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?...