Fuck Cash!

I made a cash withdrawal while checking my account balance at an ATM at the cashino on the MS 150 weekend. Six fucking dollars in fees. I thought I learned my lesson withdrawing cash during a recent pub crawl down Lyndale Ave (at Mortimer's) where I was charged something like $4.50, but I guess not. From here on out I do not use ATMs that are not owned and operated by my bank. No wonder people don't use cash anymore - it simply costs too much.

Why I Ride a Bike

A New Media War Brewing?

Colbert vs. Beck? I hope so! And potentially in the vein of Jon Stewart v. Jim Cramer/CNBC. I've long thought Glen Beck to be a complete wanker, and now that he has moved his show to Fox News Channel it has all but confirmed those thoughts. How did he manage to keep a show on CNN for so long anyways?

Running through Digg the other day I came across this Colbert Report clip that had become quite popular. In it, Colbert makes a complete mockery of Glen Beck and his career posturing on 9-11: the fake tears, sad looks, wiping eyes, the 9-12 project and let's not forget the quotes about how Glen Beck hates 9-11 victim's families.

If Fox News and Glen Beck take offence to Colbert's piece the way CNBC took offense to Jon Stewart's rant from the other week, we could have another awesome show down coming up between Colbert and Beck.


This is taken just north of MN HWY 1 and Tettegouche State Park on the Superior Hiking Trail. Can't remember the name of the lake but I believe it is on the approach to WRELC.

Deflating My Spirit

For the last 14 months I thought the distance between where I live and HGA was about 14 miles. I thought the distance to my girlfriend's house was about 10 miles. This morning I learned from google maps that my exact bike route to work is 10.5 miles. This makes the latter distance about 7.5 miles. So much fo thinking I was biking a lot furthing than I actually was!

One More Day

I have now officially passed 200 blog posts. I took over 3 years to do it. I started in September of 2005, I think. It seems like a lot, then I look at the length of time this has been out there and wonder why there aren't more.

I have one day of 98% mobility left. I spent 3 hours adjusting the damn brakes on my road bike and tuning it up into a generally rideable condition. Now it's really late and I will be hard pressed for the energy to pedal in the morning =) I'll get 30 miles of biking in before I won't be able to bike at all for weeks. Guess I'd better enjoy it!

Wednesday is surgery and I'm not really looking forward to it. Hopefully, I will be glad about this whole ordeal in the fall. The pain will be gone, the physical therapy will be done with, I'll have been biking all summer and have a strong healthy knee on which I can play Ultimate.

Good-bye hard earned vacation hours! And Happy St. Patrick's Day. If you are into that sort of thing. I couldn't care less. Or actually I could: Easter is coming up shortly.
Lake Pepin at Frontenac State Park, November?, 2008. Looking across to Maiden Rock, WI.

Under the Knife

March 18th! ACL reconstruction surgery. Can't say I'm looking forward to a week off work. Nor the physical therapy to follow.
Superior Hiking Trail. There would be these massive storm fronts that move in from the West. Sometimes they passed without a fuss, other times... we got wet. If they passed overhead without letting off precipitation they would break up over the lake and let the sun shine through.

Ice Flow

Minnehaha Falls. Minneapolis, MN. I have no idea why a caterpillar machine is down there.

Pantry Fresh!

This morning, as I sat on the train on my way to work, I noticed someone holding a cup of coffee that had been purchased from a place like Burger King or a Holiday gas station. The paper cup exclaimed that the coffee inside was "Pantry Fresh!" Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but the words "pantry" and "fresh" seem contrary to me. Almost an oxymoron. From dicionary.com we find a number of entries such as: "a small storeroom for storing foods or wines" and "A small room used for the preparation of cold foods."

When I was thinking about this, wine came to me as an example of something I would want stored in a pantry (cellar) because it is something that can sit there for years. I hope that coffee wasn't sitting in the pantry as long as the '94 Burgundy that has been sitting in my mom's "pantry."

In conclusion, claiming something as "Pantry Fresh!" is saying the cup contains cold, old coffee.

I've Joined Twitter

and continued my descent into online social media.

www.twitter.com/ejbiederman

Water post: update

An update, well more of an extension, to my post below on water issues in California is now posted at the Brudaimonia.

Waiting in the Morning

Took this on the weekend when I was going to take some pictures for more campaign work. I usually ride to 28th Ave station but I saw the train, knew I couldn't make it and thought I might be able to catch it at the next station. The extra pedaling didn't bring about the result I wanted so it left me some time to look around at a station I normally don't give much attention.
Bloomington Central station on the Hiawatha Light Rail.