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You wanna know the secret to happiness? You ready? Meeting avoidance. Especially the ones with a million people in a small stuffy room, featuring some smiling idiot waving his arms around and acting like personal insight and self-reflection is some kind of new fucking concept.

So, now we know.

Today in Colorado it’s “Bike to Work Day”, part of the greater “Walk and Bike Month” promoted by the state and various organizations. (Nationally, this event happens in April or May, but in Colorado there could be a foot of snow on the roads then, so we do it a little later here.) Now, on the surface of things, this is great. a major promotion of the use of alternative transportation, to open your eyes to the wonders of commuting outside of that steel box you drive the rest of the year. In the spirit of promoting the event and rewarding the riders and walkers, businesses all over Boulder set up stands and hand out free breakfasts and free samples of energy drinks, granola bars, what have you. Mechanic stations are set up to help riders fix problems with their bikes, bands play, and a general circus atmosphere prevails.

My old college roommate sent me this gem, an a.p. story out of Columbus, Ohio. Read to the end for the kicker; I even put it in bold type, not that it needs any emphasis.

Back in December, I read an article on lifehacker that linked to an in-depth article on another website about the joys of wet shaving. This is the old-school practice of using a quality razor with a double edge “safety razor” blade, like my dad used to use. We’re talking basic tech here, baby: a single piece of stainless steel, held in a high-quality metal handle, guided across a face covered in a lather that was worked in and built up by hand, with a beaver hair brush.

This shit makes me crazy. The local paper ran an article today about the booming pet care business, especially in dog-crazy Boulder. Here in Boulder, there is a “law” that encourages Boulder pet owners to refer to themselves as their pet’s “guardians”, not “owners”. You know how I feel about this one; I have a receipt. But it gives you an idea of the mentality Boulder residents have towards their pets, and in general I think it’s great. Here, our dogs are our kids. They hike (off-leash) with us, they frolic in the many dog parks, they are welcome in many businesses, not just the multitude of pet stores and pet bakeries (yes, pet bakeries), and they are everywhere. In an attempt to appear balanced, the author obtained some dissenting views, views on people who pour themselves into the care of their animals; views I have had to put up with from many co-workers over the years and even my own family members. The one they chose to print was a doozy:

This is crazy. An old college friend found me on Facebook and added me as a friend. When I got the notice, I of course checked out his Facebook page, which lists all of our mutual friends. The usual suspects were there, roommates and friends from college, but so was this guy Roland who I know because he uses Radiance, the lighting software I use every day. Worlds colliding!

Last night, my friend Leslie & I went to see Cake play at the Chatauqua Auditorium, as the title of this post suggests. Cake is another one of those bands that thrived when I was in musical denial during the ’90s and early ’00s, but I guess I discovered them for myself a few years ago. I love their sound, their lyrics and their “whatever” attitude. Their lyrics touch on so many of my cares and beliefs that it’s uncanny. They mock music groupies in “Rock & Roll Lifestyle” (and interestingly they probably hurt their own t-shirt sales in the process; read the lyrics, you’ll see what I mean), the insanity of war in “I Bombed Korea”, and, in what is probably my favorite Cake song from a lyrical/message standpoint, “Tougher than it is”:

This:

Plus this:

Equals this:

Yeah, that’s right, I sprained my ankle dismounting from my longboard at high speed yesterday afternoon. Hoop & I have been getting used to having him pull me around on the board, something I thought he’d enjoy and possibly a fun way to help him burn off some energy. We’ve been practicing on a stretch of bike path that’s nestled between a highway retaining wall and some backyard fences, so it’s impossible for Hooper to run off into the street if I have to let go. Another thing we have been practicing is waiting at crosswalks before entering the street. As we approach a curb cut on one of our walks, a simple, firm “wait” generally halts Hooper in his tracks and he waits for me to give the OK to cross. So yesterday I had the bright idea that we would cruise on the longboard and test his ability to wait while pulling. Didn’t go so well.

Ever since Brenda & I moved to Boulder there has been one glaring omission from our daily lives, and that is settling down to read a good local newspaper. Back in Jersey, the Star Ledger was an excellent paper that originated from the local county where we last lived in that state. We got great reporting and writing, on everything from the international to the very local. The sports page was phenomenal. Molly Ivins’ column was printed regularly, and we had almost no use for the New York Times and its holier-than-thou masthead font (and pricing).

Mornin’ folks, happy Earth Day. I’m closing in on three years working for a sustainable design consultant, and I’m delighted to be applying my lighting design and simulation skills toward saving a little energy and creating more pleasant built environments. But I have to say, these years of observing how we work has taught me that we don’t always help our cause when we act all holier-than-thou while making our case for sustainable living. Smug email signatures come to mind, for example. I think as a group, we need to be less preachy and while we’re at it, maybe start walking the walk a little bit more. My office parking lot is filled with SUVs and luxury sedans, which I ride past each morning on my bicycle. Co-workers live in homes three times the size they need. Brenda & I live in a small condo and share one car, but I’m labeled as a cynic and a hypocrite for bitching about the very industry I work in. But I would argue that my “hope for the best but expect the worst” attitude towards everything from people to the planet serves me well in client meetings where many times we are viewed as naive granola eaters.

Hooper is a licker.

Last night I went to see the Eels at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. It was my first concert in about ten years! The last concert I intentionally went to was to see Bluetip at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey (which was great).

This is cool. What we got here is the last remnants of the 8” of snow that dumped on Boulder yesterday. The Colorado sun came out in force today, melting most of the white stuff; the final traces are hanging tough here in the shadow cast by the ballfield fence, all nice and neat in a line, while Hooper and Lulu watch in despair as Jeannie and the other woman walk away with their dogs Joplin and Kyla:

Webster’s defines a patriot as “one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests”. But with a country this divided, the term almost has no validity anymore. I mean, our country’s “authority and interests” are presently defined by the Bush administration. Therefore, our country’s so-called authority is bogus, stolen, abused, misused and illegally expanded. Our interests? Hegemony and Looking Out for Number One. Sure as hell, I don’t support those. Am I not a patriot?

A former co-worker just IM’ed me to let me know that a project I worked on has received two Lumen Awards for exemplary lighting/daylighting design. I am pretty psyched, since to date these are my first two Lumens in my 15 year career in lighting.

Clinton(s) suck, Obama is our best hope at the moment.

An editorial in today’s Daily Camera mentions a recent judge’s recent order to “disable” the domain name of wikileaks.org, a site that purportedly offers up Standard Operating Procedures for American troops in Iraq, Gitmo, and other evidence of corporate wrongdoing. Potentially interesting reading, and protected under the First Amendment for chrissakes.

Sheldon Brown is dead; he passed away today following a massive heart attack. The cycling world–particularly the bicycle mechanic world–has suffered a huge loss.

Sitting here reading Bark Magazine (which I realize outs me as an insane dog lover more than any of my previous admissions), I came across a quote: