Thursday, September 30, 2010

Harry Dresden

Okay, I absolutely love the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  If you haven't read his work, you really should. 

Harry Dresden is a modern-day wizard living in Chicago. He has to deal with all of the things that go BUMP in the night, all the while trying to deal with the people around him who think he is a crack-pot, and trying to keep his friends out of harm's way.

Fun fantasy, and a great escape!

-PB

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Love It!

I just have to take a moment to rave about my Kindle.

I bought one for my wife for Christmas last year, and then I started borrowing it from her.  A little here, a little there...  Can you see where this is going?

Well that wonderful woman bought me my own Kindle for our anniversary, and I LOVE IT!

It is so great being able to carry my entire library around with me wherever I am!  Plus, I am able to take a text document of my script for the play I am currently in, and using a third-party software, convert it to MOBI format and voila... I have my script on my Kindle!  SWEET!

If you love reading, you will love the Kindle.  I really think you should check one out! (and I'm not even being paid to say that!)

-PB

Monday, September 27, 2010

A Plea For Sanity

via Dave Moulton's Bike Blog by Dave Moulton on 9/27/10

Checking on cycling related articles this weekend; I came across two that did not show cyclists in a good light, in fact I found them downright embarrassing.
These were “Opinion” type articles that were not the usual anti-cyclist rants; in both cases the writers expressed that they were all for cycling and an active lifestyle.
Rebecca Farrow who lives in the Murfreesboro are of Tennessee, wrote a piece titled “Cyclists must learn to share the road, too.”
The lady was driving to work when she says she was nearly run off the road by a pack of cyclists riding towards her, four and five abreast. Not only were they taking up the entire opposite lane, but some were over the yellow line and riding in her lane as she approached.
Rebecca estimates there were over 100 riders; even if this is an exaggeration and there were half that number, in my opinion that is too many to be riding in a pack without an official escort. She then stated:
“I was surprised when bicyclists started using hand gestures to tell me to slow down and move over. I was driving 10 mph under the posted speed limit well within my lane and no bicycles were traveling the same direction as I was.
I continued to get hand gestures and dirty looks from bicyclists and started hearing people shouting at me in my vehicle to "slow down," "move over," and remember "three feet." I would have given the bicyclists three feet of clearance had they stayed at least two feet from the center yellow lines.”
I am sorry but I have to take the side of Rebecca Farrow in this instant. If the approaching pack of cyclists were taking only half the lane as they should have been, then traffic within the opposing lane that is driving at a reasonable speed should be of no concern.
It  does not warrant signals to slow down and move over.  WTF, it is the cyclists who should be moving over.
The second article in the Philadelphia Enquirer, by Robert Kelley, tells a story from a pedestrian’s viewpoint.
As with the previous article the writer is sympathetic to the cyclists plight, having previously ridden bicycles and motorcycles himself; now forced to be a pedestrian because of vision impairment.
Robert’s beef is with cyclists running red lights at a high rate of speed, and he states:
“When it comes to bicyclists or motor vehicles, we're not all able to react as quickly as we'd like. In my case, I lost much of my peripheral vision and all of my depth perception because of a head injury, and I can't drive at night.
When I cross Center City on foot to my night job, I can see cars but must try hard to read the flow of other pedestrians. And I will often miss bicyclists running against the light.”
I urge you to read these two articles and tell me if you agree that these two people are being reasonable and have a legitimate complaint against the cyclist’s behavior.
I make no apologies for always bitching about cyclists’ poor judgment and actions. It is pointless for me to complain about bad driving by operators of automobiles, that is not my reading audience.
However, I am hopeful that I can make an appeal for sanity to a few intelligent thinking cyclists who might happen to read this.

Start sharing the road and maybe others will be willing to do the same

Thanks, Dave!
-PB

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Shadow of the King

I have been cast as the wizard in the upcoming Poison Ivy Mysteries production of "Shadow of the King", written and directed by Annelise Murphy.

I love doing interactive murder mystery theater, and I am thrilled to be back with Poison Ivy Mysteries.

We open November 12th at the Jordanelle Reception Center at 2295 West Sugar Factory Road
West Jordan. 

Come see it!!!

-PB

OUCH!!!!!!!

Walking into a dark patient room with an armload of supplies on Sept 21st, I rammed my knee straight into an open cabinet door.  The doctor here at work was worried that I broke the patella (knee cap), but - thankfully - it was just a severe bruise.  "Just". 

Freaking ouch!

Needless to say, I will not be back on my bike for a few days while it heals.

-PB

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I Won!

On one of the cycling-related blogs I read (http://www.bikehacks.com/), they asked for submissions to a "name the photo" contest.

I won!

I will be recieving a DVD called "Nebraska Supersonic".  The story of this film centers around three recent college graduates who majored in French.  They are all slackers to some extent (they don't appear to be able to speak French even though they majored in it) and the plot centers around them trying to find jobs in Nebraska post graduation. 

The three at first go to a temp agency to find jobs and go their separate ways as far as trying to establish an income.  They all fail and later unite and decide to start a bicycle delivery company.  The genre of the film is definitely comedy and the film attempts comedic angles on everything from the jobs they start with, the bikes they ride, the types of products they deliver and who they deliver them to, and the ridiculously low rate charged, even for 120 mile round trip deliveries

It's probably not geared towards my age bracket, but I never win anything, so I am psyched to get it and check it out!  I will post a review here after I see it.

-PB

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Cyclists Ticketed

Borrowed from Dave Moulton's Bike Blog:



Here is something you don’t see too often; 25 cyclists on a recreational ride stopped and ticketed for running a stop sign. It happened on August 28th in Woodside, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I'll admit I roll through stop signs all the time, especially in quiet rural or residential areas where there is not another person or vehicle in sight.

However, I do not “Blow” through at 20 or 25 mph, I slow to a speed where I could stop if I had to, but I don’t see the point of unclipping and putting my foot to the ground if there is no one else there.
On the other hand, if there are other cars or pedestrians there at the same time, I will unclip and come to a complete stop. I do this out of common decency. If I go to a movie theater I don’t push to the front of the line, I wait my turn. Why should I behave any differently on my bike?

Red lights are a different matter for me; I will not roll though a red light whether there is someone there or not. If it is early in the morning and there is not another car in sight, and I could be waiting a long time for the light to change, I will probably then move on. But never without coming to a complete stop and waiting at least a short period of time.

Cyclists will always argue that drivers of automobiles roll though stop signs, and run red lights all the time, and that no motorist was ever killed by a cyclist. 

Motorists for the most part will do exactly the same as a cyclist at a stop sign; if there is no one there, roll through. But if there are others already stopped, usually most will stop and wait their turn.

The same with traffic lights, motorists will push the “Orange” light to the limit and often going through after it turns red. But you will rarely see a motorist pull up to a red light and on seeing no one coming, go on through.
There are of course exceptions to motorist’s behavior in both these scenarios, but what pisses off the average person is when they pass a cyclist, then at the next stop sign or traffic light, he rides past the line of waiting traffic and through the intersection without appearing to slow down. I view this kind of behavior as extreme rudeness.

There are any number of bad motorists out there, but please, do me and yourself a favor. Stop using that as an excuse for behaving badly. Pointing the finger at others and saying, "Well he did it too," is something we all should have left in kindergarten.

If you run every stop sign and red light regardless of the circumstances of other traffic waiting there, this is a pattern of behavior you might want to think about adjusting.

Maybe the riders in the Woodside group deserved a ticket, maybe not. But when cyclists just blow though a stop sign without appearing to slow, it just plain looks bad.

I agree whole-heartedly.  I wish more cyclists would take responsibility for their actions, and obey the laws... just like every other person on the road is expected to do!

-PB

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Starting Over

Well, due to time constraints with the play, I wasn't able to ride as much as I'd hoped for Aug.  I missed my 300 mile goal by about 60 miles.

I am starting again (starting yesterday) with the 300 miles in 30 days challange.  I started with this ride:



I dropped my wife's car off in Magna at a transmission shop, and rode from there, out past Saltaire, and on to home. A nice 25 mile ride to start the month.

And, awaaay we go!!!