BIKE QUOTES

After my accident lost me six weeks of riding time, I got on the bicycle, but it just didn’t feel right. So I decided I ought to take my bike to the shop to make sure it’s OK. Between the time it took the shop to get to my bike in the queue, them actually fixing it and me getting to it, a total of ten weeks of prime riding time was killed, alas!

So I am on my bike, functionally for the first time in two and a half months. It feels foreign, strange. The seat had replaced as were the pedals. The seat needed adjusting – it was too high; as did my helmet – it was too tight. So I decided to ride on the sidewalk the three blocks from the bike shop to the church so I could get back to the church picnic I had left to get the vehicle in the first place and do my adjustments then.

I pass a woman on the sidewalk, not a half a block from the shop, passing her four feet wide of her, going quite slowly. And what does she say? “You’re not supposed to ride on the sidewalk!” Of course, she was right, but I was rather hoping for some cosmic grace. But explaining all of this would have taken too much time, so I just said, “Not without getting killed,” which was true enough; I didn’t feel in control of my vehicle. Then she said something I didn’t hear, and I rode back, sighing.

Back at church, I then made the appropriate adjustments so that I could ride on the street.
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“The cyclist is a man half made of flesh and half of steel that only our century of science and iron could have spawned.”
– (19th-century author) Louis Baudry de Saunier
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“My family car is an SUB and I love it. On my new ‘sport utility bicycle’ I can cart groceries, take my kids shopping, haul a barbecue grill and make a margarita,” by Mark Benjamin. Complete with video.
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More bikes as transportation.
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Brilliant Bike Locking:

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The Bike to Work book.
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“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” – Arthur Conan Doyle.
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How high are those gas prices?
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A Borgman cartoon.
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“A seat and handlebars have a magical way of bringing out a childish enthusiasm
that is too often thrown by the wayside as we grow up.
It’s always there. Waiting to be revived.
And when you find it again, it’s fun and strangely familiar.
Just like riding a bike.”
– Mary Buckheit
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Actual sign: “Burn Fat Not Oil.” True that.
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Bicycle service and parts.
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Someone e-mailed this; don’t know the original source –

Green Machine

What’s your carbon footprint? And I don’t mean your cycling-shoe size.
No, I’m talking about the color of the moment: green.
“Puh-leeze,” you say, “I ride a bike. I’m greener than a hung-over Carnival Cruise passenger in a hurricane.”
Is that so? Then you won’t mind taking this climate-change quiz designed just for cyclists:
I commute by bike . . .
(a) every day
(b) couple times a week, if it’s not raining and the alarm goes off
(c) I no longer commute since getting fired for making fun of the boss’s Prius
My frame is made of . . .
(a) steel, aluminum, carbon or titanium
(b) bamboo, hemp or old Clorox bottles
(c) spent nuclear fuel rods, covered in baby seal fur
I only eat energy bars made from . . .
(a) endangered white-rhino meat
(b) locally grown, fair-trade, organic ingredients
(c) ethanol waste products
I clean my chain with . . .
(a) jet fuel
(b) citrus-based degreaser
(c) nothing, thus allowing it to exist freely in its natural state
After cleaning my chain, I . . .
(a) hose the drippings into the nearest storm drain, which empties into the local orphanage’s playground
(b) take the gunk-filled degreaser to the recycling center
(c) like I said, I don’t clean it, you fascist chain murderer you
When my water bottle gets moldy, I . . .
(a) chuck it in a roadside ditch
(b) cut off the top and recycle it as a planter
(c) use it to plug the exhaust pipe of Hummers
If I can’t ride my bike someplace, I . . .
(a) drive my SUV there as fast as possible, with my tires under-inflated and the AC blasting out my open windows
(b) walk, car-pool or take bio-diesel-powered public transportation
(c) ride the indoor trainer while watching my Al Gore videos
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Why Bike? Top 5 Reasons to Ride

ROG

QUESTION: Looking forward, looking back

There was major flooding in the city of Rensselaer, just across the river from Albany, a couple weeks ago, and the mayor blamed it on some controversial development taking place a few miles away. I was practically struck dumb (yeah, hard to believe, I know) by the comment of someone I know: “Now the blame game begins.” It didn’t feel like a “blame game” at all. It was historic flooding that closed the train station from Rensselaer to the next stop to the south, Hudson. SOMETHING happened. We should talk about it, don’t you think?

There seems to be a certain mindset – I don’t know of it’s an American process or not – that says, “A bad thing has happened. Let’s not dwell in the past, but let’s move on,” even before one can grieve or understand the loss.

But wait. Your house in California burned. Again. You’re going to build a THIRD time. I saw at least one home owner say that on the news this fire season. But it’s not just YOUR decision. Building in a know fire zone means resources are put in place to contain the next fire. Can we talk about this first?

Likewise, building in a flood zone. I think I mentioned in this blog about a town that after the historic 1993 floods on the Mississippi moved the whole town to higher ground and was spared the devastation that its neighboring towns experienced AGAIN in 2008.

I am fascinated by Greensburg, KS. Devastated by a tornado in 2007, it is rebuilding as a ‘green’ city.

Certainly, there are implications of this thought process dealing with interpersonal relationships, where someone who is wronged is told to “get over it!”, usually too quickly for my taste.

So, my overly broad question: when do you look forward, and when do you reflect on what happened to see if maybe, just maybe, this needs to be rethought?
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Because it’s been hanging out, an orphan

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And just because:

ROG

Jawbone

ADD will relate.
One of the things that’s been keeping me busy lately is helping my wife prepare for the jaw surgery she had this past Monday. Evidently the lower part of her mouth is not large enough to accommodate for the teeth there. So her jaw was cut and brought forward a few millimeters. The surgery usually involves a three-to six-week recovery period, depending on the track of the procedure. If all goes according to plan, the cuts to her jaw will be clean and the shorter time will be required. If on the other hand, a piece of the jaw breaks, then it’ll be the longer scenario. Unfortunately, while one side went as desired, the other did not. Three little pins on one side, a titanium plate and one screw on the other. For probably the whole month and a half, she will have her mouth wired shut.

We’ve gotten some pretty peculiar responses to the news of her impending surgery. One person, when told that Carol needed to be eating strained foods for the next couple of weeks, shrieked “OOOOHHH, I HATE strained foods!” Not particularly helpful.

Then there are the people who think that my wife’s mouth not being big enough is a sort of punchline for something out of The Honeymooners. Guys in particular seem squeal with delight that my wife will be somehow struck dumb by the contraption that is located in her mouth. It is as though they’re thinking “to keep the old lady quiet for a while” is my desire; I find this more than slightly disturbing, not to mention insulting to my wife. Actually, she will be able to speak, albeit with clenched teeth. We have been warned that she will sound a bit angry ,even though she is not.

The worse part of this was the tremendous pain my wife was in on day one. Even with “the good stuff”, her pain threshold only went from 9 to 8. this is a woman who did childbirth without meds before and only extra strength Tylenol afterwards. I made it very clear to the hospital staff that my wife does not complain idly about pain; if she says she’s in pain, she’s in PAIN. By the next day, the pain had alleviated somewhat, but she still has a modicum of discomfort.

Ironically, the surgery is considered successful. The lower teeth ARE lined up properly with the upper teeth; the goal was met, It was merely the methodology that was problematic.

One of the good things that’s come out of this is that Carol’s finally gotten a health care proxy, which I’ve been nagging her to do for about nine years. She thought it was more complicated or required more verbiage. But when she saw my version, which I had done 15 years ago and have altered twice since, she realized it was pretty easy to take care of.

She’s recovering well and sleeping a lot.
ROG

Songs That Move Me: #1

1. God Only Knows – Beach Boys.
Ultimately, a song I know a lot about, from Brian and Carl Wilson praying before the recording to Brian’s obsessive orchestration. It’s Beach Boys and it’s beautiful.

I’ll tell you how strong it is. Its use as the ending of the movie Love Actually probably raised the movie’s enjoyment from a B-minus to a B-plus.

There are two things that really seal the deal for me picking this particular song. One was when I went to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in May of 1998 and came across the tribute to Carl Wilson, who had died a few months earlier. Coincidentally, there was also a tribute to another Carl who had recently died, Carl Perkins. Quite moving.

The other factor was listening to the Beach Boys’ 5-CD boxed set, which has a 9-minute version of “God Only Knows,” the first 6 of which is rehearsal, but the last 3 of which is a phenomenally beautiful rendition, ending in classic Beach Boys vocalese, which I hope sees the light of day as a separate release someday.
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There are all sorts of artists whose music I enjoy, from James Brown to Led Zeppelin, the Police to the Talking Heads, who I enjoy immensely, yet somehow didn’t make this particular list. If I do it again – don’t hold your breath on that! – I will make a point of seeking other artists.
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The Royal Guardsmen are finally going to England “After our hopes were dashed more than forty years ago, one of our desires has come to fruition.” Readers of this blog may recall a spirited but friendly debate I had with the Guardsmen’s drummer over the release of their song Snoopy Vs. Osama, which had a far more serious tone than the Snoopy vs. the Red Baron songs of the 1960s. Even though we disagreed, I’ve been wishing John Burdett and the group well, and even subsequently got hold of an RG greatest hits collection. Maybe it’s because the group and I have the same initials.

ROG

Rock Meme: Robert Plant


Here’s an old meme I found, which I’ll use to celebrate Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant’s 60th birthday.
Artist/Band: Robert Plant (b. 8/20/1948)
Are you male or female: Poor Tom
Describe yourself: Dazed and Confused
How do some people feel about you: Your Time Is Gonna Come
How do you feel about yourself: Fool in the Rain
Describe what you want to be: Ten Years Gone
Describe how you live: Trampled Under Foot
Describe how you love: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Share a few words of wisdom: Hey Hey What Can I Do
I was going to use songs from the Honeydrippers or solo Plant, if I had to, but Zeppelin titles filled the bill.

One of my favorite LZ songs, Communication Breakdown

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss doing another song about communications breakdown, Please Read The Letter, from my favorite album of 2007

Tosy found this Yahoo! list of the 20 greatest albums ever based on sales, staying power, and acclaim; FOUR are by Led Zeppelin, three of which I own.

A happy birthday to Robert Plant.
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John Hiatt turns 56 today. Little ambiguity about what He’s communicating:

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Isaac Hayes‘ birthday would also have been today, but he died 10 days shy of his 66th birthday. Since SamuraiFrog posted Walk On By recently, I thought I’d pick another song from the album Hot Buttered Soul, Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic.

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I was sad to hear of the passing of Jerry Wexler. His participation at Atlantic Records helped create the sound of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Sam and Dave and many others. He worked with artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Dusty Springfield, Dire Straits, and Santana.
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Photo: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation at the Green Man Festival – 18.08.2007. [Source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/90336485@N00/1205952170/ Robert Plant by Ella Mullins on flickr.com] |Date=August 18, 2007], used per Creative Commons
ROG

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