I leave tomorrow...let's see what I'm in for... Sunday: Marinette. Forecast says 84 degrees, some storms.
Monday: Marinette to Green Bay. Forecast says 99 degrees. Yikes!
(Planning on leaving as early in the day as I can to beat the heat!)
Tuesday: Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay. Forecast says 95 degrees. Yikes!
(Again, early start equals comfortable riding!)
Wednesday: Sturgeon Bay to Fish Creek. Forecast says 78 degrees. A little relief! But some storms possible.
Thursday: Fish Creek to Sturgeon Bay. Forecast says 80 degrees. Nice.
Friday: Sturgeon Bay to Manitowoc. Forecast says 79 degrees. Wow. Great riding weather.
Saturday: Manitowoc to Port Washington. Forecast 77. Nice.  ¶ 10:03 PM 8 comments

  Always a good message...   ¶ 7:26 PM 0 comments

  Sesquicentennial Tree A few years back, UW-Madison celebrated its Sesquicentennial. (That's 150 years, folks!) They had a bunch of celebratory events, and one of them was a Sesquicentennial Tree Walk, designed to highlight some of the really old trees on campus that had stood the test of time.


This is one of those trees, but this tree isn't 150 years old. It's closer to 300. It was here when the Native Americans used Observatory Hill as a place to create their mounds, and just down the sidewalk from here, you can see a mound in the shape of a giant bird.
And during the Civil War, soldiers at Camp Randall used this tree for target practice. There are probably still embedded bullets in it.

In 1915, a tree surgeon repaired the giant bur oak, and you can see patches high up in the tree, with flat boards and iron bands. And still it stood.

And it still stands today, shading the Observatory sidewalk path.  ¶ 9:57 AM 0 comments

  The Fine Art of Stopping While You Are Ahead When I was younger, I once made a cake from a cake mix. And then I made frosting. I decided that I wanted to color the frosting, and put a few drops of red food coloring in it. I didn't like the pink shade of the frosting, so I decided to try to change it with another color. I think I tried blue. The resulting purple frosting was horrible. Then, I tried to change it with green. By this time, the frosting was really hideous looking. I remember eating that cake with my family, but it looked really bad.

There is a fine art of stopping while you are ahead. It's looking at something and going...this is good enough. You find this with powerpoint presentations or any kind of report...you could spend time tweakings this or adjusting that, but at some point, you just have to walk away.

I'm kind of there with my bike. I am only going to make sure my tires are filled up and the chain greased. I'm not going to put on different tires. I'm not going to decide that this is the day that I need to change my brake pads. I need to stop while I am ahead. I need to stop obsessing and just accept.

I'm kind of superstitious about stuff like this...if I did decide to do something to my bike today, it would go badly. I know it.  ¶ 9:40 AM 0 comments

  Bad Idea Buffet I'm soon to depart on my trip. Ken is leaving to join a college buddy on a hiking trip in northern Montana.

We met at a Ponderosa. Since currently I'm sitting at home curled in a ball with a roiling stomach, I don't think it was a good idea. Some of those places are okay, but this place was not. I really have to get him to choose better places to eat. He has that college buffet mentality; volume of food is what counts, the more for the money. And it has meat, which he doesn't get a lot of at his largely vegetarian coop.

He gave me the third degree about what I was packing; tomorrow I'm spending the day packing up the essentials. I gave him the third degree back. He went to Woodman's and got jerky and granola today. I think I'll do that tomorrow. He's going to try to call me from a mountain top in Montana. I don't think that he'll be able to get a signal, but he says he'll try.

I'm excited about the trip. I can't promise I can get pictures or blogs up, but I promise that there will eventually be a story. And hopefully I can meet a lot of new bicyclists.

But I don't leave until Sunday morning, so there might be a couple more posts before I leave. So stay tuned....  ¶ 9:48 PM 0 comments

  The Storm We got hit by a mighty storm today, around noon.

It came from nowhere. And then the water came down. My building is one of many on campus that flooded and here is some impromptu video I took of the staff in my department cleaning up.

QuickTime: Quicktime Version

WMV: Windows Media Player Version

This must be the 5% of "other duties" that is mentioned in my job description.

But we didn't get the worst of it. Thank goodness for small miracles...we only spent an hour with a wet dry vac, mops and squeegees.

I can't imagine what those poor people are going to find when they get to their cars!

DISCLAIMER:
(Photo found on flickr by a photographer that goes by Wisp)  ¶ 4:29 PM 2 comments

  Class of 1908 Lives On

All over campus are little statues or fountains that various graduating classes have contributed. I ran across this little sundial today, from the class of 1908. It was so long ago that I made me smile a little. Where is it? It's here.  ¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments

  Back to School I received my first back to school ad in the mail yesterday.

I love back to school time.

When I was a kid, I loved it because it was a time when you got your own brand new sets of stuff. New shoes, new clothes, new supplies. They didn't have to be shared with your bratty little sisters, and they were cool and new and stylish.

And you could see a brand new year before you, with potential for so many great things to happen.

Now that I'm no longer in school, I still like to look at the heaps of cheap school supplies. It's the time of year when I say "I don't NEED this bag of pens or that box of pencils, but I really should have some." I have boxes of pencils scattered around my house without a use. I have an entire drawer of pretty much nothing but pens. But it's the time of year. I really want to run out and buy a few notebooks, just because I can.

Maybe I just long for that new fresh start, with all new stuff, stuff of my own, and want to look forward with the kind of excitement that I once had.

Just without the pesky studying. I don't miss that at all.  ¶ 12:49 PM 0 comments

  Annoying A little vlog I made of the horrible sounds going on in my office right now.

In Windows Media Player. Sorry. Experimenting with Windows Movie Maker right now.  ¶ 10:10 AM 1 comments

  I can't sleep. Look at the timestamp on the entry. I shouldn't have had that second Diet Coke.

I am sitting in bed,blogging out of sheer boredom, listening to the rain tap against the windowpane.

I need to sleep. I want to sleep. I'm tired but sleep just won't come.

Anyone know where I can get a few counting sheep?  ¶ 1:17 AM 2 comments

  Pictures from the Top of Madison

This is from the 18th floor of the building where I work. It's the tallest building in Madison. It's just a pretty view. This is looking west. You can see the Bacteriology building under construction.



This is looking east.

Click on the pictures for a much larger view.  ¶ 11:51 AM 1 comments

  'Cuz I'm just a girl... Just a peek into my collection of seats in my garage. Yes, I'm somewhat picky about my bike equipment, and since you spend so much time on your seat, you might as well have something nice. Yes, there are 4 discarded seats there, one patched with duct tape. I should try to sell the nicer ones on eBay or something. Some of them cost a lot of money.

But, a quick note. My friend, Ken, fancies himself a bit of an expert when it comes to distance bicycle trips. I let him lecture me because it amuses him, and it makes him feel good to teach me things. However, I had to burst his bubble this weekend.

Ken: So, do you know what I'm doing?
Me: You are changing the inner tube on your bike tire.
Ken: And do you know what this is?
Me: It's the thingydohickey that you use to force the tire out of the well to make it easier to take off. One of the top ten bike inventions ever.
Ken: Do you have one?
Me: I have two.
Ken: Have you ever used them? Do you have a patch kit? You'll need it.
Me: Sure. I've had to fix my tires before.
Ken: (Looking crestfallen) So, you aren't some helpless girl, are you?
Me: Nope. But I don't like getting all dirty doing it, does that help?

I didn't tell him that the first time I patched my bike tire was only last year, that I was terrified I'd mess up, and that it took me the better part of 45 minutes to do it. But, maybe I should have, you know...to help repair his fragile ego and make him think like he was helping me.  ¶ 10:19 PM 0 comments

  The Ghost in the Machine We use PCs and we rely on them. We use websites and we rely on them.

But how many people understand them?

Part of my job is to find ways to do things with computers. Databases, websites, programs, configurations, that sort of thing.

But a great majority of my time is spent explaining how the internet works. People don't want to take time to figure that out.

We used to use a train analogy. A train station is at the end of the line. All of the trains live there, but one day, Hooterville decides they need cheese and a train brings it to them.

This is how a general web page request works. You are Hooterville, and when you type in your URL, you are requesting a page (aka cheese) and the internet works to bring it to you.

But now its more complicated.

Because now, pages don't really exist, in a lot of cases. In a lot of cases, when you make a request, the web server (aka the train station) assembles the web page from many different parts to give it to you. It might direct a train car of munster, and a load of cheddar towards your hometown because it knows you like that type of cheese. It's personalized. When you receive it, it's like magic.

Except it's not. It's a bunch of database administrators scratching their head about how to get the right stuff on that web page and how to make the web customized so people come to their web pages, surf their sites, and basically click on their advertisements. How to know when someone wants cheddar or munster, and how to make sure they are satisified.

And people don't get that. They don't get that it is just a big set of tables that are strung together with a common thread and your choices drive what you see. I've spent the last two weeks trying to explain this simple concept to an end user, and they STILL don't get it.

ARGH!

Only 6 days until vacation.  ¶ 2:46 PM 1 comments

  Training for my Vacation I'm taking a vacation in one week. I'm a little nervous about it. Here's the itinerary. Note the distances...

Monday: 67.4 miles, Tuesday: 57.7 miles, Wednesday: 29.1 miles, Thursday: 41.3 miles, Friday: 74 miles, Saturday: 62.5 miles

I used to be proud of my 50 mile bike ride accomplishments. But there is going to be a day of 74 miles! I'd never gone that far!

Until yesterday. I live on a gravel trail that travels a former train grade about 36 miles to the west. I decided to take it as training. And my friend Ken, who is embarking on his own hiking trip in Montana thought it would be a good idea for his training.

And it started off fine. You can see the downed trees in some of the pictures; the trail hadn't been cleared in places, and we had to resort to some off road adventures to circumvent them. We stopped in Mt. Horeb for breakfast, antiques and of course, mustard. We traveled on, with Ken obsessing over his bike seat and requiring a lot of adjustments. Ken is kind of high maintenance. He was apologetic though, and I didn't have any plans, so I didn't really mind. But by the time we were 10 miles from the end of the trail, I was really dragging. Those last 10 miles were tough. I wanted ice cream, I wanted beer, I wanted anything to give me some energy. I was tired and hot and sweaty and not in a good mood.

We stopped at a Hardee's at the end of the path to celebrate and to recharge. I had a bacon cheeseburger. I don't usually eat hamburger, but Hardee's doesn't really have much else, so hamburger it was and it tasted really good! When you are seriously bonked, you crave anything full of carbs and tasty. Best hamburger ever.

But clouds were crowding the horizon. "It's going to blow by," predicted Ken. "Don't worry."

He was wrong. We had just set out on our return trip when the sky became seriously dark. Lightning flashed. We pulled over under a tree and waited. The rain came down hard, and we shivered and contemplated the need for a deck of cards. He didn't want to play 20 questions, because he said I'd cheat. (I don't know where he gets these conceptions.)

If I had been alone, I might have continued biking on. I like biking in the rain. But the lightning? The thunder? I would have stopped too. He didn't know about the counting of time between the lightning flash and the thunder to gage the location of the storm. I thought everyone knew about that!

It looked like it might have slowed, and we started out again, but got only a couple of miles before the rain set back in again, seriously, in hard fast fat drops. We were near a convenience store, and we went there to wait out the storm. There were others there with the same idea. We drank a coffee, and I managed to spill creamer on my shirt. (Don't ask how I managed that. I have a gift for spilling stuff on my clothes.)

There was a radio playing and they were announcing weather warnings. Surprise! Severe weather! Thus began an extremly dull hour of waiting around for the weather to clear. A woman sitting nearby smoked a cigarette, and I was forced to breathe her smoke. I finished my coffee, and wandered around the store. I walked out to the porch on the front of the store and watched the rain come down. BORING! And we were only 4 miles from our turnaround! 32 miles to go!

When we finally set out again, it was getting seriously late. We were both tired, and we were both aching. We were both low on energy. Near Blue Mounds, Ken asked to stop at a store for some Gatorade, but we didn't find one until Mt. Horeb. Ken had had plans for dinner with some work colleagues. He called to cancel as we rested outside the gas station. It was seriously late. We gulped down Gatorade and rested a bit. The Gatorade helped.

Mt. Horeb is only 12 miles from my home in Verona. 12 final miles. We pushed on.

We arrived back at my house at 7:42PM. We had left at 9:30. Now, only 6 hours of that was actual biking time. The rain, the food, the many stops to adjust a bike seat, all contributed to making it a very very long ride.

But I did it. Which means that I can do it. Which means that I am approaching my vacation with more experience than I once had. It will be okay. And it will be fun.  ¶ 9:33 AM 3 comments

  The County Fair It's that time of year again. Time for sticky funnel cakes, corn dogs, caramel apples, cotton candy, italian sausage, gyros, corn on the cob, ice cream confections, cheese fries, blooming onions, mini donuts, onion rings, stuffed baked potatoes, pretzels and other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Our visit was not only about the food. There were a show of tigers doing tricks, sitting up like trained dogs, rolling around the pen, and occasionally jumping off of their perch to playfully bat at their fellow cats. One even walked across a pair of wires pulled taut six feet off of the ground! I almost wanted to see him fall so I could see if he'd land on his feet.

The BMX stunt riders were there, doing tricks and jumps that were incredible as they were reminders that this is a young man's game. I am in awe of the balance and concentration that goes into such demonstrations. Whatever they get paid, I'm certain it isn't enough.

And then we saw the animals. Giant horses, nice enough to nuzzle us city folk. Little ponies, hiding behind their mothers. Mini Donkeys, a little skittish. Sheep, so many different kinds. With fur that is so thick! I was able to push my finger an inch deep into their wool, and still could not find skin! So many different kinds of rabbits! Llamas, all with fans blowing upon them, because they are sensitive to the heat. Their fur was soft, softer than rabbit fur. Goats and even baby goats, with tiny little horns! We even stopped and saw a pig or two, soon to be bacon. I have to admit that the raising of these animals for show is kind of alien to me, but it is fascinating nonetheless.

We returned to the food area, and I managed to stuff more food in. We walked around the fairway, and my companion won a goldfish. We watched the kids on the rides; but we didn't have enough money for both the admission fee ($6) and all of the food we had eaten AND to go on rides.

So we satisfied ourselves with wandering out watching how the games of chance went. There is a game that was crowded on all sides by adults. It involves trying to get your tokens down a ramp and to land in a particular place on a flat surface in front of a flat plate that pushes them into a bunch of accumulated tokens and prizes, which hang precariously on the edge of the machine, waiting to be dropped down to the open bin below. It's funny, because it is a lot like slot machines...all of the adults had little cups to hold their tokens, and they just stood at their post, feeding tokens into the machine. They had the slack look on their face, and the deep concentration that can be masked for addiction.

We left soon afterwards...after picking up our goldfish, and making our way past the entreaties to "win a prize for the lady". I'm not the "win a prize for me" type of girl, and I quietly demurred. The last thing I need is a giant stuffed animal. I'm much to practical for that sort of thing.

It was a fascinating visit though, and I'm glad we went. And all the food I ate? Once in a while, it's okay.  ¶ 8:19 AM 3 comments

  Did you know the shoes stayed in?

From the newly renovated Brittingham Boathouse.  ¶ 10:58 AM 1 comments

  Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday LeenGreenBean! (actually it was yesterday!)

Did you know you share your birthday with Tonya? And Natalie Wood? Kim Carnes? Carlos Santana? Sir Edmund Hillary?

Yes, you do!

We had ice cream cake yesterday to celebrate.

Yeah LeenGreenBean!  ¶ 9:39 AM 2 comments

  Hair Guy When I was a much younger person, I lived with my fantastic roommates in an aging but still cool flat in downtown Madison.

Two of my roommates worked together and rode the bus to work together every day.

And everyday, they saw "Hair Guy". Not necessarily on the bus either. I was never quite clear why they saw him so often. Maybe he took a different bus or something.

This being Madison, seeing a guy with long beautiful locks is not unusual. But this guy did not just have long hair. He had beautiful straight rock star hair. They were entranced.

Everyday, I would hear about what "Hair Guy" looked like today, what he wore, where he was sighted, what he was doing.

I never saw "Hair Guy". : (

But I was reminded of this by a reference to the missed connections area of the Madison area Craig's List. If we had had Craig's list, all of those many years ago, would we have posted our infatuation with "Hair Guy" on Craig's List for all to see? Would it have been our own "Missed Connection"?

I like to read these tales of near-miss romantic encounters. The Isthmus has a section of their personals called "I Saw You" which is exactly the same thing. Here's one of them...

MAXWELL ST DAYS Sat, trying on hats, U: brown sneakers, ruggedly handsome. Me: itchy but head over heels for you. Let's move to the jungle together.

It's neat to see what people will do to get to the person that piques their curiosity. You try to read into it. Why is the person in the ad itchy? Was the person at Maxwell Street Days trying on pith helmets? Is that why she/he suggests moving to the jungle?

It's a kind of voyeurism, a safe kind. Kind of like Desperately Seeking Susan, in a way, except I can pretty much guarantee you that I'm not going to stalk anyone. Well, I probably wouldn't.  ¶ 3:34 PM 2 comments

  Pretty Fleurs   ¶ 3:21 PM 1 comments

  What is the safe place? A friend of mine is on an extended vacation. He gave me his car keys and asked me to keep an eye on his car, which is parked on a city street. I ride past it everyday, so this is no big deal. It's been happily parked on the street and I've only had to move it once.

At some point, the keys were on my keychain. And at some point, they almost fell off the keychain. And I thought, I shouldn't keep these on my keychain. I should put them some place safe.

And I think I did that.

But, where did I put them? So far, I've looked in all of the obvious places; my backpack, my bike saddlebags, the seat bag on my bike. Nothing. I looked frantically around my house this morning, but I was late for work and didn't have time to do a through search.

I'm sure that at the time I thought I was putting them in the perfect place.

ARGH! Why can't I remember?

(If they don't turn up before next week, I'll have to resort to drastic measures; such as getting the VIN number and going to the dealer. I don't want to do that.)  ¶ 10:13 AM 2 comments

  Comedy Night So tonight I met a friend at the High Noon Saloon for an evening of what I thought might be comedy. The flyer said it would be a comedy show. It was the Understudies Improv Group, followed by the Wisconsin Stand Up Comedy Group, and then the Public Drunkards.

But you know those awkward performances where everyone sits with smiles on their faces but don't laugh because, well, quite frankly, it isn't very funny? And occasionally, you feel compelled to quietly chuckle or smile so that the performers don't feel bad that they are sucking as bad as they are?

It was kind of like that.

The Understudies weren't bad. They had some funny bits, such as men miming what they think a visit to the gynecologist to be like or a Dating Game contestant with Tourette's syndrome. But those are easy targets. There were jokes that just fell flat, and you could only sit idly by and wish hard that they might get better.

I can understand why people heckle comedians; they are just wanting to make their discomfort go away. They want to be entertained.

The Understudies have genuine talent there, and I wish we saw more of it. They'll be performing for free every other Thursday night in the Play Circle at the Memorial Union, and I think I'll try to catch them again to see if they just had an off night tonight.

They were followed by the Wisconsin Stand Up Comedy (WiSUC, pronounced We suc) Group. They really did suck. The first guy was painful, who read from a notebook and did a bit on why he didn't like pirates. Pirates are unreliable, pirates have bad teeth. YAWN. The second guy had just watched too much Comedy Central and thought he was hysterical. It was his first time on stage and he stood at the back of the stage far away from the lights that illuminated it. The last two acts were only slightly better. The last act did a bit on snack foods, particularly chips, that I thought was pretty funny. Not laugh out loud, smack the table funny, but amusing enough to warrant a genuine giggle.

I can understand having a bad night. It takes a lot of guts to get on that stage and say the words that you think are funny. I can still remember a speech that I had to give in speech class in high school that was supposed to garner laughter and was delivered to absolute silence. We all have had performances fall flat. But I paid money to not be entertained. I want to laugh. I'm half way there. All I need is the right material. I didn't see it there.

I didn't stay for the Public Drunkards. I wasn't drunk enough. I went home and wrote this scathing review. And seethed a little bit. Maybe I need to go see a real pro in an actual comedy club and not rely on the college kids playing at being comedians.  ¶ 11:29 PM 3 comments

  State Street Views

Ah, the vernable Paul's Club. Home of large trees, and even larger grasshoppers.  ¶ 12:00 PM 1 comments

  Monty gets the Treatment The Treatment

If you listen closely, you might hear him purr.  ¶ 9:27 AM 1 comments

  Keeping Pace My bike ride takes the same route almost every day. This can be boring. I take note of my surroundings to occupy my time. I note the little turtle with a tail (just a baby!) or the red-winged blackbirds that have a tendancy to dive bomb my bike helmet.

But somedays, I watch the traffic on Verona Road and try to keep up with it.

Now, I have no illusions. I am on a bike. I can't keep up with a car at full speed. But traffic on Verona Road often slows to a crawl and I can sometimes keep pace or zoom ahead.

Today it was a semi trailer filled with rusty car parts. It was pulled by a truck from Mt. Horeb. I first saw this standing still on Verona Road. I quickly passed it, but then the light at PD and Verona Road changed, and it zoomed ahead. I had to wait for the traffic turning right off of Verona Road and onto PD (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE RIGHT OF WAY), but then I was able to then catch up.

The truck crawled ahead, but there was a semi truck blocking the entrance from the bike path onto the dead end near the food warehouse. (Why do they do this? I don't know. I have this dream of being able to slap a post-it that says "Did you know that you are blocking a major bike artery by parking here? Share the road with bikes!" on their windshield. Their windshields are really high though, and I wouldn't want to make anyone mad.)

The truck was way ahead, and it looked dire. I had a big hill ahead of me. And a bit of a crosswind. I shifted down, but the traffic was slow ahead. I had a glimmer of hope.

I pushed up the hill, and the truck moved up even farther. I started the downslope of the hill and looked for my truck. There, it was stuck in traffic. I had a clear road ahead of me, and was going downhill. I upshifted and leaned into my bike. It was still standing still or just inching along.

And then I passed it. I zoomed by, and then the path disappeared to the southwest bike path, and I lost my adversary. But in the brief time that we raced along, I won. I beat a gigantic semi-trailer filled with rusty car parts stuck in traffic. It is all about the little victories.  ¶ 9:28 AM 1 comments

  Some people might disagree...

You Are 36% Control Freak

You have achieved the perfect balance of control and letting go. You tend to roll with whatever life brings, but you never get complacent.

  ¶ 10:11 AM 3 comments

  Bad Packer. Last week, I trumpeted my ability to spell as one of my strengths. This week, I am confessing one of my weaknesses. I am a bad packer. When traveling, I can't forsee my packing enough to do it in a logical fashion.

Things go in, and usually they never leave my suitcase.

Extra socks, extra underwear. Okay, this is okay that it doesn't get used. It's a "just in case" sort of thing.

But...why on earth would I need to pack two books for a two day trip? It's not like I am that voracious of a reader.

I packed my camera. Who takes pictures at a funeral?

Plus, I didn't bring my laptop, but I did bring my PDA. I brought cables for the camera, the PDA and the cell phone. I want to reiterate. 2 days. You'd think that I was conducting industrial spying if you looked into my bag.

I need to be more organized when it comes to these things. I need a packing mentor. Someone who has the art of packing down. Someone who can pack enough to live off the contents of a backpack and look great effortlessly. Someone who always has what they need.

I don't think I know anyone who qualifies.  ¶ 9:37 AM 5 comments

  How I Beat the Heat Temperature yesterday in St. Paul. 101.

Yes, it was a horrible horrible day to get dressed up. I went to Target and bought a cheap light dress in black (with outlines of flowers in brown) that worked well. It was light enough that the heat didn't bother me too much. Even though the church was air conditioned, it felt good to have a few less layers than others did. Some of the guys had to wear SUITS!

Blech.

Even though the event of the weekend was a funeral/lunch after the funeral, I used the opportunity to go and see a few friends.

I told the Oracle of Cheese about my favorite dessert; apple pie with cheese. He was appalled. He told me that as a punishment that I couldn't eat dairy products for a month! What does he know!

I spent one night staying at the Oracle's guest room, and being amply entertained by their 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter in the morning! Plus, the Oracle's lovely wife made us a great breakfast that morning! Yummy!

I went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden with an out-of-town friend, and then walked down Nicolet Street in downtown Minneapolis. There are a lot of skyscrapers in downtown Minneapolis; including the building where Mary Tyler Moore threw up her hat at the start of every show. We wandered around, despite the heat. There were pretty good winds in the downtown because of the really tall buildings.

Did you know that Minneapolis has a light rail system? Evidently Jesse Ventura pushed it through when he was governor, and you can take the light rail a lot of places like...the airport...the library...the Mall of America? Madison, are you listening?

We went to another friend's house and watched a couple of DVD's that evening. I stayed on another friend's sofa last night and was amply cooled by a fan blowing on me all night.

And then this morning? Met my same out-of-town friend for breakfast at kind of a hippie cafe type place. Good food though. And it rained this morning there...to give later today extra humidity, I'm sure.

You know, Madison is way south of Minneapolis, but it is cooler here than it is there. It's only a balmy 90 here in Madison! Their current temperature right now? Well, only 91, but it feels still cooler here! (It only hit 93 here yesterday!)

One more thing...people driving in extreme heat makes them crazy. That's all I"m going to say. (No accidents, no tickets...just a few air-headed moments, a few more than usual. Enough said.)  ¶ 5:43 PM 4 comments

  Hometown Softball

Verona has a LOT of places to play softball and baseball. I came upon this girl's softball game, and watched for a bit. It was entertaining to see an 11 year old slide into home base. Here she dances a little bit after scoring.  ¶ 5:19 PM 0 comments

  The Spelling Police On my list of things that I would consider my talents, I would note that I am a very good speller. I like to think that my nephew has picked up my talent genetically, because he too is an 8-year-old spelling wunderkind.

So, I took a picture one day of a sign that had a misspelled word, hoping to post it here with the spelling thusly noted.

But then I felt like I was being all superior and didn't have any right to point fingers. After all, who am I? If they want to spell 'commonwelth' like that, then who am I to correct them? None the less, I was trying to find that picture today in Flickr, and typed "spelling error" into their search. The replies are pretty good.

Search Flickr for "spelling error"

So I am not the only elitest speller out there who takes pictures of mistakes that please us. I like the "cloesd" sign.

A friend sent me an email describing 'hicking' (aka hiking). It took all of my will power to not send him back an email asking him if he was thinking of becoming a backwoods redneck or engaging in long makeout sessions that produced red marks on his neck. I didn't. I think I would be the only one to get the joke. People don't like to be corrected, not about things as trivial as spelling.

But I do have spelling blockages. I can't spell "license" without looking extra hard at it to make sure that it is right. Is it permanent, permenent, permanant, or what? (It's the first one.) And when I saw this sign...and it looked wrong to me. But I looked it up. And you can spell bus in the plural as either 'buses' or 'busses'. Huh. I guess you can learn something everyday.

So, I'm trying not to inflict my spelling compulsion on anyone else, except you guys. Maybe I can get better. Maybe I can stop thinking about how to copyedit others work and concentrate a little more on my own. Or maybe I can supress my grammatical and spelling madness enough that I can appear normal. I think it will have to the last one.  ¶ 9:26 AM 11 comments

  Road Through the Arboretum It's been a while since I posted a picture of the Arboretum. There is a road that snakes through it, but only bikes can actually go through it. Cars can only go through occasionally, but usually have to turn around at the excellent nature center.

There are now signs along the road in the Arboretum. They say "Protect the Arboretum Stop the Developers". And then there is a home for sale on a fairly big lot with a handmade sign that says "Developer".

Are they really planning on taking one of the older homes there and turning it into something else? I did some research.

Here are some links

Ron Kalil writes an editorial about why developing new houses in the Arboretum is against the vision set out for the site

Another editorial in support of Ron Kalil's argument

I can't find anything from the developer side, but I'm inclined to believe the 75 residents of the Arboretum, the scientists involved, and the staff of the Arboretum when they say that this is a bad thing.

So, in case you wondered, about those signs...now you know.  ¶ 9:04 AM 3 comments

  Unbearable Sadness My thoughts and condolences go out to my dear friend LeenGreenBean, and her family. A few weeks ago, her mother unexpectedly died.

Two days ago, her father died in his sleep, after a long struggle with brain cancer. It is good that he is at peace now.

It is cruel that her family has had to endure this horrible set of circumstances. The funeral is this weekend. I'll be there to show my support and offer my help.

Warren was a good man. He first made me sauteed mushrooms. He made books, handmade paper books that were small and delicate. He had so many books in his living room when I first met him, that I thought that he might not watch TV, just read all of the time. He was an accomplished photographer. He was a quiet, contemplative man, but I had great conversations with him and Collette over coffee on their front porch.

They say that the dead live on in our memories. Warren lives on in mine. So does Collette. They always will.  ¶ 8:47 PM 0 comments

  Since when has a little rain stopped me? I woke up this morning to a light drizzle. I looked on the weather channel. Green on the Doppler for hours. It was going to rain all day.

Lesser people might decide to drive to work, to take it easy, to sigh in resignation and just accept what Mother Nature has deemed to give us.

Not me.

I put a change of clothes in a plastic bag, shoes in another, camera in another. I put on shoes and pants that I didn't care about. I found my raincoat and got all situated.

For some reason, I enjoy riding in the rain. The traffic on Verona Road is always slow on rainy days, and I avoid the stop and go morning rush hour. The trees on the bike path lend dry spots that I can hug, even though my new bike tends to splatter water in my face when I do go through puddles. (I need mudflaps!) But the rain is warm enough, and my raincoat keeps most of me fairly dry.

It's a little slower than normal, but you see more wildlife than you'd normally see. There is no one on the path (except for these crazy runners (wink)) and rabbits and bird rush excitedly about. I saw a raccoon dart into a hole today...they are usually nocturnal, so seeing them in the morning was unexpected. No turtles today, but something has dug into the side of the path and opened a hole, and it usually is a turtle that does that.

Onward down the Southwest bike path. Even the dog walkers have elected to stay in today, relegating my "happy dog count" to a meager 2. There are beautiful flowers in bloom on either side, and I can see a few branches blown down by the thunderstorm on Sunday pulled to the side.

As I near the university, I pass an area with sprinklers on and running. That crazy grounds crew. They have a schedule to make, and if it means running the sprinklers in the rain, so be it. It's silly, and it makes me smile.

I get to work and peel off my wet clothing. On goes my dry clothing, and suddenly you'd never know that I spent the last 45 minutes dodging raindrops. If only more people would give biking in the rain a try!  ¶ 9:17 AM 2 comments

  Making a Movie an Event When we went to go see Pirates of the Carribean, there were people dressed up as pirates. Seriously. Peg legs. Eye patches. Puffy shirts. Hip length boots. Saucy wenches with corsets. One guy even had a blow up monkey doll on his shoulder. It was great; really fun. It made the movie an event.

And when I was driving someplace else, I saw a guy dressed as a pirate on a bicycle. He had a hat with a ostrich feather on it, and was wearing a red overcoat. I wish I could have dug out my camera. It would have made a great picture.

When was the last time I dressed up for an event? Halloween, I think. Or maybe a couple of football games in high school. I did go and sit outside of the theater to get tickets for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but that was just the experience of sitting outside waiting with other geeky types. But there were people there fencing with fake light sabers.

This is an incredibly geeky post.  ¶ 8:56 PM 1 comments

  More at the Art Fair

Airplanes made out of aluminum cans. There was a breeze and a bunch of them hanging from the tent, making them seem to fly overhead!  ¶ 9:29 AM 1 comments

  The Battle I'm not a soccer fan. I'm a sports fan. I am a maniac for what the french would call "le football american" but I only slightly grasp "le football".

Not like my friend Murph, whose enthusiasm is contagious. He writes on his blog with such conviction that you feel slightly guilty for only cursory interest in the subject. It is, after all, the only sport the whole world plays.

That coupled with a great show on the Travel Channel hosted by Drew Carey filmed in Germany and totally obsessed with soccer makes you a little more interested. And the fact the rest of the world is going nuts for it.

So, we've established that I am worse than a fair weather fan. However, I wanted to watch the final. It was Sunday. A friend came over and we watched it together.

And it was pretty good. Until the headbutt. If you've watched it, you know that a national hero behaved in a less than respectful manner towards a member of the opposite team. And he was thrown out of the game. Murph has his own perspective. And this is a French perspective.

When you see bad behavior in american football, you see it penalized. You sometimes see people thrown out of the game. But does it ruin their legacy? Warren Sapp can mouth off or throw an illegal hit, but he doesn't stop being a hero to millions. Since Zidane, who is now officially retired, ended his career with a ill-timed retaliatory hit for some trash talking, some will say that his absence caused the French to lose. (Not me, but some will say it.) Will he have thrown away any chanced he has to be less of a national hero? To have his name among the likes of Pele?

Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Perhaps I have only an American perspective. We are very forgiving to our heros. We are willing to say "Yes, he did something wrong, but it is over now. He has learned his lesson."

Will the French be able to do that? Will soccer fans?

Italy won on penalty kicks. They won because one of the French kicks hit the crossbar and bounced out. Some will say that Italy won because Zidane wasn't it. They won because they played a good game, and didn't do stupid stuff. They won because they were good defenders. I would have preferred the French to win, but they didn't.

C'est la vie.  ¶ 9:05 AM 1 comments

  Mystery I work with a former Nebraska farm boy, B., a graduate student at the UW. His brother is a vet for pigs; a swine consultant. (that makes me giggle)

He told me this, and told me the solution.

Here's the story. The swine consultant brother was called to a farm with 2 pens of pigs the day after a big storm. There were two open pens on concrete. Water ran across the concrete and the sides of the pens were curtained. One pen had 150 pound pigs, and the other pen had 250 pound pigs. The day before the storm, the farmer had check on his swine and they were fine.

The next day, he went out and there were 44 pigs in both of the pens dragging their rear legs.

The vet came and 2 of the pigs were autopsied.

In these two pigs, both had ruptured a single vertebrae in their spines, just above the tailbone.

All of the pigs with the leg ailment had to be destroyed.

What happened to the pigs to rupture their vertebrae?

Answer in the comments.  ¶ 9:59 PM 1 comments

  Movie Review: Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest Imagine a 2 hour, 30 minute amusement park ride.

You have exactly what this movie is. It has a loose structure, a mumbling prima donna, and not much of a plot. Why does Captain Jack Sparrow want the key to Davy Jones hidden chest? Not entirely clear. Why does Davy Jones want Jack Sparrow dead? Not entirely clear. Something about him being the captain of the Black Pearl for 13 years. Was that part of the first movie?

Actually, I found myself asking that a lot during this movie. In fact, I asked a friend that question about a character and he didn't know either. Maybe we are just supposed to sit back and enjoy the ride.

And it is quite the ride. We zoom from the mystical Davy Jones' Flying Dutchmen and it's half human-half sea creature crew to the Black Pearl, to the rakish pirate port of Tortuga, to a savage group of headhunters who worship Jack Sparrow as a god. (Who they've decided to "help" return to his heavenly reward.) Not to mention a sea creature used by Davy Jones as a weapon that is terrifying enough to warrant its own film.

Depp as Jack Sparrow is every bit the same character he was; but we had forgotten how selfish he could be. Captain Jack Sparrow was in it for himself in the last movie, but the adoring masses (myself included) had forgotten that. It's breathtakingly apparent. More than once, I was aghast that he might move in that particular direction or behave in such a morally suspect way. Jack Sparrow can't be trusted, and we remember that very quickly.

As in the last movie, Keira Knightly (Elizabeth) and Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) are just obstacles for Capt. Jack to bounce off of, but I was pleasantly surprised that there was a little more depth to Elizabeth near the end of the film.

And since it is only the first part of a future movie, nothing is really resolved. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the movie did try to explain old bit parts from the first movie, and I was kind of happy with the ending. (Or maybe it is just the end of Act 1).

Anyway, the 3rd installment is due next summer, so we'll get a lot more of our questions answered.

My recommendation? Rent the first movie before seeing this one. Don't expect to learn much. Sit back and enjoy the ride.  ¶ 6:52 PM 1 comments

  Art Fair on the Square My favorite weekend is here.Art Fair on the Square. Well, and Off the Square. And the Farmer's Market in the weirdest (and most stressful) location possible..

I'm not sure what Humpty Dumpty is made of, but it certainly isn't eggshells.

And the contraptions of wire you see are little Rube Goldberg type devices to hang on your wall and mystify your friends with.

Those little green things are little copper turtles for your garden. Nicely pre-corroded for your outdoor decor pleasure.

And of course, I love Van Gogh, and will photograph any homage to him, including a "Starry Night" inspired piece of silk.

What did I buy? A t-shirt. That's it.
Well, and a Chicken Gyro, a bag of Kettle Korn, an Orangeade, an Iced White Zombie Coffee, and some water.

Once in a while, you can do that sort of thing, right? Weather was great, mobs of people like always.

I always come away inspired to create something new.

Now, if I can just be the highest bidder on a good item in the silent auction? That would make my weekend complete!  ¶ 9:27 PM 4 comments

  Last Triathalon Post, I Promise!

My sister (left) and I (right) post-triathalon. Gee, you can't tell we are sisters, can you?

Other pictures blatantly stolen from the official race photographer can be found here. I look like I was having a tough time of it. Actually, I was feeling pretty good.  ¶ 11:19 PM 1 comments

  School is NOT in session

This is on the lot of West High School, which you might normally not pay too close attention to. But the grounds are actually quite interesting. I'm not sure what kind of tree this is growing out of these rocks, but it's small and quite lovely. And then there are the rusty bike racks. And my favorite? The spooky renovations on the roof. Can't you see it being haunted by a mishapen but deeply misunderstood madman? Or maybe I've just been watching too much Buffy.

  ¶ 10:32 AM 0 comments

  They might be terrorists Slashdot has this interesting tidbit about how Western Union is denying deliveries of money to people with the names of Mohammad or Ahmed.

They say they are following guidelines set out by the government to keep terrorists from transferring money to fund illegal activities. (Like that will stop them.)*

This really gets my blood boiling. I work in "the tower of Babel" and I work with people who teach foreign languages. A lot of them come from other countries, and yes, some of them have "foreign" sounding names. I know a few Mohammads and I find them decent sorts of people. Ahmad? Sure, met one or two of them in my time too.

This is worse than racial profiling. This is making judgements based on a frickin' name. Mohammad is like the name John in some parts of the world. Ahmad? Just like the name Jim. Let's all stop doing business with people named John or Jim and see what happens?

Ridiculous. I don't do business with Western Union in any case, and I certainly won't start now.

___

*I heard on NPR that a lot of the money that terrorists use for their activities comes from illegal drug and gun trafficking. THis is how the train attacks in Spain were primarily financed. This is a lot more lucrative than calling their uncle for a few bucks.  ¶ 8:44 AM 0 comments

  Lombardino's Wall When I was a kid, my parents would buy Orv's Pizzas. Orv's was a little pizza place (in Appleton, WI) where they'd make pizzas you could take home and bake yourself.

This was before Papa Murphy's, and before Orv's got purchased by Tombstone and sold frozen in grocery stores for a pittance.

These were real pizzas, and they had this kind of illustration on the outside of the wax paper cover. A glaringly typical Italian chef, complete with the the mustache, grinning out and the promise of a freshly made ingredients and a perfect pizza. Retro, you know?

That's what I think of when I see the Lombardino's Wall. A retro pizza place. Nevermind that Lombardino's is little more upscale than my memories of the old Orv's Pizza. It's a good association and a good memory.  ¶ 9:43 PM 0 comments

  Voices of the Bikers Madison Guy wrote a nice article about the hazardous bridge near the bottom of the hill near Edgewood College. He sent me a nice email about it, and I have to say that I agree with him. I've been very careful taking that bridge, and had a couple of close calls there myself.

But that same day, a co-worker told me about an incident her husband had while driving. Evidently, he passed a group of bikers riding 3 abreast (which is clearly illegal). One of the bikers followed him home and yelled at him to make sure he gives bikers 3 feet of clearance.

This happened in the course of one day.

It's interesting that I'm getting this input on both the car and bike sides. There are an awful lot of bad intersections in this city. It's interesting that car drivers are asking me to condemn the behavior of other bikers.

Bikers sometimes do bad things. I sometimes do stupid biker things too. Car drivers sometimes do stupid things. I sometimes do stupid driver things too.

This all comes on the heels of the "Ghost Bike" sign controversy. To recap it, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin created a series of posters that they plastered all over Madison to remind BOTH car drivers and bikers of their part in bike-car safety. Some of them eventually had to be taken down because of a city ordinance about signage in city maintained areas, and there was a brief controversy about "sign pollution".

If you go to their website, there is a concerted effort to stress both bicycle safety and responsibility and car safety and responsibility. There is no right or wrong party here. It's about keeping bicyclists alive. The fact is that bicyclists are the ones who can die in bike-car accidents. No matter who is at fault.

Maybe all of the controversy will at least point out to the powers that be that there are bikers out there. With gasoline over $3 a gallon now, I'm sure that there will be more bikers, and more bikers can mean higher visibility to car drivers. It can also mean higher risk. And with more bikers, those hazardous intersections and bridges become more of a hazard. Maybe the city will do something about those places, maybe they won't.

We can only rely on the responsibility of the drivers and bikers around us to make the road a decent place to be. I'll try hard to be the kind of biker a car driver can respect, and I'll try hard to be the kind of car driver a biker can respect.

I expect the same from you.  ¶ 8:07 PM 1 comments

  Capitol Fountain on a Hot Day

I saw these kids playing in this fountain up by the Capitol when I was up there for Farmer's Market on Saturday. The fountain is really oddly shaped, but it is the ideal height for kids to dip their fingers.  ¶ 11:24 PM 1 comments

  Rolling Horizon I work at the University, and my official job title is Information Processing Consultant. Fancy, huh? Doesn't tell you that I'm a geek. In fact, it sounds like I repair typewriters all day long. I don't.*

I'm what is known as "Academic Staff". I'm not in my job because I scored well in a test, or because I knew someone. I was given an appointment based on my qualifications. Academic Staff and Faculty make up the bulk of "unclassified" staff, and when you hear faculty complaining about low salaries, you hear academic staff echoing the same complaint. We are a loud and vocal group. The university wouldn't run without us. (Really!)

At first when I was hired in 1998, it was a fixed term appointment. That basically meant, we are hiring you for two years. After that, maybe you'll have a job, maybe you won't.

I did well, and they decided to change my appointment. They kept giving extensions to my fixed term. I had a three year appointment, and then a two year one.

At some point, it became clear that they'd have to cart my body out of my office when I'm good and dead. At which point, my boss rallied for a rolling horizon appointment. This means that I finally have an kind of hazy end date, officially.

If they decide that I'm not suited for work there anymore, they have to give me 2 years of warning to find another job. Until then, as long as the money holds out, I'm good to go, and expected to report for duty on a daily basis. This suits me fine.

My boss has an "indefinite" appointment. This is basically academic staff tenure. He can't really be fired. (Unless he does something really bad.) Someday maybe I can have an indefinite appointment, but I'll have to really work to make that happen. And he has to retire someday, right?

(Just kidding!)

Just feeling rather pleased with myself. Having a little more job security is a good thing. We don't get paid great, but the benefits and the security are nice.

To celebrate? I made a raspberry swirl cheesecake for work. It turned out pretty good. I think my boss is going to be happy he went to bat for me.

___

*What do I really do? I'm glad you asked. The group I work with helps faculty adapt computers and computer technologies for instructional purposes. Not just in a classroom setting either. Lots of variety there, and I get to play with new technologies all of the time, as it is my job to know what cool things are out there. I'm a kind of a professional computer nerd. And it's all Kirsten's fault. A story for another day.  ¶ 10:50 PM 0 comments

  State Street Art As a preview to next weekend's Art Fair On (and Off) the Square...

He was painting the folks eating al fresco at Geno's across the street. LIke this...  ¶ 9:54 PM 0 comments

  Playing with iMovie Monty got a new toy today. I decided to play with video podcast creation, and this is my debut try. You'll need Quicktime.  ¶ 7:57 PM 1 comments

  Devils Lake State Park

The beach that looks out over the lake, on the way up the cliff.	Ozzyie and Lisa on the way up the cliff. Yes, there is a path among all of those rocks.
Yes, Lisa did the whole climb with little Charlotte on her back. She's hard core.	Look at that view! There were eagles flying about too.
Of course, we had to take a picture of ourselves at the top. For proof, you know.	There is a path down from the top called the Pothole Path. I wonder why?
The scenic Pothole path down. Steep but with more level steps than the way up.	I love this picture, even though Ozzyie has his tongue out.

And best of all? We went to Culver's in Sauk City afterwards! For all of our efforts, we got a reward!  ¶ 9:55 PM 1 comments

  The Truth about the Cows on Madison "Do all cows have horns?"

I looked closely at the cow before me. "I thought that only bulls did, but that cow has an udder."

"Maybe it is a Texas Longhorn."

"Holsteins are more representative of Wisconsin."

So I looked last weekend on my travels. I saw no horns on the cows in the fields. I ended up asking my parents.

My mom, who grew up on a dairy farm, clearly explained why none of the REAL cows I'd seen that day had horns.

"All cows have horns, but most of the dairy cattle have them removed, and then a salve is applied to keep them from regrowing."

Why?

Cows are not the sweet languid animals you would think. They can get downright nasty towards their owners, and having horns could be hazardous.

So, the art cows around Madison aren't strictly representative of most of the cattle you'd see in Wisconsin, but since they aren't likely to attack us, I think we are probably pretty safe.

Just in case you were wondering.  ¶ 6:25 PM 4 comments

  Movie Review: Superman Returns Yes, I went and saw the "big" movie opening this weekend, Superman Returns.

I don't really remember much of the 1980's movies with Christopher Reeve or the 1950's version with George Reeves. My Superman mythology is a mess of half-remembered bits. True comic book afficiandos are probably rolling their eyes at me.

I did enjoy the movie though. Brendon Routh is extremely easy on the eyes and oozes charm. He makes an excellent superhero. I never had any trouble believing his acting.

Some people have said that the movie dwells too deeply on the emotional side of the characters but I felt it was nicely balanced. The effects were wonderful without being overwhelming. Even the "other man", the man that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has turned to during Superman's hiatus, was a likeable fellow that you didn't hate. (He was played by James Marstens; of Cyclops of X-Men and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)

But my favorite? Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. I like Kevin Spacey most of the time because he disappears into his roles, and this is no exception. It wasn't cartoonish, it was transparent.

And this helped me disappear from a chick sitting in a theatre to being a true believer engrossed in a story that was unfolding before my eyes. My companion found the movie long. I didn't notice.

I enjoyed it that much.  ¶ 8:38 AM 4 comments