downtown LED lighting

Looks like the city government is going ahead with 100% LED lighting downtown. Every time I would walk past the pilot program installation and see the "New lighting... Comments? call ___"sign, I've been meaning to comment about the color (they have a bluish cast to them and could stand to get more yellow into their spectrum) and that they should protect a little better against light pollution.

But it looks like I waited too long... one of those "speak now or forever hold your peace" things.

not a bad day...

Regardless of the late start I got on the day, I gotta say that it shaped up pretty well.

Started with the emails back and forth that look like will get me a good recommendation on a job with a company I've been thinking about for a while. Good, that.

And then the bikey shtuff... first of all, a big Thank You Hug to the collective staff of the Infrastructure Planning and Street Maintence (and whoever else) at the City of Ann Arbor for the updates to Packard Rd. Been a pain in the ass in many ways, the construction project to bolster infrastructure (water, etc.) for the SE corner of the city resulted in new pavement that includes (ta daa!) bike lanes. They went from 2 lanes each way to 1 each way with a shared turn lane, and Full Sized Bike Lanes. Which kicks ass. Happy taxpayer, I am. And really has very little effect on traffic flow, given the feeder streets to that section of Packard and usage patterns. I realize that this is only 1 mile or so of changes, but it's a step in the right direction. Oh yeah, and it's right outside MY house. Now if only Morgan and York would fix the damn neon sign. It's incredibly tacky to be in such disrepair, and it's not like they don't bank large amount of cash from their froofy booze-n-cheese business. Pony up for the maintenance bucks, guys. The asphalt road is showing you up, and it just lays there.

For those interested in urban planning and transportation alternatives, check out the Ann Arbor Non-Motorized Transportation Master Plan. It's a long slog through a long document, but brings up all kinds of interesting planning, safety, and usage pattern factoids.

Other bikey news. It was absolutely perfect weather. 60 miles run through Waterloo, no bonking. Nice.

Bikey chit chat: rolling through Waterloo I ran into up Brian (Sociology grad and part-time wrench slinger for Two Wheel Tango) and we rode back eastward together. Plenty of chance to chat, and while we were talking for most of the way, my sore shoulders and post-ride cough gave me the distinct impression that he would spank me big time in a higher-stakes ride. Talked about this and that... lamented the fact that the Bloomer Park Velodrome is so far away, but so so fun. Now where in Washtenaw county could we put one? I mean, there's gotta be at least a couple hundred people that would be interested, what with the thousands of bike folks on the Ypsi/AA/Saline/Dexter/Chelsea axis. I'd love to make a comment about how Brian, as a part-timer, does more for the cred of the shop than Dennis (owner) does with his Mr.-Grumpy-doesn't-seem-to-want-you-as-a-customer attitude, but I'm not negative like that. or am I?

So then it was a christening of my new pressure cooker with with some cow peas, bacon, garlic, and kale, and a smidge o' red red wine for the glass. Gotta tell you, I do make a damn good bean dish, if I may say so m'self. The one thing I just love about kale, other than it's apparent surface hydrophobia, is that it takes abuse like no other leafy green I know. You can cook the snot out of it (i.e., toss it in and forget about it for a while) and it just takes the punishment and comes out tasty and nicely textured. It must have a little bit of masochist in it.

So I'm gonna head out and see Eastern Promises tonight just to try to cap it off with a flourish. Viggo makes a good movie, David Cronenberg (History of Violence, Crash, eXistenZ, The Fly) does really good stuff, and Naomi Watts? Well even if she hadn't pulled me in and ripped me a new one in 21 Grams, she is so... meow. Mmm, pretty. Throw in some Russian Mob intrigue and some prison ink, and I'm ready to be entertained.

roll-a-dahby/run-run-run the weekend

An action-packed weekend it was... Not only did I get flashed (and offered to have the sweat licked off me) by ****y [Who shall remain nameless, to protect the guilty. You know who you are, Madam Feistiness.] during the Normal Park yard-sale-a-palooza, but Stacey and I went to the Derby. Roller Derby, that is.

It seems that Detroit has quite the roller derby league going on, and it's a nationwide phenomenon to boot. I didn't quite know what to think going into it. There's so much pagentry and attitude about it, I was partly suspecting that it was more entertainment than competition - a la WWF/WCW/world-wrestling-whatever. But after the first period, I got a better idea of what's going on in the rink (er, I mean "flat track" - do they have banked oval derby leagues? apparently so). In the second period, skaters were starting to work harder so the spectacle of it gave way to the competition of it. And regardless of the fact that Stacey and I didn't have nearly enough tattoos to be considered as part of the cool kids, it was a pretty good time. You know there's hilarity to be ensuing when a couple hours before going out, sitting on Stacey's porch with folks drinking beer, T says "you're going to roll a doobie?" "uh... no, we're going to The Roller Derby." Freudian slip of the ear? You be the judge.

And then on Sunday came the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run. I didn't run (translation: "hell with that.. running is too much work"), but volunteered to help out with lead-biking the course for the half-marathon and calling in times as the leader passed mile-markers. I wasn't expecting to get soaked by rain on the ride out to the start in Dexter though...

Anyhoo, I'm not a runner, but this I do know: when a runner can hit the 10-mile mark at 47 mins, they are a bad-ass mofo. Sub 5-minute miles for 13 miles? Wow. The dude who won (Alene Reta) was leading from the start - a group of 4 off the front in the first 1/2 mile split to 2 by the 4th mile, and then Reta started slowly pulling away from home-town favorite Brian (who had quite the cheering section along the course, I might add), adding about 5 seconds of lead every time he passed a mile marker.

Pretty big turnout for what seems like a local thing - thousands of people. I heard a bunch of different numbers - there was a bib# 3000 among the marathoners apparently, but registration was 2300. In the 10k, Suzanne said she finished mid-pack at 900th, and if you guess at the number of 5k-ers, I'll go with something on the order of 5000-8000 people total. And then at the end of it all, it rained again. But I had already been wet and gritty for a couple hours already.

After the running stuff, a shower, and a disco-nap for me, some folks met up at Connor O'Neill's to celebrate Suzanne's birthday and running of the 10k. Fred was in town for a wedding and came out and hung out, drinking beer and chatting with Georgina and I in multiple pubs about multiple topics, which was so much more than fun. Quite the fortuitous opportunity - Fred getting to meet and chat with G before our roadtrip up to the Twin Cities. I'm pretty stoked about it, and am not only glad that we'll get to hang out with Fred and Mona and the kids (in between my goofing off/riding the bike/touristing, and G's intensely worky researchy city-archive-digging), but thankful to them being gracious hosts and putting us up for the week. Heck, I'm even stoked to be manslaving to progress their house remodel/redecorate/rewhateveryoucallit.

burf.

Did some ridin' today... but none of the normal roadie hoosey.

Met up with G to go ride some of the unofficial trails out on the east end of AA - basically public or Uni land that people have walked/rode on enough that they turn deer trails into human-passable trails. Some of it might technically be... uhm... without invitation for the landowner... but I can't imagine, other than maybe stumbling on a meth lab, that anyone would care. Of course, if we strayed onto the golf course, we'd probably be shot on sight, 'cause you know how those golfers get about people that don't ascribe to latest fashion. Anyway, a little sunshine, a little muck (still a little squishy down by the river), but a good time for a couple hours.

Then she scooted off to a musical extravapalooza with the family, friends, and neighbors, and I caught up with Pete downtown for a smoothie, a coffee, and then to go to my first Ann Arbor alleycat race. Now, while I don't really identify with the bullhorn-brigade fixie hipsters, a bike is a bike, and were all just a bunch of kiddies on two wheels havin' some funs. Me, I was caffeinated and chompin' at the bit for the go-go-go. I was still on the knobby bike, and when I paid in and got the map with checkpoints, realized that it would be a total pavement non-stair-jumping kind of a thing. With 30 minutes to go before the start, I scootched home, swapped out the dirty bike for the road bike, and came back. This particular event was of the out-and-back to checkpoint (4 times) variety, which, while I enjoyed it, might have preferred a looped or meshed or more interpretive/creative checkpoint distribution. Where choices of route are more up to the individual, and can make/break your time. Of course, the checkpoints were all along decent roads, most with bike lanes, so that was nice for safety, but heck, proper lane usage and complete stops at signs ain't exactly one of the biggest priorities in one of these kinds of things, knowhahumsayin?

So now you're wondering: "so... how'd you do?" Dismal. I blame... myself. On the way back from the first checkpoint, I did a stupid cut through a parking lot, had to get up a curb in a tight spot, and burfed it pretty hard, pinch-flatting the rear. I had a tube, but no pump. So now this basically turns into a brevet for me. I'm walking/jogging back the last mile from the checkpoint to home base, scouring my brain for bike shops around here (yeah, at 5:30 on a Saturday?) or gas stations. No dice. But, I go back to home base, and decide I'll ride the flat [gently, please] about 5-6 blocks to a gas station that might have air. Change the tube, and off I go. 2nd checkpoint and back, and then my stupidity kicked in. Tried a shortcut in a part of town I don't know well and overshot the turn, ending up on Plymouth instead of Broadway. Had to go way out of my way, and deal with hills I shouldn't have needed to, adding to my failings.

Never the less, there was the last checkpoint, the jam to the finish line BBQ, and a solidly mediocre middle-of-the-results finish. Pissed about my mechanical, bio-mechanical, and navigational stupidities, but was cranked up on endorphins by the finish, so all happy-go-lucky. Some grilled meat and salty chips later, yackety-yack with fellow riders, and all a good time.

Pete smoked me, by the way - and on his coaster-brake Schwinn cruiser. His knowledge of Arb shortcuts, other navigational oddities, and robustness of steed won him a nice 6th. That, and he's a gonzo badass who has a bunnyhop on that cruiser that... shit... I'm still in awe of. Tip o' the cap you, Herr Peter VonGonzo.

post-bonk Orange-gasm

What is it about oranges these days? I am obsessed. Some days, I have 4 or 5 of 'em. And when I eat them, it's not pretty. It's an orgy of sweet juicy orange pleasure. I can't imagine what I look like (an expression of crazed mania? a dark and predatory glare? glorious and thankful delight?) but I know that I don't know how I seem. All my attention is on the orange. And how quickly I can shuck the rind and get it stuffed into my pie-hole. Like pistachios - the rate-limiting step is the peeling more than anything.

Take today for example. I rode the Waterloo route this afternoon, and even though I took food and tried to eat smart on the way (yes, I've run out of gas on that route before), I still bonked and suffered the last 15 miles. But when I got home, eyes dry and burning, I was all about the oranges. 1 was good. 2 was better. 3 was damn fine. I had to stop myself because it tripped my "this might be a bad thing when it goes too easy and too quickly" sensor.

In other news - I was on the way back home on HRD and I passed what looked like the Tuesday AAVC group ride heading out. It was nice to see tons of folks out rollin' along, but I'm thinking that 30-35 people bunched up is not exactly a good way to go. Sure, take your space on the road and roll strong in traffic, but with that big of a group, on that 2-lane, no-shoulder/no-escape-route, potholed-and-cold-patched road? Safer to split up a bit, don't you think? When the bunch is 4-abreast in a random diamondy shape, when cars pass... maybe they're gunning it? Kinda makes it sketchy for whoever is riding on the left side, no? I'm just sayin'. Bigger than 20 people: maybe split it up. Now if only the route would change by 3 blocks to avoid that dude in Dexter who yells at everyone rolling through that stop sign. Or, maybe just change the route to avoid rolling through the stop sign to begin with? Call me crazy...

Everything Falls Apart

... and no, I'm not talking about the Hüsker Dü song (but thems some fine, fine tunes that I haven't listened to in a long damn while).

Everything is just... falling apart. Yesterday I was utterly incapacitated by what I thought was food poisoning. Basically, I was unable to stand or walk for most of the day in between the 7 vomit and 4 diarrhea episodes. (how do you count it when you have to puke in the wastebucket because you're still sitting on the toilet? Count one each? Count it by who got there first? Or by volume?). I recently on a lark bought a raw honey spread, and thinking it might be food poisoning, called my county health department to report it. The kind and understanding health professional suggested that my symptoms sounded more like Norovirus than food poisoning. (and apparently there's a Farmington strain too! Named for Farmington Hills! right here in Michigan! how proud we all must be...[sigh])

Since I'm much better now, I'm guessing it was the virus, but I'm not having any unpasteurized anything any time soon. I do like Louis Pasteur and his invention. I think it has saved a lot of people from pain and early death. Not only did he develop/refine the germ theory of disease but he discovered chirality too. How frickin' cool is that? I LOVE that. So to all you raw-milk-drinkin' "cherry-juice-is-a-cure-for-cancer" homeopathy crazy-talkers: keep that crazy talk at home. I got no tolerance for ya, and if you start in with it, I'm gonna share my feelings with you in an enthusiastic way.

So yeah... not only was I hurtin' furious yesterday, I come home today to find the floor lamp with a blown bulb.

And then the desk lamp has a blown bulb.

While I'm changing the desk lamp, it breaks off in my hand. What the hell - two in the same day? Coincidence? You think I should stay away from the computer for a while?

"there's no such thing as bad weather..."

".... there's only inappropriate attire." And guess what? My attire is particularly inappropriate for riding in this weather.

It was 60 degrees just a few days ago, so when my eyeballs saw this, I thought "bah, 33 degrees ain't so cold... I'll just layer up and tough it out. Besides, if I'm heading off to the trail, once I get in the trees it won't be so cold, will it?" Well, not noticing the wind gusting to 30 was a serious failure of attention on my part. From my hands to my waist, I was toasty. Even my head was warm. But my cheeks (all 4 of 'em), thighs, and toes were feeling tingly, chill, and numb, in that order. Oh yeah, and as soon as I dropped off the pavement and onto trail, two other bad things happened... (1) "ouch, that hurts" (2) [squish] goes the muck.

Looks like I won't be riding on dirt for a while - not only is wet, mucky, and erosion-ey spring here, but my shoulder still ain't feelin' right 95% of the day, I'm fine. But when I do certain things, it's clear I ain't 100% yet. Seeing as how my only bike for the dirt is hard nosed and hard tailed, blasting around on the bumpedy-bump is just gonna have to wait a while.

goodness gracious, St. Patrick

I swear, I was not planning to get goofy yesterday. Really, I swear.

It all started so sedately... a little jaunt up to Brighton to hang out with Jake and Colleen and Tim and Mary up at Pete's brewery/bottling plant (what the hell is the place, anyway? it's not Local Color anymore, but the brands remain...). Knowing they were gonna be starting at 8:00 am, I took my time getting there and caught the down-slide late in the afternoon after all the gonzo fuck-yeahs would be blotto and passed out in corners (why doesn't urban dictionary have an entry for "fuck-yeahs"? not like I care enough to make one myself...). Hung around for a while, drank some beers, made some chitty-chat, took a survey and corrected my long-standing statistic that ~1/3 of people know their blood type (apparently just about everyone that goes to Pete's parties seems to know their blood type) had a difference of opinion with Col about the notion of a "couple", got beat down in some beery ping pong, yadda yadda... but ultimately wasn't exactly feelin' it, knowwhahumsayn?

So back to AA/Ypsi and to TC's to see a bunch o' bands and drink some chewier beer. (Sorry Pete, but ya needs ta work on making fuller beers... rounder on the tongue) Caught up with a buncha buncha folks there - the other Pete and Laura, Matt, Dave and Laura, (there's lots of Petes, lots of Lauras, lots of Jeffs on the roster these days), Andre, Stacey, Gerry, Georgina, Shannon... and had quite the fun time. The Ragbirds played, and damn if they ain't fun. For the record, and contrary to G's protestations, I am NOT a closeted hippie. Nor do I plan to embrace the "hippie within" or any such thing. I am all about the punkrockmusic, dude. Can't a boy just like a funky beat or a wheely boppy jig every now and then? (FWIW, since The Drovers ain't around no more, The Ragbirds are welcome to move into that empty musical spot I've had vacant in my ears for a while. Part of it might be the joy of the live show, but that's more than OK with me)

So yeah, in the bar, and some blond overly-happy smiley woman who needed group hugs all the time while we were over on the band side of the bar was kinda distracting (in a bad way) - I'm thinking she's another personal example to me why I keep my personal drugs limited to caffeine and alcohol. I can only imagine the horror I would sow if I was into x and started getting really friendly and aggressively huggy with random people - I get misinterpreted enough and a big dude like me grabbing people I don't know... just might get me a trip to the pokey. And the beer in lockup is really really bad (or so I hear). So yeah, and there was this other really REALLY yummy woman with the curly light-brown hair and the half-tattoo poking out under her shirt sleeve, boppin' and movin' around right there in front of the sound board, and I just couldn't take my eyes off her... ugh, I am SO kicking myself for not making a point of at least telling her how cute she is. And the tragedy of it is that she was there with/left with this dude who was so incredibly boring all night (yes, when one is locked-on and staring at pretty people, it's hard not to notice people they're with too). Fucking hell, I'm such a wuss.

So the bar's "please go home now" lights come on, and everybody goes over to Andre's house, where much hilarity and fun ensues. I never would have thought 5 people would have fit on that smallish couch... but if ya stack 'em right, anything's possible. ;) And Gerry got out the guitar and played some tunes, and Dave joined in, trading the guitar back and forth every couple songs with another guy (Sean? Steve?) until about 4:00. Quite the good time, what with the wine, the women, the song... a fine, fine time.

... until this morning when I woke up at 9:00 dehydrated like crazy. And so in a bizarro-groundhog-day type way, I showed to the MI DNR stewardship workday late, hungover, and a little grumpy from lack of sleep. But the fresh air and sunshine be good for me, and I'm all fresh and bubbly now. I just don't really understand why it is I manage to drink that little bit too much, and it's always on the nights before going out to work in the parks. Weird.

your local adult literacy program

... something that I got involved in recently that I'm going to shamelessly put in a plug for: Adult Literacy. When you shop around for community organizations that in need of volunteers to make a difference in other people's lives, what you discover is that adult literacy programs are almost always in need of people to help out. In a county where 27,000 residents have low literacy skills, there's a lot of folks that might have trouble reading this. So if you're so inclined, think about helping someone out - imagine what it would be like without basic literacy (reading signs, filling out job applications, etc.). Even if you're not into tutoring, there's fundraising, advocacy, etc. etc.

If you're in Washtenaw County, there's Washtenaw Literacy, where they have both basic literacy and ESL programs. If you're somewhere else, call your local library - I'm sure they'll know how to get in touch with a program in your area that needs volunteers.

the world is purty today

I'm sure it comes as no consolation to the 35,000 people in SE Michigan that woke up to a power outage this morning, but it sure is pretty out in the world today. At the Arb all the trees are all silvery, the rhododendrons are all twisty and swirly.

reflections on AA city council NoMo Plan hearing

Tonight's Ann Arbor City Council meeting included a public hearing on the finalized Non-Motorized Transportation Plan (get it here in all of it's 200-page glory. yes, it's long, but if you're at all even recreationally curious about things like urban traffic planning, for peds/cyclists/motorists or otherwise, it's got lots of detail, but reads quickly). A couple of observations/comments:
- It seems like city council members like to tout their cyclist cred by making sure they mention that they're cyclists at some point when they're speaking. Gotta wonder what percentage of their daily transportation is bike/walk and what percentage is drive. And if, say, sailing or animals were the topic of the evening, would they suddenly discover their nautical heritage or pull out pictures of family pets for display?
- After the public comments section, many of the public in attendance got up and left (after they had said their bit). I realize that not everyone has love for the minutia of city council meetings, but the mass exodus brought one thought quickly to mind: Do the people speaking actually care about what goes on in the city council meeting? Or are they there just because they want to rant? (I have my doubts about whether they had some excuse like having to catch the last bus or get home to let the dog out... and that as responsible citizens are going to catch the re-broadcast on CTN.) To one who sees this "speechify and bail" technique, I can tell you this - If you can't even sit through the rest of the meeting, how much credit do you think people give to what you said when they watch you bail? (it's not like you have to stand during the whole meeting) If you can't respect the forum with your presence, how much respect do you think the forum has for you? I say this about both the Non-Motorized part as well as the podium-ey rants about Israel/Palestine that seem to take place every meeting. The funny thing about it is that after the public comments section, there was some more talk about the NoMo plan. Nothing the public could comment on, but the folks that left missed it.
- It was pretty clear that, regardless of progress in making AA a more bikeable/walkable city, there's an excessive amount of animosity between cyclists and motorists. You only need to see the flame wars on craigslist (rants and raves section) or encounter sometimes-raging-asshole/sometimes-peacemaker people like me to get a sample of it. Apparently, motorists don't go to city council meetings, since almost all of the folks that spoke were pro-Non-Motorized. Two of the people that got up to speak (Doug and Marianne? afterward they seemed to be a couple) made their points, and presented them well. Marianne: she has lived here 5 months and been pushed to the curb on her bike once, threatened by a motorist, and almost run over while on foot at crosswalk where she had the green light, and that she doesn't really feel safe riding OR walking in Ann Arbor. Out in the hallway, she suggested that she very well may be moving out of the city for this reason. Doug: Palo Alto, CA has just as many, if not more, cars on the road, but not nearly as much conflict with pedestrians/cyclists. He also made a good point about Palo Alto's success in increasing pedestrian/cyclist awareness by having plainclothes officers/sting operations handing out tickets to motorists when they fail to yield to pedestrains or other "light" offenses that are nevertheless a danger to anyone on the street that's not in a car.
- The City of Ann Arbor is apparently just GUSHING over the Google thing. Really, just falling all over themselves, as if they asked the head cheerleader to the prom and "she said yes! SHE REALLY REALLY SAID YES! And later, at the after-party... she's gonna let us sniff her panties! OMG, that is, like, sooooo kewl...." I know that there's a tradition of conflict over downtown parking availability, but the amount of time spent thrashing over the city giving Google "up to" 400 free parking spaces as part of the deal to move in downtown... I mean really. If the $150 million in tax revenue is so important that the city/state gives them $38M in tax credits, then the least we can do is just build Google a stupid parking garage.

some of the things I like about the town I live in

I don't know who put this up, but I know I like living in the same city where people do things like this.

Subtle, yet permanent. Nothing you would notice unless your eyes were open, head up, and you are able to walk without having to compulsively talk on the phone.

And for Ann Arborites who might bemoan the loss of ash trees (the City is euthanizing trees in order to try to control the spead of the Emerald Ash Borer)...

In case you didn't know, there seems to be something of a project to create public sculpture from the trunks of dead trees. It's sad to see in The Arb that part of protecting trees involves cutting some down to save others, but at least it's not a total loss.

On the other hand, I'm a little concerned about the sculpture carving in progress near my neighborhood... it kind of looks like something with wings, and I surely hope that it's an eagle or bird of some sort.


PLEASE let it not be some sort of cheesy angel crap. There's enough pseudo-sentiment for supernatural bullshit, I don't need a totem of it shoved in my face any more than it already is. Makes me wonder whether it's city-sponsored activity and whether I can make a state-church seperation argument... And if not, can make an "aesthetically offensive to me with its cheesiness" argument?

the new old hell-yeah

Dear Ann Arbor/Ypsi Beer Enthsiasts:

If you haven't been to Arbor Brewing Co. in the past month or so, you REALLY need to stop there and have a pint. I don't know what it is they did, but 3 months ago I was wondering whether the beers were just going to continue a downward spiral into boringness. But then KA-THWOCKO! Just the other day I was there, and boy howdy... they sure did do something about the beers. Put some new stuff on the menu too (hooray for the IPA Chicken with goat cheese sammich)

Three new ones I hadn't had before, but fully endorse: Downtown Brown (not a diva beer, but very drinkable pint after pint). HXL - a nameplay on the Huxell, but XL because it's a high-gravity double-strength version of the Huxell Best Bitter. Too heavy to have lots of, but tasty fer sure. And saving the best for last: the Duggie Style Rye. Fuckin' hell, y'all. Even it's smells have temporal complexity. The smell has a start and finish, and they work together so well. Taste? Well, that's even a better part you'll have to discover yourself.

And not only the new stuff, but it seems they've freshened up the Porter too. I used to think Grizzly Peak had a better porter and ABC had a better stout. I think ABC has re-taken the Porter crown on this one. Smoky and with a little bit of a snap on the tongue. Niiice.

I know the brewmaster is unlikely to be reading this, but on the off chance he is: An absofuckinglutely STELLAR job with these brews. Keep 'em coming. Glad to see new stuff. Glad to have ABC again be a destination for me and not just "when I'm in the neighborhood".

Grizzly Peak brewmaster? You'd best sharpen up your game if you don't want to get dropped.

I hate Packard

In the spirit of the holidays, I'm embracing not only my rage, but my hatred. Where I live in Ann Arbor, my most often traveled street is Packard Rd. Going downtown? Packard westward. Going to Ypsi? Packard eastward. Going grocery shopping? Packard. Going to the West Side? Packard. Driving to Detroit? Packard. I have come to hate the familiarity of it. For some, familiarity is comforting. But for me... in this... it has bred the cliched contempt. I've started to go out of my way and intentionally engaged more traffic, or crappier roads, or riding hills, or whatever to avoid it. Who thought one could start to hate a road and the monotonous landscape it represents?

Sung to the tune "I Hate Music" by the Replacements (circa 1981)...

"I hate Packard
Sometimes I don't
I hate Packard
It's got too many notes

I hate my high school
Sometimes I went
I hate Packard, man
Never heaven sent"

in touch with my inner rageaholic

Tonight, with nothing really going on, I strapped on a bike and went tooling around - with no real destination in mind, I guess I was literally out looking for trouble. Returned a movie and some library CDs, then out to Ypsi, thinking I would do some exploring of places to plop and read a book and drink a beer or a coffee... but then I realized I'd forgotten my book (In the Company of the Courtesan, which I'm really enjoying) at home. Ok, fine - I'll just poke around town then. Went into the new vintage toy store Rocket downtown Ypsi and got a Morton Salt salt shaker for nostalgia, but without my literary entertainment and places I would have like to go into closed, I headed back westward. Hungry as hell, I stopped at Whole Foods and picked up some Muesli bread that I grazed on while browsing the magazine rack at the Barnes and Noble nearby. From there, it's into town, with thoughts of a beer on my mind. And that's when I passed through campus....

North on State St., and from out of a car window, I hear something ending in "... should ride on the sidewalk..." as this car full of yougsters passes me. That shit pisses me off to no end - people in cars thing they are strong, anonymous, and invulnerable. Well, I'm not your grandma - say that to my face, asshole. Peaceful co-existence between cyclists and motorists? I try to most of the time, but not tonight. No, not me.

Hitch my britches, jump on it a little and check back - no traffic. Skippedy-bip, around the pedestrians, up to their bumper, but can't get around... ah, the lights turning 3 blocks up... biding time, and luckily the window is still open... it's a car full of youngsters. 5 of 'em, can't be more than 19. Rolling up, blocking in the door, back of the bike blocking the rear door, my 6'3", 200 lbs of my serious angry face in the window...
Rageaholic Me: "you got something to say to me?"
Pimple Farm: "uhh.. no. nuh-uh"
RM: "you seemed to have something you wanted to say to me a mile back."
PF: "who me? no, I didn't say anything..."
RM: "oh, that was maybe some other red buick with 5 kids in it? try again. you seem to have a lot to say when you're feeling tough driving along, but when I'm right in front of you somehow you've got nothing to say. you got something to say to me, say it." (I somehow managed to avoid the "go ahead and say something, you pussy" cliche)
[a couple breaths of glaring staring here, it's clear that he's brave in the car when he thinks he won't have to account for his behavior and weak in the knees when pushed back against. the light turns green, we go our seperate ways]

I feel a little bad about instigating on what are basically kids out for a ride, but if they promise to think twice next time, I'll promise to try to forget that I have a heavy lock and they have a glass windshield. It didn't have to go this way, it really didn't. But I'll be a cliched rage-filled asshole cyclist some day if this keeps up.

maps-n-stuff

I confess - I dig maps. I dig visualization tools. I really dig cool maps. And GIS? Well that just gives me a full-on-chubby. Representing data spatially is just flat out cool (that's really what a map is anyway, no? the abstract representation of relevant space and information, while hiding irrelevant spaces and information.)

So though I haven't done much work on my map of "additions to stop signs" lately, I'm re-inspired by a art/engineering project called Blue Puddle that just happens to be based here in Ann Arbor. Check out the outdoor electricity map and "making-of" video. Something that Zack makes a good point about: "part of the fun of this is just going out there and seeing your city in a way that you don't usually get to see it." How true.

the problem, as I see it

Today was yet another disappointing sandwich at Zingerman's. I'm pretty far up on my high horse, and this is the last time I will rant about it. But I'm going all-out, with graphic assistance and everything.

Zingerman's Deli, as I've heard it described: "good food, mediocre service, mercenary prices" has a problem in their sandwich department. For the past 10 years, as the prices have increased 40% (the $13 sandwich of today is exactly the same as what you used to get for $9), they STILL can't get sandwich assembly right.

Take Exhibit #1:


Sure, the ingredients are tasty, but the softball-shaped blob of meat in the middle of the sandwich? It's impossible to manage without it sliding out the maw of the bread with the coleslaw or mayo or mustard greasing the way. Needless to say, that after negotiating this sliced-meat speedbump, you're left with plenty of meatless bread.

Not only the flavor, but the texture of the sandwich is uneven. When you have a ham and cheese, do you want a bite of ham and then a bite of cheese? No. You want a bite of ham AND cheese at the same time. And before you respond "oh, you're just being picky... quit whining and just enjoy the food" - well, with the hype that Zingerman's puts out there, and the ridiculous prices they are charging, one would reasonably expect to get an Exceptional Sandwich, not an exercise in aggravation.

Are you hearing this Ari? Probably not. Chances are that you don't give a shit because you're too busy stacking up all the cash you're making off of these disappointments of meat on bread. When you can fix "the sandwich problem" I'll come back, but until then, you've lost my business.

Zingermans out of control

I rarely go to Zingerman's these days, mostly because of what I'm about to bitch and complain about, but I decided to stop by... they've got free Wi-Fi, and instead of sitting around the house, I can sit around at a public place. So anyway, they (Zingerman's) have lost their friggin' minds. Sandwiches now averaging $12, coffee gone up to $2.50, and I swear, if that sandwich shows up and the sliced meat is all balled up in the center, I'm going to have a Furious Embollism. The only good explanations I can come up with are that either they have become a tourist trap (like the baseball field charging you $7.00 for a hot dog), or one of the owners has an expensive drug habit and is using the sandwich business to fund it. Best quote to describe the ZingPrice phenomenon...
"Zingermans: good food, bad service, mercenary prices"

rants

I was paying some bills the other day when for some reason I was surprised by the AT&T envelope... just something about it creeped me out.


There's something about in me that asks "and how would you know whether I deserve it or not?" Just for paying the bill that I owe money for?

Maybe I haven't done a damn thing to deserve a reward... and even if I do, what about the next person? Do they actually deserve it, or are we (American society) getting to accustomed to "Reward Entitlement"? Things like "I've had a hard day at the office, I deserve this ice cream cone..." How about just WANTING the ice cream, and taking ownership, pride, and responsbility - instead of depersonalising an external reward?

Yes, it's just an envelope, and yes, it's a tagline for a referral-reward program. But still... you know what I mean?
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And speaking of rants... a post on craigslist caught my eye, and put a good tagline on a perception I have been having over the years: "Zingerman's ("Good Food, Bad Service, Mercenary Prices")" as well as some other Ann Arbor things - like all the hullaballo over Google coming to Ann Arbor to set up an office for its AdWords department. Please tell me that it's not going to just be an office for selling advertising ('cause that doesn't count as "high tech")

Beaver crossing

Today is... an absolutely perfect day out (70 degrees, sunny, blue skies and puffy clouds), and I have no idea why I'm at a keyboard. Half and hour ago, hearing bird calls outside my window reminded me of "Secret Park". Of course, to the Wastenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, it's surely no secret. It was to me though, the first time I was walking through the neighborhood and saw the hole in a fence and the trail beyond it. So today, I figured I'd go out exploring.

Lo and behold while riding along the trails in County Farm Park, I was rewarded. I swear I saw a beaver crossing the trail in front of me. A beaver is a pretty odd animal to unexpectedly see, but I can't imagine what else it would have been... stout body, spiky hair, pudgy nose... seemed like a beaver at the time. Of course, even if it weren't an actual beaver, it nevertheless led me to learn interesting things like that fact that, along with defining the value of Pi=3, the church has declared that the beaver is a fish, and thus ok to eat during Lent. (not that I'm going to be grilling any beaver steaks any time soon, nor fasting for Lent, for that matter)