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Due to a bit of miscalculation, I showed up to the Overland Park Breakfast stop about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to open. I had figured that there would be some set-up going on already. I had figured wrong. But, at about 6:25, a public works truck showed up and set up shop.


Bananas, OJ, Coffee, granola bars and plenty of give-aways were ripe for the picking. Be sure to sign the rosters at the various events you go to this week. They're being counted and will be used for advocacy purposes.


commuderDude, myself, and Shawn quaffed our beverages, noshed on breakfasty goodness, and conversed with the volunteers for a while before parting ways a bit before 7:00.


My score from the booth: A reflecto-slow-moving-vehicle sign.


Getting from southern Overland Park to my new office near 119th and Renner was an interesting adventure in wayfinding. 127th Street is the preferred method of crossing I-35, but parts of 127th are completely torn out for the "Improve 127th" project. At 7:00 AM, rush hour traffic is picking up in Johnson County, but people were pleasant on the arterial roads. Years of commuting through cul-de-sac-ridden suburbia has given me a certain intuition about finding a clear path. I had no problem carving an efficient residential detour around the construction between Black Bob and Mur-Len.

Side note: Read this great article on the effect of cul-de-sacs on a community's transportation habits.

Random Tunage:
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) (Leama and Moor Remix)
Fluke - Atom Bomb

I woke up at 5-something this morning. That used to be part of my routine, but it's highly unusual these days. Eggs, an apple and a few slices of turkey bacon for breakfast. Filled the water bottle. Go through the old routine, kind of like waking up to do my old commute. I got out a few minutes after 6 and rode to the corner. I waited, eying the southern horizon at daybreak. A few minutes later, the familiar, conspicuous flashing pattern of a DiNotte headlight crested the viaduct, quickly distinguishing a distant bicycle from within a small swarm of silhouetted motor vehicles.

I rolled out, and a minute or so later, Chris pulled up alongside me on the very same bike he'd flogged when we hit the singletrack at Shawnee Mission Park last weekend. I still have a really soft spot in my heart for the Long Haul Trucker. Or at least the frame. Chris' Ultegra Hollowtech triple crank is a drool-worthy piece of flair as well. I'm not sure I'd ever get used to bar-ends. I'm in love with my brifters, thank you very much.

For those who don't know, Chris is returning to full-route bike commuting, at least some days. I told him that this route is his baby now, and let him blaze the trail. We headed out, mostly the old route I used to take every day, except we stayed on Quivira all the way to 67th. The last time I rode that way, I was en-route to the Cave Ride.

I didn't bother to check my pace at all, but I felt like I was slower than normal, and I know I was lagging behind a bit. I really need to get out and ride more, although part of it was that I was still feeling yesterday's surprise mile-fest as well.

I got to hang out with Lorin and JR over coffee, then rode around KCMO waiting until 9 to take care of some paper work, and then it was slow going homeward bound into a stiff and gusty headwind. All in all, another beautiful day for a ride.

Directly adjacent to where I took the picture above, I saw something else that made me chuckle just a little.


Random Tunage:
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Green Day - Longview

It's unusual to have a morning commute by daylight this time of year, for me, but I loved it.


I geared up the bike with my stainless steel press pot, panniers, water bottle, and some lights for the return trip home, which was probably going to be around 6:00 PM, just as it's getting dark.

I arrived to the office a little before 8:30 AM, and talked to my boss. He went over a few procedural things, and then I sat through the 9:00 AM wednesday meeting, where the team has an interesting ritual: they discuss their health goals, then status updates. Health goals for any one employee might be:
* Limiting fast food
* Drinking a certain amount of water at work daily
* Hitting the gym a certain number of times per week

I told them my goal is to never, ever drive to work. They were fascinated by my bicycle, and in awe of my low number of "drive to work" days in the last 3 years.

After the meeting, I got the tour, and then the official offer letter, handbook, tax forms and whatnot. But it was time for lunch. I rode my bike back home to have lunch with my wife. It's nice being able to do that. Upon my arrival back to the office, I declined the job offer.

One good thing, though: I didn't burn any bridges. The company asked me if I was available to do contract work, and they may ask for my help in the future, for one-off things as they relate to information security.

It's probably a great company, but I can't see myself lasting very long there. I most certainly didn't feel like leading them on, and ditching them a few weeks or months down the road, just to have a paycheck RIGHT NOW. It wouldn't be fair to them, nor to me. Sometimes you've just got to go with your gut, and I was getting an unsettling vibe.

I don't want to get into any further details, and I won't discuss it in the comments, either. I have a plan, though, and I won't be jobless for very long.

We had a taste of what early fall is all about for the first part of this week. Lows in the 50s, highs in the 70s, all broken up by an early morning thunderstorm.

We have the windows open, and the crack of distant thunder stirred me a bit, but not enough to open my eyes. Just enough to realize that our two cats had managed to crowd me to the very edge of the bed and out from under the covers. The fan was blowing humid, chilly air onto me so I writhed around a bit to get back under the blankets, nudging the cats a bit, never really opening my eyes. A bright flash illuminated the room, leaving a blue-on-red capillary afterimage. Seconds later, a roll of thunder filled the room and prompted me to glance at the clock. It was just a bit after 5:00 AM. One of the cats decided to watch the storm pass by moving to the window. Goofy cat. I dozed for a while longer. There really is nothing quite like a cool breeze and a thunderstorm.

The storm was brief, and had mostly passed by the time I left. There was one good lightning bolt - cloud-to-cloud - that reared its head right after I left. The wet roadway was no match for my fenders, and I remained dry.

Lorin and I had agreed to grab coffee before work, and when I got mine, it came with a little more flair than usual. I'm pretty sure there was more whipped cream and chocolate shavings than there was actual mocha.


Also, Keith, one of the cyclists for the Downtown KC Improvement District came over and talked to Lorin and I for a bit. The city doesn't allow them to ride on wet roads (for insurance purposes) so he was on foot today. His Gary Fisher FastCity got stolen a few months ago, so he's been rockin' the Dr. Dew. He's thinking of trying to organize a ride out to St. Louis (or somewhere else that's a pretty good distance) then catching Amtrak back to KC. That sounds like fun to me!

Random Tunage:
Digital Witchcraft - Pocket Universe
The Spoons - Nova Heart (Redanka Dub Mix)

I need to get back into shape. I'm still hurting pretty good from the ride home yesterday. Sure, I was loaded down with a lot of cargo (I am afraid to put it all together in a pile and weigh it) but I shouldn't ache like this. I'm also a bit dried out from the weekend. Wind sucks moisture straight out of your skin and I'm feeling it today, too.

New kicks. I don't have many shoes, nor do I need many. I have a pair of cycling shoes (Shimano), a pair of skater shoes (Airwalk), and a pair of dress shoes ($20 x-mart specials) that usually get left at the office. This weekend, my wife and I invested in some decent shoes from New Balance. We are going to start walking together some more. I walked about a mile and a half to get some lunch yesterday, and they're much more comfy than my old Airwalks. The Airwalks did have okay bridge support when I bought them, but they are pretty old and worn out.


Hope you all have a great week! Lorin, JR, John C. and I kicked Monday off over coffee this morning. I haven't seen John's singlespeed Panasonic before. It's the silver bike next to mine. You can see Lorin and JR (who's cheesing for the camera) through the window, and JR's bike reflection if you look hard enough.


Random Tunage:
Underworld - Born Slippy
Crystal Method - Busy Child

Every week, someone writes a question or poll on the black board. Usually it's a "what's your favorite _______?" kind of question. There was only one answer when JR, Lorin and I got there this morning:


It's obvious that the question was asked snidely and the first response was crafted tongue-in-cheek (if not written by whomever asked the question to begin with) but it's safe to say things like "the liberty of the United States of America" would also be a suitable answer.

As for the usual crew, we opted to discuss our favorite movies and JR's recent health system adventures rather than the merits of battle.

I soaked up a beautiful weekend, spent some quality fun time with family, and I'm looking forward to the forecasted warming trend. I'm with cDude: I can't believe this is February!

Sorry the flash ruined this one. It pretty much sums up my thought on Girl Scout Cookies. They are tasty, but good grief they're expensive.


Some co-workers and I went to Flying Saucer for lunch yesterday. I'd never been there before. They use golf tees instead of toothpicks to hold sandwiches together. I'm sure wooden toothpicks are more biodegradable than painted golf tees, so the "sustainability" of this is called into question quickly. From a gimmicky marketing perspective, I think it's pretty clever.


Speaking of sustainability, the barista that served Lorin and I at Starbucks yesterday pointed at the bike helmet in my hand and asked if I'm carbon neutral yet. I chuckled. In retrospect, I wish I would have had enough cynical snarkiness at the time to say "no, but I'm carbon based." - Unfortunately, my snark engine is caffeine-fueled and I was on Empty...

A few days ago, my wife bought some cool erasable pens that use thermo-sensitive ink. The "eraser" is a hard plastic nub that generates heat through friction, which turns the ink transparent.


I experimented with that last night, as I'm always one to see what makes things tick. I found out that this ink is usable for "secret" messages. The erased ink re-appears when you put the paper in a freezer.


I guess if you correct your writing with one of these pens, make sure you don't leave the documents in your car on a cold winter day!

This morning, I tried heating the ink with the heat from my stovetop and the "invisible" message comes back much clearer than it does when you rub it away with the "eraser" -- In fact, it's almost as dark and crisp as before it was erased.

The thin crescent moon was eerily awesome this morning. I wish I could have captured it with more clarity, but I was rushed. On a side note: Barnes & Noble is nearing completion, and I'm somewhat excited about having a giant bookstore close to home, even if it caters primarily to the Oprah Mind Control Consumer-Zombie Sheeple.


Occasionally, something goes horribly wrong with a shot and I end up liking it anyway. This was one of those.


Random Tunage:
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Steve Winwood - Back In the High Life Again

... Yep. Definitely Random this morning.

6°F this morning. January has been weird. 67°F high. 5°F low.


December was also all over the place, volleying us between mid-60s and deep, deep single-digits. There's no doubt about it. Graphs do not lie. We are on a climate roller coaster!

I built this oddball contraption last night. No, it's not a bomb. It's a remote-controlled momentary switch (only capable of triggering 30 Volts) rigged up to a heavy-duty relay that can handle 240V and a lot of amps. The 9V battery is there just as a power supply to trip the big relay with the weaker one.


This should allow me to computer-control my clothes dryer so that it gives me warmy, toasty clothes by starting it 5 minutes before my alarm wakes me up. I don't care if it's not eco-friendly. I am a nerd that tinkers with stuff. I also like warm, snuggly clothes when I wake up shivering every morning.

Oh yeah, my valve stem lights are back. :)


Reports are done running. Now it's time for a nice batch of French pressed coffee before putting my nose to the grindstone. Take care out there!

Random Tunage:
Plump DJs - Scram
Paul van Dyk - Tell Me Why (Club Mix)

The days are getting shorter and the mornings are getting colder.

Pros:

• I have a really good excuse to carry (and drink) coffee on the bike again.
• If I dress properly, I can show up to work sweat-free but not freezing.

Cons:

• The sun becomes a problem. It's rising and setting during heavy traffic.
  
• Cool mornings and mild afternoons mean carrying two sets of clothes.

I used my Cold Gear Chart to see what would work best for the 48° morning ride and I wasn't let down. What works for 51° worked great this morning. I must say that it was more enjoyable with Coffee By Bike, thanks to my wonderful bike-bottle french press.


I'm fortunate that I arrive downtown before the sun comes up and blinds me this time of year, but it'll probably be close to blinding by the time I get home this evening. It was nice to get the full ride in to work today.


Random Tunage:
Moonman - Galaxia
Hybrid - True To Form

That's about all I can say to headline the past few days.

Monday night, as you know, I took a bunch of equipment downtown for a fundraiser event. That went really well. We had a pretty good turnout for the movie. This was a shot I took of the projector rig from afar. There's some motion blur from the people, but it was a 15 second exposure.


Then, we did some quick tests of the laser graffiti rig at Harry's to make sure our setup worked.


After that, we mobilized and took to the streets of KC with it, blasting the projector more than 1/10 of a mile onto the side of a prominent AT&T building downtown. I really wish I would have brought my Tripod along for some bracketed shots. These would have been much better in HDR.






It was a little more impressive in person. Here are some short video clips from our test run at Harry's:







Without going into a whole lot of detail, my wife's having some problems again. I didn't get much sleep Monday night, and woke up to a Gran Mal Seizure yesterday morning. I'm epileptic but most of my symptoms are in remission. This is the first seizure of this magnitude I've had in more than a decade. This kind easily ruins your day. So both my wife and I were having trouble yesterday.

Everyone experiences seizures a little differently. I can only imagine what I experienced yesterday was something like a really, really bad LSD trip. Visually, I started getting tunnel vision, then my whole body went numb, hands and face got clammy, then a funny, metallic taste and accompanying smell occurred. During the convulsions, my eyes were shut but I could hear everything around me (including one of my cats freaking out) and then I was seeing stars through closed eyelids, which quickly turned into a very vivid pattern of colorful fractal-like images. The visual was extremely compelling. Had I not been in pain and unable to move, I probably would have enjoyed that part. Like I said... probably much akin to a bad trip.

What's odd is that yesterday I found out that my mother (also an epileptic with very infrequent symptoms) had a similar episode not long ago.

My muscles are still pretty sore from the convulsions today, and somewhere along the way I really trashed my left arm. I took the bus this morning, and will probably take it this afternoon to get out to the hospital my wife's staying at, then ride home from there tonight (about 12 miles if I recall correctly).

So yeah, this has been quite a week so far, and it's only Wednesday. Now where the heck is my coffee?

I woke up to a light rain storm this morning. I was planning on it being a bus day because I've got some obligations to take care of today. It was just a bus day with a driving headwind and rain. And Coffee. Oh yes, I really needed the coffee this morning.

I put gas in my car for the first time since July over the weekend, and gave it its first car wash in over a year. I hung out with some of my car club buddies from days gone by. Although the places we went were within 5-6 miles of home, the whole point was to hang out and talk about our cars so it would have been somewhat pointless to ride my bicycle there. The club (which is more like a loosely-organized world-wide batch of Internet Forum Dwellers) is for Ford Focus owners. I still like mine quite a bit, and haven't seen some of these people in person ever, and some of them I haven't seen since 2005.



I know this is about bicycle-centric alternative transportation in Kansas City, but I still like my car. I've had it almost 9 years. I own it outright. I get cheap insurance because I rarely drive it. When I do drive it, it gets better than 35 MPG on the highway (thanks to some Engine Control Unit reprogramming by my friend Randy at FocusSport) and if I want to romp on it, the thing handles like it's on rails and it's pretty quick for a grocery-go-getter compact car. The ECU programming does things like disabling the alternator under certain circumstances to decrease drag on the engine as well as modifying the fuel and spark parameters for more efficiency. This means I have to put 91 or 92 octane in it, but as half a tank of gas lasts me more than a month, I'm not complaining much. I've actually ridden my bicycles more than I've driven my Focus this year.

There's also a ton of room if you fold the rear seats down. It's like a little mini-van. I actually write quite a few technical articles about Focus Tech Tips and Repair. Bet you didn't have me pinned as an automotive nut, did you? It's possible to really like your car, but to know when it's appropriate and necessary to use it. As it stands, this thing probably gets started about every other week when the weather is nice. You don't have to be car-free to be free from the Big Oil addiction. I use oil in moderation.

As for this evening, I'll find myself behind the wheel again, as I have to bring a bunch of video and sound equipment downtown for a membership and fund-raising drive for a local non-profit that I'm helping to get off the ground. Cowtown Computer Congress (CCCKC) is "a facility in Kansas City designed, built and maintained by technology enthusiasts of all backgrounds. Members represent all facets of technology ranging from digital art and design to robotics software development and information security. Incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in the state of Missouri, CCCKC will serve as a central meeting place for user group meetings, project collaboration and various networking opportunities for all those who share a passion for technology." It's inspired by facilities such as NYC Resistor and HacDC.

We'll be showing two documentary films (Hackers Are People Too and Graffiti Research Lab) at Harry's Country Club, then we'll go out and set up our own LASER Graffiti rig for people to try out. Bill from i-Hacked set this up at DefCon in August and I got to play with it in person. We'll have the same setup tonight. Weather permitting, it'll be outdoors in downtown Kansas City. If you're local and have even the slightest geeky inclination, you should come on out. Details in the link, bonus points for showing up on a bike.

Sorry I don't have much bikey goodness today. I do a lot more stuff than just ride my bike, and I write about things a lot more interesting than bicycles, if you know where to find me (hint: some of my writing is in print)

Progress on the new Barnes & Noble is coming along nicely. A big bookstore with a big selection is one of the few things that's missing from the 2-mile radius of my dwelling. This will be a welcome addition. Too bad it's gotta be at The Maul.


Lorin and I spotted this baby bat cowering (and quivering) between our bicycles this morning after coffee. It was just a little over an inch in length. I'd be quivering, too, if someone was holding something 20 times my size 3 inches away from my face.

I've never seen a bat up close before. Cute little creatures, but I know better than to provoke it.

I got a cute fortune with my meal last night. In keeping true to posting my various (mis?)fortunes, I give you another spoonful of "Awwww"


I saw three fixed gear riders today around the City Center Square building. Usually, I only see geary-bike commuters this far north in the morning. The Art Institute kids must have woken up early. No photos of them, I had the camera tucked away already.

With the exception of the rain yesterday, the weather's still great for riding in Kansas City. For those who care about bike racing, this weekend is the official start of KC Cyclocross season. Plenty of my pals from the Monday Night Ride are going to be racing.

Maybe one of these days I'll get a 'cross bike and join in the fun. I'm not much for bicycle or auto racing, but I like WRC and Cyclocross seems pretty close to the same thing on bikes. It looks like fun and a 'Cross bike would probably make a worthy year-round commuter even if I never raced it.

Random Tunage:
Madonna - Ray of Light
Hybrid - I'm Still Awake