Bike odometer: 2013
Weight lost (in pounds): 36
South Beach days in the last week: 4
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed last week: 40
Aches & pains: none
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Death By Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Recent listening: Fresh Air, The Mixup by Beastie Boys, Live From Mountain Stage by NRBQ, Icky Thump by White Stripes
Recent viewing: Pushing Daisies, Countdown, Saturday Night Live
Recent playing: Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: Signed and sent release papers for Sears commercial, cleaned cat boxes, camping with the Boy Scouts
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, finish garage, freecycle gorilla shelf parts, sunglasses, can & bottle recycling
Careful to all animals
A few interesting items I came upon in the last few days:
- Radiohead has released their latest album via the web. The price? It’s entirely up to you.
- The Portland blogosphere is abuzz with news of Google Streetview adding Portland to the list of cities it supports.
- Last night a documentary called Crystal Darkness aired on every station in Oregon. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about it until it was over.
- A cyclist survived being run over by a Max train but is still in critical condition.
Car on the pole
I found more on the traffic incident that happened during my bike commute last night. KATU has the story, including video from the scene. Judging by the pictures, it looks like the car went right up the guy wire. I think that means he might not have been going 100 mph as someone on the scene had theorized.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 1932
Weight lost: 36 lbs.
South Beach days in the last week: none
Hours of sleep last night: 8.5
Hours billed last week: 40
Aches & pains: none
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Death By Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Recent listening: This American Life, News from Lake Wobegon, Coverville, DrugMusic, NPR Story of the Day, Science Friday
Recent viewing: My Name Is Earl, Heroes, World Series of Poker, Countdown
Recent playing: Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: Trimmed shrubs, paid bills, rescheduled birthday party
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, finish garage, freecycle gorilla shelf parts, sunglasses, update resume
Evening Bike Commute
Distance: 19.3 miles
Riding time: 109 minutes
Max speed: 32.6 mph
Average speed: 10.6 mph
Temperature: 75º
Soundtrack: Science Friday
Route:
- Alder to 1st
- 1st to Salmon
- Salmon to Hawthorne Bridge
- Hawthorne Bridge to Springwater Corridor
- Springwater Corridor to Powell Butte
- Various trails over Powell Butte to 162nd
- 162nd to home
What a glorious sunny afternoon to ride my bike the long way home. It was a tremendous effort to climb Powell Butte – one that found me laying down, gasping for breath on the side of the trail at one point – but it was well worth it. On my way down the north side of the Butte, I wondered how hot my brake pads were getting. My rims were plenty hot when I got to the bottom and as I touched the front rim, I heard the distinct sound of air leaking from the front tire. At least it didn’t blow out when I was flying down the hill at 35 mph.
It took me about 15 minutes to pull the tube out and install my spare. I was actually pretty refreshed when I got back on and pedaled towards home. How surprised was I when I came upon this at 162nd and Division:
The picture is pretty blurry (you can click on it to get the full-size version), but it’s a car that had run up a telephone pole and came to rest in a vertical position. Somebody at the scene reckoned he must have been going 100 mph or better. I asked around and they said it had happened about 15 minutes before.
Now picture this: me in the bike lane at that moment had my bike tire not gone flat 15 minutes before. Freaky, huh? More pictures on my Flickr page.
Steel Bridge
Steel Bridge
Originally uploaded by bhestand
I ride over this bridge nearly every day but it doesn’t look this good in real life.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 1841
Weight lost: 40 lbs.
South Beach days in the last week: 4
Hours of sleep last night: 6
Hours billed last week: 40
Aches & pains: right wrist, lower back
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Writing Solid Code by Steve Maguire
Recent listening: News from Lake Wobegon, This American Life, KBOO Bike Show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Fresh Air
Recent viewing: Monk, Dead Zone, Countdown, Sky High, Dead Zone, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Gimme Friction Baby, Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: mowed lawn, cleaned cat boxes, swept garage, can recycling, trimmed hydrangia, pulled blackberries, foam recycling, Salvation Army, magazine recycling, can return, groceries, salary presentation, doctor appointment, CPAP appointment
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, finish garage, freecycle gorilla shelf parts
Two tugboats and a barge
Two tugboats and a barge
Originally uploaded by rynosoft
I had to wait a short time this morning for this to pass by the Steel Bridge. They had only opened the bottom part of the bridge, so I could have gone over the top of the bridge, but I chose to take these pictures. Check them out, I think they turned out really great!
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 1777
Weight lost: 40 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed last week: 43
Aches & pains: abrasion near left elbow, right wrist, lower back
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Writing Solid Code by Steve Maguire
Recent listening: Wolfmother by Wolfmother, Coverville, DrugMusic, NPR Story of the Day
Recent viewing: World Series of Poker, Hardball, Gilmore Girls
Recent playing: Gimme Friction Baby, Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, fixed Thomas’ computer, scheduled doctor appointments
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, finish garage, freecycle gorilla shelf parts, Goodwill trip
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: 1747
Weight lost: 42 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 6
Hours billed last week: 16.5
Aches & pains: none!
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Recent listening: CSN (box set) by Crosby, Stills and Nash, Coverville, DrugMusic
Recent viewing: Tournament of the Americas, Countdown
Recent playing: Gimme Friction Baby, Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, finished “Medium” level of Guitar Hero II, beach pictures
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, fix Thomas’ computer, finish garage, freecycle gorilla shelf parts, Goodwill trip, doctor appointments