the anonymous senator

not so anonymous, really 
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October 16, 2009

helmet perspective

But it also makes the point that, whereas Australian cyclists have not necessarily benefitted from helmet laws, people in Europe who don't wear helmets remain happier and thinner and better-looking and generally superior to everyone else in the world (as any devotee "cycle chic" will happily tell you) because their governments put the safety all around cyclists in the form of a bicycle infrastructure instead of concentrating it in tiny pieces of styrofoam and forcing riders to put it on their heads. In this sense, the message mandatory helmet use sends to cyclists is, "Cycling is really dangerous, but your safety is your problem. Good luck!"
via bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com

 

Filed under  //   bikes   work  

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October 9, 2009

destroy ambiguity, and The David's still got it

But perhaps the most significant short-term factor in ensuring consistent decision-making is increasing your discomfort with not doing it. If you raise the bar internally with how much ambiguity and lack of clarity you are willing to tolerate, you'll find it much easier (necessary, actually) to just get on with it. We spend thousands of hours holding a focus for our clients to make hundreds of thousands of decisions that have been pending in their psyche and their world—from random papers on their desk to key issues distracting their consciousness. They would not have allowed those to linger had their comfort zone not tolerated them.
via Productive Living

I've come to think of us as living in a post-GTD era. David Allen's ideas have reached their maximum cultural spread and are decreasing in relevance as lifehackers move on to simpler, lighter (and messier) task management and productivity approaches. But this excerpt from his Productive Living newsletter shows that he's still got that intuitive understanding of the work mind.

So much of what holds me back from "getting things done" is avoiding decisions. That's why when I get stuck I think of my mantra - destroy ambiguity. I've been meaning to think of a way to explain it, but David's done a great job of explaining it for me.

Filed under  //   productivity  

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October 8, 2009

Project: Islands for Islands | GOOD

Fix a traffic island in your city and we’ll send you to an island in the Caribbean.

For this project we’re asking you to pick an ugly traffic island in your city and spruce it up—either in Photoshop or in reality. Add a bench or a sculpture, plant some flowers, whatever you can think of to make that neglected pedestrian junkspace more hospitable.

The winner will get a vacation to the Caribbean island of Dominica. Read on for the details.

via good.is

So strange that what was once part of my job can now win someone a vacation.

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October 7, 2009

new Washington D.C. bikestation

It's a beautiful thing.

Filed under  //   bikes   work  

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September 25, 2009

original, genuine swiss issue

The company from which Wenger emerged had been a supplier to the Swiss Army as early as 1893, and its sister-company, Victorinox, since 1890. Wenger is in the French-speaking Jura region and its competitor is in the German-speaking canton of Schwyz. To avoid friction between the two cantons, the Swiss Government decided in 1908 to use each supplier for half of its requirements. So Victorinox can lay claim to being the “original”, Wenger can state its Swiss Army Knives are “genuine”. In any case, both have been manufacturing Swiss Army Knives for over 100 years and both must meet identical specifications defined by the Swiss Army.
via wengerna.com

Ever wonder how Victorinox and Wenger can both lay claim to making the historic Swiss army knife? Wenger lays it out in their company history page.

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August 31, 2009

making it look easy

I recently discovered Derek Sivers fabulous blog. He is one of those people, like Seth Godin, that are good at identifying felt-but-unseen trends and truths in a simple, accessible way.

Yesterday he wrote about something that drives me up the wall when it comes to athletics, for which I didn't know there is a word: sprezzatura.

“Sprezzatura” is an Italian word that means “to hide conscious effort and appear to accomplish difficult actions with casual nonchalance.”

In other words, making it look easy. All of the great outdoor athletes I know make it look easy. Not intentionally, to fool their competition or shame their friends - their training habit is so ingrained that they just don't talk about it anymore. Don't talk about the struggle to start training, keep training, get over injuries, get up early - because it's nothing remarkable. As the observer in the race, I don't see the training, I just see someone just like me blowing past me on the bike. It makes it so easy to trick myself, again and again, into thinking I can do it, too. All it takes is hours and consistency. How hard can that be?

Pretty damn hard, it turns out. Again and again. Have I mentioned I've indefinitely postponed the Devils Path-Escarpment 100K?

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August 27, 2009

signs of a successful weekend

  1. It's four days long
  2. You left your shoes at home
  3. You get a sunburn
  4. You didn't shower indoors
  5. Your car needs to be vacuumed

Filed under  //   family   travel  

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August 17, 2009

places to live

I amused myself this morning by creating of a map of towns I wouldn't mind living in if I didn't have to worry about commuting. Later on I will add notes on why I like these places. All are places I've been, most are near trails and water.


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August 3, 2009

vintage spinning

Right behind the snack bar at the drive-in in Wellfleet, MA there's an old (vintage!) playground to take the kids to when they get bored of the movie. We went there for the flea market, and everyone's kids had a ball playing on this spinning thing. (What is it's name? I feel like I should know.) Obviously they don't make these anymore.

They still run movies there - I just saw Harry Potter 6 with my wife on an appropriately dark and stormy night.  The first movie that I can remember seeing there is, I think, The Empire Strikes Back.

I also went to the beach.

Incidentally, Colorado photographer Brenda Biondo takes beautiful but perhaps unnecessarily haunting photographs of old playground equipment.

     
Click here to download:
vintage_spinning.zip (1682 KB)

Filed under  //   family   travel  

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July 14, 2009

my new endurance project

I'm starting a new endurance project. One that's big enough, questionable (i.e. stupid) enough, and soon enough that it just might keep me motivated. I'll be posting about it here over the coming weeks, but here's how it started.

One of regional trail races that's been on my to do list for a while is the Escarpment Trail Run, a tough, rocky 30K race held every July in the Catskill Mountains. Not far from there is the Devil's Path, a classic 25 mile hike that I did in a long day with my friend Julia a few years ago. Sometime last year I remembered how Dean Karnazes had run an ultra distance on the way to the start of an ultra event.  I looked on the map and sure enough, there's a trail linking the east ends of the Devils Path and the Escarpment Trail. I thought, someday I should run Devils and arrive in time for the start of the Escarpment race. (Not this year.)

If you link those two trails together, you get 61.2 miles - just shy of 100K. I started thinking about running it, or hiking it, in one straight shot this fall. 100K on the toughest trails in the Catskills - hardcore. I started telling people about it. One person here, another person there. I started to commit to it in my mind. I mentioned it to Hugo, my former adventure racing teammate in Texas, and he said he would fly out and do it with me, provided we set a date. So we did - September 19th.

Then I looked at the calendar and started getting worried. I searched the internet for ultra training plans, but they all go back 6-9 months and assume you're in marathon shape. I got really worried. There is no way a person could train for an ultra in 10 weeks.

Thankfully, I realized this is not an ultra. It's not a race. It's whatever kind of test I want it to be. Even if I'm feeling awesome by event day I'll still stash camping gear with my shoes and nutrition at the midway point, just in case. If I'm feeling physically unprepared then I'll stash a car or bike with the gear.  

Besides, I feel more excited about this than about anything I've done outside in a long time. If it's not impossible, why do it?

Filed under  //   endurance  

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