Real Cost of Food

An egg is an egg. Except, when it's not.

Fresh the movie.

Juicing the Yogurt

Image: liquid that forms on the top of the yogurt.

It almost makes me not want to dive beneath the swampy container surface.  I still do, but it takes some convincing.

Convincing that my eating yogurt is a favor to my body.  It should be grateful.  I could be sucking down a Jucy Lucy from Matt's Bar.  While delicious, it has the potential to stop a heart on cheese imploding impact.

Sure it doesn't want to touch the soupy, milk colored water.  But it's yogurt.  It's healthy.  Healthy food isn't supposed to be appetizing.

Is it?

Today on the Tandem

Aly and I dressed for work and rode the 1970 Schwinn Twin tandem to work this morning - instead of our usual commute, which involves us each with our own bicycle.

There was a mix of laughs, confusion and head shaking from onlookers.

Not to say I blame the head shakers.  Mixing in with rush hour traffic on Hennepin with a 9 foot bike gets somewhat ridiculous.

Do tandems do more to save the environment than two typical bicycles?

Regardless, that's what I shouted to those onlookers.  However, my cred was shot because the shouts were from the back seat.  Aly was driving.

The Purple Pack

The state is currently wetting itself around Brett Favre in Viking purple.

News choppers following Favre's motorcade. Women crying in the streets. Madness really.

Birth Right

Fellow cyclists,

A friendly reminder:

Spandex is an earned right, not an inherent one.

Business Email Communication

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Stuck to You

This is dumbly catchy.

I've been listening to it on repeat for the last hour.

Nobody's perfect.

Train in Vain

The coolest punk band, The Clash and the coolest punk band lead singer, Joe Strummer.

Mission Bikes

Wow.

What a great shop - Mission Bicycle Company.

A friend from London sent me the link as well as the write up in Dezeen.

Slow Food

Aly and I are becoming more self-aware of what we put in our bodies. Not necessarily turning vegan, vegetarian or a combination of the two, but attempting to realize the process of where our food actually comes from.

I think this idea fits with Aly's hobby/passion for cooking and gardening as well as my hobby/passion for eating.

Check out Slow Food USA a cool grassroots movement for good, environmentally sound, worldwide food.

Dogs and Cats

Otis, by no direct fault but by his very nature, is stressful.

He prowls, wanders and generally doesn't come when he's called.  A dog suffering from A.D.D.

I can identify with small attention spans, but after the fourth time I'm forced to leave the porch to pull dog jowls off the neighbor's hosta plants, my patience is pushed.

Because the dog won't sit still, I'm continually swiveling in my lawn chair, looking for a tail popping out of the garden and asking, "where is that dog?"

We have also have a cat, Emerson.

Emerson is a left over relic of an 21 year-old female's $20 dollar impulse purchase. A purchase that, just a few short years later, would push the boundries of an engagement.

Emerson will attack your calves at 7:00 in the morning forcing explicitives and soccer swing in his general direction.

Otis, somehow, can eat the plaster out of the living room wall and still come out endearing.

I constantly ask, "where is that dog?"

I never ask, "where is that cat?"

Rubber Match

Last night Aly stated, what I believe, is the best quote I've ever heard.

As follows:

"Planning a wedding is a lot like making a rubber band ball.  You start with nothing.  The ball gets bigger and bigger.  The bigger it gets the more addictive it gets and the more you add to it.  Once it gets to a certain size you stop, step back and say, "There is no end in sight.  What the hell is the point of this?  It's a fricking rubber band ball.""

Genius.

TOMRV

Chugged back to the Quad Cities last weekend to do a bike tour - Tour of the Mississippi River Valley - with my dad and brother.

Rolled into town at 2:00 a.m. and up at 6:00 in the pouring down rain. In wet wind, we scooted a 120 miles north to Dubuque, IA. This set my new personal daily total milage record on a bike.

Setting a another personal record, breaking my previous attempt of zero, I had the reluctant pleasure of riding a bicycle with speeding automobiles on an open 4-lane divided highway. Three times.

I'll be the first one to tell you that I do not make smart choices on a bicycle. But what I witnessed on this trip made me look like a bicycling honor student.

The first time riding on a 4-lane, while biking down the on ramp, the 50 year old guy I was riding with yelled over, "Whatever you do, DON'T ride on the sholder!" I proceeded to watch him merge with 60 mile an hour traffic and pedal down the middle of the right hand lane. Like he was off to the market and this was just a typical thing for truckers to see on the interstate.

I was so freaked that I shoved it to the sholder and rode a half mile on speed buzers while trucks and SUVs came close enough to spit gravel against my shins.

Arriving at the overnight location, I drank three beers while watching old, white men dance to a Jimmy Buffett cover band. Two hours later, I was asleep with a half a Clif Bar in my hand.

The next day faired better with weather and miles. We took the shorter route, ending in Preston, IA. Although we caught the sag wagon the last bit of the ride, we put down around 175 - 185 total miles - not a bad outing.

Something Fun

Bored?

Smell your hands right now.

Smells bad, right?

Ines Brunn

Wow.

Bikes of New York

Aly was on photoshoot last month in New York.  With hawaiian t-shirt, bright white running shoes and oversized camera slung around my neck, I flew out to see the sights.

I went with an open mind not knowing what to expect from the city that never sleeps.  The city that never sleeps has a different vibe than the city of lakes, but one I couldn't have enjoyed more.

Fellow A.D.D. sufferers, search no more.  Your mecca is the meat packing district on the lower west side of Long Island:

Good God.  I don't think I blinked for three days.

In the trendiest part of NYC, there is more visual stimulation than allowed by the human body.  At 3:00 in the afternoon, lines would form in front of unmarked doors - which I assumed were flame-broiled of the hot, New York club scene.

Geek alert.

I was more interested in the bikes lining the city than any portion of the underground club scene.

For the photo album, some of my favorite NYC bikes:

All the To Do

Andrew was in town the past week interviewing for jobs, as he is moving back to the City of Lakes. In a word, I could say Minneapolis crew is "excited," but don't think it would account for the foaming at the lips, jittery anticipation, that everyone is physically displaying.
We, along with the usual suspects, spent much of the time biking, drinking beer and scheming plans to combine the two in a way to make a million dollars.

In the spirit of him moving back at the onset of summer, we participated in one of my favorite exercises - list making.
On a cocktail napkin titled, "2009 Summer To Do's," we listed out everything that needs to be accomplished by the Autumnal Equinox.

I assumed this went M.I.A. around 11:00 p.m. To my surprise, the following email turned up in my inbox today.

The list, and the additional reasons I will love this city this summer:

Iconic

Malcolm Gladwell

I just finished reading Outliers, after re-reading The Tipping Point earlier this spring.

Malcolm Gladwell is nothing short of fantastic. Vivid descriptions and stories to describe behavior and culture.

A must for marketers and must-must for those who are curious.

A Tombstone

I never save left-over frozen pizza to eat the next day.

Out of the oven, it tastes just good enough to eat. Why force something down a second time and belabor the point?