Saturday, December 27, 2003
On The Third Day Of Christmas...
...I continued not to blog.
It's not as if there's not a lot going on, but I don't feel like writing about it. What difference do my comments make, anyway? I've been having that thought a lot lately, as I have occasionally ever since I started this thing.
Does it make any difference what I think of the Iran earthquake (how horrible), the continuing attacks in Iraq (how horrible), or the discovery of mad cow disease in the U.S.? Yes, how horrible.
Actually, other than checking out the news, it's all quite wonderful here. I've been enjoying the slackest days I can remember in a long, long time! We're talking video games (especially classic arcade games like Donkey Kong, Galaga and Frogger), tinkering (converted a 29-LED bike taillight, designed to run off a 6 volt dynamo to run instead on 4 aa batteries; built a heavy-duty waterproof battery case using spare parts and a $2 Radio Shack 4 aa battery holder, then connected batteries to taillight, and attached the whole thing to the bike — works great!), and watching movies (Platoon and Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War).
I worked out, too; I rode my bike to the YMCA and walked/ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes, then walked the dogs around the neighborhood. Today was a beautiful day, mostly sunny, over 60° F. I was going to bike down to the grocery store to try out my new panniers, but I wimped out.
Maybe on the fourth day of Christmas....
Look out! Bike Geek in the hizzouse!
Posted by Me at 22:51 link
Friday, December 26, 2003
Christmas Break
I enjoyed my day off from blogging on Christmas Day so much, I've decided to take off the 2nd day of Christmas, too. I may be back on the 3rd day of Christmas. Unless the three french hens don't get along with the two turtle doves. We'll see.
Peace, Love and Joy to all!
Posted by Me at 22:03 link
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Clean Air: A Gift That Keeps On Giving
From the Associated Press:WASHINGTON Dec. 24 — A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked new Bush administration changes to the Clean Air Act from going into effect the next day, in a challenge from state attorneys general and cities that argued they would harm the environment and public health.
The Environmental Protection Agency rule would have made it easier for utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities to make repairs in the name of "routine maintenance" without installing additional pollution controls.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an order that blocks the rules from going into effect until the legal challenge from the states and cities is heard, a process likely to last months.
[story]
Bush definitely deserves a lump of coal in his stocking this year; his administration just quietly opened to logging millions of acres of previously-protected land in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. From Earthjustice:
Washington, DC-- In yet another after-hours environmental attack led by U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber lobbyist, the Forest Service announced today a federal rule that will allow logging and roadbuilding in the roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.
The Bush administration rule, announced the day before Christmas Eve, exempts the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This landmark conservation policy was designed to protect 58.5 million acres of pristine national forest land from logging and roadbuilding. Nine million acres of the Tongass was protected under this roadless rule. The new rule exempting the Tongass announced today is the result of a sweetheart deal to end a court challenge to the roadless rule brought by the State of Alaska.
Widespread opposition to undoing Tongass roadless protections was expressed this summer when the public sent more than a quarter of a million comments in opposition to the proposal. These comments followed more than two million comments supporting the roadless rule in response to prior notices. Mr. Rey recently said that public opposition to rulemaking is “not a referendum” and the he would not “count votes” from the public.
[full story]
This Christmas looks to be a wonderfully quiet one here in Statesville. Once again, it's going to be a green Christmas. The last white Christmas here was... I don't even remember exactly when! Seems like it snowed one Christmas about 25 years ago, but the snow didn't stick much, and later in the day it turned to rain. Tomorrow it's supposed to be mostly sunny with a high around 45° F.
Whatever the weather where you are, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
Posted by Me at 22:38 link
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Southbound and Down
Do you like traffic jams? Stop 'n' go traffic, veritable oceans of red taillights? Then you'll surely love I-95 between New York City and northern Virginia, where the traffic jam never ends!
I made it back to NC in just under 12 hours, quite a bit longer than the usual 9.5. I wanted to check out the progress of the construction on the Delaware & Raritan Canal towpath pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1 south of Princeton, so I went home a different way than I usually go; I hadn't taken the Eastern Seaboard route since I lived in Chapel Hill many years ago. In those days, big cities, crowded freeways and heavy traffic were all new to me, so the route held the exotic sparkle and charm of urbanity—plus it was the fastest, most direct way.
Now that I live 2 hours west of Chapel Hill, according to MapQuest, I have a choice between two (seemingly) nearly equal routes: the Eastern Seaboard route (mostly I-95) and the Blue Ridge Mountain route (mostly I-81). Both routes are slightly less than 600 miles, both routes are slightly less than 10 hours (according to MapQuest). Today I can report that mighty MapQuest is wrong, wrong, WRONG !
Large cities have lost almost all their "exotic spakle and charm" for me. The Eastern Seaboard route is ugly, smelly and incredibly frustrating. From about Richmond, VA south, the traffic's not bad, although the radio situation becomes truly grim about there. In contrast, NPR coverage is nearly continuous along the Blue Ridge route, plus the route is uncrowded and beautiful. Cruise Control all the way!
If you ever have to make the choice, choose the Blue Ridge route—unless you want a long, frustrating look at the fetid underbelly of the American Dream.
Anyway, I finally made it. It's good to be home for Christmas, though I miss my Friend in NJ rather awfully.
(As for the pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1, it's nearly finished!)
Posted by Me at 23:53 link
Monday, December 22, 2003
I'm Outta Here
Back to NC tomorrow. It'll be nice to be home for Christmas, but I'm deeply sad to leave here. These last few days have been wonderful!
I won't actually miss this
Posted by Me at 22:55 link
Sunday, December 21, 2003
New York: I love ya, I love ya not....
I've come to the conclusion that the NYC area is one big finishing school for jerks.
If you've been here for more than about 18 months, and can make your way around the roads—and malls—without getting pushed around, then you've earned a Certificate of Jerkiness (C o J) which should be good anywhere in the world. Unsurprisingly, I decided this while driving around New Jersey during the last-minute Christmas-shopping rush! Hey — if you'd seen my driving, you'd know I've earned my C o J with honors!
There's a lot to love about the area, too, of course. I've written several times about the surprising variety of natural wonders in New Jersey and New York; today I took in some of the more traditional attractions. In fact, I chalked up four firsts today: 1) First walk in Central Park; 2) First ride in NYC taxicab; 3) First trip to Metropolitan Museum of Art; and 4) First time dragged up on stage by famous recording artist.
The walk in Central Park turned out to be much longer than planned. We'd parked on West 87th St. and were cutting through the park to get to the museum; we headed a bit south on trails in an attempt to come out near the museum (at 82nd St.), but we zagged too much and came out way down south at 60th St!
Which led to my first New York taxicab ride. Still it was a pleasant walk in the park; we saw a lot of people running and biking, we heard a guy playing Christmas carols beautifully on the saxophone and we saw the horse-drawn carriages. Unlike what you see in movies, the carriages travel in groups, each carriage close behind another, so it seems a lot of what you'd see would be the next carriage.
Also, you don't get any sense of the horses' smell from the movies, either. It occurred to me that this is what New York would have smelled like—only much stronger, and everywhere—100 years ago. I can't decide if that would have been better or worse than what it smells like now, which is bus exhaust mixed with car exhaust. I wonder what it will smell like 100 years from now? I can't help but think that in 20 years or so we'll regard internal combustion vehicles the same way most of us regard cigarettes today — as foul, ridiculous relics of a dumber age.
Anyway, the cab ride was fine. The cab was clean and comfortable, the driver polite and competent. He drove us directly to the museum, and it didn't cost anything more than a trip of the same distance would have cost in Statesville.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was fantastic! We had only a couple of hours, so we just "skimmed" a couple of exhibits, but those (Medieval art and South Asian art) were amazing. This, too, was not terribly expensive. If you visit New York, and you love art, check out this museum. You could spend at least a week in there and still not see everything.
After a cab ride back to the car, we drove over the river and up the Palisades Parkway to see my Friend's friend near Nyack. The three of us went to see Christine Lavin at the Turning Point, a small music café in the beautiful nearby town of Piermont. I'd heard a couple of Lavin's songs before, but I had no idea how extraordinarily talented she is. Most of her songs are hilarious, but still very musical, always with genuine emotion and carried smoothly on her fine voice. To see a performer like her in a small club like the Turning Point is what music should be all about. I even got picked to go up onstage and sing backup on "Sensitive New-Age Guys." That's me all over, right?
So — walk in the park, fabulous museum, outstanding music show accompanied by two gorgeous women. What's a little pushing and shoving among friends? I guess I love New York after all!
Posted by Me at 22:27 link
