Thanks to opadit, I now have a splendid replacement for my poor lost office mug.  And as an unexpected bonus, a bit of a cure for insomnia, as she points out: "the whole fascinating story of tea."  Hurrah!

Also, thanks to moominmolly, I also have the most awesome commuter mug I could ever have or imagine.  My cup, as it were, runneth over.  Yay for everybody!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118780114777

Anyone else interested in coming?

Saw UP on Sunday.  It's very very good.  It didn't hit my buttons the way Toy Story and Finding Nemo did, but it's very good -- and it is without question the most audacious, brazen thing that Pixar has done yet.

The truth is that when the previews for UP came out I wasn't impressed.  I thought it looked terrible.  I thought they had lost their minds.  A story about a cantankerous old man who uses helium balloons to turn his house into a floating airship?  With a stowaway annoying Boy Scout?  And together they go have adventures in the South American jungle?  It looked like an incoherent mess -- like something we might have seen from Disney or Ralph Bakshi at their lowest, most desperate hours.

In order to make an idea this preposterous work, the only solution is to grab on to the story with both hands, and hold it high and proud, no apologies.  And that's what they did.  What we got is an animated fable about loss and rebirth, about dreams and living, about hope and disillusionment.  We got an animated film cheeky enough to quote movies from Fitzcarraldo to Wings to maybe even a little of Island of Lost Souls (to say nothing of C.M. Coolidge).  In the end I was kind of amazed that they pulled it together, but pull it together they did.

Do bring tissues.  You will need them sooner than you think.

( six more (worksafe) )

More at Flickr.

I winnowed 388 pictures down to 156, and posted 132 of those.  Here are eight of them.  So now you have to look, see.

( Morgan found the bouncy stilts to be PURE AWESOME. )

( Molly and David are so cute. )

( No, really, Molly and David are SO CUTE. )

( Jim and the amazing technicolor glowy balls. )

( Charlie's Angels: The Reunion. )

( Breakfast is a very special time. )

( I'm sure I didn't know you could use a Utilikilt for that. )

( Renewal. )

I took 388 photos this weekend.

No more picture spam, I promise.

Time this year was around 11 hours 20 minutes.  This is only slightly longer than my time two years ago, which surprised me for a lot of reasons.  I think that if I trained reasonably well for the ride and spent less time at the rest stops / checkpoints, I could bring that time down quite a bit.

I am never, ever, ever doing this again without training.  Never ever.  You heard me.  Never.  Oh my god that was a bad idea.  I'm still glad I rode, but, wow.  Now I know why they tell you to do that.

By the end of the day I had sharp pains between my shoulder blades (no doubt from my hunched-over road bike posture), nasty saddle sores, and very sore Achilles tendons.  Other than that, however, I didn't really have sore muscles.

The back pain has gone away; the saddle sores are probably still there.  The Achilles tendons worry me.  They started hurting about 30 miles into the ride and I knew I was in trouble.  I tried to take it easy and stretch them whenever I could, but they are still not happy, particularly the right one.  Time to ice them and stay off the bike for a few days.

Also: it's a good thing you got a new bike, but not having time to make sure the fit was good -- very unwise, my friend.  (The officemate reminds me that poor pedal positioning may have contributed to the Achilles injury.)

Despite all that?

OH WOW I HAD FUN.

omegabeth has decided she's going to ride it with me next year.  We are going to be "Team Helpful," and this is to put you on notice that you will be joining us.

5:55pm, Provincetown common. My hair may never lose that shape again.

About 127 miles.

Bus on the side of the road somewhere in Truro. Around 110 miles.

This is an uncommonly beautiful rail trail.

Brewster, about 95 miles.

Due to iPhone auto-address-completion fail my last few pictures did
not go through. Here they are.

This was at the Yarmouth rest stop - about 81 miles.

Barnstable, I think. Maybe Orleans.