Saw a few movies at the end of 2009

Nine: Obviously about Federico Fellini though they call Daniel Day Lewis’ character “Guido Contini”
Fantastic film! I LOVED this.
Princess and the Frog: Disney’s back! Thanks to Pixar! I thought I’d have more issues with the historical context than I did, but setting it near 1920s New Orleans solved a lot of those problems. Great 2D animation, and this story could not have been done near as well in 3D.
Avatar: I LIKED the story, so thbbbttt to all you haters. Like a Roger Dean Yes album cover in motion. The 3D makes it like you are on the alien world.
Sherlock Holmes: More like James Bond in the 19th Century, but a fun ride. Jude Law, the costuming and set direction and especially the really neat score by Hans Zimmere made it a fun ride.

All are best seen in the theatre.

bike commuting information

Bikeedhsv commenter has everything completely correct about bicycle commuting. http://ping.fm/AWFzn

Project home ownership has begun.

And I’m terrified.

I was fine until we talked to the mortgage broker. Devon was anxious until we talked to the mortgage broker.
We have a really, really good mortgage broker.
Now I’m anxious and Devon is perfectly at ease.
We love the house we’re renting.
But we’d have to have a conventional loan, more money at a higher interest rate, as it doesn’t qualify for FHA.
The great First Step program I found last month that would have really, really helped us-is completely out of money.
We gross too much for the excellent Next
Step program. So that limits some of our options, even though we do qualify for the $8,000 federal.

The old house we’re in needs a LOT of work. But it’s structurally sound with a good foundation and a good roof. I figure if it’s lasted over a hundred years, they must have built it right.

But lousy insulation.

The houses we’ve looked at aren’t even close to compare for character or location (at least to me).

We live in a neighhborhood, with trees with branches over the street, and extremely walkable. When we went to the suburbs, whoo it was HOT from the asphalt and sidewalks and no coverings. The only trees were up against the houses.

We live near a railroad track and 565 and still the noise pollution was so much worse by Research boulevard at the suburbs we were looking at. 2 of those houses needed as much maintenance as ours, built within the last 20 years, but they were $60,0000 more expensive. So no go.

But we don’t want to be trapped in an endless money pit if we buy where we are at, either.

But while the other house we look at, the 3 bedroom ranch houses have 3 bedrooms, they’re really, really small bedrooms.

But that could save us a lot on insulation. Then we have a storage problem.

We found some really good deals in the Merrimack area. But every one of them is still a fixer uppere with a ton a maintenance needs. But lots and lots of storage space. Great if your an investor, but not so much for a first time home buyer.

We were happy with our realtor until we realized he wasn’t going to be doing much negotiationg for us as buyers. So looking for someone else. Nice enough guy, but not a good fit for us.

I’m mainly just writing these down so I can find the information later when I need it.

We knew this part would be difficult. Now instead of Devon freaking out, I’m freaking out. There’s so many varaibles going into this.

AAAAAAUUUUUGHHH!!!

Taught someone a lesson the other day.

200090603 10:55 Wednesday

Around10:45-11:00 on Wednesday, June 3, 2009, I was driving my bicycle (I was wearing my orange vinyl vest that says “Share the Road, Follow Road Rules, Alabama code 32 Section 5a”), along Pratt Ave. toward Andrew Jackson Way, just after the spot where the Sonic is, a black car in bad need of a muffler zoomed past me in the left lane very loudly and I could hear the car operator yell, “Get on the [expletive deleted] sidewalk!” then he cut to the right at Dement. Ignorance about the law regarding bicycles rights and responsibilities bothers me, but not a much as someone yelling at me for no reason other than their ignorance. For some reason, it really irritated me more than usual that morning.
I stopped at the red light on Pratt Ave., giving the appropriate hand signal of elbow out, left hand down and out to show I am stopping or stopped. I then give the appropriate turning signal of left hand raised and bent at the elbow to to indicate a right turn (note: the state may start allowing use of right arm straight out for right turn signals as it’s clearer on a bike, as hand signals were developed for automobiles whose blinkers weren’t working.)
Driving my bicycle down Andrew Jackson Way, I saw the same black car at a convenience store. I pulled in behind and took a photo of his License tag: AT0008AY

“Can I help you with something?” the dark haired chunky guy with a mustache asked, carrying chips in one hand, a soda in the other. ‘He was speeding and driving recklessly for that?’ I thought.
I just replied, “Thought I saw something.” Then started to Thai Garden for lunch.
Waiting for traffic to clear off of Andrew Jackson Way, his car pulled up behind me and I heard him say, “Huh. Share the road. Okay, I get it.”
I told Devon about it when I got home and she said, “Guess you taught him a lesson.” To which I replied, “Huh?” thinking she was talking about fighting which was something I expressly avoided as much as I wanted to.
“You did. You taught him a lesson.”
“Oh. You mean an actual lesson.”
“Yup.”

Getting started with GNU/Linux

Wish I’d had this information in 1999, then later 2006 when I switched to Ubuntu Debian GNU/Linux: http://ping.fm/t5CFl

This is a pretty good article to start with for those curious about linux but don’t know where to start.

Bikewise site for reporting hazards, collisions, and thefts

I really, really like this site:

http://www.bikewise.org

as it’s doing what I was just trying to figure out how to do last week. Really glad this service is available and hope that urban planners and municipalities and traffic people and police forces monitor the situations that can be resolved!

On the May 29th Critical Mass

20090529 22:57 Friday
Thoughts on the Critical mass bike ride I went on:

I went to the 20090529 Friday Critical Mass Bike ride. I’m usually at work at that time, but I had that Friday night off early. All sorts of people, dressed in all sorts of ways,, and all sorts of bikes,modded in all sorts of ways, which I liked. I only had from 18:30 till 19:15 as I had to be back home to meet Devon at home as we were going to dinner at Thai Garden that night. I visited with James, the repairman at Outdoor Omnibus, and with Duane, who even though he bicycles is still smoking. I find that the oddest combination.
I also discovered that the reason I’d had such a hard time pedalling up hills the past few weeks was because I’d been riding against my brake. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it because I kept trying to fix the brake and the wheel, but the problem was the brake cable on my handlebar!
At 19:00 I started circling the courthouse square. Not because I wanted to lead, but only because I only had 15 minutes of driving my bike before I had to get home. I stopped at each stoplight, as one of them said no left turn on red, using the hand signal of let arm elbow out, forearm down to show that I was stopping or stopped. When other joined me in the circle around the courthouse, they would go through the red lights on the let turns. Granted, there was little traffic, but their going through the red lights bothered me. That seems more hurtful rather than helpful to bike commuting. Down Washington and they all got in the left lane while I was in the right lane. I had not good way of working in without catching a tire, so leaned into a driveway to let a car pass. After that I caught up. I went one more round, but turned back by the courthouse as they went on past the municipal garage
I met Devon at home and she drove us down Pratt Ave. to Thai Garden. I was really, really glad to see that half of the critical mass bicyclers were driving their bikes on, while the other half had all stopped properly at the red light at Pratt and Meridian
Later, I got my bicycle worked on at Outdoor Omnibus as the brake cable problem had caused the brake to rub hard enough against the rear tire to cause a dangerous tear. Bicycle Repairman! James had a very good idea of having Bike Patrol police block intersections for cyclist who haven’t made the light. James said that some people said, “Aw, man. I wouldn’t come if cops showed up.” He also told me about cops at panoply enforcing the law when bikes went through red lights. I have no problem with that, as long as they hadn’t been waiting there 2 minutes or longer and there’s been no traffic. Then it’s just silly to have be stopped because the sensors aren’t working right at he light. That’s not the bicyclists fault.

Bicycle poem popped in my head.

[whistling a tune]
I’d rather go biking,
while the sun is shining,
whistling a tune,
before the day’s over soon.
Driving my two by one,
Street legal sharing road,
I’d be having me some fun,
happy just like I’d knowed.
Push pedal by pedal,
using the right gears,
I’m lousy at fixies,
meeting mountain fears.

Wheels on office chair,
they just aren’t same,
two by one is like air,
Flying fun fast fast game.
[/stop whistling tune]

Mayoral Bike Ride for Huntsville, AL is ON for this coming Sunday 2009May17

Mayors Ride
May 17th 1:30 pm
Kids Fountain at 315 Fountain Circle

http://ping.fm/VUw0B

Soul Burger is closing

Soul Burger, the best burger in Huntsville, Alabama (in my opinion) is closing due to tough economic hardships. Miss Cathy said when her grill went out a couple of weeks ago it really hurt her business and her health. So this Friday, April 24th, 2009 is the last day to get a Soul Burger. My wife and I had our last ones there today. Goodbye to 6 years of great taste.