I’m contemplating starting to ride a bicycle to work. I live about 1.4 miles from my office. There is an infrequently used shower at my office. I’m stupidly out of shape. I can’t afford a Vespa. I just spent $50 filling up my car. I sometimes find myself caring about the environment.
Those realities have come together to shape my thoughts about this subject. Unfortunately, I’m completely ignorant of the bicycle world. A brief investigation has opened my eyes to the numerous options available to me. Road bikes. Mountain bikes. Comfort bikes. Used bikes. New bikes.
So I’m turning to you blog-friends. I need your help.
- How much should I spend? I don’t want a huge investment as I might ultimately hate riding a bike to work.
- What type of bike should I be looking at?
- Is this a stupid idea? Either because it’s dangerous or too cumbersome with my job or some other reason I’ve never thought of.
- Anything else I should be considering?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Photo by Bern@t.
This weekend, Hayley and I took a couple of kids to see Wall-E, Pixar’s latest film. Here’s my review. (I’m using the “Ramsey Movie Criteria.”)
Content
Wall-E tells the story of a trash-collecting-then-compacting little robot in the distant future. From all appearances, Wall-E is alone, the last of the trash-bots. Eventually, another robot comes to earth with a specific, classified directive. This robot, named EVE, is far more advanced that Wall-E, but they do develop a sweet little romance that drives the movie forward.
The robot love story is incredibly charming and very sweet and is the main plot of the film. But there’s also the sub-story of the humans and their current standard of living that helps frame the romance. I thought this part of the movie was a little – OK, a lot – heavy-handed, but it was still enjoyable.
The movie is rated G.
Performance
This is a little tricky to do with an animated film, but all of the voice performances were very strong. The weakest part of the movie was actually delivered by one of my favorite actors, Fred Willard. It kind of felt like he phoned in his performance for this one. Ah well.
Artistic Value
Absou-frickin-lutely beautiful.
Outcome
Hayley and I both enjoyed this movie. Even though there was very little dialog, it was sweet, well done and entertaining throughout. We left feeling quite happy.
Pixar’s team consistently delivers masterpieces. It’s unbelievable how amazing they are. And Wall-E ranks up there as one of their finest. You must see this movie.
Rating:
I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.
Published on Thursday, July 3, 2008 .
After a lot of love, attention and tweaking, phase one of GretemanGroup.com is officially live.
Featuring our updated brand, a new portfolio and our very own blog, the site is refreshed, easy to navigate and provides more opportunity for interaction. While we’re still ironing out some minor issues and planning to add more features in the future, the site is live and it is good. At least I think so.
So go check it out.
Let me know what you think!
Have a great holiday weekend.
Published on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 .
Ok, this is pathetically similar to my “preference post,” but let’s play a quick, clean game of “Would You Rather,” with the ridiculously clever twist of adding “why” to your answer. Be as honest as you feel like being. Or be funny. You choose.
Would You Rather…
- Be a rock star OR a movie star?
- Have the ability to fly OR be able to sharpen pencils with your belly button?
- Have the blogosphere’s most-visited and popular blog OR have the most MySpace or Facebook friends possible?
- Would you rather be a flawless speller OR an expert in geometry?
- Would you rather pen the world’s greatest novel that only a handful of people ever read OR would you rather write a shallow, trite story that takes the nation by storm?
Don’t forget to tell us why!
It’s posts like these that really propel me towards the upper echelons of influential bloggers.
In an effort to get to you know you, my readers, and get a blog post up, I would like to know your preferences for the items below.
Do you prefer…
- Cell phones on vibrate that are sitting on a colleague’s desk OR annoying, personalized ringtones?
- Chipotle’s chicken OR beef OR pork OR steak?
- Water with ice OR water without ice?
- Reading blogs via RSS feeds OR on the actual blog page?
- Mac OR PC?
- Facebook OR MySpace
- Old Testament OR New Testament
- Wordpress OR Blogger?
- Twitter OR Plurk?
- Memorial Day OR Labor Day
Any items you need personal opinons on? Leave ‘em in the comments!
Let’s see what you like!
Published on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 .
Westboro Baptist’s head cheese, Fred Phelps, released a video the day of Tim Russert’s death, declaring the act an example of God’s further condemnation of America and, in particular, its media.
Obviously, I don’t agree with Phelps’ assertions. But I do wonder what he would have us do. They continually call for repentance, but they never provide a clear call to action. How are we to repent? How are we to turn our nation back to God? What do they want us to do?
What is your church doing differently? Is it making the message of repentance and salvation tangible and practical? Or is it equally as abstract and unclear as Westboro?
Just curious.
I’m contemplating starting to ride a bicycle to work. I live about 1.4 miles from my office. There is an infrequently used shower at my office. I’m stupidly out of shape. I can’t afford a Vespa. I just spent $50 filling up my car. I sometimes find myself caring about the environment.
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