Why is it that when you’re running late and in a hurry, everything possible seems to conspire to slow you down? Last night I was running a bit late, getting ready for work. I grabbed my hair brush and it immediately self-destructed. The rubber part which holds the metal bristles divorced itself from the handle and flew off. It only just avoided splashing down in the toilet (wouldn’t that have been a nice touch?).
It’s surprisingly difficult to brush your hair with a floppy piece of rubber studded with metal bristles, particularly given the wild and desperately in need of cutting condition my hair finds itself in. So of course this added more time which I didn’t have to spare to my preparations. I finally made it out the door only to be thwarted and delayed by every red-light I came to, random cops rolling with radar, and an abundance of cars driving 5 mph below the limit.
Really though, if this is all I can find to bitch about, things aren’t going too bad. You know?
Back on April 1st, I ordered a (warning: nerd content) serial to RJ-45 cable which I need to update the firmware on my new-to-me Belkin 8 port KVM.
Yesterday it still hadn’t come and the seller’s website was showing its status as “processing”, which would imply that it hadn’t shipped yet. Naturally I emailed them to ask what the deal was and, naturally, it arrived today. It just blows my mind how often that exact same scenario plays out.
Sometime after I posted the pic of my happy little shamrock, I started noticing these tiny little gnats (or G-nats, as I like to say) flitting around on and near the soil. They seemed to be more numerous when the soil was dry, so I decided that more frequent watering was the answer.
The more frequent watering didn’t seem to help, so I turned to Google. Turns out, they’re fungus gnats and they thrive on too-wet soil, where they lay their eggs which then hatch into fungus (and root) eating larvae before emerging as adult G-nats to lay more eggs.
An ill-advised spraying with Safer Insecticidal Soap (they should add shamrocks to the list of plants it shouldn’t be used on) burned the leaves, so I won’t be posting more pics any time real soon.
So now I’m trying to let the soil dry enough between waterings to kill the larvae without killing the plant. The good folks at Woot.com, apparently caught wind of my plight, as the item for sale the other day was a mini indoor bug-zapper. Mine is on the way, but given the mule-train like slowness of their “SmartPost” shipping method, I may have won the G-nat war (or killed the shamrock) before it arrives.
I just got the following message from the Ohio Bike mailing list:
Amanda Wright Lane, great grand niece of Orville Wright, called me in November seeking the support of the Ohio cycling community to save the building at 1005 West Third Street in Dayton. The young Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1892 rented the first story of this building as their first bicycle shop.
Of the Wright brothers’ five bicycle shops, only this one and the restored fourth shop, now open to the public by the National Park Service as part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park, remains in Ohio. Henry Ford moved their fifth bicycle shop to Greenfield Village, Michigan, and the buildings housing their second and third shops have been torn down.
Partnering with Wright Dunbar, Inc. and other organizations, we have submitted a proposal to attract the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame to this building. Ten other communities have submitted proposals.
If the Hall does not accept our proposal, we may create a bicycle co-op in the building, renting bicycles to those who participate in the historical Ride with the Ranger rides starting at the Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center. We could also offer League cycling training, and open a restaurant in the building. The building may be a future home of offices for the Dayton Cycling Club and Ohio Bicycle Federation. Jim Sheehan has been successful with the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in Cleveland.
Donations to save the building may be sent to Wright Dunbar, Inc., 1105 W. Third St., Dayton OH 45402 by May 1, 2009. Wright Dunbar is a non-profit created to save the buildings of the Wright-Dunbar Historic Area where Orville and Wilbur Wright and Dayton poet Paul Lawrence
Dunbar lived.
Chuck Smith
Chair, Ohio Bicycle Fed
I hope they can find a way to preserve this amazing piece of history. I’ll be making a donation.
Posted by Greg Evans in general, cycling Comments: Comments Off
Dayton certainly has the cycling provenance, being the home to the Wright brothers (who were bicycle mechanics, let us not forget) and the original home of Huffy bicycles. However the article goes on to say:
the organization is looking for at least 15,000 square feet of climate-controlled and secure space in a community that can provide support, draw in visitors and is bicycle friendly.
This could be a sticking point. I’m not sure about Dayton’s ability to draw visitors and Dayton is far from “bicycle friendly” especially compared to Madison, Wisconsin and Davis, California (which are also among the 11 communities being considered). I’d also wager that the rate of violent crime is lower in those two cities as well (note: I checked, it is; much).
Having said that, it would be quite a coup for the area if they do land the USBHOF and I would certainly visit, were it to come to Dayton. Ohio is the home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (don’t even get me started) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so who knows?
So, the groundhog saw his shadow, which supposedly means six more weeks of winter. Bah!
At least the New York groundhog (Chuck) fulfilled a long-time wish of mine and bit someone (not just anyone, New York’s Mayor Bloomburg!)
Remember when I said that I didn’t much care about the snow and ice that was forecast for us? Well, I lied. We got it, it’s still around, and I hate it. But I am still taking some solace in my cheerful little Shamrock’s reemergence.
I have a potted shamrock that I received as a birthday/Saint Patrick’s Day gift a few years ago. It thrived in my kitchen window, producing blooms almost continuously. Back in September, though, it seemed to be becoming less vigorous and I decided that maybe it needed a rest. Being essentially a bulb (actually a rhizome, I believe), it made sense to me that it might need a dormant period, so early in November I snipped off all of its leaves and flowers, stuck it in a paper bag and tucked it away in the back of the refrigerator.
After I did this, I did a bit of Googling and discovered that apparently I should have withheld water until it died back on its own, then put it away for a nap. I really worried that I might have killed it with my impulsiveness, but I stuck to original plan and hoped for the best. I took it out just after Christmas and started watering it. A few weeks went by and nothing was happening, reinforcing my fear that I’d killed it. Then, last Friday, I thought I detected new growth, but feared it was just wishful thinking. Suddenly, Sunday, three leaves shot up! Hooray! I’m hopeful that this means it will begin producing blooms in time for my birthday, as per my plan.
There may be a winter storm warning in effect through Wednesday and we may get another six inches of snow, but I don’t care (much). It’s Spring in my kitchen!
I know this video is old-hat to the majority of my fellow netizens. But the MP3 player just shuffled up the song that the video is set to and I was moved to post this. Hopefully the one person out there who hasn’t yet seen it will, and will enjoy it as much as I do. The song, if you’ve ever wondered is “Praan” by Garry Schyman. One translation I’ve seen goes thusly:
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
If you’d like to purchase an MP3 of this magnificent tune, you can do so here: Praan.
Anyway, for whatever reason this really resonated strongly with me today, so I thought I’d pass it along.
Here in my area of the country tonight is the night we celebrate “Beggars’ Night”. For some reason they arbitrarily pick a date for trick-or-treating but they can’t even bring themselves to call it that (wouldn’t want to encourage mischief, dontcha know) nor to so much as mention Halloween. What the hell is up with that?
Apparently, since adults have co-opted Halloween and turned it into a night for drinking and for women to dress as slutty sexy witches and devils and such, the powers that be have decided that it’s not a good night for kids to be out and about, especially if it falls on a Friday, Saturday or (gasp) Sunday. So, they move the date and call it something else.
I hate that. Halloween is October 31. When I was a kid we really looked forward to it falling on a Friday or Saturday, as that meant no school the next day. It’s really a shame how many of the simple pleasures of childhood have been swept aside in the name of “safety” and “convenience”.
