http://ryanharne.com Fri, 16 May 2008 17:49:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I picked up Wordplay thanks to the VT library's immense collection of new and hard-to-find DVDs. It's a documentary about crossword puzzles. Sounds pretty boring, right? Who wants to watch over an hour's worth of footage of geeks gathering and competing in a national crossword puzzle event? I'll tell you who: ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/05/16/4-letter-word-for-produced-offspring/ In the search for an automobile, I eventually decided that only a well-maintained and used Volkswagen TDI should be my goal. Daily searching on craigslist, cars.com, autotrader, and moderately local eBay listings have given me a keen sense of price and reasonable expectations of vehicle condition. Today, I found an ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/05/12/just-to-shift-from-your-3rd-to-your-4th/ Catching up on 2 weeks' worth of absence, I have been racing to complete some projects as the semester closed, rushing to sign some official documents for my GRA, savoring my time with Becky, and getting on the bike whenever possible. Yesterday I officially received a diploma for a Bachelor's ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/05/11/granola-and-pecan-halves/ I think cycling was a good choice for me. It has a thorough culture and various subcultures. While I don't empathize with or particularly enjoy the fixed-gear/hipster culture, the rest of cycling culture is quite encouraging, like a book club, and the internal workings are not nearly as concealed and ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/25/sometimes-the-vans-start-to-smell/ This past Saturday I participated in a road race/ride in Wytheville, VA, proceeds benefiting a support center for abused women & children in the area. It wasn't exactly a race because it wasn't USAC-sanctioned, but it was closer in feel to the Blacksburg Wednesday Worlds race rides. The name of ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/23/weather-permitting/ My love of TextEdit has been overturned. A few features that it lacks are now becoming hassles, namely a word count and proper embedded image support. I like to edit and create practically all of my written work in TextEdit before continuing over to a general word processing application, like ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/18/rolls-off-the-fingers/ One year later and the memories are remarkably clear. No matter how hard I may try, the memory of the open 2nd story windows of Norris Hall still gives me chills. However, as a whole, Virginia Tech has healed; over time, the university will be unable to remember the event ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/16/where-did-all-the-sympathies-go/ Musicals are the gateway to our soul. Or at least they can turn certain films into gold (see: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). Just take this boring food court, for example, http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/08/1063/ I did not watch many of the typical television shows for kids and teenagers when I was growing up. SportsCenter never received my viewing attention and my enjoyment of shows like Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was short-lived. When I was a kid, I watched Nick at Nite ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/08/salt-and-pepper-shakers/ As I've succumbed to the hard-faced fact that I will never be a professional cyclist, my perspective and training focus has changed. It is strange to say that I still train even though I am not looking to the future for some cycling breakthrough. The training I do nowadays is ... http://ryanharne.com/2008/04/06/the-day-i-rode-a-bike/