Dogs on a Train

Posted on January 24, 2006

I was talking with Rachel today about how many dogs you’re allowed to bring onto a train in the UK. I was curious if there was a limit on how many doggy companions could be allowed to accompany you on a single fare. For example, what would happen if one attempts to bring like 20 Great Danes onto a passenger train? Unfortunately, my plan was thwarted by the National Rails Enquiries Office.

Passengers may take with them, free of charge and subject to conditions below, dogs, cats and other small animals (maximum two per passenger) provided they do not endanger or inconvenience passengers or staff.

Drat and double drat.

A Match Made in Heaven

Posted on January 19, 2006

BJ stupidly brought a box Orange Pims over tonight. I was turned on to these tasty sumbitches by the mysterious jqt who also doesn’t pay for involution.com hosting. What he didn’t tell me was that the perfect complimentary beverage for an Orange Pim is a nice cup of Hedley’s Gourmet Ceylon Tea. The slight peach overtones mixed with the explosive orange filling is truly a match made in heaven.

The ‘65 Mama Kool

Posted on January 17, 2006

Got a last minute call from The Bart tonight to go to Korea House. We got to talking with the proprietors about their new “‘65 Mama Kool” roll which is popular with the criminally insane and electrical engineering crowds (these sets are disjoint, mostly). This roll was invented there after I had tried every sushi item on the menu (even Sea Urchin). So, after I had deduced that, BJ started egging them on to make something that had never been done before (he’s cool like that). One time he made a song by swinging a microphone by its cord and yelling “PARTY AT MY HOUSE!”. So, the ‘65 Mama Kool is a normal roll with salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber. The brilliance is what’s on top though which is eel, crunch flake, and the patented Korea House Special Sauce ™. Man, ‘em boys is tasty.

New Running Maps

Posted on January 03, 2006

I created a couple of satellite overlay maps from a run in Ohio and West Virginia. You can view them here.

Notes from the Road

Posted on January 03, 2006

I drove from Austin, Texas to Bellaire, Ohio and back over holiday break. Here are some observations from the drive:

  • Most gas station coffee is unnecessarily bad, especially from the weird cappuccinobots
  • Starbucks (or anyone, really) needs to open up some decent Interstate-side coffee shops.
  • Maybelline has a huge building in Little Rock
  • I-40 around Memphis is completely torn up and confusing
  • The touchless car wash outside of Cross Plains, Tennessee did an amazing job
  • Kentucky had 965 highway fatalities in 2004 and 964 in 2005 according to a large lighted sign above I-71
  • A large sign along I-65 proclaimed “HELL IS REAL”. I felt that was kind of redundant as a “Welcome to Kentucky” was clearly marked upon entering the state.
  • The speed limit on I-40 within Nashville is inexplicably 45 mph despite no visible construction and a massive eight lane byway
  • Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee rightly have 70 mph speed limits while Ohio and Kentucky both incorrectly enforce 65 mph
  • Nearly all road signs in Arkansas and Tennessee need to be replaced as they’re fairly worn and illegible
  • I saw a paraglider for the first time ever outside of Cincinatti on Ohio SR-32
  • Elderly Austin drivers are way faster than elderly Ohio and West Virginia drivers on average (calculated using Bayesian Analysis and beer)
  • On the way back, my iPod stopped working this decreased my car-accessible tunage from 6040 tracks to 40 tracks. This sucked big time.
  • Matt gave me a few CDs from his various band, and I was blown away by Eclipsed which I listened to about 10 times all the way through.
  • I drove back without using any navigation other than the stars and road signs
  • I can only drive about 20 hours straight before I have to sleep
  • Concluded that it would royally suck to be trucker
  • Concluded that it is nearly impossible to eat healthy food from a gas station unless they carry fruit
  • Total travel time from Austin to Bellaire, Ohio: 21 hours, driving time 20 hours.
  • Total travel time from Athens, Ohio to Austin: 23 hours, driving time 19 hours.

Thanks to Matt for letting me crash at his place on NYE, and for making the best damn tofu spaghetti noodle stir fry in the Deep North. Also a big thanks to the many law enforcement agencies for not ticketing me during my massive journey, and to the Germans for making fine automobiles.