartments of the # 217 buses.

Residents will assemble at 6:50 am on Friday, May 1, 2009 at the Coles Crossing Community Center parking lot and depart at 7:00 am sharp. Use of helmets, front & rear lights, red rear reflectors and articles of reflective clothing will be mandatory. Residents will ride on the sidewalk south on Barker-Cypress Rd. to Jarvis Rd., whereupon the group will transition to riding on Jarvis Rd. in a vehicular cycling mode. The total ride distance will be about a mile each way, and the time to the Park & Ride from the neighborhood will be about 6 minutes.

The rain date for this ride is May 15, 2009.

There will be a highly recommended pre-ride safety briefing at the Coles Crossing Community Center parking lot on April 25th at 8:00 a.m. where helmets, lighting, bike commuter clothing, and vehicular cycling will be discussed, as well as a test ride of the route. This briefing will be led by a League of American Bicyclist certified cycling instructor.




SLH:pw

Slept in, got to work early

I think I can get used to that on occasion. I didn't even have to drive my car. I opted to catch an extra half hour of sleep, since I've been working on a few projects and I knew I'd be tired this morning. I just took a later bus and tweaked my morning schedule today.

Coffee slurry brewing in my French Press


The ladies in my office finally took down the snowflake ornaments from our ceiling yesterday. Wait... WHAT?! Aww, jeez.


Random Tunage:
Orbital - Chime
The Pharcyde - Passing Me By

Miscellany

The past few days have continued the climate roller-coaster. An awesome, mild weekend came to a screeching halt with low double-digit temps yesterday, and single-digits this morning. I still love my cheap grocery store mittens!


One of my co-workers always has stuff on her whiteboard. It got vandalized yesterday. I got a chuckle out of it, but I swear I had nothing to do with this one!


Last night, I went to the new CCCKC Underground Lab to help the build-out team determine what we'll need before grand opening (March 1st). This is a 1,400 sq. ft. semi-finished office area buried 85 feet below the surface in some of the old limestone mines of Kansas City. The following photo is of the tower that houses the mineshaft elevator we use to get to the space.


You can enter from the road as well, but parking is very limited underground. These roadways are mostly for delivering goods to the warehouse and office spaces in the refurbished mines. This is similar to the Meritex facility I photographed during the 2007 and 2008 Lenexa midnight rides.


The space has some furniture left from the previous tenants. It's a little rough around the edges, but we'll make it work!


I think I can imagine some rock-climbing holds bolted to this wall...


The good news is that this space is right on my way home AND I'm pretty sure I can ride my bike straight in without any problems.

Sorry, not much in terms of bicycle stuff lately. Between the temperatures and other hobbies of mine, the bike's been basic-transportation-only and there's only so much that happens in a week that's even remotely noteworthy. I am looking forward to the next leg of our climate roller-coaster: some forecasters are calling for 70 degrees or higher by the end of the week. What?!

Random Tunage:
VRX - Number Two
God Lives Underwater - From Your Mouth

Starbucks question of the week

Every week, someone writes a question or poll on the black board. Usually it's a "what's your favorite _______?" kind of question. There was only one answer when JR, Lorin and I got there this morning:


It's obvious that the question was asked snidely and the first response was crafted tongue-in-cheek (if not written by whomever asked the question to begin with) but it's safe to say things like "the liberty of the United States of America" would also be a suitable answer.

As for the usual crew, we opted to discuss our favorite movies and JR's recent health system adventures rather than the merits of battle.

I soaked up a beautiful weekend, spent some quality fun time with family, and I'm looking forward to the forecasted warming trend. I'm with cDude: I can't believe this is February!

Note to self.

Dear Self,
It seems that you have lost your sense of appropriate clothing at certain temperatures. I am talking about your boisterous display of stupidity on your homeward commute this afternoon. Although 41°F sounds tantamount to a nice late-spring day, rest assured that it's not. Please remember, your hands and ears do not like being left out in the open at temps below 50°.

Sincerely,
Noah D.
Executive Curmudgeonly Bastard
KC Bike Commuting

It looked so nice and sunny out. 41 did sound comfortable. My ears didn't think so, neither did my hands, especially when touching the metal brake levers.


Mail Call:

The 1/27 Commute.

On Monday I saw that we were going to have one more warm afternoon with temperatures in the 70s so I decided to commute Tuesday morning. I almost hate saying it, but the morning run was routine there really wasn't anything to report. As a first leg of the ride though I was seven minutes off my "average" of an hour and 20 minutes. Like I said before though not bad for being out of practice. I was just glad to get some mileage in before the weather changed.

The ride home was truly wonderful as the temperature was right around 70 and I still had sufficient daylight left when I left the campus. This ride home was probably the most commuter filled I have ever seen to date. I know I saw at least three as I was coming down West Alabama. Two of those based on what they were riding in what they were carrying were true cycle commuters like myself. I even had the rare pleasure of bumping into a female cyclist as I was coming down Wesleyan; however, I did not have an opportunity to speak with her. As I arrived to Wesleyan I started noticing that the clouds were starting to build and the wind was starting to pick up. Consequently, I started picking up my own pace as the last thing I needed was to be caught out in the weather. By the time I got a third of the way down Tanglewood Road the cold front rolled in and announced itself with a nice hard gust against my front wheel and the temperature went from a nice balmy 70° down to 55 in the span of 15 minutes. Once I got onto Chimney Rock I started putting on the coal as it was then I started to lose daylight. I passed under I-10 and onto Wirt (same road as Chimney Rock, but gets renamed north of I-10)and somewhere around Wedgewood Lane I was passed by a southbound commuter who was riding on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, there was no time to really stop and chat, but we didacknowledge each other as we passed. I have no clue why he was on the sidewalk, but I'm guessing he was going to pull a left and did not want to contend with traffic. The remainder of the ride had nothing to report other than being a race against daylight. I did choose to use my NiteRider USB backup light instead of my primary Cyglolite for the ride down Westview. The Cyglolite is a bit of a pain to chargethat it has to be timed exactly to six hours due to a lack of power regulation/smart charging circuitry and I didn't feel like dealing with it when getting home. I found the NiteRider USB to put out sufficient light, but nothing to write home about. I definitely prefer the power of the Cyglolight; consequently that is why I use it as the primary headlight. I made it home right as it was getting completely dark and it felt good to have another 31 miles in for the year. The next couple mornings are to have morning lows in the mid 30s to upper 40s; consequently, I'm not feeling inclined to ride because I still lack good cold weather gear to contend with those temperatures comfortably.

The most asinine quarter mile in Johnson County

Not to dog on Dave's Turf but seriously, what the hell are people thinking? Welcome to Edgewood Boulevard.


I am riding illegally in the oncoming lane in this photo. It's a separated boulevard, with barely one lane of width on each side of the island, but it's actually a pair of two-way roads separated by... an island? Meh. Whatever.

Retrospect.


Rust and snow.


Transition.


Knobbz.


Jimmy John's.


Highway Abstractness.


Random Tunage
Lisa Loeb - I Do
Garbage - Stupid Girl

Ermine Case, Jr. Park

Even with the miracles of The Interwebs (thank you, Al Gore, for bringing them to us), I can't for the life of me figure out what Ermine Case, Jr. did to get a park named after him. I mean, how can you be important if you don't even have a Wikipedia page?

All kidding aside, this park (colloquially known only as "Case Park") sits at the top of the craggy limestone cliffs which tower some two hundred feet above the West Bottoms. Unfortunately, given the scenic nature of this spot, photos taken here are usually pretty cliché.






Overlooking the Charles B. Wheeler KC Municipal Airport (see, Chuck has a Wikipedia Page! He must be important!)







The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, colloquially known as That Gold Dome Church Thingy. "Colloquially" has such a fun ring to it, but I'll try to not use it again this week.


Picking up stuff at River Market Cyclery.


The plant across the street from River Market Cyclery.


Following my own tracks back out of the River Market area. I saw and greeted William (The Shopping Cart guy) a few seconds before snapping this.


There wasn't quite 2" of snow -- it was more like 1/4" of snow this morning, but the light snow kept falling throughout the day and into the evening.

It's not that I haven't had my share of adventures...

It's just that most of them aren't really the kind of stuff I think you would be interested in.

It's with great fervor, however, that I can say I've finally visited the new Cosentino's Market in Downtown KC. This is kind of a big deal, as over the past few years there's been a lot of gentrification downtown (urban planners call it revitalization. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe) but NO GROCERY STORE. Bonus: they even have a few bike racks!


Not much happened on Friday. The weekend was full of mundane happenings. More target practice (shotguns this time) - I think I should probably try Clay Pigeons next time. Paper targets are kind of silly for shotguns. I'm not big on hunting, but I do like making things go boom.


Played MacGyver at church. I fixed the pedal of the bass drum by using only a paper hole punch as a pair of makeshift pliers. Hey, you make do with what you have on hand! I also played my Bass guitar while making an attempt to run the soundboard for the entire praise team. That's always interesting.


Oh, and we had more snow, but it melted. Side note: It's snowing again RIGHT NOW as I type this.


Some goofing off w/ tech stuff.


Anyhow, it's bed time, and I can't wait to see what the snow accumulation looks like in a few hours!

The 1/23 ride report a couple days late

Yeah I know I'm late and I should have done this back on Friday or even Saturday; however, life tends to get in the way and I was still digesting a bit of insight from the ride. Anyhow, on Wednesday I saw the Thursday and Friday weather was going to be passable. Unfortunately I had a meeting on Thursday that I wasn't sure I would be able to ride to due to time and security constraints, but Friday was in the clear. So even though Thursday night I was half in the tank I gritted my teeth and got my gear together to ride.

The morning ride broke no records as I wasn't expecting to seeing that my last full on commute was over three weeks ago. It wasn't too bad though as I was about 7 minute off average and I saw some signs of cycling life as I made my way through Memorial Park. I saw a petalon of rec riders headed west as I had just cleared the park. Other than that the morning run in was dead routine.

The ride home was routine up untill the turn from W. Alabama onto Weslayan about a block from there I was passed by a mouthy little high school dropout/kid and his girlfriend who were absolutely convinced that all bikes belonged on the sidewalk. As they passed me this stupid kid flipped me the bird and yelled "dude, get on the sidewalk!" Unfortunately for them the light changed to red and I was able to catch up with them. When I looked in the window I told them, "under state law I am a vehicle;" however, it was wasted breath because no sooner than I had uttered it it occurred to me that these two kids were just brain-dead. Their only response to me was, "dude, get on the sidewalk." It then occurred to me that no matter what the law might be these kids just wouldn't care. The only thing that mattered to them is being inconvenienced by having to go around me and the only way that they would learn the lesson was if their provocation lead to a horrible accident. In a way I'm thankful to them because I made the realization that there's just some people that have no redeeming qualities and deserve whatever horrible outcome that these qualities bring upon them. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised that I had this altercation. Every time I wear a blaze orange jersey as I was wearing one this day. I seem to have a conflict with a motorist. The rest of the ride was pretty much routine.

Faux Toes - Jan 21/22

Sorry the flash ruined this one. It pretty much sums up my thought on Girl Scout Cookies. They are tasty, but good grief they're expensive.


Some co-workers and I went to Flying Saucer for lunch yesterday. I'd never been there before. They use golf tees instead of toothpicks to hold sandwiches together. I'm sure wooden toothpicks are more biodegradable than painted golf tees, so the "sustainability" of this is called into question quickly. From a gimmicky marketing perspective, I think it's pretty clever.


Speaking of sustainability, the barista that served Lorin and I at Starbucks yesterday pointed at the bike helmet in my hand and asked if I'm carbon neutral yet. I chuckled. In retrospect, I wish I would have had enough cynical snarkiness at the time to say "no, but I'm carbon based." - Unfortunately, my snark engine is caffeine-fueled and I was on Empty...

A few days ago, my wife bought some cool erasable pens that use thermo-sensitive ink. The "eraser" is a hard plastic nub that generates heat through friction, which turns the ink transparent.


I experimented with that last night, as I'm always one to see what makes things tick. I found out that this ink is usable for "secret" messages. The erased ink re-appears when you put the paper in a freezer.


I guess if you correct your writing with one of these pens, make sure you don't leave the documents in your car on a cold winter day!

This morning, I tried heating the ink with the heat from my stovetop and the "invisible" message comes back much clearer than it does when you rub it away with the "eraser" -- In fact, it's almost as dark and crisp as before it was erased.

The thin crescent moon was eerily awesome this morning. I wish I could have captured it with more clarity, but I was rushed. On a side note: Barnes & Noble is nearing completion, and I'm somewhat excited about having a giant bookstore close to home, even if it caters primarily to the Oprah Mind Control Consumer-Zombie Sheeple.


Occasionally, something goes horribly wrong with a shot and I end up liking it anyway. This was one of those.


Random Tunage:
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Steve Winwood - Back In the High Life Again

... Yep. Definitely Random this morning.