Backyard Audit - Audobon Society

Had a backyard audit by volunteers from the Audobon Society. Despite the weeds and the soil that doesn't drain, the back yard is not in bad shape. Only two invasive weed-type things that I need to pull up (and they're very small), and lots of options for shade-loving plants that can soak up the water. The toads made their appearance, and we can build them little toad houses to encourage them.
Lots of birds, as we knew, including owls and woodpeckers, and song birds. Many options for native plants that don't require lots of care, some ground cover options, etc. Plus, lots of places around here that specialize in truly native (i.e., local to this area) plants. So, lots of garden work, but we're going to start slowly, and examine the options.
I found two pictures of the yard: one is the day we had the house inspection in 2005 and the other is from last fall - with one of the water pools.

Tour de Brooklyn

A fun 20-mile (approxinately) tour of Brooklyn. Totally fun and scenic tour ! I've always wanted to ride through Brooklyn, so this was great. I picked up a biking in NY map from Transportation Alternatives (sponsor of the ride), so I can have a personal, leisurely tour on my own in the near future. Took the new VADO digital video...... here's a shot of the riders (pre-ride) from the KeySpan stadium - on Coney Island.

Another Day... Another Conference

Actually, another YEAR, another conference. Just finished the annual pilgrimage to the IBM/ Rational Software Developer's Conference in Orlando. Very good conference - some new products to look at, especially stuff moving over from Telelogic to IBM/ Rational. The IBM team is great, and the conference is well organized, well planned, and the facilities are great.
Some stuff on my wish list: black diamond sessions, especially for tools that have been around for a while; move the conference from Epcot. Maybe Las Vegas ? or Taos ? or Portalnd, OR ? Or Portland, ME ?

Dinner at Margaret Kuo's - Wayne PA

I have no idea why this restaurant keeps winning awards. The food was OK, but the service is awful. Arrived on time, with reservations. Seated. Then, two people asked if we had reservations. Then, three waiters separately asked if we were ready to order. When we finished the main course, the check arrived. No offers of coffee, tea, or desert. Just the check put on the table- not even a "thank you".

So, this is 1/3 of that dinner party that will not be going back, and would not recommend it under any circumstances.

Brooklyn Tour

Quick tour of Brooklyn on Saturday, May 2. Covered Williamsburg, Prospect Park, DUMBO, etc. Missed Greenwood Park and some other places that I'll have to hit on the next trip (June).

Pictures:


One Way to Love Lane





Tug Boat in the East River




Long-Distance View of Ellis Island

Missing the Netherlands

I miss the Netherlands. The whole country, including Amsterdam. It's just so sane. I don't care about the taxes; life is just such a livable scale there.
Yeah, it's not perfect - but what is ?
What I like: riding bikes, honesty, public transportation, two kinds of licorice (sweet and salty); food - breakfast, lunch, and dinner, brown boats, bike paths through farms, bikes.

Spring 2009 Cancelled

It appears that spring has been cancelled for 2009. Here's the view this morning - 6 inches of snow. It was 61 degrees (F) on Friday.

Justifying a New Bike

How to Justify Buying a New Bike -
Use the "cost per mile" method: cost/distance. Get a new one when the cost is below your target level.

If your bike costs $2,000, and you ride it 2,000miles the cost per mile is $1.00. Once you ride it for 4,000 miles, the cost is now $0.50 per mile. At 8,000 miles, the cost is $0.25. At 10,000 miles the cost is $0.02 per mile. At 20,000 miles, the cost is $0.01.

If you average 1,500 miles per year, that's 13 years, which is long enough for a bike, if you don't have any accidents. The difference in bike technology over 13 years is enormous.

Hanging on Until Spring

Things are slow in the blogshpere. Not cold enough consistently for ice-skating. Too much frozen rain for in-line skating. I went skating last Sunday (1/25) and found black ice on the bike path.

This is the view today from my home office. ---->

On the positive side, I did find EXACTLY what i've been looking for since 1993 to prevent blisters under my ankle bones - reusable round gel pads called "Clear Clouds"..... I got them from a web site called "Skating Safe" (located in Florida). Excellent response times from this company.
http://www.skatingsafe.com/

I think I'll be skating more this spring than riding my bike... makes a nice change. My goal for 2009 is to learn to do cross-overs. Tried to learn it once, but it didn't take. I'd also like to learn how to handle hazards - sticks, etc. in my path.

Holidays to get us through the winter and spring:January - Lunar New Year
February - Valentine's Day; plus, the daylight lasts longer.
March - 21st - Vernal Equinox (SUMMER STARTS HERE !)
April - Tax Day, start of good water conditions for Kayaking.
May - Every day is a good day !!!

Dyanmic Music Videos

http://evanjacover.com/archives/2007/im-more-important-than-you

Check this out - it's a nice song that's a wonderful alternative to road rage, but the best part is that it uses random pictures from Flickr to create a potentially-new video every time you play the song. If you want to do the same, the site owner supplies the source code.

And the song is actually pretty good - i'd love to have it on my iPod to play in traffic - for those 'special' people on the road.