This week (May 12-16, 2008) is Bike to Work Week here in Kansas. I’ve been biking to work nearly every day for the past 2 years and so it’s always fun to have a week where I see other people head off to work under their own pedal power. I’ll try to do a couple of posts this week related to bicycle commuting and some tricks I’ve found to be helpful. Whether for environmental reasons, health reasons, or just for fun, biking is a great way to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors, so head out to the garage and pump up those tires this week and give it a shot. For those if you who commute a long distance, you can still make a difference by replacing any car trip with a bike ride.

Here are a few links to help get you started…

• If you’re paying nearly $4/gallon for gas, here is some food for thought!
• Sheldon Brown - everything you want to know about bikes online!
• Great tips on commuting from Paul Dorn
• www.commutebybike.com
• Map My Ride - check here to find a route

For a tune up, visit:

• Sunflower Bike Shop - Lawrence, KS
• CycleWorks - Lawrence, KS
• ACME Bicycle Company - Downtown Kansas City

Also, if you have some tips to share, drop a comment below! I’m always looking for new things to try on my way to the office.

I’m really excited about the newest old camera that I’ve recently acquired! It’s a Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera and it’s in amazing shape! I have another instant camera, but what I’m excited about with this one is the ability to control the manual focusing and, to a certain extent, the exposures. There are a few tweaks I need to do including buying a neutral density filter, but it shouldn’t be too bad. Hopefully, I’ll get some good shooting in before Polaroid completely discontinues it’s instant film in 2009!

*sniff*

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OK, so one more non-design post before I get back to business . . . Last night KU defeated Memphis in an amazing NCAA Championship basketball game and the town of Lawrence went crazy! It’s been estimated that 40-75,000 people rushed downtown to Massachusetts St. for a party that even a torrential thunderstorm couldn’t stop. Congrats to this year’s team on a great season. It’s a great day to be a Jayhawk!
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For everyone who was in Lawrence, KS in 2003, this video will most likely bring back memories. KU beat Marquette 94-61 and as soon as the game ended, downtown Lawrence erupted into celebration! My brother was living in Florida at the time and was going to miss out on all of the fun, so I grabbed the video camera and started shooting. Sorry in advance for all of the camera shake! (I certainly didn’t know then what I know now about filming…)

This Saturday, KU will face North Carolina in their first Final Four appearance since 2003. The excitement has been building here in Lawrence all week and this will either be an amazing, fun-filled weekend, or it’ll be “depression city” for the next few weeks. Let’s hope the Hawks win it all this year!! ROCK CHALK!

UPDATE: What an amazing game! KU over UNC 84-66. Monday night is the championship against Memphis so keep the KU vibes coming!

In a bold effort to bring back the lost art of the mixtape, then there’s a new online service called Muxtape that allows you to create a music mix and share it easily with others online. It’s simple, easy to use and is even supposed to be iPhone friendly. Although it seems like there are certainly some legal issues here, it’s a neat way to learn about different music, so we’ll see how long it sticks around. The creator, Justin Oullette, is also a photographer with some pretty cool work.

You can check out a mix I made at designojek.muxtape.com and I’ll change it around from time to time.

UPDATE: They’ve added RSS feeds now, so you can keep track of any edits using your favorite feed reeder! Also, I’ve been trying out Google Reader for the past couple of months and I think I’m sold on it.

Just added a few goodies up in the top right corner . . .

Check out the new “Downloads” section!