Have you ever considered riding a unicycle? Believe it or not riding one is not just for clowns and parades. Learning to master the unicycle can be one of the most challenging fitness activities you can attempt. It takes coordination and perseverance to peddle that one wheel, but when you accomplish it you find that it can be very enjoyable.

Unicycles are not usually that expensive. Sure you can get a tricked out carbon fiber model if you want, but that is really not necessary. Just head down to the local bike shop and see what they offer. You will usually find what you need between $50-100. Or try eBay, but you’ve already thought of that.

When purchasing your unicycle the main thing you want to make sure is that it fits. You want to be able to extend your leg almost straight out at the bottom of the pedal stroke, much like you would on a regular bicycle. If the seat post cannot be raised high enough you will find learning to ride will be much more difficult.

So now that you have your unicycle, how do you learn to ride? One of the best ways to learn is to mount the unicycle while holding on to the side of something like your garage. You will want to throw your leg over the saddle and put your foot on the pedal. Leaning against, and even holding onto your prop, put your other foot on the other pedal and get your balance. Once you have your balance simply push off and begin pedaling forward.

Once movement has begun you will want to lean forward ever so slightly. The first couple of tries you may find yourself slipping backward. You will have to be quick to get your feet back under you in the event you start to fall back off the unicycle. Just grab the nose of the unicycle as you dismount and stand up normally on the ground, and go have another try.

One thing that could help your balance is to mount and dismount the unicycle inside of a doorway. If you have room just push off and try a few pedal strokes to get the hang of it. Riding a unicycle can be frustrating the first few tries but as your balance improves you will find yourself pedaling further and further away.

Once you start getting the hang of pedaling relatively long distances you will want to learn how to turn. Turning is simply a matter of body English. If you want to go right you slightly twist your upper body to the right. The same for going left. Talk about a core workout.

Learning to ride a unicycle is certainly a challenge. But it can be a lot of fun. With a little practice and determination you too can learn to master the one-wheeled cycle.

Think Geek always has clever copy and clever April Fool’s jokes. I think part of the reason is that some of their real products are so off the wall that their imaginary products don’t seem unfathomable.

This year’s joke was pretty extensive, featuring a home page almost entirely devoid of real products, and instead filled with jokes. I even got their newsletter in my inbox featuring these same products. And even knowing their tendency to have some fun, I still clicked through — “Spazztroids Caffeinated Cereal? I’ve got to get me some of those!”

Some other winners: Betamax to HD DVD converter, a caffeine patch, a USB pregnancy test, USB sun lamp, USB Foreman Grill, Pii Pii brothers Wii game. Check out their web site while the prank pages up!

Real life products available at ThinkGeek.com

Modu is a tiny, credit card-sized, powerful mobile phone. Slip the modu into one of many very well-designed “jackets” to give it a new look and new functionality. Modu was formed in 2007, backed by $20 million in VC funding; it looks like they’ll be closing on another $100 million within the next few weeks based on an initial valuation of $150 million for the company.

Check out the YouTube video.

These modular components remind me of the concept behind Buglabs, but whereas Buglabs had more geek appeal, with open source hardware and software, modu has much more chic appeal. These things look slick.When is a phone not a phone? When it has “mates,” which morph the modu into various consumer electronic devices. All modu jackets are universally interchangeable, allowing you to swap modu jackets at any time, and according to the web site, with anyone. It also sounds as if some of these modu’s will be artist-branded and come pre-loaded with applications and music. I couldn’t find any price estimates to speak of, but product is supposed to ship at the end of 2008. And I want one. . . or ten.

Check out the Modu blog for updates.

Show me someone who says he’s never had the urge to radio Bones on a communicator, and I’ll show you a . . . Okay, well maybe not everyone wanted a communicator, but I could buy an armload of these things and still not have enough to go around. So here they are, the communicator and the phaser.

That last post on Khet got me to thinking about three dimensional Star Trek chess, which of course led back to the communicator. And like Galaxy Quest, you operate this just like you saw Bill and Leonard do it: flip the grill and you’ll hear the sounds and voice clips from the series. “Bridge here, Captain,” “Transporter room ready to beam up.” It also has a hailing function!

Available at Think Geek (of course): Communicator here
and the Phaser here

That’s right, a game of strategy with frickin’ lasers. Mine eyes have seen the glory.

I bought this game years ago, maybe in 2003 or so, and I believe it was called “Reflection” or something like that. I bought it as it was being produced, I think, and it was available from this tiny little site. One of those where you’re not really sure if you going to see anything after you make the purchase.

The concept is still the same, but it’s been given a story line, and is now available at Think Geek, one of my favorite retailers. The story goes that Khet was a popular ancient Egyptian game, so the object of the game is now to eliminate the competing pharaoh. You do this by aligning the mirrored playing pieces so that the frickin’ laser you shoot from your home base bounces from mirrored piece to mirrored piece, and ending up on the opponent’s pharaoh. In the way of your frickin’ laser are non-mirrored pieces, but one hit from your frickin’ laser, and those pieces are removed.

Simple and fun. Think Geek also offers an expansion pack: Eye of Horus Beam Splitters. So now you have to track multiple beams. Sort of like Tridimensional Star Trek Chess.

ThinkGeek Khet Laser Game