Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in charlwoo's LiveJournal:

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
11:33 pm	Another spoke broke Locked my bike up to the fence at work, and noticed another spoke broken. It's either time to learn how to build a wheel, and build one, or replace the spoke. Homemade roasted pumpkin seeds TASTE GOOD So, it's been a while since I rapped at y'all, but hey! That's the way it goes. I've learned a great lesson in anger management recently. I was bicycling into Porter Square, and stopped at a light next to a car which was on my left. The light turned green, both I and the car proceeded forward. The car pulled in front of me and turn right into my travel lane about 10 feet in front of me, cutting me off. I hit my brakes so as not to hit the car, the driver saw me out of his passenger side window, and also hit his brakes to avoid hitting me. So, I continued past him. He laid on his horn, so I flipped him off. I was about 20 feet in front of him at this point. I turned to face forward, continuing on my way, and heard his engine rev and the tires squeal, so I started moving as fast as I could to avoid getting run over. Also I clenched my ass cheeks together to avoid shitting my pants. About 40 feet down the road, I turned right onto a one-way, thinking he wouldn't follow me. He did! And hit the curb, and popped a front tire on the curb. I swerved onto the sidewalk so that he'd have to hit parked cars in order to run me over, and he pulled up next to me on the road and started yelling at me, threatening to call the police, and asking what did I expect him to do, hit me? I told him not to cut me off, turned around, and went home using a route that would be difficult for him to follow. So! What did I learn? - don't flip off people who are driving cars. Responding to anger in kind just escalates the situation and could result in someone acting irrationally in the heat of the moment and doing something they would not normally do. - lesson reinforced: don't take anything personally. He didn't try to hit me intentionally, him laying on the horn was him expressing frustration with more than just nearly hitting me -- he probably had other stuff going on in his life that he was angry about. - cars beat bikes. On a bicycle, people are more fragile than they are in a car. All that being said, thankfully nobody was hurt. Fortunately there were no cars coming down the one-way street he turned the wrong way onto, there were no pedestrians at the corner or in the crosswalk, I was faster on a bicycle than he was in his car -- and he didn't catch up to me, and I'm alive and healthy to tell the story. Now, I've got a good story, more respect for crazy people, and... still a broken spoke on my rear tire. Gotta fix that in the morning. :) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 21st, 2004
10:42 pm	Spokes break Spokes on a bicycle wheel, like everything else that's made of atoms, break! Yes they do. No matter the bond between atoms, it degrades over time and with shock and use. I had parked my bicycle at MicroCenter today -- which, incidentally, has a bike rack that is so low that one cannot lock one's bicycle wheel to the frame of the bike at all easily -- and noticed that yet another spoke had popped in my wheel. This would be the second spoke that's gone out since I've gotten this new wheel; fortunately, it's not on the sprocket side and is easily replacable. That's a project for tomorrow morning while enjoying a cup of fine coffee; Tanzanian Peaberry beans from 1369... the trick to brewing a pot of these, by the way, is to use about 1/4 less beans than you would for a stiff pot of Sumatra or Kenya AA. So, I know it's been a long time since I rapped atcha all. Since the last time, I've moved to Boston, and now am about to move to the hip and fashionable Davis Square section of town. It's like NoHo with an edge, and I look forward to being in a place with more creativity and fewer crazy dog-walking old men. Living out of boxes in the meantime is shallow; since we're all packed and ready to roll out I'm antsy to unpack and fill my carboys this summer. First thing to brew is a Belgian White, and after that, well, the pale ales come to mind and maybe a smoked porter will be thrown in and cellared for a few months to age in time for the cool fall weather. Summer kicks ass after a few months of bitter cold and icy roads. Ephemere is widely available -- an apple-y corainder/curacao beer from Unibroue -- and it was on tap at Redbones as of a few weeks ago (mad props to the waitress who filled a pint glass for me instead of a snifter). Other good beers I've been introduced to or rediscovered this season are Mendicino's Sun Lager ale (I think it's been discontinued, but I found a bottle at a local wine store), one of Lindeman's Lambics, Allagash's White beer, and of course random bottles of homebrew from friends and respected peers. In other news, summer is here, the long days and sunshine are glorious, bless all you people who are out and about in the morning, exercising and experiencing the good air and riverside space we share, hell yeah, it's a fine time to be alive. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 9th, 2002
4:35 pm	HEY FOOLS Hey, what's going' on? Yeah, I know, it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but life has been fuller that a carbon-60 molecule. Whooeee! First off, there's that whacked out staff cut that went down a couple weeks ago at the jobby-job. One of our fearless leaders abuses finances, and surprise! Payroll's gonna bounce, so blam, half us are let go, him included, since the owner was not too thrilled. I'm still here, writing in a livejournal as 4:45 rolls around like a square wheel on a recumbant tricycle, but hey, work is work, and life is life, and I've never tried to play the fife. But hey! I'm excited. The temperature broke 60 today, and hells, that's warm enough for me to ride around with the windows down, blastin' electronica vibes throughout this podunk town, gettin' out with some clout ta shout about spring comin' with my mout... Yeah, whacky, it's too warm in here, I think the a/c broke again and is stuck on heat. That'll work wonders with the file server, nothing like heat and humidity to ensure the sanctity of a RAID array. Signing off, mad respect to Jim Anchower, - Aaron (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 15th, 2002
3:34 pm	Budvieser I spent a chunk of the day on www.fool.com learning about the juggernaut of capitalism. Note: having 'the relentless march of capitalism' as an interest on Livejournal doesn't fly. Neither does bioorganictechnophysiomusicobuddhiology. In fact, my interests broke the interests parser on LJ. c0d3fr33kz u g0t 2 upd@t3 yu+ p@+s3r. So what's up with Budweiser? It amazes me that people drink this swill (no offense any Bud drinkers) and call it beer. What amazes me even more is that the company is doing WELL. You know, Budweiser translates to 'Beer of Kings', not 'King of Beers', and the actual style -- pilsner -- is difficult to brew well -- and the first example of it (Pilsner Urquell, a Czechoslovakian beer) is actually an excellent beer? So what makes Bud so popular? It's cheep, heavily associated with sporting events, consistent in flavor -- all of it tastes vaguely reminiscent of sweat licked off a tin can, heavily and successfully marketed and promoted, and the popular American psyche believes the myth that real beer drinkers really drink Budweiser. And hey, this is largely rhetorical, and a rant. So! I encourage you to appreciate any of the other virtually unlimited beers that are available on this great expansive wonderful Earth, if you are a hardened Bud drinker. And invest in their stock if you are so inclined. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 14th, 2002
10:14 am	Early DMB is Good Shiznit. (7 Comments |Comment on this)