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May 31, 2006
beginning, new
I have just begun the process.
Last night, I lay awake while Sweetie slept. He had complained bitterly about how warm the bedroom was, and fell asleep within a couple of minutes of hitting the pillow.
I lay there, willing myself to sleep. It wasn't working. It was clear I wasn't getting enough exercise.
So, this morning, it began.
I just walked down 5 flights of stairs, and went on a walk through the Urban Renewal District. It's a walk of just over a mile (1.17 miles if you must be exact), with some stairs and slight inclines. I worked up a good sweat, and it felt great.
At lunch, I'm going to ride my bike across the river, get a hot dog (!) and go to the bike store to get a rain poncho. This is a big step, big step. Wuhoo!
May 27, 2006
My neighborhood is odd.
Things are getting progressively stranger as we march officially into summer.
Our neighbor Theresa bought a house, so she and Fuggles, worlds cutest kitten, have moved away. The landlord seems to be in no hurry to find new tenants, and I fear it will become another group house where nobody interacts with the neighbors. That's old.
Our next door neighbors who own Zoe the pitbull—well, I have no clue what's going on there. I haven't seen Zoe in a month. The cops came by in the middle of the night and confiscated one of their cars. And they've taken to leaving overturned plastic lawn chairs in their front yard, and stuff in their driveway.
But our newest neighbors, who have lived there for about a year, take the cake. Last night, he was out vaccuuming his garage (with the garage door open) at 11:30pm. What's wrong with this picture? Or, should I say, what's right? If I ever talk about vaccuuming my garage at any time of the day or night, please commit me right then.
(Of course, first, I'd need a garage.)
...
Yesterday, it was drizzling in the morning, but I rode my bike anyways. I was mostly drawn by the thought of Breakfast on the Bridges, which happens on the last Friday morning of the month. I hadn't encountered one in well over a year.
After my pannier experience of the other morning, I wanted to make sure they weren't going anywhere, so I checked the velcro, and then added bungee cords.
I then inflated the tires so they were nice and hard, and jumped on, and heard a scraping noise coming from the back tire. I get off, look at it, it all seems fine, but the scraping continues.
So I wheel that bicycle back into the shed, and get the other one out. Inflate its tires. Hit the road.
All of this rigamarole had taken far longer than I had intended, so I got to the BotB at about 8:50, and they were going to be closing up around 9. Of course, they were already closed up and were ready to ride off, and they were very sweet and offered me muffins, and it's all very understandable, but. It set the tone for the rest of the day.My neighborhood is odd.
May 24, 2006
Zoom zoom zoom
I read Running in Place this morning, where Lara is being optimistic, positive, etc., about running the MCM, in spite of having a bona fide knee injury.
When she was in town, we did some talking about how to get back into a habit that you've lapsed out of. How do you move from disenchantment to falling in love again. I mean with walking, of course.
And as I was puttering around the house this morning, trying to spot clean, it came to me as clear as day. Fake it til you make it. Set some goals and work towards them.
I thought initially of the Helvetia Half, which is three weeks away. It's a nice hilly half, a test of not-starting too fast, not getting-too-gung-ho on the hills. And then I remembered that I committed to cohost (or host.... I'm not sure which) a pub crawl during Pedalpalooza... which of course is the night before.
So, I'm not sure what to do. It's clear I need to come up with a walking event to train for, and I could easily do the July 4th half, as I have for the last couple years. And maybe that's something I need to do, considering that I lost my lust for walking there last year.
Anyways, I'm on the look out. Thanks, Lara!!
...
Did I mention that I'm scared-$#@()*less about this pub crawl? Mind you, I have no problem with riding my bike to pubs, I've been known to do that sort of thing. I'm just afraid I'm gonna be riding with a bunch of speedies who will be leaving me in the dust. And hosting suggests perhaps leading?. Yikes.
Still, every time I do a group ride, I amaze myself at my ability to not be the slowest person in the group. Still, some training might be in order.
...
My sweetie works directly with a guy we call Snowball. Anyways, just found out that Snowball has Noro virus. It's not a big deal, just a highly contagious stomach virus that lasts a couple days that you'd rather be dead during.
Nausea, vomitting and diarrheoa are the main symptoms. The disease lasts for 1 to 2 days but victims can remain infectious for at least a week from the onset of illness. There are many strains of Norovirus and immunity to one strain does not protect against another. Therefore people can be infected again.
http://www.newgenn.com/microbes/virus-data/noro-virus.html)
Here's hoping we (and you) skip this one.
...
It only cost me $400 bucks to collect the car yesterday. My check engine light was caused by, get this, the bulb for the up-shift light being burnt out. I didn't even know I had an up-shift light. Another argument for less-complicated transportation.
As I sat in traffic last night waiting to get home, I watched the cyclists with envy. Here, they were moving freely, much faster than I was. Sure, I had a radio, and I could blast the Smiths, but they had freedom. Damn it!
...
So this morning, I cycled in. Yay!
As I was pulling the bike out of the shed, I saw a father-child combo cycling up the street. I've seen them before: usually, Dad is pedalling and child is hidden in the trailer. But this time the child was perched on Dad's shoulders, holding on to his helmet-ed head. My first reaction was, Dude, you can't do that! Your kid! You're endangering your kid!!
But the kid was clearly having the best time ever. It's gotta be great to be a kid and be up that high.
I made a detour through Irving Park. One of the things that marks this last six months of rabid guide writing is my following tangents. Oh so much fun. I have a yarn store page, and a farmers market page, both about 90% done. And then, there's my Better Know a Bridge series... and my public fountains you can let your kids play in page which I've just started on.
Anyways, you go to the Portland Parks page, and they have this feature search engine that is very cool, but you get to the results, and it's really unclear that you're at anything useful. Like, they claim there are Water Play features at all these neighborhood parks, but, then you get to the particular park page, and it's just not terribly convincing.
So, long story short, Irving Park supposably has a water feature, so I went looking for it.
They have asphalt paths going through the park, so I cycled past the covered and uncovered basketball courts, the softball field, the dog park, and way off in a hollow I could see playground equipment. And sure enough, there was this odd little water play thingee which of course was not running because it's 50-something degrees and drizzling, as well as being 8 am.
Now I just have to go back when it's actually running and take some pictures.
Did I mention that it was a wonderful ride in? I had all my stuff in my panniers, which seemed to just help the whole traction issue. I was feeling pretty good as I was cruising around, zoom zoom zoom. And then I'm down in the Rose Quarter crossing a busy street when I hear my panniers go splat.
It lands, naturally, in the middle of the busy street. So I jump off the bicycle, and, ta-da! My shoelace is untied.
I did manage to reassemble the bike/pannier combo, but not without getting a dirty look from another bicyclist. What was that about?
May 22, 2006
...
We've been getting some Texas style rain in the last 24 hours or so. I dropped the car at the mechanic so they could investigate the Check Engine light, and walked to work— maybe 15 blocks at the most, but I was soaked to the skin by the time I got there.
It's amazing to see the difference in the plants. Yesterday morning, I could see my neighbor in back's kitchen window, and she could see my back porch. Now, it appears the trees and shrubs have all put on a foot or so in every direction, and there is only barely a suggestion of neighbors.
It's been a big week and a big weekend. It was great getting to meet Lara, and hanging with her for a few hours. We did a little walking tour of a portion of the city. The weather was impossibly good, so I did lots of scootering and cycling. I got to meet Todd, the maker of Stokemonkey, and shoot the breeze about all things Portland and cycling.
On Saturday, I hosted a hot dog crawl, and on Sunday, I watched our local nuclear power plant implode. And then I spent the most of the day writing.
The goal was to get five reviews done for the guide. I was not going to allow myself to work on anything new, or reschuffling what is there, or doing card-sorts, new mockups, etc... I was just going to write five reviews. Five reviews! How hard can that be?
Well, it seems, very hard. I managed to get three-and-a-half done (and I finished the other half this morning). On one hand, it's clear why trying to generate a review in the morning is painful, and why it seems I am never up early enough. On the other hand, having to do one after another was also painful.
May 16, 2006
2:1
The good news
- I biked in. And it's a gorgeous day. And it's not even insanely hot yet
- I cut another bunch of lilacs to fill the bike basket!
- I left my wallet in my scooter jacket. D'oh!
May 15, 2006
a quick rundown
Well, it's been a big couple of days around SBA.
- Lara of Running in Place is coming to Portland. Hopefully we're going to get some time to hang out. We're having insanely excellent weather right now—couldn't ask for better, really. I'm hoping to show her how Portland is paradise, what with beautiful cycling and walking facilities, gorgeous gardens, and cold and colder running beer.
- I loaned Pinky to a friend for a day. It made me so happy to see her riding off into the distance.
The next day, when they came back, N. was wearing a femmy outfit with a floral patterned skirt that totally coordinated with the bike. Too cool. She also brought me some salted caramels which are so #$%^ good. It was only through considerable willpower that I was able to stretch out the eating of said caramels until yesterday.
- I worried about commuting to the suburbs for nothing. I got the Dear John letter and mourned it for a couple of days. Sometimes, you don't realize how much you want something until it is denied you.
- I'm going to be a bit choosier about where I apply in the future
- Fuggles, the world's cutest kitten, has become a bit of a problem. The other morning, I let the dog out and as usual, I had to coach him through his bodily functions (what can I say, he's pretty and sweet, but none too bright). He's mid-squat when up sneaks Fuggles, and starts slashing him. Sigh. So I try to run off Fuggles, and try to get Echo to go back out into the yard and finish what he had started, but he refused to leave the porch.
Once I let him back in the house, I went to feed Daphne, and brought the bowl of cat food out to see Fuggles sitting right by the cat food dish spot, waiting for me to put it down so she could eat it. Sigh. So I pick Fuggles up and she starts making demon noises and trying very hard to slash me (she succeed too).
- I had some great days of bike commuting last week. One morning, I walked into work. Now that is luxury!!
- Saturday was the St. John's Parade. St. Johns is an area of town that is fairly far from downtown, and which was one of the last communities incorporated into Portland. It's a working class place with a real small-town feeling. It's gentrifying, but the character isn't changing too rapidly.
I have become more and more enchanted with St. Johns since I've been hanging with the scooter club. It, like the club, seems unpretentious, hard working, family-oriented, and a bit wacky.
The morning of, I put on a dress with a huge long dramatic skirt, put on some makeup, and headed up there. The parade was all ready in formation, waiting. And about a third of the parade were politicians, hoping to catch a few more voters before Tuesday.
All around us was goofiness. The Belligerantes, a Schwinn bicycle club, were there in force. There were shriners on ATVs, Beater Queens, and people playing odd pieces of metal.
We didn't talk about what we'd do once the parade started but once the parade started, we all started hot dogging. Figure 8s, conga lines, slow racing, seeing how low you could go on a turn, we were all doing this. I stood up on the scooter once or twice, and laid down on it.
It all could have ended in tears. We had a couple of new scooterists who weren't very good at indicating where they were headed, which was exciting. But fun.
I went home, and found that I had the worst sunburn on my neck and shoulders that I've had since I was a teenager. I've been feverish from the sunburn. I had forgotten how awful a sunburn could be.
May 9, 2006
happy camper
From the new Xtracycle promo by Ross Evans:
"My life is as much as 20% better because of this device. I was a happy camper before I got it, but now I am like the happy campground host. I am stoked."
http://xtracycle.com/slideshow.html
via Todd
Commuting
It's been a beautiful couple of days, after a rainy weekend. Yesterday, I went out to the shed to get out my bike and was overcome by how wonderful, huge and stinky my lilac shrubs were. So I did the only reasonable thing: I filled the front basket with lilacs.
There's something especially fun about wearing girly clothing (a dramatic cut-on-the-bias skirt with a frilly frothy chiffon blouse), on a pink bicycle, with a basket of lilacs. I attract a lot of attention just with the bike itself, but I got smiles all around from everyone who looked my way.
...
I've been job hunting and strangely enough, it's been lots of fun. I still am full of the "I'm not worthy!" moments when I'm sending in my resume, but it's been strangely relaxing and enjoyable: talking to new people about their workplaces, etc, etc.
One of the big things that has come up has been the commute. This isn't a surprise, but I am surprised how much it's occupying my thoughts.
One of the jobs I'm most interested in is in Beaverton, and the car commute was a pure drag. It looks like the MAX portion of the commute would be about 35 minutes; I'm about a mile and a half from the MAX station, and then I'd have about 3/4 of a mile at the other end.
So easily, that could be walked. But of course, I'm bike-crazy and so I get caught up in all sorts of silliness.
Like, should I buy a folding bike? Then I could just carry it with me in the train, and bring it in and park it at my desk.
Or should I get an electric bike, that would allow me to bicycle there. It's only 12 miles away. So it would only take maybe a half hour to get out there. Though I have no clue what I'd use for a bike route.
Note to self: do they have bike parking?
...
I went to the local bike cooperative this weekend and enjoyed checking it out. They had an xtracycle there; a free radical attached to an old hybrid bike. I swooned.
My problem is that I want one of everything. But really, I need a garage if I am going to be collecting bicycles. Silly girl.
May 4, 2006
going down
This has been a crazy week. By tomorrow noon, I'll have had four appointments in five days—nuts, I tell you, nuts.
Today, coming back from career dude, I went down on the scoot.
It was like this. I was riding, la-ti-dah, and then the person in the SUV in front of me slammed on her brakes and so I slammed on my brakes. Hard. I don't recall if I looked for a way out. All I know is that I lost a few seconds, and found myself on the ground, still on the scoot, with the motor still running.
Adrenaline is a crazy thing. I immediately stood up, picked up the 350# bike, and got it over to a parking place. The woman in the SUV was out of the vehicle to check on me. I'm fine!
And really, I am. To my tremendous shock, I might have a couple small bruises, but there wasn't any sign of friction on my clothing, or on the scoot.
...
As I think about all the things I want to do with my life, finding a new longer commute has not been amongst them. But what happens if I do, um, find a job in the Silicon Forest? What if I get a good opportunity? The biking infrastructure for the west side sucks!
I just did the math, using the standard driving deduction of .32 cents a mile. A month's worth of commuting would cost $153. I don't know if that even really covers gas. Assuming a 24 mile round trip commute, that's probably about a gallon a day, or $3 in the car. For the scoot, I would get about two days roundtrip to a gallon of gas. Shessh!
And public transit isn't that great either. Yes, I can get there... in 69 minutes, taking 3 different buses.
May 2, 2006
On your right!
Yesterday, I was longing to ride my bike. As I rode the bus in across the Hawthorne bridge, the bridge was covered with bicycles and pedestrians, all looking like they were having a lot more fun than we were. And I just wanted to be riding. I was totally pining for the fjords.
But I couldn't ride, because I had an appointment in the afternoon.
I've been so caught up in preparing for these appointments that I just totally forgot about May Day. Yeah, I heard about the protests, and I remembered the true labor day, but I forgot about the Hal an Tow and the Maypole and all that. And really, usually, the labor day aspects and the maypole aspects are at the front of my mind. But I was preoccupied.
Sweetie and I had been chatting about it in the morning. When was I going to leave work? I, as usual, didn't want to make a decision about it, I just wanted to leave when the time was right. But he kept arguing that I should make a plan, and I should leave early.
So, I decided that I'd leave at 12:30. But in fact, I left at 12:45. Just as the march, or parade (as the cops were calling it) went by my building, bisecting my bus route.
As I was walking out of the building, I asked the cop who was redirecting traffic if the buses had been rerouted, or if they were staying on their same routes. "oh, they're on the same routes", he said "we're just going to try to squeeze them in here and there with the parade". The parade!
Anyhow, the parade was huge. I ended up walking halfway home before I caught a bus... an hour later. I was sure envious of the folks on bikes.
...
This morning, I wasn't in the greatest mood, so I decided to take preemptive action and ride the bike in. Which was an excellent idea. It was chilly and crisp and all together delightful. Except when I passed an erratically walking pedestrian. As usual, I gave him some warning, saying, on your right.
He began shouting at me, about how he hates bicycles and he hates bicyclists, though of course, he said it in a pretty nasty way. And then he told me to leave him alone.
The sad thing is that this guy looked totally normal. It was unnerving.
I understand being pissed about bicycles coming too close, not letting you know that they're going to pass, not giving any warning. But here I was, being respectful.
