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Scooter in the Sticks


  • 3 Prints Project: March 2, 2008
    Another week and two more rolls of Ilford HP5 35mm black and white film shot, processed, contacted, and three more prints. At one point I thought I lost the first roll of film in the trash until I pulled the negatives from the developer and saw what I thought were the lost images. If nothing else I will be more careful where I store my exposed film.

    The coming week promises a bit milder weather so I expect to see more time on the Vespa and perhaps some different pictures. Regardless I will continue to expose two rolls of film...

    Reflection in window of Glennland Building


    View along Brush Valley Road


    Eggs in store window display


  • Why I Don't Ride In Winter
    At the sound of the alarm my body doesn't rally into the day like it once did. The cold air before the furnace comes to life makes seems unbearable. It's 57 degrees in the bedroom but 25 outside. If I have trouble facing the house is it any wonder that riding in winter makes no sense?

    I do ride through the winter but the transition from sleep to awake, from indoors to outdoors, from not riding to riding is a terribly high hurdle. Homeostasis works overtime on me. It is a reason I don't ride more in winter.

    The Vespa idled in the driveway before work. Clear skies, cold air, and a bit of time before needing to be at work.

    Once I get moving I'm fine. Happy. Ecstatic even. But heaven help me through the transition. The roads were clear save for gravel and salt residue. Turning off the road onto a snow covered farm lane for a short detour was short lived. The Pirelli tires are absolutely useless in snow. After riding (pushing) the Vespa a short ways it occurred to me that my energy would be better used elsewhere.

    At the end of the day I feel the same transition challenge to get myself out the door. Once on the Vespa things improve and I decide to ride home another direction.

    Riding along on more heavily trafficked roads is a mixed blessing. More cars to deal with but I get a sick sense of thrill knowing I am not sitting behind the wheel.

    Anyways, there are other more obvious reasons I don't ride in winter --- snow, ice, extreme temperatures. But the real riding killer is homeostasis. I get comfortable and have a hard time transitioning. Riding, diet, exercise, you name it. It's a constant negotiation to get up and go, to take action. Action isn't my middle name...

  • 3 Prints Project: February 24, 2008
    I only have so much time and attention in a day. As I get older it becomes easier to see how my choices can waste them. Shooting two rolls of film each week, 72 exposures, on top of everything else I do demands I take my camera with me everywhere. To work, on dog walks, to the bank, to bed. Most people you see on a daily basis don't have a camera hanging around their neck. Most people aren't riding a Vespa in the winter. But I bet most people wish they could do more.

    Perhaps shooting these pictures is a concerned attempt on my part to not squander the time I have. To do more.

    So here they are.

    The multi-stemmed white birch in the front yard


    A view from my tea cup in a local coffee shop


    Beaver Avenue the way I like to see it


  • Manage Email, Manage Life, Ride More
    Have you ever wished you had more time?

    Two days ago I sat at my computer searching for an email I missed. Scrolling back and forth through my inbox it occurred to me (again) that I spend a lot of time "working" on email. And the more I "work" the less I seem to get done. Email gets in the way of me getting better or more involved in important things. At least the way I was handling it.

    Embracing a need for professional and personal development I visited the 43folders Web site. It was here that I first learned of my trusty Hipster PDA, another completely functional asset for day-to-day living. Arriving at the homepage I saw the words "Email Eating You Alive?" along with an invitation to watch 43folders author Merlin Mann's recent talk at Google on how to tame the beast. His talk is called InBox Zero.

    I've embedded the video below but before you get to that I wanted to share some quick statistics. When I started the video I had almost 9000 messages in my inbox. A paralyzing mix of messages from the past couple years representing a mix of indecision, procrastination, lack of attention, and inability to do anything but collect more and more. The only hope was for some cataclysmic email server failure that would deliver a reborn email world.

    One hour after I finished the video I had zero messages in my inbox. I had successfully deleted over 6000 messages that were absolutely and utterly without worth. The remaining messages were moved to the DMZ and I had put in place a method of taking action on email, made a commitment to keeping the inbox as empty as I do the mailbox in front of my house, and following something that many others have suggested before -- I turned email off and check it only a couple times a day. It isn't instant messaging after all.

    I've only been doing this a couple days now but I have to say it is a remarkable experience to see an inbox with only a handful of messages to deal with. And turning it off has meant I actually had time to work. Make things. Figure things out. Create. Contribute. Earn my keep. And ride more too.

    If you think you might have a problem with email, if like me at one point find yourself checking email on your Blackberry in the middle of the night when you got up to go to the bathroom telling yourself how lucky your employer was to have such a dedicated employee, them maybe you should invest an hour to watch Merlin Mann's presentation.

    So without further ado I give you Merlin Mann...



  • Still Cold, Scooter Still Starts, Still Riding
    Clear skies on Wednesday night allowed for excellent viewing of the lunar eclipse. And it meant I would be able to ride to work the next day despite temperatures in the single digits by daybreak. Before the eclipse I picked up a few things at Barnes and Noble (by car -- it's dark and cold and still slippery in places) and while the goodies are always good, they don't possess the same magic when you sample them chilled to the bone from riding. Kim and I shared them at home.

    The ride to work was lovely under clear blue skies and bright sun. No matter how cold it is sunshine always makes it more tolerable.

    The ride home was uneventful despite taking a few twists and turns looking for mini-adventure. Almost all the snow was gone. A stop at the dairy store for a bottle of milk, a detour along a gravel road, a stop at an old barn. It only added a few minutes to the commute but nicely unwound a hectic day.

    Snowing again this morning with predictions of sleet and freezing rain later in the day. I'm taking the bus. It will give me a change to finish up my second roll of black and white film for this week. The frame counter on the Leica is broken -- has been for a couple years now so I never really know how many pictures are left. Another mystery in life...


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