Irish Festival Friday 1 August 2008

TGIF All! How was everyone's week? Mine has been pretty good. Its been real busy with summer outings and family stuff, so I apologize for being so lax on reporting in from the field.

The Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival is this weekend and I am stoked about it. The City of Dublin puts on just an amazing program. They are trying to green it up this year by encouraging people to bike to it and providing a bike valet. They're promoting the (re)use of plastic tumblers for the adult beverages and providing several recycling points throughout the festival.

A couple of websites that I'd like to point out to you if you have a spare moment to surf. I came across gasfreecommute on cnn this week and have been tracking my work commute mileage there. I've also pledged mileage on Trek's 1 World 2 Wheels website.

The other place that I wanted to shoot over your bow was Restaurantica. Nice little eatery review site. I will be adding some reviews their over time.

I have been loving the bike commuting to work. I feel so good. I have been able to increase my stamina and muscle strength considerably. What used to wipe me out is turning into common place now. I am glad that work is nine miles away.

I can't believe the number of people on bikes that I see commuting on a dialy basis. This is very encouraging. I have about 300 miles down so far. I need to get a cycling computer that tracks all that stuff. If anyone has a suggestion for a moderately inexpensive puter, drop me a line. The government should leave the gas prices at $4.00/gal and create a fund for public transporation initiatives. Or reduce deficit, but I digress.

Saturday Coffee 18 July 2008

Greetings everyone!  Its been a while since I've done a Saturday Coffee blog.  It has been a very busy time with my new job.

Well, the bike commuting to work has commenced and I love it!  I started last Friday and bike again Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  Wednesday was my first day back in a car in five days and I found myself agitated by the whole thing.  I felt as if I had less control of the situation in the car than I do on bike.  

I hope to ride every day next week except for Tuesday, since I have an appointment.

Darla and I went up to Jazzoo last night and had a great time.  Jazzoo is where the Columbus Jazz Orchestra plays up at the Columbus Zoo along the water at the John H McConnell pavilion.  The CJO sounded great and am glad the series has started again.  We highly recommend checking it out.  

Speaking of the zoo, how about their new entrance.  Well done Jack!  Next week we hope to get there a little earlier to do a little exploring.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  Just got back from the Dublin 4th of July Parade.  Darla and I biked down there.  Even though it was raining we had a blast!  We parked the bikes at Le Chatelaine, got breakfast goodies and coffee, and watched the parade.  Outside of the coffee cup (I don't have a cage on the bike yet) it was a zero impact day.

Darla has been riding to work a couple of times a week and really getting a bunch of other people involved and riding as well.  I am disappointed that I haven't yet, but its only my second week of work.  I think I am going to attempt this week.

Something that I wanted to bring to your attention that's going on here in Columbus on August 23rd is Bike the C-Bus and the Long Street Tour.  My Friend, Ray, is involved in that.  Check out those links or email Ray at raymondmgeorge@gmail.com.

The Crew are hosting the Fire tomorrow.  Dar and I are going with our good friends, the McQuires, to it.  Go Crew!

UPDATE

Well we rode our bikes over to the Dublin fireworks and had a fantastic time.  We sat in the Coffman yard with our bikes and used a tent footprint and a fleece blanket to keep our bums dry.  My new bike headlight and tail lights worked flawlessly.  I have a hiking headlamp that has a red night lens on it that I wore for seeing in my pannier and then wore it backwards around my neck on the ride home for extra visibility.

Saturday we went to the McGuire's pad and ate some good burgers and enjoyed a Great Lakes sampler pak and watched the Crew come back and tie it up against the Fire.  Ended up being a great evening!

Bike Commuting

This past week has been absolutely fantastic!  Darla, Mallory, and I had a great family vacation up at Light House Point Cottages at the northern most point of Cedar Point.  We were right on the break wall.  The Mean Streak was right behind us.  We drove up Tuesday afternoon.

We checked in shortly after 4:00 and started Happy Hour as soon as our backpacks hit the floor.  I brought a light the bag charcoal and we had tandoori chicken on the grill and some vindaloo quinoa.  It had rained earlier that day and the park was empty so we decided to go into that park using their twilight pass.  Rode the new Maverick and all the other big rides.  Absolutely no lines.  Most times we were the only three in the coaster.

Wednesday we were in the park all day.  So many times we try to cover too much ground and miss the details.  This time we really took our time since the main rides were out of the way.  Caught a couple of shows, rode the train and paddlewheel, and even sat around and watch glassblowing back in Frontierland.

Back at the cottage Darla and I had a nightcap overlooking the lake.  The moon and stars were so bright.  Thursday we gently made our way back to Columbus.

Since I took Route 4 and 23, most of it was 55mph.  I got 30.6 mpg in the Subie.  I decided to try 55mph all the way to Lima and back, while visiting Pops for Father's Day.  Even in the 65mph stretches I kept the cruise locked at 55.  Not too many people whizzed by me.  I can see that people aren't leaning into the throttle like they used to.  Anyway, by keeping it at the double nickel the entire way I was able to get 36mpg out of that tank.  Isn't that amazing.  I think we should lower speeds back down to 55mph across the country to help conserve.  I am doing it proactively and Darla isn't even complaining!

I named this post Bike Commuting for a reason.  Outside of those trips, I have been riding my bike for everything else.  Krogers, Whole Foods, Lowe's, you name it.  I even rode over to Darla's work and we rode to a park that's close and had a picnic lunch.  Good Ol' PB&J.  Tomorrow I am going to dry run the commute to my new job.  Its 8.5 miles by car standards.  I've got some recon to do for the Emerald Parkway and Tuttle intersection.  I think there is a back way through Britton Woods and Tuttle's Grove, but we'll see.  

Alright Y'all (for my kid sis interning in Texas), I have to ride my bike to meet Dar for dinner.

Friday Beer 6/6/08

Do I have some updates for you!

I quit.  I did it.  I was sick and tired of having to bend my principles and strain my ethics.  I was able to find another job by my self inflicted deadline of move day for my company.  11th hour, but got it done.  Now I will be on the front lines of doing something about it.  It feels so good.  An 800 pound gorilla has been lifted off my shoulders.

I am going to take a couple of weeks off before starting the new venture.  I am going to spend some time with my stepdaughter and harass the living hell out of her for awhile.  She needs it.  I think we are going to take a family trip up to Cedar Point for a couple of days.  Other than that trip, my goal is to solely travel by bike.  I am going to prep and train a little for my new bike commute to the office.  Its about 8 miles.

Dar and I are going over to Trek Dublin this weekend to participate in their maintenance clinic.  Then maybe hit Whole Foods.

Columbus made it to Treehugger!  Check the article here!  Good Job C-Bus!  If you haven't checked it out yet why don't you wander over to Planet Green TV.  I've watched a couple shows and looks kinda cool.

Oh!  Forgot to tell you.  My garden is bearing fruit (pun fully intended).  Things are still very young, but I have several things coming up.  The radishes and lettuce are growing like wildfire!

Saturday Coffee 5/31/08

Greetings everyone!  What a crazy night last night.  The tornado sirens went off about 4:30am.  We had a small, but strong storm cell pass over us last night.  Its the Indian burial curse from the Memorial Golf tournament.  The story goes that Muirfield golf club was built over top sacred indian burial grounds and the tournament has always been plagued by rain from the curse ever since.  But, It is an absolutely beautiful morning.  The heavy rain greened the grass up and knocked a lot of the pollen down.

For some reason I have become more sensitive to pollen.  I have picked up a neti pot for my sinuses and absolutely love it.  I would recommend using one to everyone, even with mild allergies.  The saline solution really opens my sinuses up and can breathe so much better.

My container garden has sprouts!  Things are really starting to come up.  I've planted tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cukes, peppers, cilantro, onions, etc.  I can't wait until there are mature veggies to try.  I am going to try to track down an organic, food appropriate fertilizer this weekend.  

The compost seems to be working well.  I have a second pile started so we'll see how I can keep this up.  I may pick up some additional pots so I can get a second round of plants going.

Until my own business takes off a little more, I am in the process of changing day jobs.  There are too many things that have recently come to light that I find unethical and I want no part of it.  Unfortunately I don't have the power to change it.  So, I've had a couple of opportunities come up where the offices are on this side of town and I would easily be able to bike commute.  I am pretty excited about both opportunities and will see which one pans out.

In working out some of the logistics of bike commuting, I determined that I can almost be car-free.  We will have to see if I am a fair weather biker or if I can power through inclement times.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Check back in with you soon!  Get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Happy Memorial Day!

Man, it has been busy.  Sorry I've been so absent.  I think you'll all forgive me.  Darla and I went to Vegas and got married last weekend.  No, not and Elvis or Tina Turner drive-thru weddin'.  A very nice ceremony at Mandalay Bay.

Our families were out there with us.  It was a very nice celebratory event.  It was absolutely perfect.  We could not have asked for a better time.  

Dar and I caught colds in the process.  We think it came from the minister, who admitted to having a non-contagious upper respiratory infection.  Yeah right.  So we are laying low this weekend trying to recuperate.

I hope you all have a great, long weekend.  I want to say thank you to all the men and women in the armed services that have put themselves in harms way to protect my freedom.  Thank you.  There are people out there still very much appreciate what you do and what you sacrifice for the rest of us.