AXOPLASM / Web-log archive: 2015

December

2015-12-28

We all gotta help each other out

On my ride to work this morning, while passing through the highly sketchy intersection at SW Miles & Barbur, I noticed a car stalled —...

2015-12-18

Two people I met this week while riding my bike

After dropping my kids off at school this morning I was riding back through outer SE Portland and a woman riding slooowly the opposite direction...

2015-12-03

Turtles and Dolphins

For about three years now I’ve given the winter-weather bike commuting advice to be a dolphin, not a turtle. TL;DR: dress for warmth and ease...

November

2015-11-19

My kids are so badass

It should have been pure misery on our ride to school today. 40°F and the kind of fine misty rain that penetrates every zipper and...

2015-11-07

Race Report: Pedalers at the Poor Farm

I could’ve won the race Saturday. Well not Saturday Saturday but Saturday in an alternate universe where I had about 10% better bike handling skills....

October

2015-10-30

There you are you little rascal

Yesterday I had an echocardiogra[ph|m] performed on my heart defect. I rode my bike out to Providence St. Vincent on Barnes Road — Barnes road...

2015-10-19

Race Report: Cross Crusade #3 (Cascade Locks)

What was remarkable about yesterday’s race was its unremarkableness. I staged in the middle and finished in the middle. Given my track record in Cat...

2015-10-03

Race Report: GPRM #5, Heiser Farms

(Writing this report about two weeks too late.) Weather golden, cool windy and dry after a rain. Ground tacky, not dusty, not muddy. Fast The...

September

2015-09-24

Race Report: Blind Date at the Dairy #2, 9/23/2015

I can only assume three other guys had minor mechanicals. Because I was DFL. I don’t just mean I was DFL in my category. I...

2015-09-08

Race Report: David Douglas #1 (GPRM #1), 2015-9-5

I misread the start list on Athletepath for this race and for two days thought I finished 31 of 35. Which TBH felt about right....

August

2015-08-31

Laziness and fear

This one is for Portland friends: With a few caveats, if you live inside ~60th & work in PDX city core, & you drive to...

2015-08-11

Twenty years ago today I was on a train bound for Eugene

I moved to Oregon for grad school the weekend after Jerry Garcia died. I was with my brother at a head shop in Lincoln, Nebraska,...

2015-08-06

I lied my way into this career

I reckon the statute of limitations is probably up on this lie.

July

2015-07-04

Eulogy for my father, Vernon Lee Souders, 1936 – 2014

Delivered at the Merna Community Cemetery, July 2nd, 2015 Dad was not a Churchy man and while he liked to discuss religion, he didn’t often...

June

2015-06-07

Tools matter

Banging my head since Thursday against a UX job I’ve been working on in OmniGraffle (my go-to design tool for the last six or eight...

May

2015-05-29

#NoMoreGhostBikes

Photo: @__P__J (Twitter) I went on a memorial (and protest) ride this afternoon for Mark Angeles, a recent Reed grad and by-all-accounts Swell Guy who...

2015-05-29

If you handed a driver a loaded gun…

This morning on my my commute I saw: a dude eating yogurt out of a cup with a spoon and turning the wheel with his...

2015-05-28

River effect

A common Portland summer weather pattern is a dense layer of low clouds (but not usually fog as in California’s marine effect) forming late in...

2015-05-11

Good Enough

New iPhone battery + hard reset = PRACTICALLY NEW iPHONE. ca 2005 computers (laptops+desktops) became Good Enough and the only reason I buy a new...

2015-05-01

Grooves

Over the last four years I wore a literal groove into the gravel behind the bleachers at the Lewis and Clark baseball diamond.

April

2015-04-09

Nunivak Island; Internet; Research; Humans

I got an email today from the granddaughter of a famous Nunivak Islander who was an important information source for my graduate research. (Unfortunately I...

2015-04-02

Recurring Characters from our school commute

Male Pedestrian Traffic Control Worker, At Sellwood Bridge Female Pedestrian Traffic Control Worker, At Sellwood Bridge Elderly Man With Strong Chinese Accent Who Once Stopped...

March

2015-03-28

The best park in Portland is Albert Kelly Park

The best park in Portland is Albert Kelly Park. It's boggy and muddy, the playground equipment is older than me (including a merry go round...

January

2015-01-27

My father in Baghdad

I had a dream last night in which my father appeared. Dead people often appear in my dreams, most commonly for a year or two...

2015-01-19

Frustration and Ignorance

Ignorance in Django: “How do I make my app do [comically simple task]?” Ignorance in Drupal: “How did I get this far in over my...