Lunds screwed the pooch

if you send a pooch grocery shopping that is.

We were on our way home from the Big Bang Bookclub and decided to pick up some stuff to  make lunches.

One jar of Sunbutter (Sungold foods) $4.79

Two russet potatoes (99c/#) $1.40

One loaf of "a toast to bread" wheat sandwich bread $5.99

We spent $12.18 on four things.  And there was more expensive bread.

Every single one of these items is available cheaper at the co-op, and loaves from a toast to bread were $6 for three last summer at the farmer's market.

where is a salve my ass hurts

Let them eat pie

Guy Woodhouse, my single speed mountain bike, has been taken apart for a few weeks now.  And this next two weeks will involve repainting and reassembling the little demon.

I'm gathering the new components and tidying up the old ones I'll carry over.  Some of the parts were pretty rugged when I bought the bike.  

I've been on the lookout for Phil Wood hubs for about a year.  Every morning running the familiar search on Craigslist.  I even asked how much a new one would cost. I already have mentioned the one I found.  And Shannon is going to lace a new wheel around that. So today we stopped by the shop to get a rim and spokes. And Jim had just put a slice of delicious looking pizza on a paper plate.

Which brings us to the equation for retail business:

pie=r(squared)

if you buy a pizza business will come in the door, preventing you from eating the pizza.

getting busy

So work has gotten franticly busy.  More and more of our competition is closing their doors, so their customers become our customers.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The golf club

So I've been having a recurring dream since Saturday.

It has me riding my bike south along the River road towards Lock and Dam #1, which is weird because I work in the southern suburbs, and I see the person bust out our window.  Suddenly I have a golf club in my hand and bellow "pedestrian polo!"  the phrase "now I'm gonna take $250 out of your body" creeps in as I break the hand that busted the window.

a disturbing dream made worse by putting it in text...

What irks me is that we had better plans for that money which is now going to replace our window.  The glass is on order, I expected to hear from the Volkswagen dealer that it came in today, but predicting shipping apparently sucks in more than one industry.

To all those who thought the price of beer in Canada meant nothing.

Because with enough funding, research can be found for damned near anything.

Rar is Toyota and the Honda didn't leave us feeling civil

So the salesman at the toyota dealer was nicer than the guy at the Nissan dealer.  And the guy at the Honda dealership had conflicting stories (which is it: did you buy an Avalanche as a second car or do you only have one car?!?!?).  Interesting how when a sale is drawn out over a few days how a story can change.

The Toyota was very nice.  But it didn't have the tachometer, and only had the 4 speed transmission.  And we really were looking for 5 speeds.

We test drove an '06 Civic which was awesome.  accept for a few things

1. why was the car in every 6k miles according to Carfax.  but didn't mention the sale to a dealership?

2. why was the battery replaced at 50k miles?  Why was the entire right tail lamp replaced when it was traded in?  

3. why was there a tic-tac-toe game scratched into the hood?!?

But this is not what killed the sale.

First off, the sticker price on this Civic was a little high.  Not by too much, but enough to give pause.  Second, why didn't the salesman change the pitch when we mentioned that the price was a bit high.

So why not a jetta.

We know the current owner.  We know the quality of maintenance it has received.  And the price is well below what the car is actually worth to a dealership.

All I have to do is  be a quick study for a standard transmission.

Will a Honda Fit?

We don't want a new minivan.  Too big, too bad of fuel economy.  

This past week gas has dropped like crazy but I don't see it sticking.  Remember from Econ 101, short run competitive equilibrium.  Since our "free" economy is quickly becoming a sham as yet another industry gets bailed out, I don't see any significant companies leaving the marketplace.   For the moment prices are low, but next week as consumer confidence is restored when Freddie and Franny come out of bankruptcy prices will rise.

But the Honda Fit might fit bikes the way we are used to cramming them in.  Which would be awesome.  If we could have all the characteristics of the van that we liked, without driving 18 feet of boat, or dragging around 3800 pounds; that would be the best.  

In the mean time, we have my parents '98 Taurus.  The car burns gas like there is no tomorrow but it runs.  So we are happy for the opportunity to shop around without renting.

We have managed to be a single car family and plan to keep it this way.  But we did explore the logistics of being a zero car family.  We would save a few thousand dollars a year in gas and maintenance, unless we get sick or something comes up.  It would also make it more awkward to get to some of the campgrounds we want to.

I do plan to bike to work for as long as I can this year.  I just need snow tires.

Math is delicious!

The next meeting needs to be better attended by cyclists. The word comes straight from the councilman’s aide.

Highland gets the lowest traffic, is the most direct from the Ford Bridge, and actually services the Highland Village; but without some support from the cycling community the community is not going to get the boulevard.

I don’t know why this is getting me so worked up. I just realized that the only people who will notice a difference will be the people getting sidewalks without being assessed for them. The laws related to biking are the same. The Parkway will still be on the Twin City bike map.

The folks from Public Works said there are 3 ways to improve traffic conditions
1. Enforcement
2. Education
3. Engineering

It is clear that enforcement is expensive, as it is not a sunk cost.

Education will inform people, but is not an active solution. People know that speeding is illegal, but how many cars are going the speed limit anywhere in this state.

Which leaves engineering. Engineering works well in conjunction with education. Engineering like putting more bikes on a road.

aw crap

The folks on Highland Parkway want slower traffic. We want slower traffic to bike with.

Kevin Krizek of the University of Minnesota established a way to quantify value in bike lanes. His paper on the matter published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol 72, No 3, Summer 2006. His findings “indicate that bicycle commuters in Minneapolis and St Paul prefer bicycle lanes on existing streets over off street bicycle trails.”

Which means that while the bridle path down summit is very genteel, it will be much less effective. Especially since Summit already is marked with bike lanes.

Since apparently Highland Parkway is also plagued by speeding traffic, traffic calming would be a nice addition.

In the journal Injury Prevention back in 2003 had an interesting piece “Safety in Numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling” by Peter Jacobson. The piece is a historical study of accidents in 47 Danish cities, the UK and California (the author works for the Department of Public Health in California). The article’s references make for interesting reading as well. In the discussion of the findings, motorist behavior defines the number and severity of accidents. With more bikes and pedestrians, across the board at a constant rate of N^0.4 accidents occur. If there are twice as many cyclists there are only 32% more accidents not twice as many. By diverting bike and pedestrian traffic from multiple streets to one street traffic accidents overall will decrease.

If traffic calming is changing driver behavior to prevent accidents, bikes and pedestrians are an effective means to reducing accidents. Without expensive enforcement. And 50 years of research in three countries agrees. Bike routes on streets are most effective and 30 years worth of numbers agree for our metro area.

These are not anecdotes but quantitative science. By the numbers Highland Parkway would be the best place. The community wants calmed traffic, but the city lacks the resources for increased enforcement, education has thus far been ineffective, leaving engineering. This is the best engineering option as:
1. it does not assess the community directly for improvements
2. it improves the safety of the community

We want similar things right? Safe streets and no out of pocket expenses.

Well maybe not the same things as bridle path guy. He wants a pony.

Image copyright Jeff Jaques via www.Questionablecontent.net

"Computer please, make me a vanilla double fudge sundae with whipped cream and extra nuts"

As I think about it, more and more, I have no idea how many miles I have actually ridden so far this year.

Last year Shannon and I rode exactly the same number of miles.  This year I have been commuting half the way to work since the beginning of the summer alone.  I have gone on rides on Monday mornings without Shannon deep into Minneapolis.  And she has been going biking with other people too. Since the computer is on her bike, the computer gives me nothing for guidance on the number of miles ridden this year.

The current estimated figure is around 4-500 miles.  I know I have biked roughly 150 miles commuting, and over 300 dinging around miles.  But I haven't really kept closer track than this.  It feels funny to have so immediately participated in an activity and not know the amount of the activity I have been involved in.  It is easy to look at an odometer and say "the van has been driven x miles" but I really have no idea of the milage on Frenchie.

Maybe I should get a computer to keep track of this stuff, maybe it doesn't bother me enough to buy another thing.  (besides I'm trying to save for a bike remember)

bakelite tea service

So we're sitting around watching cheesy movies.

First we watched Star Trek: Insurrection, which I am convinced is the worst of all the movies, even worse than the one with "Rich Corinthian Leather"-man (which wasn't so bad, as I can't take him seriously).

Now we are watching Hang em High, and Clint Eastwood has just woken up in a brothel, and been served breakfast including coffee from a tea service with a bakelite handle. 

somebody missed the memo about the history of bakelite. And I'm a dork.

not a greek drama

I would like to start off by saying that the movie was very suspenseful, well developed, and mortified me.  We just watched Straw Dogs, that old movie with Dustin Hoffman when he was like 12.  

According to Imdb the movie had an "unprecedented amount of onscreen violence."  

It was 

all it needed was a chorus

and wings

GAHHHH!