Archive for February, 2008

Costa Rica – Natural Awe

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

It has taken me a while but it is time to finish off the pictures from Cotsa Rica. By far the most impressive part of the trip was just observing nature. Enjoy . . .

This was a section of rocky beach that was cool to look at. I’m not sure how the circular pattern developed. My suspicion is a combination of water and intense sunlight.

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We saw a few iguanas, both alive and dead. The dead iguana was in the middle of the road, an obvious victim of being hit by a car, and this one was missing the end of its tail. Must not be easy to be an iguana in Costa Rica.

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We saw lots of pelicans.

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Hermit crabs were everywhere! When the sun set the entire beach was full of them. No joke here, we are talking 1,000′s of them all at once scavenging the beach. It was stunning to witness.

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We saw several groups of birds that were migrating.

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Most of the beach was sandy but there were rocky portions that made the crashing waves cool to look at.

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Ummmm, paradise?

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As you can see, the beaches were really, really crowded.

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One day we went to a quiet island . . .

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. . . and they had a pet pig. Witnessing the pig and being on the island took me back to a high school English class when we read Lord of the Flies. I should read that book again.

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And in the somewhat unrelated but interesting category, we were in the airport in San Juan and we saw this kid in line. The note of interest is that she is wearing a Carters Jacket - the company Ariel designs for.

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Bike Hacks Entry

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

I have been spending time on Bike Hacks but I don’t want to neglect bike related content on Pintglass so expect some cross posts.

Brendon wrote a few days ago about ways to “Ugly” your bike. Because I have to lock my commuter bike outside a great deal I have been practicing the art of deceit for some time. It’s not that my commuter bike is all that wonderful anyway, I only paid $100 for it. Actually, that brings up another hack.

When I moved to NYC I wanted a bike that would get the job done as far as commuting but not attract much attention. After a few days of looking on craigslist I found the perfect “mule.” It is a 1985 Peugeot that had been sitting in some closet, untouched for years. It had a thick coat of dust and flat tires when I went to pick it up and looked as if it had been ridden about 100 miles in it’s 20 year lifespan. Perfect! Old but “new” at the same time.

I decided to mix it up a bit and do a combination of “uglifying” techniques. The first thing I did however was to wrap most of the frame with Saran Wrap. This is a good hack because some day you just may want to take the disguise off and this will ensure that it comes off easily.

After wrapping the frame in plastic wrap, I used a mixture of inner tubes and duct tape. I put tubes where my lock commonly rests on the frame when I chain up and duct tape on various portions of the frame.

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The inner tubes are secured with zip ties. Then I moved on to the fenders which you also can see in the picture. Now this is where I do have a bone to pick with the Make Magazine article Brendon pointed to on uglifying your ride. It states:

“A can of spray paint is a good start but choose wisely. Black is out. We’re talking ugly here, not cool. Think orange.”

I happen to believe that orange is beautiful so it’s the perfect match. The majority of the population probably thinks my orange spray painted fenders are ugly while they make me smile. Bonus for me. Here is a picture of the whole ride.

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I also have peppered it with stickers and even some stuff I have found on the road like this air freshener. Nothing says irony like a car air freshener on a bike.

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Posted in Cycling | 4 Comments »

Had a bad day?

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

A music video for your enjoyment.

glumbert – Bad Day at the Office

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Bike Accident

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

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This means war!

Monday, February 4th, 2008

I am a peace loving person, but I am declaring war. I am calling on others to join me in what I see as a just war. What has gotten me riled up enough to want to declare war you ask? Well, listening to Troy Aikman during the Super Bowl pushed me over the edge.

Now do not get me wrong, I have nothing against Troy Aikman, other than the fact that I despise the Cowboys and he was a member of the egocentric “America’s Team.” My angst had been growing a long time and involves most of the American population, including myself. It’s just that countless Fox NFL telecasts this year were the proverbial last straw.

I am declaring war on starting a spoken sentence with the following words:

“I mean . . . . “

“You know . . . “

I am not a grammarian by any means and I do not even know what the technical terminology is for a sentence that starts with such words, however I do know that I find them extremely annoying and unnecessary. For example . . .

“I mean that Tom Brady is a tremendous player.”

“You know Eli Manning has really matured this year.”

Isn’t in perfectly acceptable to say:

“Tom Brady is a tremendous player.”

“Eli Manning has really matured this year.”

What do “I mean” and “You know” have to do with anything? The answer is, NOTHING! Therefore I urge you to declare war with me. This is a self imposed war on yourself really, I am not asking you to physically strike someone who begins sentences this way. I am asking that we seek to eliminate the use of these “sentence introductions” (official Big Apple Blog term). If all of you out there get the ball rolling we can begin this offensive on these offensive “sentence introductions.”

So I say, CHARGE! Maybe after a few decades our self imposed war will pay off. I mean I can’t tell you how happy that would make me! =)

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