I recently received some winter riding gear from Nashbar with the hopes of putting it to use on the 22nd (anyone interested in a November ride through the PA grand canyon?).  Bib pants, a base layer shirt, and a warm cycling jacket were the order of the day.

But also in the package were three sample packets of Excedrin Back & Body.  The included insert shows two women riding a tandem bike with the words “Keep pain off your horizon” floating just over the front tire.

While I’m all for free pharmaceuticals, I have to admit that I laughed over the fact that back pain is so prevalent in Nashbar’s clientele that they (and Excedrin) feel that their customer base has a high likelihood of purchasing back pain medicine.

I can’t think of a time that I’ve had back pain after riding my recumbents.  I must be doing this cycling thing wrong.

I have no animosity toward upright bikes, but I do think it’s funny that they sent a recumbent guy back pain pills.

I was making some mac ‘n cheese tonight, watching the pot of water heat up just before the point of boiling.  All along the bottom of the pot, small bubbles of air formed and held steady spots while even smaller bubbles danced between them.  Then, as often occurs, the larger pockets released and rose to the surface of the water where they then swirled and joined with other similar pockets.

As I observed all of this, I thought about the complexity of everything I had just witnessed and realized that, in some ways, my atheism is just as “faith” based as most people’s belief in a higher power.

Some believe that God must exist because our world is so incredibly complex.  They can’t conceive of any of this happening on its own without guidance from one infinitely powerful.  I, however, can’t believe that any being could be so infinitely powerful as to conceive of the rules required to govern the behavior of heated water.  That is, I can’t conceive of any being capable of building systems of such complexity.

Speaking of religion, I was reading an article today about a local man who recently sold a rather extensive collection of Nazi correspondence relating to the Holocaust.  One of the reasons he started his collection was that he wanted tangible evidence in order to refute those who claim the Holocaust never happened.  This is “speaking of religion” because I thought it bizarre that people would rather believe in the divinity of Christ, who has no direct descendents that we’re aware of and whose existence is no more corporeal than, say, Harry Potter’s, yet they would sooner believe that than believe a Holocaust survivor standing in their presence.

Damn, this better be some good mac ‘n cheese.

When did this become the Star Wars blog?  No clue.  I apologize.  I could talk about Obama and the new dawn and why I think we’re in dire need of a community organizer, but no, I’m going to post this thing I just made up:

“Hey baby, from back there, I thought these were just small moons, but damn girl!  These are space stations!”

I dump crap like that on Brandy all the time, just to make her cringe.  But of course, this being the internet, there are lots of other folks who have mined this territory.  Some of my favs…

• I may look like an Ewok, but I’m all Wookie where it counts, baby.
• Date, or date not — there is no ‘let’s just friends be’.
• Honey, you’ve been looking for love in Alderaan places!