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Morning Bike Commute

Distance: 11.0 miles
Riding time: 55 minutes
Max speed: 27.2 mph
Average speed: 11.8 mph
Temperature: 72º
Route:

  • 162nd to Halsey
  • Halsey past I-84 overpass
  • 80th to Glisan
  • Glisan to 76th
  • 76th to Everett
  • Everett/Davis to Floral Place
  • Floral Place across Burnside to Ankeny
  • Ankeny to Grand
  • Grand to Burnside
  • Burnside to Broadway
  • Broadway to office

This was the second morning in a row that I took this route (instead of jumping on the Max). I mostly felt good but lagged on some of the hills. All the aches and pains from the weekend are gone and it was much cooler than yesterday (when I looked down to see 93º on the bike computer). Overall, a beautiful ride.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 1690
Weight lost: 41 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 10
Hours billed last week: 16.5
Aches & pains: abrasion on right calf, back, shoulders, bruise on right forearm
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: Wolfmother, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Metallica
Recent viewing: Masters of Science Fiction, The Colbert Report, Gilmore Girls, Mindfreak, Tournament of the Americas
Recent playing: Pangea Arcade, Gimme Friction Baby, Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: More garage re-organization, returned cans and bottles, cleaned cat box, foam recycling, cardboard recycling, mowed front yard, cleaned and lubed bike
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, fix Thomas’ computer, finish garage, freecycling, Goodwill trip

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Shelfari

A friend sent me an invitation to join Shelfari, an interactive website for book lovers. The user interface reminds me of Lala and I immediately blew an hour putting in all the books I’ve read since 1998. Like most Web 2.0 sites, they provide a handy “widget” for displaying your profile on a blog. Here is mine:

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 1654
Weight lost: 49 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed last week: 39
Aches & pains: abrasion on right calf
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: Poet In My Window by Nanci Griffith, Coverville, Pure Pod For Now People
Recent viewing: Gilmore Girls, World Poker Tour, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Pangea Arcade, Gimme Friction Baby, Guitar Hero II (XBox 360)
Recently accomplished: Finished “Easy” level of Guitar Hero II
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, fix Thomas’ computer, finish garage, recycling, freecycling, mow lawn, Goodwill trip, clean out van

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We can laugh our lives away and be free once more

Recent events in the Portland Ring household:

  • As mentioned earlier, our cat Nietzsche had to be put down on Saturday. Possibly more on that later.
  • Tina saw her doctor on Monday and was disappointed to find that her foot fractures have not healed. I’m renewing my efforts to keep her off her feet. She will continue to wear “the boot” until she is healed.
  • Tina’s dad, Leroy, arrived yesterday. He’ll be with us for a week. Tina’s cousin Natians (Buddy’s step-daughter) will be in town for 10 days starting on Saturday.
  • Last night we took Leroy to his first zoo concert. The Charlie Hunter Trio played an incredible show. Hunter is a unique guitarists who simultaneously plays lead and bass guitar parts on his 7-string guitar. Unfortunately, after they returned from their mid-show break, the set became more solo jazz oriented so we left early.
  • Because Natians and Leroy are in town we’ve got a busy week ahead of us: a long weekend at the coast, another zoo concert (featuring the beautiful voice of Richie Furay), Body Worlds 2 at OMSI and the annual CPS golf tournament and company picnic.
  • I’m finishing up a big project at work and will soon be transitioning to a new project. When my product ships, I’ll have a link to the announcement here.
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Ice Cream in the Sky



Skywriting
Originally uploaded by rynosoft

One evening last week I looked up in the sky after deboarding the Max and saw this.

Evidently, I was not the only – you could see it all over Portland. To wit:

So what was it all about? Portland Metblogs had the story including a link to the Neighborhood Notes website. A number of personal blogs covering it included gretchin lair, Magpie Ima, The Pearl Insider and Damn Portlanders where you can find pictures of the whole message.

I didn’t see any writing until they were on the last word. I couldn’t really read “moon” or “ice” so I watched them write several letters before I knew what that last word was. “Cool” was the right word for the experience!

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 1595
Weight lost: 48 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 9
Hours billed last week: 38.5
Aches & pains: knees (when riding), abrasion on right calf, left achilles, sore legs
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Metal Cowboy by Joe Kurmaskie
Recent listening: Linkin Park, Poet In My Window by Nanci Griffith, Science Friday
Recent viewing: Countdown, Gilmore Girls, World Series of Poker, Masters of Science Fiction, The Colbert Report
Recent playing: Pangea Arcade, Gimme Friction Baby
Recently accomplished: Picked up bike from Bike Gallery, complete garage re-organization (half completed), unloaded desks from van, buried Nietzsche, Providence Bridge Pedal
Imperative To Do: Finish garage, RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, fix Thomas’ computer