(With appologies to Steppenwolf)
Cary and I got new bikes this weekend. She wanted to have her old bike tuned up, but we found that fixing it was going to cost almost as much as a new one. We test drove a few different models, and eventually settled on the Giant TranSend.
I was originally looking for a mountain bike, but the TranSend was much more comfortable than the others on paved roads (which is what we’ll be riding on most of the time).
On Sunday, we rode from home to a Food Lion to pick up hamburger buns for dinner. The total round trip was about 5.8 miles. Today, we rode to the local Kroger for more groceries. This trip was a bit shorter — about 4.4 miles — but we were able to ride most of the way on the greenway bike trails. The first trip was mostly on roads, but it wasn’t too bad. There are so many people on bikes in this area that most drivers seem used to them.
We definitely worked up a sweat, but it was nice to be able to run errands without having to drive. Our goal is to save some gas by riding our bikes to the grocery store for small stuff, or to the mall. Our old apartment was within walking distance to a Harris Teeter and a bunch of other shops; I do miss that, but having a house is better. 
Merlin has a shoe fetish.
I know that cats rub their faces on things to mark them with their scents. Merlin loves to do that with our shoes, but he does it for a LONG time. Like 15-20 minutes. He only actively rubs his face on the shoes for a minute or so. Really, anything longer than 2 minutes, and you’re really just hugging the shoe.
We just got back from a week in Canada for a wedding and some sightseeing. Pictures here:
I first heard about Miracle Fruit a couple of years ago, but haven’t been able to find any here in the US until now.
Thinkgeek.com sells Miracle Fruit tablets, but they’re currently sold out. I managed to get my order while they were still in stock.
Miracle Fruit, is the name given to the fruit of a small West African plant called Synsepalum dulcificum. The fruit itself is red and about the size of a coffee bean. The fruit’s flesh contains an active glycoprotein called “miraculin” that bonds to the taste buds on your tongue and, through currently unknown means, causes bitter and sour foods to taste sweet. This effect has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.
I received my Miracle Fruit Tablets yesterday, and after dinner, I popped a half-tablet into my mouth and let it dissolve.
The first thing I tried was pure lemon juice — I only drank a small amount, since lemon juice has a high acid content — and it was like drinking lemonade.
Next, I tried a piece of frozen broccoli (mostly thawed). It was like eating fresh garden peas right from the pod.
Mustard, sour cream, cream cheese and vinegar all tasted sweet to some degree.
I’m going to have to experiment more with this stuff. The affect only lasts for about 45 minute to an hour for a half-tablet, which is nice for experimentation purposes; Since the taste of some foods can be negatively altered (so I’ve heard), prolonged affects would be kind of annoying.
In reading articles online about miracle fruit “parties”, I’ve noted various accounts of how different foods’ flavors are changed. I’m skeptical about some claims, incuding how Guiness tastes like chocolate milk, or a hamburger tastes like a doughnut. But I’m willing to experiment — all in the name of science, of course.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, for sure. And if it can make broccoli taste better, I’m sold.
Those ValPak mailers are ubiquitous.
Originally, I wasn’t sure if he ran for the bushes when I was outside simply because it was the closest safe place, or because he actually lived there.
But now I’m pretty confident that the bushes are his home.
This little fella lives in the bushes in front of our house. I’m not sure if he(she?) is a small adult, or a baby, but it doesn’t seem to have any family. We see him around the bushes when we come home from work. For a few weeks, I wasn’t sure what kind of animal it was, because I would only see a blur of fur as it bolted for shelter when it saw me. Cary knew that it was a rabbit before I did. I guess I make more noise than she does.
Since the start of this most recent swelling/allergy problem, I’ve received three different compliments from three different people who are not my wife.
The day my face swelled up, Cary’s cousin remarked how I was still cute even with swollen lips. Maybe that was a sympathy compliment, but it was nice of her.
The night (well, early morning) I was in the emergency room, the nurses who were looking after me said that I was the nicest patient they had seen in a long time. I guess I can see how dealing with people at the ER can be rough; people who are in pain tend to be cranky. I try not to rock the boat. The nurses and doctors were nice to me, so why not be nice to them?
This morning, after the nurse at the allergy clinic finally decided that my condition wasn’t just my imagination, I went to the clinic to have some blood drawn, and the nurse who took my blood commented on how I had “beautiful veins”. Of course that just means that my pasty, translucent white skin just made it that much easier for her to find my veins, but it still counts as a compliment. I guess.
That’s the way I describe Joss Whedon’s latest mini-masterpiece, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
I became a Joss Whedon fan when I saw Firefly. I only started watching his earlier cult hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer a few days ago, so I’m late to that one.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a three-part mini musical that was written during the writer’s strike by Joss, his brothers Zack and Jed, and Jed’s fiance Maurissa Tancharoen. The show was viewable for free during the week of July 15 through July 20th (last week as I write this). Sadly, it is currently only available through iTunes, but the $3.99 you have to cough up to own all three parts of this 40-minute musical is well worth it.
The musical stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) as Dr. Horrible (real name: Billy), an evil villain whose master plan is to perform an act of evil and thus gain entry into a nefarious society known as the Evil League of Evil, and eventually rule the world.
Dr. Horrible’s nemesis is the super hero Captain Hammer, played by former Firefly star Nathan “I’m heterosexual but even I’ll admit he’s a hottie” Fillian. Captain Hammer has constantly thwarted Dr. Evil’s plans of world domination.
To say much more about the plot — especially the more pedestrian, non-super-hero parts — would ruin the fun. Suffice it to say that the third main character in the show is Penny, played by Felicia Day; she forms the third point in a sordid, musical love triangle, and that is where the fun of this musical really lies.
It’s a comedy, but it’s not without its tragedy and not-so-subtle social commentary. But above all, it’s fun and funny.
Nathan Fillian really hams it up as Captain Hammer, and Neil Patrick Harris delivers a great performance as an evil genius that you almost want to sympathize with.
Musically, the show is incredibly complex. Each of the three main characters has a “theme melody” that they he/she carries through the film. But what’s great is that, like many classic musicals like The Music Man, these three disparate themes elegantly criss-cross, overlap and intertwine in some of the show’s best songs, making for some great ensemble pieces.
Although the show is only viewable on iTunes, it will soon be coming to DVD (with plenty of extras, including, as mentioned by Joss, a DVD musical commentary!) soon along with the soundtrack.
The show has proven to be more popular online than anyone had anticipated, even causing a server crash when, according to the web guys at video-streaming service Hulu.com, 1000 people tried to watch the show in the same instant.
Joss Whedon was recently quoted in an L.A. Times article as saying that he and his fellow Dr. Horrible writers are currently “too busy talking about the giant Broadway adaptation, the much longer film version and the musical commentary that we’re writing now.” This quote almost screams tongue-in-cheek, but I guess time will tell.