And another year begins

January 1, 2008

Instead of dropping to the ground, kissing the earth because I love my country, doing ONE push-up (with a plan to add one more push-up each day for the year…ending with 365 or so in late December 2008), eating healthy food all the time, cooking at home, worrying about the environment, or accepting the New England Patriots as my personal saviors, I’m doing something else. I’m sharing some photos.

That’s what makes a fun blog entry and generates the most comments. So here are some random photos—some that reflect the year that’s just passed and some that are here to get your attention. Enjoy.

Bikes haven’t been a part of my life for a few years, except as a spectator. Meaning that I was the spectator and the bikes were out there under other butts.

But, 2008 will allow you to witness the revival of my biking bug. The Titus will emerge from the basement and I’m going to rehab the Allez with new bars, wheels, drivetrain and cables in an effort to ride more. I’ll also…hang on those of you that held me in high regard as a cyclist…attempt my FIRST century in 2008. That’s right, even with my trip to Ireland in 98 to watch Sean Kelly and Stephen Roache, I have yet to ride more than 80 miles at one stretch. I blame the storm-shortened AIDS ride in 1999 for this shortcoming (literally) as well.

This is essentially my first meal of 2008. It’s called toads in a hole and is made—as you can see—by dropping eggs into the holes cut into some bread. This photo was from last year when I was eating less healthfully. Today’s toads were made with bread from When Pigs Fly bakery. I believe it was Olive and Red Pepper bread. This also knocks off another goal, that of eating at home. Saves a little money and will allow me to splurge on the stuff in the next photo.

That’s right, fireworks. One of my little goals this year is to attend MANY more fireworks shows. The ones in Hingham and Weymouth are always top-notch, but Boston, Quincy and others around the area are great too and I frequently miss them. This particular shot is from the Somerville city fireworks display. It was a little lame compared to Hingham’s but at least they didn’t have any crowd or trash control. I mean…it was nice and city-like.

Speaking of cities, maybe you recognize this one. It’s a shot of Boston in the winter taken from the MIT side of the Mass Ave. bridge. Should I capitalize the word Bridge because it’s named? Probably. That’s another thing I’ll be working on more this year. Being less annoyed by simple typos in social media tools like blogs, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and others. If people want to type L8r to say later, who am I to stop them?

And finally a photo to make you smile on this first day of 2008.

You’ll notice if you look carefully that this was taken from a K-Mart parking lot. This country is so overrun with commercialism that you can’t even stroll to the end of a rainbow without ending up on a paved section of paradise. Not a blue-light special though. For that I’m thankful.

More to come and Happy New Year!