Yet another spoiler avoidance tip

fireriven warns:

I advise anyone who's looking forward to HP7 not to inspect their livejournal profiles for the duration. The trolls are no longer content to have subtle names for their journals, the better to lure you into checking them out and getting "spoiled" or spoiled. No, now they're just naming the troll-journals with the spoilers. So."

To turn off the option of receiving notices when someone friends you go to http://www.livejournal.com/manage/subscriptions/ and uncheck the appropriate box.

New bike route

naomikritzer mentioned awhile ago that instead of taking the Park/Portland bike route, I should investigate the route that runs along the light rail line, on Hiawatha Avenue. I tried it, when I got back on the bike after surgery. I'm sold. I'm actually on the street for only about 1/3 of the route, and it's much less busy. The rest of the time, I'm on a designated bike path. And best of all, if the bike ever breaks down, which has always been a worry of mine, the rail is right there to rescue me. It's about the same distance as my former route but much more pleasant, and it's a faster ride because I have to deal with fewer traffic lights.

I've resorted to taking the bike on the rail several times in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it's because I'm running a little late in the morning (I've been staying up too late to read), sometimes because I'm in a hurry to get home to get to karate. And sometimes it's the weather. I bailed and took the rail yesterday morning because it was so hot and humid that my shirt was wringing wet after a mile. I like the flexibility.

Yesterday was my first experience biking in a torrential downpour. I was prepared enough to have a garbage bag in my bag to wrap my purse in, and a neon-orange rain slicker. The big adjustment is that you have to give yourself about three times the usual distance for braking. I did not melt before I got home.

My stamina is getting a little closer to what it was before the surgery, but I'm still not quite there yet.

Happy Anniversary to my parents

And congratulations on 55 years of marriage!

One from the vaults: And Now Let the Sneering Begin

I thought I'd provide a link to a rather seminal essay I posted in June of 2003, about the condescension of some toward the Harry Potter series (and what it illustrates about assumptions made about both fantasy and women's writing), for those of you rather new to my friends list who haven't seen it before--and for those who wanted to see it again. Comments are very welcome (on the original post, if you please, rather than this one).

And now let the sneering begin . . .

Accio Deathly Hallows

Apparently, this is a creative experiment between two brothers who are communicating for a year by exchanging daily videos on YouTube. This one's quite fun. And spoiler-free. (You can follow along every day by friending the syndicated feed brotherhood2.)