Travels and Photos

ANIMATED GIF !!!

2009-10-14T16:25:00.001-04:00

-peter-

Sofa Cusions

2009-08-27T00:57:00.009-04:00

I've had a sofa frame for quite awhile not and about a week ago while I was home for family vacation my mother helped me make some cushions to go along with it. Above is the cutting stage of the process. This took up most of the available floor space in the living room.

This is my Mom and I believe she's stitching the piping onto one of the main panels. She did much of the sewing and I did the pattern cutting. I also stitched some of the piping, which was an interesting process (and actually not too difficult).

Mom with a finished cushion.

Me posing with the same cushion. Looking good!

My Mom's friend Liz was driving out to NYC to help her son move to New Jersey for graduate school and she was gracious enough to bring the cushions to me. I met up with Liz and her son Caleb on my bicycle. I was able to strap the uncovered cushions onto my front bike basket and then I carried the covers in my messenger bag.

It looks a bit precarious but the foam wasn't too heavy so I was able to ride quite easily. Thanks again Liz and Caleb for driving them out from Ann Arbor to NYC!!!

Here's my sofa and it's new cushions.

Me enjoying my sofa. If you're ever in the neighborhood swing by and share a seat and a drink with me. Thanks again Mom for all your wonderful help completing this project.

-peter-

Sweet Milkcrate Basket

2009-08-25T11:38:00.005-04:00

I'm a big fan of milkcrates and all the fun things that can be made using them. I recently came across a bicycle that had a milkcrate attached to it's rear rack, which I'll be the first to admit is not that unique. The neat thing about this milkcrate what how the owner had taken the bottom off of a second milkcrate and used it as a lid. You'll notice the small metal chains that act as a pivot for the lid. Very neat. Very inventive. A locking bicycle milkcrate trunk!

Brooklyn Half Marathon

2008-05-20T00:29:00.002-04:00

So I'm a bit overdue for a post on this but I figure better late than never. Two weeks ago I ran in the Brooklyn half marathon which was put on by the
New York Road Runners. Above is a photo of me just minutes after finishing my 13.1 mile run. I completed the run in 1:46:42 which averages out to 8:08 average per mile. Not too shabby. Here are my full results.

-peter-

Cecilia's Photography

2008-05-09T22:03:00.002-04:00

For her third birthday I gave my niece a digital camera. It's a pretty amazing camera that is actually designed specifically for children. Here are some photos she has taken.

Her new little sister.

Uncle Pete.

Doll Portrait.

Picnic Lunch.

Pretty sweet shots, keep up the good work Cecilia!

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-25T18:06:00.000-05:00

Another successful Thanksgiving. I took a few photos with my Polaroid Sun 600.

Travis brought his digital camera for Thanksgiving zero through Thanksgiving two.

Not Made in China

2007-09-18T22:11:00.000-04:00

I noticed this article on the NY Times web site today regarding the toy industry and overseas production. Coming from and industry (fashion/apparel) that primarily uses overseas factories for the bulk of it's production it's nice to see that there are some companies that still use local manufacturing. I've always loved LEGO and Playmobil toys because of the thought and creativity that they nurture, so to hear that they are able to remain competitive in the market while keeping (most) of their production local is pretty cool. Actually, on my recent trip to North Carolina I had the pleasure of visiting some sock and hosery factories that produce items for the Gap in domestic factories.

The article included this photo of a worker at the Playmobil factory which shows some of the molds that are used to make some of the toys. Pretty cool stuff, I would love to take a tour of the Playmobil or LEGO factories.

Ok. Night.
-peter-

pictobrowser

2007-07-20T14:32:00.000-04:00

I just came across a new picture viewer that links to your Flickr account. It uses flash and displays images in a slide show format. The program is called pictobrowser and it's super easy to use. Details are on the first page of their web site (along with some images of a vintage video game arcade that are pretty cool). You can also click on the 'info' button in the lower right corner of the viewer on this page.

Let me know if you have any problems with this viewer working on your computer as I'm thinking this could be a good way to share photos in my posts.

Oh, the photos are from the Cycle Messenger World Championship two summers ago. They were taken with my Lomo LCA camera.

Enjoy!
-peter-

------------------
Update

On my browser the picture viewer "sits" on top of the right side bar of the blog, covering up my photo, bio and the rest of the info/links on the sidebar. I'm not sure why this is happening. Any ideas how to solve this?

-peter-

------------------
Further Update

So i figured out how to rescale the pictobrowser window in the actual HTML code that you copy into your post (or web page). The tips are located here. The bummer is that it uses the size of pre-scaled Flickr image that most closely matches the dictated size of the pictobrowser. What that means is if you scale the pictobrowser smaller than the 500x500 dpi image then the image is cropped off on the edges. I have to play with it a bit more to see when it changes from one size to the next but the default size of the windo fits the 500x500 image. The main problem is a landscape image in 500x500 size seems to lay on top of my Blogger.com sidebar.

Maybe I can move my sidebar over in my blogger layout?

I'll keep you posted.

-peter-

Brooklyn Army Terminal

2007-06-21T18:09:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I found these old photos of the Brooklyn Army Terminal which is a gigantic building on the South Brookly shore. The building is visible from the Staten Island ferry and thought I don't know too much about the history of the building I do really like these old photos. I believe it was some sort of storage and staging area for the US Army during WWII.

An exterior view.

An interior view.

I'll do a bit more research and get back to you.

-peter-

Buffalo Stance

2007-06-19T02:16:00.000-04:00

I've always liked the Buffalo Stance. Lyrics after the jump.

-peter-

Buffalo Stance
Artist(Band):Neneh Cherry

Who's that gigolo on the street
With his hands in his pockets and his crocodile feet
Hanging off the curb, looking all disturbed
At the boys from home. They all came running
They were making noise, manhandling toys
That's the girls on the block with the nasty curls
Wearing padded bras sucking beers through straws
Dropping down their drawers, where did you get yours?

Gigolo, Huh, sukka?
Gigolo. Gigolo, Huh, sukka?

Chorus 1:

Who's looking good today?
Who's looking good in every way?
No style rookie
You better watch don't mess with me

Chorus 2:

No moneyman can win my love
It's sweetness that I'm thinking of.
We always hang in a Buffalo Stance
We do the dive every time we dance
I'll give you love baby not romance
I'll make a move nothing left to chance
So don't you get fresh with me

Get funky. Yeah Timmy.
Tell it like it is. Check out this DJ.

So you say you wanted money but you know it's never funny
When your shoes worn through and there's a rumble in your tummy
But you had to have style get a gold tooth smile
Put a girl on the corner so you can make a pile
Committed a crime and went inside
It was coming your way but you had to survive
When you lost your babe, you lost the race
Now you're looking at me to take her place.

Chorus 1

Smokin.' Not cokin.' Get funky sax.
Looking good, hanging with the wild bunch.
Looking good in a Buffalo Stance.
Looking good when it comes to the crunch
Looking good's a state of mind
State of mind don't look behind you
State of mind or you'll be dead
State of mind may I remind you
Bomb the Bass...rock this place!
What is he like? What's he like anway?
Yo' man what do you expect the guy's a gigolo man
You know I mean?

Chorus 2 (twice)

Wind on my face, sound in my ears
Water from my eyes, and you on my mind
As I sink, diving down deep...deeper into your soul.

Chorus 2 ...

RUNNING!

2007-06-05T21:46:00.001-04:00

My interest in running always comes in spurts and starts. In the interest of improving my cardio conditioning for street hockey I've been running on the treadmill at the gym. Tonight I went for my first outside run in quite sometime. I went on my usual route that goes through Brooklyn Heights to the Promenade and down into Dumbo and then back home past the Post Office and the Court House. There was a nice breeze and it was nice to see the dusk sky behind the Manhattan skyline while running down the Promenade.

See the map of my run after the jump.

Here's my route, it totaled just under 3.5 miles and I ran it in 29 minutes. That works out to an average of 8 min 30 sec per mile. Not too shabby.

Darlin' don't you go and....

2007-06-01T01:18:00.000-04:00

Cut your hair.
-peter-

Yankee Game

2007-05-28T16:47:00.000-04:00

On Sunday I was lucky enough to find myself at a New York Yankees game. Kate was able to score four tickets that her boss was unable to use and as you can see from the panoramic shot, we were very close to the field. The seats were in row E, just five rows up from the visiting team dugout. I haven't been this close to the field at a Major League game unless you count the summer I was a "Beer Man" at Cincinnati Reds games.

There are more photos after the jump along with a Map showing the route Travis and I took on our bike ride from Brooklyn to the game up in the Bronx.

Travis and I rode our bikes to the game. We went from Brooklyn all the way up the west side of Manhattan and then crossing over into the Bronx. The round trip totaled about 26 miles. A map of our route can be found here.

Chris, Kate & Travis

Go Yankees!!

Summer Friday Bike Riding

2007-05-28T16:08:00.001-04:00

This past Friday was my first Summer Friday of the year. After a bit of shopping with Andrew we met up with Shaw to have a beer and some food at Loreley. I had a wheat beer which was very tasty and refreshing on what turned out to be a relatively hot day. After Loreley we rode our bikes over Brooklyn via the Williamsburg Bridge. We stopped off at Pies-N-Thighs so that I could find something to eat. All of the food looked and smelled amazing from the fresh baked strawberry rhubarb pie to the awesome looking fried chicken and biscuits basket. I decided to go with the hamburger with a fried egg which turned out to be a great choice. It was super messy but also super delicious as were the french fries and the lemonade.

More photos from summer friday after the jump.

The bright sun on the Manhattan side ramp up to the Williamsburg Bridge.

Half way across, looking back to Manhattan.

Shaw on the Bridge.

Andrew on the bridge.

A tisket, a tasket

2007-05-22T01:18:00.000-04:00

I have a new basket on my bicycle. It's a new addition that I made just a few days before the Five Borough Bike tour and I have to say that I love my new basket. For city riding it's amazingly convenient, it can hold a bag of groceries, my messenger bag, some carryout food. Anything that I would normally toss into my messenger bag I simply carry around in my new basket, with a few simple bungee cords, everything is secure and ready to go.

If you own a bicycle I would strongly suggest that you look into a new basket or rack to carry your belongings with you. I've been thinking about adding a CETMA rack to my Miele bike.

Here's another shot of my Raleigh with my new front basket. So cool.

-peter-

Dirty Work

2007-05-22T01:01:00.000-04:00

This afternoon the weather was quite nice and I was able to leave work in good time so I decided to take the West Side bike path home. It was a nice ride, not too much wind and the sun was out, so I decided to ride down into Battery Park and up around to the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately just as I made it to Battery Park I realized that my front tire had lost quite a bit of air. I had a flat tire.

I was carrying an extra tube and the tools necessary to change out a tube, so I walked my bike over to Gotham Bikes on West Broadway and changed my tire. The attached photo is what my hands looked like after replacing the inner tube. A dirty job but I had to do it. The repair was successful and I made it home in one piece.

-peter-

Mr. Softee!

2007-05-17T01:05:00.000-04:00

On May 4th I ate my first Mr. Softee of the new year. Chocolate with chocolate sprinkles, please!

-peter-

Penny Farthing Crew

2007-04-18T09:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday while looking around for info on Penny Farthing bicycles I found the moive below, which is amazing.

I also found this while surfing around.

I find it amazing that these two videos are basically the same thing but with two different subcultures of the bicycle community. Many of the trick moves are shared between the groups; trackstands, leg(s) over the handle bars, even the move where the rider pedals on one side of the bike. I guess the main difference is the period costumes that the Penny Farthing crew sometimes wears.

This makes me wonder, did the cyclists back in the 1870's hang out and practice tricks while hanging out on the promenade with their buddies?

-peter-

Far Rockaways Ride

2007-04-14T23:14:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, April 14th Travis and I went for a bike ride down to the Far Rockaways.
Click here to see the photos from the rest of the ride after the jump.

Travis on the boardwalk at Coney Island

Here I am at the shore parkway (?) the _______ Bridge is in the background. Shortly after the photo was taken we rode over the bridge and onto the Far Rockaways.

Before we made it out to the Rockaways, we passed by Floyd Bennett Field which is an old Air Force hanger. The Concord jet that is normally parked on the deck of the Intriped was parked out in the lot outside the hockey rink sports complex that now occupies space in one of the old hangers.

Travis in front of the Concord Jet.

Me in front of the Concord Jet.

Travis rolling down the runway towards the bridge.

Me rolling down the runway. After this photos we crossed the ________ Bridge onto the Far Rockaways. We decided to take a right off the bridge and ride down to Breezy Point, which is at the southern most tip of the Rockaways. There is a small gated beach community at situated at the end of the island. We rode down as far south as the road would take us and then headed back up north.

Some weird art or scrap metal or something. The ______bridge is in the background.

Travis is standing next to the weird art scrap metal thing (even though you cant see it) which I think is the reason he has that creepy smile on his face.

A panoramic view from the _______ bridge. You can barely see the Manhattan skyline as well as Coney Island.

Plate Fork Crown

2007-04-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

I'm constantly looking at bikes when I'm out on the street. My latest mini-obsession with bikes is the fork crown construction. I recently added a blog called Tribute to the Plate Fork Crown to my bloglines which is a collection of bicycle fork crowns that are constructed using the plate crown technique. As a result I've been keeping an eye out for plate fork crowns and I spotted this one earlier this week on a cheap coaster brake beater bike. From what I've gathered a plate fork crown is somewhat of a lost art, it was a common construction technique back in the day but as manufacturing techniques have improve the art of the plate fork crown has been replaced by other techniques.

The basic construction consists of the fork steerer tube, the fork legs and a series of plates that hold it all together. I've linked to some photos that illustrate this construction. The photos are from a frame builder out of Milwaukee called Johnny Cycles that does some really great work. This photo shows the two plates (sometimes there are more) that hold all of the tubes together.

Here is the rough build (before brazing, I think), notice how the plates are spaced quite wide on this fork, you can really see how the tubes (fork legs & steerer) extend through both plates giving the crown it's strentgh and structure.

Here is the finished fork after painting. The lug work is really fantastic on this frame. Again, the wide spacing between the plates shows the construction really well. The plate crown that I spotted on the street has a much different shape to the plates that gives it a much different look than this example from Johnny Cycles.

There are many other fork crown construction techniques and this image from the 1994 Bridgestone catalog shows quite a few. I'm not sure of the exact positives and negatives of these techniques but it is a combination of strenght, weight, ease of production and of course style.

Frozen Four - St. Louis

2007-04-08T20:54:00.000-04:00

This year the NCAA Frozen Four ice hockey tournament was held in St. Louis, Missouri so I headed out bright and early on Thursday morning to catch my flight to "The Gateway to the West". MSU was in the tournament this year and the above photo shows the brackets with MSU in the final game. As you will see in the photos after the jump MSU pulled out a win in the finals to become National Champs! All the teams played great hockey that was fast, clean and very fun to watch.

Click here to see more photos from the weekend.

On the day off friday we went on the Anheuser Busch Brewery tour along with nearly every other hockey fan who was in town for they weekend.
The outside of the clydesdale stable. Check out the very cool sclupted horse head to the left of the door.

Inside was the famous carriage that is pulled by the famous clydesdales.

Here's Bruce, one of the aforementioned famous clydesdales.

The very cool harnesses that the horses wear when pulling the carriage. Each harness is custom molded for each individual horse to minimize any stress or pressure while they are pulling a heavy load of beer.

The tulips were in bloom and the sky was blue but the air didn't feel like spring yet with the temperature hovering in the mid to high 30's for most of weekend.

A panoramic view of the Anheuser Busch Brewery.

Many of the buildings were over 100 years old. This was the Brew House and if I remeber correctly it was built around 1890.

The architectural details of the old brick buildings were very cool.

Saturday was the championship game between Michigan State and Boston College.
Paper Helmets!

Gretchen was ready to play on Saturday.

MSU celebrating after winning the 2007 NCAA Ice Hockey Championship.

Team Hanckak!

Team Goodheart!

Don't Look Down!

2007-03-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I spotted this guy washing the fourth story windows of the Adorama camera store building across the street from my office. My coworker was asking me some questions and I was finding it impossible to listen to her because I couldn't stop looking a this window washer. He was out on the ledge, washing the windows, without a safety harness. I was just waiting for him to slip and plummet to his death, but he finished the job without any problem.

I must admit, the windows do look very clean.

-peter-

My New Skates

2007-03-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

I recently bought some new (used) hockey skates on ebay and they arrived at work this past Wednesday. I wasn't positive what size to look for but after a bit of research I decided that I would try skate size 7.5 hoping it would fit. For some reason hockey skates are sized 1 to 1.5 sizes smaller than regular men's shoe sizes. I never found out the reason for this strange sizing system but I usually wear a size 9 mens which translates to 7.5 in skates. It turns out that they fit perfectly with just the tip of my big toe grazing the inside tip of the boot if I stretch for it.

The skates are the Bauer Supreme Composite model from sometime in the 90's. I've been unable to find a good resource showing the progression of the Bauer skates over the years. I remember kids having these skates at some point later in my hockey career, around high school, so that dates them to around 1996 to 1998. They feature a carbon plate molded into the bottom of the boot which I would guess is supposed to add rigidity to the boot, though I'm not sure if it really functions or is simply for looks. It also has a black Tuuk blade holder which is very cool and reminds me of the skates Wayne Gretzky wore when he played for the LA Kings.

New York City actually has quite a few ice rinks and as I was searching for more info I happened upon this great web page SkateNY. It highlights all of the rinks in NYC and all of the boroughs. There happens to be four outdoor skating rinks in Manhattan and though we are in the first few days of spring some of them are still open. One outdoor rink that is still open is Woolman Rink in Central Park. I was able to stop by yesterday for an hour of free skate. The rink is a weird triangle shape and the ice was pretty soft and choppy but it was good to be out there skating. It's a very cool spot, you can see the high rise buildings that run along 59th street and 5ht ave in midtown. I was there from 6:00 to 7:30pm and was able to see the daylight gradually fade and the lights of the skyline slowly come up.

In the next week all of the outdoor rinks will be closed so I'll have to explore some of the indoor rinks. I'll keep you posted on my future skating excursions.

-peter-

OMG!!! Ski Bike!!!

2007-03-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

OK, I have to take some time to get my thoughts together, but by the end of the day I should have some more ski bike footage up on the blog.
-peter-

Snowmobicycle

2007-02-26T03:23:00.000-05:00

I hope we get some more snow because my new snowmobicycle is finished and it works really well. I finished it tonight and was able to ride around a bit on slushy snow that has been falling all evening. I'll post some better photos soon but this snow bike is going to be a lot of fun.

-peter-

Stop! Thief!

2007-02-02T19:37:00.000-05:00

Hmm, what's wrong with this picture? It might take you awhile if you aren't familiar with my bike but I'll give you a clue.

Ding, Ding!

That's right my bell is missing. It was similar to the one in the link but with a slightly different striker. The big bummer is that I picked up my now missing bell at Tokyu Hands while I was in Japan this past August, so it will be somewhat difficult to replace.

I guess in the grand scheme of NYC bike riding I've gotten off pretty good having only lost a few blinking lights, a seat & seatpost, and a front and rear wheel (on separate occasions). During the ride home I was wondering who the thief could be. Was it someone who sees my bike locked up every day outside of my office and liked the bell so much that they decided to steal it? Or possibly a seasoned bell theft pro who travels around the city (in a car, no SUV) stealing every bell he can find? Either way I'm mad to have lost my bell but glad that the rest of my bike was still there.

-peter-

Cornmeal Drop Biscuits

2007-01-30T22:02:00.000-05:00

For dinner tonight I decided that I would use some of the leftover beef stew from the meat pie that I made last weekend. Rather than eat it plain or on top of pasta (as I did the last time I made a meat pie) I thought I would make some biscuits and top them off with the stew. Above is my dry ingredients, ready for some butter, milk and a bit of mixing.

The recipe is from my good friend Martha Stewart and the process is very similar to making a pie crust.

Join me after the jump to see how everything came together.

This cute bird graphic was below the fold on the top opening of the Indian Head Yellow Corn Meal which I thought was very cool. I wonder what could be the purpose of this little graphic? Some sort of branding? The icon of the parent company? A random addition from the packaging designer for shits and giggles? Whatever the purpose I enjoyed seeing this little guy.

So now the milk has been added and everything is nicely incorporated. I've begun dropping the biscuits onto the cooking sheet. I picked up some baking paper at the store tonight for the biscuit making and also for future baking projects. I've been thinking about making some scones sometime soon. Maybe currant & lemon?

Here we have the biscuits out of the oven with a slightly golden brown color on the tops and bottoms. It took a bit more time than the 15 to 20 minutes that Martha prescribed but I have a feeling that may be attributed to my tiny apartment style oven.

While the biscuits were cooking I heated up a small serving of the stew and when the biscuits were finished I crumbled one into a bowl and topped with stew and a small amount of feta cheese.

The biscuits were crumbly and nicely crunchy on the outside while remaining moist and soft on then inside. I think the extra texture of the corn meal allowed the biscuits to hold up and avoid getting too soggy when doused with a the beef stew. Very tasty!

-peter-

Sugino Cranks

2007-01-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick shot of my Miele with the Sugion cranks that I picked up on ebay recently. Right now it's using the 44t drilled chainring that came with the crankset, but I've also ordered a few additional rings on ebay from a guy out in Italy. I have a NOS 47t 1/8" track chainring coming as well as a 46t 3/32" road chainring. I've been thinking of setting my Miele up with a derailleur in back and a 7-speed thumb shifter on the current riser bars. I'll still need a few more parts before any major changes take place. In the meantime I'm spending most of my time on the Raleigh.

Happy Riding!
-peter-

Tools

2007-01-28T21:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I began the process of hanging some of my bicycle tools up on the wall above the coat hooks behind my front door. I'm still not finished but here is my progress so far. Up until now I've kept all my stuff in a tool box which means whenever I'm working on my bikes I spend quite a bit of time digging for what I need. I still expect to misplace a cone wrench now and again but I have a feeling this will help me keep my apartment a bit more tidy.

-peter-

Vermont

2007-01-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been uploading some of my photos into iphoto and through this process I've come across some old photos that I would like to share. Two summers ago (was it that long ago?) Mary planned a weekend trip out to Vermont for a long weekend. A van was rented and Don hijacked the SUV from his folks and we headed up to the wilderness. After the jump you will find a few more photos from the weekend. I snapped the shots with my LOMO LC-A and had the negs scanned when they were developed.

-peter-

Mary and Andrew at the lake.

Mark at the Lake.

Andrew and the 36 Chambers of the grill

Abby

Happy Birthday Don!!

Bikes & Backpacks

2007-01-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

Quick bike update, I have the Raleigh back up and running, just in time for the cold weather. As you can see in the photo she's now sporting full fenders and a mini front rack that I picked up at Nashbar. The rack works really well for holding my bike lock which means I don't really have to use a bag. As a result most of the week I've been without a bag, including today, which has worked well so far but tonight I had a few things to carry home (cookies from my mom!!).

Luckily we just finished line adoption at work so we had a ton of samples laying around, perfect time for some product testing! I decided to try out one of the canvas backpack styles that dropped out of the line (bummer). It worked out well and seeing it in the photo I'm pretty happy with the overall look. I made an olive colorway that I would like to try next week though I feel like it may match my coat too closely.

The more I ride with a backpack the more I like it. The weight is evenly distributed between both shoulder, which is nice if you are carrying a lot of weight. I've been thinking for quite some time now of getting one of these Waterproof Backpacks from Chrome out in SF and I'm feeling ready to make the plunge.

-peter-

Snow!

2007-01-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

Last night we had the first measurable snow fall of the winter. Here's a quick photo from my cell phone at about 7:30 am. It stuck around for a little while on the cars and trees, but by 10 or 11 it was long gone. Actually nearly all of the Manhattan bridge bike path held the snow so the ride over was quite slow.

Not enough snow convert my BMX bike into one of
these.

-peter-

Brrrrrr!

2007-01-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

Well, winter has finally arrived in NYC. I was greeted Wednesday morning with crisp cold air, somewhere around 28 degrees. Add to that some gusting winds and I found myself riding to work with a wind-chill well below freezing. It was so cold that my breath was condensing on my whiskers and then freezing, giving me a Jack Frost look, complete with tiny beard icicles. I don't think you can see them in the photo but I was hoping to capture the look, before it melted.

Tonight I was treated to a "Winter Mix" on the ride home. Nothing like misting rain mixed with a temperature just above freezing to keep awake while riding. Traffic was really horrible, first near Broadway and Houston and then the whole area around Grand and Bowery leading up to the Manhattan Bridge. I saw a few fire trucks out and about so maybe there were some driving mishaps as a result of the bad weather (though it wasn't slippery). I was also wondering if more people drive into the city when it's cold outside rather than taking mass transit. I've been reading The Streets Blog quite a bit recently and today they had a post about congestion pricing which is what started me thinking about who drives into the city and what affects that choice. As a cyclist in NYC I think it would be fantastic if we could bring congestion pricing to New York. Reading about the success in London and Stockholm very encouraging, both in terms of reducing congestion and also the improved public opinion after implementing the system. I'm still somewhat skeptical that our mayor and city will have the guts to make such a seemingly drastic change, hopefully I will be proven wrong.

-peter-

The text people click on goes here

Memorial Ride

2007-01-15T03:22:00.000-05:00

Last week I made it onto NY1 news as part of the coverage of the Memorial Bike Ride that happened on last Sunday. Andrew and I actually happened upon it and joined the ride for the last three hours. The idea works in conjunction with the Ghost Bikes that are placed around the city to commemorate cyclists that have been killed in crashes around the city. Two different group ride started in the outer Boroughs (Queens/Brooklyn & Bronx I think) in the morning and then joint up in Manhattan later in the day. The group(s) stopped at the locations of all the documented cyclist deaths from 2006. At each location the ride stopped and someone would speak, often joined by friends and family of the fallen cyclist and a moment of silence was observed in their memory and honor.

The ride was very similar in many ways to a pre-2004 RNC Critical Mass ride but with a much more somber mood. Less bell ringing and and crazy costumes, but still plenty of people out and riding, which was nice even if it is for the most part a kind of funeral precession. Unlike more recent Critical Mass rides, this even had a small Police escort which I feel helped to lend the ride a less adversarial mood which has been prevalant in recent CM rides. There were a few run-ins with impatient drivers and pedestrians but usually someone from the ride would explain what we were doing and they would calm down.

The ride ended at the north west corner of Houston and Lafayette with a few people speaking. Then finally the group went over to the Time's Up space on Houston for food and drinks. There was also a marching band playing as we arrived which was extremely cool. And the hot apple cider was really tasty.

Here's the link to the video.
Ride safe.

-peter-

Boat Bar

2007-01-14T20:14:00.000-05:00

Hi There!
Last night I found myself at Boat with my Polaroid Sun 660 camera. Andrew, Travis and Gabe were hanging out and Steve was behind the bar. We took some pictures, check them out after the jump...

Here we have the rest of the shots.

Travis with a toothy grin.

Andrew looking extremely Tough and Lovely.

I'm not sure what to say about this one.

Steve.

Travis and Gabe, from an elevated angle.

LEGOmaniac

2007-01-05T00:49:00.000-05:00

Today my new external hard drive arrived at work, yipeee. Thanks Mom & Dad, this should allow my computer to function for hopefully another year. As you can see it's designed to look like a LEGO brick and as the famous Danish construction blocks are one of my favorite toys it only seems fitting that I would have products that honor it's greatness.

Tonight at dinner the topic of Academic Games came up at dinner. I don't really recall how it came up but for the better part of 25 minutes andrew explained the different games and which ones he was skilled at while in school and which ones would be fun to play now. At this point we need to track down some of the games so that we can start the "Brooklyn InterBorough Academic Games Team". I'll keep you posted on how this all develops.

-peter-

Here We Go!

2007-01-03T03:01:00.000-05:00

So this is mainly just a test, I'm starting up this Blog as a location for me to post photos from daily life here in NYC, trips & travels and anything else that I want to share with the outside world. It's coming with the start of the new year but I can't really say it's a resolution as I've been thinking about this for awhile now. I guess I don't really want to muddy up my drawing blog with non-drawing posts so I guess that's the goal of this endevor.

This is a random photo from my phone. It's from a detergent dispenser in a laundrymat here in Brooklyn. The graphic had a decidedly 1970's feel to it with the "I" in "Spring Frish" sporting a tree growing out of it's top. The flower fresh lady with the friendly butterfly as well as the earth tone, tri-color strips scream polyester track-suit. Very cool.

So now I'm just blabbing. Hopefully something cool will happen soon and I'll post a photo of it here. Until then, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

-peter-

Test, one, two, three

2005-08-26T16:04:00.000-04:00

Wow this is a test