5 Unrelated Things I Really Like

As we approach Canadian Thanksgiving, my thoughts should be turning to things of true value, like family and love and food to eat, but I'll save that stuff for the actual Thanksgiving Weekend; it wouldn't do to have my priorities straight on days unsanctioned by Church and/or State, would it? For now I'm going to focus on some things I just really like other than the ones that seem to keep coming up around here like bikes and/or bike accessories and trees and/or tree products or the overuse of the phrase "and/or".

Some things are just so much better than others that those lesser things should have a complex. Thankfully they are things, and things can't have complexes or get angry or jealous. If I were one of those lesser things I would have a deep jealous hatred of the following 5 excellent items:

1) Zip Ties

So simple and ingenious and handy. Like a beer drinker with only 6 beers left on the Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend, I get a little antsy when my zip tie stash gets low.

2) The Tilt-A-Whirl

I laugh uncontrollably on the Tilt-A-Whirl. The older I get, the worse it becomes. My children like taking me on it because they almost never see me that way and I like letting them. When I say uncontrollably, I mean uncontrollably. Once I start I can't stop, and I start on the first good spin. Tears stream down my face. People in line laugh at me. It's fun.

3) Zipper Bags

I use these as parts sorters, camera rain covers, booties, you name it. Cheap. Waterproof. Yep.

4) Suspension Bridges

The bridge pictured above is the Mackinac Bridge. It connects "mainland" Michigan with its Upper Peninsula. I have travelled over it many times on my way from my current home in London Ontario to my family home in Thunder Bay. I think suspension bridges are beautiful, combining form and function, engineering and aesthetics. Seeing a suspension bridge just lifts my spirits, I guess.

5) USB Drives

USB drives are what I think technology should be... straightforward, useful little devices that just make things so much easier. I also like the physicality of them. Plug 'em in, carry them around, plug 'em in somewhere else. Computer files physically moved (rather than transmitted) from one place to another. Old Magic made new. For some unknown BS reason I don't like the phrase "thumb drive" when referring to them. I mean, who cares? I do, it would seem, because I am insane.

Well, that's it. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to make such a list, but you know, why not? Blogging is good that way. Have an excellent weekend and keep your eyes open for contenders in the Smackdown.

What about you? Got any to add?

R A N T W I C K

PS - I wrote this post on Thursday night. When I scheduled it to be published Friday morning, I noticed that the date was all ones and zeros...

mm/dd/yy - 10/01/10
dd/mm/yy - 01/10/10

Just for kicks,

100110 in binary = 38 in decimal and 26 in hexadecimal.

011010 in binary = 26 in decimal and 1A in hex.

I've become too lazy to do such conversions myself. Isn't the Internet great? No more thinking required. I used this converter.

Those numbers are completely meaningless to me. How about you? Wouldn't it be great if somebody reading this (or a friend) was turning 38 or 26 today? Or perhaps you could reach a little and freak out because today's test is in room 1A or something. Let me know.

Cycling Fashion, Chic and, well, Otherwise

Quite a while ago I did an experiment with virtual cycling style that proved to me that I will never really look good on a bike no matter what I do. I didn't know it at the time, but some of the pictures I was altering were textbook examples of the newish trend sweeping the globe called Cycle Chic. Just because Cycle Chic doesn't work for me doesn't mean it shouldn't for anyone else. I have been schooled in that fact recently right on this very blog... but enough about that. Some people make it look very good, which, I suppose, is the point of, um, fashion. I think the phrase Cycle Chic itself has a ring to it that may be partly responsible for its current popularity.

Anyway, I was thinking if Cycle Chic might be represented by images like these recent ones from copenhagen cycle chic:

pic source

pic source

There are many other images out there of cyclists doing their thing. Are there names we could give to other cycling fashion choices that would give them more widespread appeal, like the ride painted thing?

pic source: wikipedia

Or the ride knitted thing?

image source: blog.craftzine.com

Or, god help us, this?

image source: pasty.com

You know what? What the hell was I thinking? Wave off, wave off! I don't want these things to become any more popular. We should all probably avoid giving them appealing names of any sort, and just file them in the "Life's Rich Pageant" folder. That folder is getting huge. Maybe I should alphabetize it... wait. That would require names. Better not.

By Any Other Name, I Remain Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K