As the clock ticks around another year, dare I say a monumental year, crawls to a close.

To all my friends, I wish a bright, shiny, prosperous, healthy, happy, safe 2009!

Godt nytt år
Feliz ano novo
Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh

(graphics courtesy of Pat’s Web Graphics.)

Christmas Music

This is a little plug for my local classical music radio station, KBPS. If you’re ready to throw something if you hear “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, or “Jingle Bell Rock” one more time, I would like to invite you to tune in over the internet to this gem of a station operating here in Portland, Oregon. They stream over the internet, so you can be anywhere in the world and listen to their wonderful programming. For the next few days, through Christmas, they will be playing:

Beautiful Holiday Music

The All Classical Festival of Carols, new this year, is our four-day classical holiday soundtrack, airing Dec. 22 through Dec. 25. This is a unique sacred and secular mix, both vocal and instrument, including the greatest classical hits of Christmas (Messiah, the Bach Christmas Oratorio, Nutcracker), plus the harp, brass and early music sounds associated with solstice time.

The station is listener-supported so you won’t have to be subjected to zillions of commercials. They are also completely independent, which means they are not affiliated with NPR and get no government funding at all. They have listeners in Japan, Israel, pretty much anywhere you can think of. Even if you’re not normally a classical music fan I really encourage you to listen to some of the beautiful, unusual arrangements of old favorites, and pieces you’ve likely never heard that they have in their repertoire.

Live from Cambridge, England

This time of year we receive many inquiries about Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the annual Christmas Eve service from King’s College, Cambridge.

First broadcast in 1928 and now broadcast to millions of people around the world, we air this service Christmas Eve morning at 7 a.m. and again that same day at 5 p.m.

One of my favorite programs they have on weekends, Saturday afternoons at 4:00 announcer Edmund Stone does a program called “The Score” and plays music from movies on a particular theme. He’s had composers on the air being interviewed, which is fascinating. This past week was music from Christmas movies, including Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas”. Edmund (and really all the hosts) have wonderful senses of humor. Treat yourself and tune in if you can.

Now quick, go tune in, this is so good!

Happy Solstice, Good Yule!

This is it, gang, the shortest day of the year. Officially the first day of winter, but winter arrived early in many places this year including here. It’s been crazy here, we never get this kind of weather, or at least not for this long. It has snowed or done something every day for a week now. We’ve got about eight inches of the stuff on the ground which is not a lot compared to many places, but for the Portland, OR area it is HUGE. Now we’ve got a layer of freezing rain on top of the snow. No driving without chains, or at the very least you have to have 4WD AND studded tires to be on the roads right now. Many roads, major highways, are closed because they are just impassable. Have I mentioned they don’t plow and sand here? They just throw down some pea gravel on top of the snow on the major highways. Sidestreets aren’t touched at all. Sure, it’s “greener” but driving is becoming a distant memory.
I brought the Christmas tree in this morning, and will decorate it later. Here are a few photos of this rare snowfall:

backyard

piled up on back deck table

piling up out front

front yard

Snow Day!

No work today, my company shut down for the day because of the cold and icy roads. My car is rear-wheel drive, and I don’t have chains, studded tires, or even snow tires so I’m not going anywhere. All the schools for 11 counties around are closed, and many businesses. Now those of you who live in places where this weather is the norm are probably snickering, thinking we’re a bunch of wusses to shut down for this. Ok, I can accept that. We joke about Portland’s one snow plow, but it’s not far from the truth. They don’t sand the roads here, they just spray gravel onto it which does nothing to de-ice, and as soon as it melts a little, then refreezes we start at square one again. Right now it’s about 14 degrees in my backyard, not counting windchill.

Anyway for comparison’s sake, here are a couple shots of what my street looks like today:

First Snow

The promised wind storm never materialized on Friday thankfully, at least not inland here. I heard the coast got hit, though. However, just before 8:30 this morning the snow started falling here at the valley floor. It looks like there was a teensy bit overnight, I could see some on cars that were parked outside. It’s not much yet, and they’re only predicting a possibility of 2 inches at this low elevation but it looks so pretty coming down I tried to get a few shots.

Front window

backyard dusted

It may not seem like much, but around here this is almost enough to cause havoc. They’re expecting more freezing tonight so the roads promise to be very icy tomorrow. Ugh.

December Update on Dr. Jekyll

Here’s the latest I could find on the Dr. Christopher Thompson, Mandeville Canyon incident:

After testimony from Rodriguez and two cyclists who were alleged to have been involved in separate confrontations with the doctor, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Amy. D. Hogue ordered that Thompson stand trial. He faces one felony count of reckless driving causing injury and two felony counts of battery with serious injury in the July 4 incident. He also faces one count of misdemeanor reckless driving causing injury in an incident with another cyclist on the same road in March.

Thompson, his brown hair graying and wearing a dark pinstripe suit, did not speak during the hearing at the airport branch courtroom, which several cyclists attended.

This was posted today on the LA Times Web site

Arraignment is scheduled for January 15. We’ll be watching.

Gratuitous Sunset Photo

I took these last evening, the colors were amazing.

Riding In the Dark

My cycling mentor got back from his UK assignment a little over a month ago, and it’s great to have someone at work who likes to talk about bikes and can give me some practical advice. He rode in yesterday and invited me down to where he had his bike stashed in an empty cube near his desk so I could see his light set-up. He’s all about “being seen” rather than using the lights to see. Now I’m lusting after the headlight he’s got, which I can’t afford.

Watch their sales if you want it. I should have just gone for it yesterday, it was an extra 20% off. ARGH. In addition to that Mentor has a Cat Eye LED light (much smaller than the NiteRider. I have a nearly identical one, made by PlanetBike, 5-LED Beamer). Then he has two taillights (don’t recall the makes) plus one of the blue Supernova flashers from RoadID that he wears on his arm (I think he uses the wrist strap, but it fits on his upper arm). I have only one taillight, the Planet Bike Blinky 1/2 Watt Blaze :

and on the front the already mentioned Planet Bike Beamer, plus a 6-LED light from Trek which does light up the ground, but doesn’t seem to perform too well in the cold. Or maybe the batteries needed replacing. (Note to self: start carrying extra batteries).

What I should do now, maybe will this evening is take photo outside after dark so you can see how bright the Trek headlight is. It does light up the ground, which was really helpful the first time I rode to work after it was dark in the morning. Going through such a rural area with no streetlights, this is crucial to be able to see the ground AT ALL.

What astonishes me, though, is how many people I still see riding after dusk with NO lights, front or rear, in dark clothes. These are people who appear to do more cycling than the average person, serious road bikes, helmets, the spandex arsenal, but NO LIGHTS. What’s up with that?? Not even reflectors, reflective clothes, reflective tape. Zip. Nada. Newflash, people: YOU DO NOT PHOSPHORESCE. Think of how hard it is to see a car in the dark, on a dark road, with no lights on. You’d probably think, “What a tool, why doesn’t he put his lights on?” Duh. Let’s look – and stay – alive out there.