New Years Resolution

So I think I have my New Years resolution for 2009. It came to me on Monday when I was biking to work and taking advantage of the warm-ish weather we were having. I figured out that if I were to bike to work just once a week all year it is a total of 1,612 miles (52 x 31 miles). That may seem like a tremendous distance, and you would be right. It is exactly the distance from my house to the Badlands National Park, White River Visitor Center, however when broken up over a year seems very doable.

My resolution is I will bike to work an average of once per week for 2009. I had better get moving once it warms up if I have any chance of making this goal. Throughout the year I will post updated pictures of my bike computers' total odometer to show progress. But my starting point of 301.5 miles is below. What is your resolution?

Best bar sign

So this sign was over the men's room door at the Monk's Cove bar in
Mt. Adams. Even though I have never ben arrested I do see the wisdom
here.

We are only going to West Philly for the movies from now on

So check this story out. Apparently this guy, enraged by a noisy family at RiverView shot the father of the noisy family in the arm. Now I hate noisy kids at the movies and have felt like shooting some of those parents also, but not having a gun on me and being a rational person I never have. Either way I am pretty sure that we will ever go back there for the movies. This was the first news story I happened to read since being back in the city, and it seemed that it made national news, good job Philly. It is good to be home.

You better believe it.

First lunch in Cincy.

Dead Stop

Just before the Blue Mountain tunnel we are at a dead stop for no
known reason. Good times on the PA turnpike.

Happy Birthday Kristin!

It is my sister Kristin's birthday today, and since she is one of 4 people that read this blog I wanted to find a special way to show her how much I care. I thought a Happy Birthday wish from a cute dog was the way to go. (See Kristin's blog for her extensive use of puppy pictures to increase her readership)

Happy Birthday Sister.

Thundersnow?

So this impending storm is predicted to include thundersnow, no that
is pretty cool.

Chiristmas "Tree"

Check out our Christmas Tree. Unfortunately the rosemary cones at Whole Foods sold out only a week or two after Thanksgiving this year, so we missed out on a fragrant "tree" but this mini cedar tree is a great option. While it does not have quite the delicious aroma as the rosemary, it might also live longer because I do not have a desire to constantly roast chickens and sacrifice branches for the cause.

Best Brunch Dish Ever

This is a great recipe for waffle french toast. Possibly the best brunch dish ever.

100K House Tours

Amy and I went to see the 100 and 120K houses today in Fishtown. And while the houses were pretty cool with great designs I am not sure that the location would work for Amy and I. It is a fair hike from downtown and while it is improving it is still a neighborhood very much for hipsters. Amy and I are not hipsters, much more yuppie than hipster. And while Postgreen is an interesting development company, since they are not taking on investors right now I think that Liberty Realty Trust stock seems to be a better investment. Huge daily volatility recently, but being a leading developer of LEED certified corporate real estate I believe that they will have a significant operational advantage in the long run.

Anyway below are some pictures from today.

Expansion at Mugshots

So our local independant coffee shop has expanded in space and hours, now open until 10pm and with more seating. Good work local customers. Good to see one local business doing well.

I Heart REI

So turns out that after a quick call to Burton the REI store did an exchange for the '09 Cartel bindings at zero cost to me. I am back in business. Anyone up for some night riding next week after work?

Snowboard Gods why must you smite me?

So 2 hours into my trip this morning my front Burton Cartel binding baseplate shattered. And on a very easy fall on a green while I was practicing switch foot riding none the less. And now REI is telling me that I have to send it back to Burton for a replacement. Which could take 4-7 days. The other option is to return the bindings at the store and get new ones. If they will not swap it out I am going to do that with the rational that I am riding tomorrow, which I had not planned but hey for the amount of business I give REI they can eat the return and fight it out with Burton.

Imersion Blenders are Cool

So Amy and I decided to make soup tonight with the butternut squash we got from the CSA last week. So after looking up a recipe with voice search on my iPhone (Google is really amazing in the pace in which they bring out innovation that makes my life easier). So we stopped at Wegman's in NJ on the way back from babysitting for Zoey last night, to pick up an onion and a couple of the other basics we needed. After simmering the ingredients the recipe called for moving to a food processor to puree. It was while contemplating the idea of pouring very hot, chunky liquid into that relatively small bowl that I remembered our immersion blender in the pantry. It is such a cool device, just plug it in and stick it in the piping hot pot of soup and after a minute or two all the squash and apple was rendered into a delicious and creamy soup that had no cream, so it is rather healthy.

In fact I am looking forward to putting some in a Nalgene, once it cools, to bring to work for lunch tomorrow. A Nalgene you might ask why I need such a heavy duty container. That would be because I am going to ride in tomorrow. In fact I am heading down to the storage unit right now to get my snowboard mittens and headlamp. That last piece of equipment is being added to the list as my return trip home last week was in near pitch black. And for the 7 miles I am on the Wissahickon trail the overhead lights are sporadic at best, resulting in significant sections where I could not see at all, made for an interesting and adrenaline filled ride.

Enjoy the short week ahead, I will be counting the days until I get to fry three turkeys for Amy's family, delicious times.

Snow I missed you!

Driving on the NJ Turnpike yesterday I was very happy to see the first flurries of the year. I now have to drop off my snowboard to REI for a tune-up and dig out that season pass I won for Blue Mountain.

Top things I miss when biking to work

So the top things I miss when I bike into work on a day like today (temperature at 6:30am was 36F) are in no particular order:

• Heated seats, the Mazda has wonderful heated seats, the bike not so much
• No wind on my hands. I had anticipated this, so I bought these fancy new wind stopper bike gloves, which are not nearly substantial enough. My hands were frozen by the Falls River Bridge. Time to break out the snowboard mittens
• Being able to enjoy my travel mug of coffee on the way into work

For balance I guess I should also have a list of the things I miss when I drive to work:

• The great scenery along the Wissahickon, I could technically glance at it while on Lincoln drive but taking your eyes off the road for even a second there is a death defying act
• Stopping at the Valley Green Inn to have a "breakfast" of a frozen Clif bar from my pocket and some very cold water, is really quite enjoyable

The real test is going to come on the way home tonight, it will be much darker than it was this morning and I will be much more tired. The break I took for the couple of weeks before the wedding to avoid the possibility of road rash at the wedding has left me pretty out of shape. Maybe tonight I test the Regional Rail option? You will all have to wait with great suspense to find out my choice.

Advertising in Atlanta airport

While I did not order these they did look delicious.

Impactful store helmet advertising

Some very creative in-store advertising in a local bike shop I saw yesterday. I am a big fan of zombie movies and books so while I did not need a new helmet if I did this might have convinced me to buy. I think there is an employee there that could be a copy writer at an agency. That is better than a lot of the print headlines I have seen from agencies over the years.

Best haircut ever

Saw this little guy while walking from West Philly today. I wonder how much nagging it took to get his Mom to agree to that. You go little Mr. T.

Ecuador Pictures

So below is a link to a select few of the pictures from Ecuador. Check them out, I put all the effort into the captions, so I am not going to repeat that effort here...

From Ecuador

Also in case you are wondering it will be 3-4 more weeks until we have the professional pictures from the wedding. They have lots of shots to go through and process, but the photographer says there are great ones.