V.O.D. again...

Tim Russert? Tim Russert??? What the hell?

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/06/13/nbcs_tim_russert_dies_of_apparent_heart_attack/

Random bits...

Okay, having just realized that I've only posted twice in over a month, and both of those posts were V.O.D.'s, I feel compelled to post something that is NOT GRIM.

ITEM: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, destina!!!

ITEM: ( Kind of Incredible Hulk spoiler behind the cut - better safe than eviscerated by my friends... )

ITEM: I'm thinking of buying a bike.

Every once in a while I contemplate the idea. I used to LOVE biking, but I have never biked up here in MA, and to be frank, the idea of riding around here kind of scares me. Let's put it this way. The last time I was a regular biker, NOBODY wore helmets.

However, Deborah has been riding her bike in to the office (it's about 5 mi. from her house). And today she and a friend went on a bike ride in the afternoon where they just followed the Charles from Harvard all the way out to Waltham, and had drinks at Margaritas right on the water there before going back. 15 mi. round trip.

And the thing is -- that's do-able. If I am not mistaken, I could take the Charles River path nearly the entire way in to work. Hmm.

So, armed with some birthday money from Mom, I started thinking, hmm, maybe I'll get a bike with some of that.

Now *this* is what I DEEPLY DESIRE:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-20/qid=1213403353/ref=sr_1_20/601-2267090-8691302?ie=UTF8&index=target&field-browse=1038604&asin=B000JQSOJO&rh=k%3Ahuffy&page=1

*grabby hands*

And that put me in mind to ask my flist if anyone who HAS been biking in, like, the past 20 years (*gah*) could comment on the advisability of buying a cruiser-style bike over something with speeds and junk. (I used to primarily bike on LBI, where my Mom now lives; it's 18 miles of utter flatness. I have never ridden a bike that had gears, or hand-brakes, or anything. I rode a 1960s Schwinn cruiser that I adored, which had coaster brakes; and I would routinely ride it on 18-mile round trips down there. But I have no experience with biking anywhere that has hills.)

But I'm not going to *GET* the above bike. I've already emailed one person on Craiglist advertising a used mountain-type bike who's very local. *crossing fingers*.