haircut and random thoughts

Lately in my mind it seems that having short hair during the winter makes more sense than just letting it grow long along with the beard. Why? I'm not sure but here are some random thoughts on that.
1- It dries faster after a long ride. Having short hair prevents my pretty little head from freezing during winter.
2- Wake up in the morning, or any other time with no bed head.
3- I'm just getting lazier and don't want to use a brush or comb.
4- No helmet hair, this is specially appropriate when one of our rides ends at a bar and there are cute girls. Helmet hair is so unbecoming. Even if you get paid big money for riding a bike.













So I went to Hair Cuttery to see my stylist Elena, (yes I did say stylist, not sure lady barber applies). She was telling me about her upcoming vacation in April to Cancun. I was a little jealous since I can't go any where right now. This unemployment thing really sucks.

On my way back I stopped at the library to pick up a copy of "The Nanny Diaries" DVD that I had reserved. Hey Scarlett Johansson is hot! I will reserve a DVD if she is in it, just to see her in my living room. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with a crush on her since I had to reserve the DVD at the library.
Besides after reading the book I decided to check out the movie. Although I have to admit it was more the fact that I'm secretly in love with Scarlett. While in line to check out my copy of "Nanny Diaries", I saw this book on the section "Books we like".

















Needless to say I checked it out. Since I'm already making my own knickers for riding my bike. I might as well start stitchin', or should I say knittin' and crochetin' my own scarves, gloves, mittens, beanies and sweaters (that might be a stretch though, I don't think I have the patience for sweater making) and what ever else this little book teaches about knittin', stitchin' and crochetin' fashions for men. And I have a forum where I can actually do the bitchin' part of the book. Here.
Not afraid to admit I have a feminine side (or at least I will find out)






Hey I'm trying to be frugal since there is no work prospects right now, and I need to save money. What with that funny business of having to pay rent and feed myself, anything is pretty good as far as saving money goes. I might as well look for ways to stay warm during the winter for less.Maybe even have fun doing it, or just have it be a horrible experiment.
As I was unlocking my bike a thought came to mind. Yesterday I was ranting about the neglected/abandon bikes along Milwaukee Ave. Well when I looked at my bike I realized it sorta looks like one of the neglected bikes.












Even the saddle looks really beat up! I imagined another fellow cyclist passing by, looking at the bike and thinking what kind of a douche leaves his bike neglected in front of the library. But I know that in reality no one is really looking at my bike, let alone thinking why I'm a douche for neglecting it in front of the library.








Well I will let you know if the movie was as good as the book or not. I shed a tiny tear when I reached the end of the book. Let's see if the movie does the same. If not at least I get to see Miss. Johansson in her underwear.

Neglected Bikes

This morning as I was making my way down Milwaukee Ave. to meet my friend Guy for afternoon tacos. I noticed something that probably most cyclist notice every day.

All the bikes lining a little stretch on Milwaukee Ave. I was surprised to see how many bikes are left out or abandoned along the stretch from Damen to Ashland. Some are probably left outside because their owners don't have space in their apartments and some are left there to just rot and decay.
I took some pictures of these bikes just to show some of the things I saw.
Being the owner of some bikes myself I felt pretty bad for the neglected bikes.
This is the first bike I encountered right on the corner of Milwaukee and Damen.

Sad as it seems no one even cares to pick this bike up and at least set it upright (come to think of it, neither did I, I know, I'm a bastard)
Not sure if something in my head said forget it since the rear wheel was bent all out of shape. It would seem whoever owned this bike, rode it until they could ride no more, parked it and forgot about it.

Now this one was just left there to be cannibalized and just the frame left there to rot. I bet Cisco at West Town Bikes can make this forgotten frame a useful bar stool. Seriously, go there and ask for the bike stool. Cyclist are pretty good at recycling old stuff that comes from our bikes.

Now some of these bikes are left out but are still getting some use, at least that's what I was told from the friend of the owner of this lovely Dutch bike.
As I was taking the picture I was approached by the friend of the owner of the bike who assured me this bike is ridden during the winter. I specially love the name of the bike, which is decaled on the down tube.



















Another thing that I noticed most was that women seem to ride more than men during the winter. I saw at least a good 4 to 1 women to men ratio of ladies riding. Specially this lady riding along Damen. She made riding in style look good, even if she was wearing sweats.




















Yes, that is my shadow behind the stylish woman riding in sweats.
I must say that she was riding pretty fast. I was rather surprised I could even catch up with her and be able to take these pictures.


















I also had a nice surprise during my little photo adventure. As I was finishing taking this picture of 2 people riding West on Milwaukee I heard some one say as they were riding away "I saw you on Momentum!" to which I promptly replied "Say What?" mind you it wasn't a cool "Say what" more of a I didn't hear/surprised/dumbfounded "Say What"




I really should thank Momentum Magazine, for actually printing my ugly mug on their magazine, John Greenfield for asking me to pose for this picture, my friend Greta for being her birthday and stopping at Reckless Records, and Ryan for the sticker that has brought my very own 15 minutes of fame.
You can find more pictures of these neglected/abandoned bikes on my brand spanking new Flicker page.