Do something

I've long believed that the keys to a successful personal blog are to:

1. lead an interesting life, and
2. write about it in an interesting way.

I frequently fail on the first point, for my life is not terribly exciting. So I do my best to excel at the second. Hopefully, the fact that I have very few readers does not indicate that I often fail on that count as well. In any case, here's what I've been up to lately in case you're keeping track.

I'm wrapping up my third week at a temp job in Minneapolis, which is going fine. It's in a location where I can stand by a window in the early evening and watch freight trains eclipse the Minneapolis skyline with a sunset backdrop. That makes me happy. I take the bus, so I have been reading lots of books but biking hardly ever. I'm okay with that tradeoff. I went to a knitting party last weekend and later we had friends visit from Wisconsin and shared good drinks and warm companionship. Meanwhile we're buttoning down and nesting for the sudden winter onset looking forward to long nights of hot chocolate undercover cuddling. It may not be an exciting life, but it's a good one.

Office archaeology

I'm learning much about the previous dwellers of this cubicle by examining the artifacts they have left behind. Although expert opinion maintains that the most recent inhabitant was male, my studies strongly suggest a female occupant in the not-too-distant past. The first, and most persuasive piece of evidence, is the pair of Playtex Gentle Glide tampons (unused) discovered in my desk drawer.

Additional exhibits include a notepad that had written in it the following:

• URL and street address for Nu Look Consignment
• URL for the Smitten Kitten
• draft of cover letter, including salary requirement of $15-17 per hour, signed "Kelly"

And also these items, found in cabinet drawers:

• one copy of City Pages, dated 10/12/05, open to Music section
• takeout menus for local chain restaurants including Eddington's, Chipotle, Bruegger's, and Davanni's
• instruction manual for whimsical person-shaped digital clock
• two toothpicks (individually wrapped)
• two packets soy sauce (Good Chef brand)
• one plastic knife
• pile of napkins
• small, round, yellow "Welcome to Australia" sticker

Live, Intranasal Influenza Vaccine Spray

or, Huffing the Flu Virus. One of the perks of temping for a hospital is that I got a free flu vaccine today. I hate getting shots; for some reason my ability to withstand hours of tattooing does not extend to a love of all needles. So I was pleased to learn that we had a choice between the standard injection and a nasal spray. Apparently they just began giving these out in 2003, and they are becoming more common now.

A nurse took out a tiny syringe (sans needle) full of attenuated influenza virus and squirted half of it in each of my nostrils. Some of the liquid dripped down the back of my throat. It tasted sweet. I wiped up the drips, and that was it! She commanded me to breathe normally and not to blow my nose for the next fifteen minutes or so. Easy? Man, if it helped me avoid getting the flu, I'd go through this process every day all winter long.

Marital disaster averted!

I dropped my wife's wedding ring into the bathroom sink this morning. Not on purpose! In fact, I was cleaning up for the sake of some friends who are coming tonight, when I wiped the ring off the sink's edge into the pipe. I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I wonder what her ring was doing so close to the rim? Courting disaster, tempting fate; I think secretly it wanted to jump down into that narrow abyss of plumbing and end it all--but it was not to be! Charging into duty as the awesome husband, I manfully removed the curved pipe underneath the sink and dumped out the ring from where it had caught, along with a couple handfuls of warm scummy water. More excitement than I usually like to have before 7 AM, but at least it gave me something to blog about.

Site notes

I categorized most of my my posts from the past year and added links in the upper-right-hand corner of this page so that you should be able to sort through them. It doesn't work. At the end of each post, I've planted the category name with a link to Blogger's search tool using that name and the URL of this site. I thought this would do the trick, but it's pulling down far fewer posts on each topic than there really are. Are there any Blogger wizards reading this who can help me out?

Also, this site got slammed on Tuesday by over a hundred visitors (which is a lot, for me--normally I get around 30 per day). My stat counter, unfortunately, has chosen this particular time to crap out on me and withhold the data on where all these people suddenly came from. Traffic has dropped back down to pre-Tuesday levels now, but on the off chance that you came here for the first time on Tuesday, could you please tell me from whence you came? I'd like to know!

Responsibility, what's that?

Big news for me: after listing it as a line on my resume for the past month, tonight I was officially elected Treasurer for the MN Bicycle-Pedestrian Alliance (MBPA), which is the fancy name for the nonprofit group that runs the Sibley Bike Depot in downtown St. Paul. Now that I've been working there and selling bikes for them and whatnot, it's good to be an actual, recognized part of the board. This means additional volunteer responsibilities for me, but I'm up to the task. I'm really excited about the team we're creating to move this organization forward, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Booze news: I returned the survey from last week's alcohol study and got paid in cash for my participation. Of course, by the time I picked it up, the money had already been spent on--what else?--wine! It's satisfying to have a full cellar again (and by cellar, I mean the cardboard wine case I've got turned on its side in the cabinet next to our refrigerator).

I've got a couple trusty old standbys waiting, but mostly new wines that I've never tried. It's exciting to have all those unknowns packed together, begging to be uncorked, not knowing exactly what to expect. The MBPA board is sort of like that right now. Some veteran members are still around, but there's also a lot of new blood coming into the group with tons of bottled-up potential. I can't wait until the pressure is released--this cork is gonna pop.

Categories: bicycles, wine

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Even though I had Mr. Ishiguro's Remains of the Day on my TBR list for years, I never got round to reading it. I had heard that his writing was great, and it seemed like something I'd enjoy, but I just couldn't get enthused about the subject matter. A psychological study of a repressed English butler, oh fascinating, zzzzzz. I kept reading fresher recommendations and Remains of the Day got pushed further back into the dusty corner, as it were, of my Amazon wishlist.

I had no such qualms about his new novel (SPOILER ALERT!! It is about clones), and I was not disappointed by the quality of his prose. Now, I like wacky scifi--Phillip K. Dick is one of my favorite authors--and science fiction by definition can be about some really out-there stuff and still be believable within the confines of the story. That's what's fun about it. But when I'm reading scifi there's also always, in the back of my mind, the nagging reminder that this is all fake.

What Ishiguro does is to take a classic scifi staple (human cloning) and ground it so firmly in reality that there is no such disconnect. The events in the book do not seem fantastical or futuristic or out there; they are simply the way things are. I could accept the premise of the novel as simply as the characters accepted it, without question. I love how he does this. And he does it skillfully by making the story not about the technology and science, but entirely about the characters and their relationships.

And once again, that's starting to seem a bit dull, isn't it? It isn't, though. The book is short, and paced well, and when I got to the end I was satisfied. I wasn't left feeling like the story had gone on too long or that the characters weren't developed enough: it was perfect. A rare thing indeed.

Dime novels and chopper bicycles

I work as a volunteer at the Sibley Bike Depot on Monday nights, and when I showed up yesterday I found two boxes full of books on a table by the door. I couldn't resist looking through them, and when I found out they were being sold for ten cents apiece, I couldn't very well help myself from buying two quarters' worth. I resisted copies of Cat's Cradle and Animal Farm.

The shop was more cluttered with donated bikes than it has been for a few weeks. That's a good thing! We had a good small team there to work for a couple of hours. First, we fine-tuned a pile of new kids' bikes that had been assembled by another group. It was mostly just tightening up seatposts and reflectors, adjusting brakes, and they were good to go. Then we started in on the used bikes. Seeing the variety of bicycles that come into the shop is one of my favorite parts of the job. John pointed out one modified ride with huge apehanger handlebars and a dangerously dangling rear brake line. With a bit of adornment, it would make an awesome parade bike. I wanted to fix that one up and take it home for myself!

Before I left, I had to find a way to carry my books back home on the singlespeed. I secured two small books in each side pocket of my jacket and tucked Vineland into my shirt. I rode back that way with no problem, and my wife didn't even notice the extra bulkiness when I got home!

Categories: bicycles, books

Yesterday's fire to this morning's ashes

I took an overnight trip up to my parents' lake home with J and Lola this weekend. To ward off boredom, I packed all manner of diversions and entertainments that I knew would keep us busy. But once we were up there and the sun was starting to set, the only thing I wanted to do was to build a fire. On a cool autumn evening, there's nothing more pleasant than sitting around a good hot campfire. We toasted some obligatory marshmallows, but mostly I kept the fire going and stayed happy and warm for hours. I could have stayed out there all night poking at it. Sorry, PS2. You just can't compete with that.

Categories: life

Rivendell Bicycle Works free stuff

Rivendell bicycle works is a very cool and unique company producing beautiful, sensible, lugged steel bicycles and bike accessories. If you're into bikes at all, you've probably heard of them. It wasn't long after I got into the bike forums before I saw reverent mentions of Rivendell and its founder, Grant Peterson. The bikes are incredible, they are not cheap; I may never buy one, but I like looking at them, and I like their philosophy, and it's fun to spread the word about something that is done really well.

You can get a good taste of what they're about on their website, but if you want something you can hold in your hands then do yourself a favor and dial them up. Just call (925) 933-7304 for a free copy of their catalog and a sample of the Rivendell Reader magazine. I reqested mine about a week ago and got it just a few days later (they also threw in a brochure about the new Atlantis frame). It's great reading that gets my imagination going and my soul burning to get on a bicycle. I can't wait for spring to come so I can start bike camping!

Categories: bicycles

Tap the free beer study

Last night I almost didn't attend an alcohol study because I lingered too long at a liquor store and traffic/roads were way worse than I expected. The study was scheduled to start at six, although we were supposed to be there fifteen minutes before that to check in. When it was 6:00 and I'd gotten myself totally lost trying to bypass a closed freeway entrance ramp, I was ready to turn around and go home. As luck would have it, the first road I recognized was one that brought me the rest of the way to Fieldwork Mpls and free beer. I was a half hour late, but they'd just started the session.

There were twenty other men participating in the study and we sat in rows in what reminded me of a college classroom (except with one-way glass along the front wall). We were instructed not to talk to each other in order to preserve our unbiased opinions of the samples. We filled out some bubble sheets and then the first beers were brought in. We were to drink our sample and answer a few pages of questions about it. They involved rating the beer on things like taste, body, malt, smoothness, and overall impressions. The most funny category was (agree or disagree:) "is a chick beer." I had to strongly disagree with "tastes premium or upscale"--Chimay has ruined me on regular beers.

We returned our (mostly) empty cups and repeated the process with a second sample. The whole process took about an hour. Then came the fun part. Along with extra paperwork, we each got a grocery bag packed with two six-packs to take home! Not only do I have twelve bottles of free beer sitting in my fridge (well, eleven now), but if I complete that survey and return it next week, they will pay me $65! Awesome. I would have signed up if it was just the free beer!

Can we ever understand another human heart?

I have got so much to say, I don't know where to start.

50,000 words in 30 days: the NaNoWriMo challenge

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo, as we call it around here) starts today! Are you Wri-ing a No this Mo?

I am (maybe). Now some people whinge about not having enough time because they're in college (you will probably never have more free time in your life ever) or work a full time job. I am not trying to make excuses for myself, but my full time at one job plus part time at another job plus looking for a new job plus my volunteer and marriage commitments may not leave a lot of spare minutes left for writing. Of course, it can still be done; you can always make time for something if you want it badly enough. I just have to want it more. And I'm not sure if I can do that this year.

Today, I'll start writing something and see what happens. I already know what can be done. This could be just the kick I need to break out of my writing rut.

Categories: writing

Norwegian Wood / on the job

Tomorrow is the first day of my new temp job, but just for fun, I went today! Actually, I thought this was my first day. Luckily, once I got there, they found something for me to do and put me to work. Then, I waited... and waited... while they attempted to set up my computer with the software I needed to do the other stuff they wanted me to do. Between that time and my bus rides, I read all of Murakami's Norwegian Wood today. It was a great book, but it put me in a weird funk for the rest of the day. Sorry I didn't show up at the bike shop, John. I tried to call, but nobody answered.

Also, I've gone back and started to categorize my posts for reference. This one falls into the categories: work, books

Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon

Introducting, just in time for Halloween, the Sui Generis wine of the month for October! This spicy, tasty red is produced by Vampire vineyards in Transylvania. We enjoyed it at our party last night along with a fondue dinner. I'll bet it went really well with the steak; I stuck to beer-battered mushrooms and cauliflower, myself.

The wine was nothing spectacular, in my opinion, but it was roundly average. And that's not a bad thing! An average wine at a low price (only $7 at Liquor Depot in Minneapolis) adds up to a great bargain buy. That means you've got enough time to pick up a bottle before All Hallow's Eve and celebrate the holiday with a suitably spooky drink without shelling out a scary amount of cash. Enjoy!

Categories: wine

Knitting practice squares

Get a load of that ribbing! There is some grade A needlework, if I do say so myself. Good thing nobody ever gets tired of knitting posts. At least now you've got some fun photo evidence of what I've been up to lately, which is always more interesting than just reading about it. I've been using a lot more images lately. Have you noticed? I'm on a visual kick. I hope it lasts.

Sui Generis knitting club: video resources

In which Sui Generis learns to knit like a man! Because real men knit. You knew that right? Okay then. For day one of self-taught knitting, I biked to Michael's for some fat needles (Takumi bamboo 9mm) and chunky wool. I decided to make a scarf. It's supposed to be a good first project, because there's nothing to it other than adding one row after another until you've got something long enough to be called a scarf.

There's nothing to make me feel sheepish (wool pun! ha ha!) faster than learning something new. Even with a book and the entire Internet at my fingertips, I had the greatest trouble just getting started. I couldn't figure out whether the instructions were retarded, or I was. Making a slipknot was easy enough, but for the life of me I did not understand the technique of casting on until I found this handy video site.

After that, it was cake. Until I attempted to do a row of ribbing. Oh well, I suppose I just need to learn one thing at a time.

Work, work, work

I spent Tuesday morning jumping through hoops for a contract job that begins today. It was ridiculous busywork for me since I'm just going back to a company where I have worked for the past two years, but the Adecco office lady insisted that I fill out all their crap. She had me take a survey with statements about employee loyalty which I made sure to answer with all the wrong responses.

After that wearisome rigamarole was over, I got a haircut and peed in a cup (at different locations!). The pee was for the contract job drug test, and the haircut was for an interview for a full-time job that went really well in my opinion. I enjoyed talking to the interviewer, who would be my boss if I got the job, and the position sounds really exciting. I thik I have a chance at this one!

I spent the late afternoon at my parents' place again, helping my dad to load a rented dumpster with what was formerly the basement walls. Just as we were carrying up the last of it, the sunset cast the clouds in a brilliant orange-tinted pink for just a few minutes. To celebrate my day, I stopped by the local liquor store for a six-pack of Blue Moon and a clearance bottle of Chilean Merlot. My contract position begins this afternoon (probably--I'm waiting on a phone call) but until then, I'll be practicing my knitting! Time to pick up some yarn.

Categories: work

Zero degree Celcius biking

I need to start packing chapstick in my saddle bag! It was nippy on the way back from the bike shop last night. I didn't get cold so much as the thin, dry air made it difficult to breathe and my throat was burning after only a mile or two. Pretty weak if you ask me.

UPDATE/REVISION: I think I scared people away with that browser crash talk, but you really shouldn't miss this hillarious British short at Lucky Kazoo. While you're there, make sure you also watch the techno remix of an advert for cleaning product Cillit Bang. It will stick in your head and you will love me for sharing it.

...and the dirt is gone!

Webkitten

Here's another one of the stuffed animals that I made and gave away a few years ago. This is my good good friend Jhenn cuddling a punk rock kitten that I made for her. It's a very tuff kitten, as you can tell by the ear piercings and safety-pinned black dress w/ root beer bottlecap pin. It is probably the best stuffed animal I ever made. Although I did make an purse/creature that's even softer and more complicated. Photo coming soon(?)!

Energy + Spatula = utinsil disaster

Due to a cooking accident, one of my favorite utinsils is no longer with me. I was making a grilled cheese sandwich with roasted peppers, and when I reached out to press it down into the pan, my old spatula just snapped in half! It gave me many good flips before it flopped. Here's to you, spatula.

Speaking of spatulas, I had my first taste of Chimay Ale this weekend. Chimay is a Belgian beer brewed in a Trappist monastery since 1862. They add yeast for a second fermentation that creates a little bit of sediment and makes the cork pop off like a bottle of Champagne. This alone made it worth trying at least the one time. The beer is really good, but for the steep price, it's not so good that I would buy it on a regular basis (say, more than once a year). Still, Chimay would make a great "gift" beer; maybe I'll buy my father-in-law a bottle of it for Christmas this year.

Knit night: Sui Generis gets crafty!

I thought about sewing up some new stuffed animals, but my plans changed when I saw the adorable knitted robots, zombies, and pillow creatures that people are making.* I had to learn to knit! My lovely and talented wife J taught me a basic stitch, and I was working away until I ran out of yarn. I didn't accomplish much, because it takes forever, but I learned an important lesson tonight. Knitting is fun!

*Also, many crocheted octopi.

Sui Generis sews

One of many things I've only touched on so far in this blog is the fact that I fancy myself a bit of an artist. Recently, I've been trying to write fiction, but I was primarily a visual artist back in the days I was really productive. The Etsy/Voodoo Plush post reminded me of my own stuffed creations, and I thought that you might enjoy seeing them.

These are two of the animals that I made: Suture Bunny and Wiggly Legs. Suture Bunny is the one on the left, who does not look like a bunny (but whose mouth is, in fact, sutured shut). Wiggly Legs is the one who looks like a bunny but whose legs don't wiggle. I'm not very good at naming things. I did enjoy making them, though.

Big Bonsai in Manhattan

It's old news, but this man-made "floating island" is a very interesting project. As an inaccessible, uninhabited chunk of nature, it's like a life-size bonsai landscape arrangement. The NYT has the article (use bugmenot.com if you're not registered) and make sure you watch the movie just to see this guy and his most excellent bow tie.

The days are just packed

What? Thursday already? What have I been up to all week that the time flies so quickly? I'm glad you asked! The highlight of my week so far was reading Blankets from cover to cover on Tuesday night. It was so good that I couldn't get to sleep for a half-hour afterwards.

I biked up to Roseville yesterday to help my dad disassemble his basement. That was fun work. As we tore down the walls, centipedes, spiders, and all manner of creepy-crawlies came pouring out of their newly exposed dens. Really put me in the mood for Halloween! The bike ride, however, was windy and cold. My ears hurt. Time to shop for a balaclava and full-fingered gloves.

When J got home, we drove to Minneapolis to look at a really cool house. There are any number of reasons why this is a bad time for us to actually purchase a home, but touring this one was just for fun. Then we stopped at another house to pick up a free stool that was advertised on Craig's List. To celebrate for my day of work and exercise, I insisted on a visit to Surdyk's. Hey, we were in the area. I bought one bottle of Rogue Dead Guy Ale and one of Chimay. Finally I can see what all the fuss is about!

Anaheim harvest time

Spicy! Our tiny neglected urban garden plot produced some food after all. These peppers were hiding within the plants, and we hadn't checked in so long that we assumed there was nothing there. Sure enough, we started looking and found a bounty of green veggies. Now I just need to find a way to use them all before they go bad.

Full moon madness?: 7th St. singlespeed lunacy

Last night while working at the bike shop I agreed to be treasurer for the MBPA. John said they needed one, so I volunteered. Whatever it takes to keep this organization going. Since I don't have a paying job, it's an especially good time for me to do work for a nonprofit group like this one. It makes me feel like my time is valuable and that I'm contributing to something greater than myself.

Plus, it gets me on my bike, and physical exercise is another important stimuli to keep from drifting down into a jobless torpor. So, my spirits are still high. Even if some of the jobs I'm applying for look like they may be giant leaps backward, at least I'm forging ahead with my personal life and individual goals. Ganbaremasu!

Etsy handmade products

I love the little handcrafted creatures that are sold at Etsy.com! They are adorable, and many are very reasonably priced, when you consider the personal attention that is given to each item. Some, like this VooDoo Plushie from No Punch Backs, ooze with the smarmy cute Japanese style sensibility that I cannot get enough of. I bet I know someone who would like this for Christmas!

The cruel tutelage of Typer Shark

I'm not playing--I'm training. Sooner or later on this job hunt I'll need to pass a typing test with a standard QWERTY layout, which means that I need to re-learn it. Learning Dvorak was tough, but rewarding, beacause I was mastering a better system and doing something new. Now, on the contrary, I'm moving backwards and having to remember a nonsensical and more difficult layout of keys. At least I have a new job as my motivation to stick with it.

Of course, it makes sense that the switch back would be awkward, given that the QWERTY layout was originally designed to slow down typists to prevent the typewriter's keys from sticking together. Why we still insist on teaching it as a standard for computing in this country is beyond me. We're only intentionally handicapping ourselves to international competition in this regard. Don't even get me started on the metric system!

Lycoperdon perlatum?

Very common and widely distributed collective species (with many variations) found on humus as well as on wood in late summer and fall . . . Edible, and one of the best small puffballs.

--The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide, by Smith & Smith Weber

I didn't eat any because I'm wary of the dangers of incorrect mushroom identification, but it looks like a fairly distinctive species; maybe next year I'll return and pick a few to try. Since today is nature geek day, also check out MoonDock, a pretty desktop phase display for OS X; and the online Calculator Cat module (as seen at Mental Multivitamin).

Friday Fun: search strings that led to me

batavus monte carlo: see here for my visual history of a single-speed conversion. It's a nice bike and there's not much information about them on the English internets.

bianchi bicycles strada (also bianchi strada, review): my Strada is of an indeterminate age, but one thing I know for sure is that it's a great bike for commuting. The new Stradas look lighter and racier; mine's a tough middle-of-the-road streetfighter. Oh, there is one good thing about the new bikes: they come standard with bullhorns. Sweet.

nanawrimo: I think you're looking for this. NaNaWriMo is National Naval Writing Month.

bike kill: it's here and it's still awesome. Jousting? Yes please!

sui generis shop bike (also sui generis shop motorbike): hey if one of you finds the place, could you come back here and let me know where is this sui generis shop? Sounds like my kind of place.

chiashu: still?

review decathlon cruiser bike: my advice is to stay away from it; the ones I saw in Paris looked cheap. Then again, they could have been hiding the high-end models somewhere I couldn't find them. In any event, try before you buy.

sui generous: I'm heartened that so many 1Ls are learning to spell Latin terms of art from this site. I may not have gotten into law school, but never let it be said that I didn't contribute to legal education in the nation.

sui generis lyrics: My Spanish-singing musical counterpart (a.k.a. "Unknown") strikes again! Toma dos Blues.

what does see you in the funny papers mean?: after a while, crocodile.

Simple days, better times.

You have found a mushroom. What do you want to do?



>EAT MUSHROOM

The mushroom is poisonous. You have died. Play again? (Y/N)

Remember when death was so abstract and reversible? (Oh, he's still on about this.) I think most kids in America are fortunate enough that they don't need to truly grasp the implications of death at a very young age. For me and the other little video game players, we died hundreds of times a day and it was undoable just by pressing Y.

Then we grew up and learned that death in the real world is serious, final, and to be avoided--that we should take care to protect our own lives and never threaten the lives of others. Or at least most of us learned that. The scariest thing about my recent local high school murders is how the kids did not seem to understand the gravity of what they were doing. They didn't take any precautions to avoid being seen or caught. As if they were immortal and invincible. But of course they were seen, and caught, and very likely they will have a long time to think about what happened, and to grow up.

Categories: life

Really, really bad news

A student at my old high school allegedly murdered his parents with the help of his friends. Afterwards, he went grocery shopping and walked home to get ready for the homecoming dance. CREEPY. Then he and his friends were arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

I didn't want to write about that, but I can't think of anything else to say with that news hanging on me. My little brother is a student at that school now. Although he doesn't personally know the suspects, he does have friends who were friends with them and this is a tough time for all of them.

Plus, how would you feel if you were these kids' dates? Imagine if they had made it to homecoming and you danced with them and whatnot, and then they were arrested for murder. The mind reels. I don't know what to say. I'm done.

The first draft of anything is shit.

Some time ago, after finagling my first novel into more-or-less finished form, I found an editor's blog that offered free evaluation of one opening chapter in exchange for permission to post it on his blog with comments and suggestions for all the world to see. I was thrilled. Finally, an expert to validate my genius! I emailed him with the opening of my novel and waited for praise. He wrote back (I'm paraphrasing here), "it sucks. It sucks hard."

That stung. But it was exactly what I needed to hear. And in fact, he was more tactful than that, and complimented me on the things that I did right. What I got from him that was invaluable, though, were the frank explanations of what I'd done wrong and his ideas for how to make it right.

I read somewhere (I wish I could remember where) that when Hemingway finished his first draft of The Sun Also Rises, mentor Gertrude Stein told him to "start over, and this time, pay attention." He did, and ended up with a pretty good book in the end. The quote in this post's title is Hemingway's. If he can say so about his own work then it certainly holds true for me and any apprentice author. Not that getting a rough draft down is easy work, but it's only the first step in a long process. The hard part is the editing alchemy of turning shit to gold.

Categories: writing

Dvorak bites me in the ass

Although learning the new keyboard layout has done wonders for my wrists and typing speed, it really puts me in a bad spot with job testing. I can't type in QWERTY worth crap anymore. I tried; I sucked. I felt stupid enough going into a temp office today, but then with a sub-30wpm score I really felt like a tool. That's the only drawback to Dvorak--having to explain it to someone else. Just put me on the computer and I'll change the setting in a second. Sorry, bub, that's not how it's done.

The temp work is just a stopgap measure while I continue looking for a real job. I won't bore you with any more details today. Staying home all day isn't the total blast I thought it would be, but it sure beats going to work!

Hit a rut, goalsetting strategies

Mysterious front-wheel flats are keeping me off my bike, and not having a job is keeping me busy with job applications and (hopefully soon) interviews. It's important to have a plan of action. I agreed with J on some extra responsibilities that I'd pick up around the house. Usually we share the chores pretty evenly--although I know we both feel at times that we are getting an unfair share of the burden!

This morning I got the heat working. I'm cleaning up in between making calls to prospective employers. Later I'll go grocery shopping, since I promised to cook a real dinner every day that I'm unemployed. This goal is as fun for me as it is hopefully rewarding to J; I love to cook, but it's one of the things that fell by the wayside after marriage and other responsibilities crept into our lives.

The daily grind makes it too easy to lose sight of what we really want. At least, I've found that to be the case. I'm taking advantage of my jobless time to refocus on living the life that I want to live.

Epernay, Champagne -- Moet & Chandon

Harvest time in Champagne: the air was cool, the leaves were changing, the grapes were ripe. It was the perfect time to visit. The platform at Gare L'Est was cold, and I bought hot chocolate and a croissant for breakfast. On the train to Champagne, J napped and I enjoyed the scenery. We disembarked in the town of Epernay and walked straight to the nearest Champagne house, Moet & Chandon.

Compared to the ancient and old-fashioned Burgundy wineries, M & C was a super fancy-pants facility. Together with a bunch of old people and a couple of young snobs, we watched a short video, toured the huge cellars, and ended in a swank tasting room where we each got a glass of tasty Champagne. I got a couple of bonus glasses from the remainders. Score!!

Afterwards, we took a van tour of a family-owned winery (Domi-Moreau) and their vines. This was my favorite part of the vacation. Nathalie, who runs the company with her husband and his parents, was our guide and taught us a lot about Champagne. At the end of the tour, we headed up to their little tasting room for the best part. J told everyone it was our anniversary, so I had to open a bottle in front of everybody. Luckily, I have some experience in that area, so I didn't bruise the bubbles or hit anyone with the cork. The wine was really good and I bought three bottles to take home. Now we have something to drink for our next anniversary!

Highlights of the Domi-Moreau tour:

• Cost of wine land: 1 million Euros per hectare
• Nathalie owns six hectares, three of which produce grapes that are sold to the major players like Moet & Chandon. Many growers simply sell all their grapes instead of making their own wine, because the demand is so great. Nathalie said, "we produce gold."
• The land is spread out--their six hectares were mixed in with other people's property. Right next to some anonymous tiny vineyard would be another one owned by Moet & Chandon or Mercier.
  
• Gypsies are hired to harvest the grapes. "Why do we hire gypsies?" asked Nathalie. "Not because we like them. It's because they bring their house with them."
• Co-ops provide wine-making equipment for small growers who can't afford their own. They can even do the entire process themselves, taking your grapes and handing you back bottles of finished Champagne.
• We tasted some grapes: they had thick, chewy skins and lots of seeds and just a tiny bit of delicious juice.
• Their bottle-capping machine was broken, so Nathalie showed us the one they were borrowing: it was 100 years old and still functional.
• Champagne is good!
  

Categories: wine

Writer's nightmare?

I dreamed that the city of London was being destroyed by a walking pair of giant ballpoint pens. It was a really weird dream, because I've never been to London.

Le vin de Bourgogne est le vin des rois*

The ride out to Dijon-Ville went through rolling hills in fog that made for a scene like a Cloudy Bay label. From Dijon we transferred to a local train that took us to Beaune, where we started off the day with lunch and a glass of wine. Foolishness! I forgot I'd be drinking wine all day. To add insult to injury, I liked my lunch wine better than most of the stuff I tasted later. But we did taste some good wines.

First stop, the cellars of Marché aux Vins. Self-guided tour, 16 bottles of wine to try, which all began to taste the same around #7 or 8. In fact, they were mostly puckery, raisiney wines that dried out my mouth and made me glad for the spittoons. I was a little bit sick of wine by the end of the tour--a personal first--but I sucked it up and we moved on to Patriarche pére et fils for 13 more samples.

The Patriarche was truly incredible and worth the visit. They stocked four or so million bottles of wine in a labyrinthine fifteen square kilometers of cellars (the biggest in Burgundy). I liked the Fleurie so well (despite being the cheapest wine we tasted) that I bought a couple of bottles to take home. It was representative of the dry grapey taste shared by most of the Burgundies I tasted, without being overpowering, and also adding a sweet floral note on top of what was already a lighter, fruitier body compared to its more sour cellarmates at Patriarche and even more so v. the Marché vins, which I found less palatable overall.

We were done with wines then and wandered around town. Beaune was a healthy-seeming mix of old and new, and we found a working artist's studio with abstract paintings that I really enjoyed (see Alain Seguin's work at a super-crappy website here). Sadly, there were no prints for sale and we couldn't pony up the cash to buy an original. It would have been a bastard to stow in the carry-on bin, anyway.

And that's what we did in Beaune, Burgundy! Tomorrow, God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll tell you a little tale of how we celebrated our first anniversary in Champagne.

Categories: wine, travel

*"The wine of Burgundy is the wine of kings" --Louis XIV

Explicit lyrics, SG in the mix

We had a cracking good thunderstorm last night and a nasty fight. It has been a while since J and I got really mad at each other; it is a good thing for couples to argue and vent some steam now & then. Some would say that periodical scuffles are the common element in all successful long-term relationships. More important than the bickering, though, is the making-up afterwards. If you skip that part then you're in trouble.

All of which just to say that I haven't got around to those France wine posts yet, sorry sorry, I'll do 'em soon. Right now the job search takes precedence and then I've got tons of other chores begging my attention. So.

SG staus update: unemployed as of 8 October, '05. Which means I need a new project (besides job-hunting) to keep me busy. Introducing a warm-up activity for November's NaNoWriMo: the October Three Week Writing, Uh, Project (or ThreWWUP)!! I know, believe it or not, that was the least crappy acronym I could come up with. Little help here? Anyway, I'm going for 60,000 words before this month is over. That should put me in the right frame of mind to shatter last year's record for November.

Categories: life, work, writing

N.B.

"If all people want is to see something they understand, they shouldn't go to the theater. They should go to the bathroom."

--Bertolt Brecht

In the market for a new Muse

I think mine is broken? Anyway it's been a while since I've heard from her. Sporadically I get some inspiration. Shakespearean poetry novel disaster, creativity is all over the map, missing the bulls-eye by a million meters. Sudden desire again to do The Novel, the big one I put away in a box after slaughtering it last November but it reconstituted reincarnated and grew, magnetically gathering new perspectives and plot arcs and it's slavering to escape--"you can write me better now"--time to surrender. Start over from scratch. See what it's become.

I had other plans, different stories, but I can't move on until this one's told right. Why wait until November? How can I with looming unemployment and screaming ideas poised on the tips of my fingers and the prospect of entire free days alone at home. Shall I project a world?

Categories: writing

A balancing act

I strive for balance in my life. Most people probably do, I assume. Still no matter what I do there's always something out of whack. But I do seem to trade security in one area for insecurity in another; case in point, I quit my job without a backup plan, but we can stay in our house throughout the winter. It was for sale when we moved in, and has apparently been taken off the market as of last weekend. Good to know that I may be unemployed but at least we won't be on the street.

What else is upcoming in the month of ROCKtober? Many exciting things are about to happen!

• Tomorrow is a very thrilling annual bonsai auction & sale hosted by the MN Bonsai Society. I probably won't buy anything, but it's fun to see all the tiny trees.
  
• If you are interested in mushrooms like I suddenly am, than you may want to join me at next Monday's meeting of the Mycological Society!
  
• I am working at the Sibley Bike Depot every Monday evening until 8:30. Stop in and say hello.
  
• The weekend of the 14th is for the St. Paul Art Crawl. Don't miss it!
  
• You will help me get a job. Please.

Also, of course, more Paris posts are due. I still have to tell you about our trips to Champagne and Burgundy. That should just about cover it.

Are you a human being?

You'll have to prove it before you can post comments now.

Over the weekend, this blog was slammed with spam comments for the first time. I deleted all of them manually, but I know that now I've been targeted, I will continue to receive these bogus posts. Rather than disable comments, I have instituted Blogger's "word verification" feature. When you go to leave a comment, you will need to verify your autonomy by typing in a short character string.

Sorry about the hassle, but I really wanted to keep comments, and this will hopefully block the automated spamming systems. I hope it won't deter my dozens of real readers from responding to my posts. Hope to hear from all of you!

Vegetarian restaurants in Paris

quick review of Aquarius café: went for lunch. Tight-packed space, cranky waitress, confusing menu. We guessed on the food and it wasn't good, but it did end up being cheap. Our cashier spoke some English, and there was singing, but overall Not Recommended. Now for the good one:

La Victoire Suprême du Coeur was a little tricky to locate, since the side street it's on is not listed on most Paris maps. This website would have made it a lot easier, if I'd found it beforehand. It was a nice, open place painted in cool colors; the photos on the site don't do it justice. I requested English menus, which were provided. J ordered the vegetarian "chicken" and I got Seitan escalope w/ mushroom sauce.

I was glad the menus were printed in clear English, because when our food came, the resemblance to meat was remarkable. My escalope looked and tasted almost exactly like a fine cut of beef. J's "chicken," especially, was astounding. I've never come across anything like it. A hardcore vegan would undoubtedly be grossed out by the resemblance to real hunks of hen flesh. And it was 100% vegan to boot!

The desserts were equally good, but I had to cut my raving short for a long trip to the bathroom before we left. Sadly, something about that remarkably tasty food had an unsettling effect on my tummy. After I finally came out of there, I was a bit shocked by the size of the bill--apparently we misunderstood the pricing scheme--but it was easily worth every centime. That was our one expensive dinner in Paris, and we would go back in a heartbeat. La Victoire Suprême du Coeur! Best vegetarian restaurant EVER!

2003 Monmousseau Vouvray: SG Wine of the Month!

Maybe this will be a new feature on Sui Generis. Not everyone is into wine recommendations, but doing one a month seems reasonable to me. As always, let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more (or less) of this kind of thing. So, without further ado:

I'm no fancy-pants Dom Perignon-drinking wine snob, just a regular guy looking for bargain pours. I review wines that are good, cheap, and obtainable. After all, I drank some great wines in France, but I could write about them until I'm white in the face and you still wouldn't be able to buy them. So why should you care? Instead, this month's pick is a French wine that I bought at my neighborhood store right here in St. Paul, Minnesota. If it sounds good to you, then I hope you can track it down, too.



Monmousseau Vouvray is a blanc des blancs from the Touraine region (central Loire valley). Here's what you get for just $10: Cidery, sweet aroma. Lush, buttery flavor. Similar to several I've tried, except that where they tip over the edge with sticky-sweetness and are spoiled, this one goes just up to the zenith and then backs down again with a smooth finish. Perfectly balanced; never offensive.

This wine is fine on its own, but it was very complementary with the grilled shiitake mushrooms and rotini pasta that I made for dinner. Part of the reason that it blended so well might have been the fact that I used the wine in the (highly recommended!) sauce recipe. With food or without, this wine stands out as one of my favorite whites in some time.

Categories: wine

Paris: favorite places

My first post on the city was a bit cantankerous, but as I said, there were good times to be had in Paris. Here's a partial list of places that I enjoyed visiting and would recommend to anyone.

• Shakespeare & Company: new & used English-language book seller. One shop sells mostly new stuff, and its neighbor stocks old, rare, first edition, &c. While we were there, the old and rare side of the store was closed up, and I didn't get a chance to browse inside. The "new" side had a good selection and a few (misplaced?) rare finds as well.
  
• Musee d'Orsay: Best museum that we visited in Paris. Crowds were less insane than at the Louvre, and both quality and quantity of art works was vastly improved (I thought) over the Centre Pompidou. Add to that the gorgeous building that it's all housed in, and you've got a museum that's worth the price of admission.
  
• Our apartment: No matter how great or crappy our day was, it was always fun coming back to our own place in the evening. I cannot recommend this route enough. If you stay at a hotel in Paris, you are missing out on the best part of the trip!
  
• Monoprix: French grocery store chain where we shopped at least once a day. Fresh bread and pastries at the bakery, great selection of wines for me, and huge bottles of Orangina for J. Also an excellent store-brand tiramisu. Not a place worth seeking out, per se, but you probably won't need to; they're all over Paris.
  
• La Victoire Supreme du Coeur: vegetarian restaurant with the best meat analog ever. For the full story on this place and another one that's worth a look, come back for tomorrow's post.
  

Fat Tire Bike Tours / Monet's gardens

We got lucky for one day in France and both got to do stuff we loved. We met early in a Paris train station with the group leader for Fat Tire Bike Tours (f/k/a Bullfrog Bikes) and took a train towards Normandy. The plan of the day was to pick up the bikes in Vernon, ride to a picnic spot, continue on to Monet's grave, gardens & house, poke around on foot for a few hours and then reverse.

The rain started during our train ride and continued for a few hours while we shopped in the Vernon market and claimed bikes from FTBT's fleet. Fat Tire is an apt name, since the cruiser-style 3-speed bikes float on huge balloony tires. The seats were ultra-comfortable, the frame weighed a ton, and the components were shiny and dialed-in. It was like riding on rails--you couldn't fall off one of these bikes if you tried. Or so I thought, until there was an immediate minor fiasco when a woman in our group pulled out into the road, saw a car, and freaked out. She fell over.

We lunched in a pretty park where Monet used to paint. Our tour leader supplied regional cheese and cider. The drizzling intensified, and we hid under a graffitied bridge to wait it out. Eventually, we had to go and took a nice rainy ride along a paved country bike trail up to Giverny. We saw the man's grave and extensive gardens (photo of the pond here). The walls of his house were covered in Japanese woodblock prints--a major inspiration for his impressionist work. I was delighted; J was hoping for more Monet.

After a few hours of touristing, we got back on the bikes and returned to town. This is where it got really ridiculous as people started walking their bikes. We are talking about giving up on a slow, easy ride with foolproof bicycles on flat ground and a dedicated two-lane bike trail. Those of us who enjoyed riding and wanted to catch our train back to Paris were dumbfounded. Why would you take a bike tour if you don't like riding bikes?

Our group leader handled this well and shepharded the slowpokes back to the stable. I felt like riding around for a few more kilometers, but it was time to go. The rain had cleared up when we arrived at the gardens, so we hung out on the train platform and talked with the leader about working for FTBT. Sounds like a fun and easy job, I was thinking about doing it myself some day, but I wouldn't have wanted to deal with our group. Moral: good times, Fat Tire recommended.

Categories: bicycles

Serenity preview

This movie rocks your socks. I give it 5,000 SGs. I don't aim to spoil anything here, but let's just say that fans of the show will adore the film, and even if you haven't seen the show it's still a great movie in its own right. The TV show was a good medium for introducing compelling characters and themes, and the big screen was a perfect venue to tie it all together in grand fashion. If you like sci-fi, I bet you will love this film. Go see it.

Paris bike culture

I read that "the French are very serious about cycling," but the Paris we visited did not match up with my preconceived notions. While we were there, I saw very few of what I would call "serious" cyclists (Lycra-clad riders on racing bikes with drop bars). On the contrary, the vast majority of bicycles around Paris were purely utilitarian.

The average bike had straight bars, basic pedals, a comfortable saddle, fenders and a rack. For some reason that I never grokked, many were "girl" bikes--partly explained by the fact that more women ride bikes, but lots of these bikes were being ridden by men.

Being a bike geek, I ogled every chained-up bicycle that we passed on the street and looked for trends and standouts. Not a single single-speed or fixed gear could be seen. And yet not a more suitable city could be imagined, since Paris is nigh entirely flat. One thing was for sure, though, these bikes got used. They were dirty and beat and old. As for brands, Peugeot was popular (as they were for cars and motorcycles), and "Decathlon" bicycles were ubiquitous as well.

We found a Decathlon store on or near the Champs-Elysees and went in to investigate. Sure enough, they sold and serviced a line of bikes along with tons of other sporting goods (think REI). I found a floor model "Vitamin," one that I'd seen plenty of and thought it looked pretty cool... being sold for 100 euros!* Had I been admiring the French equivalent of a Wal-Mart bike?

Not being able to speak or read French too well, I couldn't much tell. Suffice it to say that Parisians as a whole aren't some super-knowledgeable elite bicycling clique. They buy their bikes to use 'em, and considerations of weight or quality don't compete with low low prices. Just one more way that they're really just like us Americans.

Categories: bicycles

*121.11 U.S. dollars

Paris

Paris is like any other big city: they have crazy traffic, urban decay, beggars, pickpockets, buskers, scam artists, and homeless folk. It's dirty, noisy, crowded, smelly, and busy. It is important to understand this. Paris is not a utopia of laid-back lunches in cozy cafes and romantic sunset strolls along the Seine. But, like any other big city, it's got its charm if you are willing to search for it (and it mostly won't be where you expect).

We lived there more or less like unemployed locals for two weeks and had a great time. "Loved every minute" would be a lie. "Made the most of it" is better. My favorite days by far were our jaunts outside the city, and my France return trip plans do not include Paris whatsoever. Still, I'm glad we went. Here are some highlights of big-city livin'.

• The Metro. When it wasn't too busy, we had fun riding the train system. It covers every corner of Paris and took us where we wanted to go every time we went out. Going without a car in this city would be easy (but all that traffic had to come from somewhere--out of town commuters, perhaps?)
• Proximity to necessities. On a daily basis, we could have got by without using the Metro at all, simply browsing our neighborhood's cafes, restaurants, bakeries, groceries, laundrettes and the such. There was at least one of absolutely everything we needed within a few blocks' radius.
• Apartment perks. Drinking a glass (or two) of wine on our balcony. Taking a hot bath at the end of a long day of walking. Cooking grilled-cheese sandwiches in our tiny kitchen corner. Those little details made us feel at home, and of course--thanks to J's big push to get us something that we could not do at home--our bedroom view of the Eiffel Tower.
• Assortment. An endless procession of patisseries doesn't translate into an infinite selection of baked goods, but it does ensure at least some variety. If we didn't like the menu of one restaurant, we just tried our luck with the next one down the street. We never had to go more than a block or two before finding something we could both agree on.
  
• Culture. Saved for last because it's obvious. Paris is packed with museums, cathedrals, parks, historic sites, and nifty architechture aplenty. The only drawbacks to the best tourist attractions were the half-mad packs of feral tourists. Ah, well, there's just no escaping other people.
  

Non-Paris post: SERENITY

Guess who's going to see a pre-screening of Serenity this week?

I had been hearing for a while about this TV show Firefly that might be up my alley, but never got around to checking it out. Then just the other day I saw over at Magic Cookie that bloggers get a shot at free tickets for the upcoming movie! Of course I signed up. Now that I'm going to see the movie that concludes the series, I thought it would be a good time to see what the show is all about. None of the rental stores around here seem to carry it, so I had no choice but to buy the complete season from Best Buy without having ever watched a single episode. Now, halfway through, I am totally stoked on Serenity. I'm supposed to tell everyone this stuff:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

I bet it is going to be sweet. You can read all about it here on Wednesday morning, or Tuesday night if it gets me too wound up to sleep and I write the post as soon as I get home from the theater. You can't take the sky from me.

Viva la France!

Hope y'all liked the photos. Now it's storytime!

France was awesome. We rented an apartment in Paris for two weeks, which is the way to go. Not too expensive, but we had our own place and a kitchen for making meals and whatnot to save money on eating out. Plus we could see the Eiffel Tower from our bedroom and drink wine on the balcony, so it fulfilled all our Paris dreams right there.

FRANCE FUN FACT: Wine is cheaper than soda.

I'll spend some time in subsequent posts talking about our day trips into Burgandy and Champagne. Those were my favorite parts of the vacation. We also took a bicycle tour up to Monet's house, gardens, and grave--the only biking I did for two weeks!--man, do I feel out of shape! It turns out that my buff cycling muscles are a different group from my flabby walking muscles, and we were both exhausted at the end of every day.

We walked a lot, but we also spent a lot of time riding trains: the Metro in Paris and the SNCF lines out into the country. SNCF can suck it!! We had a bad experience with them, but there's not much incentive for them to improve customer service, since as far as I know they've got a monopoly on rail travel heading out of Paris. Anyway, I like riding trains, so we had some good times. Oh, the AirFrance bus from the airport can suck it too.

Things that didn't suck: wine! food! the weather! some museums! Again, I'll dedicate some posts to those topics, especially the two vegetarian restaurants we visited. So, lots of content coming up. I'm also answering questions, so if you've got anything to ask, now is the time! The request line is open.

Winners Never Quit

Leaving the company is so in vogue now that our HR Director didn't bat an eye when I came into her office to resign today.

"I've got some bad news," I said.
"Oh, you're resigning. When's your last day?"
"Um, the 7th. I wrote a letter..."
"That's great, thanks. Just notify your supervisor, and I'll schedule an exit interview for next week."

And just like that it was all taken care of. If I'd known it was this easy, I'd have done it a long time ago! With the safety net of this job removed, I can build up the FEAR I need to begin the hard work of looking for another one. Mostly, though, I just feel (switching metaphors now) relieved of a burden that's been troubling me for a long time. I'm liberated... free as the wind blows! Speaking of things that blow, unemployment's creeping up on me. Time to get back to that job search. Next post will be about Paris.

Categories: work

View from our bedroom window

Rows of vines, ripe for the harvest

yet more truck graffiti

Tractor in the Champagne countryside

Impressionist photo of the lobby at Centre Pompidou

Petrol prices in Paris

Vintage bottles of Burgandy wine

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame at night

Ripe grapes on the vine

Crate full of Dom Perignon

Moet & Chandon's tall arched cellars

Holy awesome name for a restaurant, Batman!

Aging barrels in a Burgandy cellar

bicycle cops, ready to spring into action

Japanese-style chocolaterie in Montmartre

Hemingway's old haunt, the Closerie des Lilas

la Tour Eiffel

Graffitied Wall

anti-Bush sticker?

the Sacre Coeur

Monet's water garden in Giverny

Truck Graffiti #3

Truck Graffiti #2

Truck Graffiti #1

balcony view from our apartment in Montparnasse

No Giving Up!

Girls Are Pretty has a great story to continue in the vein of yesterday's post:

When you send out the updated list of office practices and regulations, your staff will be startled to find there in the middle of the list, just below, "No jeans or flip flops" and above, "No mugs with 'slogans' other than our company logo and slogan,'" you've added:

No Giving Up On Your Dreams And Settling For Your Current Job Because It's Convenient To Do So

Click that link to find out what happens next! Law students in particular should be curious to learn the fate of Marcus at the end of the post.

Sui Generis makes like a tree

France photos to come (soon I hope), but first, a major announcement. I quit my job tomorrow. I have no other job prospect. For a variety of reasons, I just couldn't stand to stay with that company any longer. I won't say any more, because the Internets are devious and not to be trusted. Suffice it to say that in two weeks or less, this blog may be very much about Sui Generis' Adventures in Unemployment!

Hopefully I'll find something before then and make a swift segue into my next career. Any twin cities peeps with job hookups, I would so love to talk with you. Or if you could get me in somewhere, say, on the West Coast, or in Boulder, or anywhere awesome, really, that would be nice. I do have skills. I do not have a long-term plan that dictates what I should do next, at this point, so any leads are welcome.

Thanks, and as ever, stay tuned.

Categories: work

Bonjusof!

\\\\\\These keyboqrd qre crqwy retqrded(((
hello friend? This is the Sui Generis in the Paris town using his crazy hunt:&peck skillz to bring you a blog post on limited internet time. I,m not so much looking at the screen as i type; so this is the best i can do: today is the last full day for me & j in this country & then we comin home: so ill have lots of photos to share witchall when i get bak at my own conpuuta;
so paris is fun, we drank lots of wine & ate crepes & stuff; !§§
€-600
un, we also travelled out of paris into burgandy, normandy & champagne for more adventiure!! vegetarian restaurants are rare; all the escalators broke; i like the cheap wine optioons!! wine is cheaper than pop; isn;t that nice!
so, i will be bqc w/ the full story when i return & get q better keyboard, almost used up my internet time here§ù*$^¨ççççç
laters

Bon anniversaire!

This blog will be one year old as of September 22. I'm posting the blogiversary wrapup now since I'll be in France for the next two weeks and I'll just want to post photos when I get back. So here's something for you to read while I'm gone.

This blog has come a long way in one year! Don't go back and read my first post, it's stupid. In fact, don't bother reading any of my old posts. I can't find any good ones, they're all crap. Here's a better idea: instead of a clips show, I'll do an original year-end flashback episode. Fasten your seatbelts kiddies, now it is beginning of a fantastic story!!

When I started this blog, I was all about law school. I was a year or two out of college and contemplating a serious career change. I had also just gotten married! It was an exciting time, full of hope and promise for the future. I had taken the LSAT and gotten a decent score, so I spent most of my time wrestling with LSAC and winnowing down my choices of schools to send applications at.

I started trying to post photos regularly in my second month of blogging, which I kept up more or less regularly for a while. Then I ran out of cool photos. It's a habit I'd like to get back into, but I'm not rocking the camera as much as I did back in the day.

Meanwhile, I was scrabbling together application materials and writing a personal statement that turned out very poorly after lots of work. I sent it anyway. LSAC got my transcript, I finished my stuff, and applications started going out. Along with autumn came the insidious NaNaWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. Spurred on by AmbImb's example, I declared my intention to compose a 50,000 word novel in one month. I did it in two weeks.

I kept on writing at it for the next few months, ending up with around 70-80,000 words all told, but I was never fully satisfied with the manuscript. Currently I plan to trash it and start over with a complete rewrite, but I've got other writing projects in the pipeline as well, and I'm focusing on those for now. Maybe I'll take up my original book again for this year's WriMo.

With my writing goals met halfway through November, I switched to the Dvorak keyboard layout. I started to question my decision to go to law school. I drank wine and wrote some wine reviews. In early December, I was seeing reports of acceptance for other 0L bloggers, and the seeds of doubt were planted. Mailbox fear set in. The next several months brought on a flurry of deferrals, waitlists, and rejections, and law school slowly faded away.

I had a delightful first Christmas with my new family and a happy New Year. All I wanted to blog about was writing, but that wasn't interesting to anyone except me, so I started writing book reviews instead. They weren't very good, either. I didn't have anything to say about law school except that the waiting was driving me mad, but at least those posts seemed to garner lots of encouraging responses.

I took an unlikely trip to the Bahamas for a week in February. While we were there, I read most of Infinite Jest, which is awesome, and which wins the Sui Generis Book of the Year Award.

March was all about blog interactivity. I kicked it off with an all-request day and found that I can write a lot more and better in response to a question than off the top of my head. I recorded a podcast with AmbImb, some people liked that. I posted about the Million Writers Award and heard back from a few of the authors whose work I enjoyed. This was unexpected and wonderful. Thus began my foray into litblogging. All the excitement inspired me to write my own short story, which sucked, although everyone was kind enough not to say so.

I played a mean April Fool's Day joke by pretending that I got into law school. I guess the joke was on me, huh? (Because I didn't.) J got a job doing what she went to school for, and so then we were both working full time. For the conclusion of my law school application efforts, I interviewed with the dean at my local school and attended a class.

I gave up on law school after that, but we did win a TV. I started to reevaluate my plans for the future. With my standing in the legal profession no longer a concern, I dropped my cautious anonymity about topics such as tattoos that I might have. I got involved with a lot of volunteer events through my company. I bought my bicycle and started to ride, and we adopted our little Pug, Lola. We moved into a rental house in St. Paul and I commuted by bike. Life was good.

In June I was still trying to bring up law school every now and then, but it was no use. All I did anymore was ride my bicycle. I officially gave up on law school and gave in to the fact that my content had changed. I was writing about writing, life and career choices, dogs and bicycles, but the law school dream had died. A redesign was in order!

The new bicycle focus gave me plenty to blog about. I was out of steam on the topic of law school, but I was still officially waitlisted at two places. Halfway through August, I was effectively released from both waitlists on the same day, thus ending my law school dreams forever! With that settled, I turned all my attention to Plan B. J and I were both unhappy at our jobs and it was time for a change. What would we do next?

But first an intermission--my grandpa died last week and we scheduled the wake & funeral w/ just enough time to have them before J & I left for France. So that cut into our planning & packing times and we're rushed now. It's been crazy. Well, time to go to Paris. Come back on the 19th or 20th for photos galore. Catch you on the flip side!

Strong as Ten Regular Men

This morning, it was the soundtrack to Disney's Aladdin. I faced the galloping hordes, a hundred bad guys with Fords, and nearly got trampled twice. But, I made it in safely. Don't worry drivers, keep trying to run me over and I'm sure you'll get me some day, but not today!

On a totally different topic, I wonder who reads this site anymore. I used to have a stat counter but then I lost the password and gave up on it because I checked it obsessively and the low numbers depressed me. Lately I've been feeling altogether too good about myself, so it's time to recommence quantitatively measuring my value as a human being! See you in the visitors summary page!

Busy, busy, busy

I was given an unsolicited lesson on how to floss at the dentist's office today. I'm twenty-four years old, for crying out loud. Look, I don't always floss daily, but it's not because I don't know how. My mistake was admitting it. Next time I'm asked, I'll just say, "twice a day plus mealtimes!"

Meanwhile, at work, layoffs were happening! Unfortunately I was not among those chosen to receive a generous severance package and must continue to work for my money. At least we got that out of the way before I left on vacation. We will see what happens when I return.

Tonight, boxing up 3-speeds for shipping to eBay auction winners!

In treble and bass we trust

I always have the radio on when I'm driving, so the silence of bicycle commuting took some getting used to. Now that I'm comfortable in the saddle and my mind can drift a little, I find that songs pop into my head every time I ride. A startling variety of music, at that. Punk, metal, and hip-hop songs are the most common, though; something about riding a bike must bring those genres to the forefront of my mind.

J thought it was weird, so I wondered if any other bike riders have experienced this phenomenon. Tell me, fellow cyclers, am I the only one? Or do beats and lyrics appear unsolicited in your head when you're biking around town? What's your bicycle soundtrack?

Categories: bicycles

Sweet dreams

I was sleep-blogging last night. I came up with a great post idea, just as I was drifting off to sleepy land, and mentally wrote out to two paragraphs. Now, I can't remember what it was about. While my head was stewing in creative juices last night, there's just nothing there this morning. I should have written it down.

Actually, I do all my best creative work at night. When I've got a novel in my head especially I can't help but brainstorm on it as I lie in bed. The problem is that once I get up, turn on the light, and start writing in my notebook, I'm not getting back to sleep for a long time.

I don't like losing material, but I also don't like losing sleep. During last year's NaNoWriMo, I did all my writing late at night and it killed my schedule for getting any work done before noon at my day job. What's an aspiring writer to do? If I ever hit it big as a novelist and make writing my full time job, I'll be going totally nocturnal.

Categories: writing

Feel that way mood h4xx0r3d

I'm feeling a real kinship lately with some of the bike bloggers I read on a regular basis. A Flower Called Nowhere has a recent post that hit close to home. Annie and I both, it turns out, hate the State Fair, Applebee's, and Woodbury, MN. Sascha is anti-wallpaper and pro-paint, and writes about something that I've been longing for lately: a place to call home.

Then, of course, there are bloggers with whom I have real-life collaboration. This guy is heading up a small team of volunteers, including me, who will be keeping the Sibley Bike Depot open for one additional night every week. It's going to be great for the shop to stay accessible and give us extra time to do the odd jobs that need to be done.

On that note, I was excited this morning to see that there are bids on all four of the 3-speed bicycles I posted on eBay! But with good news comes bad: the shop's website, bikeped.org, has apparently been hacked. Crap.

Overheard by the coffee pots this morning

"Did you do anything fun this weekend?"
"I went to the State Fair!"
"The State Fair? I asked if you did anything fun."

Literary Paris

Since I can't learn French fast enough to be any good while I'm there, I figured that I might as well read books about France. Maybe I can learn something about it and get into a Parisian frame of mind. Books by the French, American expatriots, or others who lived there are all up for grabs. I've recently read:

Debord's The Society of the Spectacle
Camus' The Plague
Kerouac's Satori in Paris
Réage's Story of O
and a bunch of Hemingway and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

Tentatively on the to-be-read-if-I-have-time pile:

Orwell's Down and Out in Paris
Balzac's Wrong Side of Paris
Baudrillard's The Illusion of the End
Thompson's Carnet de Voyage

Got any recommendations for reading material that should be on this list? Some books that I want to read have already been pushed back, like Sartre's Being and Nothingness. Don't be afraid to make my wishlist unwieldy. If I don't read it before going to France, I'll probably read it afterwards, so fire away!

Categories: books

Après le déluge

It was worth the price of gas to drive into work this morning. Rain was dumping down--I got wet just looking at it. The tires of my car were sinking in the mud and so did my shoes when I ran out to it, but I was drenched anyway. The thunder and lightning was incredible. One of the brightest and loudest I've ever seen/heard struck while J and I were still in bed. J and Lola both jumped.

The storm was great. I knew I couldn't bike twelve miles in it, so I sat around and played on the computer for a while and waited for it to calm down (it didn't). I love being inside during thunderstorms, watching the flashes of light, listening to the loud cracks and rumbles outside. The rain clobbering our roof and windows. I didn't want to go anywhere.

Now I'm at work and just blah. Maybe the storm will still be going when I get home!

Bicycles for sale

Four bike auctions on ebay! I am trying to help the Sibley Bike Depot reduce their excess inventory by selling some vintage English 3-speeds. I rode down to the shop last night to get set up with an official email address and PayPal account information, and after an hour of fiddling around with ebay and image hosting, I was in business. You can see them if you want. Buy one yourself, or tell your friends!

Here is one of them, a 1964 Raleigh Sports:



I am sure you will be filled with regret for all your years unless you also look at all of the others!

Categories: bicycles

An anniversary fit for a king!

J and I had a great romantic first anniversary night at Millenium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The hotel is on the south end of Nicollet Mall and we had a great view for watching the pretty track bikes and fixies roll on by.

We had dinner at King and I Thai right around the corner. J ordered the fried rice and I ordered the Pad Thai, both with mock duck. Our server took the order quickly, got us water, and the food came out really fast. After that, he was not very good at stopping by to pick up our food and bring a bill, although he was very attentive to the two cute tattooed girls who were seated at the table across from us!

I wanted authentic Thai taste, so I requested my Pad Thai to be made 'spicy' (3 on a scale of 4, between 'medium' and 'Thai spicy'). It was too spicy for my bland Midwestern palate to handle, but it was so good that I kept eating it, even though I couldn't breathe very well or see through my tears. Eventually, J made me give up on my meal and I finished off her fried rice.

Back at the hotel we took a bath, drank champagne, went to bed early and slept in. It was my best anniversary ever! (And I do recommend King and I for the food, but the service was spotty--as I had been warned in advance of our visit).

Vélo'v: bicycle P2P

There's an article at Wired about a new short-term bicycle rental system in France. I found it timely because a group from Duluth recently visited St. Paul and asked the Minnesota Bicycle-Pedestrian Alliance for assistance with a similar (but lower-tech and smaller scale) bike sharing project.

As the Wired article notes, these free lending systems must rely on the basic goodness of the human race in order to succeed, which is why they almost invariably fail. Nonprofits run out of money. Bicycles are stolen or intentionally destroyed.

The program in Lyon, a "P2P network for bikes," aims to circumvent these issues by means of credit card deposits, alarms, and microchips. Many people are curious to see whether they will succeed. The network analogy is an interesting one, because it brings to mind a fundamental axiom of computing: no matter how secure you try to make the system, someone will find a way to hack it.

Categories: bicycles

The Corrections*

*Disclaimer: this post isn't really about bikes, or the Jonathan Franzen novel.

After cursing at my rear dérailleur for weeks, I finally fixed it yesterday. I went to Sheldon Brown's site, read a few paragraphs about index shifting, and turned my adjusting barrel one click clockwise. Now the bike shifts perfectly. I wonder why I waited so long to do something about it. All of my recent drivetrain woes could have been avoided by making this simple adjustment two months ago!

How many things in our lives are going awry, and yet for some reason or another, we don't do anything about it? How many of our ongoing problems could be solved with a simple fix, if only we would take the time to do something about it, instead of just complaining about it?

I think of friendships that slipped away because I didn't make a phone call or write a letter -- jobs I hate but stay in because I am too lazy to apply for a new one -- opportunities lost because I procrastinated and missed a deadline -- what's the deal? Is it just me or is this another human condition thing? I resolve from here on out to increase my awareness of easy solutions to my "difficult" problems and do what I can right now to improve my life.

Categories: life, bicycles

A few of my favorite things (AM commute)

Riding through a cloud, with the atmospheric moisture flecking my glasses and cooling my face -- the alarm clock going off every morning that I can hear for the length of an entire city block -- the soft thick shroud of fog floating over Forest Cemetary -- feeling fasting and tougher than I did yesterday or the day before that -- taking undiscovered winding shortcuts through parks thick with trees and dead with silence -- racing through lights with traffic on the last half-mile -- parking my bike by the door and knowing that I get to do it all over again in eight and a half hours.

Categories: life, bicycles

desk job doldrums

I need to quit my job. I can't quit my job.

Just finished a cover letter, resume and writing sample package. Maybe this will be the magic bullet that gets me out of this dead-end nerve-wracking soul-crushing place. I'm going to bed now. Forecast for tomorrow: "dangerous afternoon t-storm." Sounds like great biking weather.

What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?

Nothing.

2003 Georges Duboeuf Juliénas

Billed as a red wine for people who don't like red wine, Beaujolais doesn't disappoint. I drank some Regnie from the 2002 vintage and enjoyed it. 2003 was a banner year for the region, so I made sure to pick up a couple of bottles and try them for comparison. At just over $10, this wine is a great value!

It's light and fruity and just fun to drink. We had it with some homemade pesto and bowtie noodles. Never before have I been so aware of a wine pairing; something in that sauce popped when combined with the taste of the wine. I'm going to buy a few more bottles of this vintage while I still can, unless it's already too late. Red wine doesn't get any more approachable than this.

Categories: wine

These guys are probably insane...

...but it looks like they know how to throw a party. Brooklyn's Black Rebel Bike Club in a short film called Bike Kill. Obstacle courses, derby, bike tossing, and (my personal favorite) tallbike jousting. Watch and be amazed.