Habitat Bike Ride

I've been too lazy to blog lately, but I've mustered enough initiative to post some pictures from the Durham Habitat for Humanity 17 mile moonlight bike ride, which was two weeks ago. I was a little nervous because I've never done a bike race before. Actually, this wasn't a real "race", but still, biking in a big group of people in the dark (with very little moonlight despite the name) was new for me. However, when I saw that the participants were just as laidback as (and in some cases, more out-of-shape than) your typical neighborhood 5K fundraising crowd, I figured there would be nothing to worry about.

So here's my new bike with only 6 miles on it at this point, ready for its first real ride:



And here's the Durham Bull's mascot (Wool E. Bull) getting ready for the ride. I think he only did the first half mile or so:



I found some pictures on the website with me (in bright yellow) lurking in the background or foreground:









That last one is from the post-race party. What a spread of food! Mellow Mushroom pizza, locopops, beers, cookies, brownies, other desserts, fruit, crackers & cheese, other stuff from Whole Foods. I think I should have run 17 miles, not biked, to earn all that food! Plus, there was a midrace party, too! Which was good, because I needed to visit the "bike surgeon" to have my headlight taped on. It fell off the first mile, and I'm impressed it didn't get crushed in the pack. And I'm glad it still worked after getting knocked around, because I totally needed it on the second half of the ride - those streets and trails were DARK. Anyway, it was a fun time and raised money for a good cause, so I think I'll do their Halloween ride in the fall.

Prenatal Pollution Exposure

The results of a very important study are in. The IQs of children who were exposed to higher levels of harmful urban air pollution while in womb are significantly lower than those of children with low levels of exposure. Some may argue that it is too much speculation to say that these results may partially explain why poorer children do worse in school than richer children. It is convenient to brush aside these environmental justice issues, but we shouldn't. This is only one of many studies that suggests that the junk (pesticides, fertilizers, BPAs, pharmaceuticals, other endocrine disrupters, livestock waste, etc.) that we put into our environment has very real consequences, both direct and indirect, for our health and well-being.

During the catastrophic years (environmentally speaking) of the Bush Administration, W's euphemistically named "Clear-Skies Initiative" weakened the Clean Air Act by essentially allowing power plants and factories to spew even more harmful air pollution than they were previously spewing. Fortunately, in his first 100 days Obama undid this damaging "initiative" by reinstating the New Source Review. Of course I applaud this move, but I also worry that such critically important issues are not receiving enough attention what with the climate change bill and everything. Yes, it is crucial to immediately address CO2 emissions (and to better inform the American public that "global warming" is only one of many of harmful consequences of CO2 that are happening right now). But other "non-CO2" air and water pollution problems also deserve our immediate attention. After all, we're all drinking water and breathing air right now, and for some of us this water and air are making us sick. You would think these problems are something we can all relate to and for which there would be a lot less "controversy" than global climate change, at least when it comes to agreeing we need to do something about it. Hopefully this Pediatrics study will renew focus on some of the more local and immediate environmental concerns that affect all of us to some degree, but disproportionately harm the poor and minorities - those least equipped to deal with the health care, relocation, and other monetary costs.

On an only slightly related note can I just say that if you're gonna be "pro-life" as far as the law is concerned you damn well better be pro-QUALITY-of-life, too. Don't go around saying that women shouldn't be allowed to abort their fetuses while at the same time seeking to weaken environmental laws that would keep those fetuses healthy (or at least less sick).

Gay rights and immigration

The struggle for equality isn't just about marriage for the sake of marriage. It's also about keeping families together like the one featured in this article. The Catholic bishops' argument that allowing U.S. citizens to sponsor their partners would "erode the institution of marriage and family by according marriage-like immigration benefits to same sex relationships" is simply ridiculous. They really think that keeping families together instead of apart will "ERODE the institution of...family"? Don't get me wrong - Catholics, like anyone else, are free to believe and practice whatever they want. But it continually disgusts me that such religious groups try to use their beliefs as rationale for publicly opposing fair, civil, SECULAR national law. Hey U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I'm still waiting for you to lobby to Congress to enact a law banning divorce! Because you don't believe in divorce, do you? Oh, but you DO believe that OTHER citizens should be allowed to engage in civil, secular divorce, even though it is frowned upon by your members? How fair and rational of you! So when WHEN are you going to apply the same logic to gay marriage and similar issues? Jesus Christ!

Updates

First, I got a new grill! Just a basic 18 inch Weber charcoal grill - that's all I need. Andrew helped me pick it out. Our first meal with it was lamb burgers w/ mint salsa, which were okay but not as good as the first time we made them w/ meat from the U of I meat lab. Last weekend someone at the farmers market had ground goat meat. I think it was from this place, and I got a kick out the fact that they had a photo album of their farm animals. It's nice to know my goat got to frolic in a beautiful green meadow before it was slaughtered for my enjoyment! And it was indeed an enjoyment: these goat burgers were better than the lamb ones (which we bought from Whole Foods):





The eggplant, potatoes, arugula, and tomatoes are also from the farmers market.

Second, look what my sweetie gave me for our sort-of-two-year anniversary (July 4):



He's so romantic! Even if he doesn't own a vase! That was a fun weekend despite the rain all day on the 4th. We had sun on the 5th and went running and canoeing with the buffalo and ate lots of sushi.

And third, check out my new wheels:




It's a Trek 7.2 FX hybrid, and I love it! Little wonder when you compare it to the piece of shit that it replaced:



So I was riding to work on the stupid piece of shit and I was about a mile from home when it broke down in the weirdest way. The rear brake somehow got caught between the tire and the rim, and I could not budge it out! Also, some other part of the brake partially shredded the tire and pushed it partway off the rim. The rear wheel was completely stuck and wouldn't turn, so I ditched the bike, ran home to get my car, shoved the piece of crap in the trunk, and drove to work. Later as I was yanking it out the trunk the brake finally freed itself from the tire.



I'd been wanting a new bike for a while now, so I bought one the very next day. Test rode a couple at our local bike store, and they fit great, rode smoothly, and the price was right ($489), so I figured why wait any longer. I'm excited to try it out (so far I've only ridden it the 3 miles home) at a Habitat for Humanity 17 mile bike ride tomorrow and then a 3 hour ride in and around Umstead State Park on Sunday. Yay!