The obnoxious jerk at Harvard

So, we have the President of the United States weighing in on the arrest of a personal friend, without knowing all of the facts. It is true that a person has a constitutional right to scream profanities at a police officer, accuse him of racism, and insult his mother. But to do so, regardless of the color of one's skin, is amazingly stupid. And it also speaks volumes about the character of Mr. Gates, and makes one wonder why Harvard employs him.

A low-key week

Originally, I had planned on getting in lots of bicycling, running, and swimming this week. Unfortunately, with my knee healing up from the bike accident earlier this week, none of these activities have really been on the radar screen. So I have been mostly taking it easy, visiting with friends, and getting some minor work done around the house. I have really been enjoying being home in Ann Arbor, and I just wish I had another week or two to spend at home.



It took me long enough, but I finally have my photos from July 4th posted online. The photos are a bit average, but I do like the photo that I have posted above.

Close Encounters of the Pavement Kind

This afternoon, I went for another long bike ride, riding out to the edge of Dexter and back. On my way back, I negotiated the railroad crossing where the tracks cross Huron River Drive at a forty-five degree angle (and which seem to take a fair number of cyclists down) - and promptly wiped out ten feet later where the oddly shaped shoulder angles down. After bouncing along the pavement, where the left side of my body became intimately acquainted with the asphalt, I was grateful that no cars were coming. After taking stock of the situation and cleaning the blood off, I observed that I was indeed structurally intact, and proceeded to ride the final seven miles to home. Thanks to Krogers, I am now well-stocked with first aid items. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. Despite the number of miles that I put on my bike, I've been doing pretty well. My last major spill was back in 2001, so I guess the odds finally caught up to me.

First day home

My first day back home in Ann Arbor went pretty well. I took care of some shopping early in the afternoon, then went out to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. I rode my bike out to Dexter via Huron River Drive, after first riding through Barton Hills because Huron River Drive is still under construction (supposedly it will be finished this fall). The ride was absolutely gorgeous, with the sun sparkling off the water in the Huron River. In Dexter, I stopped by the Dairy Queen for "guilt free" ice cream. A twenty-six mile bike ride burns just enough calories to take care of even the whopping five-hundred eighty calories in a small Banana Cream Pie Blizzard. (Scary, huh?) After getting back home, my roommate and I grabbed dinner (Qdoba ... mmm!), and then watched the movie "Push" on DVD. It's not bad (I give it a 6.5 out of 10), and Dakota Fanning's performance suggests that she may be able to make the awkward transition from child star to adult actress.

Home is where the heart is

Today, I drove back home to Michigan from Virginia, with a stop in western Pennsylvania to see family. The total drive time was about nine and a half hours, which wasn't bad given my detour on the way. I was really happy to get back home, and I'm looking forward to a week of being away from DC.

An odd coincidence

When I first created the starlightmaze username, it was unique, with no web references at all. The uniqueness of the name has allowed me to easily track references to my blog on the web. Yesterday, I went to register the starlightmaze@gmail.com account with Google (previously available), and found that the name was taken. So I did a little digging, and found that the name is no longer unique. Not only is someone using it for their gmail account, but a woman (possibly the same person) is using it as her Twitter handle. It makes me curious as to how these people chose the user name for themselves...

Celebrating the Fourth

I had a pretty decent Fourth of July holiday weekend, and it's too bad that the weekend is already over. On Friday, the weather was remarkably cool for July in DC. Most of the day, the temperature was in the high seventies, and the thermometer peaked at a mere eighty degrees. I took advantage of the lovely day to go for a long bike ride on the western edge of Loudon County. I biked a forty-two mile route from Purcellville to Middleburg, up Snickersville Pike to Bluemont, and then back to the start. This part of Loudon is far from the DC sprawl, and consists of farms, horse farms, and old country estates, and makes for beautiful environment for cycling.

On Saturday, I decided to go on another long bike ride, and biked from Arlington out to Herndon on the W&OD Trail. Arlington, of course, is the essence of the DC sprawl. However, once past Vienna, the area around the W&OD Trail is a lot less developed, and much more fun to ride on. In the afternoon, I joined some of my neighbors for a BBQ, and in the evening, watched the fireworks from the roof of a friend's coop complex in southwest DC.