As we were approaching Houston, I got a call from Tony D who invited us to check out this cool place he had heard about. The deal is that they have roughly 200 classic and modern video games in a gameroom downtown. For $15 you can play all night (9PM - 2AM roughly) for free. All the games are set for free play - hit the start button and soon you are off to gobble dots in Pac Man, create culinary treats in Burger Time or Root Beer Tapper, or save the universe from invaders in a host of games.

Just inside the door, our first stop was "Time Crisis" the buddy guy genre shoot em up. It is the first time I went all the way through the game as back in the day I would run out of quarters long before the story ended.

QUESTION: I posted the images to my brightkite account, but didn't have Joytix placemarked (I have since discovered it is already on there.) Does anyone know how to move a post from one location to another at brightkite?

I feel terrible that I am unable to attend the funeral because of prior commitments. It is not so much for me as for her family members. My thoughts are with them as they go through a very tough time.

The lone consolation is that she was not in peace for the past year or so and finally can rest peacefully. I will miss her.

I absolutely love the idea that Chris McCandless was first and foremost an adventurer. His belief that you shouldn't hesitate to do anything that strikes your fancy certainly appeals to me. His outright insanity in leaving behind civilization entirely is pretty scary.

As the film started, I told myself that I wouldn't like it. I was sure that it would glorify thinking "out of the box" and gloss over the stupidity of some of his actions. It turns out that it was actually a pretty excellent movie.

RATING 8 out of 10

I also took in Loggerheads the other day expecting some quirky little indie film. It certainly was quirky... but I seriously couldn't finish viewing.

The acting was good - but the film just turned me off. I really can't explain why, other than it seemed to drag on and made way too many obvious turns.

RATING 3 out of 10

While the show suffers from the fact that all the soldiers tend to look identical, it is definitely realistic in that respect - isn't that the point of the uniforms and short haircuts in the first place?

The fact that it is based on real events makes me a little more forgiving of plot and even dialogue. At the end of the day whether you view it as a sensationalized documentary or just a drama, the situations are enjoyable to watch.

I still prefer Over There, despite some people feeling it came out way too soon in the conflict, but hey - its still early in the series.

It turns out that a new generation of EPO blood doping offered enough enticement that it appeared worth the risk. Apparently, the drug is taken in such low dosages that Ricco felt it would be undetectable. NOT

Kudos again to the bicycling community for policing their own and getting rid of these cheaters. NFL, NBA, MLB - you guys need to take a lesson here - quit harboring cheaters, quit twisting the rules to protect your cheaters, quit being money-grubbing asses that put profits ahead of integrity.

One the things I have had to struggle with during the spring classics is figuring out which team to root for. It was easy during the LeMond era when he rode for Team 7-Eleven. US Postal and subsequently Team Discovery were easy choices when Lance Armstrong headed the team. Unlike other professional sports, you can't hitch your wagon to a team forever because the teams are very fluid. Team Discovery disbanded and I was faced with choosing a new team for the first time in a decade.

I thought about Astana because so many of favorite riders headed over to that squad - doping scandals ended that thought as the team was literally destroyed by scandal. Domestically, I had always been partial to Motorola, but once again they failed to make the grade and earn a spot into the Tour de France.

During the early spring when I heard that George Hincapie was with Team High Road, I figured I would give them a look. The more I saw, the more I liked. Just when I thought I was all set for my Tour rooting, High Road suddenly changed to Team Columbia (sportswear, not the country.) In addition, for the first time a second American team qualified for Le Grande Tour - Team Garmin-Chipotle.

Not a fan of Garmin or Chipotle, and a huge fan of Hincapie, it was obvious that the choice was the newly-formed Team Columbia.

In stage one, my new team nearly took the win as Kim Kirchen was passed within sight of the finish line by Alexandro Valverde.

The casual fans of the Tour are gone without an Armstrong story, but those of us who have loved this sport for the past two decades couldn't be happier. Three weeks of amazing athletic achievement, heart-stopping drama, spills, chills, and surprises at every turn - we are talking the greatest sporting event in the world.

I love this time of year!

If these are anything like the enchilada flavor, they won't last long. I found mine at WalMart.

The acting suffered when the script was either weak or too stereotypical of the characters - vacationer, news manager, secret serviceman, military adviser etc. The biggest shortcoming however was the Forest Whitaker character. His ability to follow Secret Service agents at a full sprint was unbelievable. There is no way he could have kept up physically with their speed, plus he stopped to shoot video and 'read the scene' time and again.

In the end, I loved the idea, but feel the project was too ambitious to pull off well. When watching the special features on the DVD, it was clear that the filmmakers' felt they had created a much more compelling and complex tale than came across on the screen. Good try, but from my angle it looked like a phantom punch to me.

RATING 6 out of 10

Lou and I went for a great walk this morning at Prospect Park in San Marcos. It was still early enough that the air was cool. The birds were singing in the trees. What's not to love?

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(Time: 17:26)

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The science of little bits of 'flavoring' added to crunchy or chewy items is fascinating to me. Sometimes it amuses me - sometimes it totally creeps me out.

Andy Capp's Hot Chili Cheese Steak Fries are one of the ones that just blows me away. I am not talking about the flavor, which is top notch - I am referring to the uncanny similarity to the taste of real chili and cheese.

It appears we have actually reached what we have seen in science fiction movies all our lives - a tiny pill that tastes like a full course meal. This is a bag of corn and potato 'mush' formed into a shape and made to taste like something totally different. Now if they could just make broccoli taste like chocolate pudding.

So whats up? I have been noticing a boatload of new spam recently. I mean, gmail is also catching more than ever before, but things are starting to get through in pretty large numbers. Are these bums all creating gmail accounts? Is there a new way they are gaming the system? Or maybe - the sheer volume of spammers has just increased perhaps?

Just wondering - have you other gmail users seen a rise in the incidence of spams making it all the way to your inbox?

Even though all "M" felt confident in promoting was that he included about 6 ounces of blood this time around, I assumed that his ability to tell a good story would win out. Surely, it would be "average" at least. Hell, I had time to kill in Dallas - I had a free movie pass... what could I possibly lose?

Boy was I wrong. This movie will fight it out with Street Kings for not only the worst movie of 2008, but quite possibly the decade.

The idea of the film seems pretty cool. The problem is that it all ends there. The writing is about third grade level - seriously, I have a play I wrote at age 6 in crayon on two sheets of paper - it rambles, it mixes a genie with three wishes, something about a pony, and valuable life lessons... and it sucked horribly. That childhood scribbling reads like War and Peace compared to this.

I am a fan of Mark Wahlberg, but he has been riding sort of a stink streak lately - MAN did he stink in this one.

Do yourself a favor - if you are thinking of watching this movie, just poke yourself in the eyes with a crochet needle - it will hurt less.

RATING 2 out of 10

I bought some for the office and discovered that a task I used to hate - putting in a new trash can liner - I now find enjoyable. I even switched all my cans at home to using the liners. In fact, if I am ever at your house and you need a new liner put in, I'm your man (of course, you must have vanilla scented liners and YOU must have already emptied the old trash.)

Ginger beat Lou home - she needs to be picked up from a Houston geocache to complete her journey
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=82583 8219.1miles travelled

Lou is lagging behind and stuck in Oregon right now
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=76926 1381.8miles travelled

A year and a half later... Lou has already moved out of Houston. Hopefully his travel bug will make its way home soon.

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The Music - David Usher

Big Bang Radio - Radio

(Time: 15:47)

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Feeling guilty yet Tony? :)

When my brother recently had a blood pressure scare, something changed. It could be that I am heavier than him. It may be that he is too close in age for comfort. It could be that I couldn't even write it off as different genetics. The bottom line is we are very close in terms of everything that matter.

To that end, I headed over to the grocery story to stick my arm in the pressure cuff and get the bad news - OUCH! Looks like it is time to change some habits or sign up for blood pressure medicine. First, I stocked up on some healthier food choices. I am writing this after just finishing off a great meal of baked salmon - who knew eating healthy could taste so good?

In addition to some fish, I picked up some of my favorite fruit - apples and oranges - as snacks, and one of the few vegetables I find palatable - celery.

I know that a 'cold turkey' approach to lifestyle change is tough, if not impossible, but I think that if I can make gradual modifications to both diet and exercise, I can be successful.

Wish me luck.

The next question I had was "I wonder how long until it crashes under its own popularity?" Well, as Twitter's downtime proves, sometimes viral is a bad thing.

The answer came just a few minutes ago.

Oh yeah, you can follow my Plurk feed here:
http://www.plurk.com/user/ChrisDoelle.xml

Ginger has been here for two days now and wasted no time in starting her vacation.

I was instructed to wear Hawaiian shirts so that Ginger wouldn't feel bad about being left out of the island-hopping. Instead, I told Tony I would invite Dave over... he has the wardrobe already. :)

Three brand new flavors of the drink aimed at the counter-culture crowd hit the store shelves in my community today. All three of the flavors are part of a customer interaction campaign which saw Dew-drinkers submitting flavor combinations in an effort to have their creation make the cut as one of the three new products.

The new flavors - Voltage (raspberrry citrus flavor and ginseng,) Supernova (strawberry melon flavor and ginseng,) and Revolution (wild berry fruit flavor and ginseng) - will fight it out in the market to see which version sells the best. The top one will remain a part of the regular Mountain Dew lineup and the rest will be relegated to the 'history' heap.

I bought some of Voltage and Revolution, but the melon flavor of the Supernova brand didn't sound that appealing.

So far, I have tried Voltage and immediately felt as though I had tasted this before. I sorta tastes like a cross between Baja Blast and Game Fuel. Hmmm... then again, it could have a hint of Live Wire in it?

I am so confused.

EDIT: I just finished the Revolution flavor and it not only looks the same pale blue as Voltage, but tastes almost identical. Overall, I am under impressed with the new flavors.

If you like this kind of humor - and I do - you will love Semi-Pro. If you can't stand this kind of idiocy... lighten up. :)

RATING 8 out of 10

Talk about polar opposites. Just before lightening the mood with Semi-Pro, I watched An Unreasonable Man. This documentary chronicles the career of Ralph Nader and the dramatic, if polarizing, effect he has has on the history of the United States.

All of the presidential hijinx has made most of us completely forget (if we ever knew) about his early career and the immense contribution he made to consumer protection.

Whether you blame him for costing Gore or Kerry elections or blame them for costing Nader the elections, you cannot argue with the positive impact he has had on defending your rights as consumers to purchase safe products. This movie reminds us of that as well as examines all the controversy surrounding presidential politics.

RATING 9 out of 10

I am attempting to wean myself from them, but will still, from time to time, give a new flavor the ol' taste test. The newest flavor I have tried out is A&W Root Beer Float.

The first impression of this drink is great. It brings you back to the time of the A&W drive-ins, a frosty mug, and that mother of all sweet treats - the root beer float.

The exciting thing is that it indeed does taste just like a root beer float - ice cream and all. The problem is that before you are halfway through the bottle, the sweetness just overwhelms you. I literally was unable to finish the bottle.

I won't be buying another.

This is the story of naturalist E.O. Wilson's lifelong study of ants. Sound boring? Only if you don't see the big picture. More than just a kooky old man looking at ants, this is a study of sociobiology involving every species on the planet.

Wilson first came to my attention after his appearance at the TED conference. Since seeing his presentation and his call for creating the Encyclopedia of Life, I have been a big fan.

I think PBS used to use the slogan "TV that changes you." That certainly appears to be true, and I would add that the change is for the better.

David P. and Blake (Scooter) are setting up cameras, testing audio, and just generally getting things ready.

In addition to great clients, a fun atmosphere, and a sweet location, the food is excellent. The prime rib was amazing. Good times.

I didn't bother to write down the exact years of each coin, but did make a mental note that the smaller one is much newer. (I think the other one was from the 60's or 70's.)

My quest for new and interesting flavors continues with the latest offerings from M&Ms.

The first one actually sounded better than it is. Wild Cherry M&Ms are great in small portions (ie one M) but when you try to down a few in a row, the tartness completely overwhelms the palette. (That will likely be the last time you will anyone refer to their palette in reference to M&Ms)

The other new flavor is quite possibly one of the best new candies in years. Mint Crisp M&Ms are part of the massive Indiana Jones movie tie-in marketing campaign. The flavor is great - we are talking little drops of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. Yes, they taste just like the guiltiest pleasure in the junk food world.

I am sure that both flavors will be in limited release, so if you see one, grab them fast. I know I will be tossing several bags of the Mint Crisps in my refrigerator for later consumption.

Wherever there are new snack food flavors to try, I will be there to assure you only kill yourself with the tastiest of junk.

Once at the vet, they tried to manually "express" the gland but it proved to painful to my Buddy Lou. They suggested that they could do a better job of it if he were under anesthesia.

After much trepidation, I agreed and they took him away. I have always feared putting a pet under because I have heard scary stories. When I actually researched the percentages, it turns out that veterinary medicine has either come a long way since then, or that is just one of the urban legends that just won't persist.

A couple hours later when the vet tech called saying that Lou is fine, I was able to breathe again.

He was a bit spacey - not only in appearance - because of the pain medication and he looked like a sleepy child fighting sleep as he would droop his head and snap back to attention again and again.

The "cone of silence" is still driving him nuts, but he seems to be adjusting okay. I doubt seriously I am going to be able to get him to leave it on for the week they recommend.

Thank you to everyone that sent your good vibes and wishes to him.

I used to like ECW before it was owned by WWE because it was the start of the whole hardcore style. I even liked WCW during the big battles with them and WWE - during the Goldberg era.

So far, I have seen one of each show and have a first impression of each.

WWE - as disappointing as ever. William Regal as the manager is not only boring, but the wrestling is horrible.

TNA - clearly the class of current wrestling promotions. One name - Curry Man. This guy who is one of the most popular wrestlers in Japan is a hoot to watch. Forget the wrestling - his ring entry will make you laugh out loud.

How can you not love someone like that?

At the end of the day however, TNA is a lot more exciting than all the other shows. The talent works harder, the stunts are more impressive, and the storylines are slightly less stupid than all the others.

If a better promotion, more action, and fun characters weren't enough - I could watch Velvet Sky (Talia Madison) all day. (She's the one on the right)

She has a sort of bad girl Amanda Bynes thing going on.

Sure, its not Shakespeare, but Bill was considered the trashy entertainment of his day as well. As pure escapism, its a blast.

You'll remember my recent post about the limited run of Cheetos Cheesy Enchilada (I soooo miss them.) I had occasion to try a couple of new ones in the past few weeks. First up was Burger King Fries & Ketchup.

The weird thing is that they actually DO taste like Burger King fries & ketchup. I just can't figure out the ketchup flavor... it just totally freaks me out.

The other one I tried recently was a "limited edition" release of Pringle's Cheeseburger chips. Yep, you guessed it... they taste just like a cheeseburger. In fact, it tastes like the old cheapo McDonald's cheeseburger that I would get as a kid for like 50 cents or something. That is not the weird part - you can actually taste a hint of mustard, and pickle as well as the meat and bun. ALL from a layer of spices.

I still haven't gotten up the courage to try Tim McGraw's Spicy Jalapeno Fritos (just not into that whole jalapeno flavor.) Fear not though, I, as your intrepid chip sampler, will continue to find all the greatest flavors guaranteed to advance your heart disease.

Tonight we are heading to ALLEYCRUNK on the square in San Marcos, so Blake will get to experience more of the cycling lifestyle.

His site has been going in fits and starts, a spurt of four stories one day, a recovery day or two, and then a couple more etc.

His latest volley is even more humorous... he has pulled out Alexa. The internet savvy know that Alexa is a joke. Rather than recreate the wheel in explaining it all to you, how about letting Slashdot make the argument for me?

"Its sampling methodology is flawed and the numbers it produces are meaningless"

The fact that Alexa won't use their own ranking system should tell you everything.

The other completely laughable part of this whole thing is that when you actually look up his site on Alexa, the page ranking reads: -------.com has a traffic rank of: No Data

Nice - not only does he quote a site proven to be statistically worthless, but his site doesn't even rank on it.

Fun stuff.

This whole show looks like it was purchased lock, stock, and voyeuristic barrel from VH1. You know them - they are the fine folks that bring you "The 40 Most Awesomely Bad Songs," "100 Most Shocking Moments in...." etc.

The format is simple... find something to count down - find about a dozen D-list celebs to reel off one-liners like "Are you kidding girl? she was like melting down in front of everyone" - intercut fast clips and photos of the shocking event - move on the #?.

Dateline NBC is now officially dead to me. As least when they were creating news by entrapment, there was at least some issue to discuss and debate. This is brain cell destruction on steroids... you WILL be less intelligent after watching - guaranteed.

I will also say that when I heard Robert Downey Jr. was pegged to play Tony Stark, I was more than skeptical - I was mad. I assumed that once the film unveiled the Iron Man suit I wouldn't care that Downey is once again waaaay too small to play the tall, powerful billionaire. (Don't even get me started on how wrong the casting was for Cyclops in the X-Men movies.)

I have to admit that Downey did a very good job portraying Tony Stark so that is forgiven. Frankly, I am pleased that this romp wasn't people by teeny boppers as with recent superhero fare - it's nice to have an actor that fits the character age. However, the movie once again took an excellent story and rewrote it for no apparent reason. I am okay with updating the timeline. It didn't HAVE to be done, but it doesn't bother me as the comic books had already done a retelling. (Pull me aside sometime for the list of departures from the mythology.)

All of the nitpicks aside... once the red and gold armored superhero hit the screen, I was in. I could watch Iron Man fly, fight, and blast through baddies for hours. In fact, that was the biggest shortcoming... not enough suit time. Did we really need the faceplate flipped up for so many scenes - NOBODY was here to see Robert Downey Jr. - we were here to see 'Ol Shellhead.

As some country singer says though, "I like it, I love it... I want some more of it!"

RATING 9 out of 10

Note that the Iron Man review may seem to disagree with the rating scale. This has been something I have been questioned on quite a bit with my film reviews. The short answer is that the rating is how much I liked the film, while the review is an opportunity to expose the details of it from the standpoint of story telling and film craft.

Think of it this way... You may have the most adorable mutt dog. If you took it to the Westminster Dog Show, they might be able to point out hundreds of flaws (the review) but at the end of the day, you love the dog (the rating.)

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A Doggie's View - Leanne Bugat

So Lo So Hi - Presidents of the United States of America

Charlie Chaplin - Katie Herzig

(Time: 19:08)

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Its been some time since I did a movie review and its high time I remedied that. I have seen a lot of movies since my last review back in January, so I will pull a few out of my memory bank for this entry.

I am going to start things off with the silliest of the bunch - Hot Rod. This was a completely stupid movie, but its okay - it was supposed to be stupid. I enjoyed the heck out of Hot Rod. Andy Samberg did a fine job as the addled stunt man, but the standout performance was by Ian McShane. His portrayal of the d*ckhead stepfather was hilarious.
RATING 7 out of 10

Michael Clayton was this much-ballyhooed "thriller" about a corporate fixer. If you had a problem, George Clooney's Michael Clayton character could make it go away. While it was interesting at times, I think it failed to live up to all the pre-viewing hype.
RATING 6 out of 10

Beowulf is an interesting film. This adaptation of the pre-10th century Old English manuscript is by far the closest I have seen in film version. The visuals are unique in that the entire film is a combination of CGI and motion capture. As fantasy pics go, this one is right up there. I mean who can argue with a nude Angelina Jolie, even if she is computer generated and mostly concealed. :)
RATING 8 out of 10

I also saw the documentary For the Bible Tells Me So. The film is an interesting look at how Christianity deals with the issue of homosexuality and the varied stances affect the subjects of the documentary. The film focuses on perceived misinterpretation of scripture and denial of current public opinion of homosexuality. It is an interesting topic but the filmwork is a bit elementary and uninspiring.
RATING 7 out of 10

I have four or five others to review, but that is all the time I have right now. Let me know what you think? Did you catch any of these films?

LOLcats drive me crazy - but this is cool.

Now, I know from the looks of these photos, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of basketball going on - trust me though, it was a good game.

An interesting side note is that this was the fourth time I have seen Shaquille O'Neal play live - once for the Orlando Magic, twice for the Los Angeles Lakers, and now, once for the Phoenix Suns. This is the first game I have seen him lose.

It's a hard life.

If you want to see more of the pictures - check them out on my Flickr page.

What I cannot abide however, it our President showing up on the gameshow - ANY gameshow. Sure, he is not really the statesman type in the first place, but a freakin' gameshow? Are you kidding me?

Oh yeah, and First Lady, Laura Bush will be hosting The Today Show - Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave.

Over a month ago, I was put in the position of having to ask someone to either step up and do the job, or take the opportunity to resign. He chose to walk. Everything about the departure was professional. He was allowed to resign, given a overly generous severance package, and given best wishes toward his next endeavor.

In a case of someone that clearly doesn't understand the "rising tide raising all boats" theory, he took the cash, smiled in a friendly manner, and then proceeded to mail anyone and everyone that he was starting a competing business and that they should pull their support for our company.

I am all for someone creating competition - I welcome people in this business space. I just think this was a D*CK move to mail our customers, employees, friends, and anyone who would listen and spout off disparaging comments. It is sad to me that this person thinks this is a way to do business.

The great news is that NOBODY is taking him serious. He is a slacker, a criminal, and a lazy blamer. Because of this, he will never be a success in his new venture and has only succeeded in reinforcing the opinion that he is immature, dishonest, and untrustworthy.

Despite his poor judgment, I hope that as a person he will grow and come to realize that when you start flinging mud, you end up being the dirty one.

How bout those luxurious digs? It's good to be the king - haha. Actually, I am taking my time looking for a house as I want this one to be a keeper.

It was one of the most productive days in Newstreamz history as he jumped right in and within minutes was up-to-speed on how things operate.

From the looks of things, he will fit in just fine.

"And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
than I ever have before

Shes a brick and I'm drowning
slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed
nowhere"

The lyrics to this song are amazing... you can feel the despair of unrequited love. You can feel the singer "drowning."

I think it was the NFL's Plan B Free Agency that brought it home to me personally. I grew up being a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Like all major league sports, football had been one of long-standing dynasties. Even if a team didn't dominate the league for years, there was a dynasty of personnel. You could count on the fact that Harvey Martin, Ed "Too" Tall Jones, and Charlie Waters would be on the team for years. You could count on the fact that Mel Blount, Rocky Blier, and Joe Green would be there to battle against them.

Sure, the owners were ripping off the players and I don't condone that. The problem wasn't that players couldn't move, the problem was that there wasn't enough competition in terms of other leagues. Major League Baseball was given a monopoly protected by Congress. Without this unfair advantage, other leagues would have popped up and forced MLB to increase the value to the fans, and raise salaries. It worked for the AFL.

The NFL-AFL merger is what shouldn't have been allowed. IT was a monopolistic move. The player's unions were formed out of opposition to these types of heavy-handed control. Even after being given their monopolies, both the NFL and MLB could have protected the game when the player unions stepped in. Simply giving the players a guaranteed percentage of revenues could have make the monopolies work... once again greed took over and the only group that suffered were the people paying the bill - the fans.

So who is to blame for ruining professional sports? The owners proved to be too greedy and forced the players to unionize. The unions pushed back harder than was good for the game or the majority of their members. It is my contention however, that the blame fall squarely on the weak shoulders of our elected officials.

Politicians have a long history of giving lip service to things and then taking cash to ensure the opposite happens. Allowing these leagues to form monopolies surely put money in the pockets of people who could have done something to stop them.

Regardless of who 'broke' professional sports - they are indeed broken to me, and that is why I am such a huge fan of high school and college sports. Sure they have their problems too, but I will take an action-packed gridiron battle with a stadium half-full of kids, parents, and the band, over 40,000 screaming fans paying fat-cat owners for $8.00 soft drinks, and $30 tshirts so they could pay the salaries of spoiled, lazy, arrogant, and rude "superstars."

I can't find a current photo to do a before and after comparison, but her face has changed. There is no doubt in my mind that some procedure was done and I have to say that, as is the case with most of these 'improvements,' she went from looking gorgeous to unnatural.

She is still my favorite fictional President, but with the no-close eyelids and button nose, she is looking like Wayne Newton with a wig.

Today was the first day I cycled to work and I have to say it was a blast. It is a tiny ride, as bike treks go, (5 miles round trip) but because there are uphill sections each way, it was an invigorating bit of exercise.

The first stop after I got to the Newstreamz office was to the corner bike shop - The Hub - for some adjustment to my gear cables, lube to the chain, new back brakes, and a general tune-up. As much as I have always loved working on my own bike, it was kinda cool to have them do it. It just took a couple minutes and I didn't have to drag my stand and tools out or clean up afterwards.

On the way back to the apartment, I discovered a route that had less traffic and appeared to be just a bit more safe.

I look forward to riding much more, and of course, the great side effect of dropping the weight, that the photo clearly shows, I can spare.