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*Friday With Bruuks is a regular weekly feature. Written by David Bruuks and posted on Fridays. This is the latest one. Tell 100 Friends.

Things I’ve thought about today:

The Time change.
The clocks change this weekend. Which means one thing. We lose an hour of sleep, but gain an hour of bike riding time after work before the sun goes down. This is awesome.

I’m Getting Old.
I went for a Sunday drive with my girlfriend and her son a couple weeks ago, and enjoyed it. I drove slow, commented on the scenery, and had a nice conversation. I showed her the house I spent the first 3 or 4 years of my life in. It’s a small winterized cottage type house on Pigeon Lake, on top of a hill.

My dad will tell you a story about having to walk up the hill in the winter because it was too slick for the old Volare to climb up. I hated that car. As a kid, when we wore shorts, which were actually shorts, I remember absolutely burning my legs on the vinyl seats in that car after it had been broiling in the sun all day. What a car.

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Injuring yourself while sleeping is nothing to be proud of.

A war injury, sports injury, or an injury sustained during your Seafaring days — those are deemed respectable and are often attached to a gripping story as well. Sleeping wrong and not being able to turn your neck the following day? That story isn’t going to fly at the next social mixer.

Someone suggested it was my pillow which caused me pain. “You need a new pillow”, they said.

Here is the truth. I am a 34 year old male and not once in my life have I ever gone into a shop and purchased a pillow. Yet. I have always had a pillow.

This economy of pillows. I don’t get it.

Tod Seelie contributes an awful lot of photos to the NYC Blog on Fecal Face, but today was the first time I stopped by his portfolio site. See it all here. Nice, clean layout.

To be sure, included in this list are small strides of little consequence.

I am trying to live a life where, if I think about something — I will do it. This, as you know is often easier said than done. Here is a smattering of recent dumb ideas I have had, and then followed through on them.

Barber School.
It is a reality. Let me know if you need a haircut. I need willing heads of hair.

Starting to Swim.
I can’t take all the credit for this plan. My Lady Friend was a co-conspirator. “Let’s start swimming” she said. We go three times a week, and I fear I’m not getting any better — here’s why: I like being able to breathe anytime I want. Swimming robs me of that freedom, since I am facedown in the water most of the time. I blame this on the lingering effects of childhood (and adulthood) claustrophobia. And also a real and present fear of The Sea and Drowning.

The upside is the challenge (if you like to be challenged), I feel like I earn the shit out of every length I can manage, which in turn, makes one feel nice and good. Time spent with My Girl is awfully nice too.

Cookies.
I had a strong desire to eat some cookies one day. Not just any cookies, but cookies I built by myself using skill and emotion.

There was a recipe I found using some “app” on some fancy car phone I have. Not having any prior experience in cookie making, I decided it was okay to mix and match ingredients. We ended up with the following: Spelt, Oatmeal, Cranberry, Pecan, Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They were a tad crumbly (possibly from using spelt flour?), but darn it, if they didn’t taste exquisite.

Pickled Eggs.
There is a dive bar in town. I have been there once, even though it is a local institution among some folks. That one visit coincided with the first and only time I have eaten a pickled egg in its entirety.

I found the experience oddly delicious — which was shocking as I had written off pickled eggs as being disgusting (at best).

Since I live amongst avid vegetable gardeners, organic farmers and local farmers market regulars — the delicate art of canning and preserving food is alive and well in my house and community. I have access to cans, lids, and all the necessary tools.

Pickling a dozen eggs was not the easiest process for me, I spent nearly two hours doing this if you include cleanup time. The taste factor notwithstanding, I still claim this experience was worth it.

Come to my house and eat pickled eggs on March 31st. (Guest List limited to 12 persons)

Maintaing a Reading List.
Without being an arrogant jerk about it. I like to read books. When I am done one, I will start another. I think my appetite for reading is from an ingrained sense of trying to be as awesome as my big sister, when it comes to knocking off books, she is ridiculous.

This year, I decided to start a list, where I jot down some notes about a book after I am done reading it.

It’s not a big deal, but I think it will be useful to have a document to help me reflect on the books I have read.

Putting a Shelf up Beside my Bed.
I can’t explain the layout of my bedroom, so you’ll have to take it on my word, this little shelf is quite useful. And, I have only knocked my head on it once, which hurt.

Watching the Oscars.
Done. Still unsure (read: 100% positive it wasn’t worth it) if it was worth it.

Steeltown’s favorite son, James Forde, sent this through, and I couldn’t be more excited/baffled.

What is going on here?

Did Letterman lose a bet to Paul Shaffer sometime during the late 80’s?

I like these.

See the full set here.. Navigate over to ‘Works’ and the ‘Passion for Cycling’

—Via

Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score. It’s only the second period and I’m up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, “the Whale,” they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

For pretty much the first time ever, I watched The Oscars in their entirety. Here are some random notes I made to myself.

Steve Martin
As Doug once put it: “Steve Martin is the last true Gentlemen”. Let’s not kid ourselves, Steve Martin has more than a few terrible movies to account for, but he will always get a free pass in my book.

This is not a joke.
What is an Avatar?

I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski.
Jeff Bridges is The Dude. The Dude is Jeff Bridges.

“Screws fall out, Sir. The world is an imperfect place”
Incredibly happy to see the John Hughes tribute/reunion of various casts.

Length.
This is a long telecast.

Alec Baldwin.
Makes me laugh.

Guilty Pleasure.
The film which won her an Oscar is a tad bit different from what I am talking about, but if you sit me in front of a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock. I will watch it. I don’t care if you judge me.

*Friday With Bruuks is a regular weekly feature. Written by David Bruuks and posted on Fridays. This is the latest one. Tell 100 Friends.

I got a subscription to bicycling magazine for Valentines day. I’ve never really received anything for Valentines day before, other than little paper cards that every other kid got in grade 5 as well. Bicycling magazine ranks much higher.

I was flipping through it this morning while eating breakfast, hungry to get outside and ride. I’ve been riding all winter on the indoor trainer, and as awesome as it is to get yelled at by Coach Troy in my headphones, I’m really looking forward to some real live bicycle riding in the good old outdoors.

The weather forecast for this weekend is perfect for such a thing. A nice little 50 km out and back, across the rolling hills of Cavan at a brisk enough pace to keep warm – but not too serious of a pace. No one wants to bonk on the first ride of the season.

The article that I was reading was about a certain mountain/hill in Italy, known as Muro Di Sormano. It’s a short climb, less than 2 km. But, the average gradient is over 15%. Some portions are in the 25% range. It was featured in several road races in the 60’s, but was dropped by the race officials – likely because it was keeping some riders away.

It was recently resurfaced due to some funds that were made available. As a friendly reminder for how steep the climb is, every single meter that the mountain rises is marked on the pavement in large bold numbers. As the numbers get closer together, it’s a warning that the hill is getting steeper.

I can only imagine the agony of that climb and the joy of the summit. I hope that it is featured in one of the upcoming Giro’s so we can see some of today’s finest riders tackle it.

I love climbing. I love the small (and big) victories that you get through a long ride by making it over the top of a climb. Sadly, I have not yet climbed a true mountain. We’ve only got hills in this area. One of these days though, I will find myself in Europe with my bike, maybe a little Bob trailer, and Alpe d’Huez to climb. Or maybe Mount Ventoux. For now, I will have to make due with Ida and the Cavan Hills.

—Via