what's UP this week?

I've managed to hold off till now, but at this point, there's only 3 days until UP comes up and I have proof that the Pixar Touch has not faded post merger (though the impending sequel-fest doesn't thrill me). I've done a pretty good job of avoiding spoilers, so it will be pretty fresh to me. The Art of UP book came in the mail today, but I've left it in the shipping box, just to have fresh eyes on Friday. Super-excited.

In a seismic shift from work all the time to party all the time (not really, just wanted to put that in there), I caught up on my sleep, and got some good riding in. I went on a last ride up Mt. Holyoke, which was fun, and proved to me my earlier hypothesis that I'm faster on heavier, more-aero wheels, even uphill. I should get some Cosmic Carbones. This week I finally cleaned up drivetrains, and thanks again to Bryan for answering all my stupid questions.

Due to the big time gap since the last post (sorry), a bunch of stuff has happened that hasn't been covered. Mike B had his birthday party at the crapshack, and it was lots of fun. It was a sort of sendoff too, as a bunch of people were graduating and Mike is studying abroad next semester. I think it's best summed up by this picture.

I also graduated on Saturday, and the ceremony was shorter than I expected, given the sea of people there. All of the speeches mentioned the poor state of the economy in some diplomatic way, and wished us the best of luck, kind of a strange parting shot.

Over the course of last week, I did the Boston-Amherst/Amherst-Boston drive no less than 6 times, moving stuff back and forth from the shack to my parents house for temporary storage. That means a lot of road time, and in that time, I devised a cool handsfree phone setup, which involved connecting the phone to one of these, and connecting it to the head unit's aux-in port. I expected a killer feedback loop, but it actually hasn't been a problem. Another little victory.

Finally, I'm moving into my new place in Brighton next week. I'll say more about that then.

For this week's video, it's one Seth showed me on his buddy's blog and I think it speaks for itself.



Happy birthday Thom P.!