Month: July 2008

3 Movies in 5 days

But luckily this week I got to see some flicks:

Wall-e (for me, as I like robots, dystopian future, and cartoons). I found it quite entertaining and worth a look.

Sex and the City (for the wife, because we didn’t go to NY this weekend as we planned). I’ve probably seen every episode (you see, I’m married and have little choice) so for me it wasn’t as bad as it was for some men who get dragged to it. And it wasn’t that awful–a bit long toward the end but still kind of funny. I can see why women went in a group.

The Blue Kite (with the nanny and wife). Banned in China, it tells the story of life in the 50s and 60s when great ‘movements’ were coming through. Kind of a bummer of a story, but so was life back then in China. ]]>

Time to lose 30 pounds

This is an annual thing. Everytime the Tour de France starts, I think back to my youth and the many 1,000s of miles I spent on my racing bike riding through the corn and soybean fields of Central Illinois. And each year I say to myself ‘this is the year I get back on the bike and lose some weight’. And every year I fail. But this year I have a plan. I bought a set of ‘rollers’ for my bike and I’m going to set them up down in the basement, along with my bike. The goal this year is simple: anytime I’m watching the Tour de France on television, I’ll be on my bicycle peddling out a cadence. 21 stages–21 days of exercise. Though I think 30 pounds is a bit too ambitious. I’d probably be happy with half of that, or even less. We’ll see how it goes.]]>

Operation Jaque Helicopters


Operation Jaque Helicopters
Originally uploaded by penguinsix

This is the MI-17 helicopter used in the Ingrid Betancourt rescue operation. I found these photos deep in a Colombia military document that was released as part of the coverage of Operation Jaque. The paint looks pretty new. It’s a good thing FARC rebels aren’t that aware of aircraft up close, or they might have realized something odd was up. These don’t look like helicopters that have been flying around in the jungle filled with bugs and whatnot.
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