Texas Time

After a nice Christmas visit with the Brocks in Philly, Jess and I traveled down to Texas, a land far, far away, somewhere in between the United States and Mexico. Texas was a strange land, but the city of Dallas offered striking scenes, reminiscent of suburban America.

And what would middle earth be without Walmarts with aisles wider than my friggin apartment.

Slightly more interesting than car dealers, strip malls and big box stores was a masonry building that assassinated a US president.

Dallas is...unique...I call this "rims and wreaths"

Fort Worth actually possessed most of the authenticity and charm of the region.

Of course, I couldn't visit Texas without getting some authentic food. How about some mountain oysters and chicken-fried steak?

There are a lot of other funny things in Texas too, like the fact that they have two stadiums, one for the MLB AL West right to the east of one for the NFL NFC East. That's just silly. Silly Texas.

Texas was fun!

Thanks to Jessika's wonderful family for their generous hospitality and a great time. All in all, it was a pretty good place to avoid the great blizzard of 2010.

Construction Christmas

They may make us work Christmas Eve, but they can't take our spirit!

Bike-umentary

I've finally finished my long awaited Bike-umentary. This also served as a portion of my thesis project for my recently completed M.S. in Urban Environmental Systems Management at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. It's nice to be done and have at least something somewhat interesting to show for it...

Part 1: Bike-umentary - Part 1
Part 2: Bike-umentary - Part 2
Part 3: Bike-umentary - Part 3

Pepper Party 3

I picked my first bell pepper. Since I started so late in the season I'll have to settle with a yellow one. That's the ripest it will get now that it's getting cold out. It was delicious though, nice and sweet...

As for my beautiful cayennes, I tried to dry one out in the toaster over but instead of drying it I...toasted it. 

Attempt #2 seems to be working. Just letting it hang out.

And as for the jalepenos, the late start caused me to yield only the smallest fruit that probably wont get much bigger at this point (except for that one I picked earlier)...

Oh well. But with the seeds I've saved from this years crop, and some better planning, I'm already looking forward to next spring.

Wood you buy this?

Maybe if I could afford it...this finely crafted FSC certified specimen was on display at Greenbuild 2010 and sells for well over $6000. Even though it only weighs 16 pounds, with the way I abuse bicycles, it aint worth it...

Greenbuild '10

Greenbuild 2010 in Chicago, IL...here is the Lend Lease booth...

Colin Powell was the opening plenary speaker.

 This audience may be tough...

Wait a minute, I'm Colin freakin Powell... 

Green buildings, grandkids, communists and thank you cards...

The closing plenary...

Rick Fedrizzi doing "The Clap" 

Richard Daley telling us all why he's a bomb ass mayor. 

Yes, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan looks like he is 11 years old. 

The intellectual and passive aggressive Paul Hawken.

NYC Marathon '10

Mile 17 Marathon Party - Year #3

The Women

The Men

Frank

Sunset

Alex wins the frogger prize

And what would a marathon be without a rhinoceros?

Wasted Space

Just like fire escapes, a roof is a terrible thing to waste, especially one this big.

This is atop PS 199. Just think of the wasted possibilities, whether it be gardens, terraces, rain catchment, solar panels, etc...At least re-coat it to make it light colored, save some money on AC in the warmer months.

Dismount Shishmount

I admit. I'm guilty of it. Not dismounting on certain pedestrian paths. To be fair, I very, very rarely ride on the sidewalk (when I do, I half dismount and coast on one leg and absolutely keep my distance). But for these short connections between bike paths and roads, it's easier to just quickly pedal by. Unless of course, you encounter one of these people...

Locked up?

If you are going to lock up your bike, do it right. A wheel is a terrible thing to lose.

I mean you gotta account for locking both wheels, whether you use a second cable lock, pinheads...handcuffs?...

Birthday Pumpkin

Now you've seen one.

This was finally removed from Exchange Bar and Grill one week later. Happy Birthday, Keller.

Phils NLDS 2010

This is what Phillies fans look like in the West Village. Just the guy on the right, although it is strange all three people are simultaneously talking on their cell phones with their right hands.

If you want to watch a game around there you go to Wogie's. It's a fun place, as Alex here can attest. Phillies won the second game tonight against the Reds.

But look carefully at the picture. One of these things is not like the others...

Fela

I've lived in New York for almost four and a half years and since then had never seen a Broadway show. Now that my significant other happens to be theatrically knowledged, that wont be the case any longer. The first show we went to was Fela. Sitting in the $27 student section (that's right I still have my ID, why not?), we had a pretty up close and personal experience. I almost got kicked in the head like 7 times.

Surprise

After all I've observed between Hasidim and Cyclists, I was VERY surprised yet extremely excited to observe what seemed to be the bridging of en enormous gap. From what I've heard, after the mitzvah, Hasidic Jews are not to ride bikes. This obviously isn't the case here. You go girl!

Oh yeah but you need a helmet, don't forget.

The Perfect Marriage

My obsession with fire escapes really began the first time I had access to one. The best ones are obviously those that are accessible and usable for more than just egress. The architecture studio building in undergrad at Lehigh had several big ones, all large enough to house several gatherers be they smokers, chatters or what. The next victory was my second (and current at this time) apartment in NYC, as documented frequently in the past.

Today, however, I saw for one of the first times, a blatant marriage between fire escape egress and fire escape usable space:

This should be a precedent for ALL fire escapes in the city. A fire escape is a terrible thing to waste.

Squeeze

You may think I hate cars, but I don't. They are tools that can be used appropriately and inappropriately. When they are used appropriately, they contribute to society in a positive way (and conversely, the opposites as well). This one does right. I may not be a fan aesthetically, but functionally this is the epitome of spacial efficiency. Well done.

Visitor 2

Oh! Hey! Another visitor!

He came to admire my kalanchoe bean stalk.

Parking at Work

When I posted regarding the Bikes in Buildings law on May 20th, I was still in the process of pushing for bike parking at 200 Park Ave, where I work.

Now, over 4 months later, we finally have it. Not surprisingly, DOB took their good ol' time signing off their inspection of the room, which had to be repeated when they found a newly constructed ramp, courtesy of the building owner Tishman Speyer, who was actually attempting to be helpful.  Apparently that ramp wasn't on the building plans, and therefor, either the drawings would have to be refiled (a very timely process, because that also involves the DOB), or the ramp removed. It was cheaper to remove the ramp. Then after another month of radio silence, I called the DOT (who had been giving me updates all along), and discovered that the room was indeed approved and ready and that instructions were supposed to have been posted in my building lobby, which of course they weren't. After I gave Tishman Speyer a reminder, they sent over their instructions.  I guess I was delusional thinking I would ever have access to a 24/7 bike storage room (other than my apartment).

Then they asked for a head count from us for parking room passes. I recruited 20 from our office (close to 10%). 2 weeks later we got the passes.

I promise you I am not a terrorist, even though I have a curious resemblance to one. Aren't those bikes in the background cute? Actually, the bikes in the background of my card were twice the amount that was in the bike room today.

Ok, fine, it was raining. But that never stopped me...

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And a day later..we're getting there...

Slowly Appearing

Baby steps. After weeks of being stenciled, there is finally some permanent road paint defining the new bike lane on 1st Ave above 72nd. Notice the oversized car parking lane. I'm thinking they should put a buffer on the left side of the bike lane as well, to establish a safe path helping against getting doored as well.

Only question now is, how to prevent people from double parking right there?