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Last chance for book selection

Hardly anybody has voted. As I mentioned earlier, I need a new book to take on vacation. Here are the choices:

Whether you have read any of these books or not, I want your opinion on which I should or should not take. Leave your vote in the comments.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 1496
Weight lost: 50 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 7
Hours billed last week: 45.5
Aches & pains: sciatic
Current reading:: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Says & Expressions by Charles Earle Funk, The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Recent listening: Handsome Boy Modeling School, The Zombies, Sun Ra, NPR Story of the Day
Recent viewing: The Simpsons, Mindfreak, Man vs. Wild, Biography: Johnny Depp, Biography: Howie Mandel, Gilmore Girls
Recent playing: Pangea Arcade
Recently accomplished: fixed temporary mailbox so it would open, uploaded photographs, cleaned inside of tent, installed memory and DVD drive for Thomas, sent off Lala envelopes, packed up tent, backed up Tina, Graham & me, bike maintenance, cat box, installed desk lamp for Graham, groceries, CD for Ziad, sifted through inbox items
Imperative To Do: RMA old Tivo drive, sift through inbox, post office, renew van registration, pack for Iowa, finalize Iowa travel plans, clear Tivo schedule for vacation, new litter for cat box, fix boomtube, call Kent, call Colleen/Kurt, record movie for Mindy

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Help Pick The Next Book

I expect to finish reading Dandelion Wine this week. After that I’ll be starting one of these books:

 

 

(Click for a larger version)

 

 

Have you read any of these books? Heard anything great about one? Please leave a comment with a recommendation for the next book for me to read. I’ll be taking this book with me on vacation to Iowa next week.

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Family Reunion Flashback 2001

Next weekend we’ll be headed to Iowa for our first Ring family reunion since 2004. Here’s a couple pictures from the 2001 family reunion. The top picture is all the grandkids and the bottom picture is of the entire group. Both pictures were taken on our last day at the hotel outside Minneapolis.

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Morning Bike Commute

Distance: 17.6 miles
Riding time: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Actual time: 3 hours (estimate)
Max speed: 21.5 mph
Average speed: 10.2 mph
Temperature: 63º (with a little rain)
Route:

  • 162nd to Powell Butte
  • Rode in circles for 30 minutes
  • Old Holgate Trail down to Holgate (wow!)
  • Holgate to Buddy’s house
  • Buddy’s house to Foster Road
  • Foster Road to Woodward/Clinton
  • Clinton to Springwater Corridor
  • Springwater Corridor to Hawthorne Bridge
  • Waited 10 minutes for bridge to close
  • Waterfront to Oak
  • Oak to Broadway
  • Broadway to work

I originally intended to ride down to the Springwater Corridor and take that into downtown but taking 162nd south ran me right into Powell Butte. Powell Butte is a park with many trails suitable for biking. It hooks up with Springwater Corridor on the south side, so I decided I would ride over it. It opens with a really steep, but paved hill that will literally take your breath away (from pedaling). After I took a five minute break, I zig-zagged the rest of the way up the hill. Once I got to the top, though, it was easier going. I grabbed the paved trail and went on my way. After riding for about 20 minutes, I was very close to where I had started. Powell Butte has many trails to choose from and I had no idea which to choose. Except it occurred to me that the “Old Holgate Trail” might take me down to Holgate Street which is south of Powell. It did and I came out very close to Buddy’s house. I was going to stop and leave a copy of the Constitution in his door (my new calling card) but his truck was in the driveway and his front door was open. He doesn’t work on Friday so we chatted for a few minutes while I plotted my new course with my bike map. I didn’t think I had much left in the tank so I threw out the Springwater Corridor course, which jogs south a few miles, and adopted a new course crossing southeast Portland into downtown. As it turned out, I was not very fatigued as I pedaled up the ramp to the Hawthorne Bridge. Sadly, they had the drawbridge open and were doing some sort of maintenance which took a very long time. I stood patiently and listened to Handsome Boy Modeling School.