This past weekend I took the Dahon folder on Amtrak to Chicago for the annual Bike the Drive bike ride.  Lake Shore Drive is shut down for four hours and taken over by 20,000 bicyclists.  It was a great time in a great city.

More photos

We almost had a riot at work yesterday morning.  On account of the Great Swine Flu Panic of Twenty Aught Nine, the cafeteria has banned people from filling up their mugs and other drink containers.  This created an angry mob of  women brandishing their 80-ounce Big Gulp mugs and demanding access to the pop fountains.  I was scared for a minute.

Be sure to check out Blackhand Strawman, a documentary of the history of organized crime in Kansas City.  Unfortunately the production and editing is kinda bad, but the storytelling and subject matter is fascinating.  The movie is showing right now at both Screenland Theaters.

Blackhand Strawman was made by Terrance O’Malley, the same guy made the most excellent Nelly Don: A Stich in Time.

My MacBook Pro has had a bad optical drive for a few weeks.  It got progressively worse until this week when it refused to read any CD or DVD.  It just ejected anything I tried to put in.  All of my research pointed to a failed drive, until I found this mention of a dusty lens.  The author details removing the optical, disassembling it, cleaning the lens, and then putting it all back to together.

I wasn’t in the mood for computer surgery, so I was intriqued by some comments on the post talking about cleaning the lens without taking anything apart.  While Q-Tips were mentioned, I went with the suggestion to insert a credit card wrapped in a thin t-shirt.  That one did the trick, and now I have functioning optical drive again.

Porch swing: acquired

Originally uploaded by erogers

When we were closing on the new house back in September, there was nearly a crisis over the porch swing. Our real estate agent freaked out when the sellers took the old swing with them. Fortunately it was kinda ugly, so we were happy for the opportunity to select our. But then it was surprisingly difficult to find a new porch swing. We tried all the usual suspect hardware and garden stores, but found that only Lowe’s carries porch swings. Maybe because front porches are endangered species in America?

So we were a little nervous about how bad it would be this year living so close to Westport and having the parade relocated to the neighborhood.  Fortunately it wasn’t too terrible.  There were lots of cars and people in the Volkerhood, but the worst were the helicopters.  We live really close to Southwest Trafficway and Mill Street, near the Sunfresh, and had a police helicopter hovering over that intersection most of the day.  Then at various times as many as three TV news helicopters added to the mix.

Fortunately we only encountered one instance of someone peeing in a neighbor’s yard and only one guy puking in the street.  Otherwise, it was some awesome people watching, including two teenage girls getting into a fist fight down the block.  Good times!

I also managed to duck out for a bit to see some of the parade….

Venereal Disease -> Sexually Transmitted Disease -> Sexually Transmitted Infection

Indian -> Native American -> Indigenous American

Documentary -> Non-fiction cinema

Date rape -> Intimate violence

Handicapped -> Disabled -> Persons with Disabilities -> Differently Abled

Any others?

This week I finally got around to trying a couple of new joints that have opened recently in Midtown.  Both are pretty good additions to the local scene…

Duchess of Flanders is a new “homemade take out” operation that specializes in fresh, local food for lunch and dinner.  The menu changes weekly, but usually includes sandwiches, soups, pastries, etc. It’s on West 39th Street at Genessee, across from Starbucks in the former Nutty Girl building.

El Rancho Mexican is another place focusing on fast food with fresh local ingredients.  It’s kindof setup like a Subway, but with yummy Mexican food. Plus, it’s open late.  2:00 a.m. during the week and 4:00 a.m. on the weekends.  El Rancho is on Mill Street in Westport, in the old Pyramid Pizza spot behind Chilli’s.

That awful wingnut “pastor” Rick Warren has finally received the Santorum treatment.  A church called Saddleback was just asking for it.

Saddlebacking: the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities. see also www.saddlebacking.com

And if you don’t get the Santorum reference, you can Google that yourself.