Remembering in an instant how a certain friend fell and her shoes stayed clipped, I twisted my legs as the pavement approached to release my shoes. It almost seemed over before it had begun. Next thing I knew I jumped to my feet and pulled my bike onto the curb. My knees were scraped. That was all. I was pretty certain. I exchanged information with the driver and got back on my merry way to Silver Spring with blood dripping down my shin.

My wound, a couple of days later. I shaved around it so that I didn't rip out my leg hair when I changed bandages.

Looking back, I’m pretty certain that the driver thought I was moving much slower than I actually was. She likely thought she could blast past me and turn before I got there. Instead, she just turned directly into me.

Lesson for drivers: cyclists are likely moving much faster than you think, not pedestrian speed. Typically they are moving 18 to 25 miles per hour. Occasionally faster.

Lesson for cyclists: drivers don’t realize how fast you’re moving.

Now to figure out how to dispose of the POS car. Anybody need a 1994 Honda Accord steering wheel?

“What’s that screaming? A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.” -Jane Fonda as Barbarella

“Our password is… ‘LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwIIllantysiliogogogoch.” -Dildano

I had never realized until seeing this film, just how ubiquitous Helvetica is. It was designed to be easy to read and neutral, to not take on any meaning of its own. Which is why it is seen in signs worldwide. When you read a sign written in Helvetica, you don’t think “oh, that’s a pretty font” or “that font is edgy” or “wait, is that a lowercase ‘I’ or a capital ‘L’?” No, you think “that sign says ‘move the fuck out of the way or you’re going to get killed!” The message is not lost.

The name Helvetica is Latin for Switzerland, its country of origin. A much nicer sounding name than its original name from 1958: Neue Haas Grotesk.

I highly recommend this film to all fellow nerds.

In other modernist news, Philip Johnson’s Glass House has been opened to the public. However, seeing as how the tickets are sold out through the end of 2007 and that entry costs $500, I think I’ll hold off on visiting for the time being.

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So far the Shuffle is working great, and even though I have a music library in the tens of gigabytes, the one gigabyte size works well.  iTunes automatically chooses songs from a playlist I designate, giving slight preference to songs I have rated higher.  My playlist is all of my songs minus those that I uncheck and those that have only one or two stars.

I think I snacked on too many wasabi peas today. I started out with a burning tongue, but now I can’t taste the wasabi anymore and my tongue is feeling like I burnt it on hot coffee.

ATSC is truly a sight to behold.

Now, to clarify something that many people seem to be confused about: analog broadcasts will end on February 17, 2009. Congress will be subsidizing the cost of set top boxes that allow you to receive digital signals on analog TVs. They cost a lot now, but have dropped in price drastically over the past several years and will continue to do so. I’m estimating a box will cost $50 to $100 by 2009. None of this concerns you if you are using satellite or cable television–only antenna broadcasts.

Lately I’ve been bolstering up my account on Facebook with photos and such. I’ve used it in the past, but I stopped for a while because only a few people I know have been using it. Now a few more have joined and I discovered that it has all sorts of features that knock the socks off MySpace.

With MySpace, you have a page, your friend has a page, you have photos, your friends have photos, but they are entirely separate from each other except for the occasional comment. Facebook’s system allows much greater integration, especially with its tagging system. If I write a note or upload a photo that is about or contains someone else in my Facebook friend list, I can tag it with their name, which means that a link is created on their profile. From one friend’s page, I can see all of the photos that anyone has that contain this friend.
The feed feature is great too, which gives a list of everything that has effected their page recently: comments, new photos, other photos that have been tagged with your name, even blog items from your external blog.

The entire system is much more interactive.

There is also much more fine tuned control with respect to what people get to see what information in your profile.

Also, check out their awesome text message interface for adding friends, changing your status, posting comments, etc, all from your cell phone.

In the past, Facebook was only open to students of certain colleges and universities, but a few months ago it has been opened up to everyone.

Check out my Facebook profile and create your own profile. That is not a request, it is a demand.

I can feel my atrophied muscles start to regenerate.

The past few years I have lived in the suburbs, and have grown rather sedentary. I do go to the gym at least once a week, sometimes more, but I find it to be mind numbing and claustrophobic. That’s where the phrase ‘running in place’ comes from. After a short while, I can’t exercise anymore. Not because I can’t physically handle it, but because I am bored to tears. I started copying television shows to my iPod to take with me, so I have something to pass the time. It just causes me to find the shows extremely boring. It backfired like my own little Clockwork Orange therapy.

I’ve been getting the itch lately to get out and do stuff again – skiing, hiking, wind surfing. The past few months my cousin Alison has been rock climbing, and a few days ago I thought “hey, why not try again?” So last night after work I went with her. I think I fared rather well. I climbed up a 5.5 first (I think that’s the easiest they have). No problem at all. I must have reached the top in less then thirty seconds. So next I tried a 5.6. I made it nearly to the top twice, but I couldn’t finish. I tried a 5.6 at another location and managed to touch the top whatever-it’s-called but not grab it with both hands. My forearms hurt from gripping and I had to quit. Only so much grip is required with a computer mouse.

The entire experience was thoroughly humiliating, but it was still fun. I think the biggest difference between now and high school is that now I’m not scared of humiliation. I am going to go back on Monday. A few more times and I’ll have the hang of it.

Our view is incredible. Each morning I wake up and open the blinds, just to look out the window over the entire District of Columbia. I can even see the Capitol Building while lying in bed. From our living room, you can see the Capitol Building, Washington Monument, National Cathedral, and I just discovered that if you stick your head out the window you can see the Mormon Temple. From our height on the 11th floor, you can look down on the tops of trees with trunks about 5 feet in diameter. Just hold on tight.

It was a pretty good deal considering the first level units were the same price.

Attached photos not taken from my actual living room.