I Just Drew My First Web Comic

Write Letters to Offensive Motorists

I think writing polite, non-threatening, but firmly worded letters to offensive motorists in order to explain bike laws would slowly start to change how motorists behave--assuming enough people were to take part. Include text from Michigan traffic laws.

As a driver your license plate can be recorded and looked up by a cyclist for a nominal amount at the Michigan Secretary of state with a simply phone call. The number is 517-322-1624 and the cost is $6.55 per vehicle. There one can get your name, address, and all other information.

Also, stop signs increase energy output between 5 and 20-fold over the course of a trip. We need to lobby lawmakers to allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yields. Cyclists go slowly enough that they will have enough time to stop if they've merely slowed at a stop sign. To expect more is to enforce a motorized society.

Finally, citizens need to start demanding bike lanes. If roads don't have parking avaliable, the bike lane might need protection via curb (with breaks well before intersections in case the cyclist must shift into a left turn lane. Enforcement of bike safety must meanwhile become a higher priority. Tailgating another car might cause damage to your own car. Tailgating a bike might kill someone.

Two More Comics

So... I'm a little obsessed with efficiency sometimes. Sometimes I'm obsessed merely with the concept of efficiency and actually spend more resources following process. For instance, when I played Tibia, I probably spent half my time making spreadsheets to convert my resource expenditures to gold per damage and experience per hour in various caves. That might be why Joe made a rap about me and my spreadsheets. Or maybe it was the spreadsheet where I cross-tabulated personality attributes with longevity of various dating relationships.

I also love Ubuntu. I know... it's just an operating system, and I guess it still doesn't take up the majority of my computing or anything, but it's pretty sweet. I've made plans with Colleen to celebrate the next Ubuntu release in October. I know... I'm a nerd. :-) But it'll be pretty sweet. And Colleen will be a valuable asset. Every cute female nerd I can get to join the event will attract at least 37% more interest in the technology.

I should probably credit Colleen again with the finding of these funny comics. I happened across them after asking Bailey if she knew where to find the comics Colleen sends me. Bailey did know... thus the blog post. I will need to credit the original website here and hope it's enough to alleviate any copyright concern: XKCD. After reading a few, I decided to save the rest in case Colleen sends me more.

I have a craving for a taco. Or four tacos.

Brian's Wedding (and a random Comic)

My cousin Brian got married yesterday. His brother's ex wife has the same name as his new wife so on Facebook I congratulated his brother's ex... that was a little awkward.

My new tandem bike has been used every day I've owned it except one! I'm pretty happy. It's a neat bike. I just need to figure out how to store it in a house our size a little better. The house is a little messy at the moment, and I don't like a messy house. For that matter, I don't like a messy car either, but I own no vacuum cleaner, so that is a difficult problem until I next have enough spare time on the east side of the state.

Colleen sent this amazing comic...


I don't remember using that excuse before, but it's pretty great. Maybe I've used that excuse to myself as I browse email while something compiles.

Buffalo Burgers

I've been thinking a lot about buffalo burgers... I think I need to have a buffalo barbecue before the summer ends. My friend informs me that locally we mostly eat bison and that the scientific term is bison bison. The buffalo is a magical animal. Magical indeed.

The July calendar for the Social Dance Studio has been emailed to everyone. I published the July dance schedule via Google Docs. They have a terrible website. I'd love to help them, but I'd need to develop a portfolio of my own work to show them I can make a decent website.

I wrote a new post on my tech blog. I lapsed for three months on that blog... oops... I might borrow some emails to a certain nerd buddy I write to a lot and revamp them as "tech articles". Otherwise my wide readership (ha!) will be disappointed.

I tried some blueberry wine the other day. It was pretty good. It tasted more tanic than I expected, but I suppose I like that. I would love some English coastal cheddar aged a year and a half right about now... mmmm...