new ride start checklist mnemonic

Pilots use checklists to make sure that everything is ready for the plane to take off. Some time ago, after having a number of troubles on rides for which I wasn't adequately prepared, I set up a mnemonic checklist for my ride starts: WASABI - Water, Air, Speedo (for the computer), Axles (for the quick-releases), Brakes (so I remember to replace the brake release when I put the front wheel on), ID, (to remember to put on my Road ID).

On a recent ride, I lost my CO₂ kit because I hadn't closed my saddlebag. I'm working on a new mnemonic. I don't like it, but the best I can come up with so far is A3, B3, C1:
Air: in the tires;
Ankle: for the Road ID, on an ankle band;
Axles: for the quick-releases;
Bag: for the saddlebag;
Bottles: for water;
Brakes: for the brake quick-release;
Computer.

I know it seems unnecessarily complicated, but it's less trouble than being 30 miles into a hot ride with no water, or not having a front brake because I didn't close the release.

the arc of the moral universe

Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

I had to find this:



(from Imgur.Com)

... before I could post this:



(Also from Imgur.Com)

In time - and sooner than we think - these anti-gay laws will be the shame of our time, the way the Jim Crow laws were the shame of an earlier time. And they will have their wacko adherents, as the Jim Crow laws still have their wacko adherents.

One more thing: for years, we have been donating to both the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal. If you think this is wrong, don't just email me or comment - send money. Organize. Do something. Because these enemies are afraid, and they will never rest.

weekend plans

On Saturday, I am doing Tom's "El Capitain" ride.

If I survive, on Sunday, The Excellent Wife and I are planning to do a short ride from home up to Millstone. I'm delighted she's feeling up to doing such a ride! After that, we'll be off to the parents-in-law for the celebration of Mother's Day, and the birthday of my brother-in-law and me, complete with eatin' too much and bringin' home yonks of food.

I should be a right mess by Monday.

millionshort.com

OK. I exercise every morning, and daily exercise is deadly boring. I do it because if I don't, stuff either hurts, doesn't work right, or both (besides, if I keep my weight down, I can go whippin' up those hills a smidge faster). To alleviate the boredom, I have a selection of podcasts to which I listen while I'm yankin' on the oars of the rowing machine and doin' the pushups and the crunches and such.

One of the podcasts I listen to is Geekspeak, from KUSP radio.

It's about technology, computers, and such, but it's also about science and math, and influences on politics, ethcs, and culture. On this week's show, they did a bit about a cool search engine, Millionshort.com.

The cool thing about this search engine is that it strips off the first million results from anything you search for. I've just given it two quick tries this morning, and I was surprised with what I came up with. I've gotta play with it some more; I want to see if I know as much as I think I do.

Play with it, and let me know what you come up with.

retirement?

Yeah, I had a birthday yesterday. So when I got to work today, a co-worker (about my age), who didn't know I had a birthday, asked if I was making retirement plans.

HAH! And here I was thinkin' I was lookin' so good for a guy who's pushin' 60!

happy birthday to me

Today's my birthday, and I've been counting my blessings. It's been easy to do so today; it started with this ride led by Gary Wotton. His wife wasn't there, so I swept in her absence. I rode in to Etra from Cranbury, and then forgot to turn to computer back on for the first part of the ride (not the first time I've done that!), but Gary's part was about 40-something miles, and I figure I did a little better than 50, including the rides from Cranbury and back. We started with twelve, including two women who decided they didn't like our pace and dropped off (although they pulled into Clarksburg minutes after we did, and then pulled right out again - and why do we so frequently stop at that filthy, depressing place, anyway? Tradition?). Two others were riding a bit slow (not much) for the pace of the rest; they didn't look like they were suffering, but rather that the had decided on a manageable pace, and were going to stick to it, thanks. I don't have the presence of mind to do that in a similar situation; I'll ride myself ragged to try to keep up, and be all cranky and upset when I can't. My hat goes off to 'em.

Then off to the Stage Left Restaurant in New Brunswick, where my wife took me (partly on a gift card). We had a delightful dinner, and a delightful time (The Excellent Wife is an entertaining dinner companion; gossip and slander fly apace when we're out enjoyin' ourselves & feelin' superior). We're just back, where I've been getting all the birthday well-wishing phone messages, and counting up the loot, whcih includes a not-insubstantial amount in Barnes and Noble gift cards to buy books for my First Edition Nook, and a Unicomp 'Clicky' keyboard to replace the one that I killed. I'm typing on it now, and yes, it really is that much better than that $10 modified dustpan that comes with most computers. (I'm old, and I have my crotchets and my preferences. I wear a watch, I tuck in my shirts, I like my land line better than my cell phone, and I want a keyboard with positive feedback.)

I also primed the garage door between yesterday and today; I'll plan to put a coat of paint on it this week. The kitchen is complete, the chores are done; tomorrow, back to work and routine. Life is good.

foggy covered bridges ride

In a rare, but not unwelcome turn of events, not only has Laura OLPH published her post before I had a chance to get mine up, she wrote a more excellent writeup than I could have done. Although it was a foggy day (and consequently, no great views, and some wet roads), it was a great ride, The picture above is just one of the highlights; go check out her post, I'll wait (as usual, opens in a new tab).

Here's the route. And let me brag for a quick minute. I set two riding goals for this year: the first is 4000 miles by bedtime on New Year's Eve, and the second is that I would improve my downhill skills, and my measure of that would be my breaking 40mph (yeah, I know plenty of guys have done over 50, but I'm not likely to be one of 'em). Tom told us his route would include coming down Federal Twist, and bragged he'd gotten up to 50mph on it.So despite fog (which was clearing by that time) and the risk of wet roads, I decided to go for a personal best. I got out in front so I wouldn't be afraid of running into anybody (far enough so I couldn't see 'em in my mirror, so I wasn't afraid of 'em running into me); switched the GPS to map mode, so I wouldn't be able to see how fast I was going; and let fly, pedaling until I wasn't getting any feedback from the pedals in my fastest gear. I wound up with a top speed, according to Mr. Garmin, of 44.7, which is fast enough for me.

I still don't like speeding down hills where I can't see the route (because of turns, for example), or where I'm among other riders. But this was plenty fast for me, and I'm keeping it as meeting one of my goals for the year. I'm putting my kite-only certificate back in storage (oh, go look it up, already!).

on money making you happy

OK, admittedly I got this from Oursignal, which is hardly the most credible source, but the .pdf is hosted at Harvard, and it's apparently also available at ScienceDirect.Com. The title of the article is "If money doesn't make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right", and I had to check it out.

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but the abstract is as follows:

The relationship between money and happiness is surprisingly weak, which may stem in part from the way people spend it. Drawing on empirical research, we propose eight principles designed to help consumers get more happiness for their money. Specifically, we suggest that consumers should (1) buy more experiences and fewer material goods; (2) use their money to benefit others rather than themselves; (3) buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones; (4) eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance; (5) delay consumption; (6) consider how peripheral features of their purchases may affect their day-to-day lives; (7) beware of comparison shopping; and (8) pay close attention to the happiness of others.

I gotta check this out. Some of those things sound good, some sound true, and at least one sounds too good to be true. If you read it, let me know what you think.

another chopper bicycle

Well, okay... but I can't even imagine trying to pedal that thing up a driveway ramp, much less a hill, And I'm not sure the front disk brake is necessary.

It is cool-lookin', though. From Oddman.Ca, of course

red kite prayer: cool cycling site

I'm stuck at home this morning, while the contractor-fella installs the last of the floor in the bathroom/laundry/kitchen, and after cleaning and polishing the Yellow Maserati, I was kicking around the internet and was brought back to the Red Kite Prayer site. Most cycling sites that are not either manufacturers, vendors, or "style sites" are packed with more cycling sporting news than I care about (sorry, Dave; it's just not my thing).

Red Kite Prayer certainly has that, but it also pays attention to the other stuff, the stuff I like to read about. The site is set up like a blog, and the posts are divided into three sections: Body, with information about competitions, but also about fitness, ride stories, and such; Machine, with gear reviews and impressions; and Mind... which is hard to describe: there are some articles about competitive riders, but they aren't just about riding competitively, and other articles are about the heart and philosophy of riding, if you will.

I've bookmarked it, and I'll probably be checking it out. Don't be surprised if you see links from Red Kite Prayer.

(Why "Red Kite Prayer"? Read this.)

edit pdf's

I use this tool rarely, and every time I do, I need to find it again, so this post is really about being able to find PDFescape:

With PDFEscape, you can insert text or images (like signature files) into .pdf documents, and "white out" existing text. You can then save to your hard drive and print. Paid users can save online, and there are probably other features, but I'm not interested in those.

These features are available in Adobe Acrobat Reader 10, but that's not yet available for Linux, and the Windows box I have at home is a netbook that doesn't have the resources, even for this browser-based tool (it runs platform-independent, in any browser that supports Java).

I used it most recently to insert the specific ride text and my digitial signature into the Freewheeler ride sheet for the ride I convened over the weekend. Now I'll know where to find it again.

yes. yes i am.

In view of my upcoming birthday, I thought it was à propos to re-post this:

Of course it's too small; go see the original here. And yes, I am running on obsolete hardware; I have frequent memory faults, and some of the peripherals aren't responding properly.

(Diesel Sweeties is one of my perma-linked comics; see the links on the right. Left? Over there ==>.)