Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Something for Nothing

A few days ago an internet company in Germany offered to buy my domain name. I told them it wasn't for sale. This morning they sweetened their deal to $350. It is still not for sale, but I can't help but think how odd it is that people will exchange real money over things that don't even exist.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

No Spare Moments

Things have been very busy and a little nuts of late. I did have a half day on Friday, which was nice, except I spent the extra "free" time setting up a forum for one of my clients. Saturday was a bit surreal. I woke up alone, Brian having slipped off before 6am to get in an early century. The precise dates of Meryl's visit have been up in the air due to various complications with schedules, but at 7:30 I received a text message letting me know she was on her way to the airport. Shortly thereafter I realized the flight she was trying to get on was leaving half an hour earlier than I'd told her, so this resulted in a bit of a scramble for her, but worked out in the end. It was also her fist non-rev experience, so I wanted to be on hand to help out in case she didn't get a seat on the plane she wanted to take to Chicago. Fortunately, she did, and as soon as I got the text telling me she was on the runway, I headed for the stable.

I went out to Steen and took a video of him, then rode. I came back to town, showered, and began packing for our trip to Chicago and getting a hot lunch ready for Brian so he could eat soon after he arrived home. Before he came home, however, he called my cell phone to tell me he was running late because someone had assaulted him towards the end of his ride and he was talking to the police. He assured me he was ok, just late.

When he finally got home, we got him fed, cleaned up and the both of us loaded in the car, but we still arrived in Chicago over four hours after my sister. Fortunately, Brian's sister happened to be on the same flight as Meryl, so his mom picked them both up. It was a bit of a trip walking into Brian's house to find Meryl sitting on the couch.

We had a lovely dinner in Chicago, came back Sunday afternoon and then Meryl and I headed for the stable as she was keen to meet Steen. What followed was definitely the low point of my relationship with my new horse. There is a more detailed post on the subject on my Steen blog, but we'll just sum up by saying two bucks and then hard contact with the ground has made for a very sore Robin the past few days.

The good news is the incident (which Meryl was not in the least involved in, fortunately) combined with my sister's fresh view of things sort of coalesced into a better view of my relationship with Steen. I needed to stop worrying so much about everything I've read the last few months and have some faith in what I've learned through my experiences over the last 15 years. The end of the story is a happy one and I've never been happier about my decision to purchase Steen, but I'm not going to type it twice, so you'll have to find it over here.

Last night after Meryl and I got back from riding Steen and Brian got back from work we had a glorious evening playing cards and drinking wine. I think the rest of the week is going to pass in a similarly enjoyable fashion.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Road Warriors

Although I've been spending most of my free time on horseback lately, on Wednesday Brian and I participated in a Bike to Work Week event that consisted of meeting over 150 other cyclist near the New Pioneer Co-Op in downtown Iowa City and then riding, led by a police escort and the mayor herself, to the New Pioneer Co-Op in Coralville. Once there we were greeted with a free dinner of tasty hummus pitas, strawberries, olives and natural ice-pops. In addition to food there was a free raffle (I won some Burt's Bees sunscreen and lotion). All the frivolity was accompanied by live music and good friends. After the bulk of the participants began to clear out, a small group of us adjourned to a nearby bar for a few drinks, although Brian and I called it a night before things had a chance to get raucous.

All in all, I think it is great that Iowa City is so supportive of those of us who take two wheels to work instead of four. There was an entertaining range of participants, and ample time to look at them since the ride rarely reached a cruising speed of more than a few miles per hour. Some people showed up in full kit with their race bikes. Some people rode in baggy shorts on full-suspension rigs. There was even a tandem. My favorite thing was looking at the selection of cool townies. I chose to bring out my trusty Jamis for the occasion.

I will say, however, that I noticed a number of things that left me wondering. For one thing, as the long string of cyclists wound its way through downtown Iowa City several times, we forced motorists and pedestrians to stop and watch us go by. I heard a number of angry comments from people who were not well pleased to take a moment out of their busy lives to gaze a the broad array of bikes in the street. I must say that although I think getting irritated over such a small delay is silly, on the other hand making people angry is not usually the best way to promote tolerance. I can't imagine anyone who was delayed getting home on Wednesday because of our ride would be happier to see more cyclists on the road in the future.

On top of that, I saw some cyclists behaving in a questionable manner. At one point the guy in front of me looked down, saw his shoelace was coming untied, so reached down with his hand, pulled it the rest of the way apart and then left it there, dangling dangerously near his drive-train. I took the first opportunity to get around this guy, not wanting to be caught in the tangle if he went down. Why he didn't just stop and tie his shoe, I do not know (like I said, the ride wasn't exactly a speedy one and he could have easily caught back up). At another point, a woman in front of me signaled to change lanes. She raised her right arm out to her side, bent at the elbow so that her hand was pointing up. Then she moved into the right lane. ??

And this brings me to the root of all evil between motorists and cyclists. Motorists are not the only uneducated people on the road. Many people who ride bikes make poor choices when doing so. They ride on sidewalks, run stop-signs, go the wrong way down one-way streets, use incorrect signals, and do things to deliberately agitate motorists. On the flip side, when I ride along conscientiously following traffic laws I am often honked at and yelled at by people passing in cars. Clearly, neither of these groups have any knowledge of the actual regulations that supposedly govern cyclists. When pedestrians and motorists have to deal with bikes barreling every which way on any strip of concrete available, who can blame them for sometimes being short-tempered?

Of course, as always, the answer is education. It seems like adding a mandatory bike section to traffic schools and license tests would go a long way to help motorist know how to treat bikes in traffic. Additionally, it seems bike stores could distribute some information to go with the bikes they sell, and cycling events could preface group rides with a few notes about proper bike etiquette. The truth is, until bikes and cars understand each other, there will always be conflict. Unfortunately for us bikers, miscommunication is far more likely to end with an injured cyclist than an injured driver.

Nevertheless, it was great to see all the cyclists out en-masse. And although a utopia where everyone commutes in their diverse and sundry ways exchanging only smiles and yielding with patience is still a ways off, I am impressed at the good work the Bike to Work Week people have done. I hope they keep it up.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Well Oiled Leather

So far it has been another lovely weekend. Yesterday I woke up, rolled over and grabbed the book I've been reading. Brian brought me coffee, so I enjoyed a tasty hot beverage as I finished the last 50 pages or so. A weekend doesn't start a whole lot better than that, in my opinion.

When I did get out of bed, I went out for a nice ride on Steen. When I came home I decided I should really clean up my boots. Here in Iowa they have to contend with things they pretty much never encountered in Arizona - mainly mud and dew. When I was cleaning the mud off of them I noticed how dry and weathered the leather has started to look, the black worn to nearly green in some places. Although my cowboy boots are definitely not a fashion statement, they are nice boots and rather indispensable footwear when it comes to working with horses. I've had them for roughly six years now and have worn them on many, many rides. I want them to last for many more. So, I dug out Brian's shoe-polishing kit (thoughtfully assembled for him by his father) and oiled and polished the leather. It was an oddly satisfying experience, and had I anticipated the extreme transformation they would undergo, I would have taken a before picture. As it is, we must content ourselves with the after only.


Unfortunately, they will only stay pretty for a few more hours. Then I'm going to go ride again, and they will encounter mud, dew and dust once more. But, underneath the grime the leather will be well hydrated and pliable.

In spite of all the reading and staying in bed late, we've had an unusually sociable weekend. On Friday night we went to a bonfire at Steve and Cody's for some good times drinking beer, eating pretzels and getting smoke in our eyes. Last night we went to Cody's show opening where we bent our genders, drank more beer and ate tiny little vegan cupcakes.

In exciting upcoming events, Meryl (who has no internet presence whatever for me to link her name to) is coming to visit next weekend. She'll stay for about a week and I'm sure we'll have a grand time.

Monday, May 05, 2008

The Dawn of Summer

On Saturday we spent the morning lounging about reading. Brian introduced me to the Dark Tower series, by Stephen King, and though I've not read much of his work in the past, I'm enjoying these books. In the afternoon I went to the stable and spent most of the rest of the day with Steen. Then I came home, we had a nice dinner, hung out, read more, went to bed and slept in.

Sunday included a trip downtown to hear Michael Chabon read an excerpt from his book The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Chabon is a very entertaining reader/speaker and the event was both wonderfully amusing and inspiring. After that, we came home and I took a short trip to the stable and Brian took a short spin on his bike. When we both returned, we spent the evening lying around again and grilled some tender steaks for dinner. While grilling we hung out drinking beer and watching the lovely sunset with only light sweatshirts on, enjoying the spring activity in the backyard. It is so nice to be able to do things like go outside without a hat and open windows again.

After dinner we watched a relatively bad movie Brian needed to see for his Spanish class, Open Your Eyes, which kept us up until the astonishingly late hour of 11 o'clock. Then we went to bed and my poor tired body couldn't get up until the ripe, late hour of 7 this morning. A raucous weekend indeed.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

More Fake News

Wedding Enjoyed By No One But Bride

The Onion

Wedding Enjoyed By No One But Bride

NEW ROCHELLE, NY-The lavish, 250-guest wedding of James and Mindy Gallagher, held Sunday at the New Rochelle Country Club, was enjoyed by no one but the bride.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Green

Today I woke up and looked out the window. I was immediately startled by what I saw. Although many trees have been blooming in whites and purples, and grass and a lot of plants on the ground have been growing, the big, old trees that surround our house have remained rather impassive to the coming of spring. But today when I look out our upper story windows I see a widespread blush of bright, new green. Now it really doesn't feel like winter anymore.