Big Apple Blog

You can count me among those who were disappointed to hear that the Democratic National Convention is going to be bike free. As reported by the Colorado Independent:

Organizers for the Democratic National Convention and party leaders have touted the official greenness of the upcoming convention in Denver, including everything from biodiesel buses and recyclable materials to carbon counting.

Indeed, there will be no bikes allowed within the DNC perimeter of the Pepsi Center, nor at Invesco Field, where Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech, DNCC organizers confirmed this week.

I’m a bit baffled because one of the concerns sited is security. Did I miss an announcement citing the bicycle as a security threat risk? As I read this news I thought back to this picture:

What is it your are looking at here? You are looking at a taxi that just randomly caught on fire outside the NBC studio in New York City. It would seem to me that cars, with large tanks filled with highly flammable liquids would pose just the tiniest bit more of a security risk than bicycles, but that’s just me.

I am not loyal to one political party or the other, they both disappoint me on numerous counts but it is easy to see who I will be voting for by visiting a previous post.

I am disappointed by the decision of the DNCC not to promote cycling as a part of it’s convention agenda. I will not be at the convention, but I offer this up to anyone who might be. Maybe a group of like minded folks can stand outside the Pepsi Center and to the tune of Imagine by John Lennon offer the following . . .

Imagine there’s no combustion engines
It’s easy if you try
No oil streak below us
Above us only car pollution free sky
Imagine all the people
Traveling by bike…

Imagine there’s no car companies
It isn’t hard to do
No oil to drill or lie for
And reduced carbon dioxide too
Imagine all the people
Riding bikes in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll pedal with us
And the world will bike in the sun

Imagine no congestion
I wonder if you can
No need for road rage
A brotherhood of bikes
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the roads…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will bike as one

On our trip to Brazil we were lucky to be able to take in a soccer game. I’m not a huge fan of soccer, I think it is pretty boring to watch. I like to play it, but in my opinion there is very little action, not a lot of strategy, and too many players roll on the ground as if they have just suffered a career ending injury. Never mind that after they roll around and grimace they get up and run around as if nothing happened. I’m not looking to start a fight, I know soccer is “the world’s” sport, but it just does not do much for me.

Baseball games just ooze with strategy. When you look at a baseball score board it’s common to see batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, RBI’s, home runs, singles, doubles, triples, along with the pitchers strikes, balls, total pitches made, and pitch speed. You are literally overwhelmed with information and any number of things can happen each time the pitcher rears back and lets it rip.

In a soccer game you have only two things on the score board: goals, of which there are very, very, very few and time elapsed. What else are you going to put up there? Perhaps how many times a particular player kicks with each foot? In soccer possession is most often messy with teams constantly turning over the ball and goal keepers kicking the ball great distances with no discernible strategy other than a vague hope that his team will gain possession when the ball drops from the sky. And if a game ends in a tie they settle it with penalty kicks - how random is that? You struggle for almost two hours as a team and can’t even score enough to win and then you tee up the ball for individuals to start firing it at the goal keeper in a Mano e Mano type format? I’m sorry, it makes no logical sense to me. Why transform a team game into the ultimate game of one on one? In my opinion, if it’s a team sport you have to keep playing as a team until there is a winner.

However, I do love cultural experiences and a soccer game is a cultural experience. We attended a game at one of the most famous stadiums in the world - Maracana Stadium. It is interesting to note that the stadium was built to hold 100,000 people, but when Brazil met Uruguay in the World Cup in 1950 they jammed 200,000 people into the stadium. Overcrowding is just one hazard you face at a soccer game we found out. Take a look at this picture . . .

Legions of fans of both teams light fireworks in what has to be one of the most unsafe things you could possibly do in a crowded stadium. I can’t imagine how many people end up with serious burns during games. This practice also fills the stadium with smoke which obscures you view of the game . . .

I guess maybe I’m just a wet blanket. I will say that the fans put American sports fans to shame. Well over an hour before kick off fans were chanting, singing, and waving flags with fervor unseen in all but maybe the most intense playoff games in American Professional sports leagues. And this fervor is not aided by alcohol. Alcohol is not sold in the stadium, but me thinks that if someone can smuggle burning hot fireworks into a game, they probably end up smuggling a bit of alcohol as well. And then there is the incredibly safe practice of letting children stand on the seats . . .

In the end I am just a random observer who I am sure will be shouted down by ardent soccer supporters. It was a fun cultural experience, but soccer for me will continue to be something that garners a bit of interest every four years when the World Cup occurs.

One of the things we did with our visitors from Philly was rent a boat on the Lake. You have to hand it to the people who named “The Lake” - they were very creative. As far as entertainment in NYC goes, renting a boat to cruise around The Lake is about as inexpensive as it gets. I had passed The Lake many times but never looked into actually paddling around. We decided to check it out and it’s only $12 per hour. It was fun . . . especially when you have energetic kids at the oars doing the work.

There was also a nice sky show.

How do you know an 8 year old girl has spent some time in your apartment? You open your Pandora account and find a new artist you would have never been caught dead adding to your station list - Miley Cyrus.

Some friends from Philadelphia came to town for the weekend and I am completely wasted. I don’t spend much time around children and let me tell you, they done wore me down. The kids are 8 and 10 and after the weekend I feel like a sleep deprived car accident victim.

I think I want to start a new business in Manhattan. Health Clubs are quite popular but you don’t really need to pay all that money. All you need to do is borrow children for a few hours and you will get a complete body work out, no problem. And at the same time you will be helping somebody else out. It’s a win-win for sure.

Scams are always pretty fascinating, although the fascination most often takes place in the afterglow. When you initially realize you are being scammed it’s never really a pleasant feeling. I encountered one scam in Rio De Janeiro which I think ranks among the most creative and simple scams ever. It also ranks as one of the most disgusting.

So the wife and I are walking along Copacabana Beach in the early evening, stopping to stare at people playing soccer and volleyball with absolutely no schedule in mind - just taking it all in. We had stopped to gander for a while and started walking again when all of the sudden a man runs up from behind me and starts shouting. It took a minute for what he was saying to register because the guy was pretty animated and we had grown accustomed to try to listen to Portuguese rather than English. He was speaking English with a heavy accent and his message turned out to be pretty clear . . .

“Shit, shit, shit on your shoe, YOU HAVE SHIT ON YOUR SHOE! Shit, shit, shit!”

Sure enough, I looked down and there was some shit, yes physical shit, on top of my shoe (flip flops actually, but the slip on ones rather than the ones that fit between your toes). He continued to wave and shout wildly and then came the realization of what was going on . . .

“Five dollars, I clean, only five dollars I clean! I clean shit off of your shoe!”

The scam realization then set in. Unless I had not noticed some dog with a projectile shitting problem it was pretty obvious that the dude had scooped up some dog shit, dumped it on my shoe when I was lazily looking at people one the beach. How am I sure? Well, the shit was on the top of my shoe and no where else. Not on the bottom or the side where it might normally be if one accidentally steps in a pile of shit on the ground.

The dude was pretty adamant about wanting to clean it off but I started to walk quickly away and he eventually gave up. Fortunately it was the beach so I kicked off my flip flop and rubbed it in the sand to clean off the shit. Although it was pretty disgusting, looking back I do give the guy a bit of credit. I encounter people begging for money quite a bit in NYC. I am not much for giving some change to someone just shaking a cup. I am comfortable when someone asking for me compliments it with some sort of gesture, advice, or effort of some sort. The dude in Rio did make an effort and was creative, but it was an effort I was not willing to pay for.

We landed stateside on Monday morning at 6 A.M. Over the past few years I have taken several red eye flights and have discovered that they really are not that bad. They tend to be a little cheaper and there are generally more empty seats which makes it possible to stretch out a bit.

More on Brazil in future entries but for now, this tidbit from the Wired Magazine I read on the way back concerning global warming and the environment:

The fact is, urban living is kinder to the planet, and Manhattan is perhaps the greenest place in the US. A Manhattanite’s carbon footprint is 30 percent smaller than the average American’s. The rate of car ownership is among the lowest in the country; 65 percent of the population walks, bikes, or rides mass transit to work.

I used to be a bit skeptical of city life but it has grown on me . . . as long as I can get away for vacations every once in a while =)

We went to Angra dos Reis, south of Rio, for a day and it was pretty cool. We took a little boat tour, swam, saw some fish and turtles, and hung out on a little island for a while. It did not quite live up to the trip we took to Tortuga Island in Costa Rica but it was still quite cool.

So I’ve been in Brazil for six days now and one thing I love, I have worn socks only one time.

A few weeks ago we took this great bike camping trip to Taconic State Park. It was “faux” camping in the sense that we stayed in a cabin in the state park, but the beds were uncomfortable so it sure felt like camping. This great organization, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, turns old rail road tracks into pathways that are closed to motor vehicle traffic. Totally quiet, safe, and smooth. We took the Metro North Railroad all the way to the end and there lies the start of the rail trail. The first 12 miles of the ride is rail trail . . .

The next 12 miles are quiet country roads that are a far cry from the streets and avenues of the Big Apple . . .

Taconic State Park has lots of cabins . . .

And a swimming hole that resulted from an old iron ore quarry. I fished for the first time since I cannot remember when and caught a small trout. Ariel came up blank but we had a great time just chillin’. Nothing like reading a big city fashion magazine while trying to hook one . . .

We went with our good friends Blue and Anna. Blue documented the trip on the Crazy Guy on a Bike Web site.

There is this cool waterfall, Bash Bish, that is just over the border from New York in Massachusetts.

Most of the time we sat around, drank beer, and took in nature. The dude in the middle is Dave, who runs the Deli in the park and hooked us up with almost all of our meals.

And Dave has this cat who is the spitting image of our old cat Goma, just a slightly different color.

Good times. If you have a bike, take it out and let it breath in a bit of nature this summer!

A couple weeks back we took a swing south and hit Philadelphia and Atlantic City. We have some friends just outside of Philly that we stayed with for a few days. Our friends possess these young humans I hear so much about. They are small, but they pack a punch. One young gentleman possesses the ability to fire off about 100 questions per minute. It made me feel both powerful and inept at the same time. We hit some of the major sites like the Liberty Bell . . .

We piled in the car to reduce our carbon footprint . . .

Mini-golf was a kick in the pants, even though I got beat by a 10 year old . . .

What is a trip to Philly without visiting the Rocky statue?

Only one picture of Atlantic City, and not even a good one. The Boardwalk is really the only thing close to a highlight. The town is pretty depressing if you ask me. It’s shame actually because it seems to have a lot of potential being on the beach and all. I think I would only visit again if all expenses were paid, a free massage was included, and there was a bicycle convention of some sort.

Without this man, I would not have embarked on the career I have today. In 1995 one Mr. Jeff Rickey hired me for my first job in higher education. Thirteen years later I have to say that I would not be where I am today (pretty much my dream job) with him. Thanks Jeff! Jeff came though town on a recruiting trip for his current school, Earlham College, and Ariel and I got to have a great dinner with Jeff. You’re the best man!

As seen in Flushing, NYC.

Turns out that I have a connection to the latest NYC crane collapse. No, it was not my building, I am over 60 blocks away. However, one of my good buddy Blue’s best friends apartment was located a mere 10 feet from where the crane hit. The picture below shows his friend Matt on his deck talking on his mobile phone.

Here is Blue’s email . . .

Though he claims to have been at his desk, my guess is that he was sitting on his thrown and it was the smell created that caused the falling crane to avoid his apartment by about 10 feet. You can see (below) the man himself on his deck sporting a lovely bathrobe.

Just F’in relieved we’ve got a crazy story to talk about instead of funeral to attend!

Unfortunately this is not a fake photo. It comes from CNN (full story here). Just a reminder to be careful out there . . .