How to win something online….

…enter a contest for something not a lot of people want.

It’s not that I really believe people didn’t want the Chrome Water Bottle, I’m thinking I just got lucky.  This morning Chrome Industries tweeted and I assume Facebooked (I know “Facebooked” is not a word and neither is “Tweeted”) about a contest to win one of their Stainless Steel Chrome branded water bottles.

The rules were simple, Go onto their website, pick your favorite Chrome product, write a review and hope you are one of the first 100 people.

That’s what I did and here is what I wrote:

I bought the Cobra hoodie (in brown) a few months ago and as my 1st official piece of Chrome gear I was somewhat nervous about actually wearing it. Why? Well because since I’m not a hardcore biker I figured the real bikers out there would just point and laugh. That didn’t happened, of course.

The Cobra is extremely comfortable to ride in. For the first couple of weeks I wore it all the time to and from work. Although it resisted retaining most of the funk I put on it, after sitting out for a few days, I could smell it needed some washing in the arm pit area. I hand washed the areas, laid it out and the next day it was all good again. So the lesson there is to be more strategic about when and how long to bust a sweat in the Cobra.

The next part I have to mention is the thumb holes…good for riding not so much for just chillaxtin’ at the bar. The sleeves are just the right length when you are cruising around but just hanging out you find yourself having to pull them up to free your hands to grab something. Not a deal breaker but you’ll be more conscious of it than you should.

The small pocket on the right sleeve has become one of the best features for me. Although it comes with a key loop, I use it to store tissue paper for those chilly morning rides where a running nose is very annoying.

The Large pocket in the back…awesome and funny! Awesome because its big enough to carry a cap, scarf, gloves, camera, Moleskin, pens, etc. Funny because the more you pack it, the more it makes you look like you got a lot of ‘junk in the trunk’ and that always starts a conversation.

In all I am very happy with my purchase and have recommended it to a few people that have stopped me on the street asking about it. I will admit that I somewhat baby it now and never really do any hard riding with it, mostly chill cruising when I know I will not sweat too much.

Well played Chrome, well played indeed!
DjD808

And just like that I went on about my workday and a little after lunch time I got an email saying I won a water bottle!  Now, do I need another water bottle, no but it’s free and its a cool little story.  Look for pictures of the real thing when I actually receive the prize.

DjD

UPDATE: And the free water bottle came today all metal and stuff…

Friday Morning Bus Ride Post

Cops are funny, when they see the potential of having to write a lot of tickets they always opt for the verbal warning, typically. This is true unless, as a comedian on Def Comedy Jam once put it when talking about dealing with the cops, “You ain’t gonna have nuthin’ but a conversation unless you fuck it up!”

So, it’s about 6pm and it’s also the middle on rush hour for trains, planes, automobiles and bikes here in San Fran. We bikers for the most part, follow the law. However there are many of us that happily break the driving laws because we can. We shouldn’t be allowed to weave between cars, ride against traffic, run red lights, etc. but we do because well, what the hell, its fun and gets you through traffic a lot faster than being obedient.

The more I ride the more I have become very aware of my surroundings and riding home in rush hour traffic your spidey-sense is going off constantly.  You are always looking out for danger not so much looking out for the cops.

The wiggle is well known by bikers as the fastest way to get from Market street to the Panhandle.  Drivers know this route as well and for the most part avoid it which makes it rather stress free most days.  Well this past friday was like every other one and the ride home  along the wiggle was uneventful until we hit Scott and Fell Streets.  There was about 4 of us that made it to the intersection and like every other day, every biker makes a left onto Fell Street, a oneway,  whether the light is green or red.  Remember, we break laws cause can.

We all turn left completely ignoring the “no turn on red” sign and halfway down the block stood one of SF finest waving at us to the curb and doing his best to pretend that what was about to happen wasn’t going to be 1omins of his life that he’ll never get back.

We pull over and get off our bikes and the cops proceeded to ask us one at a time, “Do you know why I stopped you?”

Guy #1: Red light

Me: “We turned against the red”

Guy#3:  “I don’t know.”

Girl#1:  “Red Light.”

Cop: “Let me see your ID. The rest of you can go.”

Like I said, we break the law because we can, that doesn’t mean we don’t know that law.  Well most of us anyway.  So you are all smart people no need to tell you who got the ticket.  It was a very large waste of time and all I learned two things: 1-my theory about Cops is extremely true and 2 – from now on I will turn my  spidey-sense up to 11.

DjD

Dreamin’ On…

So I resubmitted for the Sony blogger contest (had to for technical reasons) and ever since I have been thinking about how I really stand no chance just because of one (or two) major reasons.

1) my blogging skills are not up to par
And 2), I haven’t written one post about a gadget yet.

All my post as DjD and Nappilicious are all about “clever” observations of crap the happens to me or pops into my head.

Oh well, it was good to be a dreamer.
DjD out.

Quick thoughts…

How much time do we spend wishing work wasn’t “work”?
I didn’t do the math but I’m sure it’s more time than our bosses would want to know.
DjD out.