Khakis anyone?

Last fall I was approached by an advertising agency representing Life Khakis.  They wanted to make a video of people doing interesting jobs and also wearing khaki pants.  I apparently fit the bill nicely.  We spent one afternoon and then a Sunday morning filming me out riding the bike I built and then got some shots of me in the basement working on a bamboo bike.  The end result looks pretty cool.

http://lifekhaki.com/#!/video/drive

Vancouver

God bless junkets. Jennifer had a paper accepted for the American Educational Research Association conference held in Vancouver BC. A more spectacularly situated city I have yet to see.  Downtown is a mass of aqua colored glass sky scrapers set against some remarkably beautiful mountains and the sea. It also seems to have the best network of parks of anyplace I've ever been. Stanley Park is great and there are dozens of cool little squares and the like all around the city. That said, the city also has this totally surreal vibe of a place whose main product seems to be livability, almost all of the construction is new residential high rises that are going up literally wherever you look. Our hotel is right by three different sites where they are building condos. Nobody really seems to work here, at least not like the other really rich cities that I've been to like New York or London. There every one seems to be rushing off some where, but in Vancouver it's like they are all just chilling. I speculate that there is just an enormous amount of second home ownership that occurs here. You make your money doing whatever in Tokyo or China and then you move to Vancouver for the prestige of it or the parks or the nearby mountains or the Marina or the friendly Canadians. Don't get me wrong, it's great, just weird.

Gardening

Sawzalls on a bamboo rod with some good old fashioned duct tape makes a decent pole saw. This wasn't exactly what Jennifer had in mind when she said, "Let's go to the garden and get it ready for spring planting." But it kept me occupied and out of trouble.

You put that on your pizza?

Yup, cracked an egg on the pizza right before we threw it in the oven.pretty awesome despite my initial misgivings.

Distracted Walking Only Lane

What we've been up to at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/April-Fools-Day-Joke-Raises-Awareness-on-Distracted-Walking--145512585.html

Ahh, the internet, how would I find out all the weird stuff without you.  My co-worker forwarded me this list of advice for the 19th century cycling woman.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895/

My favorite is, "Don't cultivate a bicycle face."

Chicken fingers?

For some reason, our Cambodian neighbors think that we need to be fed every once in a while.  They bring over things like spring rolls, rice porridge, some fruits, and last week, chicken soup.  The broth was excellent, and the greens were crispy and good, but I just can't really get into chicken feet.  It's just kind of a sloppy cartilaginous skin on some bones.  Not exactly "good eats" from my perspective. 

My job ends, all hail my new job

The Centers For Disease Control grant that's funded my job for the past 2 years ended yesterday. It's been a pretty good run. Lots of good experiences, a number of excellent colleagues and I've been able to immerse myself in making the city better for people who walk and ride their bikes. Pretty much the perfect job. Though the grant ended, I'm pleased to say that I won't be leaving MOTU afterall. I've been moved over to the City's general funds and have been assured a place here for the next couple of years. Luckily, most of the awesome people who were hired with me through the Get Healthy Philly initiative are staying on. Here's a note from Giridhar Mallya (GEER-thur)the program director about the awesome stuff we've accomplished. 

 Over the last two years, we have implemented an impressive collection of policies and programs that make it easier for Philadelphians to eat healthfully, be physically active, and live smoke-free. It’s hard to summarize our accomplishments in a brief letter, so please stay tuned for our Get Healthy Philly Annual Report in May 2012. Here, though, are some quick highlights:

• 200+ smoke-free recreation centers, playgrounds, and pools, affecting over 2 million visits per year 

• 600+ healthy corner stores, increasing access to healthy foods for hundreds of thousands of low-income Philadelphians 

• Nearly 2,000 tobacco retailers that have applied for permits from the Department of Public Health, enabling us to monitor and enforce tobacco laws, particularly those preventing sales to thousands of youth smokers 

• 160 public schools, serving 100,000 Philadelphia children, that have implemented healthy fundraisers, socialized recess, and classroom movement breaks 

• Tripling of Quitline use among Philadelphians and expansion of smoking cessation coverage for 80,000 adult smokers covered by Medicaid 

• Two new dedicated bike lanes, large-scale pedestrian and bicyclist safety education and enforcement, and embedding of health impact assessments into the citywide district planning process 

• Tens of millions of media impressions encouraging Philadelphians to quit smoking and reduce their sugary drink consumption. 

 The changes that we’ve fostered over the past two years will have long-lasting effects. Over the course of the next 6-12 months, we will be completing evaluations and looking to share the impact of our collective work through conferences and publications.

 

Puffin'

 
After a flurry of house cleaning last weekend, we decided it was time to get rid of the cigar that Todd Shirk gave me in high school. It was dominican, and as crispy as burned toast. Cigars stink pretty bad, but I couldn't just throw it away. Plus, it was Jennifer's birthday on Monday, so a celebration was in order.

Though I've got no interest in tobacco products, my glass of scotch was fabulous after puffing on that stinking log.

Dragon breath

 
Our trusty backyard guardian, the bamboo dragon, finally returned to ashes. Claire gave it to Jennifer and me a few years ago as a windchime, and after enough time covered in bird poo, rain and sun, it was time to send it off. The chimenea proved to be an excelent crematorium.

There's a political platform for you

 

Jennifer and I saw this a while back, and I just stumbled upon the image in my phone. Apparently the guy is talking about the tree of heaven, or ailanthus tree. It really is a weed here, and does do a fair bit of damage to cement, but I think the message is a bit overwrought don't you?

new toy

 
Since my knee flared up again and I can't ride my bike for a few weeks, I've gotten myself a new tool (some might say toy). It's a 9"x16" metalworking lathe from Emco. It's pretty much ideal for the type of stuff I'd do: small to medium sized bike parts and tooling accessories. I can also justify it by making cool stuff for the house, like multi-dimensioned metal bars and uhhh, stuff.

Merry Christmas from Nam and Fam

 
Nam lives across the street from us, and we often see him out smoking, puttering with his cars and such, going fishing with his kids, talking with crazy Nick etc. He always greets us with a "Hi Jennifer and Eric!" and then tells us something helpful like, "You take care of your car, it take care of you."

That's right, I'm from IOWA.

You know which one I got...

What I've REALLY been up to.

Other people's adventures

My teammate Brett is on his way back home from the west coast by bike.  Everyone told him that it was crazy to plan a trip through the mountains in November, but then again, Brett is crazy.

Check out the adventure here:Brett's Blog

What the heck is Mid-Tek

My modestly-crazy friend and former boss Mike from Trophy has decided to spice up the slow winter months by engaging his secondary passion in weird machines. He's focussed, or perhaps obsessed with typewriters and things that he might have used during his stint as a reporter in the late 80s. The concept is called Mid-Tek and it occupies about 40 square feet of real-estate in the front corner of the bike shop. I built up the screen and sliding door to cordon off the shop as part of a trade for my new favorite bike, the Brommie!

Check out the concept here http://midtek.me/

Maitake Mushrooms, in nature

It's apparently been a bumper year for mushroom hunters this fall. The cool, wet weather has been perfect for all of these different fungi. This is a maitake mushroom that I found growing from the base of an oak tree in Fairmount park. It was really tasty when fried up, but had some issues with grits. Apparently the dirt that got kicked up onto the mushroom from the nearby trail was quickly incorporated into the flesh, and proved impossible to scrub out. The end result tasted a lot like turkey bacon with sand. Almost delicious!