Journaling on estrip is easy and free. sign up here

Shawnr's Journal

shawnr
My Podcast Link

10/28/2006 20:29 #34327

waiting for lady sovereign
²°ž
image

10/07/2006 21:26 #34326

New Bike
I got a bike today. It was kind of exasperating searching, but once we bit the bullet and went into an actual bike shop, things got a lot better. It really makes a difference on something like a bike or a computer to get some good first-hand advice. I was afraid of getting upsold, but I actually got down-sold after I explained what I wanted.

Here's my issue: I have a 5-10 minute window to catch one of two buses to the metro each morning. If I miss that window, then I must wait another 20-30 minutes to catch the next bus. That happens regularly because I am consistently running just a little bit late.

I only live a mile from the metro, so it is easy enough to walk. But walking takes me 20 minutes or so. So it's not really that advantageous. Plus, it's frustrating because it's not a super nice walk along a busy road and multiple buses I could have caught will almost always pass me.

Because, of course, catching a bus isn't quite as straightforward as it sounds. It's not like you can ever really know whether the bus is running 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late, and it's not unusual to find the bus is 10 or 15 minutes late. Rain seems to really disrupt service. I can only imagine what will happen when it finally snows.

And the ride home is even more capricious. The bus is sometimes 5 minutes early and often as much as 30 minutes late. It's as if they randomly skip the 6:28 stop entirely and wait until 6:58. That happened to me and Sarah last week when it was raining.

And, of couse, taking the bus isn't free. It costs $1.35 per day.

So today I bought a bike. This one:

image

It's a Schwinn Frontier (http://www.schwinnbike.com/products/bikes_detail.php?id=620). They said that it was pretty much bullet-proof and has no complicated parts. It's almost impossible to get a bike without shocks these days... Am I the only one paranoid about having complicated bikes?

I was stoked to see that the Schwinn website shows they havve brought back several classic style Schwinns. How cool would it be to have a Sting Ray? Or a cruiser? Maybe if the bike riding thing works out Sarah will let me trade up to a nicer bike. But for now I have pretty much the cheapest bike you can buy and not feel like you're totally riding a deathtrap...


shawnr - 10/09/06 11:00
I hope to ride it whenever I can, which I figure is anytime it's not a hurricane or blizzard. I got a fender for my bike, so I shouldn't be stopped by wet weather, and I'm still not sure what the winters will be like here. I imagine ot nearly as bad...

And (e:southernyankee) -- definitely drop a msg when you're in DC.
southernyankee - 10/09/06 09:53
Nice Ride. Yeah, for some reason it doesn't always seem like the Metro connections match up very well.
We will have to meet up when I return to DC.
Would love to meet you and Sarah. Let me know what works for you both.
metalpeter - 10/08/06 11:09
I will admit the two buses I take to work usaly line up preaty good. I think In the close to two years I have taken them in the morning I have had a problem once and that was because of snow. But there are some buses like the #20 and not sure what other ones that often run late or early and can make things messy. I will admit that there are sometimes when having a bike and being able to ride it would be cool. For example next saturday there is a party for (e:lilho) at Volkners and it would be cool to just ride there and then when ever things where over ride home and not have to worry about times of buses and such. But what I'm wondering is will you ride your bike in the snow and ice or is it just for the nicer weather days? I don't know much about bikes but it looks like a preaty good one.

09/21/2006 20:26 #34325

Cigarette Manners
Wow, I can't believe how awesome these Japanese signs are. I also can't believe there are FIVE PAGES of these things. I learned so much about Japanese Smoking Etiquette: 1) Don't smoke around other people. 2) Always carry a portable ashtray. 3) Cowboys lived in old movies. 4) Don't abuse children or snow (or snowmen). 5) Always check behind you before you fart.

As far as I know, these are real signs. I got to them through a post on the old Boing Boing.



09/17/2006 18:48 #34324

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo
Category: wikiality
Here's an example of what I love about Wikipedia (and I found this linked from Digg, which I also love):


"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically valid sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs.
...
If a comma is allowed between subject and predicate, and the optional "that" is included, the sentence becomes:

Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Substituting the alternative plural produces:

Buffalo buffaloes that Buffalo buffaloes buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffaloes.

If the homophones were then replaced with other words, it would look like:

Buffalo bisons that Buffalo bisons intimidate, intimidate Buffalo bisons.

Finally, using common articles produces:

The Buffalo bisons that Buffalo bisons intimidate, intimidate Buffalo bisons.

It may help to consider the following sentence, which has the same grammatical structure as the original.

Many things many people say confuse many people.


09/14/2006 22:29 #34323

Weekend in Idaho
Hello (e:strip)pers! It's been awhile, but after spending a weekend in Idaho, I felt like I should update you on what we've been up to. It's been six weeks since we moved away from Buffalo. In some ways, it feels like forever, and in other ways it feels like just yesterday we were eating Indian food with (e:PMT). (We still haven't found a very good Indian food restaurant, but we're back on the Mexican stuff. o//)

So last weekend I went out to Idaho to hang out with my old friends and speak at an event in the Power of Play series. It was a great day of speakers (if I do say so myself), and I think everyone really had a good time. The lineup began with me, and I delivered an overview of games and game studies to try to provide some foundation for the mixed audience. Laurie Taylor (http://www.laurientaylor.com) followed up with an excellent discussion of gender in games. Rick Fehrenbacher gave a talk about medievalism in videogames. And then Julian Dibbell (http://www.juliandibbell.com) spoke about his new book, Play Money, which I had to break down and get signed. It was an irrepressible moment of fanboyness. But I don't think it hurt my cred... hehe Maybe I should have brought my copy of My Tiny Life? That might have actually increased my cred. Oh well, too little, too late.

Anyway, I have some photos from the event.


image
Here's me and Julian Dibbell talking about some really smart stuff.

image
This is all of us on the closing panel. From left to right, it's Rick, me, Julian, and Laurie.

image
And here is me, Rick and Laurie.

I have no idea who took these photos, but I was alerted to them by my good friend, Mike Wilchek. Woot for Mike!

It was especially great because not only did I get to see all of my old friends at University of Idaho, but I also got to have the kind of experience I remember so fondly seeing really inspiring folks talk about really interesting things. I remember all the cool people I met at UI who came by to tell us about interesting stuff: Scott McCloud, Ray Federman, Samuel R. Delany, Michael Joyce, Bruce Sterling, Ray Kurzweil, on and on and on. It might be way up there in the middle of nowhere, but it's got something funky going on.

I returned to work today at PBS. It's the end of week 6, although I've been gone for most of it. I'm still really enjoying my job, so it's not hard to go back.

Also, Sarah has gotten not one, but TWO jobs! She'll be teaching some courses at the Art Institute of Washington DC, and she'll be doing some children's workshops at the Corcoran Art Gallery. Both are really cool gigs that will lead to even cooler stuff. Sarah is already lined up to teach some adult education art courses next Spring at the Corcoran, which is a really great gallery.


terry - 09/15/06 11:57
give it time you will find the Indian oasis! But Mex is good too. Congrats, Sarah, on the jobs!