Archive for February, 2006
Posted by Eric (February 15, 2006 at 6:17 pm)
This past Sunday, the family watched Captains Courageous, the classic movie starring Spencer Tracy as the Portuguese fisherman Manuel Fidello, who takes the outrageous brat Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) under his wing after fishing him out of the sea when he fell overboard on a cruise with his tycoon father. It’s a film about what it means to be a man—a film that could scarcely be made today, when we’ve lost that meaning. (Witness Brokeback Mountain.) (more…)
Posted by Eric (February 15, 2006 at 12:45 pm)
I’m of “three minds” on this whole Muhammed cartoons business—or at least of two minds. On the one hand, I’m disgusted at the violent reaction of the so-called “Muslim Street” over the kind of ridicule that we Christians have to put up with day after day from the Western media. But on the other hand, I have to admit a kind of admiration that Muslims are so willing to go to the mat defending the Prophet; and it’s always hard to muster a whole lot of sympathy for Europeans and their sneering attitude towards religion in general.
If I’m of a “third mind” about the whole business, it’s that these cartoons are just plain stupid. (more…)
Posted in Culture & Society | Comments Off on Of Three Minds
Posted by Eric (February 14, 2006 at 2:26 pm)
![[Muddy MTB Drivetrain]](/blogpix/2006/muddy01.jpg)
Last Saturday I had the rare opportunity to mountainbike for a couple of hours in the afternoon. (I had to drop my sons off at a party about 20 minutes from the trails; not worth it to go all the way home!) With the mild winter we’ve been having, I had my eyes on the weather forecast for days ahead of time—it was supposed to be just at freezing, so the trails would probably be fine. (more…)
Posted in Bicycling | Comments Off on Muddy
Posted by Eric (February 10, 2006 at 1:51 pm)
Last Saturday I went mountainbiking for the first time in nine weeks. I don’t think I’ve gone that long without a ride in a couple years. A combination of bad weather (not cold enough), illness, a great deal of work and just plain laziness kept me away for way too long.
The ride confirmed what I already knew, that I’m terribly out of shape. It also reaffirmed my belief that there is no better all-around workout than mountainbiking. Maybe squash, but I don’t play squash. In any case, it’s way more intense than the other sports I do: XC skiing, swimming, running, weight lifting and road biking.
I had been on the road trainer for a couple weeks before venturing out to my usually riding spot, Palos Forest Preserve, but I might as well have been prone in a vat of salt water for two weeks for all the difference it made for my mountainbike conditioning. After about three minutes I was giving serious thought to packing it in; after about six minutes I was just waiting to puke. (more…)
Posted by Eric (February 6, 2006 at 4:06 pm)
In my last post I remarked:
Now I’m finally writing my first entry. We’ll see if I ever find the time for a second.
Well, here it is February 6, almost exactly seven months later. In the meantime I’ve set up a couple of blogs for other people and gotten to know WordPress a whole lot better. Finally seemed to be time to work on this one again.
I hope it’ll be less than seven months before my next post…
Posted in Technology | Comments Off on A Mere Seven Months Later …
