Having wormed my way up miles of static rope with Gibbs and Petzl Frog ascenders, my biggest desire is to do away with the rope itself. I wants me a set of Gecko gloves and booties!

I haven't listened yet, but I'm already happy. I'm fighting the urge to just set the stuff up right here, right now, in my office.

Fixed gear bikes, in case you don't know, have no freewheel, which means that if the rear wheel is turning, you're peddling. There's no coasting on a fixie—and braking is a matter of leg power.

C'mon, 'fess up&mdash;don't you wish <I>you</I> lived in Brooklyn?

"When you're carrying a book with the big fat title <I>Embalming</I>." Lisa Takeuchi Cullen has written a gentle update to <I>The American Way of Death</I>. Putting aside her statement that "death is a big, huge bummer," it sounds interesting.

Metaphors help us understand the universe, but what if they're really helping us get it wrong?

Rumor is that the suits at MTV are beginning to kvetch about the expense of having bottled water delivered to the NYC offices of the network. Man, when the bottled water bill gets up on the bean counter radar nothing good can come of it.

Also, I made one other change when I removed the Ayre gear from my system: I switched from the Ayre&#150supplied and &#150spec'd Cardas cables to Furutech Evolutions. Incidentally, it was right around this same time that I read <a href="http://www.bluebirdmusic.com/Build_Your_System.htm">Jay Rein's essay</a> on system synergy.

Another subway pun, this time the title refers to the project that created the London Underground. Must be something in the air (hah, I slay myself) today.