I'm bike commuting again

Today marks the second day this year that I've been fortunate enough to be able to make the 11.5 mile trek (roughly 40 minutes) to work by bicycle. One of the nice things about traveling by bike is that you notice things a little more.

One such example would be the amount of In God We Trust license plates on the road. Haven't these things only been out like a month? I'm pretty sure they're now ranking second only to the regular Indiana license plate as far as popularity goes. THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU to buy license plates, I guess. Quite frankly, it scares the bejesus out of me.

The other thing that I've noticed is that riding a bike on the city streets on a Sunday afternoon when there's basically no traffic is something that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy... it's just an amazing way to see the city; the whole thing just opens up and it's all yours. Let's get working on banning cars downtown on Sundays. As the first policy in my Mayoral candidacy...

*I highly recommend clicking on that bejesus link. then again, i'm pretty juvenile.

we all suck

I've noticed a decline in the number of posts and comments at many of the blogs I read on a regular basis, especially those that are Indianapolis based. While this does make it a little harder to find ways to waste away the day, it also brings a warm feeling to my heart. Because I know what it is to have nothing to write about. And I'm no stranger to a lack of comments. And I've been running with it for quite a while now.

I wouldn't call this lack of material writer's block, because it's not like I'm having trouble with the writing. I think a better term might be material block. The strength of a good blog is focus, but moreso an unending sort of attention to your focus. Du Nord's focus is on soccer in all shapes and sizes, and the material never runs out. He does a fantastic job in covering pretty much everything soccer related, and he once called me an idiot in an email.

I'm still reading his blog.

Circle and Squares is going to work because of its focus on architecture (as long as the material doesn't run out). Inhabit works because of a focus on design.

Dooce works because everyone loves attractive yet attainable looking housewives. Ok, I really have no idea why Dooce works, but I think it's probably got something to do with the cussing. Shit cock motherfucker.

Anyway.. My point. I don't have one. (I'm trying out using bold today, feel free to comment. Except you, Dave.)

When asked to describe ridehorsey for the Indianapolis Bloggers page, I said it was about "normal 30-something white guy nostalgia". Seriously? How horrible does that sound? I should have said it was about horsefucking.

indy soccer is dead, long live indy soccer

I've had it with the state of soccer in Indianapolis. I recently attempted to reach a bunch of teams through the Central Indiana Amateur Soccer Association, and even though I managed to come up with like 10 contact email addresses (for teams spread all over the place - I was willing to drive pretty much anywhere), only 4 responded, and none of them had any room on their teams. At least they responded though.

So what's a guy to do? I don't know 15 people in the city who play soccer, or at least I don't know 15 reliable people who play soccer, who would be willing to fork over the initial cash outlay to put together a team. I even considered throwing the money out myself in order to have a team to play with forever and ever. But I still don't know 15 reliable people.

I'm discouraged. I'd say at this point I'm almost completely beaten. I'm going to attempt to forget it ever happened.

* * * * *

Oh, Fulham lost to Man U this weekend by way of a Christiano Ronaldo goal somewhere around the 87th minute of a game that Fulham really probably deserved to win. Brian McBride scored. Of course. Clint Dempsey came on in the 70th minute and failed to impress. It really appears that he's not up to speed, or maybe that he's sort of stuck in slow motion. I don't expect much out of him yet this year, to be honest. I wasn't that familiar with him (aside from his World Cup performance) before the transfer to Fulham, and I thought he was probably going to be in a fight to get in games. Fulham has faster and more aggresive options out wide (the Canadian Tomas Radzinski), so Mr. Dempsey is going to have to be awfully creative to get work in. He hasn't started a game since coming over.

I've only watched 10 minutes of the Newcastle match, so I don't know how Gooch played. I've been trying to catch all his games now. I do know he started.

Is it April yet? I'm ready for MLS action.

BY THE POWER OF LANDON

This seems like a pretty good idea. (link) You might be thinking "hey, didn't someone do that already?" - and the answer is yes. But they didn't have the free time I do. And I bet they don't think that playing with layouts for hours and hours is a good way to pass time. And I bet they wear pants.

This isn't the official announcement - but there's a good chance that one is coming. In addition to a nice resource for local soccer info (which is really hard to find, actually), I hope to have a guest column here and there - perhaps a preseason write up on the prospects for your favorite MLS team, or stories about how you came to love the game, favorite players, or stories about how you came to love the Adidas Tango soccer ball (it's the only ball I'll buy, and I have no idea why).

And I might move the Fulham and RSL stuff there too.

Stay tuned.

fulham 2 - goochi-toons 1. and a superbowl

Fulham got the win this weekend, McBride scored again. Gooch played well for a lackluster Newcastle side. Dempsey got on in the 80th or so minute and played confidently. All smiles at my house.

One of these days I'm going to readdress Carlos Bocanegra.

Superbowl viewing at my house was underwhelming. I wonder if I was alone in thinking that there was no way Rex Grossman was going to lead the Bears to victory - he looked like a boy among men out there.

It was nice to see Beckham in a commercial.

* * * * *

I've been wondering who I'm writing this blog for for a while now. I think that perhaps I'm in a similar boat to the one Jim (formerly 11 am Air Raid, now He Writes About Words) found himself in... lack of direction or lack of audience or lack of motivation or lack of... lack of something. I could be totally off with the Jim reference, but I kind of got that vibe by reading his new stuff - which is just as good as his old stuff, just with a little more focus.

Anyway, I'm considering starting a different blog, but I don't really have any direction for that, either. Other than I could move the Fulham/RSL stuff there. And that'd leave me with this. Where I could post pictures of funny monkeys.

A whole lotta not much

Although I was invited out Friday night, a severe lack of budget meant that instead Gina and I went to see Old Joy at Key Cinemas in beautiful south Indianapolis.

I don't think I can do the movie much justice; I found it fantastically accurate and honest, to the point that the dialog seemed almost based on former conversations I'd had myself. I'd like for all traveling friends to see it themselves.

Then again, they might think it's not any good.

Saturday morning was a Fulham tie (that's like ) and Clint Dempsey's debut in a Fulham shirt. He looked confident on the ball and helped in the effort to secure Fulham's goal. It's also quite possible that he fell asleep on the defensive end and allowed for Tottenham's easy goal. Here's a little article about Dempsey's debut.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching the National Team v Denmark. Not much worth reporting there; nice work by some MLS guys, but the game didn't mean much. I'm much more interested in the Mexico game.

After the game I made a pasta/arugula/olive salad that turned out ok, though a little light on taste. Then again, it was a Cooking Light recipe.

Saturday evening I caught the end of the replay between the US under-20's and Guatemala. I'd say the US team was less than impressive, and the 0-0 final score was a fitting result for the poor effort.

Sunday I spent the early part of the day watching Manchester United/Arsenal, and was glad to see Wayne Rooney score. Of course Arsenal ended up winning the match in the 93rd minute.

I then went out and shoveled the driveway; it was good to get some sort of exercise. I've been spending my time away from work exclusively on the couch. As a result I'm 5-10 pounds heavier than I should be.

I spent the better part of the afternoon cooking up Farmer's Market Chicken, a chicken/squash/carrot/tomato conconction. It was also underwhelming, though the chicken part of it was quite tasty. I finished in time to catch the second half of the Bears game.

Gina and I then watched the Colts. By halftime I found myself looking for something else to do, convinced that they had another loss on their hands. But my internet connection was down, so I kept myself on the couch and rode out the thrilling victory.

As good as the game way, the postgame local news coverage was even better: A 50-something female newscaster said "Get R Done" during the broadcast, the footage from a northside bar showed a bunch of drunk people posing and dancing for the cameras... I actually turned the tivo on to save the footage for later. What a parade of retardation.

But it was understandable. I don't think anyone here thought the Colts had much hope of actually winning the game. It was nice to see it happen.

The next two weekends should be good; first my birthdayish celebration next weekend, and a Colts Superbowl the next. Good times to come.

damnit

Congrats to the Hoosier Beer Geeks, Scot at 64th and Broadway, and anyone else linked to left who appear in the article in this week's Intake about Indy blogs. Your attention is well deserved. Also know that I'm insanely jealous. And that I'm embarassed about my jealousy. And that I hate you. And that "Galactic Horse Showdown of the Century (sometimes known as ridehorsey)" would have looked awesome in print.

I guess you don't do much either.

Perhaps I have fewer Indianapolis readers than I suspected.

what to do?

As you probably already know, I don't consider myself a Hoosier; In fact I hate the word. Since I grew up in Southern Illinois just outside of St. Louis, I always associated the word hoosier with South City St. Louis folk, who were called hoosiers out of disrespect.

When we moved here it took quite a while to adjust to the bombardment that is the use of the word "hoosier" in the state of Indiana. Count how many times you hear the word in one day - it will surprise you.

Anyway, since I didn't grow up here, I still feel like I've missed a lot. Coworkers speak of towns just outside the city that I've never heard of or visited, people speak of parts of the city I've never seen... and I'd like to see it all, really. But where to start?

If you asked me for a list of places to start your visit in St. Louis, I could come up with one pretty easily: The Arch, Busch Stadium, Soulard, The Central West End, The Hill, The Loop... most are nice neighborhoods that have unique characteristics that make them worthwhile.

If I was making a list of places to see in Indianapolis, it would go like this: The racetrack, the canal, Broad Ripple, maybe Fountain Square... is that really all there is?

Where do you bring guests from out of town? What do we have in Indianapolis that's worth showing off? What am I missing? Or have I really seen it all already?