One Eighty-Five

Here's to my new max heart rate. Seems that only recently I could do 186.

Vredestein

One of my bike tires was cut up pretty badly, so I replaced both the other day. Performance was having a sale on Vredestein tires, so I thought I'd try them out. I got the cool looking blue ones which match the detail color on my bike. When I took them for a spin yesterday, man are they ever comfy. I realize that the Michelin Carbons were intended to be a long-wearing tire, more resistant to cuts, etc., but I hadn't realized how comfortable the ride could really be!

A pity I wasn't into riding when I worked for Veltec sports--the stateside distributors of Vredestein and Sidi, as well as distributors for Easton and Look.

Ridiculous Juxtaposition

I was waiting at a stoplight today when I saw (on the cross traffic) a Smart car, followed by a 30' stretch Escalade. I'm surprised that there weren't chase cars with yellow lights and "WIDE LOAD" driving along with the Escalade.

Danish Cafes

So far, of the cafes I've found in Denmark, nobody knows what a Cafe Mocha is. And the wireless points are all pay points, usually run by the local cell provider. That'd be great if I could even connect to the local provider (silly iPhone!), but nooo.

At least the baristas are cute.

TV-14 LV

Usually, when I'm watching Formula 1 coverage, it's aired on the Speed channel. But every year, Fox (which I believe is the parent company of Speed) tries to bring F1 to a more widespread American audience and airs the race on the regular Fox channels. The commentary changes a bit to accommodate a slightly lesser familiarity with F1.

It doesn't change so much, though, to include foul language. Which is why I was surprised to see the TV rating log in the top left corner of the screen when returning from a commercial break. The label read TV-14 LV, which, if I recall correctly, indicates that the show contains Language and Violence, and should only be watched by 14 year-olds, or older. And maybe turning right counts as "violence" to Nascar fans, but uh... I can't say I understand that rating, personally.

ESPN (and Google)

The other day, before I had correctly set up my Season Passes on the TiVo, I was watching Euro Cup football. The broadcast that the TiVo had picked up was actually a re-airing in prime time, rather than the original which aired in the morning. Because it was ESPN, there was the usual little sports news ticker along the bottom. As it cycled through, I saw that it was relaying scores of Euro Cup matches. Including the one I was watching, with the score listed as "final". ESPN, you've been in the sports game for years. Don't tell me the final score of the match I'm watching in replay.

And Google, well, maybe I should just turn off the little one-liner RSS feed atop my Gmail, 'cause you've told me the winner of the Formula 1 Grand Prix race that I was waiting to watch, as well.

Start 'em Young

Over the past week or so, I've had a number of discussions with some friends about the self-centeredness of people these days. It manifests as a lack of common courtesy, a "me first" attitude, and general disdain for rules, laws, or other conventions that are inconvenient.

Well, it seems that they're teaching this kind of "outta my way!" mentality in pre-school these days. I was just accosted by a girl between the ages of four and six. I was attempting to walk out of the cafe, while she was coming in to place a plate in the bus tray. I did what I usually do when small children hurtle at me, and that is freeze--I don't want to inadvertently knee them in the face or something like that. As it happened, I froze in "her way". Rather than say anything or try to go around, she actually tried to brush me aside with her arm!