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Monday I received my new bicycle panniers! Last night I requested an RMA # so I could send them back. They were difficult to mount on the rack, difficult to remove, my ThinkPad would not fit in the laptop sleeve (hence the “most 15 inch” laptops disclaimer), they were a bitch to load, they looked like crap when carrying, and the shoulder strap wasn’t padded. Overall I have never been this disappointed in a Timbuk2 product but, as a curious foreshadowing, almost immediately after I placed my order the panniers disappeared from the Timbuk2 website. I guess I got the last set! Now I have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to try next.

My long lost ThinkPad t40 has finally been replaced by a refurbished t60. My friends at woot.com offered refurbished t60s with a docking station for the low price of $219 so I happily ordered one up. It arrived Friday and, after spending some time on the configuration, now dual boots Windoze XP SP3 and Ubuntu 11. I’m still installing a pile of XP updates so after that completes I’ll get Windoze 7 running and all will be right with the world again. I might even be able to forgive Zeek! now.

I’m now in week three of my return to the bike -> bus ->bike commute and things are getting more predictable but there’s still room for improvement.

working well

Overall my beloved austin rambler has been dead reliable as a commuter bike and good looking to boot. Gearing is awesome for getting there and back in jeans and not ending up dripping on the hot days the summer has already brought us. I’ve optimized the stuff I carry with me daily to fit in my Timbuk2 metro messenger bag because it slips neatly into my old school panniers, and last night I added a cup holder to the handlebars so I could take a cup of coffee with me to the bus. These touches have made the ride to the bus stop and the final leg of the commute from the bus to the office very comfortable.

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I just finished reading See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody – Bob Mould‘s autobiography and all I can say is Wow! I was never a huge Hüsker Dü fan but when he launched his solo career with Workbook I instantly became a hard core Bob Mould fan. This book helped me better understand how he and his music evolved from being a key figure in the development of the punk scene, to his parallel career as a DJ through his Blowoff dance parties, to his solid position as a music legend.

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After a couple of months acclimating to the new gig I got serious about getting back on the bus. Things have changed a lot since I was riding regularly. You can no longer buy passes from the driver but you can get discounted passes online. There are more buses running so more opportunities to catch a bus, and many of the buses now have WiFi!

Since I haven’t been doing the bike/bus thing for a while I was way out of the routine of getting up, getting everything on the bike, and getting to the stop for my bus of choice. The last two mornings Jill gave me a ride to the stop but this morning everything fell into place and I made it to the stop by bike. The weather was awesome this morning too! Here’s to getting back into the bike/bus routine!

My bike/bus activity also supports the Cliff Bar 2 Mile Challenge. Join me if you can!

In my last post I made mention of apathy being the primary reason I don’t write here any more but it is actually worse than that. I have been making status updates on Facebook and I have been essentially ignoring this site. That’s short-sighted on my part but quite sloth-like so no one should really be surprised by any of this. As with the last post, acknowledging that I have a problem is half the battle.

So today it hit me that I’ve been totally ignoring this site from an entry perspective. Is it apathy? Certainly apathy about this site. I’ve put stuff elsewhere but I have really been bad about writing anything here. Maybe I’ll do better, maybe I won’t. Admitting the problem is the most important part of the battle I guess…

So I’m at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX. What an amazing festival and what an amazing city. The city is vibrant, the festival is WOW, and the downtown bike culture is amazing. Austin is somewhat like Lincoln, NE (but without smelling so much like vomit). Pics of some day one observations follow.

Big Pile O’ Legos!

Hey – A Quickbeam!

And a Surly/Extracycle!

According to allmusic.com this is Phish’s 11th studio album (Is it still OK to call it an album? Maybe so since it is also available on vinyl. Anyway…) and, for me, it doesn’t compare very well to their classic studio album Farmhouse. There are some good Phish moments and it is a good album (that word again) but it isn’t a great Phish album.

This is the latest release from the guy I think of as the master of “Small Rock.” His last release left a lot to be desired but he is definitely back to the Mike Doughty that released Haughty Melodic. I highly recommend this album!

It turns out that one of the plugins I was using was incompatible with WordPress 2.8. I replaced it with a plugin that does the same thing. The new plugin required something not found in my preferred theme so I had to change themes. This is completely annoying.

I just upgraded to WordPress 2.8 and now I have problems. More to come.