Well, I finally did it. Walk Bike Nashville's annual meeting was tonight, and I was invited.  Contemplating on how to get to a meeting downtown about cycling and pedestrian advocacy in the rain, I chose to walk a block down the road and catch the bus!   How dare those that DROVE to a Walk Bike meeting!

    If you look at the route maps for Nashville MTA, you immediately notice that the major arteries extend from downtown in a star pattern.   A few of the routes make loops, such as #7 (my route to downtown) that goes inbound on Hillsboro/21st and outbound 21st/Belmont, then turns back around onto Hillsboro Road. 

    My route was a simple pattern.  During busy bus hours, my #7 rolls every 30 minutes.  You can get out to the bus stop, read a magazine, book or newspaper while you wait a few minutes for the bus.  Bring your iPod.  It's a great way to give yourself some down time.

     When I first caught the bus heading inbound, it looked like a cross between working folks riding home, school kids, and a small number of tree hugger types (like me) riding inbound.  The bus moved along fast, while people caught up on reading, talked on the cell phone, or caught a nap.  It was quite a nice way to spend time in traffic.  I can't believe those bus drivers can get that boat past the narrow areas on 21st.  It scares the hell out of me when I'm driving my pickup through there!  My ride inbound took about 25 minutes, and I walked about 4 blocks to my destination.  Not bad... 

  After 7:15pm, buses begin running every hour.  I arrived at about 7:30, so my wait was quite long.  I had an interesting conversation about riding the bus with a guy that was waiting.  He was just going across downtown.  (he obviously had been enjoying a few beers or something.)  Though it's different than jumping in your car and taking off any time you like, it's pretty easy to get down to Deaderick St. right at :15 after.  By the way, all the buses come in at the same time, so you can make connections to other lines.  I assume that people that regularly connect have bus passes, because I don't think you can connect for free on one fare.

    Sitting at the Deaderick Street location is quite strange when you first experience it.  Likely, one is to become more comfortable with it with more experience.  No one wants to mess with you - they're there to catch the bus.  Plenty of cops hang around down there though!  Most waiting are working people.  Yuppie white collar folks are few and far between down there, and even the tree huggers (like me) weren't to be found.  That's too bad more people don't use the system.  I did have an interesting conversation with a guy about bus riding.

    The buses all arrive at Deaderick at the same time.  Imagine Dallas or Atlanta, where all the planes land at the same time, so passengers can transfer.  Same concept.  Otherwise, Deaderick would be so crowded with people waiting that it would be impractical. 

    The ride back outbound was interesting.  One gentleman lectured the driver on Murfreesboro, how it was run by good old boys, the 5th largest city in Tennessee, and "don't mess up or you might as well give it up."  The bus driver must have been running ahead of schedule.  She pulled over at a convenience store and bought a bar of chocolate while we all waited.  I don't blame her.  The bus turned off 21st onto Wedgewood, then zig zag'ed over to Belmont.  I finally got off at Blair to go meet Donna at her sister's house.  A 2 block walk got me to their house.  I rode with Donna the rest of the way home.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Don't get in a hurry.  Catch up on reading.  Sitting on the bus reading is far better than sitting and watching TV, or screwing with the Internet!  (-:
  
• Learn the times for your bus line, for different times of day.  You have to plan a little so you don't sit on Deaderick too long.
• Take a day off and test your route, especially if you're connecting.  That way, you don't get stressed out while learning the basic operation of the system.
• Plan to walk a short distance.  It feels good to walk.  You ought to try it.
• Don't be scared of people on the bus or at the stops.  OK, lots of African American and Latino people ride.  They're just riding.  Maybe they've had a long day working and they aren't in good moods.  Maybe they never have people strike conversations.  People are people.
• All Nashville MTA buses are equipped with bike racks.  If your destination is too far from the bus stop to walk, take your bike and catch the bus.  I assure you it's a short ride.

OK, I need Google to find our new project site, so I want it to find it multiple ways. Go check it out, and link to it from your site!

www.tennessee3feet.org

We're launching the full campaign on October 10 with a press conference. We hope to have bumper stickers, yardsticks and posters by the time we launch.

Tennessee cyclists and cycling clubs, stay tuned. We're gonna need your help, and you'll hear from us very soon through emails, etc.

Thanks Al Wagner for this photo!

I've been fooling with Joomla to see if it would be good for HBC.  Joomla installation is very user-friendly.  Modules and components are fun to load.  Though, getting something published requires you to think a different way.  But, it's very cool and it looks good!

Granular permissioning is important.  So, I found Juga, which I couldn't make do anything.  I uninstalled and loaded JACL, which is a hack.  I wasn't sure what that meant until I got into the process of installing, uninstalling, then CHMOD a bunch of files manually, then reinstalling.  Then my login page barfed.  Then PHP errors.  Then I couldn't get in the back end. 

Long story short, JACL is HORRIBLE!  thank goodness it's a test site that's mucked up.  I'll have to reload and reconfigure the whole damn thing.  Even though, to go to production we'd have to anyways. 

I sure hope Joomla releases granular permissioning with a version soon.  Or, JACL will have to get a whole lot better.  Geeklog has Joomla beat up and down in this area. 

Geeklog should make modules and installation very easy.  Then we have something.

Climbing in an grain silo is quite an experience. Thursday April 12, 2007 was my first time! OKC Rocks! in Oklahoma City is an interesting place with some cool ideas, but it could be better!

Yes, I finally got the new bike.  It's a Orbea Spirit Carbon, and here's my review!  The frame is a mix of steel, carbon fork and seat stays.  Pretty neat bike.  Gran Fondo of Nashville moved most of my Campy components from my Colnago to this bike to save me some money.  Hey, I don't need two 'fast bikes'.

Read more about my experience!

OK, I had one overnight backpacking trip under my belt to Bearwaller Gap where it rained the second day while the temerature was in the low 30's.  I needed something more difficult if I were to top that trip!  Why not accept the invitation to hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in February?

Plan was to leave on Friday night, stay in Cades Cove Campground. Leave Saturday for Russell Field shelter on the Appalachian Trail, head to primitive campsite #9 for Sunday night, and hike out on Monday. Our plans definitely changed.

I learned a lot about COLD weather camping. Read more to find out about what will be one of the most memorable outdoor experiences I may ever have.

TIPPMANN A5 PAINTBALL MARKER FOR SALE

HERE'S THE CRAIGSLIST POSTING.

Includes Tippman A5 marker - new condition, still have the box. Capable of 15 rounds per second. Not customized, but plenty of after-market options available. You will NOT find a used A5 in better condition.

CO2 Tank (painted camo)
Very nice bag - ditto on brand
Deluxe Cleaning Tools, O-rings
Reloader canisters & belt
Capacity limiter (to hold 25 balls, makes woods ball more strategic)
Mask (painted camo) - if you want the brand, I'll try to find it.

I will consider a trade/partial trade for a MIG welder with gas kit, or possibly a nice backpack (aka Lowe, Gregory, REI, overnight camping type.)

If it doesn't sell soon, it's going on ebay. Get it here now for a lot less money.

$250 OBO

I was chasing links this morning, found some cool stuff, then circumstances led me down the path below.  Whack! It finally dawned on me. How stupid is this Boston Terrorist thing?

Read more, and I'll take you through my Internet adventure.