Propositioned

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As The Pedals Spin

I ride my bike to work a lot. As often as I can I'd say. It's a little under 4 miles and pretty light on traffic. The only thing that really stops me from riding is if I have somewhere to be right after work that requires a car or if the weather really sucks. Some people think it's because I'm all Earth loving or anti-car or something. That's not really the case. I just happen to like pedaling to and from work. It sort of wakes me up on the way in (and I get to avoid traffic and the stupid parking garage at work) and lets me unwind on the way home. I see things drivers don't get to see, I get to think, I get a little exercise and I suppose I am being sort of helpful to good ol' Earth.

But this being "green" aspect is what I've been questioning a bit. I don't really doubt that my lack of car exhaust and my lack of fossil fuel burning helps the air but there are some things that make me wonder how environmental this bike riding is.

How so? Well I get to work I head to the bathroom to get myself into more of a presentable state for work. So, first I wet my head to get rid of helmet head. That's a little water used. Then some paper towels to dry the dripping away. Paper used. Then I change from my (sometimes) sweaty T-shirt into whatever slightly more fancy shirt I'm going to wear at work. No big deal there, but it does double the number of shirts I am using in a week. So instead of 5 shirts in a work week, I'm making it 10. Those have to be washed. More water and electricity and probably phosphates or some shit I don't really know about.

So I don't know. Fossil fuel/exhaust vs. water/paper/electricity ... who wins that brawl?

This really isn't much to worry about. I certainly prefer the riding and can only imagine that one less car has got to be good for numerous reasons but nevertheless it makes me wonder. But only a little.

Green, Crabby and Delish

Not to get all food-based here, but you should check out, and perhaps make (if the ingredients are agreeable to you) this recipe for Chilled Avocado Bisque With Curried Crab Salad. I made it this weekend and it turned out mighty tasty. Making it even better, the prep time was pretty much non existent. Plus, who doesn't love a good excuse to use the blender?

This bisque, or soup for you common folk, is served cold, so it's probably more ideal for warm weather than for cold, but I don't think my mouth or stomach would have a problem with this at any time of the year.

What are you waiting for? Get to it.

Pork Football

After having a pretty good run with the blogging I slacked a bit but I'm here again. I can't say that I have much to share though.

One thing worth mentioning is I took a few days off from work and roadtripped to NYS for my annual weekend of friends, parents, eating, drinking, boating, fire, fishing, boating, game playing, etc. This was the 12th year I gathered up myself and my friends and did this weekend and it was one of the best. After a couple years of sort of sluggish fun this year got things back on the level.

One of the highlights was culinary in nature. We made the Bacon Explosion (thank you BBQ Addicts and S.M. for steering me to said site). That's ours in the photo. Hot off the grill. It was technically supposed to be smoked but we did some indirect heat grilling since we didn't have a smoker handy and that seemed to work just fine.

The Explosion was a delicious example of a heart attack to come. But possibly worth it. Get back to me after my inevitable bypass and I'll let you know.

Other than that, it's been work, rowing, Netflixing, Xboxing and chillin' on the weekend. Weeeeee!

Many Leagues Under

I was just walking a few doors down from my apartment and saw this sticker on a traffic light control box.

It made me laugh.

Then I looked it up on the internets and come to discover that it's a band. 100,000 Leagues Under My Nutsack. That is a good one. That goes on my list of favorite band names for sure.

Perhaps now I will need to look into witnessing them live. If nothing else, perhaps they have some great T-shirts.

NJ and PA and Me

As you may have pieced together from my porta-potty photo in the previous post, I was in New Jersey this past weekend. I was down at the south end, by Philadelphia, in Cherry Hill/Camden to be exact, for the USRowing Masters National Championships.

As it turns out, I'm not a champion, but in one race I was in my boat did come in third. So I'm a second runner up champion I guess. Or something like that.

Unexpectedly I saw a celebrity while there. A celebrity at a rowing event? And in NJ? That's like a doubly impossible act. Despite the odds, it was Jane Lynch. Apparently a fan of rowing. Or at least a fan of one particular rower. This sighting adds to my list of Arrested Development cast members that I have seen at random. They're just regular people! Just like me. The list is now Jane Lynch (Cindi Lightballoon), Tony Hale (Buster) who I saw in LA, David Cross (Tobias) who I saw in a bar in NYC and Judy Greer (Kitty) who I saw in a Starbucks in NYC. I don't know what this has to do with anything really. I'm not really even that into TV or celebrities, but I guess it's difficult to not be somewhat intrigued.


Also on my day off from rowing (Saturday) I ventured into Philadelphia for a whirlwind tourist venture. I hit up the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Boathouse Row, ran the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and finished it all off with a stop at Geno's for a cheesesteak (which, for the record, led to some intestinal issues later). It was all very American to say the least. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Twice

On the wall of a porta-potty in Camden, NJ:


Made me think of this:

Danny Vermin: "You shouldn't hang me on a hook, Johnny. My father hung me on a hook once. Once!"



PS Who hangs out in a porta-potty long enough to draw/write on the walls?