I got a note a few months ago from someone who saw my Oakland, California skyline photo and wanted to use it on a website for bicycle advocacy (http://walkoaklandbikeoakland.org/). They were so polite, how could I say no? Besides, I was flattered.
It was taken in February 1996 overlooking Lake Merritt from the upper balcony of 407 Wayne Ave. Now that I’ve checked out their website, I’m inspired to put in my two cents advocating bicycling. I’ve been commuting and running errands on my bicycle for 24 years or so.
I know it’s an old story, the story of me and my bike, but it bears mentioning again. While I could say that I’m being eco-friendly, I really just love getting out in the morning on my bike. Here are some tips for staying in shape, helping the environment, and saving some money.
- Get yourself a nice comfortable cheap city commute bike. You can pick up some great end of the season deals right now for as little as $350 (http://performancebike.com. Or check out your local bike shop). That’s a nice entry level bike with all the fixin’s. The key is to not get sucked into the "high end." High end is just a synonym for light and expensive. A lot of times the cheaper componant, wheel-set, shifter, brake, etc, is much stronger and durable. It just weighs more. This is not a problem however, because we don’t care about a few grams of extra weight, as we are not Olympic class racers. Besides, if you want your bike to weigh less, it’s probably a better idea to drop some pounds yourself first, huh? So buy cheap and tough, not expensive and light. Got it?
- As I’ve said before, I have some Rob Beckman bags and Bruce Gordon rack (great stuff - both) that mount on the back of my bicycle. They’ve served me well for at least 10 years and make grocery shopping a breeze. I head out every morning for a short but hilly ride that takes 40 minutes. On my way home, I stop at a local grocery store and buy the days’ items. There are six of us - two parents and four kids - and I’m able to accomplish nearly all the grocery shopping by doing it daily on my bike. There’s a lot of satisfacion in that, let me tell you.
- The last point is of course the gas savings angle. I’ve estimated that I save maybe $6/week in gas doing this (10 miles at 20 mpg 3 times a week with $4/gal - I wouldn’t head out every day if I was driving). With the prices of gas as high as they are, the monetary gains start to actually impact. Think about it for a second; that’s $312 a year in gas savings. That’s the purchase price of a nice Trek or Giant aluminum bike, and it pays for itself in the first year AND you can pocket your gym membership. You’re getting a great aerobic low impact workout for free. How many more reasons do you need to get on a bicycle for your daily errands? Commute to work? Commute to store? Fun on weekends? Win! Win! and Win!
- Last point: ignore the little bike shop snobs with their shaved legs and snotty attitudes. They don’t truly love what they do. True love doesn’t judge, it says, "Cool, let’s go for a ride."
I’ve been messing around with Qtpfsgui, a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo tool for Linux, Mac, and Windows. There are number of processes that one can invoke to increase the dynamic range of photos from RAW captures or multiple tripod exposures, but first, an example.
This was taken at dusk at a hotel pool in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Very scary sky.
The basic concept is that your camera can’t really capture a bright sky with a dark landscape. Set the exposure for your land, and the sky is washed out. Lower your exposure for the sky, and the land comes out too dark. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could combine the two and fudge the photo to look more like your eye sees it? The best way is with a tripod and multiple exposures with different settings, but I’m lazy and I want results NOW.
If you’re shooting RAW in your digital camera, you can capture a little bit more dynamic range than what you see when you export it to a jpg. Try using an HDR tool to pull out a little more dynamic range or, in my case, heavily process it to give you that funky black velvet painting effect. Meh, whatever floats your boat. A lot of people seem to like these images. ‘Course people seem to loathe them too.
The original photo looks like this:
It’s a nice photo, but the first one is quite dramatic, no?
Here’s another dramatic shot of the Mississippi and Missouri River confluence, shot on a cold day in December from the Missouri side.
Me: I just thought of something. Where did the word guapo come from? Do you think it’s a word from indigenous peoples in the Caribbean?
I was noticing that the gua (Gooah) diphthong sound is associated with the language of the Taino peoples of the Caribbean. A good many of these words, guanábana (fruit), Guánica, Guaynabo, (places), guayaba (another fruit - guava), etc, are all indigenous and you can see their origins from the gua sound.
Me: So I am wondering about the word guapo (Spanish for handsome). Could that word have come from the New World? And if so, why would the Spanish people have needed to appropriate it? Wouldn’t it have already existed in their language?
My error is a basic one, as I was to soon find out, but enlightenment is surely a blessing and one of the many benefits of being married to a smart cookie.
Laura: Interesting track of thought, I mean train, or whatever, but remember, "gua" frequently occurs in Spanish in words that are borrowed through commerce and contact that have a "w" sound in the original language. Remember "waffle?" In the Basque Country they called it gofres. Ok, it did not go to GUA but it went to the gutteral "g". Perhaps a better example is the Spanish translation for "wow" is guao or "William" which is Guillermo. Perhaps the Taino people’s spoken word for the town of Guaynabo, was Whai-NA-bo, and the fruit guanábana was Whai-NA-bah-na.
Laura: I don’t know for sure, but some time ago I looked up Taino grammar and vocabulary and I found out that "gua" was a common article like "the", "this," "that." This results in phrases, rather than words being translated or transformed into current taíno words we know today. I think in my research I was able to come up with towns that were descriptive phrases "the settlement by the water," "the area by the big tree." Who knows if the name was an actual taíno name or a common way of referring to an area that became Spanish shorthand for a place and hence a name we know today.
Laura: However, in my limited knowledge of taíno words I can’t say they use a strong consonant sound such as "p." So I would be inclined to say that guapo is NOT of taíno origin. But then where did it come from?
We purchased a tent the other day in anticipation of our great camping trip to the island of Vieques for the 4th of July. Being a new tent, I set it up in the backyard as a test. I thought it would be fun to spend the night out there with the kids in a backyard camp out. I started the evening off with a nice meal cooked in my little hibachi; pureed carrots, pork chops, and Laura’s leftover rice dish. Oh boy was it good. Then we piled into our tent.
Note the carrots still lingering in the corners of Javier’s mouth.
The tent is so huge that there are actually spaces to explore inside. We bought an add-on that has a portable shower and changing room. This monstrosity sleeps 10 adults.
Asier is getting more guapo every day.
The theory was sound, but at precisely 7pm, the wind died and I spent the night in a sauna. I hardly slept a wink from the heat, but the kids were out cold… well except for Javier who cried so much we put him in his bed… and Asier who wanted his bed too. Sigh, so in the end, it was just Jaimito, Olaia, and myself.
I think it’ll be much better though when we set this up on the beach in Vieques. There’s always a sea breeze.
Jaimito: Daddy, Mommy said I deserve a prize.
Me: Oh really, Jaimito. Why?
Jaimito: Because I picked up.
Me: Oh great, thanks. I picked up too. What do I get?
Jaimito: I don’t know. Ask Mommy.
Published Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 |
Say It | Filed Under:
Family