calamari dreamin'

9:16am: Easy Listening
Flaming Lips came out with a new album. Glad I listened to it before buying. The new one is more like their older style, before Soft Bulletin and very unlike Yoshimi and Mystics.
I like their "middle period" work better. Think I'll pass on this latest one.

* * * *

Still listening to a lot of Modest Mouse, Delgados, Midnight Oil, etc
Starting to listen to more Franz Ferdinand, and have even tried some older Kings of Leon.

But also trying out some new (to me) groups -
The Killers
Flobots
Gothic Archies
Superchunk
Lambchop

All have their good bits. (Gothic Archies are a lot of fun.)
Might pick up a few mp3's in the near future.


And still need to get the Indigo Girls latest.

added - dahhh! Forgot to mention Donna the Buffalo and Vampire Weekend.
How could I forget Vampire Weekend???

10:22am: Anime Saturday - October 17
From the October 17 showing
Book of Bantora - episode 1. The Armed Librarians attack a ship owned by a shady church in an attempt to free their "cargo"
Nyan Koi - episode 1. The curse begins. One good deed down, 99 to go.
Ryoko's Casebook - episodes 11, 12, 13 (end) Detective who gets the supernatural cases, and her much abused assistant. All the earlier stories tie together. Open enough for a sequel.
Mushi-shi - episodes 4 and 5. A sad story of a mushi that makes dreams come true. Story of the traveling swamp.

Served several of the usual snacks. We also prepared custard filled steamed buns, which turned out very good.

10:18am: Big Bike Day
Posted the ride report for my first century / 100 mile ride.
New York Century on September 13
http://cc-rider.livejournal.com/42678.html
and a few pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iggentleman/sets/72157622501397905/

Also posted other ride reports. Will try to eliminate the back log, so more reports to come.
http://cc-rider.livejournal.com/

2:40pm: New Anime Season - Fall 09
New Anime Season - Fall 09
just my opinion

Very Good
Book of Bantorra - Armed Librarians protect the "books" which are fossilized human souls.
11 Eyes - High school students keep getting pulled into a frightening alternate world. Supernatural horror, a bit of fan service. Similar look to Higurashi.
Letter Bee - Postal carriers in a post-apocalyptic(?) world where giant insects prowl.

Good
Nyan-Koi - High school boy discovers he is "cursed" with the ability to understand cats.
To Aru Kagako no Railgun - Future in an academic city near Tokyo where espers train. Spin-off of To Aru Majutsu no Index which focuses on Mikoto Misaka (railgun).
Kobato - Magical girl with the ability to heal hearts. Set in contemporary Japan. Silly but cute. From the Clamp studio.

( more )

1:23pm: Solar Decathlon II
Well....it rained this weekend. I never did get back to the event to see more of the entries.

Team Germany squeaked out a win with superior net metering.
Illinois - Urbana second.
Team California third.

Virgina Tech finished at 13th. Good scores for architecture, engineering and marketability. Not so good for energy efficiency.

http://www.solardecathlon.org/2009/final_results.cfm

9:59am: Solar Decathlon
It that time of year, again.

Solar Decathlon down on the Mall.
20 teams. Virginia Tech is competing, but not Maryland. Teams from all parts of the county, and from Canada, Spain and Germany.
Rode down there last weekend, but the lines were too long to get into many of the houses.
Got some outdoor shots, but nothing indoor. Visited the houses from Iowa, Kentucky and Ontario.
Team California currently in the lead, followed by Illinois, Ontario and Germany.
VaTech has dropped to 16th. Even though they scored high on architecture and market viability, they did poorly on the energy usage categories.
This weekend looks like a wash out, but it might shorten the lines.
Unfortunately the last day of the Decathlon is Sunday. Doesn't look like the weather will improve before then.
http://www.solardecathlon.org/

* * * *

Speaking of weather.....what's with this cold snap. It's 20 degrees below normal. Cold and wet forecast for the next four days.
I am supposed to be a ride marshal for Bike DC this Saturday. I'd hate to back out my commitment, but I'm not looking forward to riding in a 45 degree rain. With a lot of luck, the front will move through quicker and Saturday might not be too bad. Maybe.
If Sunday is a rideable day, the weekend just might be saved.

8:34am: Anime Saturday
Missed a couple of months of updates. Gomen

Previously we had finished Shigofumi,
started Guin Saga,
continued with Ryoko, Wagaya, Gunslinger Girl
showed some first episodes for Rideback, Saiunkoku 2, Tiara, etc

From the September 21 showing

Continuing with a couple of series.
Ryoko's Casebook - episodes 8, 9, 10 Detective who gets the supernatural cases. Story is starting to get into the main story theme.
Kuroshijutishi - episode 6
Guin Saga - episodes 7, 8, 9 Guin has united the Simi tribe to fight the invasion. He now must gain other allies from the other tribes of the wasteland.

Next showing is October 17. Probably more Ryoko and Guin, but might also show some first episodes for the new fall season.

I'll post my review of the new season soon.

9:47am: Free Museums
Many of the museums in DC are already free, but several big ones are not.
The Smithsonian is working with museums all over the country to hold a free museum day this Saturday, Sept 26.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-search/?state=District%2520of%2520Columbia

S and I are going to take advantage of this. We will be going to the Museum of Crime and Punishment, which is normally $20 admission. One of the new, supposedly very good museums, in DC. If anyone wants to join us, let us know. You'll need to print a free ticket, but just use the site above to get it. We'll probably try to get there near opening time, which is 10am, to avoid the expected crowds.
Museum site is http://www.crimemuseum.org/

* * * *

Also coming up is Taste of Bethesda, October 3. We plan to go there too, so let us know if you want to join us.
http://www.bethesda.org/specialevents/taste/taste.htm

12:48pm: The weekend that was....
Thought I'd better post this before the weekend-that-is-to-come becomes the next weekend-that-was.

Long weekend visiting parents in NJ, and riding in The City. S opts to stay home in a Fox-free zone.

Thursday - worked until midnight to get ready to take a couple of days off.

Friday - Packed early. Short stop at Arlington County permit office turns into a long scramble over an expired permit. Finally get out at noon. Drove through the rain to NJ, straight to Edgewater for dinner at Mitsuwa. Kitsune soba and unadon with tamago and fruit (yum). Then some grocery shopping - Japanese vegetables, tofu pockets, ginger crackers, spices, onigiri, etc. Even found several varieties of sho chu. Finished with dorayaki for dessert and a stop at the bookstore to pick up the latest Hirigana Times. Then on to Ridgewood to see my parents.

Saturday - Too rainy for a shakedown ride. Too rainy to do work around the outside of the house. Gas up the car and do some shopping. Spent most of the day resting and talking to M&D. Pizza for dinner. I get my gear ready for the ride and turn in "early".

Sunday - Rain has stopped and good weather has arrived. Up by 3:30, out by 4:30, at the ride start by 5:30.
My fourth riding of the NY Century, and this time I RODE A CENTURY!!! Not the official century (didn't want to deal with the hills in the Bronx) but I rode the 75 mile route which was actually 86 miles. Back at finish in Central Park my bike computer reads 88 miles. My legs still felt good, so I did two loops of the park to round up the day to 101.7 miles. My first 100 miler, totally unplanned. Will post a ride report soon.
Home by 5:30 for a shower then dinner at China Grand Buffet, where I pigged on sushi. Slept well that night.

Monday - Still good weather. I spent the morning doing the work around the house - yard, roof, window ac's out, painting. Got on the road 10:30 and .... I headed to Mitsuwa (again) for lunch. Chicken soba bowl. Pick up a few more groceries that I had forgotten. Out again around noon and down the NJ turnpike. One stop at the last rest stop in NJ and another stop in MD (to eat the onigiri I picked up for lunch). Home around 4:30.

Short vacation, but I had nice time.
And accomplished one of my major cycling goals.

3:42pm: Weekend off
Change of pace for me.

Took most of Friday off to take Bedlam to the veterinarian. Most of the problem seems to be the fleas that I think I brought in from a client's house. The over the counter products had not worked at all, and the fleas had bothered her enough to cause some behavior changes (including finding "alternate" litter boxes.) Spent the rest of the day cleaning and scrubbing and vacuming and running laundry, and later we gave Bedlam a bath (which she hated). She looked pretty ratty when wet, but she dried up pretty. Have 2+ weeks of pills to give her, when we start a long time prescription flea control system.

Saturday - S and I went to the College Park Airport for Airfair100, the 100th anniversary of the airport, which is also the oldest operating airport in the US. For the regular price of admission to the museum you got Airfair100, including the unveiling of the working replica of the 1909 Wright A Flier, planes and helicopters on display, helicopter aerobatics show (a Chinook in the right hands is pretty nimble), ultralight show, barnstorm show (stunt planes, skydivers, stunt helicopter, hang glider show, wing walkers, etc.), lots of displays and info booths, period re-enactors (circa 1909), music, food, and a nice little museum. After the barnstorming show they had airplane and helicopter rides at a good price ($15 for the planes, not sure about the helicopters). But by then we had been there several hours, the sun had come out, it was hot and humid, we were tired and hungry (for something other than fair-food) and the line for tickets had gotten long, so we skipped the chance for a ride over College Park. There had been a balloon inflated when we arrived, but they took it down early (probably because the weather was threatening.) If they had been offering balloon rides I might have waited in a long line for it.
The Airfair100 website is down already, but here's the museum link http://www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com/home.htm
Lunner at Noodles & Co in College Park, then a visit to IKEA in Greenbelt. Home (with a stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee coolatas) then home to watch some anime (catching up on Basquash)

Sunday - More cleaning around the house, grocery shopping, some yardwork. Decided to take a weekend off from riding, even if it would relax me for the upcoming week. Headed in here to see what I missed on Friday, check mail and messages, and go on line for a while. Will probably do some cooking tonight but haven't decided what.
When I got here I discovered that the power at the office had gone out sometime this weekend, so it took me a while to get all of the computers up and running correctly. All seems to be ok now.

2:45pm: Who says there's no Free Lunch???
Last month I looked up several deals on "Free On Your Birthday." Had to sign up with some, but this week the emails for coupons came in. After a mid-day meeting, I stopped in Vienna at Noodles & Co for my free lunch (picked the udon with chicken) then I went two doors down to Coldstone Creamery for a free dish of ice cream (chocolate with almonds.)

364 more days to go. ;-D

10:39am: otanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu
Happy Birthday tylluan_wen

8:34am: Astronomical
Alignment day at Dark Star Park is August 1, and this year it falls on a weekend.
9:32 am if the sun is out, otherwise there is nothing special to see.

http://culturemob.com/blog/dark-star-park-day-2009-august-1st-arlington-rosslyn-dc-monuments-weird-places

If the clouds cooperate I may arrange a ride down there for the big event.

7:51pm: We will now return control of your television set.....
Tour de France is over.

I will be resuming a more "normal" schedule.

Congratulations to Alberto Contrador (1st), Andy Schleck (2nd and white jersey). Lance Armstrong (3rd), Thor Hushovd (green jersey), Franco Pellizotti (polka-dot jersey), team Astana (time winner), everyone who won a stage race, everyone who finished the race, everyone who started, everyone who helped, everyone who watched, and anybody else out there.

And just end on a weird note, in honor of the winner, Alberto Contrador, they played the Danish national anthem instead of the Spanish anthem.

http://www.inquisitr.com/30674/contador-wins-tour-de-france-wrong-natl-hymn-is-played-dbp/

I wonder if Rasmusssen had a hand in that???

6:59pm: ....comes in threes....
Managed to get three bike rides in this holiday weekend....and had three equipment failures.

1 - Thursday evening while I was opening the back of my car to load my bike back in, it fell over and broke the handlebar end mirror. Tried to ride without one, but I keep looking where the mirror should be.
2 - Friday I was in Anacostia on Good Hope Road and looked down to find I had a flat front tire. Had a spare tube, but no air pump. Walked about a mile to Capitol Hill Bikes and had them fix it.
3 - Sunday I was in Clarendon riding back to where I was parked on Rosslyn when my seat clamp bolt sheared. Last time it happened was about 3 years ago, so I was about due. Rode two miles with no seat, luckily it was mostly downhill.

5:17pm: Well, Dang!
Forgot to mention yesterday....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CANADA!!!

11:14am: Kids these days.....
Must be a generational thing.
I was telling a 20-something about my idea about birthdays. Instead of big celebrations at 20, 30, 40, 50, etc., do the big parties for 33 1/3, 45 and 78.

He just looked at me blankly. Didn't get it at all, not even after I explained it.




Hate having to explain a joke.

9:00am: Week and Weekend
Quiet at work last week. Too quiet. MR on vacation. MO out. SK in off and on. Wrapped up a couple of projects, a few ongoing items, but not much new lined up. Maybe it's a holiday lull.
Actually got in two mid-week bike rides. Reports are already on cc_rider

Weekend was busy. BBQ's both days, and I was cooking a lot for one of them. Knew I wouldn't have much ride time, so at 7:30 am Saturday I was rushing around getting ready to go on a 3 hour + ride when I stubbed a toe on a metal box. Not broken but cut and bruised badly. Couldn't put on shoes for 3 hours. By the time I could have ridden it was time to do grocery shopping and get ready for BBQ 1.

Drive down to Mount Vernon area. Had a nice time (thank you for having us, CB). Home around 7 to start cooking. Sunday's party was at J&B's, for R's first birthday party. Small, mostly family. I made a cold soba salad, pickled vegetables, and seikihan - red bean rice served at celebrations in Japan. I even made gomashio to go with it. I use soba noodles a lot, but first time making the red bean rice. Worked out pretty well, although using a 3 to 1 rice to bean instead of 6 to 1 made it redder than it should have been.
http://www.justhungry.com/2006/03/japanese_basics.html
I still need a bit of practice at making sticky rice. First attempt on Tuesday was too sticky. The seikihan came out much better, but still not quite right for sushi.

If weather and work cooperate, will try to get another mid-week ride in. June mileage is low, so another 25 miles would help. And maybe a nice, long ride this weekend.

1:56pm: Hotaru
Last Sunday night. First
firefly sighting of the
year. Summer has come.

3:03pm: Rain, rain....
Another wet day in a wet season.

The grass is growing ..... fast.

Hoping for a dry tomorrow.

* * * *

Speaking of tomorrow, the Wilson Bridge bike path opens at 1 pm. I'm thinking about doing the revised version of the "Greater Washington Bicycle Loop" using the Wilson instead of the 14th St bridge. The projected route is about 45 miles, starting in Rosslyn and heading clockwise to Bethesda, then Silver Spring, Mt Rainier, NE DC, Capitol Hill, SE DC, and Alexandria. Half trail and half road. Might even visit a couple of boundary stones.

* * * *

Garden seems to enjoy the weather. The sugar snaps are growing like mile-a-minute vines (which we have in the back yard), tomatoes are growing up nicely, lots of carrots are up. Unfortunately, no sign of the datil pepper plants. The seeds seem to be duds. I might have to buy a plant and settle for something milder, like habanero or scotch bonnet chili.

*sigh*

2:59pm: Manhattanhenge
I grew up around NYC hearing about this, but I didn't know it had a name (didn't then but does now).

http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/resources/starstruck/manhattanhenge/
http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/resources/starstruck/manhattanhenge/

Would be fun to see sometime.

11:24am: Signs of Summer
....but not yet.....

Late Spring.
Pools opened.
Calls from recent college graduates looking for jobs.
Roses in bloom. Flowers on the berry bushes. Even some day lilies.
Pop-up thunderstorms. High humidity.
Mosquitoes.

* * * *

Catching up with some more ride posts for cc_rider
Will try to post a few more over the next few days.

10:48am: EU Embassy Tour
Catching up with post of an older weekend

* * * *

On Saturday May 9 I went to the European Union embassy open house event. Biked the route and the bike report is on cc_rider

Visited or rode by Sweden, Spain, European Union, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, Czech, Hungary, France, Germany. They had a"passport" that you could get stamped at each stop, but I didn't want to deal with that.

Set foot in 14 countries in 6 hours. Not bad for a days work.

And now the results of the 2009 EU Embassy Tour!

( Long and verbose. You've been warned! )

The winners:

Best: Hungary Runner up: Austria

Worst: Italy Runner up: Sweden

12:47pm: The weekend that was....
Friday - Quiet day at work. Everyone but me was out of town, although MO stopped in for a few minutes. Got a bit done. Went out for lunch, picking up the fried chicken special from Safeway. got into a rush on one project (drawings for a Saturday meeting) and A came by later. Nice day, but never did get to ride.

Saturday - Ride day (will post report later). Stopped at the Falls Church farmers' market for strawberries, put them in a cooler and did a boundary stone tour. West stone to the south stone. That evening we went to see the Star Trek Movie at Ballston. Stop at Micheal's to pick up some art supplies (40% off coupons). Came home for a late dinner and to watch some anime.

Sunday - Yard work early, cutting down the stray Red Cedar in the front. Then to Woodlands for the Indian AYCE buffet. Did some grocery shopping at Patel's Market, H Mart and Safeway. Cat food on sale at K Mart. After we got home I was too full to ride, so I puttered around the house and stopped at the office to check email.

Monday - Trip to Shopper;s Food, H Mart and the post office. Started cooking a vat of spicy bean soup. Then another ride. Repeat of the stones ride, but with alternate routes. Stopped at the Falls Church Memorial day Parade on the way back. Highlights were:
- Northern Virginia Regimental Fife and Drum. Only had 3 fifes and 3 drums, but they were impressively loud. Colonial irregular uniform jackets, but modern pants and shoes.
- Eight clowns and a Smart car.
- Candidates. Both Moran and McCauliffe were there. Moran came over to shake my hand and talk about his support of inter-modal transportation systems. McCauliffe just waved. Deeds and McDonnel were not present, but had staffers out. Jim Scott was looking much older than the last time I remember seeing him (might have to start thinking about who might be a good replacement).
Showered and swung by the office to return a few calls and check emails. Then home for soup.

11:06am: Name that phrase....
Listening to Diane Rehm show on NPR, they were discussing the American car industry and the new fuel standards, and one of the guest said the reason the car companies were part of the process instead of blocking it (as they had done in years past) was that

"if you are not a the table you are on the menu!"

I had never heard that phrase before. I really like it.
Searching it on Google I see it used all over the place, in many different context.
I would like to try to find the origin of it, maybe find out who coined the phrase. May try a more extensive search when I have the time.