sportsmanship is not everything...i guess?!

Last night I went to see my first hockey, and NHL, game thanks to A.! I know it's not technically traveling so it shouldn't be on here, but whatever...the best thing, besides seating right next to the Dallas Stars' bench, was the fight! Yes, the fight...apparently, hockey is the only sport I know of where violence outside the game itself is allowed...no, I am not talking about the tackling and fighting while playing! If you want to fight with somebody they will let you do so; actually, the fans will encourage you, the refs will stop the game, stand aside and watch, their arms crossed, till you're done...so you can have at it, and when you're done you just get to sit in the penalty box for a little bit! It's very different from any sport I've seen before, where the coach or team managers would punish you for being violent outside the sport's boundaries...an interesting concept nonetheless!

please read this!

"Today we consider it obvious and natural that we have sidewalks on every street. Bikeways should be the same. If we are a democratic society, everybody has the right to the same mobility. So, in the future we have to think as bikeways not as something cute or nice but as a right. A quality city is not one that has great roads but one where a child can safely go anywhere on a bicycle."

Enrique Peñalosa was mayor of Bogotá from 1998 to 2001, when term limits forced him to leave office. He has advised other world cities on transportation and is a senior fellow at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. This article is adapted from comments he made at “Manhattan on the Move: A Transportation Agenda for a Growing City,” a conference presented by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

it's been a while!

I haven't written on here in forever, leaving you all (??) with the World Cup tornado...after that and 2 weeks spent in the peace of Guastalla I came back here, in Dallas, TX...school started again, I moved somewhere bigger and closer to school, I got a roadbike, and not much else...oh yeah, I spent my birthday weekend in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, IL, which I both loved!
I know I was supposed to write from there as I was technically traveling, but I didn't get the chance to...so I am updating from "home", looking forward to my next projects and trips: buying an old steel 90's roadbike and transforming it (or rather, having it transformed) into a fixie, a fixed-gear bicycle (no shifting, no coasting, no derailleurs, no brake cables,...); also, I am trying to decide where to spend my Thanksgiving...it will probably be Mexico, but I don't know where, and it has to be somewhat close to the Texas border...so maybe Real de Catorce, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, or somewhere around there...then I just booked my flights to Colombia for the winter break (mid Dec till mid Jan!): I will be in Colombia and Venezuela for 5 weeks! I will also get to meet my brother and spend Christmas and New Year's with him! Woohoo!