Greased Melon http://greasedmelon.com Hoo-wah! Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:27:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 en Movie: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly http://greasedmelon.com/2008/01/22/movie-the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly/ http://greasedmelon.com/2008/01/22/movie-the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:27:36 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2008/01/22/movie-the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly/ dbb.jpg
“Interesting. But who wants to see a movie about a drooling guy in a wheelchair?” –My first thought when I heard about this movie.

Then I overheard someone else talking about it. “It was interesting how you didn’t see anything from other than the main character’s perspective until halfway through the movie.” Oh, brilliant. I watched the trailer [linky]. The style it’s shot in, the music, and the humor made it really fun and easier to take in the situation.

Amazing someone could write a book just by blinking one eye. Also amazing, I thought, was the care and patience he received in hospital. France is awesome.

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2008/01/22/movie-the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly/feed/ Random nouns recently encountered in the first person http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/23/random-verbs-recently-encountered-in-the-first-person/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/23/random-verbs-recently-encountered-in-the-first-person/#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:34:27 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/23/random-verbs-recently-encountered-in-the-first-person/ cool temperatures. it hit 38 here last night. quite nice, really.

homemade apple sauce, the last of the family “products” i had yet to learn (last year was chili and peanut brittle). ended up being one of those “mom throws flour all over her face before leaving the kitchen with…rice krispie treats” moments. the apple sauce was great, but i envisioned my dad slaving over the stove for hours to make it. for some reason, the misconception makes me like him even more.

smart cars.

the movie “once.” fantastic. and the second elizabeth movie - the golden age. not as amazing as the first one…but still good. i agree with ebert.

alesmith’s wee heavy scotch ale. thanks, mom and dad–it was worth the $800 you paid to go to oregon.

alleycat celebrating (?) the battle of westport.

a random friend cutting through a random, obscure neighborhood during said alleycat. we exchanged surprised exclamations.

the dirt, rocks, elevation, and camaraderie of syllamo mountain bike trails in arkansas.

the confusion a man encounters when shopping for makeup for the first (and only?) time in his life.

a desire to run off to portland for a concert (cheap(er) flight!) when i won’t go there for christmas because it’s too expensive. $250 for three days of bliss vs. $500 for three days of…eating at the olive garden (i’ve done it once and didn’t like it. i compared it to a five year old driving past manhattan in a car with his face pressed against the window, hearing his parents say “no, son, we’re not stopping.”)

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/23/random-verbs-recently-encountered-in-the-first-person/feed/ Progress! http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/02/progress/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/02/progress/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:05:43 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/02/progress/ Well, the world is officially off-balance. Downtown Kansas City now has inverted U bike racks.

AND they were installed correctly and done well, which is even more profound.

They were installed as part of the 12th street street-scape improvements. You can see them along 12th near Baltimore. They’re more like an inverted V then a U. I think they look rather good. I’ll try to grab a picture.

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/10/02/progress/feed/ Conclusion: Most fat people would rather die than pay more for gas. http://greasedmelon.com/2007/09/19/conclusion-most-fat-people-would-rather-die-than-pay-more-for-gas/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/09/19/conclusion-most-fat-people-would-rather-die-than-pay-more-for-gas/#comments Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:52:26 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/09/19/conclusion-most-fat-people-would-rather-die-than-pay-more-for-gas/ I found two neat things about fat this week. The first was that Six out of 10 Britons would rather die than exercise. This is hilariously troubling. I’m guessing that here in the US, 67% of people are either overweight or obese, we’d find the same thing.

Then today I found this one: Cheap Gas Makes You Fat. Someone at Wash U actually correlated obesity trends to trends in gas prices. This kind of goes against a study that says the more money you have, the thinner you are, but whatever. They both make sense.

Soon we’ll be too fat even to kill ourselves.

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/09/19/conclusion-most-fat-people-would-rather-die-than-pay-more-for-gas/feed/ St. Louis, Minneapolis, Boulder… http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/29/st-louis-minneapolis-boulder/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/29/st-louis-minneapolis-boulder/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:33:54 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/29/st-louis-minneapolis-boulder/ St Louis was a blast last weekend. Eric and I took the train from KC’s Union Station to St Louis’ Amshack. I’m happy to report that the Amshack replacement is well under construction. Both trips were mostly on time and uneventful. Three train cars on the way back…two with people and one with bikes. :)

John, Matt and I got the road trip itch on Monday and have decided to head to Minneapolis Friday night for the Labor Day weekend. We’ll get back Monday. Looking forward to it.

But the (next consecutive weekend) trip I’m really looking forward to is going to Boulder. I’ve been jipped on doing a major hike all year and want to climb Bear Peak. Plus I haven’t been to Colorado for fun since I was 3 feet tall.

My cat won’t recognize me soon…

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/29/st-louis-minneapolis-boulder/feed/ Off to the Moonlight Ramble http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/24/off-to-the-moonlight-ramble/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/24/off-to-the-moonlight-ramble/#comments Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:00:23 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/24/off-to-the-moonlight-ramble/ Eric and I are of to St Louis to cause trouble and ride in the Moonlight Ramble. We’re taking Amtrak. I’ve ridden the route probably 15 times, but not with a bike. Should be a good time.

The only bad part will be that I can’t hit Corral Liquors in Granite City for east-coast beer. :(

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/24/off-to-the-moonlight-ramble/feed/ How fitting that I read about this online… http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/22/how-fitting-that-i-read-about-this-online/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/22/how-fitting-that-i-read-about-this-online/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:57:28 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/22/how-fitting-that-i-read-about-this-online/ I saw this on MSNBC.com this morning:

Poll: One in four adults read no books last year

One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

I’m only slightly more well-read then the 1/4 of folks who didn’t read anything.

Of course, this begs for a current book list:

  • All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
  • Generation X by Douglas Coupland
  • The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  • Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh

Up next: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/22/how-fitting-that-i-read-about-this-online/feed/ Well, that was a nice break http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/20/well-that-was-a-nice-break/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/20/well-that-was-a-nice-break/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:00:40 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/20/well-that-was-a-nice-break/ I hadn’t ridden to work in two weeks before today. :( My excuse is that it was too hot, even though it really wasn’t for a day or two and I can catch a bus after six miles. It was slow. But fun. Even though the humidity was at 96%.

I got a Wii on Friday. Best toy ever. My wrist is going to hurt from tennis (I’m at the Pro level now!). I’d been looking for one since it came out in November; they’re still really difficult to find in stores or online. I found a med student from at KU selling one on Craigs List and jumped on it. They’re super fun. I highly recommend finding one.

My car’s check engine light came on last week. Needed new Oxygen sensors. I ended up with the total hookup on them. Chrysler quoted $369 for the job (!); a guy at work got me a deal on the two sensors for $130 and then I tricked Noah in to coming over, where I pretty much just sat there and watched him crawl under my car and put them in. I think the car works; I haven’t driven it since Friday.

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/20/well-that-was-a-nice-break/feed/ sizzle. http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/05/sizzle/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/05/sizzle/#comments Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:36:43 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/05/sizzle/ heatwave

watergun

]]> http://greasedmelon.com/2007/08/05/sizzle/feed/ Vacation! http://greasedmelon.com/2007/07/19/vacation/ http://greasedmelon.com/2007/07/19/vacation/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:21:20 +0000 Jeff http://greasedmelon.com/2007/07/19/vacation/ Ahhh, vacation time. Since September of last year, I have used a half-day twice. Today I blew all the rest, save one.

July 26 - 30: Portland, OR - bikes and beer
September 7 - 10: Boulder, CO - bikes and beer
September 11: Kansas City for Tour of Missouri race
October 11 - 14: Boonies of Arkansas - bikes and beer

Just now as I’ve typed these, I’ve realized they’re all for bike-related events. Hum.

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