That's Nonsek, yo.

 
We  here at Life in the Bike Lane (and by "we" I mean "me") like to show some love from time to time to the brands and things that we dig. For all you avid readers (Hi Mom), you'll recall posts like "jpod", "Minibike", and "Team Wonderbike". Designer-inspired t-shirts are one of those things some of us just can't get enough of. Sites like Threadless have married the classic cotton t-shirt with the crazy ideas of art kids and have created a blessed union of fashionable awesomeness. The latest brand with such a business model is the bright shiny new, and totally rad, Nonsek.

  A top notch t-shirt collection is an absolute must have for any guy over the age of 18. When you're in high school you can get away with the "I run 5K's and only wear the shirts I get for free" strategy. Hate to blow the whole "Charity Run/Ride Free T-shirt Myth" here but the cost of the shirt is covered in your registration fee. Sorry to spoil the secret of the shrubbery maze on that one. T-shirts are so great they even have ones that look like tuxedo fronts. Y'know, just in case you want to get a little formal. Remember, for something you wear as much as t-shirts you can make the investment to insure your cotton game is tight.

That's why we dig Nonsek. It's a perfect balance of nonsensical slogans and art deco design without wasting your time with shirts that feature popular cartoon characters from the 80's or cereal box icons. Sorry Lionel, the Thundercats were dope and I totally had some footie pajamas featuring your likeness back in the day and She-Ra (the princess of power) was probably my first crush, but now I have a dog and a mortgage so you guys just don't cut it anymore. Count Chocula and Captain Crunch, you guys provided the sugar rush that fueled my childhood and I totally respect what you do and represent but I just can't support you on my body. I guess I never noticed how I only craved cereals sporting characters that had names of hierarchical social or military rank in front of them. No Frankenberry for me, that guy's got no standing. Trix Rabbit? Not even a city councilman.

Check out Nonsek. We've got some personal faves but I'll let you choose your own.
Ce Qui La Banane? genius.

bün-dä-gol

Don't act like you've never done it. It was definitely a boondoggle. You may have just called it something else. A "business trip"? "Offsite meeting? "Research Mission"? Yeah, right. I saw you with that nine iron in your hand. The only thing you were researching was the slope of the green to gauge where to put your approach shot. Shame on me? No sir, shame on your for not being able to honest with yourself. Remember, "to thine own self be true" also means that your out-of-office auto reply should act in kind and should read "I will not have access to email at this time because I'm having an awesome day". If you're one of the les miserables lucky enough to be shackled to an iphone or Blackberry, you should write "I will be checking email periodically but response will be delayed". Hey, you didn't lie. Response WILL be delayed. There's a good chance that it will be VERY delayed in fact. But at least the person who sent you the note knows that you care enough to read their message. This also means periodically that you look down at your handheld and see if anybody emailed you. If nobody did, consider your 2 seconds of work meaningful enough to place it back in your pocket. How noble of you to have checked in. Crack a little smile. You keep the engine of the American economy running. Oh, and there's trouble at the back, so you might want to think about pulling a wedge.

I'm not blaming you. Everybody needs one now and then. It addresses that key human trait of feeling that we're getting away with something while we should be doing something else. i guess it's just the Ferris Buellerness in all of us that just begs to be satisfied. Just don't come back to the office in January with a great tan when you were supposed to be in meetings all day at the LA branch. That's just not kosher and you will be suspect. My tip, find an insignificant day where your absence will not be noticed or noted and do something that is A) Way Super fun and B) has no chance of ever being found out. Golf is the standard but don't play on Friday. That's too obvious. You'll find yourself on every tee box waiting for the people in front of you, who should be doing something else just like you, waiting for somebody else that should be sitting at a desk to finally sink their putt. Friday golf boondoggles are the Delorian of the boondoggle. So 1980's. Way to go Mr.Bond, you took a Friday and played the same course you always do. You will inevitably shoot a 71 and be able to tell absolutely nobody about it. If you insist on being cliche, don't play at the local course. Too many potential witnesses. Play the course a few towns over that you've always wanted to try but never had the time until a random Tuesday came up in the middle of August. August is a great boondoggle month. It's warm, the weather is usually cooperative and it's a long month. 31 days with 21 chances. Waterpark on a wednesday? who goes to a waterpark on a wednesday? Smart boondogglers.

Of course all of these rules no longer apply when you involve your boss. Better yet, it's even better when you get somebody else to pay for it. Better still, you are so confident in your boondoggle that you print t-shirts, advertise what you are up to on a jumbotron, and then blog about it. That is ballsy boondoggling, my friend. But that's how you do it in the pros.

9/10/08: Milwaukee Brewers v. Cincinnati Reds 1:05pm 71 degrees. Brewers 4 Reds 3.
The Hot Dog won the Sausage Race. I know, because I was there.

PS. Thanks to the good people of Miller Park for letting us lock up the 28 bikes we rode to the game!

Mini-Bike

I have to give the Olympics some props. 

After two consecutive yawners in Sydney and Athens, I was ready to write the Olympic games off. To me, it had become overly self-important and it's social relevance had taken a slip-and-slide-style nose dive. Forgive me, but it's just hard to get jacked up for a Tae Kwon Doe match. The fact that the stars and stripes swept the sabre fighting event? Next. Synchronized diving? What, there was no thumb wrestling tournament to televise? The Scrabble World Championships get the cold shoulder while rhythmic gymnastics takes center stage? The only shining light at the end of the games was that baseball pennat races and football would be coming up next. Oh, and that NBC might televise some more episodes of The Office instead of giving me highlights and results that I was already aware of thanks to the internet.

That being said, I have to show love to Beijing. I told myself, along with everybody I told that I was an Olympics detractor, to give the Olympics another shot. "You have to love swimming!" Why? Swimming is boring. But at least it's short. Down and back. I can handle that. Beach Volleyball? I've played my share of bar-league sand volleyball so I can appreciate that. "The Re-Deem Team"? You're telling me that D-Wade comes off the bench? I've gotta see that starting five. I even got into the US Water Polo team. Apparently we took down mighty Turkey? Awesome. Count me back on the bandwagon.

China represented and the companies that sponsored the games found all kinds of ways to slap their product in front of the world. One of the more creative ways came from one of my favorite companies, Mini. If you've never done it, there's few options for transportation that are more fun than rickshaw. Coincidentally, there are few cars that are more fun to drive than a Mini Cooper. During the games, Mini tricked out some bicycle rickshaws to resemble the back end of the traditional Coop. This photo caught my eye for more than just the obvious reasons. I love the look on the other rickshaw guy's face as he looks at the Mini driver. Comedy. He's either jealous of his now outdated traditional rickshaw or he feels sorry that the other guy has to pull a rickshaw that weighs 5 times more than normal.