Driver2165

Cars can bite me

I'm always complaining about the way people drive in general, and specifically in Minnesota. I was telling somebody who has lived in Los Angeles for the last sixty years that it's gotten awful around here, and when she started to give me the yeah-well-in-California, I mentioned that specifically, a new habit I've seen beginning this summer was that when people stop at a red light, they'll run right through it if there's nobody coming as if it's a stop sign [As of today, I've counted nine in my last five workdays]. She quickly changed her look to one of disbelief. A few months ago I complained about a guy trying to run me down on Lyndale while I was crossing with the kid in a stroller. On tuesday, I was crossing First Street at First Avenue to go to Origami, and some guy in a Buick decided it would be much funnier to run right through the stop sign and cut me off by a matter of inches than to stop and wait five seconds.

Finally, today at about 12:30, while riding my bike to work, I was hit by a car. I was stopped at a light at Franklin in the turn lane on Nicollet, ready to turn left. The light was about to change, so I looked left first to make sure no cars were coming. I looked right, and there was a retired squad car, a '97 Crown Victoria turning right into me. I had enough time to jump up off my bike, she rammed my bike into my left shin, I landed on her hood, and my bike ended up under her bumper. Five hours in the ER later and it turns out I have a fracture in my leg and a bunch of bruises. Yikes. Won't be cycling for a while. Or driving for that matter. The bike didn't fare so well either. I just bought brand new wheels about three weeks ago and new handlebars last weekend. So that's where we stand. I'm still a little foggy, so I'm going to bed.

Suddenly beer gives me serious heartburn. Anybody know what's going on there?

And stuff

I'm totally in love with my bike now. The plan is to learn wheelbuilding so I can fix the geard and build Bethany some new wheels, but it's great fun as a singlespeed for now anyway. 48/18 gear ratio for 72 gear inches. It might be a little bit slow for me in flat Minneapolis, so I might change the chainring to a 50 or 52, but it's good enough for now.

I had a long conversation with a guy who recently moved to Minneapolis from L.A. We agreed on one thing -- that Minneapolis is a better city than Los Angeles -- but disagreed on his notion that either city is halfway decent. He did note the general lack of an ability to drive by most of Minneapolis' drivers, but said he takes the bus so it doesn't bother him. He lives in a quiet part of uptown, so that might be where he got the idea that there's no crime in this city. Dude on Arabs: "They may be terrorists, but boy, can they cook." I had falafel on Independence Day.

Another guy looked at my bag (a generic military replica with a red star on it [and a space invader that I added]) and told me I was a traitor and that I'm going to prison. I need a new bag anyway, that one digs into my collarbone when I ride.

I'm not going to work this week, Bethany's having a minor surgery and I need to take care of the Eligator while she recovers.

I scored a Peugeot and there's a new mix

I was searching the internet for a clock like the one in the Singapore shophouse on page 163 of the June '06 issue of Dwell, and i found this very awesome Yoshitomo Nara clock that somebody should buy for Eliot's first birthday, exactly 6 months from today.

So now that I have a bicycle that I enjoy riding [I used to only have a lead mountain bike] I find myself wishing that I lived further from work. Maybe for the next pick I'll look for relief work in uptown or on Franklin. Of course the day that happens the damn wiener house will finally sell and I'll be in an apartment two blocks from the relief point. The other day I found an old bike in the bushes on 44th and Nicollet that somebody ditched because the derailer fell off and the fenders were all dented. It's just a low end Peugeot from 1981, but the derailer is something that I won't be using, and fenders for 27 inch wheels can't be very hard to find, so the frame will eventually make a super beat 'round the town grocery-getter. Even better, I won't have to put a rack for the baby seat on my commuter bike.

By the way, there's a new mix for July.

There are so many things wrong with this headline

Recently I complained about the Media's eagerness to talk around soccer rather than about soccer. KCRW's Design and Architecture had a fascinating interview about this year's football design, and how it's affecting gameplay. That's exactly the sort of discussion that I had been craving. I was looking in all the wrong places for it (the Conservative News Network, for example) and just needed the southern California public radio take.

Today's Planetizen was hilariously pointed. Nothing very new, just jabbing at suburban planning in the face of peak oil, but there was some good pwnage to be had.

I had an otherwise quiet day. I guess it was Skateboard Day or something, and there were about 75 skaters that skated past me down Nicollet Mall today. Also, the transit cops are riding segways now. Why are the bicycle cops on heavy mountain bikes anyway? I'm still waiting for one of them to get smart and bring a fixie to work.

Is Kirby Pucket Overrated? I'm arguing yes. Nobody else is, apparantly.

One last note: I apologize if anybody's comments didn't go through. I turned off the comment moderating system, so it should go through now if you put the 'D' in there.

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