Haulin' Away...

Another interesting load for a neighbor. Nice going, Alex.

Goodbye and Hello

Saying goodbye to the kids as Lisa snapped a pic. They're off to visit family on vacation while I prepare for the big move on Thursday.

This was the last day they would be in the current house. We will miss our neighbors! But 2 miles away isn't far. I'm reminded of the changes we experienced on the house. Also more importantly the changes we experienced these past 14 years as a family...

We swung on the Highland swings
Dreaming of kids that would walk to school

Aliya's name arrived in Lisa's dream,
Artem's face in her magazine,
Vision of boys swimming near a fence;
Alex too, it made perfect sense.

Winter school carnivals,
New Year's skating at Highlands Lake,
Fall picnics at the Tree Park,
Walking to school is fun to do.

"Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello"

Autmn Blaze Maple grows higher; new family will see,
Dexter's ashes nourish the tree
While we begin a new adventure much more free

Meet new neighbors, bring a pie.
Polar Express fits on the shelf.

"Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello."

Frosty malts after the pool,
Another season to walk to school.

New Painting

This just in from Karen, my sister. She writes, "Here's a recent commission. (oil 16x20) I love painting horses and people! :~) "

We both like to ride. Being a city guy, however, my steeds are steel instead of flesh and bones.

The Big Dummy Has Landed!

Flew in from Chicago and took the train to downtown, walked to One on One Bicycle Studio, paid for the piece of work (almost all used parts!), and rode home. It was fantastic!

My first ride carried two spare tires, all my luggage, and a bag of papers, cereal, and a banana. Here is the first photo as dusk set the same night.

12 people already rode it those first few hours. Ellen (pictured below) borrowed the bike to deliver Girl Scout cookies with two of her daughters on the deck. This bike is sick! It's everything I had hoped it would be...and more.

Encouraging Sprawl

What do you think about this statement: "This [cheap gas in the U.S.] allows us to move further away from the city and buy houses 30% bigger and buy larger, more powerful automobiles."

From CNBC this morning: "Discussing the economy, with Wilbur Ross, Jr., WL Ross & Co. chairman/CEO; Mike Jackson, AutoNation CEO; John Hofmeister, Shell Oil U.S. Operations CEO and Robert McTeer, former Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president"

I'm at a school colloquium in Chicago and turned on CNBC. Panelists this morning are spouting off on the advantages of cheap oil in the U.S. which keeps our gas prices historically low as a portion of our income.



Sometimes I think we are in denial. Yesterday while walking to class I saw other headlines "World Environment in Peril" with shots of melting glaciers and other havoc.

Environment aside, what are the advantages of spreading humanity out to cover up the diminishing prairies, grasslands, farms, and forests? What is the cost of the extended sewer systems? The cost of additional pollution as people use more and more fossil fuels to use those "larger and more powerful" cars as they move away? What is the social cost of kids not growing up near neighbors and adults not having friends within walking distance? What about the loss of the "neighborhood school" where people actually walk to school? The walking/busing/biking ease of getting to work? Sure, short-term economic gains can be enjoyed from the incessant need to increase shareholder value year upon year. But where are the measurements for "gross national social stability"? Air quality? Carbon footprint reduction? Oil-inspired wars?

OK, now the New York auto show is being featured. My parting thoughts are that 14 bicycles fit in a standard car parking lot space. At a fraction of the energy required to melt, build, transport, and sell one regular car.

Bicycling (and other human-powered transport), busing, and other good choices are good for health, society, and the world in both political and environmental aspects. It is apparent that stakeholders such as Shell Oil, energy investors, lobbyists, and many government leaders might need further proof to see the situation in a longer-term perspective. What do you think? What will you do?

Big Dummy Ordered

G.O. at One on One Bicycle Studio was able to locate a frame for me...might come this Friday. I predict that 2008 will be the year of the utility bike. Look for continued excitement in the media, more long-tails showing up on the streets, and more positive trends for bikes as transportation and utilities. The image below is from surlybikes.com; visit the Frames section.

"...it hauls your groceries, tools, human and animal friends, surfboard, work duds, briefcase, vacuum cleaner, firewood, moonshine, camping gear, banjo, mulch, and anything else you can imagine, while providing the functionality, durability, and sweet ride characteristics that Surly bikes are known for. Use the Big Dummy for commuting to work, running errands, taking the kids to school, farm/yard work, touring, or just riding around cuz it’s fun."

P.S. I couldn't sleep today and woke up at 2:30 a.m. thinking about it. Guess it's time to ride to work....

The first photo is from the Surly blog. The next photo is not mine. Credit to Mountain Bike Review.

-14F & Still Biking Strong

My favorite biking season is winter. My favorite biking conditions are snow and ice. Have you ever ridden on freshly fallen snow? Sounds like squeaky marshmallows. How about packed snow at -14F? Sounds like pleasant but slightly unsettling alien metallic humming. Cracked ice at zero F = Rice Krispies on steroids. In the future I hope to prepare an audio file of these for your enjoyment. For now, here are some of my favorite winter images.

New House?

Current house (link)

New house? Slideshow below.

Give Me a Break...

...with THAT KIT KAT BAR! For the full commercial, visit this vintage video. For the full size image of what happens when you mix a Kit Kat with a Ghetto Mocha, click the delicious image. Photo credit: AQ.

P.S. Does mixing a Ghetto Mocha with a Kit Kat remind you of this?

My Next Bike?

Check it out at about 2 minutes:

When 9-Year-Olds Use Email

Click to expand. I laughed pretty hard seeing the apparent change in attitude after not getting responses fast enough. Funny to think of how kids new to email might not quite get the concept of asynchronous. The girl pretty well mastered attitude on email.

Can You Go a Year Without Buying New?

Check this out: http://www.startribune.com/business/13513951.html . I need to think about this.

I Like the Tall Bike

Winter Riding

Here are a few shots of Alex and I goofing around in the driveway.

Family Fun

Family fun, compliments of Susan Reid.

Mother Died

Here is the obituary for my mother. Pictured below are my mother and father taken at my wedding in March 1993. You can visit the family wiki for my mom.

Johnson, Lois M. (Beamer) age 77, of Green Valley, AZ (originally from Minnesota), passed away 11/29/07. Survived by loving husband, Logan Johnson, sister Shirley Beamer and brother Richard Beamer; and also 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren: Daughter and son-in-law Karen and Keith Kersten and family; daughter and son-in-law Barbara and Greg Peppersack and family; son and daughter-in-law Bruce and Tricia Johnson and family; son and daughter-in-law Kirk and Lisa Johnson and family. Memorial service will be held Saturday, January 26th at 4:30 p.m. at Colonial Church in Edina (952-925-2711).

Cool Logo

Source

Paint the Pavement

News byte from Community Design Group: "Out in St. Paul, a project to calm traffic, increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, and connect neighborhood residents with each other. First two intersections are Englewood Avenue & Syndicate Avenue, and at Van Buren Avenue & Pascal Avenue" (pictured below).

You might also enjoy viewing 40+ images at this Flickr account I found thanks to Kevin Hendricks.

Fall Photos

Here are some things our family has been up to, including Uncle Slurpy.








Plus a photo taken a bit later at mom's memorial service:

Bike Plan Presentation

This is a message I sent to members of the Bike Edina Task Force. I'm posting it here because the accomplishments and possibilities truly represent what we can accomplish as citizens, as volunteers, as government officials, and as members of a society that better walking, biking, and transit options.

Hello friends, I have some great news to share with you about last night's Edina Transportation Commission (ETC) meeting. Also I have a recap of recent and next activities that are helping us make prpogress on our Bike Edina mission statement.

First of all, there was strong bike plan support expressed by the comissioners at the ETC meeting last night. Dwaine, Alice, Matthew, Antonio, and I attended on your behalf. Last night's presentation that Antonio gave included several core concepts and striking visuals depicting current roadways before and after bikeway treatments. Comments such as "this is a wonderful plan" and "this is one of the best plans I've read" were just a few that you can hear for yourself if you watch the meeting video. After the meeting, I actually got a high-five from one of the commissioners! What impressed me was that the questions reflected thoughtful considerations of what the possibilities are. I am truly optimistic that the Bike Edina community, the ETC, the City Council, and the Planning Commission are already demonstrating genuine interest in our new comprehensive bike plan. Tactically, Mr. Sullivan suggested a mid-December ETC workshop to go through the bike plan, and so this is one of the actionable items where we can make a positive difference as we partner together. More to come on that later.

Second, apart from our specific bike plan presentation: We observed considerations, questions, and comments about bicycling while talking about transportation in general. Specifically, during the other agenda topics, the Chair (Les W.), the other commissioners, and the other presenting consultants (we heard from the Northeast Edina Traffic Study Implementation, the Edina Gateway - Pentagon Redevelopment, and comments about the roundabouts) were doing things such as showing photos of bicyclists, talking about bicyling experiences, addressing bicycle safety at an initial level, reducing the carbon footprint, and other bicycle aspects. I believe this is a remarkable indication that our collective efforts are making a positive difference already. This will be reflected in the upcoming plans and decisions that our community will make regarding transportation options.

Our Transportation Commission is a hard-working, thoughtful group that is addressing a vast amount of issues and projects. Dwaine and I will continue to be your bike representatives to develop relationships with the ETC. We will partner together constructively, and we always welcome more particiaption when you can regarding our link with the ETC. Others in the bike group are doing the same thing with City Council and the Planning Commission.

Our collective efforts will increase the quality of life in Edina in health, safety, environmental, and social aspects--you have made a difference already! Thank you for your efforts to get us this far! I am so thankful to Steve for starting the BETF. I'm grateful for everyone's contributions during the past months, and CDG has been wonderfully supportive.

In closing I think that if you are not already very proud of our group's results, and proud of our City staff, commissions, councilmembers, Community Design Group, citizens, and others for what has been initiated...well gosh we can definitely feel that way. The proof is in the November 5th City Council meeting, this ETC meeting last night, and the various efforts underway. We still have a lot of work to do. I hope that this message offers some helpful information and will motivate you and your network to stay engaged.


--
Kirk (Logan) Johnson
Kirk.johnson@LoganLogic.com