Does this need to exist?

Hand pumped espresso machine, or perhaps an elaborate bong. You be the judge.

Kickin' Corner 10 years on

 

Totally should have posted some of these pics weeks ago, but Brendan and Meghan were up for the weekend of November 5th and 6th. Good times were had by all, and an excessive amount of food and drink were consumed. (Meghan seems to be in the midst of digestion in this shot.)

We did the standard tour through the city, which included the Italian Market, Reading Terminal, and the re-opening of the South Street bridge, all of which were reasonably fun. Best part of the weekend was probably making pizzas in our kitchen. Assembling the ingredients that we'd procured lovingly throughout the day. We also did a fair bit of boozing, polishing off nearly 2 bottles of sake, and many many beers. You'll see the results in other pics, but we can safely say that not all that much has changed in the intervening years. Put a few drinks in me and I'm out on the couch!

Yep, boozing and snoozing

 

Economic Stimulus Proposal

I think that the City of Philadelphia should give all of its employees the Friday after Thanksgiving off, just like almost every other business in the city as an economic stimulus measure. If I weren't at work, I would assuredly be spending some money somewhere, some time. Instead, I'm just making money, sitting behind my desk, pretending to be working hard.

Jomar

 

Jomar is the best place to go for crazy deals on crazy stuff. I think they are in the business of selling out stuff from random places that go out of business. I only wish I could have thought of something to do with pyrodex when I was there. Such a good deal!

Makes you wonder if this has been a problem?

 


It's not like the faint of heart would be buying durian anyway. God bless asian groceries.

Not philly, but too cool not to repost

Very cool street art in NYC. Damn that creative empire! We have our little robot-dudes in thermoplastic street adhesive, but New York has us beat in sheer volume of brains and creativitiy.

Dream Job

Started reading this bike review in Cyclingnews because of the bike, but as it turns out Joachim Parbo may have my dream career. Too bad I wasn't born Danish.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pro-bike-joachim-parbos-kch-leopard-cycles-jpx-prototype

Parbo has made his career on the racecourse but back at home in Denmark, he adopts a decidedly slower outlook as a part-time 'bicycle path inspector' for the city of Arhus. Among the job responsibilities are surveying the 560km (350mi) of paved paths, reporting any damage, and generally acting as an ambassador for the fellow commuters he encounters, offering up riding and bike maintenance tips.

Sound like a dream job? Parbo seems to think so.

"I have to oversee 350 miles of bike paths and other infrastructure so I have a lot of ground to cover," he told us just a few hours before leaving the US to head back to Europe. "I can actually train while I'm working!"

Ride buddy

Chanced upon this friendly little guy last week on a mountain bike ride.  He was catching some rays right in the middle of the trail, and was about as friendly as one can expect from a snake.

Busy, as per usual

But good things have come of my busyness.  Last week the City of Philadelphia hosted a Cities for Cycling event: experts from San Francisco, Portland, NYC and DC all came to share their experiences on building bicycle friendly cities and I was essentially the point guy for the project.  I have not been that busy since graduate school.  I spent gargantuan amounts of time coordinating people's schedules, making sure that we had a working powerpoint, getting lunches lined up and plotting the route for our tour of Philly's bike infrastructure.  By the end of their two day stay, I was pretty exhausted, but totally stoked about our next steps as a bike friendly city.  Check out the presentations here:

http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/2010/11/pose-your-questions-for-cities-for.html#links

Miscommunication

I've posted before that my phone number at work is just one digit off of the "Vector Control" squad that does all of the rat exterminations and varmint hunting for the city. Usually a good source of amusement over the course of the day. Today I got another call for the same:

Me: Hello, this is Aaron Ritz

Woman: Is this the place for rat inspections.

Me: No, I'm Aaron Ritz and I work for the Office of Transportation and Utilities.

Woman: Where?

Me: The Office of Transportation and Utilities

Woman: Constipation Utilities? That's the strangest office I ever heard of...

Good times at the City of Philadelphia.

Jaffa Cakes

One of my favourite snacks from the trip was the ever popular Jaffa Cake. Upon trying to discover more about them, I chanced upon this fabulous wikipedia article about the history of the cake:

Under UK law, no Value Added Tax (VAT) is charged on plain biscuits and cakes —
they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are subject to
VAT. In Ireland, plain biscuits and cakes attract the "reduced" rate.
Chocolate cakes and biscuits attract the "standard" rate. McVities classed
its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by Her Majesty's
Customs and Excise and the case ended up before the courts.[8] This may have
been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of
biscuit, and particularly because they are commonly eaten alongside, or
instead of, traditional biscuits. The court asked "What criteria should be
used to class something as a cake?" McVities defended its classification of
Jaffa Cakes as cakes, producing a 12" (30 cm) Jaffa Cake to illustrate
that its Jaffa Cakes were simply miniature cakes.[9] McVities argued
that a distinction between cakes and biscuits is, among other things, that
biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes
would normally be expected to go hard. It was demonstrated to the Tribunal
that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale. Other factors taken into account by
the Chairman, Potter QC, included the name, ingredients, texture, size,
packaging, marketing, presentation, appeal to children, and manufacturing
process. Potter ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake. McVities therefore won
the case and VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes.[10]

First Eats

After finding our hotel, we chanced upon a super-tasty sausage stand. Good stuff. Really good stuff. It was a fabulous introduction to a fabulous city.

Who's having a great first day?

We are!!!! Just outside of Harrods London, where I bought the most interesting "cola" which was dandelion and burdock root. Not bad really, for something made from ditch weeds.

Title?

Something like Giant Labia Eats Worm from Space might be the name that I gave this one in my head as we walked through the Tate Modern museum. I actually liked some of the big sculptures a lot but jet-lagged is not the ideal state in which to view modern art. Or is it...

Almost as interesting as it looks

We were invited out to the Brompton factory for the presentation of the Queen's Award for Enterprise, given to the plucky and courageous folding bicycle savant pictured in the background. Andrew Richie is his name, and he is one of the few people I've ever met for whom the title "Inventor" is the most approprite thing that one could say. He's a kook.

Rainbow Brommies

Unfortunately, they're discontinuing my favorite baby pink Brompton, but luckily they have replaced it with a most excellent sage coloration. I can hardly choose my favorite color!

Now I kinda want a torch

I absolutely love factory tours. For reasons of which I am not quite sure, Brompton brazes their bikes rather than welding them. I speculate that this might be just for a retro appeal, or it might just be some staunch curmudgeony habits. Can't say really.

Patriot

  Didn't really do the flag proud, but hey, that's bike racing. At least I remembered how to fold the flag appropriately when our photo shoot was over.

Poo

The Puerile Professor Poopy Pants Pouting at the Palace Pondering Punctures.