Though it may seem obvious to some, a couple of beers is not a good prerequisite to an evening of sharpening knives. As per usual, I learn through trail and error. Mostly error.

Monday I head out to Las Vegas to meet up with my dad for a father-son-bike-geek-out at Interbike, the largest bicycle industry trade show in North America. It should be a blast. I have rarely had an overload of bicycle stuff, but this may be a chance for me to do just that.

Yet again, far too long since my last post.

Projects underway as of September 1st:
-Home carbonation techniques have been refined. I have made my first batch of tonic water and have perfected my recipe for carbonated coffee. It surprisingly delicious.
-Jennifer's bamboo bike project has come into the final straightaway. I merely have nto sand away the excess epoxy and give it a final finish. I've already got the head tube badge logo figured out. It should be pretty classy
-Tomatoes are delicious, even if they have managed to get the goddamn blight for two years running. At least it seems to only affect the leaves. I've eaten little but BLTs for the past three days.
-Sourdough starter is finally up to snuff. I have discovered the joys of the sourdough. It's not difficult, and need not be all that sour. My biggest problem lies in following a recipe, so I end up with a lot of different breads coming from the same general list of ingredients.
-Job Hunt is on. I recently interviewed with the Montgomery County Planning Commission and found the job to be much to my liking, though the commute wouldn't be. It would require a 10 minute bike to a 40 minute train followed by a 5 minute walk. Given my current spoiled state in which I can roll out of the door 18 minutes before I need to be at school or at the bike shop, this would simply not do. I came to Philadelphia for the walkability and convenience of living in a city, and this would be a sidestep at best.
The second interview was with an outfit called the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to sounding important, they actually produce a great deal of good work; primarily in the form of policy documents and reports on issues affecting livability and economic vitality of the Philadelphia region. Given my firm belief in regionalism and in the fact that the fellow with whom I interviewed was a bike nerd of similar caliber to myself, I think it would be a good fit. We shall see what the second interview will hold.

I'm finally getting the hang of this bike racing thing again this year. It always takes me a few races before I start to see any of the front of the pack. Last weekend 5 of the other Smurfs (Quaker City Wheelmen have an amazingly smurfy kit) and I lined up in Mount Holly NJ for an action packed race complete with hill, tight corners and fun fun fun. I ended up missing the key breakaway by just a few meters. Two riders had gotten away early in the race, and I had gotten into a group of guys who were briding up to the leaders at about 15 miles to go. Unfortunately for me, the hill came up at just the wrong time and something, no everything started hurting really badly on the short climb. I got gapped and never caught back on. The picture above is my last view of the winning move. Maybe next time.

I've been meaning to fill in on the rest of our California trip with some photos of Pete and some insights on why the Bay Area is so ridiculously expensive. But instead I will grace you with the South Park version of myself. I think that it's reasonably accurate as a representation.

 
Time to do a little updating about our recent vacation to California. Jennifer had a conference, so I flew out as well and we had a SPLENDID time. We saw the sights of San Francisco and then met up with Pete Dillon in Berkely. I hope that people have half as good a feeling when they leave my house as we did upon leaving Pete's. That guy just rocks!

The picture above is from our overnight hike into Yosemite. The peak in the background is called Cloud's Rest and is a pretty scenic slab o' granite, it sits right north of Half Dome. I'll post more pictures on the blog in a bit, but the address of the web album will allow anyone who's interested to check out my pictures en masse.

http://picasaweb.google.com/aaronritz/YOSemite

Yes, I actually graduated my program, and have the pictures to prove it. I actually just got a card from my grandmother today, "Congratulations on your Master's Degree" it said. I didn't even know that they made Congratulations on your Master's Degree cards. In it she wrote, "Here's $10, I guess that's enough for 2 gallons of gas. Maybe you'd better stay put. You finally have done something that you can be really proud of yourself for. I know I am."

Finally? Well, I guess that Grandma must have high expectations of us, since the bachelor's degree apparently wasn't enough.

Pictures located here: http://picasaweb.google.com/aaronritz/Graduation

99 degrees in the air, 120 on the pavement. It was a hot day for the Philadelphia Classic. This is the longest running and longest course of any professional bicycle race in the US. 200 riders started and only about 80 finished after 156 miles. Needless to say, I was stoked just to be there. The video shows the second to last of the small finishing circuits, with Svein Tuft, former Canadian Time Trial champion making one final bid for victory as he solos off the front. Badismo.

 

Among my other projects, is the one that you see here. These parts, along with a little epoxy and some natural fibers (ie bamboo) are going to help me complete a life long dream! I'm in the process of creating a bamboo bicycle for jennifer. It's going to be SUPER SWEET! I'll post pics of the progress as it comes.

Just goes to show that there is a benefit to being unemployed.

Holy shit it's been a long time since I posted. Fear not, all is well. Items to update include:

Graduation Status: Yes, Graduated
Job Status: No, no job (yet)
Relaxation Status: Relaxed, very relaxed
Vacation Quotient: Full, but anxious for more
Home Repair Status: Work in Progress, but actually working
Side project Status: At least 3 totally awesome side projects


I'll attempt to post pictures and musings later today.

At long last, school is over.

I must say, I am relieved, but I'm going to have to learn how to relax a bit. Though the finals period were hardly as bad as they have been in the past (April/May 2007 was pretty rough) I'm still a bit edgey, and I have the sneaking paranoia that there is something hanging over my head on a daily basis. I'm sure that something will sneak up on me, like a forgotten assignment, or maybe I didn't turn in a paper or something.

Then I remember, "Aaron, chill out, you're DONE!" Then all is good again.

Now I just gotta get me a job!

When it comes right down to it, I may miss school. I will not miss homework however. I've been putting off my last take-home final until the bitter end because I can hardly bear the thought of staying indoors on days like today. Sunny, low winds and a temperature in the upper 70s make for ideal cycling weather.

I graduate from gradual school in a little over a week, and from there the world is my oyster. Kind of an accurate description when you consider that oysters are damn hard to get open without a shucking knife and some fortitude. Kind of like the job market, as well, now that I think about it. I missed out on the job opening at my current internship, my hyper-productive fellow intern took that spot. It's not enough to just be nicer and more personable, you still have to prove your worth with reams of paper and text. At least I interview well. All that time spent in front of the blank stares of Japanese school children has made me relatively impervious to the discomforts of the type awkwardness found in job interviews. Ganbattemasu ne?

Just two more weeks to go in my educational career, then I can stop learning for good. I have been stressing myself out with the various classes and things that I've got to do before the end of the year. It's not even that I honestly have that much to do, it's just that I'm already mentally checked out to a degree. That, and I'm still very much on the job market in these somewhat fiscally constrained times. In positive news, I am somewhat older than I was last week, and feeling none the worse for wear. I bought myself a bottle of mezcal and a pink bike seat for my birthday. It turns out that mezcal is kind of like the scotch version of whiskey- a taste like a fire pit and lots of kick. I like it, but it seems that most other folks don't have such a fondness. I guess I just enjoy flavors that kick me in the taste buds.

The pink bike seat completes the pink and silver bike ensemble magnificently, however it does crush my ass, so we'll just have to see who gives in first, me or the bike seat. If only there were more manly choices in pink available to a fella.

So I'm looking for jobs right? Hopefully something that I studied to do, is close by and will pay me a wage that will allow repayment of the $50,000 loans that I have hanging over my head. Something along those lines would be ideal. Jennifer said that she'd help me find a job and I saw her looking at the "employment" section of some website.

Jennifer suggested that I work at Turkey Hill Farms in Lancaster. Apparently the pay is pretty good and as a bonous, I'll be able to take home a lot of extras at the ICE CREAM FACTORY!

Maybe she wanted to ship me off because I wouldn't walk to the store and buy her a half gallon earlier tonight, maybe it's the fact that she's peeved that I spend most of my waking time in front of a computer at work or school. I don't know. I do know that I'm going to need to locate a job if I'm going to prevent myself from getting shipped off to the ice cream factory.

A quick listing of the ingredients found on my Torta Cubana at El Zarape, on the corner of Morris and Passyunk streets, about a 5 minute walk from here:

Bun
Refried Beans
Avocado
Tomato
Lettuce
Fresh mozzarella
Ham
Chorizo and potato hash
Fried Chicken Breast
Chicken-Fried Seak
Fried Egg

It was as close as I've ever been to a heart attack, and it was delicious.

Hey, our studio project got in the newspaper!!!

I guess that one would expect it if a guest was a reporter for the Philadelphia inquirer, but here you go.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080328_Phila__visitors_compare_SEPTA_to_Toronto_transit.html

Now that I'm famous (indirectly and actually not at all) the job offers should be flooding in.

At long last I have put together a selection of photos from the recent trip to London and Toronto for my Studio Class. The ostensible reason for travelling was to examine these two cities and their transportation systems and take back ideas for use in the Philadelphia region. Overall, we got a lot of ideas but they were mostly of the, "London is soooo much better than Philly, there's no way we can do anything like that here," variety. London IS waay better than Philly, and I will go so far to say that it is the BEST city that I've ever been to. I say best in the all inclusive sense; it has history but is vibrant with a modern urbanity that is refreshing and interesting. The city is well run and is trying to get better still. They place a great emphasis on global warming and in fact are truly taking the lead on that front. Things are generally clean and they've just pledged 500 million pounds for bicycle and pedestrian improvements by the Olympics in 2012. Stupendous stuff.
After London, Toronto could only play second fiddle. They are much more comparable to Philly, but the city felt like a wierd mishmash of Minneapolis and New York in collision. We did get an opportunity to hobnob with some of the best and brightest from Toronto and Philly at the "Sips and Nibbles" event, which was a good chance for me to practice my "hire me" face.

More pictures are available at my Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/aaronritz/London

Sheeeit, three weeks of non-stop school work behind me, now I just gotta get through another two easy days and I'm off to London!! Our regional transportation studio presented the midterm report on monday, and as I was one of the 4 suckers who presented, I ended up wearing a suit for the first time in 3 years or so. I cannot honestly remember the last time I put my Goodwill suit on, but I looked SHARP! I gotta remember that when I go looking for jobs in the near future.

So yeah, on Thursday we head out to London some time in the evening and have a couple of free days before we meet with some grand high muckety-mucks at the London Transit Agency, London 2012 and some other place that I'm forgetting. Next Wednesday we then jet back to Toronto for a meeting with some important folks on this side of the pond. It's going to be pretty sweet, and in a nerdy way I'm hoping to get to see all of the city planning wonders that these places have to offer. We're going to ride the tube, see the sights and spend alarming amounts of money. Goddamn weak dollar!

What the hell is the "wintry mix"? Back where I come from, the Midwest, people have actual names for the kinds of precipitation that occur in winter. No, we're not quite as eloquent as the Inuit with their 50 odd words for snow, but we at least know the difference between things like sleet, freezing rain, hail, snow and ice. Not out here in the wild wild East. Here, when anything appears to be falling from the sky that is not immediately perceived to be rain, it is assumed to be the horrific wintry mix that gets Philadelphia's collective undies in a bundle. It just reeks of wussiness to me.

It's a good thing that I screwed up my knee three weeks ago, or I'd be going crazy!

As those who know me already realize, being injured normally makes me into quite the whiny bitch when I can't do what I want to do. Not this time!! This time I have changed my tune, and I'm just taking it easy. Actually, my lack of preoccupation with what I'm not doing stems from the preposterous amount of school stuff that I've got going on. I can't imagine being any more busy, even with only 3 days of class per week. My studio class is really the killer; 6 hours twice a week in a dungeon-like room in the basement of Furness, really eats into one's motivation to do other things. That is coupled with three other classes for the fullest load I've taken yet. Yay. I'm getting my money's worth, that's for sure. At this point though, I feel kind of relieved to be overworked as it takes my mind off all of the things that I'm not doing.

In other news, we're hosting a dumpling party this weekend, it should be good times and good eats for everyone. I'm even going to bust out the tako-yaki maker for its thrilling debut in our house. Everyone can enjoy tasty fried octopus dumplings!!

In a fit of inventiveness, I decided that we should make hand-pulled noodles for dinner last week. Despite knowledge to the contrary, i thought, "How hard can this really be?" Well, after abotu an hour and a half of pulling and kneading and resting and doing it all over again we came up with some tasty but not quite as thin as they should be hand pulled noodles, a la Aaron. My favorite style!!

I recommend the experience to anyone, but honestly, it's a lot easier to buy the ones from the store, plus they taste almost the same.

Below is the final result, hand pulled noodles in a peanut sauce, delicious!