Tank sixty-seven

Total miles: 24615. Trip miles: 404.5. Gallons: 7.368. Price per gallon: $2.039.

Screen mileage: 55.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 54.9 mpg.

Almost entirely highway miles, at temperatures around 30 to 40°F.

Tank sixty-six

Total miles: 24210. Trip miles: 109.3. Gallons: 3.508. Price per gallon: $1.899.

Screen mileage: 41.0 mpg. Tank mileage: 31.1 mpg.

Short commutes; tanked up before a long trip.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

And here's the pumpkin pie. It is fresh out of the oven here, all puffed up.

apple pie

apple pie
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I volunteered to make two pies, one pumpkin and one apple, for the family dinner this Thanksgiving. This is unusual for me; usually I just arrive and eat (my excuse being that I have a long trip).

This is the apple pie. The crust is made with butter. It looks really good. But I can't break into it. It's so unfair. *sigh*

tough this year

This year, there are only 29 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ll be traveling at least 3 or 4 of those days. In addition, I got sick last Friday, and I’m still suffering from it… which means I haven’t had the energy to even hop on my rowing machine yet, this season. This is not going to be easy!!

See more progress on: Complete the Concept2 Holiday Challenge

vengeance (rated 3 stars)

The Brave One (Full-Screen Edition)

by Neil Jordan

The Brave One is a simplistic, fantasy vengeance movie. Jodie Foster plays a woman who is brutally assaulted, along with her fiancé, who doesn’t survive the attack. The story follows her as she tries to deal with surviving the event.

I was disappointed because I was expecting something more complex from Jodie Foster. Not that she doesn’t do a good job acting the part. However, in her “prosecution” of the criminals that she meets (with unrealistic frequency), her character has an omniscience which is completely lacking in reality… she (and the viewer) are always completely certain of the guilt of the people she kills. This kind of certainty is rare in real life; and even when it happens, one person’s certainty is no guarantee of their correctness. That’s the reason that vigilantism is generally a bad thing, and we’re better off with our admittedly flawed justice system.

Is it interesting that a woman is playing the role of vigilante? I suppose so. I don’t think I would have bothered watching the movie if it had been about a male vigilante; but in that case, I wouldn’t have been expecting more depth either.

The redeeming feature of this movie is its realistic portrayal of the impact of violent crime on its victims. The manner in which Foster’s character completely changes is very believable, although the rest of the plot is not.

[Edit: After watching the movie, I checked out a few interviews with Jodie Foster about the movie. She compares it to Straw Dogs and Taxi Driver. If I had known that, I would have been expecting something very different... and also might not have bothered to watch. Those two movies are classics, and alas, The Brave One is not.

See more about The Brave One (Full-Screen Edition)

A review of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a suspenseful page-turner. Although it deals with some lurid sex crimes, I didn’t feel the topic was exploited.

The characters are pretty well fleshed out, but I was disappointed to meet yet another fictional character with eidetic memory. Here, it really wasn’t even necessary as a plot device. Despite the quibble, I’m adding Larsson’s other books to my reading list.

See more about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2/30

I walked to and from work today. That's two days down and twenty-eight to go. It was a bit chilly, in the forties, but bearable.

See more progress on: walk to work more often

Tank sixty-five

Total miles: 24101. Trip miles: 364.5. Gallons: 7.423. Price per gallon: $2.099.

Screen mileage: 49.2 mpg. Tank mileage: 49.1 mpg.

Mostly short commutes.

view from the trail in lincoln

view from the trail in lincoln
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I did a two hour hike of the trails through Lincoln Woods today. This is a view across a field south of the DeCordova. The clouds only parted for a short while; most of the hike was gray, windy, and cold.

view of boston

view of boston
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view NNE in the vicinity of Rattlesnake Hill along the Skyline Trail. That's Boston off to the right.

skylne trail

skylne trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

For a change, I did a hike at Blue Hills Reservation today. It was cooler than yesterday, and I only spent about 2 hours on the trails.

Walden

Walden
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

From the DeCordova I hiked over to Walden. The round trip hike took about three hours.

The weather was abnormally warm, so I hiked in my shirtsleeves. That was nice. However, the rain had made the leaves slick and I hiked more slowly than usual. Despite the caution, I did wind up landing on my butt just once.

Towards the end of the hike I got a weird stabbing cramp at the top of my right foot. It went away and came back again. What's that about??

Two Big Black Hearts

Two Big Black Hearts
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Here's another look at Jim Dine's Two Big Black Hearts, creepy as ever. Chakaia Booker's "No More Milk and Cookies" and "The Conversationalist" are in the background. I kinda like those.

Butterfly Effect

Butterfly Effect
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I did another hike starting from the DeCordova today. Had to go take another look at Butterfly Effect. I like the look of the concrete as it starts to dry out.

voted!

Whoo! I got to the polls twenty minutes after they opened. There was a wait of about 30 minutes, not so bad. Very exciting!

Now I really feel like I have to go find a Starbucks to get my free cup of coffee...

view from Midstate

view from Midstate
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This was taken near Crow Hill Ledges, yesterday.

The sky was nice and clear, but it was a bit too chilly and windy for my liking.

seasonal shrine

seasonal shrine
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked for 3 h 10 min along the Midstate Trail, yesterday. I did a section along Crow Hill Ledges to Redemption Rock. The trail was unusually busy. I passed 4 or 5 small groups of people.

I stopped to visit the shrine on the way. Someone has left a couple of pumpkins at the site, giving it a festive look.

Joseph Wheelwright Listening Stone

Joseph Wheelwright Listening Stone
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Listening Stone is not one of my favorites, but yesterday I found it weirdly mesmerizing. The bright red autumn colors are in stark contrast to the stone, which makes this view more interesting to me.

Rick Brown moving Butterfly Effect

Rick Brown moving Butterfly Effect
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went for a hike yesterday in Lincoln Woods, starting at the DeCordova. I was very lucky to catch the artist Rick Brown rearranging his sculpture "Butterfly Effect"! At least, I think that's Rick Brown doing the rearranging. Since he was busy I didn't want to interrupt the process by asking him to be sure.