Great Feats from the Summer Olympic Challenge

While synchronized swimming and BMX motocross somehow are somehow considered "Olympic sports", I've been taking part in the local multi-sport Summer Olympic Challenge this summer, which has far more demanding physical activities.

I mean, synchronized swimming? Let's get serious.

You make me sick, Winston-Salem Journal

I have nothing but contempt for this award.

I bought the Winston-Salem Journal today, mostly hoping to find coupons and ideas to help with filling up my nifty new home. And inside, they had a special section called "Reader's Choice 2008" where they detailed some of the best things you could find in Winston-Salem for various categories. I'll provide some of the conclusions below as provided by the W-S Journal (followed by my commentary in parentheses).

"Best Place to Take a Date: Bambino Brothers Pizzeria and Sports Bar"

(Hmm. A sports bar. Okay... I'll just have to take their word that Bambino's is a good place for a romantic evening, I guess.)

(For the record, Bambino's also won the Reader's Choice awards for Best Place to Take the Kids, Best Pizza, and Best Italian. As a friend noted, if the Bambino's experience goes really well, then 9 months later you can take your new little bundle of joy to the same place.)

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"Best Place for a Late-Night Snack: Taco Bell
...Winston-Salem agrees that it's the best place for a late-night snack of burritos, chalupas, tacos, nachos or the new spicy Queso CrunchWrap."

(Uh... Taco Bell. OK. Come on... surely there are better late night snack options. I hope.)

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"Best Coffee House: Starbucks
...Even if you are not a coffee drinker, you'll find something you like at Starbucks."

(Starbucks? Starbucks! STARBUCKS?!??! Krankies didn't even make it in the top three?! God, I want to punch the Winston-Salem Journal in the face so badly right now.)

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"Best Hamburgers: McDonald's
...Using only 100 percent pure beef, the hand-seasoning on the grill with a mixture of salt and pepper, rest assured you're getting the best burger, regardless of the McDonald's location you're visiting."

(Oh my god, I'm driving over to the Winston-Salem Journal office right now... I swear: There will be blood...)

Way of the Dodo

For a really really really brief time, I had a comic strip that I drew for the college newspaper that I called "Way of the Dodo"... I hadn't seen the strips for a long time, but found them as I was transferring files off my old computer. I did 5 strips total, and stopped because each 4-panel strip took me several hours to make. Those people that can do this kind of thing in 15-minutes make me sick (this means you, Doodles...).

Home Sweet Home

Just moved into my new place yesterday, and while everything is still in complete disarray, I've already discovered a couple things that are high on my list of favorite things about the house:

• Cooking on the stove with gas burners. (Incidentally, this may also be the most likely thing to burn the house down.)
• Filling the claw-foot bathtub with cold water for a soak after moving all day.
• Looking out at the back patio when its raining, and pretending that I'm living somewhere in Europe (I don't know if this really makes sense, but it is a pleasant daydream nonetheless).
• Getting hit with the smell of fresh rosemary as I walk down the steps to the house.

Hazy Days

One of the more surprising discoveries of a hiking venture around Boone about a week ago was that the Blue Ridge Mountains really are blue. (The new banner I put on the blog is a picture I took out there, colors unchanged.)

It didn't take me long to figure out why: the South is so damn humid, that's why. By the end of the hike, and on a not-particularly-hot day, it looked like I had taken a jump into a swimming hole (I had not... I wish I could've). At the end I was able to wring out about 1/2 a cup of sweat from my shirt alone. Here's more information about it from the Frequently Asked Questions about the Blue Ridge Parkway on the National Park Services page:

Why is the Blue Ridge "blue"? According to "A Naturalist's Blue Ridge Parkway" by David Catlin, "it can be legitimately claimed that trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, for hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere by the forest contribute to the characteristic haze on these mountains and to their distinctive color." The entire Appalachian Chain is extraordinarily diverse and rich in its vegetation, so there is perhaps more "blue" to the Blue Ridge and more "smoky" to the Great Smoky Mountains.

Come for the Fried Peanuts, Stay for the Boiled

On the way out to hike some trails at South Mountain earlier today, Erik and I passed a place that sold fried peanuts... I'd never heard of such a thing before, so we vowed to stop and pick some up after the hike.

The fried peanuts weren't the greatest thing in the world (they actually tasted better if you ate the shells, if you can believe it), but when we arrived we discovered they had another special Southern treat: boiled peanuts. I bought one bag of fried peanuts and another bag of boiled, and while the fried peanuts are going to be around for awhile, those boiled peanuts were gone in minutes flat. I love those things...

My eagle-eye spots a sign advertising "fried peanuts" from the road... can you catch it?

While I was Eating Focaccia and Drinking Iced Americanos...

...Apparently the world was falling down around me. I drove home from the coffee shop and found that half the traffic lights I passed were black and trees were snapped like pretty toothpicks.

A couple shots of the carnage, just before sunset:

Ugly Man Symbol with Magical Powers

A couple days ago I was biking to school and noticed a new symbol lining the side of Reynolda Road. I have traveled the streets of Winston-Salem far and wide but had not seen this strange, vaguely menacing-looking symbol. I can only assume that it is an ancient hieroglyph of some sort. Each looked like a man wearing glasses, or perhaps with two black eyes, with a horribly crooked nose and small pursed lips.

I have not figured out the meaning of these odd symbols that now line Reynolda, but they nonetheless appear to be imbued with special powers. Immediately after seeing these new symbols, I have felt new confidence. Instead of zig-zagging through the neighborhood streets of Winston to get to work, I now bike along these symbols on the busier Reynolda Road, more secure that I will not end up a crush of limbs wrapped around someone's bumper. In turn, I've shaved 5 minutes from my commute. Magic...

Strange hieroglyph sighted on Reynolda Road.