venturi

May 4, 2005 at 9:43 pm · Filed under General

if only you could see me now. the only ethernet jack in the hotel is next to the pool, above indoor mulch that helps a plastic tree stand under the weight of 50 christmas lights. i took the liberty of pulling up an oversized chair and plugging my laptop into the christmas light powerstrip. the best thing about deciding not to bring a camera on trips is that you end up things you would love to take pictures of. never confuse ‘radisson’ with ‘ramada’.

bloomington is a city made for driving. the place i ended up eating at this evening is near a best buy™. but i didn’t even need to ask what street it was on. “everything’s on veterans parkway” was the instantaneous response. and it’s true. at 5pm sharp 7000 cars leave a huge company campus and depart for… a quick spin around the parkway. and that’s really an excellent name for it. a big 3 lane almost-highway that helps you find a place to park. QUICKLY! take your pick of: chili’s, best buy, eastside mall, coroporate headquarters, bed bath and beyond, mcdough, china buffet, office depot, petco, olive garden or outback steak house. thank god there’s so many huge signs to help you find the way. feels like i’m in an architecture class taught by robert venturi. i truly am a huge fan of the 3-lane intersections w/ traffic lights that make it all but impossible to do anything besides get to another 3-lane intersectin via 3-lane highway. there are nifty little roads that skirt the edge of the parkway (these are the useful ‘frontage road’ types) and actually go in exactly the same direction as the big roads. only difference is that they don’t have traffic lights… until they intersect one of the big ones. they’re a great help though. you can familiarize yourself with stop sign right-of-way and use your turn signal. you can even try to peel out in your rental car. so when i’m not thinking about pontiacs and fuel economy in such a flat landscape, i’m contemplating nicollet avenue and the sprawling Kmart they blockaded it with at lake street.. ms. machala, you have your work cut out for you. best of luck.

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mayday

May 3, 2005 at 9:00 pm · Filed under General

i’ve got a new job at the same place. starting may 16th, I’ll be working for the GUI (goo) Team. this means designing and implementing rather than coaching, advising, pleading and repeating myself. i’m very much looking forward to it. between now and then lies just one more trip to illernoi.

the past couple of weeks have seen an increase in biking. it started off w/ a sunday ‘coffee’ ride that brought us to wayzata and ended 60 miles later. the next weekend, teams bumblebee, vowel, scur and mo.fyuker rendezvoud in lakeville for the minnesota ‘ironman’. i was lucky enough to get in front of a large pack and pull for a few minutes to northfield. ad hoc plan: become a fraction as proficient tuning and fixing a bicycle as i am at troubleshooting a network problem. changing tires, tightening brakes, taking off and cleaning/lubing chains seem pretty straightforward. where i’d really like to learn more is tuning derailers, truing wheels and swapping out old components. next week, perhaps.

update: i’m in the midst of the illernoi trip, staying at the radisson just north of a large company’s headquarters. it’s pretty schwank, let me tell you. nothing quite like hunting around a swiming pool to find a data port. but it was worth the hunt to read special k’s post about bike cleaning. my seasoned colleagues would surely disagree, but i’m feeling rather like a typical business traveller. i pick cars w/ satellite XM for the long drives and consider how much one has to pay for a room to guarantee not feeling like one’s in a motel. more than i paid tonight, apparently. at least i have shorts with me for the hot tub ;)

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