As Long As They Spell Your Name Right

I know, I know, it's been weeks. Miss me?

Something pretty cool happened this morning. BalticTiger was notified that a short story she wrote last year was recognized as one of the better shorts published on the internet in 2007.

Go to the Million Writers Award - Notable Stories of 2007 website and scroll down to "Verbsap", where you will find "A Letter From Han Solo" written by Cara Lietuva. That's BalticTiger's story.

In case you're wondering, Cara Lietuva is a pen name, so no secret identities are being revealed here. BalticTiger chose to publish it under a pen name because of the political climate at the time, as certain situations -- Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay -- were being made public in the press.

Now that her story has received recognition, perhaps it would have been better to use her real name after all?

If You Like Foyers, Why Not?

My son sent this to me via The Onion. I pass it on to you.

BP MS 150: Devotion To Ones Craft -- Balance

Howard and BalticTiger rode in the BP MS 150 Houston-to-Austin last weekend and along the way we met a unicyclist. Here he is wobbling his way to Austin on his 36" unicycle on Day Two. Since we also saw a pair of unicyclists at RAGBRAI last July, and this one looked familiar**, I asked him if he had done it, but he hadn't. Still, it HAD to be a tough day in Texas for this guy:

**Yeah, yeah, I know... all unicyclists look the same.

Here are BalticTiger and her "little" brother Wolfgang at the start line of Day Two in La Grange:

Global Warming Moving Fast, says Gore, So We Must Also

In Al Gore's new 28-minute presentation and Q-and-A, posted on Ted.com and sponsored by AutoDesk (this architect's friend), he shows us how global warming is happening faster than originally predicted by scientists. Gore then challenges us with a generational mission...

"There's an old African proverb: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We have to go far quickly..."



Also, here's an interesting and spot-on analysis from the New York Times on
Gore as THE Power Broker.

Who Knew Rabbit Mountain Could Be So Tough?

Last Saturday, six Club Hypoxians rode our bikes from Loveland to Rabbit Mountain near Lyons, a place BalticTiger and I didn't know existed. The day was breezy, but it was warm and sunny. Distance traveled -- 56 miles. I made a music video of the day...

Frozen in Grand Central Station

This is an awesome prank on a "grand" scale! Over 200 people gathered at Grand Central Station in New York to pull off a "frozen in place" act. The onlooking travelers who weren't part of the act were mystified as to what was going on.

Some of the onlookers were wondering if it was a protest. Actually, something like this on a worldwide scale COULD be a very effective form of peaceful protest -- either against war in Iraq or global warming or... ?

I Want a President With Hoops Skilz

Okay, I seem to be on a YouTube kick lately, but I just came across another one... this time a video of Barack Obama playing high school basketball. He wore #23 (oh yeah!), was smooth, quick, and graceful, and didn't toss any balls into the gutter. Between you and me, I suspect this video was made public to counter the embarrassing video of him bowling gutterball after gutterball last week, earning him all the derision in the world from talking heads at MSNBC, CNN, FOX, and CNBC who've never bowled above 200 in their lives (yes, I have bowled games over 200 AND I've dunked on a 10-foot basket... without using a trampoline... proving once again that Howard is bona fide.)

Only the British Can Make This Funny

There are some distastefully "dodgy" references to "unemployed black men" in this British comedy skit by John Bird & John Fortune, but it explains everything you need to know about the Subprime Crisis that is bursting America's housing bubble... in slow motion, of course, as this skit was performed and recorded back in October -- months BEFORE Bear Stearns crumbled into derivative dust and the Fed leapt in to back all losses Merrill Lynch will incur by the purchase of Bear Stearns to the tune of $29 billion in taxpayer money.

Of course, this is assuming we don't have a brokered convention...

Obama Would Consider Gore for Major Post

By Devlin Barratt, AP

WALLINGFORD, Pa. -- Democrat Barack Obama says as president he would consider putting Al Gore in a Cabinet-level position -- or higher.

A woman at a town hall asked the Illinois senator if elected president would he consider tapping the former vice president for his Cabinet, or an even higher level office, to address global warming.

"I would," Obama said. "Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues but climate change is real."

Gore, who's work on climate change earned him a Nobel Prize, is popular among Democrats.

Blogger's Note: That last sentence has to be the stupidest, most insipid thing written and published anywhere in the world this week.

Blogger's Another Note: My bud in Sin City, Mozam, examines the most important issue facing us today -- which presidential candidate most supports cycling. Check his post out here. Be sure to follow his links too -- they're pretty good.

It Keeps Me Busy

Time for an update on the ol' architectural practice. About five months ago, I met a client at his land in Laramie. They had just purchased a nice lot on a rise with views in all directions. The best views were to the west, but the winds tend to blow from that direction.


They wanted a house with some grace and poise, one that had the Western Craftsman touches of stone, wood, and sandy-textured plaster on the outside, and also blended into the neighborhood... but not too much, because the neighborhood isn't THAT great.

But they wanted the clean, elegant European Modern look on the inside of the home. The design is complete, though I'm still working on construction documents. Here are two exterior elevations -- the west-facing front elevation, and the south elevation.



If everything goes well, construction should start this summer.

In the meantime, another project is getting underway as I'll soon start design on a large, beautiful house on a large, beautiful piece of ground in the foothills west of Fort Collins. Here's a video of the land, taken from a rocky outcropping overlooking everything. The building site is the land on the other side of the road, and the driveway in front of the house will cross between the two streets where I parked my own car. And yes, it was windy up there that day...