It’s a Monday night in mid-October, and bobsled season has just begun, so where else would the world four-man champions be but in Lake Placid, N.Y., swapping sledding stories at Lisa G’s bar? It is wings night, after all. Steve Holcomb, pilot for Team Night Train (USA 1 was a little drab for this blithe bunch), is trying to explain the art and science of negotiating a perfect line down the lightning-quick Lake Placid course. It was there, last March, that he drove his quartet to the first world championship for a U.S. team in 50 years and raised hopes that at the Vancouver Games next February, the U.S. men can win their first Olympic bobsledding gold medal since 1948.

Another interesting story is that Holcomb’s eyesight degenerated to 20/500 before he had experimental surgery to fix it, but he found driving by feel so helpful that he now leaves his visor fogged up.

I might have to get behind the team like I got behind curling in 2006. I still wear my USA Curling hat often, in fact. Unfortunately they don’t have any sweet hats. Maybe I’ll have to get a hoodie instead.

I really like this design. I seriously considered getting the original poster of this design when I first heard about it but I was slow off the mark–they were part of a limited edition print (though he’s since reprinted it)–and $75 was enough that it made me pause for a while to consider whether it was worth it.

The other day, though, I noticed that he’s made a shirt of the design. $30 is steep for a shirt, but compared to $75 for a poster, it seems like a reasonable price. I ordered it.

However, if you really want to turn the nerd up, you have to go over to mental floss:

or

• 3 X 2GB SD cards (in addition to the 2 I already have)
• 6 X Velvia 100 color slide film, 6 X Tri-X 400 black and white negative film

Just because:

• One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found
• one CD not to be named due to its embarassing nature (I’ll chalk it up to comfort music) [update: oh fine, it might be this]

[another update:] I also bought a few tickets to this year’s Noise Pop:

• Feb 28: Sebadoh (orignal line up) at the Great American Music Hall
• March 2: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at the GAMH

(via tcritic)

Way to beat the Red Coats, Team USA!

it’s tradition.

my christmas list.

my parents ask for a christmas list every year. it’s gotten significantly different in the last couple of years since I’ve been earning money. I tend to buy what I want so there’s not a lot on my “wish list.”