Bicycle Film Festival List:

Bend Bicycle Film Festival
Bicycle Film Festival (Based out of New York)
Boston Bicycle Film Festival
Clips of Faith
Filmed By Bike
Kalamazoo Bicycle Film Festival

Please comment if you know of others and I will update the list.

Note: This is for the purposes of submitting a film. Some of these festivals may travel to more than one city, but I do not plan to list all of the cities for each festival.

I scrounged around anyway looking for a cool gift that he would not know about, and I stumbled upon something called reverse geocaching. You can read about it in Mikal Hart’s post (recommended). Basically, The idea is that you give someone a locked gift box, that they cannot open until they reach a certain GPS coordinate. I did not have the money or know-how to create the beautifully designed boxes that Mikal has made, (which automatically unlock when you reach the correct coordinates), so I came up with a twist on his idea to create a reverse geocaching experience on the cheap, and without a degree in engineering.

After hours of brainstorming about what type of box to use, I realized that a key lockbox would be the perfect vessel. They are sleekly designed, can be custom coded, and they are secure. Oh and they’re cheap. I bought mine for $33 at my local hardware store (support local business!), but you can also get them online for about $10-$20. Then I had to figure out what to put in the box. Slide seven of Aedan’s presentation covered HexBugs. Battery powered bugs that crawl around on your floor. They’re actually pretty cool, and small, but I tested one he already owned and it was a little too thick. So I just stuck some cash in there. What kid doesn’t like cash? Plus, you could see it was cash through the mounting holes in the back of the box which added some enticement to the package.

I left a note on the kitchen table that he would see when he got home from school, and it included GPS coordinates to a specific location in the neighborhood. The note let him know that he needs to go to the location or “cache” in order to decipher the code used to unlock the box. The note was written with an online ransom note generator to add a sense of urgency to the quest.

The “cache” was hung concert-poster-style on an electric pole at the exact location of the coordinates. It’s a picture of Aedan with a paper moustache that says STACHETASTIC. I wrote “CACHE” TASTIC above the picture and the date of his birthday and age below the picture. The numbers on the poster made up the combination to the lockbox.

I wasn’t there to watch but Aedan found the poster, brought it back to his house, and cracked the code on the first try. His mom took this video of the opening.

A good solution for addressing this issue is through the use of acoustic ceiling tiles or wall panels. You can do-it-yourself for cheap, or hire a professional installation. Here’s a brief example of the impact acoustic tiling can have on a room.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Someday I will be old and hearing will be a challenge. I’d like to live in a world where I will still be able to go out and enjoy restaurants and bars, and the sounds of urban life, without feeling aural-whelmed. If you have a favorite neighborhood bar or restaurant where this is an issue, please let them know, the same way you let a friend know when they have a piece of food caught in their teeth. It can be as easy as posting this link in a review or on a facebook wall. Maybe we can build some awareness and spark a positive change in the industry.

Now if I could only remember where I placed my hearing aid…

The Reef ambience by ambient-sonic

On the morning before Christmas we awoke to a stark surprise, and a bit of hysteria. Hundreds of dried up worm carcasses spread across the living room hardwoods (also not romantic). Since I was the only one who knew that they came from inside the gift, some interesting theories presented themselves. One son proposed that the Christmas tree came with worm eggs inside of it. Other theories revolved around the more classical themes of aliens, big foot, and Santa Claus. The floor looked very similar to last time I had worms escape.

Much to the jealousy of her children, my girlfriend was allowed to open her gift early. It was a big hit with her and the kids. They compost everything now, and are fighting over the worm tea for their respective gardening projects this Spring. I typically like to build this sort of thing, but after the failure of my last bin, I was happy to purchase a well thought out design, and the Worm Factory 360 has not disappointed. It just needs a more romantic name…thoughts?

I have offered advice to a local yoga studio, bicycle parts retailer, and a massage therapist, who happens to be my dear friend Jolene at jolenekelleylmt.com. She already had a great website with very well written and relevant content, but wasn’t coming up in the search results. We figured that her target demographic would not only be searching for the therapies she offers, but also the location in which her office resides. Jolene offers shiatsu massage and craniosacral therapy conveniently located on East Burnside at the intersection of Southeast and Northeast Portland.

In order to “massage” the search results, we added some of these location modifiers to her site, along with the implementation of some additional SEO tactics, and voila, two weeks later, she was at the top of the Google results for the “Southeast” search queries. We have some additional work to do, but I think we’re off to a great start!

Throwing out food scraps stinks, literally. If you’re one of those people who eats fresh produce at home and tends a small garden or menagerie of indoor plants, then do yourself a favor and get some worms! I could go on and on about the benefits, but once you start doing it, you won’t need a reason. It will simply feel good and right, like the way hugs feel, or if you’re not a hug person, compare it to the feeling of people laughing at your funny stories.

If you live in Portland like me, you can visit Pistils Nursery for your worm composting needs. If you’re not in Portland, I recommend Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm because he’s old school, sold me my first worms, and is recommended by Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts.

This blog tends to stray from its worm composting roots, but you can always use the menu on the right to filter only the worm related posts, or click here.

Happy composting!