7000angels's Weblog

Anti-Bikism

7000angels — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:02:38 +0000

Much of my childhood was spent in the small town of Lebanon, population 29,000, I guess. Much the same size as Moscow (Idaho, that is). Now imagine a town that size being flooded with 14,000 college kiddos every last week of August. This small, peaceful, quiet hometown now has a pest problem. Hundreds of them ride their bicycles illegally all over the place, like the sidewalks. I now understand why there are jaywalking laws. Not for the occasional efficiency of taking the shortest route, but rather for situations like this. But in a town of 25,000 citizens, 10,000 jaywalkers is unenforceable. So are the bicycle laws.

I don’t know how many students are killed or seriously injured from their ignorant transportation means here, but I am surprised it is not an epidemic. Rightfully, logically, there should be at least two or three deaths a day due to stupid bicyclists flying down the sidewalks across blind alleys and side streets, and being sideswiped. A double dose of guardian angels must be deployed here at the start of school year.

If the police department here were struggling financially, they could make a killing by issuing $15 citations for those breaking the bicycle laws every which way. And should the policeman be asked, “Don’t you have anything better to do?”, the truthful answer would be, “No.” There’s nothing really going on in a town of 25,000.

I was sitting at a stop light preparing to turn right. When the light turned green I had to wait for this “bicyclist” who was pretending to be a pedestrian. Yep, she was waiting to ride her bicycle across the crosswalk when the sign said “Walk.” So I had to wait. It took her several tries to find the pedals, and when she finally got going she had a hard time keeping things in control. The handle bars and front tire wobbled back and forth as she proceeded at less than 1 mph. It was impressive. I didn’t know you could go that slow.

It must be a status thing to have a bike. Or a fad, or whatever. In a town this small, you don’t need a bike. You can walk from here to there in no time at all, and that would be faster for those who don’t know how to ride a bike but try to anyway.

I’ve always been anti-bike on the roads, but this place is helping to cement my bitter sentiments. Yes, if I were Governor I’d try to push for legislation that prohibited bikes on roads without a clear and designated bike lane. I think it would be high on my agenda, and the “green” folks wouldn’t like it. But that would be half the fun.

A Post

7000angels — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:51:10 +0000

Well, I figure it’s about time to say a few things. It’s been awhile, and in the meantime I’ve grown a beard and shaven it off, my place of residence has moved 337 miles, and there’s a few more wine corks in the collection. Time flies and sometimes takes memory with it. Every now and then someone reminds that I have a blog.

Since we’ve moved North, we have not had internet. And you can imagine that the month prior to moving kept me busy picking up loose ends and packing them. The ol’ World Wide Web has been one of the last things on my mind lately, let alone blogging.

Well, enough excuses.

The Palouse has already been friendly to us. We arrived just in time to see the Spring wheat turn gold from green. An exciting, early August lightning storm chased me into the house. The deer nonchalantly flip their white tails up at us most evenings – a simultaneous symbol of “hello” and “see-ya.” The combines slowly stir the dust, the canvas upon which the setting sun paints its warm rainbow of violet, red, pink, orange and yellow.

A picture of it cannot tell a thousand words. No camera could do it justice. And digital enhancements still can’t catch the cool East wind that blows in each evening after the sun goes down.

E.Z. loves the space. He can crawl to exhaustion with no other boundaries. He can eat all the dirt he wants. There’s enough for the garden too. He’s even taken to the flavor of dried horse manure. We’ve tried to break him of that.

Jen is busy dreaming about what the house could be. We’ll leave it at that for now. There is “potential.”

…signing off for now…

Cooking Bacon Correctly

7000angels — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:54:28 +0000

This guy gets it right. This is exactly how I have taught my wife to make bacon – especially important to remember is low heat and turn frequently. If you need a lesson on this, watch:

http://www.chow.com/stories/11089

entirely too busy to write anything here except this…

7000angels — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:49:34 +0000

so, if you need something to do, check out one of my favorite satirical sites:

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com

Boise City Limits 051609 – Billy Currington

7000angels — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:59:58 +0000

I know I’ll catch it for this. But, yes, I’m putting up some modern popular country music. Hey, modern country music is typically cheesier than CCM, I know. Still, out of all of those “artists” that I can listen to, Billy Currington is at the top. Besides, how can you beat lyrics like “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy”? Well, maybe you can, but anyway. Billy Currington is far underproduced compared to those he shares the pop country top 40 with, and the stories are decent. Believe me, I’ve lived out “Good Directions” many times. Here you go.

Finally…

7000angels — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:26:10 +0000

We’ve had a hec of a time figuring out how to grill tri-tip perfectly. Finally, it all came together tonight. I grilled this 2″ (at least) thick piece of meat perfectly, and as you can tell, I’m proud of it. It’s taken me long enough. I charred the outside to a beautiful crisp crust, and left the middle perfectly medium rare. The cell phone picture probably doesn’t do that part justice, but trust me, this was perfection. Finally.

Boise City Limits 050909 – Elliott Brood

7000angels — Sun, 10 May 2009 03:33:59 +0000

My last blog at blogspot was updated more frequently because it had its regular schedule. There was the good old Sunday Funnies along with other regular weekly events. It’s good to stay regular. I’m bringing back Boise City Limits. This week – Elliott Brood, a fine band discovered on my Pandora Station for the band Haunt. I guess I should bring Haunt on sometime. But here is Elliott Brood for you in all their music video wonder:

Telling The Truth

7000angels — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:21:34 +0000

I’ve just reread one of my top five favorite books of all time. A must read, as Buechner poetically and graciously takes you down, reminding you again that you are human. Or in other words, a sinner. Tragedy of every sort is inevitable in this world, but preposterous grace enters into this world in such a way that it could be anything but inevitable. So much so that one can only laugh at God and with God at how He rains it down. And then the fairy tale of it all – too good to be true, but it is. Buechner’s primary audience in this book is the preacher of the Gospel, but any person who wants to understand grace better should buy this book. You will burn through this book time and again.

Canon Press’ Big Blowout Sale!!!

7000angels — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:23:31 +0000

$2 & $3 books! Get ‘em before the sale ends May 8!

http://www.canonpress.org/shop/

Gone fishin’, and caught a little EZ

7000angels — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:21:26 +0000