Uhh, 2.8 miles? Why not walk it?
Felix Salmon "A Unified Theory of New York Biking"
Yeah. I think its an instance of the general problem that people don't want to move out of their comfort zone, and erect enormous mental barriers to prevent change. See Brock Landers for the canonical example. A friend of mine was shocked at the suggestion she walk to a location about two miles away, a journey I regularly make on foot and bike.
I was going to ask who the hell lives 2.8 miles from a major concert venue, but I live exactly that from Dodgers Stadium. Since I haven't seen a stadium show since I've lived in a big city, there's still something that feel suburban about going to one.
Also my bike got stolen.
Do people not live near, say, Madison Square Garden?
Not real American people, Ginger. Filthy rootless cosmopolitans.
It would take about an hour to walk 2.8 miles; 10 minutes to bike it. not everybody is a gentleperson of leisure.
I was going to ask who the hell lives 2.8 miles from a major concert venue
This is funnier if you read k-sky as meaning "I don't think I could stand living more than five blocks from my beloved Metropolitan Opera House. I mean, I really don't know how the little people manage it."
But where did you lock the bike which you were at the concert?
We used to live less than half a mile from a major football stadium. The night Springsteen played there we took a couple of bottles into the yard and enjoyed the show. Now the buggers have built a purpose built show arena on the other side of town.
I can see Wembley pretty well from my window, it looks surprisingly close, although I think it's actually about 2 miles as the crow flies. I did used to live really quite close to Ibrox in Glasgow, which has left me with a life-long hatred of people wearing blue ...
10: Surely you hated them before the proximity?
Yes, long time lurker, etc. (Though once posted as NC Planning Student or something like that. ) I was just surprised that they let you. Not just because they often make a lot of money off of parking, but because they also probably expect everyone to drive. Did the parking people give you any trouble? Where there bike racks or other facilities at the venue? Or did you use a chain link fence? Were there any other bikes locked up there? Seems like a natural thing to do IMO, but only once you think of the possibility. But it is more unusual thank you might think. As it were.
I also once sat outside a small outdoor venue in central Stockholm where the Rolling Stones were playing. It seemed like half of the city was there listening to the show for free. Everything I said above is taken back if you live in a European city.
re: 10
I was somewhat indifferent. Although regular Orange marches down my street as a kid probably predisposed me.*
After I lived near Ibrox my former vague feeling that I probably preferred Celtic [of the Old Firm] hardened.
* my family are nominally Catholic in a Nazi race-law sense, but I was brought up as an atheist and went to a non-denominational school.
I live only six miles from a local rodeo venue. But we are about to move to Queens, so rodeo might be harder to come by.
14: We have hipster moonshine in Brooklyn -- I think you should feel free to start hipster rodeo in Queens.
But where did you lock the bike which you were at the concert?
It was a Lady GaGa show. He probably wore the bike in and was mistaken for a backup dancer.
To the OP: I know, huh? Even in compact, freewayless, eminently bikeable Boston I get that all the time.
12: Seriously, all you de-lurking people should take your pseuds from Dr. Suess's "Too Many Daves"
Back when I was in the Boy Scouts we actually had a "Bike Rodeo," which I recall as being one of the dorkiest events I've ever participated in.
17: I assumed you put him up to this.
I was just surprised that they let you.
If I'd done something similar--and I might have, though Lady Gaga isn't likely to perform somewhere within bicycling distance of me--I would have locked up my bike across the street from the stadium or somewhere else nearby and then walked in.
Yeah, your friends' reactions seem weird. Driving to a concert seems like the safest destination of all, since cars will be going 10 mph, won't they? I'd be worried about the bike getting stolen, but I guess that's not entirely rational as long as you're locking it up and all that. More people means more witnesses to notice someone getting "their" bike with bolt-cutters.
Isn't the real problem that it's hard to pedal with high heels and your boa might get caught in the sprockets?
You are likely to be greeted enthusiastically if you ever ride up to a used car lot on a bicycle.
and your boa might get caught in the sprockets
Laydeez.
24: Same deal if you drive a Plymouth Horizon.
But where did you lock the bike which you were at the concert?
I knew where a bike rack was across the street; as it happened, that's where the police had set up their command center, too, so I felt extra confident about not getting the bike stolen.
Did the parking people give you any trouble?
Nope.
Were there any other bikes locked up there?
Yes. The building across the street is the old basketball stadium and is used for training purposes by other sports teams, so there were other bikes there. And a ton of cops, I'm guessing to avoid a repeat of this tragic incident.
I think that got all the unanswered questions. Did I miss any?
I was going to ride to the Dylan concert here, but then it looked like rain. Then I found a dollar, so there's that.
You missed out. If you'd have looked around, you'd have found a total of five dollars. There's always five dollars.
Mellencamp was also on the bill. As you can imagine, there's be singles, and not fivers.
If I had my way, Mellencamp would be on the twenty and Devo on the five.
I ran into Mellencamp at a Fudruckers once. Nice guy. Doesn't like relish on his wiener.
33: Speaking of who's on the twenty, I spent a brief but memorable portion of my childhood laboring under the belief that Andrew and Michael Jackson were distant relatives, and that Michael's fame was why Andrew got to have his photo on money, or something. True story.
A few weeks ago, I actually found a five dollar bill on the ground at a local putt-putt course. Together with the five dollars was a note from the tooth fairy, addressed to "Amanda" about how the first tooth is always special.
Worst five dollars I ever found.
34.last: The kind of in-depth research this place needs more of.
I was going to ride to the Dylan concert here, but then it looked like rain.
A hard rain's a-gonna fall. Indeed, buckets of rain, buckets of tears, got all these buckets comin' out of my ears.
Riding my bike to the State Fair completely transforms the experience from a struggle to a pleasure. I can't believe people (without small children) do anything else.
But yeah, it can be hard to get people to try it the first time. I've become surer that the only way to get people to try things is to be with them as they do it the first time. No one ever comes to my gym on their own, but some of them will go if I offer to take them there.
The objectors were being ridiculous.
That is an easy bike ride.
I don't think I could stand living more than five blocks from my beloved Metropolitan Opera House.
Oh alas. I have, in fact, made real estate decisions based on proximity to my beloved Metropolitan Opera House.
Also, re 4: Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen both give you easy walking access to Madison Square Garden. This comes in handy when Lady Gaga plays, I guess, snicker snicker, neighborhood humor.
That is an easy bike ride.
Right? Especially now that there's that bike-/foot-path overpass over 29 that takes you behind Lambeth and dumps you, more or less, in the middle of campus* (which path I had forgotten about on the way there and yet still managed to survive).
*I'm supposed to say "Grounds" according to local custom, but I refrain.
36 reminds me of a parent-child vacation interaction a friend witnessed.
Dad: "Is today gonna be a good day?"
Child: "Yes!"
Dad: "And what makes a good day?"
Child: "No trips to the emergency room!"
Child runs off at great speed in no particular direction. Dad looks stoically optimistic.
Oh hey, this is a bike thread, isn't it.
Well then.
I just got some of these, and if you can get past the web design, the fact that they say "Made in Brooklyn" on them, and the pictures of all the goofy "fixed-gear freestylers" using them, man, they're fantastic. Really impressive, really comfortable foot retention while wearing street shoes.
Is anyone else here starting to suspect that dona quixote is the reincarnation of a long-absent front pager?
I don't think I've ever walked to the opera in a city I lived in (el, subway, taxi, car). I've walked to the Staatsoper and Bastille from apartments I was borrowing, but that isn't the same.
48: yes, right. Something to get over, as I said.
44: But don't you feel guilty about all the sensitive young novelists locked in sweatshops?
*I'm supposed to say "Grounds" according to local custom, but I refrain.
Why must you be so difficult?!!? Kids these days!
Are you thinking of Unf or Bob, ajay?
47: I lived at 51/9 for the 98-99 season. I was broke as hell but also young enough I was fine with standing room. It was a nice time. I'd walk up, see if there was anything I felt like standing for, and if not, I'd go home to my little garret and embroider some more flowers. (It came in really handy the time I did the old standing room ritual for stuff that was really sold out, which involved reporting to the lobby of the Empire Hotel in the middle of the night.)
I was thinking -- DQ doesn't sound even a little like any missing frontpagers.
(You do sound like someone: the combination of the no caps and frequent ellipses is ringing a bell and I can't remember who used to comment like that. But not a frontpager.)
I can't just go on thinking I have a unique voice, like my 11th grade English teacher told me?
44: Have you tried normal toe clips? That's what I've been using for the last 15 years, and they work well enough. I'm curious as to the difference. Of course I'm not a hardcore bicycle polo player, nor do I sport a beard, and I don't have any "ink" either. Maybe this product isn't really for me.
I'd walk up, see if there was anything I felt like standing for, and if not, I'd go home to my little garret and embroider some more flowers.
Smearcase's Voyage of the Mimi.
I didn't mean DQ sounded like anyone - just in terms of her sudden appearance, ubiquity and positive effect on the conversation.
I may well sound like someone but I'm not someone, if that makes any sense. I think you're thinking of read maybe? But I'm not read.
Stanley,
Was the biking made difficult due to your costume?
57: yeah, that's what I had on before. I'm not using them for bike polo or tricks or anything like that; this is my commuter bike. They're much more snug, and the big plastic platform gives a much stiffer, well, platform, they're easier on shoes than metal clips, and you only have to tighten them down once.
dq is clearly ogged's so. She is ogged-light.
By the time you see the Ogged-light, it is too late.
62: Maybe Ogged-shaved? I wonder what happened to Ogged (PBUH) and the bass playing lifeguard. I do hope the Ogged's persona on here was at least partly for the purpose of inciting comment.
61: Ah, cool. My toe clips do get a bit loose (but I'm not sure it is ethical to support Brooklyn hipsters).
Was the biking made difficult due to your costume?
Aside from my mismatched socks (which close readers will recall is standard for me), I had no costume. But Lady Gaga told me that it doesn't matter what you wear or where you're from or how much money you make, and that we're all born always already fabulous or something. So I didn't feel left out.
23, 60: I only hope that Stanley didn't go to the Lady Gaga concert in flats and sans boa. That would a breach of decorum even more appalling than going to the opera in jeans.
68: I'm surprised the cops didn't stop you if you were cycling around in the buff!
I wonder what happened to Ogged (PBUH) and the bass playing lifeguard.
They broke up and he's married to a doctor on the Navajo reservation, with a dog, last I heard. (That's all in the archives somewhere.)
What gets me is that everyone who drives to the concert has to pay for parking. You would think they could at least approve of taking your bike there on "being a cheap bastard" grounds.
I wonder what happened to Ogged (PBUH) and the bass playing lifeguard. I do hope the Ogged's persona on here was at least partly for the purpose of inciting comment.
I'm in touch with Ogged occasionally. His whole life is different now. He's moved to a rural area with a lady (not the lifeguard), and sounds happy. You know that he puts up pictures on his flickr account, right?
71: First he stole a neighbor's dog and now he seems to have stolen a neighbor's cat.
Wait, that sounds unnervingly like what my parents said had happened to my dog when he got old and sick. Does Ogged get to run around all day in the fields?
Looks like he rides his new bike around all day in the fields. And we're back on topic!
married to a doctor on the Navajo reservation
Yes, and he still responds to the email address listed on the front page. When I asked him if there was a pool anywhere near him, he said the closest pool was ~90 minutes away by car and that he was considering learning to hunt evil spirits in the desert instead.
He could put them in lamps, for safekeeping.
When I started here, I got asked if I was Ogged after I'd mentioned having to do something about my back hair.
Did Ogged have a habit of adopting pseudonyms for a pseudonym? That seems...something. Meta? Manic? ...Pynchon?
Lesbionic Pynchon? We don't need any more crazy lesbians, honestly.
Sockpuppeting? That was like the one thing Ogged had no patience for and policed strictly. Oh, that and the time someone figured out how to play with the text sizes. That was briefly entertaining. *Sigh* Memories.
No. Ogged was very rigorous about commenting under one name; didn't like other people joking around under someone else's handle either.
81: No. It's just since he's been gone we are bereft and imagine we see him in places or commenters where he is not.
(but I'm not sure it is ethical to support Brooklyn hipsters)
Is there a similar product made by hasidim?
78: A friend of mine in remote BC wanted a basketball court, so he got the town to build one by convincing officials that it would be good for the local kids. Maybe Ogged could try the same strategy.
Oh, that and the time someone figured out how to play with the text sizes. That was briefly entertaining inexplicably hilarious.
Sorry. Meant to hit "Preview." Per 82, I was trying to play with text size.
I don't even know how I got "Big Text" on the same line as the comment number.
I'll quit now. 87 made me think I could go to "Kobe" whenever I wanted.
82: Oh, that and the time someone figured out how to play with the text sizes.
You can see the sad remains starting at about comment 240 and accelerating to 300 in this thread.
Ogged@284: You have until comment 300 to play with. Knock yourselves out. Don't try to wander into any other threads, either.
Ogged@306: And now that I don't have to babysit you lot, I'm going offline. Tell it to the wind!
Somewhere on one of my computers I grabbed and saved the original HTML before dad stepped in.
Alas, the Marquee tag does not work...
I can see the <blink> tags you guys are doing, but only in the source code. Do they actually work in a browser that's not IE7?
97: No, I didn't. I see the tag in the HTML, but I have no idea how it got there.
Hey! The blink tag was supposed to be turned off! What is this place coming to?
I see no blink. Wait! There it is!
Oh, no, that was just me blinking.
102: Yes. I was surprised since Josh@290 form that earlier thread:
Woe is me that the blink tag is not supported.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
105: Meet the new dad ... same as the old dad.
I've enabled the Blink-182 tag. It turns any comment into a three-chord pop-punk song.
That's OK, we'll trade them all for <pre> so we can do the Warlord thang per Neb's witty little post title a while back.
O.K. I'll really quit now. I still don't understand 87 or the blink tag got into the html for 93.
94: Rereading that, I really wish I'd taken some screen grabs.
I put the blink tag in your comment, Moby.
112: When I get home I'll try to find the file and send it to you.
That's good to know. I was afraid I had somehow created a macro for it or something.
I messed with your brakes that time you hit the windshield, Moby.
Don't stop, Moby. I like the fact that the conversation is randomly interrupted by you saying "oo". Either we're on Glee, or you're having more fun than we are.
118: And here I read it as Moby paying homage to Jim Otto.
The kind of in-depth research this place needs more of.
I'd say we already know weiners and the depths they can reach pretty well, personally, but that shouldn't stop anyone from trying to expand the field.
I am jealous that Stanley got to go see Lady Gaga.
I am jealous that Stanley got to go see Lady Gaga.
As consolation to you and to make it up to will for my eye-rolling about U.Va. traditions, here's an article and accompanying photo gallery from the show, including Lady Gaga wearing a U.Va. T-shirt.
I heard that if you see Lady Gaga live, you get to hear the version of "Bad Romance" with lyrics that make sense.
Don't stop, Moby. I like the fact that the conversation is randomly interrupted by you saying "oo"
Dona Q?
||
I was just sweeping under the bed (three cheers for dog hair!) and pulled out a very disoriented bee. I put it outside so it can go back to frolicking with all its little friends, but why was it hiding under my bed??
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It takes pictures of you when you're sleeping.
I can certainly guess how you know that!
Should have just been "you" in italics but I'm an idiot and get my slashes backward when typing on the ipad, where they're on separate screens, but never when on a regular keyboard.
Now off to read an overdue library book!
Now off to read an overdue library book!
RETURN IT IMMEDIATELY! OR ELSE!
YOU WILL GET STUNG! THE BEE IS OURS!
The bee was probably just down there to keep the night scorpions company.
God, Ogged's photos made me....homesick isn't the right word, because I've never lived there....but I've certainly spent some of the best times of my life in those landscapes.
Would have been better if I knew how to get your computer to actually say the text in creepy computer voice unbidden.
Freshman year I asked someone to take a look at my mac, which was doing weird things, and he installed macros that made it say dirty things when I pressed fairly common button combinations.
command-F9 "Ooooooh, like that."
Etc.
Ogged's photos
You mean like this one?
That's a funny place for a circumcision scar.
132: Like I said, best times of my life.
I ride my bike or walk to the Rose Bowl. Never been to a concert there.
One point a friend made last night in discussing the Lady Gaga concert , which he had also attended (somewhat reluctantly): "I don't love her music—it's pop, whatever, fine. But I'm totally down with her infusing a whole swath of a tweens with a barrage of gay-positive messages."
Damn straight.
(To be fair, "infusing with a barrage" was my mixed metaphor; I was paraphrasing his point.)
I thought Madonna took care of that 30 years ago.
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I'm convinced the owners of my local coffeshop are lurking here. The bassoon-playing Republican barista has been replaced by an even more coquettish barista who goes by my same (real) name (spelled differently), which is sort of an unsual name for a girl.
So anyway: hi, local coffeehouse owners!
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He suspects something, Number 3. I think it is time to execute Operation Blowjob Cheesecake.
140: Madonna may have been sexually transgressive, but she didn't make any explicitly pro-gay rights political statements.
I think it has been established that Gaga is not the heir to Madonna and Britney Spears, but to Elton John and Freddy Mercury.
I think it has been established that Gaga is not the heir to Madonna and Britney Spears, but to Elton John and Freddy Mercury.
Glad I'm not part of that establishment. I am more curious than interested, do you think that Gaga will last more than a few years? I'm not that impressed.
Further to 143: Listen to the guitars on Speechless. That's straight from Queen. Her references aren't to previous women who have pushed the virgin/whore image. They are to drag queens. Liberace even gets name checked.
144: She's got the musical talent and the showmanship. The only question is how she manages her career. We'll see how the next album goes.
Further to 143: Listen to the guitars on Speechless.
I'm sorry to say that my life on the cutting edge of pop music is long past. Michael Buble, here we come.
138:Sorry, I just can't help being bothered by the idea that "gay-positive messages" are limited to or exemplified by what Lady Gaga does on stage. "Now, that's gay!" WTF!
Is a Brooks Brothers button-down a "gay-negative image?"
But I don't get out much, maybe they are all dressing in ten pounds of neon plastic or whatever. Enlighten me. I thought there a great deal of variation.
141 - one of my youngest's best friends has your real name spelt differently. I like it.
